Welcome to a new series called On This Day.  In kind of a challenge to myself, I’m going to post a review of a show that happened On This Day at some point in history every day for the entire year.  I’ll try to keep the Nitros and Raws to a minimum but I can guarantee they’ll pop up.  I’ll also try to have something with some historical significance in each show, but sometimes stuff can be difficult to find.  Also note that these shows may have been taped earlier, but for the sake of this we’ll be going by the air date (although I might change that later if I get desperate).  Let’s get to it.

WWF St. Louis
Date: January 1, 1984
Location: The Chase, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Gene Okerlund

Now as some of you may know, WWF would have a lot more house shows back in the day. What they would do is film these shows in their major cities and have commentary for them, then air them on local television. They did this in New York and MSG for years. They would also split these up and air them on syndicated shows. This is one from St. Louis. This is about three weeks before Hogan won the world title so it’s an era we don’t really see. Let’s get to it.

The Chase is a legendary wrestling venue in St. Louis but is actually a hotel. The NWA ran shows there for years and WWF came in at the very end to do a few months worth of shows.

Vince and Gene run down the card.

Dennis Stamp/Jerry Valiant vs. Rocky Johnson/Tony Atlas

Johnson/Atlas are tag champions but this is non-title. Stamp vs. Rocky starts us off. Rocky is called The Rock and it’s off to Atlas. Atlas hits some bad dropkicks and we’re in squash city here. Off to Valiant who is more of a brawler. Not that it does him any good as he gets knocked backwards quickly by right hands. A flying headscissors by Johnson takes Valiant down and it’s back to Tony.

Off to a test of strength because Valiant is stupid enough to try that with him. Now Atlas uses a headscissors. Symmetry people! Valiant takes him down into a chinlock as this match is getting more time than I expected it to. Back to Johnson who gets double teamed in the corner as well. And never mind as Atlas comes in, gorilla presses Stamp and splashes him for the pin.

Rating: C-. Just a long squash here but that’s what a lot of TV back then was supposed to be. Johnson and Atlas are a team that the more I see of them the more I like of them. Atlas especially as he’d be a great guy to have around today with his look and power. Decent match here and a good way to showcase the champs.

Ken Jugan vs. David Schultz

Schultz is most famous for attacking a journalist who asked if wrestling was fake. He’s known as Dr. D. Schultz grabs a headlock to begin and rides him on the mat. Jugan hasn’t gotten in a single shot yet. Schultz pulls him up after an elbow drop and keeps beating on him. Out to the floor as the beating continues. A backbreaker gets two. This is getting boring now as it’s been going on way too long. Back to the floor again as there’s nothing to talk about in this. Schultz hits various offense and Jugan gets nothing in at all. Jugan gets in some very weak punches and then gets tombstoned (called a southern piledriver) for the pin.

Rating: D-. Like I said, there’s only so much you can get out of a guy getting destroyed for this long. One thing that’s kind of different: the announcer reads the time and even says what the finishing move was. Ok he didn’t here but he did in the first place. This ran over seven minutes so you can see how it gets a bit uninteresting.

Bill Dixon vs. Hulk Hogan

Oh my goodness! Now THIS is an historic moment. This right here is Hulk Hogan’s first match back in the WWF after being gone for about four years and becoming a superstar in Rocky III. He comes out to Eye of the Tiger and is way over. Hulk would jump into the world title scene in about two weeks, winning the title in about three weeks and holding if for four years.

Actually, this is being reviewed on the anniversary of his title win so that’s appropriate. Hogan takes him to the mat with a Fujiwara Armbar ala Del Rio. Dixon hammers away but Hulk comes back with a big boot, slam and the big leg (I’m assuming making its WWF debut) ends this. Total squash but the crowd reaction tells you everything you need to know here. This is history people.

The local network president welcomes WWF to St. Louis. It lasted about two months.

Hulk says he loves St. Louis and that he’s focused on an upcoming battle royal. He wants a world title shot. Bear in mind he’s 1-0 (by his own admission) and he’s just declared himself #1 contender.

Murdoch and Adonis say they want the tag titles. They would get them in about 4 months.

Johnson and Atlas come in and say St. Louis is their home away from home.

Big John Studd says he’s awesome. He has a new manager named Magaw Maginaw. No idea who that is but he looks like Luscious Johnny V.

Jimmy Jackson vs. Big John Studd

In the words of Rocky III, “my prediction? PAIN.” Jackson tries to slam him and that goes nowhere. Studd offers him a top wristlock which goes just as well. Over the shoulder backbreaker ends this quick. Another squash.

Bill Berger vs. Ivan Putski

Putski is a Polish dude that is short but incredibly muscular. See, he’s really strong. That’s about it. And he’s Polish. This is just Putski using his strength to break almost everything and throw Berger around. Eventually the Polish Hammer (double axe to the chest) ends this.

Rating: D-. No idea what there is to say here. Putski is a pretty boring guy and this was no exception. His shoulders are huge but he has little chicken legs. Nothing really to see here and these squashes are certainly a generational thing. You couldn’t get away with this if your life depended on it.

Terry Daniels/Kevin Collins vs. Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch

This is probably the main event. Adonis vs. Daniels gets us going. Really I don’t know what to say here. After like 6 squashes there’s only so much you can say. Daniels is sent to the floor and thoroughly pummeled. Back in and he gets beaten up even more. Collins comes in and gets beaten up as this is really boring. Adonis puts Collins to sleep to end this.

Rating: D. See any other match already tonight to get the idea here.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a hard one to grade. There were certainly a lot of big names on here and for a TV show that aired locally, there isn’t really a lot to complain about. For the masses, this wouldn’t have been much. Most of 1984 was pretty generic stuff, but once 85 got here things took off like a rocket. Not much here, but you have to keep some specifics in mind.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: December 27, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Keneley, Tazz

Hey it’s Open Fight Night, BECAUSE WE JUST HAD A FREAKING GIMMICK SHOW LAST WEEK! Pay no attention to the fact that these shows never accomplish anything and the ratings keep going down, because clearly these stupid gimmicks are the only thing holding them up as high as they go. The show will likely be fine but man alive I don’t care about this Open Fight thing. Let’s get to it.

After the usual opening recap, here’s Bully Ray with something to say. He realizes he and Hogan can’t get along because Hogan won’t trust him. Tonight, he’s calling Hulk out for a talk rather than a fight. The music plays but there’s no Hulk. Instead we get Brooke who says Hulk isn’t here. We get the melodramatic promo from Brooke about how someone had a camera or something because Hulk knows. DOES NO ONE WATCH THEIR OWN TV SHOWS ANYMORE??? Ray denies anything exists and leaves with Brooke trying to talk sense into him.

Here’s Aries who doesn’t care what the fans think of him. He’ll win the title back soon but tonight, he’s going to be in the main event against Roode for costing him the title last week.

Samoa Joe calls out the hammer guy from Aces and 8’s and promises to take his mask.

Samoa Joe vs. Masked Man

Joe pounds away to start but gets beaten down in the corner. The masked guy (I believe Mike Knox) hits the running crotch attack in 619 position but misses a charge in the corner. Joe tries the MuscleBuster but gets kicked away. There’s the Clutch instead and the masked guy is out at 2:56.

Joe goes for the mask but the rest of the bikers come in for the save. Of course they do.

Robbie E and Jesse have a Dude/Bro off. I’m strangely intrigued by this. The challenge is for a Bro Off later rather than a match of course.

Kenny King tells Christian York to watch tonight and maybe he’ll get an X Title match.

It’s time for the Bro Off, which has three rules: every bro for himself, you have to end everything in bro….and the third rule isn’t listed. Apparently this is a dance off. Scratch that as Robbie dances and Jesse poses. Jesse presses Tara over his head but apparently it’s Bros and not Hoes, so Robbie wins by DQ. Robbie T says that’s not it because he’s in this too. He poses as well before pressing Robbie E over his head. T also fist pumps, backflips, does one handed pushups and humps the mat. The look on E and Jesse’s faces are HILARIOUS. T wins apparently.

Van Dam, looking higher than I’ve ever seen him, calls out Christian York instead of Kenny King.

Christian York vs. Rob Van Dam

Feeling out process to start with both guys missing some strikes. York hits a half nelson suplex to take over and a kick to Van Dam’s back to follow up. A rana sends Van Dam to the outside and a missile dropkick back inside for no cover. The Mood Swing (Eve’s rolling neckbreaker) gets two as does a kick out of the corner from York. York hits a top rope double stomp to the back for two but misses a charge in the corner. Van Dam hits a split legged moonsault for two and Rolling Thunder for no cover. Five Star gets the pin at 4:03.

Rating: C. Nice spot fest here but literally that’s it. There was nothing between these moves which gets really annoying really fast. York is a guy who they’re at least making look competent, which is all you can ask for with a new guy like him. Also at least there’s something to look at, unlike the other Gut Check people who never show up again.

D-Von talks about getting someone new to join the club. Doc is with some girls and approves of the plan.

We get a package on Joseph Park in OVW. Park: “I’m setting the bar for training.” Danny Davis: “He’s dumber than a box of rocks.” We get the clip of Park morphing into Abyss which was the potential that Davis was looking for.

Bad Influence goes to make sure they don’t have any merchandise on sale. They have a post-Christmas present for everyone.

Remember to vote for Superstar of the Year.

Roode says he’s winning tonight and getting the title back at Genesis.

Sting is still going to be back on 1-3-13.

Daniels dances out to the ring and says greetings and salutations to all you ham sandwiches. He’s the reason AJ hasn’t been around anymore so why not do it one more time? He calls out AJ and naturally it’s Kaz in the AJ gear. Kaz cuts a promo in a GREAT AJ impersonation and says how great Daniels is. Kaz: “I’m not going to wrestle you. I’m going to go find Clair Lynch and….” Daniels: “NO! NOBODY WANTS THAT!”

The tag champions come out and challenge Bad Influence for right now.

Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero vs. Bad Influence

Fast paced start with Daniels getting thrown around by Chavo. Off to Hernandez for a bearhug into a belly to belly overhead suplex. The champions pound away on Daniels before slamming Kaz onto Daniels for no cover. Daniels begs away from Hernandez and we take a break. Back with Hernandez doing his delayed vertical suplex on Daniels. I’m not sure if any time has actually passed since we left. Things break down and Daniels takes over on SuperMex.

The non-champions hit back to back slingshot strikes on Hernandez to take over. The match drags on and gets very boring in a hurry with the heels in control. After about 8 hours, the lukewarm tag brings in Chavo who hits Three Amigos on Kaz. Bad Influence hits a Hart Attack for two but Hernandez sends them to the floor. The champs hit a double dive to the floor before throwing Kaz back in for the Frog Splash and the pin at 14:30.

Rating: C. The match was fine but OH MY GOODNESS Chavo and Hernandez are boring. You have Bad Influence getting some of the funniest lines in this company in years and they get to job time after time to this generic Latino tag team. Seriously, that’s the ONLY thing about the champs that sets them apart from any two other guys. They’re the champions and they’re going to have them for a long time, because there is no tag division in TNA.

Hardy has little to say.

Video on Aces and 8’s attacking people with the hammer.

We see the guy that Aces and 8’s wants to join….and it’s Mr. Anderson. He’s offered women to help them out and apparently they’re good enough to sway him into considering it.

Gail Kim vs. Miss Tessmacher

You know, for those people who wanted this feud to be picked up again. Tessmacher takes over to start and does the Stinkface thing in the corner. Gail gets knocked to the floor but takes over back inside. Kim loads up a super rana but Tessmacher blocks it, sending Gail down onto her head. FREAKING OW MAN! A dragon sleeper in the corner doesn’t do much for Tessmacher so Gail takes over again. The sloppiness continues but Tessmacher can’t hit that Tesshocker thing of hers. A top rope elbow misses Gail and Eat Defeat ends this at 5:24.

Rating: D. I can’t stand the Knockouts anymore and these two sucking the charisma out of things that don’t even have charisma in the first place are a good reason for that. Nothing to see here at all and I barely have enough to say to fill in the four lines of space that I try to have for each rating.

Next week it’s Aces and 8’s vs. Angle/Joe in a cage. Sure why not.

Bobby Roode vs. Austin Aries

Feeling out process to start until Aries sends Roode to the floor. He loads up the suicide dive but stops cold when Roode is waiting on him. We take a break (complete with a Hardy voiceover) and come back to see them hammering on each other before Aries is sat on top. They ring each others’ ears and trade pokes to the eyes. Aries knocks Roode down and tries what looks like an elbow, only to roll through when Roode moves.

Bobby loads up a spear but gets caught in the Last Chancery. Roode pokes the eyes to escape and puts on the Crossface which I guess is his secondary finisher. Aries goes to the eyes as well to escape, showing some nice storytelling here. Roode begs off in the corner but trips Aries up for two with his feet on the ropes.

Aries tries a rollup with trunks for two of his own but walks into the spinebuster for two. Hebner disarms Roode of the chair he picked up, allowing Aries to hit a discus elbow for two. Now Austin brings in the chair but Henber will still have none of it. Hebner goes off on both guys so they both deck him and toss him to the floor, throwing the match out at about 13:00.

Rating: B-. I had a great time with this and I’m glad neither guy won. There was no reason to have one guy go over the other and the stereo cheating was a great touch. It’s clear they’re setting up a threeway and that’s probably the right move to go with until we set up Aries vs. Hardy whatever at Lockdown. Good stuff here.

Post match they both go for the chair but Hardy runs out and takes both guys out to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. The first hour was pretty good but after that this show fell off a cliff. I’m not sure what it was but I think the tag match had something to do with it. The problem with TNA is when something is bad, it’s REALLY bad and that’s what happened here. We’re two weeks away from Genesis and as usual, we have NOTHING scheduled yet. The three way is pretty obvious, but other than that the card could go in a lot of directions. By this point though, we should have hit some stops as we head in a direction.

Results

Samoa Joe b. Masked Man – Koquina Clutch

Rob Van Dam b. Christian York – Five Star Frog Splash

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Bad Influence – Frog Splash to Kazarian

Gail Kim b. Miss Tessmacher – Eat Defeat

Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode went to a no contest

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #99
Date: August 4, 1997
Location: Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan

This is an interesting episode as I’ve seen says this is the 100^th episode, but I’ve counted each one I’ve done and can only come up with 99. I haven’t missed any shows and there are only 99 counting this one so far. Two weeks in 1996 had no show at all so maybe they’re counting one of those to get to 100. Either way, the main event tonight is Luger vs. Hogan for the title, five days before their PPV title match. That clearly won’t go anywhere. Let’s get to it.

Oh and this is a three hour show.

Buffer welcomes us to this special show. This whole 99 or 100 thing is going to bother me but the best I can figure out is that WCW is just lying.

After the Nitro Girls dance a bit, here are Hogan and Bischoff with something to say. Hogan runs down Luger and says that he’s going to have “500,000 of his friends” watching on Saturday. It was about 1% of that but what difference does it match? Anyway, Hogan doesn’t like having to defend tonight, but Luger is going to pay for the mistake tonight. Hogan says something about defending against Scott Hall instead but it didn’t make much sense.

Curt Hennig vs. Mortis

Feeling out process to start until Hennig takes Mortis down with a knee lift. Curt goes after Vandenberg though and the masked dude takes over. Mortis misses an elbow and there’s the Hennig neck snap. Mortis comes back with a spinwheel kick for two but Hennig goes after the knee. PerfectPlex ends this pretty quick.

Rating: C-. I don’t like matches like this one as it’s hard to rate due to how fast it was. A lot of it was them walking around, but it was so short that it was still decent. This is what WCW’s massive roster helps with: they have have a guy like Mortis lose, but he can go and beat up other people and get his spot back. Also since there’s no shame to losing to Hennig, everything is ok for him. Why WWE doesn’t use their roster like this is beyond me.

Video on Sting not talking for the last year or so.

Dean Malenko/Jeff Jarrett vs. Hector Guerrero/Chavo Guerrero

Malenko and Chavo start things off and we hit the mat very quickly. That doesn’t last long so they run the ropes a bit until Dean gets taken down by a pair of dropkicks. Hector comes in to face Jeff and we have a strut vs. dance battle. A headscissors puts Jarrett down and frustrates him so he pounds away a bit. Hector makes a brief comeback but stops to jaw with Dean, letting Jeff take over again.

There’s the running crotch attack to a 619’d Hector (I’m still looking for a better name for that) before it’s back to Malenko. Make that back to Jeff again and Hector gets two off a backslide. Chavo breaks up the Figure Four and Dean is rolled up for two. Hector won’t tag and is caught in an electric chair. Dean hooks the Cloverleaf and we’re done.

Rating: C. The idea here was that Hector wouldn’t tag, presumably due to stubbornness, but it doesn’t make Jeff any more interesting. The guy is just flat out not interesting no matter how you try to push or package him. Malenko was fine but he needs to get away from this stupid tag team thing.

Raven still won’t talk so here’s Stevie Richards instead. Richards has a contract for Raven but there’s a snag. He’s been in Atlanta renegotiating for Raven and everything seems to be cool now. Raven looks at the contract, spits at Richards and decks him. He pulls back to punch Richards again, but Stevie blocks it and says no more.

Giant vs. Joey Maggs/Lenny Lane/Scott D’Amore

Chokeslam, chokeslam, chokeslam, about 90 seconds, interview time.

Savage pops up on the stage and says bring it before running from a fast walking Giant.

We recap the roll Lex Luger is on. Basically it’s a Luger highlight video.

High Voltage vs. Public Enemy

Kaos vs. Grunge to start and Johnny wants to dance. A swinging neckbreaker puts Kaos down as does a clothesline before it’s off to Rocco. Rage interferes but Kaos takes the time to pose instead of following up. Larry: “HE’S WASTING TIME!” Remember, this is LARRY ZBYSZKO complaining about stalling. High Voltage is coming off as the heel team here and it doesn’t suit them that well.

Rage comes in and pounds away on Rocco a bit more but jumps off the top into Rocco’s boot. My goodness how I hate that spot. Grunge comes in and beats up both guys as everything breaks down. The Public Enemy loads up the table but Rage moves, sending Rocco crashing through the wood. Not that it matters as Rage runs into Kaos and is rolled up by Grunge for the pin.

Rating: D+. As lame as the match was, there was an actual story being told out there. The idea was that High Voltage didn’t have the experience to hang with the Public Enemy and the veterans used that to their advantage. This is probably the last match I would have expected something like that from but points to these guys for putting it in there.

Alex Wright cuts in on the Nitro Girls dancing. The Girls leave and Alex talks some trash about Jericho, who he faces on Saturday.

Scotty Riggs vs. Alex Wright

Non-title here. Wright sends Scotty to the floor almost immediately and hits a double ax off the apron. A suplex on the floor keeps Riggs down but he sends Wright into the barricade to get himself a breather. Back in and Alex takes over again before dancing a bit. They both hit cross bodies with Scotty falling on top for two. They head up top and Alex headbutts him down before hitting a missile dropkick for the pin.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here to set up the title match at Road Wild. Wright using the dropkick was a nice touch as that’s one of Jericho’s finishing moves. Not much of a match here, but then again Riggs wasn’t much of a wrestler. At least he stopped using the American Males theme.

Hour #2 starts.

Here’s Luger to talk to Gene. Lex says that he was only focused on Saturday but now his focus has shifted to tonight. It’s his defining moment and tonight, he’s going to make history. Standard promo here but it did exactly what it needed to do. It’s such a simple science but no one can pull it off anymore.

Chris Benoit vs. Syxx

Syxx starts with that headlock of his but Benoit quickly elbows him down. A spinwheel kick puts Benoit down but Chris immediately legdraps Syxx out to the floor. There’s a suicide dive to take the NWO dude out. Back in and Benoit goes up, only to get caught in the Tree of Woe. Syxx hits a Bronco Buster to an upside down Benoit in a move I’ve never seen before. A top rope flipping legdrop misses Benoit though and Chris suplexes him down for two. Benoit loads up a belly to back superplex but here’s Jarrett to attack Benoit for the DQ.

Rating: C+. This was a nice fast paced match that had to be brought down by a stupid ending. This was done to further the tag match on Sunday which at least had a purpose. Not much to see here but Benoit was fast paced as usual and Syxx continues to be much better against smaller guys. Not bad at all here.

More dancing.

Booker T vs. Vincent

Nothing match as Booker beats up Vincent and side kicks him for the pin in maybe 45 seconds.

DDP talks about his match with Flair tonight, saying that while he and Flair have common enemies, Flair has his respect, but he has Flair’s number. I like that line.

Wrath vs. Barbarian

Now here’s an odd match. Barbarian knocks him back into the corner but gets clotheslined down for two. Wrath takes him down but can’t hit the Death Penalty (two arm Rock Bottom) as we head to the floor. Barbarian sends him into various metal objects before we head back inside. Back in and Barbarian goes up but jumps into the Death Penalty for the pin. Too short to rate but it wasn’t very good.

Meng comes out to stare down Wrath. Wrath bails.

The hometown Steiners come out and introduce Ted DiBiase as their surprise new manager. DiBiase was one of the original members of the NWO so this is a big deal. He starts off by saying that he’s seen the error of his ways before almost saying the World Wrestling Federation tag titles were on the line on Saturday. Cue the Outsiders to laugh this off and say that DiBiase is a dead man.

More dancing.

Lee Marshall does his thing.

Konnan vs. Psychosis

Konnan pounds him down to start before nearly clotheslining a horn off. A low dropkick hits the masked man and Konnan sends him to the apron. Psychosis comes back in with a top rope spinwheel kick for two. That’s about the extent of his offense as Konnan hits the 187 and Tequila Sunrise for the fast tap.

Rey, still on crutches, comes out to confront Konnan post match. Konnan kicks the crutches away but Rey is faking it and breaks a crutch over Konnan’s back.

Glacier/Ernest Miller vs. Damien/Silver King

King and Glacier get us going and the kicking begins. Glacier cranks on the arm a bit but King kicks out of it pretty quickly. Damien trips up Glacier but the ice enthusiast kicks Silver down anyway. Off to Miller but the luchadores pound him down pretty quickly. Miller comes back with a bunch of kicks and here’s Glacier again. A backdrop gets two on Damien but Glacier is double teamed a bit. Uninterested tag brings in Miller who uses his karate stuff, finishing Damien with a spinning kick off the top.

Rating: D. At the end of the day, Miller was so unbelievably boring in this role and it took a long time to get him to a level where anyone cared about him. Silver King and Damien actually got a win or two so they were only somewhat jobbers to the stars. Not much to see here though.

Here’s Bischoff with something to say. He’s here to complain about the attack by the Giant from last week and calls out JJ Dillon. The alleged boss of WCW comes out and Eric yells a lot, threatening legal actions against the Giant and violence against Larry Z. If there was a point to this getting six minutes of TV time, I have no idea what it was.

Hour #3 begins and the Nitro Girls dance on the announce table.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Ric Flair

Hennig comes out and shakes Flair’s hand to mess with Page’s mind. Page runs Flair down and slaps him in the face to tick him off. Hennig went to the back already so this is one on one. Page pounds away in the corner and Ric is in trouble early. Flair comes back with a poke to the eye but Page counters a backdrop attempt into a sweet sitout powerbomb for no cover. Hennig comes back out and we take a break.

Back with Flair in control and Page down in the corner. Page comes back with right hands and slams Flair off the top, but a Hennig distraction lets Flair get in a shot to the knee. There’s the knee drop and Flair is in Nature Boy mode. A quick Figure Four is broken up because Page is in the ropes.

Flair pounds away even more and tries to suplex Page over the top and out to the floor. DDP counters of course and puts Ric in the Figure Four instead. Flair pokes the referee in the eye, allowing Curt to come in. Page cradles him to slow him down, but it lets Flair escape the hold. There’s a Flair Flip in the corner and Ric goes up, only to dive into a clothesline. Page calls for the Cutter but Hennig comes in for the DQ.

Rating: C+. This was fine but they more or less had a big sign saying RUN-IN COMING. That’s fine though as you can’t have these guys losing five days before a PPV match. I mean, this is WCW, not some crazy company like WWE that has guys in prominent matches getting pinned on go home shows.

Page clears the ring post match.

Hector Garza/Lizmark Jr. vs. Villanos

This would be IV and V for you Villano enthusiasts. Garza and IV start things off and things speed up quickly. Hector moonsaults out of the corner and clotheslines IV down before hitting a superkick. Off to Lizmark for a dropkick but V comes in and ducks the same move. Some armdrags put V down but the Villanos double team Lizmark to take over. Back to Garza who gets caught in a double gutbuster.

We head to the floor where Garza is dropkicked into the barricade. That gets boring so it’s back inside where everything breaks down. Garza dives on I think IV before Lizmark and V go to the floor. IV is backdropped to the floor so Garza can hit the big corkscrew plancha. Back in and Lizmark dropkicks IV a few times, but the referee gets distracted and the switch from the brothers is enough for Lizmark to get rolled up for the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine but it was nothing more than a bridge between the big stuff later on in the show. Garza had the making of a big star and was getting over pretty well in the earlier days of TNA before getting busted for steroid possession. The other three guys never amounted to anything in the States.

Here’s JJ to offer Sting a contract. Basically “we’re sorry we thought you were lying because we were too stupid to use common sense and tell that it wasn’t you the whole time. Maybe we should hit Turner up for vision insurance. Anyway, wanna fight Curt Hennig?” Sting lowers from the rafters and rips up the contract. See, this is something that actually deserved the six and a half minutes it got.

WCW World Title: Lex Luger vs. Hollywood Hogan

Dang man how long has it been since Hogan wrestled on Nitro? They trade hammerlocks to start and Hulk heads to the ropes. More feeling out until Hogan pounds away in the corner to take over. The fans are WAY into this here. Hogan keeps beating on him and drops a bunch of elbows. A clothesline in the corner has Lex in trouble and Hulk chokes away. Luger comes back and rams the champ into the buckle a few times to get himself a breather. Hollywood takes his head off with another clothesline and we take a break.

Back with Hogan still in control and hitting a suplex for two. A belly to back suplex puts Luger down again and a big right hand gets two. The big boot and legdrop hit for two and the pop is really weak for some reason. Another legdrop misses and it’s comeback time. Luger decks the Outsiders and Savage as they try to run in. The forearm takes Hogan down and there’s the Torture Rack to give us a new world champion.

Rating: B. The match itself was as by the book as you could get, but that’s exactly what it should have been. The rating is almost entirely for the moment, which is WAY better here than I remember it being. Hindsight would say it was obviously only going to last until the PPV, but still man this worked really well. I’m actually surprised at how much I liked this.

The locker room empties out for the celebration. The fans go NUTS too. Everyone goes to the back and we see Giant and Luger polishing the belt to get the NWO paint off as champagne is flowing everywhere.

Hogan loses his mind in the other locker room.

Overall Rating: B. This was supposed to be a special show, and I don’t often get to say this about WCW, but they absolutely nailed it. The wrestling here is ok at best, but they did a good job of setting up the PPV, they had a good start to the new part of the Sting angle, and the ending is actually excellent. I know it doesn’t mean anything in the long run, but at the time this was a cool moment. Good show here which almost shocks me.

Here’s Road Wild if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/05/23/road-wild-1997-you-can-see-the-problems-mounting-up-already/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: December 20, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Todd Keneley, Mike Tenay, Taz

It’s Championship Thursday, meaning we’ve got three title matches in a single night. The Knockouts Title, the TV Title and the World Title are all on the line tonight, because this monthly show is on par with a $40 PPV they just had. Other than that we’re likely to get more of the Hogans arguing over Bully Ray because that’s the focus of Impact anymore. WWE turned it up this week so TNA needs to follow suit. Let’s get to it.

We open with the standard recap of last week’s show. The hosts talk about the show tonight also.

TV Title: Kurt Angle vs. D-Von

D-Von is defending and Angle has a bad ankle due to an attack last week/a legit groin injury. Angle brings out his own guys to counter Aces and 8’s in the form of Garrett, Wes and Joe. Angle gets behind D-Von to start but can’t snap off the suplex. Instead it’s a clothesline to take the champion down as Angle can’t move very well right now. D-Von is sent to the floor and the backup guys get in a big brawl while Angle waits on him to come back. All of the guys on the floor are ejected, but in the melee D-Von chop blocks Angle.

We take a break and come back with D-Von holding a basic leg lock on Angle but Kurt grabs the rope. D-Von cannonballs down on the leg ala Flair for two. That’s not old school enough for him though as it’s a Funk spinning toe hold now. Another chop block keeps Angle in trouble as Todd talks about the power struggle. What power? Aces and 8’s have the lowest title on the roster and that’s it.

Angle hits a middle rope missile dropkick to put both guys down, followed by some clotheslines. The overhead belly to belly gets two but D-Von escapes the Angle Slam and hits a really lame spinebuster for two. Angle starts rolling Germans and puts on the ankle lock, but here are Aces and 8’s again. Kurt’s three guys come out to counter them and in the distraction, the big masked man hits Angle in the back with a pipe so D-Von can retain the title at 11:08.

Rating: D+. Angle was hobbled here and that left D-Von to carry the match. That doesn’t make for an entertaining match as D-Von just isn’t good enough to hang with Kurt, even if he’s injured. On top of that, this still does nothing for Aces and 8’s. At the end of the day, it’s still D-Von. That doesn’t make anyone care at all.

Time for the Knockouts deliberation which is an excuse to have Brooke on TV more. ODB is thrown out because she has an injured husband.

Kenny King says he won last week and that’s all that matters. They’ll make good partners tonight though.

Joey Ryan/Matt Morgan vs. Rob Van Dam/Kenny King

Does Morgan plan to do anything with that robe or is it just there for now? Van Dam and Joey start things off with the champion (Van Dam) kicking Joey down. The standing moonsault gets two and it’s off to King. Morgan comes in and kicks King’s head off before it’s back to Ryan for his non-existent offense. Matt smacks King in the back of the head before it’s back to Ryan. King sunset flips him out of the corner and there’s the hot tag to RVD. King and Van Dam dropkick Morgan down and kick Ryan as well, but Kenny bails when confronted by Morgan. Matt kicks Rob’s head off to give Ryan the pin at 4:55.

Rating: C-. Not terrible here for the most part, but Ryan would be the outlier. He’s so useless and is only there for the occasional sight gag on a commercial. He’s another indy guy that has done nothing of note once he’s gotten to the main stage. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he owned the only company he did well in too.

We recap AJ’s speech last week.

Kazarian doesn’t care about AJ but likes that we’re five days from Christmas. He has a surprise for the fans.

Here’s Hulk for his weekly chat. He can’t believe how awesome this company is anymore and talks about how there’s going to be voting for the Impact Wrestler of the Year with Jeff Hardy being announced on January 3. Oh wait I mean the winner, which only could be Jeff Hardy. It’s not like he’s going to destroy everyone else in voting or anything. Anyway here’s Aces and 8’s to protest. D-Von says that this was Aces and 8’s year and says that next year will be as well. The bikers start to get in the ring but Bully Ray runs out for the save with his chain. D-Von says Ray is next. Hogan still won’t shake Ray’s hand.

Hardy is ready for Aries. Thankfully he says this instead of thinking it.

Tessmacher gets eliminated in another stupid Knockouts segment.

Here’s Kaz with some presents for Daniels. There’s a Christmas Tree in the ring with a picture of Daniels and Kaz on top. “That tree has TWO stars on it!” Daniels is brought out with an appletini and a scarf to sit on a throne. Kaz brings out Santa who is rather slim here. They give Santa some Zumbz pants in a funny bit. Santa asks Daniels if he’s been a good boy this year. Daniels says he got rid of the biggest loser in TNA and wants to use his Christmas wish on Styles’ kids, because their dad is so worthless.

Cue Storm who says he doesn’t like hearing these guys run down Christmas. Kaz says put him on the naughty list, which draws Daniels into the ring. Santa says hold it and Storm doesn’t think he’s the real Kris Kringle. If he’s the real Santa, why didn’t Storm get a real Red Ryder BB gun when he was six. Santa: “I’m the real Santa.” Storm: “Shut up.” Storm wants to know what he asked for last Christmas and Santa comes up with a Travis Tritt CD. Actually he wanted a case of beer, so here’s a superkick for Santa. Storm throws DVDs to the fans.

Aries asks if you could hear it. Apparently no one can hear his thoughts, but tonight he’ll prove he’s the best in the universe.

1-3-13 is Sting. Ok then.

Aces and 8’s gets yelled at by their boss for letting Bully Ray keep Hogan from getting his beating. D-Von says he has someone that can fix this and says they can be here next week. A vote says ok do it.

Mickie gets the shot.

Knockouts Title: Mickie James vs. Tara

Mickie grabs a bunch of quick rollups for two each but Jesse trips her up to give Tara control. A hair beal gets two and Tara pounds away a bit. She pulls on Mickie’s face and whips her into the corner with authority. Whose authority that is I’m not sure but she certainly had it. The spinning side slam is countered into a headscissors but the referee is with Jesse. A powerslam gets two for the champion but Mickie slams her down to get a breather.

They slug it out from their knees and Mickie hits a sloppy jumping DDT for two. Jesse and Tara try to leave, so Mickie dives on Jesse off the top. Jesse interferes AGAIN, allowing Tara to hit something like an atomic drop which bends Mickie’s knee back for the pin to retain at 7:00. Oh ok it was a facebuster.

Rating: D+. This started ok and then fell apart at the end. I had a hard time keeping up with what was going on in the ring, and in a match this simple that should never be the case. Nothing to see here as this match literally happened less than two weeks ago. Why would I want to see it again?

Joseph Park is still training in OVW and he’s still really bad at it. Joseph: “THAT HURT!” Danny Davis: “Do you know why that hurt? BECAUSE YOU’RE STUPID!” He sees blood coming out of his mouth though and turns into Abyss, killing his training partner with a Black Hole Slam.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

Hardy is defending. Feeling out process to start with Jeff taking it into the corner. Aries slams him down but the slingshot hilo hits knees. Jeff pounds away in the corner and the challenger chills on the floor. Back in and Aries hits a running elbow to the face for two but Aries’ brainbuster is blocked. We head back to the floor where Hardy misses a dive into the barricade.

We take a break and come back with Aries getting two off a slingshot hilo. Aries pounds away for a bit more until Hardy gets a boot up. The champ dives into a boot though and we’re right back where we started. A front suplex puts Austin down but Aries comes back with a forearm and a running dropkick in the corner for two. The brainbuster is escaped again so Hardy hits a backwards facebuster out of a powerbomb for two. In other words imagine a powerbomb lift but Hardy keeps rotating Aries backwards so that his face slams into the mat.

Hardy hits the Twisting Stunner but can’t cover fast enough. Aries gets an elbow up in the corner and tells the referee he sucks. He jumps into an atomic drop but manages to kick Jeff into the referee. A low blow stops Hardy and Aries FINALLY hits the brainbuster. In a cool ending, Aries covers Hardy but Roode pulls the referee out. Bobby counts two and as Aries turns around, he gets a big spinebuster from Roode. The Twist of Fate sets up the Swanton to retain at 18:05.

Rating: B-. These two have chemistry together and it sets up the three way match even more, or at least Roode vs. Aries. It would seem like Roode is turning, but I think he’s going to be much more of a tweener than an actual face, which is the right move for him. Good match here and a nice ending to a bad show.

Hogan says he’s going to fix the title picture and says Aces and 8’s is the real distraction. He says not to worry about Brooke and Bully, but sees the two of them kissing to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This show didn’t really do much for me. These Championship Thursday shows are never anything of note because NOTHING EVER CHANGES. It’s just a title match but when you never see a title CHANGE, it doesn’t mean anything anymore. It’s pretty clear we’re headed for a three way at Genesis, which is ok but it doesn’t really do much for me. The idea of someone new in Aces and 8’s next week might help a bit, but it needs to be someone who is actually able to challenge the big names. As usual, nothing has changed as of ten PM on a Thursday night, which is getting old.

Results

D-Von b. Kurt Angle – Pin after a masked man hit Angle with a pipe

Joey Ryan/Matt Morgan b. Kenny King/Rob Van Dam – Carbon Footprint to Van Dam

Tara b. Mickie James – Facebuster

Jeff Hardy b. Austin Aries – Swanton Bomb

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: December 13, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz, Todd Keneley

It’s after Final Resolution now and we’re heading towards Genesis in January. After one of the least interesting PPVs I can remember in years on Sunday, hopefully things pick up a bit this week. If my math is correct, we’re probably coming up on another gimmick show in a few weeks because where would we be without those? Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the major plot points from Sunday.

Here’s Bobby Roode to open the show and he’s ticked off. He says that he made a business investment with Aces and 8’s but he got ripped off. Roode wants answers and he wants them NOW. Here are the bikers and D-Von says they were offered a better deal. Roode demands to know who outbid him and it’s…..not going to be revealed right now. D-Von says you might find out later tonight.

Cue Hardy and Storm who want to fight right now. They storm (no pun intended) the ring and clear out the unmasked bikers and for some reason, the armed bikers who have a numbers advantage bail.

Velvet talks about being in Championship Thursday next week.

Mickie is upset about losing last week.

Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky

We’ve got Madison in the always hot blue camo and Velvet in a black catsuit. I’m happy. Velvet takes over to start and hits some kicks to the back as we hear about Aces and 8’s vs. Storm/Hardy in the main event tonight. Great, ANOTHER match the bikers get to lose. Madison comes back with a shot to the chest and stands on Velvet’s hair a bit. There’s that pelvic thrust thing that Madison does which I think is supposed to be sexy in some way. Velvet makes a comeback and hits an X Factor for the pin at 3:12.

Rating: D+. The only thing keeping this from being a failure is how good the girls look. This was as dull as almost any match I can remember in months, with absolutely nothing standing out at all. I get that Velvet is back and all, but it’s not like she’s some kind of savior or anything like that.

Garrett, Wes and Kurt do a 5 Hour Energy commercial.

Kaz and Daniels brag a bit.

We recap the eight man tag from Sunday, which much like everything else on Sunday, was nothing.

Robbie E/Robbie T vs. Wes Brisco/Garrett Bischoff

Angle is with the small guys. The Robs attack from behind to start and T starts with Wes. Big Rob pounds away and works over Wes’ back before it’s off to E. Hot tag brings in Garrett and the fans just dno’t care. House is cleaned and everything breaks down. A jawbreaker staggers T and Wes hits a top rope cross body for the pin at 3:30.

Rating: D. I do not care about Brisco and Bischoff and that’s all there is to it. They’re just not interesting in the ring or on the mic or in any way whatsoever. They have jobs because of who their fathers are and that’s not something that interests me in the slightest. If TNA thinks we’re going to care about them if/when they join Aces and 8’s, TNA is crazier than I thought.

Post match a member of Aces and 8’s hits Kurt in the knee with a pipe, injuring him before his match next week against D-Von.

Angle’s knee is messed up in the back. Word on the street (as in Angle’s Twitter) is that Kurt has a groin injury so I guess this is their out.

Joseph Park (driving a Beetle) goes to OVW to train. He meets Danny Davis, the OVW owner, and says he’ll start training right now. Park runs laps around the ring and does situps while Davis yells at him. He also vomits in a trashcan. More on this later I’m assuming.

Tara and Jesse come in to annoy Brooke. Apparently it’s Jesse vs. Ray tonight and Brooke has very little to say. She’s another person I can’t stand for the most part.

1-3-13 video again.

Kenny King is ready for RVD again tonight.

James Storm/Jeff Hardy vs. Aces and 8’s

It’s Doc and the big guy, which is Mike Knox. Storm and Doc start things off with James pounding away before bringing in Hardy. Hardy gets to pound on the big guy now, which is rather pitiful looking given how bad Jeff’s punches are. He knocks both guys to the floor and hits a dive as we take a break. Back with Hardy kicking Doc in the face but getting clotheslined by the big guy.

The bikers pound away on Jeff on the floor before taking turns unleashing their wide variety of punches and kicks. The big guy literally just lays on Jeff as this is already dull. The beating goes on for a good while with Doc using a long chinlock. Jeff fights up but can’t escape, resulting in him being sent out to the floor. Off to another chinlock which Hardy finally escapes and hits the Whisper in the Wind. Not that it leads to the hot tag or anything but at least was something different.

Hardy hits the mule kick and FINALLY brings in Storm. House is cleaned and a top rope cross body gets two on the big guy. Poetry in Motion hits the masked guy and the other bikers come in. D-Von drops the bat….and it doesn’t matter as Last Call takes out Doc and the Twist pins the masked guy at 14:42.

Rating: D+. FREAKING DO SOMETHING WITH ACES AND 8’S ALREADY!!!!! They had like six guys on two here and they STILL couldn’t win? The match was fine with Hardy selling like a master like only he could, but Aces and 8’s are just such a waste of space anymore. At the end of the day, Aces and 8’s can’t win when they have this big of an advantage. So why should I ever be intimidated by them?

D-Von reveals that it was Aries that paid them more money on Sunday. Not that Hardy and Storm were the ones asking but whatever.

Roode erupts on Hogan in the back about Aries when Aries calls Hulk. Hogan says get here soon and tells Roode to calm down.

We recap Daniels vs. AJ on Sunday with AJ finally losing to Daniels clean.

Here’s AJ to address what happened on Sunday. He’s upset about losing, so the fans tell him that he’s still got it. AJ says he’s not going anywhere but he’s tired of looking after everyone else all the time. It’s time to look after AJ Styles and it has nothing to do with the Impact Zone, Dixie Carter or Impact Wrestling. He’s tired of cleaning up every corporate mess and always doing the right thing. From now on, he’s going to do his own thing. Ok then. This didn’t come off like a heel turn.

Dixie gets AJ’s shirt thrown in her face.

Daniels and Kaz celebrate and Kaz has a surprise for Daniels.

Kenny King vs. Rob Van Dam

This is the non-title version of a match that wasn’t good when the title was on the line. They trade kicks and armdrags to start until RVD gets in a kick to take over. Kenny kicks a lackadaisical RVD to the floor and hits a corkscrew dive for two. Back in and King hits a floatover suplex and right hands as he’s playing the heel in the match. Kenny hits a kind of splash in the corner but a second attempt hits a kick from Van Dam.

A top rope legdrop hits King for two but he comes back with a springboard Blockbuster (kind of at least) for two. Van Dam avoids a charge in the corner but misses a split legged moonsault. The northern lights suplex gets two for Rob and he takes Kenny’s head off with a stepover kick. Van Dam goes up for a cross body but King rolls through and puts his feet on the ropes for the pin at 5:45.

Rating: C. This was easily the best match of the night so far and WAY better than the match on Sunday. King turning heel is a good fit for him as he has a lot of Shelton Benjamin in him: insanely athletic but needing a bit more of an attitude. Good stuff here and it’s a decent feud for RVD at least.

Bully Ray comes in to see Hogan and wants to know where Hogan stands on things. Hogan is all ticked off and wants to know why Ray is making his personal stuff Hogan’s business. He blames Bully for Brooke being in danger and says he hasn’t changed his stance on Ray at all. Ray GOES NUTS, and suggests he has nothing to do with Brooke and that it’s a one way street.

He says that Brooke was apologizing for Hulk, which Hogan somehow twists into Brooke and Ray should never be around each other again. Ray goes on a big rant about how he should be on Team Hogan (egads there’s a freaking Team Hogan now?) after everything he’s been through and Hulk needs to realize his daughter is a grown woman. Ray leaves and Hogan calls him weak. Good grief they have an interesting story like this and it’s all about Brooke Hogan. Is ANYBODY surprised by that?

Bully Ray vs. Jesse Godderz

Ray chases Jesse and Tara out of the ring and pounds on Jesse to start. This turns into a total squash with Ray just destroying Jesse and no selling any offense from him. Ray hits a chop in the corner that actually makes me cringe. The fans get another chop that they demand and Tara comes in. Thankfully it’s not a DQ as she only gets spanked once and leaves. Jesse jumps Bully from behind and takes over with some forearms. Godderz pounds away but Ray comes back with a single chop. Jesse actually clotheslines Ray down but Bully shrugs it all off and wins with the Bubba Cutter at 6:00.

Rating: C-. This was way better than I was expecting and the chops alone make the match worth seeing. Ray is getting more and more awesome every week, but unfortunately this is all being wasted on Brooke freaking Hogan, because being Hulk Hogan’s daughter isn’t enough publicity for her or something like that. Hopefully Ray can actually win an important match soon.

Aries gets here.

1-3-13 video again.

We recap the ending of the PPV and the announcement of Aries as the guy who gave the bigger offer to the bikers. Aries talks about how he was in the war with Aces and 8’s but he never got paid for helping against them or anything like that. He wants the title back, so here’s Hardy. Hardy says all Aries had to do was ask but Aries says he has to jump through hoops to get his match. Jeff offers Aries a title shot right here next week in the Impact Zone. Aries says he’ll do it on his time. Oh good grief. Hardy punches him and they fight with Hardy hitting the Twist. The show goes off the air at 9:58. Ok then.

Overall Rating: D+. The last forty five minutes weren’t horrible but the rest of the show was some pretty dull stuff. Ray continues to be awesome, but man alive the Brooke Hogan, Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco stuff drags down almost anything good they’ve got going on. Aries, Roode and Hardy isn’t bad, but it needs something more than these guys guys just going back and forth like they’re doing.

Results

Velvet Sky b. Madison Rayne – X Factor

Wes Brisco/Garrett Bischoff b. Robbie E/Robbie T – Top rope cross body to Robbie T

Jeff Hardy/James Storm b. Aces and 8’s – Twist of Fate to Masked Man

Bully Ray b. Jesse Godderz – Bubba Cutter

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

I only remember seeing this twice and it hasn’t happened in over 25 years.Back in 1986, Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff had a HUGE feud.  During the course of this, Orndorff started to use Hogan’s legendary Real American song as his own, claiming that he (Orndorff) was the true Real American.

In 1987, the Young Stallions formed and started using a song called Crank It Up.  Jimmy Hart, the writer of the song, was angry because he wanted the Hart Foundation to use it.

Why don’t we see theme music as a feud starter anymore?  I know a lot of the songs are generic and could be interchanged, but given how similar a lot of the feuds are anymore, this is as a good an idea as anything else for getting people not liking each other.

Impact Wrestling
Date: December 6, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Kennely, Taz

It’s the final show before Final Resolution, which means we’re likely going to get a lot of build for the PPV. Also we’ve got D-Von challenging Joe for the TV Title which D-Von never lost. Other than that, there’s not much else for tonight’s show, other than maybe more Aces and 8’s stuff after they had a week off last week. We’ll likely get more of Hogan and Ray doing their thing. Let’s get to it.

The standard recap opens us up.

Here are Roode, Daniels and Kaz to open things up. Later tonight they face Hardy, Storm and AJ. Kaz mentions Fourtune and their history together before saying on Sunday, the three of them will experience victory. Roode guarantees victory on Sunday while Daniels guarantees one last match with Styles. Give me a break. Daniels calls out AJ and here’s the Phenomenal One.

AJ says that Daniels has always been jealous of him, even though AJ has earned everything he’s gotten here. Daniels couldn’t beat AJ if it was Daniels’ best day and Styles’ worst. Daniels says that AJ knows Daniels is right when AJ is called a loser. He talks about how AJ has lost so many big matches over the last few months and how that’s reality. AJ says this is reality and the fight is on. Hardy and Storm make the save.

We see the ending of Impact last week for the second time in eleven minutes.

Aries says he was pushing Hulk’s buttons last week to get the X Title back, which will get him the world title back. Then Bully Ray interfered, which is why Aries wants Ray on Sunday.

TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. D-Von

Joe is defending and takes over to start by running over D-Von. A knee drop keeps D-Von down for a bit but D-Von low bridges Joe to take him to the floor. A pair of splashes get two for D-Von but the middle rope headbutt misses. Joe comes back with a kick to the chest and a backsplash for two. A Rock Bottom out of the corner puts D-Von down again and there’s the Koquina Clutch. Some blonde chick gets on the apron, allowing Doc to hit Joe win the back with the hammer to give D-Von the title back at 3:55.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here at all but it was pretty clear that D-Von was getting the belt back here. At the end of the day, Aces and 8’s has to have SOMETHING right? They now have a title, albeit the lower midcard belt. This still does nothing to make me care about them at all, but there was no other option here.

Aces and 8’s celebrate with a bunch of scantily clad women.

Brooke is on the phone with someone and says a contract has been signed. Whoever she has signed is coming tonight.

Snow is back but doesn’t remember anything that happened to him. Apparently he went to dinner Wednesday night, then woke up in a hospital with his wallet and phone gone.

Here’s Mickie James in a nice dress. She says she feels good to be back and this Sunday she’s getting her title back. Cue Tara and Jesse so Tara can run her mouth for awhile. She talks about how great a year this has been for her……and here’s Velvet Sky. She still looks good but not as great as she used to. She has a shoulder tattoo now too. Velvet says she’s winning the title in 2013. Ok then.

The Robs do a Direct Auto car insurance commercial.

Someone is coming on January 3, 2013. Geez with the dates again.

Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero vs. Robbie E/Robbie T

Oh yeah Hernandez and Chavo exist. That’s about all I’ve got on them. E and Chavo start things off but it’s quickly off to Hernandez for a bearhug into a belly to belly suplex. T comes in and pounds away on Chavo in the corner before posing a lot. E comes back in for a chinlock but gets caught in a northern lights suplex. Hot tag brings in Hernandez again to throw around the small guy until T comes in for the save. Everything breaks down and Hernandez kills E with a shoulder. The Frog Splash gets the pin for Chavo at 3:58. Another short match.

Rating: D+. Well what were you expecting here? Chavo and Hernandez are defending the titles on Sunday so were they going to lose here? The Robs are nothing at all, but to be fair the champs aren’t much better. They’re all just there, as the tag division has fallen right back through the floor where it usually is.

Post match Joey Ryan starts talking until Morgan attacks the champs. Ryan talks about male organs.

The girls chill with Aces and 8’s. Apparently they have a financial backer now.

We recap Gut Check from last week.

Angle celebrates with Brisco in the back and Garrett Bischoff is there too of course.

The tag champs cut a promo on Ryan and Morgan.

Kurt Angle vs. Doc

Angle charges at him to stat and takes out Doc’s knee. Doc pounds back and clotheslines Kurt to the floor as this is still not an exciting match. Again, it’s Luke Gallows vs. Kurt Angle and that’s not a match that I’m going to be able to get into for the most part. Angle gets sent into the steps but as they get back in, Kurt hits a middle rope missile dropkick to take Doc down. There are three Germans but Doc escapes the Angle Slam.

A big boot gets two but Kurt grabs the ankle lock. That goes nowhere so Kurt tries more Germans. A low blow stops the series and Doc gets two off a clothesline. The chokeslam is countered into the ankle lock but Doc counters again. There’s the chokeslam for two and there goes any chance Doc had. The ankle lock goes on but here’s Aces and 8’s for the DQ at 5:30.

Rating: C. I’ve seen worse but as I said throughout the match: it’s Luke Gallows. Why in the world would I believe that he’s going to be able to beat Kurt Angle in a one on one match? The counters sequence wasn’t bad at all and the match was a higher quality than I was expecting, but it was still hard to get into because of who was in it.

Angle fights off Aces and 8’s until Garrett, Brisco and Joe come in. An 8 man tag match is made for Sunday.

Hogan is on the phone with Park and tells him to go to OVW. Ray comes in and demands a match with Aries on Sunday. Hogan isn’t sure, so Ray says it’ll be official by the end of the night.

Storm tells Hardy not to fall into Roode’s traps. Hardy has another inner monologue.

Kid Kash vs. Kenny King vs. Zema Ion

The winner gets the title shot at RVD on Sunday. Ion and King double team Kash to start, knocking him to the floor. King kicks Ion’s head off for two before knocking Ion off the apron. King loads up presumably a dive but Ion takes his head off with a clothesline for two. Everyone is back in now with King hitting a slingshot legdrop for two on Kash. Ion is on the floor so there’s a big slingshot rana by Kash.

King dives on them as well, so Ion dives on both of them. Back in and Kash hooks a Boston Crab on King, only to have Ion break it up. Kash ranas King to the floor and gets two off a clothesline to Ion. Ion shoves Kash off the top and out to the floor. King uses the chance to hit a springboard Blockbuster and the F5 into the Rock Bottom (the Royal Flush) for the pin at 5:47.

Rating: C+. This was your usual triple threat X Title match, but at the same time, why am I supposed to care about the X Division at this point? How many PPVs in a row are they going to have the X Title match thrown on at the last second? If it’s going to be treated like nothing, there’s no way I’m going to care about it either.

Ray is on the phone and saying he’s going to take over the show until he gets what he wants because Hogan is stubborn.

We recap the Ray/Aries/Hogan/Hogan stuff.

Here’s Ray who says he’s taking over the show until he gets what he and the fans want. Ray sits down in a chair and here’s Aries with a chair of his own. Aries says that Ray is fighting for the woman he loves. Aries says that he’ll sit in the ring with Ray. Hogan’s music hits (Aries: “OR I’LL SIT OVER HERE!”) and he says there’s no match on Sunday. If Ray doesn’t leave the ring, it’ll be a firing or a beating. This brings out Brooke who says Hogan is making it too personal. She calls him Mark, which is enough to get Hogan to make the match. The only good thing about this was how low cut Brooke’s top was.

We run down the card for the PPV.

Video on Roode vs. Hardy.

Bad Influence/Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy/AJ Styles/James Storm

Kaz and Daniels made a throwaway line earlier tonight about it being Throwback Thursday, so they come out in Zubaz Pants and fanny packs. WOW. Storm and Kaz start things off after some big match intros. James hits a Thesz Press to pound away on Frankie (throwback right?) before it’s off to Jeff for some kicks. AJ comes in so Daniels runs away. The good guys clean house and Poetry In Motion puts Kaz down as we take a break.

Back with Hardy getting beaten down by Kaz. AJ tries to come in to beat up Daniels but it only allows for more heel double and triple teaming. Bad Influence hits a Hart Attack on Jeff and Roode chinlocks him to block a tag. Kaz and Daniels take turns with the chinlocks until it’s back to Roode. Bobby goes up top but jumps into a Twist of Fate.

Hot tag brings in AJ and everything breaks down. Storm hits a Backstabber and Codebreaker on Daniels, followed by AJ hitting the reverse DDT/a regular DDT on Kaz and Roode respectively. AJ is loading up something on Daniels, but Kaz runs in to break it up. Hardy tags himself in and hits the Twist for the win at 15:05.

Rating: C+. Fun tag match here, mainly because Hardy is such a master at selling. I mean really, can ANYONE make you believe he’s dying in a ring better than Jeff Hardy? Fun match here with a nice long heat segment with Hardy getting beaten down. I still have no idea what Storm is supposed to be doing right now though.

Aces and 8’s come out to beat down Hardy post match, and Roode is smiling a lot. Storm makes the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Not a great show here but WAY better than last week. They cut down on the Hogan nonsense and let us have a wrestling show instead of wasting our time with the stupid drama. The main problem with tonight’s show though was that they seemingly added about half of the card for the PPV tonight, which says a lot about how much they care about Sunday’s show.

Results

D-Von b. Samoa Joe – D-Von pinned Joe after Doc hit Joe with a hammer

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Robbie E/Robbie T – Frog Splash to Robbie E

Kurt Angle b. Doc via DQ when Aces and 8’s interefered

Kenny King b. Zema Ion and Kid Kash – Royal Flush

James Storm/AJ Styles/Jeff Hardy b. Bad Influence/Bobby Roode – Twist of Fate to Kazarian

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #98
Date: July 28, 1997
Location: Charleston Civic Center, Charleston, West Virginia
Attendance: 9,575
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone

Back on Monday here as we’re getting closer and closer to Road Wild. Hopefully we can continue the roll they’re on that started last week. The main stories going are on what side is Hennig on and Luger vs. Hogan, both of which should wind up being interesting ideas. Other than that there are some decent stories going on and I’m enjoying this show more lately. Let’s get to it.

The Nitro Girls do their thing.

Curt Hennig/Ric Flair vs. Vicious and Delicious

Hennig (POP) starts with Norton. Scott elbows Hennig down almost immediately and chops him to the floor. We head inside for Hennig’s arm work to go nowhere, so here’s Flair. Nice job of making your new guy look inept there WCW. Norton runs Flair over and hits a big shoulder block to take him down again. Off to Bagwell but his posing lets Hennig get in a shot to the back of Buff’s head to slow things down. Buff pounds on Flair in the corner so Flair chops him down.

Bagwell misses a dropkick and it’s Figure Four time. Hennig and Norton get in a fight and Flair lets the hold go for no apparent reason. We take a break and come back with Norton choking Flair in the corner. Flair pounds back at Norton but double teaming puts him down again. Norton and Bagwell double team Flair for a bit but Bagwell gets chopped down, allowing the hot tag to Hennig. House is cleaned and Syxx goes after Flair. Flair pulls Norton. to the floor and the PerfectPlex pins Bagwell.

Rating: C-. Really basic match here which was designed to put Hennig over. It did a better job at putting Norton over but at least they were trying. Hennig would be the biggest story in the company for the next few weeks, and unlike Jarrett a few months before, Hennig would actually be OVER by the end of it. See what talent and charisma can get you? Jarrett had talent but it wasn’t the right character for him at all.

Here’s Luger for a chat. By chat I mean strip session to show off how ripped he is. Luger talks about how ready he is for Hogan. However, he mentions a clause in Hogan’s contract that says Hogan has to defend his title every so often, so next week it’s Hogan vs. Luger for the title.

TV Title: Prince Iaukea vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon is defending and runs the Prince over to start. The headstand in the corner mesmerizes another opponent and the champ puts on a reverse chinlock. The wide section of empty chairs that were full during the first match is a telling sign about the interest in this match. Then again, the people in the match could probably tell you the same thing. Dragon loads up the super rana but Prince superplexes him down instead. We get a pinfall reversal sequence before Iaukea dropkicks the champ down for no cover. A superkick gets two and Iaukea blocks the Dragon Sleeper. The second attempt works though and Prince taps.

Rating: D+. Dragon was good but man alive Iaukea wasn’t interesting at all. The problem with the TV Title is that it went on guys the fans were given no reason to care about. Dragon is indeed very talented and can put on entertaining matches, but his matches aren’t great enough to make people overlook his lack of personality. That’s the problem with a lot of the luchadores and other guys in WCW and there was no way around it.

Here’s Flair who says that Hennig is officially the newest Horseman. Here’s Hennig who says he’s not a Horseman but Flair says Hennig is just laying low.

Texas Hangmen vs. Steve McMichael/Chris Benoit

The Hangmen are Mean Mike and Tough Tom. They’re masked guys who I have seen in Memphis wrestling before. Benoit starts with let’s say Tom and gets hit by Mike in the back to give Tom the advantage. Off to Mongo who runs over both Hangmen and powerslams Mike down. Some clotheslines do the same thing and we’ve got a phone call for Tony from the Outsiders. Hall tells Tony he better accepts the charges. Tony: “Well if it’s 1-800 Collect I will.”

They were a sponsor at the time, making that somewhere between clever and eye roll inducing. The match gets ignored as the Hangmen take over on Mongo. Steve comes back with a bulldog and there’s the tag to Benoit. The call finally ends as everything breaks down. Mongo can barely tombstone Mike but it sets up the Crossface by Benoit for the win.

Rating: D. Phone call aside, this wasn’t very good. The Hangmen were jobbers and that’s fine, but the Horsemen looked to have a lot of trouble with them which they shouldn’t have had. Not a good match or anything and it didn’t showcase the Horsemen. The phone call didn’t help anything either, especially since it didn’t accomplish anything and it only said the Outsiders would be on the show next week.

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Alex Wright

Jericho is defending here. The opening part of the match is ignored for the sake of house show ads as Wright slaps Jericho in the corner. They fight for arm control with the champion taking Alex to the mat. Those big stretches of empty seats in the crowd are kind of distracting. A spinwheel kick puts Wright down and out to the floor, causing the match to come to a halt.

Jericho dives onto Wright but gets suplexed down to change momentum. Wright stomps Jericho down in the corner but misses a top rope knee drop. The Lionsault hits Wright’s back but Jericho doesn’t cover. Wright goes to the apron and gets put in a sleeper by Jericho who is in the ring. Alex guillotines him down and hits a German suplex for the clean pin and the title.

Rating: C. This was an interesting match as you had Wright losing most of the first few matches after his turn before winning the title completely clean here. The fact that it was a clean pin helps, but I’m not exactly sure what the point was in jobbing him out the last few weeks to give him the belt here. Still though, not bad.

Here are Jarrett, Malenko and Debra with something to say. Dean says he’s in with Jarrett and Debra is shaking hands with Wright as he walks up the ramp. Apparently Jarrett was seen with Eddie Guerrero on Saturday Night and Dean isn’t cool with that. Jeff says people just want to be with winners. Debra runs her mouth of course. Thank goodness Jeff and Debra would leave in just a few months.

Hour #2 begins and the pyro is back.

Syxx vs. Diamond Dallas Page

They slug it out to start until Page busts out a pumphandle backbreaker for two. That’s a new move for him I believe. A neckbreaker puts Syxx down as well, followed by an elbow to put him on the floor. Syxx comes back with some kicks in the corner and there’s the Bronco Buster. Vincent comes out but Page avoids the Buzzkill. He hits the Cutter on Syxx but the Vincent distraction lets Hennig come in and blast Page with something in the back of the head. Syxx gets the easy pin.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have the time to get anywhere but the match was more about an angle than the wrestling. Page was on such a roll at this point that seeing him lose was actually a shocking sight. Today, you see people losing almost all the time, which makes wins and losses mean very little.

Tony: “CLEARLY CURT HENNIG IS PART OF THE NWO!” Very clearly indeed.

Dean Malenko vs. Hector Guerrero

This should be good. They head to the mat to start with both guys fighting for arm control. Dean takes Hector down with a snap mare as we hear about a Bobby Heenan personal appearance in Milwaukee. He says he’s the human being that made Milwaukee famous, which should get a chuckle out of old school fans. Off to a headscissors on the mat by Malenko but Hector escapes into a modified STF. They trade rollups out of the corner followed by a sunset flip for two for Guerrero. Here are Jarrett and Debra as Dean puts the Cloverleaf on for the tap out.

Rating: C-. Technically fine but this Jarrett stuff is really dull. Allegedly he’s trying to form his own team to fight the Horsemen, but at the end of the day it’s Jeff Jarrett leading the charge. That makes it pretty hard to get interested in the team at all, especially with Debra getting to talk about them every week. Nothing special to see here.

Chavo Guerrero comes out to check on his uncle and gets beaten up as well.

Konnan speaks Spanish and says he doesn’t like Rey. Apparently Rey is filling an Affirmative Action quota. Of Americans? Konnan vs. La Parka later.

Lee Marshall is in Detroit.

Giant comes out for his match but Savage is in the crowd with something to say to him. They’ve got a match at Road Wild. Giant says what Savage is about to see is just a preview.

Giant vs. Great Muta

The bell rings and here’s Eric Bischoff to commentary. Thankfully during his full entrance and the walk to the desk, nothing happened in the ring. Muta fires off some fast kicks but gets caught in the corner and chopped a lot. Giant pounds away in the corner so Muta bails to the floor. Back in and Muta goes to the eyes before firing off some dropkicks. Some more shots to the knees take Giant down and there’s the Muta Elbow. Giant shoves him off of a cover and shrugs off some top rope shots. He grabs Muta by the throat and after covering his eyes from the Mist, the chokeslam gets the pin.

Rating: D+. What did you expect from this match? There are only a handful of ways to fight Giant and going after the knee is the mos common answer. The covering of the eyes is one of those things that seems to be common sense but no one ever does. Muta is a really talented guy but he was basically a jobber in the NWO. Much like the rest of the show, nothing of note to see here.

Post match Larry Z comes to the announcers’ desk and grabs Bischoff. He drags Eric to the ring for a chokeslam to a good pop.

Konnan vs. La Parka

Konnan immediately beats him down and hits his rolling clothesline. La Parka dropkicks him out of the air and hits a legdrop for two. Tony of course is gushing about the chokeslam. La Parka gets a chair with Konnan’s name on it but Konnan dropkicks it into his face. 187 and Tequila Sunrise end La Parka. Quick match.

Psychosis comes out for the save post match.

The announcers talk about the world title match next week and we get a phone call from JJ Dillon. Apparently he and the executive committee want Sting back in the ring by September.

Randy Savage vs. Scott Steiner

Savage slaps him in the face to start before shoving referee Randy Anderson into Scott to take him down. Steiner comes back with a gorilla press slam to send Savage to the floor. Savage throws a chair into the ring and we take a break. Back with Steiner hitting a belly to belly suplex, sending Savage to the floor. Just like old times, Randy hides behind Liz and sends Scott knees first into the steps.

They fight into the crowd with Scott in trouble. Back to ringside and Steiner is rammed into the barricade to keep Randy in control. We head back inside and Scott catches Savage off the top in another belly to belly. Rick and Liz get in an argument, allowing Steiner to backdrop Savage over the top and out to the floor, which should be a DQ. Now Steiner throws Savage into the crowd, possibly injuring Randy’s shoulder.

Back to ringside and they brawl a bit more with Scott maintaining control. Steiner gets two on a small package followed by a butterfly powerbomb for no cover. A Super Frankensteiner puts Savage down but Liz throws in her shoe. Cue the Outsiders for the SHOCKING, yes SHOCKING I SAY, run-in DQ.

Rating: C. This wasn’t bad but it was mainly brawling. Scott didn’t know how to wrestle a main event style match at this point but his singles push was coming. Granted it was years before it actually worked but they were trying at least. The ending was obvious because the announcers were so sure that the Outsiders weren’t there that they had to be there. As usual, not much to see here.

Post match the Outsiders beat down the Steiners until Giant makes the save. He calls out Nash but Nash hides behind security. The security steps aside and says go get him….but we’re out of time. Well we could see Nash get in, but we need to see Giant chokeslam Bischoff one more time to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. The show wasn’t terrible but this felt like a big commercial for next week’s show which in theory is a commercial for the PPV the following Saturday. On top of that, considering there’s a world title match the next week, there wasn’t a lot of focus on it. It seems more like Giant vs. Savage is the world title match when you look at how much hype they got. The matches here were nothing special either.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: November 29, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Keneley, Tazz

It’s Championship Thursday because we can’t go more than a week without having some kind of gimmick show. The main story going on is apparently a hidden love between Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan, because the world wants BROOKE. Other than that we’ve got Aces and 8’s who likely won’t do anything but beat up a lower card guy as they do every week. Let’s get to it.

It’s the usual recap intro. We get the results of Wes Brisco’s Gut Check tonight as well.

Here’s Hogan (Hulk in case you’re a bit slow) to open the show. He talks about how he’s a father and a general manager, and those roles collided last week. Hogan wants Ray to come out here right now and tell him to his face what’s going on. Here’s Ray in street clothes, seemingly ticked off at Hulk for this. Ray wants to know what’s going on because Hogan doesn’t trust him and never has.

Hogan says cut the nonsense and tell him what’s going on between Ray and Brooke. Ray asks if Hogan is sure he wants that, because it might not be what Hogan wants to hear. Cue Brooke to really crank up the acting in this segment. Brooke says she’s 18 now and Hulk immediately cuts her off. He doesn’t want Brooke EVER with another wrestler, especially Ray.

Aries pops up on the screen, standing on a table in the back. Apparently Hulk needs to be here to pick a #1 contender to the X Title. The options are Ion, Kash and King. He lays on the desk but says it’s uncomfortable. “Brooke, how do you do this?” I guess Aries is a candidate for the shot as well.

Gail Kim vs. Mickie James

Gail is all fierce tonight and pounds away on Mickie from the start. Off to a headscissors which goes nowhere for Kim but Mickie misses the Thesz Press off the top. Running dropkick gets two for Gail but Eat Defeat is countered. Mick Kick puts Gail down but Kim’s foot is under the rope. Mickie hits the rana out of the corner and a neckbreker gets two. The jumping DDT is blocked by Gail but a tornado DDT pins Gail at 4:57.

Rating: D+. This is what you call going through the motions. Gail is just there anymore in TNA, which could be said about the entire Knockouts Division at this point. There’s nothing new about this division as Mickie vs. Tara has been done so many times before that there’s no reason to get interested in it again.

Storm and AJ argue over who has the right to complain.

Hogan storms into his office and it’s time for the first cut. King gets yelled at for snickering at Aries’ joke. Ion says he’s pretty. Kash says he started the X Division and is a two time champion. Aries says he never lost the title. King is gone, thereby making this far less interesting.

Here’s Roode for a chat. He says last week he made a statement by attacking Hardy and York after Hardy almost lost to the Gut Check Rookie last week. Roode is the real champion and Hardy is just a paper version. If you want to make an impact, call out Roode, not Hardy. This brings out Christian York to deck Roode, which he says is calling Bobby out.

Bobby Roode vs. Christian York

This starts after a break with York taking Roode down very quickly. York comes back with a hop toss and a shoulder block. Make that a few shoulders for two. Roode gets sent into the steps but as York comes back in, Roode crotches him to take over. York gets up a boot in the corner but Roode clotheslines him down. A suplex gets no cover but Roode jumps into a boot. York comes back with more clotheslines and a dropkick, followed by a double stomp to the back from the middle rope. A small package gets two for Roode but York turns his head, allowing Bobby to hit a clothesline to the back of the head. Crossface beats York at 5:17.

Rating: D+. Not a great match but it’s nice to see a Gut Check guy get actual ring time. Until last week, I don’t think we had seen anybody from the conpetition back on the show at all. Anyway, not a terrible match here but it was pretty dull. York has a much better look than the other guys, but his offense is a bit limited. Decent way to spend ten minutes here.

Roode gets a chair post match but Jeff Hardy makes the save.

We recap the Aces and 8’s hammer attacks over the last few weeks.

The boss talks to Aces and 8’s about the holidays. Next week it’s Doc vs. Angle. D-Von wants his TV Title back and he wants it next week. If he gets the shot, no one gets hut tonight. If not, everything goes nuts.

Gut Check judges talk.

Prichard says someone isn’t here but Angle comes up and pleads Wes Brisco’s case. Apparently Al Snow is the person not here.

Kazarian/Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles/James Storm

Before the match, Daniels says he’ll win the FINAL MATCH and it’ll haunt AJ forever. AJ and Kaz get things going with Kaz ducking under the dropkick. Off to Storm who speeds things up and hits a running neckbreaker. He glares at AJ before turning around to punch Daniels. AJ comes in and messes up a double elbow with Storm. A knee drop misses Daniels and the heels take over. Storm comes back in and is immediately beaten down in the corner. Daniels and Kaz want to be called Bad Influence because they like the vices of life.

Daniels hits a slingshot elbow followed by a slingshot legdrop for two. The evil ones do that Gangam Style or whatever it’s called dance as Taz audibly rolls his eyes. Hot tag brings in AJ to clean half of the house or so. The springboard forearm puts Daniels down but AJ goes for a slingshot dive onto Kaz, which misses completely (these misses are intentional if that’s not clear). Daniels goes to the floor for some double teaming, followed by a combination Blue Thunder Bomb/neckbreaker for two on AJ. Storm pulls Kaz to the floorr but AJ misses the Pele. Blind tag brings in Storm for the Last Call to Daniels for the pin at 7:08.

Rating: C+. Decent tag match here and we’ve got a story going on with AJ here. I’m not wild on Storm being used as a placeholder in a feud like this but that’s TNA for you. I’m also not looking forward to AJ vs. Daniels again, because it’s been done SO many times already. It’ll be good, but I don’t care to see it again. I just don’t.

Lockdown is in San Antonio.

Back to the X-Division reality stuff. Ion references Hulk Hogan’s Pastamania which is just cool. That will never be said about Ion again. Kash says he should get a shot because he’s been there before. Aries gets the shot. Sure why not.

Joe says ok to D-Von’s challenge, because D-Von abandoned the title.

Douglas Williams vs. Matt Morgan

Ryan does Morgan’s intro here. Morgan has Hogan’s old robe from 1980 here. Total squash, ended by a chokeslam and the Carbon Footprint at 2:11.

D’Lo Brown is replacing Snow. Taz says no, the others say yes. That took ten minutes somehow. Angle and Garrett come out to celebrate.

Ray yells at Hogan and says he’s confusing business with personal. Hogan accuses Ray of the same thing.

Aries tells Hogan that winning the X Title back is his path to the world title and says this was his plan. We don’t hear Hogan’s response because of an audio glitch, which means we hear a Roode/Hardy package instead.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Austin Aries

Van Dam takes him down into the corner to start but Aries comes back quickly. Aries’ splash hits knees though and we head to the floor. Van Dam hits a plancha and we take a break. Back with RVD countering the suicide dive but hitting the barricade with the spinning legdrop. Aries hits a neckbreaker over the barricade which gets a bunch of two’s back in the ring.

A DDT gets two for Aries as does a modified Rolling Thunder. Aries tries the Five Star but hits only mat. Van Dam hits the real Rolling Thunder and the Split Legged Moonsault for two. Van Dam dropkicks him down and loads up the Five Star, only to get knocked into the barricade by Aries. Aries gets the mic and insults Brooke a big, drawing out Bully Ray for the DQ 12:31. Oh freaking screw this.

Rating: C. This was getting good until the end. Aries vs. Ray at the PPV I guess, but man alive I do not care at all about this story. Could it be because there’s WAY too much Brooke Hogan in it? Well she’s in the story at all, so that would imply there being too much of her. The match was going fine until the end, but a bit too much stealing moves for me.

Aries gets caught between Ray and Hogan to end the show. Aries of course is an afterthought as Hogan and Ray stare at each other, with Ray saying Hogan still doesn’t trush me.

Overall Rating: D. Oh I did not like this show. I mean I didn’t like it AT ALL. The main problem here is that the stakes were so freaking low. We’ve got Ray, who has to be injured or something given how long it’s been since he had a match, apparently dating (that hasn’t been confirmed yet) Brooke because TWO secret relationships aren’t enough in a single year. We’ve got Hogan FURIOUS at Aries so he gives him a title match. Not a world title match mind you, but a title match for a title that is often tacked on to PPVs at the last minute.

Other than that we’ve got Hardy and Roode feuding through Christian York to set up a match that Roode has as much chance of winning as I have of winning Miss America 1984. Wes Brisco, a guy famous for coming from a famous family and who is clearly in Aces and 8’s because NO ONE ELSE IN WRESTLING HAS HAIR LIKE THAT gets to beat Garrett Bischoff to make it to Gut Check. Why am I supposed to care?

That’s Impact in a nutshell right now: they seem to have no idea where they’re going and no reason to give me to care. We’re getting Mickie vs. Tara in the dead Knockouts Division. We’ve got Storm going nowhere. We’ve got AJ vs. Daniels for literally probably their 12^th PPV match. We’ve got D-Von and Luke freaking Gallows as the only names in Aces and 8’s. What is interesting about TNA right now? If you can come up with something, you’re either smarter than I am or a total mark for their company.

Results

Mickie James b. Gail Kim – Tornado DDT

Bobby Roode b. Christian York – Crossface

James Storm/AJ Styles b. Kazarian/Christopher Daniels – Last Call to Daniels

Matt Morgan b. Douglas Williams – Carbon Footprint

Austin Aries b. Rob Van Dam via DQ when Bully Ray interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #97
Date: July 22, 1997
Location: Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

This is a special show on a Tuesday for reasons that weren’t given. Anyway the main event tonight is a match I remember pretty well for some reason as Benoit and Flair challenge the Outsiders for the tag titles. Other than that we get to hear if Luger’s challenge to Hogan for a title match at Road Wild is accepted or not. Let’s get to it.

We open with the Nitro Girls of course. They’re certainly better looking than Tony and Larry.

Here are Hogan and Bischoff to really get things going. They have a microphone and are standing in the ring, so Tony deduces that they obviously have something to say. You can’t buy analysis like this people. They decide to lay down on the mat and take it easy for this interview. Hogan says that most of the people in this arena and in the back are here because of him. Now that we’re in the 90s, he sets the pace for wrestling.

Hogan talks about how Konnan is another step of the way closer to world dominance. I wouldn’t exactly call it that but it’s his company I guess. Luger wants what Hogan has, because Hogan is the best. Hollywood says he’s smarter than Luger is and he wants him in a title match one on one. He accepts the challenge for Sturgis. Hogan seemed to be rambling a lot more than usual here which is weird for him. He may sound crazy most of the time but he usually makes it sound decent.

Konnan vs. Tsubusa

I can only find two other matches for Tsubusa, both of them in six man tags in Japan. He’s a masked guy with a shiny cape and that’s about it. The 187 and Tequila Sunrise make Tsubusa tap out in about 25 seconds.

TV Title: Ultimo Dragon vs. Steven Regal

No entrance for either guy and Regal is defending. The champ cranks on Dragon’s arm but Dragon speeds things up to escape. Dragon has the awesome black and gold attire on tonight so you know he’s going to be on his game. Regal gets kicked hard by his challgener before doing his headstand in the corner. Steven takes him down and pounds away on the mat before putting dragon on the top, only to get taken down by a sunset bomb. A reverse suplex puts Dragon down so Dragon comes back with the kicks and a Dragon Sleeper to win the title out of nowhere.

Rating: C+. Dragon is one of those guys that had the skill in the ring and was better than most of the other cruiserweights, but the lack of personality always held him back. Now that being said, this was solid stuff because it was what Dragon was best at: matches where he had someone solid to work with and you got a good match out of it in the process. Solid stuff here, especially for a four minute match.

Here’s Flair to announce who the next Horseman is going to be. The choice is…..Syxx? Yeah that Syxx. Syxx comes out and makes fun of the Horsemen for being old (the announcers actually bought Syxx as the new member of course) and Flair says Syxx almost cost him his job. Ric belts him in the face and Benoit comes out to stand between Syxx and Flair. Syxx promises Outsider revenge and that’s that.

More dancing.

Giant vs. Great Muta

They circle each other for a bit, Giant no sells some dropkicks and grabs Muta by the throat, and Muta mists him for the DQ.

The NWO (Vincent and Savage in this version) comes out for a beatdown but Giant shrugs them off. Luger comes out to help but Giant grabs him for a chokeslam….but puts him down before he chokeslams him. He was blind for that fight and the near chokeslam on Luger. I’m not entirely sure what the point of the Luger stuff was there.

Dean Malenko vs. Steve McMichael

Mongo throws him down to start as we hear about the Nitro Parties, which is exactly what it sounds like: a bunch of people watching Nitro and filming it. Mongo puts on a headlock followed by a shoulder to take Dean down, but a knee drop misses. Steve blocks a sunset flip out of the corner and hits a kind of World’s Strongest Slam for no cover. Malenko comes back with a good German Suplex which pops the crowd a bit.

Another powerslam kind of move puts Dean down and here are Debra and Jarrett for a distraction. Mongo goes after him but gets guillotined on the top rope, allowing Dean to hit a dropkick and one of the worst looking small packages of all time (Mongo’s fault) for the pin. This was supposed to be an upset because of the size difference, but does anyone buy Mongo as a bigger talent/star than Dean?

Rating: D. The best way to sum this match up is in four words: Mongo bad, Malenko good. Really that’s all there is to it. McMichael tried but he just never got better no matter how long he was in the ring for. He couldn’t even get rolled up without it looking terrible. When Dean Malenko can’t carry you to a decent match, it’s clear you’re not that good.

Post match Gene asks Malenko why he’s associating with Jarrett. Dean doesn’t answer because Mongo comes up. Security takes him off and Jeff pitches a partnership idea to Dean. Malenko says ok and Debra runs her mouth because WCW feels we haven’t suffered enough tonight. Jarrett runs his mouth a bit more and apparently Dean is going to think about it some more.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Hector Guerrero

Hector takes him down with a headscissors but a dropkick misses. Eddie starts stomping but we head to the floor for a chase. Back in and Hector uses a side roll to roll Eddie around the ring about four times for two. Eddie comes back with some biting but another headscissors sends him to the floor. Hector hits a big plancha on the floor but back inside, Eddie powerbombs him down and hits the Frog Splash for a fast pin.

Rating: C. This is the same problem I’ve mentioned before: Hector is a talented guy, but other than his name, he doesn’t mean much to most WCW audiences. I get what they were going for here with the sibling rivalry thing but it’s hard to care here because Hector isn’t a guy we know as far as his stuff in WCW goes.

Post match Dean comes in to beat up Eddie. He puts him in the Cloverleaf but Hector breaks it up. Dean then beats up Hector as well.

Hour #2 begins with no pyro again.

JJ Dillon says he’s got a major talent acquisition to announce. Dancing Stevie Richards comes up to say that he’s signed a contract. JJ wants to talk about Raven so Stevie says he needs to go see Raven in the front row. Dillon offers Raven the contract, saying that everything he wanted is in the deal. Raven is confused but Richards says that he negotiated Raven’s contract himself. Apparently Bird Boy is almost making as much money as Richards and gets a rental car with a tape deck. Raven goes on another rant and rips up the contract. Oh and he hits Richards too.

Lex Luger vs. Scott Norton

Bagwell and Vincent are here with Norton. Luger hits a hip toss to start but Norton comes back with a clothesline to take over. Luger comes back and here’s the NWO run-in to give Lex the DQ win.

Luger cleans house and Racks Vincent. Lex talks a bit until Hogan comes out to exchange some brief insults.

The Outsiders arrive and Konnan is here to meet them.

La Parka/Psychosis vs. Mortis/Wrath

Tonight it’s Hall/Nash vs. Benoit/Flair, presumably for the titles. Before the bell, we cut to the back to see Hennig and Flair talking. Apparently it was supposed to be Hennig coming out earlier when Syxx appeared. Wrath and La Parka start things off with the skeleton man (La Parka) taking over with some kicks. He goes up but jumps into an elbow so it’s off to Psychosis vs. Mortis. Mortis stomps away in the corner but Psychosis breaks free and goes up…..and falls without being touched at all. Ah the perils of live TV.

Psychosis comes back with a dropkick and everyone falls to the floor, where La Parka hits a big corkscrew plancha to the floor. Psychosis slides in to try to dive on Wrath, only to get caught and slammed onto the floor. Mortis suplexes Psychosis back in for two but misses a top rope backsplash. Onoo and Vandenberg get in a fight, as do Wrath and La Parka. Psychosis rolls up Mortis for two but there’s no referee to count. Wrath picks up Psychosis for a powerbomb and Mortis makes it a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for the pin.

Rating: C+. This was WAY better than you would have expected and got pretty entertaining by the end. The botch was bad but it happens every now and then and there’s almost nothing you can do about it. La Parka and Psychosis didn’t look like jobbers here, but rather a tag team that got beat by a better one. This was a surprisingly fun match and I liked it way more than I was expecting to.

Post match La Parka breaks a wooden chair over Mortis’ back but Wrath kicks his head off to stand tall.

Buff Bagwell vs. Booker T

This is before Booker means anything as a singles guy. Buff armdrags him down and things speed WAY up, resulting in a hiptoss to take Booker down. He immediately spins up and kicks Bagwell down to take over before knocking Buff to the floor. Back in and Bagwell chokes away a bit and slaps Booker in the back of the head. A clothesline turns Booker inside out for two.

Bagwell and referee Nick Patrick get in a shoving match and Bagwell hides in the corner. HHH and Earl Hebner used to do the same spot at house shows. Booker comes back with a big forearm to the face and some atomic drops for no cover. The Harlem Side Kick gets two but Patrick gets hit in the side of the head. Norton clotheslines Booker down and the Blockbuster gives Buff the pin.

Rating: C-. Bagwell was a low level NWO guy but he had a pretty good finisher which I would like to see make a comeback as someone signature move. Booker would get way better in the next year or so before becoming the company’s top star in just a few years. Decent match here but it was a little boring.

Mysterio is here on crutches, saying he’s refused surgery on his bad knee. He talks about how he’s not scared of anyone or anything, but here’s Konnan to kick the crutches away. Some luchadores come out to defend Rey but Konnan says he’s got the Wolfpack watching his back.

Curt Hennig vs. Michael Wallstreet

Wallstreet is still doing his “I hate WCW thing”. Of all the people you waste an idea like that on, you pick Wallstreet? The fans want DDP who hasn’t been here tonight I don’t think. It’s officially Hennig vs. Page at Road Wild. The PerfectPlex wins this in about 35 seconds.

Here’s Page to slug it out with Hennig but Page gets sent into the buckle to give Curt the advantage. The PerfectPlex is countered into a Diamond Cutter and the place goes nuts.

The Nitro Girls dance to Alex Wright’s music.

Tag Titles: Outsiders vs. Ric Flair/Chris Benoit

I’m pretty sure this is a title match. Tony says it is, and while this is probably a bad idea, I’ll go with it. Pay no attention to the Steiners winning like 84 #1 contenders matches in a row prior to this. We start with a brawl and Flair vs. Hall get us going in the ring. The Horsemen stand tall (not as tall as the Outsiders but tall in the metaphorical sense) until we officially start with Benoit and Hall.

Scott tries to pound him down but Benoit hits a dragon screw leg whip and a northern lights suplex for two. Hall bails so it’s off to Nash for a try at the Canadian. Actually make that the Carolinian who is immediately shoved down by Big Kev. Nash does all of his usual stuff in the corner but Flair comes back with punches to the face. Syxx pops Flair in the back of the head, giving Nash two off a side slam.

Back to Hall for the fallaway slam for two more. Nash comes in for some more high quality choking and the running crotch attack while Flair is throat first across the middle rope. Hall hits a running clothesline in the corner to keep Flair in trouble. Nash hits a big over the shoulder Snake Eyes on Flair before it’s back to Hall. Flair grabs a sleeper out of nowhere but Hall reverses into one of his own, only to have Flair quickly suplex out of it.

There’s the hot tag to Benoit who cleans house on both Outsiders. Clotheslines put both guys down and Flair stops Syxx from breaking up the Swan Dive. The headbutt gets two on Hall until Nash makes the save. Benoit punches out of the Jackknife but a Hall distraction lets Nash hit the big boot for a pin out of nowhere.

Rating: C+. I remember this match being a lot better. The ending seemed very rushed and likely happened because they were out of time. If you gave this match another five to seven minutes, it could go way up in quality. Benoit getting a chance to shine is always a good thing, as he was really starting to come into his own at this point. Not a bad match but nothing great either.

Syxx puts Flair in the Buzzkill on the bad arm until Mongo makes the save. The Steiners come out to stare at the Outsiders as we go off the air.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a better episode of Nitro as you can see Road Wild’s card coming together pretty well. Tonight had some good action and a lot of it too, as we had ten matches on a single card. This worked pretty well as WCW is starting to roll a bit heading into the biker PPV. Pretty good stuff here tonight.

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