WrestleCade 2018 Supershow
Date: November 24, 2018
Location: Benton Convention Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Commentators: Blake Chadrick, Cyrus Fees

So this is kind of like WrestleCon Thanksgiving with a big wrestling convention and a few shows, including this supershow. I’ve wanted to go down to this for a few years but I might as well take a look at the major show. This could be anywhere from great to horrible and it’s hard to guess one way or another. Let’s get to it.

National Anthem. You don’t get that very often outside of Wrestlemania.

Opening sequence, mainly including clips of past conventions and shows. Makes sense, even if this isn’t something you would expect on a show like this.

Apparently there was a dark match with Billy Gunn losing to Vanguard Championship Wrestling Champion Brandon Scott. Fair enough.

Eli Drake vs. Hurricane Helms

Not bad for an opener. Hurricane has Kelly Kelly and the H2 Empress (his wife) with him. Before the match, Drake says a year ago, he stood right here as the Impact Wrestling World Champion. Now, as the greatest wrestler on this planet, he knows there are two places you want to be: in the main event or in the opener. He wants to get this done so he can go get his, ahem, Pop Tarts (read as pie) so let’s downgrade Hurricane to a light breeze.

Hurricane starts in on the arm but gets shoved down, setting up a jumping neckbreaker to send Hurricane outside. That goes nowhere so Drake reverses a suplex into a neckbreaker for two back inside. A swinging neckbreaker (we get the point) gives Drake two more as he’s working the neck to set up the Gravy Train. Hurricane makes the comeback with a neckbreaker of his own but the chokeslam is broken up with an atomic drop. Drake makes the mistake of going after the women though and gets slammed off the top. The chokeslam gives Hurricane the pin at 7:53.

Rating: C-. This was fine for an opener as Drake is a star and Hurricane is going to get a reaction from his reputation and mannerisms alone. The wrestling wasn’t the point here and on a show like this, there are going to be more than enough people going out there and trying to steal the show. This was more of a curiosity match and for the spot they were in, that’s all it needed to be.

The announcers talk about Taya Valkyrie vs. Penelope Ford coming up later tonight.

The Boys vs. War Kings

That would be Dalton Castle’s Boys vs. Crimson/Jax Dane (the Veterans of War from TNA) with Animal in their corner for some reason, meaning they have the LOD face paint on. The Boys are cleared out for trying a handshake early on. Serves them right. Dane starts with we’ll say #1 (their names are Brent and Brandon but the announcers can’t tell them apart either) with a standing fall away slam sending #1 flying.

Crimson comes in to chop #2 but a very delayed vertical suplex is broken up with a kid to the knee. A double Eat Defeat and a double clothesline put Crimson on the floor, setting up a double suicide dive. Back in and Crimson launches #1 into the air for a crash, allowing the tag back to Dane. A pop up spinebuster crushes #1 but we get some “they might as well be twins” magic….and it doesn’t matter as #2 takes a fireman’s carry into a cutter to give the Kings the pin at 5:09.

Rating: D-. Nothing to see here at all as it was just a squash, though I’m still not sure what the point was in having Animal out there. The War Kings are fine for a power team and having them destroy the Boys for a little while was fine. That being said, was there really a point in having a squash on a one off show like this?

CW Anderson vs. Kid Kash

Jerry Lynn is guest referee. Anderson has John Skyler and an unnamed blonde with him. Kash on the other hand has Joel Gertner with him, who might be able to explain how the 49 year old Kash can still be a kid. Gertner does get in a PG-13 version of his signature dirty introductions, which are still funny after all these years. They run the ropes to start and Kash sends him outside for a big flip dive.

Back in and a top rope clothesline gets two on Anderson, who is right back up with a spinebuster. They head outside again and it’s time for a chair, with Anderson sending him shoulder first into the post and then pelting the chair at said shoulder. That’s very Anderson of him. The armbar goes on for a few seconds, followed by a heck of a left hand (again, very Anderson of him) as the announcers talk about Kash’s time as part of the Pitbulls in WWE.

Kash gets in a clothesline for a breather and it’s time to slug it out. A powerslam gives Kash two but he gets caught in a superplex to put them both down. Skyler gets inside to yell at Lynn….and here’s New Jack with the weapons. Jack starts cleaning house, including with a vacuum between the legs. A swing at Lynn sends him running off but he comes back in to take a chair away from Kash. The distraction lets Anderson hit a superkick to finish Kash at 11:02.

Rating: D+. The wrestling we got wasn’t terrible, though the completely random Jack cameo didn’t do the match any favors. If they just have to do the ECW match, at least it was someone different than the Tommy Dreamer/Sandman/everyone else that always gets these spots. Anderson wasn’t too bad and Kash, despite being ancient, was fine as well. Not a good match, but it could have been much worse.

Post match Anderson asks the ECW alumni to come get in the ring, so here are Blue Meanie, Shane Douglas, Chris Hamrick and a few others. This is an ad for an upcoming ECW panel so it’s hardly the worst thing in the world.

MVP/Moose vs. Carlito/Eddie Edwards

What a completely random match that you would only get on a show like this one. Side note: how in the world did Carlito never get a run in TNA? He’s kind of perfect for that place, especially in a quick run. Eddie in in his TNA hardcore mode here, which isn’t the worst idea in the world. It makes extra sense when Moose is in there with him, so we’re at least getting some continuity from the bigger show. In something I don’t think I’ve ever seen: the referee is wearing glasses.

MVP and Moose can’t decide who start so we pause for Eddie to high five a fan. We start with MVP and Carlito, the latter of whom doesn’t want to hear about the apple. The fans DEMAND an apple so someone brings one from the back, allowing the two of them to finally lock up. MVP headlocks him down and then headstands his way out of a headscissors, offering Carlito a friendly tap to the chest. Carlito scores with a dropkick so now it’s off to Moose vs. Edwards to start the fight.

Eddie wastes no time in sending him outside for a suicide dive. Back in and Moose gets in a shot to the face, allowing MVP to come in for some stomps. Eddie chops away at Moose though, giving us the always cool visual of the sweat flying off his chest. MVP comes back in and grabs a chinlock, followed by Ballin for two.

Moose tries his own but only hits mat, allowing the hot tag off to Carlito. House is cleaned in a hurry with a Roll of the Dice getting two on MVP. Moose makes the save and fights to the floor with Eddie as everything breaks down. MVP can’t hit the Playmaker on Eddie and there’s the apple spit in MVP’s face. A DDT gives Eddie the pin at 11:54.

Rating: D+. Just a tag match here and the kind of weird combinations that work very well on a show like this. MVP and Carlito didn’t do anything for me most of the time but they can wrestle a perfectly fine match like this one. Eddie being aggressive and crazy still works well and this was fine, especially with the apple actually playing into the finish after getting the attention at the start.

Penelope Ford vs. Taya Valkyrie

Hardcore with Amber O’Neal (former NWA Women’s World Champion and Luke Gallows’ wife) as referee. Ford is Joey Janela’s girlfriend who had a star making performance at All In. Taya’s entrance takes some time so Ford blasts her in the face with a trashcan to start. Valkyrie gets posted and it’s time to bring in some toys, like a ladder and a chair. A handspring back elbow drives the ladder into Taya but she’s right back with a spear to take Ford down.

The ladder is laid across the middle rope and Taya suplexes her onto it, with the ladder not budging a bit for a very scary landing. Taya puts a chair between Ford’s legs and dropkicks a trashcan into said chair, drawing quite the gasp. It’s table time, which can mean a variety of things at a show like this. They head outside with Taya ripping open Ford’s sweater for a chop but getting whipped into the barricade. Another table is set up but they fight into the crowd and have a seat in a pair of chairs.

That means a slap off, with Ford nearly falling out of her top, to the point where the black tape can be seen. Taya gets the better of it and hammers Ford back to ringside, only to be sent into a table that of course doesn’t break. Ford going face first into it doesn’t work either but Taya taking her shirt off gets a much more positive reaction. Back inside and Ford fires off some kicks in the corner, followed by a DDT onto an open chair for two.

Taya gets in one on the closed chair but she takes WAY too much time loading up a middle rope splash through the table. Ford takes too long with her super hurricanrana though and it’s a superbomb through the table to give Taya the pin at 16:06. O’Neal wasn’t a factor whatsoever.

Rating: C. I’ll give them big points here having a physical fight with the weapons being used like any men’s match of the same rules. So many times you’ll see a women’s match with some weak weapons usage but they were beating the fire out of each other here. Second, it was a big relief to not have the announcers talk about their rather revealing gear. It wasn’t mentioned once when it was almost impossible to ignore. Yeah it’s there, but focus on what you’re getting instead. Nice surprise here, with the extra time not even being a problem.

The announcers preview the rest of the show as the ring is cleared.

Crazzy Steve vs. Vampiro

Casket match and I forgot Steve existed, though he has Sinister Minister (James Mitchell) with him. Steve jumps him before the bell and Vampiro falls to the floor but is still able to whip Steve into the barricade. Another whip sends Vampiro into the side of the casket but Vampiro looks to be near death. Like more so than usual.

They brawl into the crowd and you can barely see anything more than Vampiro’s head. Steve hits a running something and bites Vampiro’s head before they head back to ringside. Vampiro looks for a weapon but settles for a Nail in the Coffin onto the coffin instead. So Nail on the Coffin. Minister comes in for a low blow and Steve adds some mist to the face for the win at about 6:15 (remember no opening bell).

Rating: D-. I heard good things about this match and yet this is what we got. It didn’t have any time and really, that’s probably the best thing possible as Vampiro looked horribly out of shape here and seemed barely able to do anything more than walk around. Bad match, bad execution and a bad idea in general, with the one good thing being they went home in a hurry. That’s actually a big point as so many matches would just keep going no matter how bad it was.

Post match Vampiro grabs the mic and talks about doing this since 1984. He’s beaten cancer and survived a broken back and he didn’t fly from Colombia to have these two censoreds do this. Vampiro does these things on special occasions and that’s not how this is ending because the people didn’t come here to see that. He doesn’t need to get booked on any show because he is the show. Next year, he’s showing up to face the two of them in a cage with no rules and no time limit. Vampiro asks the fans to cheer for him to wrap things up. Uh, yeah Vampiro. You do all those things.

AML Title: Caleb Konley vs. Jason Kincaid vs. Luchasaurus vs. Marty The Moth vs. Mil Muertes vs. Psicosis

This is the America’s Most Liked Wrestling Title and Konley is defending in a ladder match. If nothing else I get a nice flashback with Psicosis’ old WCW music. I haven’t heard that in years. Luchasaurus is better known as Vibora in Lucha Underground and Judas Devlin in NXT. For reasons I don’t understand, he’s a face here, because when you think monster with a mask, you think face. Konley is the hometown boy and brings in his own ladder.

That leaves Kincaid to hit a big springboard armdrag but Psicosis backdrops him onto the pile in the required spot. Psicosis hits his own dive and it’s time for the first ladder. A headscissors sends Luchasaurus into the ladder in the corner and it’s off to Kincaid to hammer on Muertes. A springboard dropkick doesn’t work on Muertes but an X Factor does. Muertes no sells a monkey flip into the ladder and it’s a chokeslam to send Kincaid into the ladder instead. Luchasaurus comes back in but gets caught by Marty’s ladder to the face, only to have Konley come in with the ladder around his neck for the spin.

Konley is the first person to go up but Marty and Muertes pull him down. Another ladder is put up and all six climb at once with some of them even going for the title. Everyone comes down until Marty is left alone for a climb. Luchasaurus makes the save this time but Muertes pulls him down.

With Luchasaurus in trouble, Muertes wrecks everything in sight, including taking the ladders down. He’s a complicated guy at times. Everyone gets smart and beats Muertes up, capped off by a cutter from Psicosis. Konley is left alone after a series of dives but Marty pulls him through a ladder. With Marty going up, Konley pulls himself up into a German suplex. That’s enough to retrieve the title as Konley retains at 13:04.

Rating: C+. This was just a bunch of spots with some wrestlers the fans should be familiar with and that’s perfectly fine. It’s a fun match and they had some time to hit a few flips and dives in between the spots with the ladder. The title change wasn’t likely to happen and there’s nothing wrong with seeing a fun match with the fans getting a treat. Fine for the show it was on and that’s important to keep in mind.

Top Rope Belts Battle Royal

Hurricane Helms, Zane Riley, Mallaki Matthews, Ricky Roberts, Dave Dawson, Chris Dawson, Keith Mac, Bazooka King, Mike Camden, Cam Carter, Yahya, Leo Pride, Jeremiah Plunkett, Gigolo Justin, Axton Ray, Sean Denny, Mark Denny, LaBron Kozone, Chad Skywalker, Rex Bacchus, QT Marshall, Bobby Fulton, Dylan Fulton, JB Cole, Chris Hamrick, Billy Brash, Fallah Bahh, Mr. Hughes, Gary Wolfe, Shane Douglas, George South, Simon Gotch, Stan Lee, Blue Meanie, Glacier, Fred Rosser, Sandman

Hurricane won this last year so I’m assuming he’s defending. I’m sure I missed a few people (the audio was hard to make out) but does it really matter in a match like this? I don’t know a lot of these names but Rosser is better known as Darren Young. Everyone goes after Hurricane to start and he’s out in fifteen seconds. Bahh um, shall we say, releases some pressure from his stomach and about ten people leave at once but here’s Sandman, a surprise last minute entrant, to fill in some of the gap.

We look at most of his full entrance (to be fair, it’s amazing in person) as the battle royal could have just about anything going on at the moment. The song finally ends after over FIVE MINUTES (a normal length for Sandman) and he canes Lee from the apron for some flopping around like a fish selling. Another cane shot gets rid of Kozone but South kicks Sandman out, becoming a huge heel in the process. South is out a few seconds later and pulls Lee with him.

Cole, Bacchus and Meanie are gone as the eliminations are barely getting any mention here. Grimm eliminates Skywalker (just called Walker by the announcers) and there go Roberts and Marshall. Brash and Glacier go as well and it’s down to Bahh, Zane Dawson and Rosser (I told you it was going fast).

Dawson gets double teamed but Bahh clotheslines Rosser down. Rosser eliminates Dawson and Bahh hits a crossbody. The Banzai Drop is broken up and Rosser gets him to the apron but Bahh pulls him out there as well. A neckbreaker on the apron doesn’t get rid of Bahh, who hiptosses Rosser out for a double elimination at 12:56. Bahh is named the winner despite hitting first. Eh it’s not like it matters that much.

Rating: F. Yeah it’s bad, but it’s not the kind of bad that I’m going to get upset about. This was ENTIRELY for the live fans so they could say they saw a battle royal, but the big joke elimination wasn’t exactly funny and didn’t help things. This wasn’t so much bad as much as it was “yeah get this over with” and the Sandman entrance makes up for some of that. Cool moment, but a nothing match of course.

Actually hang on as it was close enough that they’re restarting it, even though Rosser looks to have banged his head on the way down. Bahh backdrops him out for the real win in about thirty seconds. I like it better than having the really bad finish, which seemed to be a botch. They shake hands for a bonus.

PJ Black/Johnny Impact vs. Juventud Guerrera/Ultimo Dragon

Lucha rules with Taya Valkyrie and Sonny Onoo of all people as the seconds. I guess Sonny isn’t offended by the Japanese stereotype character if it’s an indy show and not WCW. At least we get the old Juvy music as the WCW is strong with this show. Before the match, Johnny insults North Carolina and says that himself, Black and Taya are the real Mexican legends. Dragon and Impact start things off with Dragon taking him into the corner for a clean break.

The wristlock doesn’t work for Impact as Dragon does his big spinning escape and it’s time to hit the mat. Dragon flips out of a leglock as we hear about the still incredible J-Crown Title (that famous shot of Dragon holding nine titles). Black comes in and is immediately chopped by Juvy and the running DDT sends Black to the floor. That means the big suicide dive and it’s Black in trouble for the first time. A poke to the eye cuts Dragon down and it’s back to Impact for a kick to the head.

The double teaming is on with Juvy chasing Impact to the floor, which just allows Taya to get in some stomping of her own. It’s back to Juvy for a faceplant but Taya breaks up the 450 and Black PULLS OFF THE MASK. Juvy is rightfully ticked off but Black suplexes him down and grabs a double arm crank. Impact comes back in for a Moonlight Drive but misses the Countdown to Impact, allowing Juvy to hit a quick Juvy Driver. The hot tag brings Dragon back in and everything breaks down with the villains getting caught in the always stupid looking rowboat leg stretch.

Rating: C+. The match was fun and the old guys looked anything but old….if you ignore the rather ridiculous Sonny part. It’s not like he was anything other than a low level comedy manager back in the day so why is he beating up a World Champion and someone who used to be a champion in WWE? Fun match though, with Dragon alone being more than enough to make it a cool moment.

The announcers preview the main event and incorrectly say Ric Flair won his first NWA World Title at Starrcade 1983.

NWA World Title: Jake Hager vs. Nick Aldis

Aldis is defending and Hager (carrying his wife Catalina on his shoulder) is better known as Jack Swagger. Nick actually has a second of his own in indy wrestler Kamilla Kaine. EARL HEBNER is referee for the real star power and we get some old school instructions. Hager takes him (Aldis, not Hebner, as Hager isn’t that horrible of a person) down with a quick Gator Roll and Aldis bails to the floor for a minute.

Back in and we go into a bit of a grappling exchange with Hager slipping outside to avoid a Kingsland Cloverleaf. The women nearly get into it on the floor but the distraction lets Aldis get in a shot from behind to take over. Back in and Aldis gets two off a suplex, followed by a clothesline into a middle rope elbow. A jumping back elbow to the jaw gets two more and it’s time to work on the leg. With the Cloverleaf not working again, Aldis slaps on the Figure Four as the announcers get in the Flair error again.

Hager makes the big turn for the reversal so Aldis is in the ropes almost immediately. The comeback is on with the belly to belly powerslam, followed by a big clothesline for two. The running Vader Bomb hits raised boots and the Mag Daddy Driver gets two more. Hager’s superplex is broken up and Aldis drops the top rope elbow. That’s still not enough for the Cloverleaf and Hager slaps on the ankle lock.

That’s broken up as well and it’s a double clothesline for the double knockdown. The women get in for no logical reason and it’s the much bigger Kaine flipping her over without much effort. More referees come out to get rid of the two of them and Hager grabs the ankle lock with a grapevine. The long crawl to the ropes gets Aldis out of trouble so Hager puts it on again. Can’t fault the logic there. This time Aldis rolls out though and a small package retains the title at 17:30.

Rating: B-. Not too bad here, even with the women not exactly being necessary. The story of the battle of the submission holds was fine, even if Aldis never actually got the Cloverleaf. Beating Hager is a nice win for Aldis as he’s a former World Champion in WWE and, even if it’s been a long time, that still means a lot. I’m still not huge on Aldis but this was a good performance. Good wrestling here and one of the better matches of the night.

They shake hands to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This is a show where you need to remember what you’re seeing. This isn’t supposed to be some big, epic show and that’s not what you get here. Instead it’s a lighthearted night of wrestling with a bunch of legends and a few lower level current stars. That’s perfectly fine for what it was and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a much more laid back atmosphere than something like WrestleCon (which is better and has bigger names) but for about three and a half hours, I’ve seen much, much worse.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

Ring of Honor
Date: August 15, 2018
Location: EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Virginia
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana

Your guess is as good as mine about what we might be getting this week. This show could be about wrestling, it could be about storytelling, or it could be about setting up some show for the Honor Club that doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. The company is all over the place anymore, mainly due to not having a big show to build towards at the moment. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Bouncers vs. Briscoe Brothers

Non-title and the Bouncers are the Beer City Bruiser/Brian Milonas. Brian catches Mark’s crossbody and throws him hard with a belly to belly suplex. Jay comes in and gets rocked as well, with the Bouncers running the Brothers over without any trouble. Another hard shoulder knocks Jay down but the Brothers are back up with a double knockdown to the floor. That means a big flip dive from Jay, followed by a Whisper in the Wind from Mark as we take a break.

Back with Mark in more trouble and Milonas hitting his falling backsplash for two. A Trash Compactor of all things gets two on Mark with Jay having to make the save. Bruiser misses a Cannonball off the apron though and the Briscoes start the running corner clotheslines to put Milonas in trouble. A missed charge sends Bruiser into Milonas and an impressive Death Valley Driver gets two on Milonas. There’s a Blockbuster from the apron to Milonas, followed by the Froggy Bow for the pin at 9:27.

Rating: C+. I came into this one ready to not like it but the Bouncers were much better than I was expecting. They were in there working hard and doing a strong big man style, which is where they do have value. Granted it helped to be in there against a team as good as the Briscoes. I’m not sure how well it would have worked without them, but that’s how any better match works.

Post match the Briscoes say no one is taking these belts from them, especially So Cal Uncensored. Cue So Cal Uncensored to talk about how they need gold to stick around at the end of the year. The fight is on and referees are breaking it up as we take a break.

Karen Q. vs. Madison Rayne vs. Kelly Klein vs. Tenille Dashwood

The winner gets a future Women’s Title match and it’s one fall to a finish. All of them get an inset promo on their way to the ring. Believe it or not, they all want to be champion. Way to show the awesome levels of character depth from this division. Karen bails to the floor to start and Klein is proud of ducking an early double clothesline, only to be knocked to the floor.

Madison rolls Dashwood up for some near falls and lets her know how close that was. That’s enough to bring Karen back in but she gets suplexed upon arrival. Ian says there are supposed to be tags here, which is quite the news to Colt. Fair enough actually. Karen is back up with some running forearms to Madison and a snap suplex gets two. Dashwood puts on the Tarantula and takes Karen up top, only to have Kelly come back in with the Tower of Doom on everyone as we take a break.

Back with Dashwood taking over but Klein breaks up a near fall on Karen. Klein puts Karen up in a fireman’s carry and easily catches Madison in a fall away slam at the same time. No matter who does those things, they’re always impressive. A high crossbody gives Dashwood two on Klein and the Spotlight Kick connects, only to have Karen steal the near fall. Madison is back up though and the Rayne Check finishes Karen at 9:36.

Rating: D+. Just a big collection of stuff here without much of a flow or story being told. Madison as the next challenger is a good idea as you need someone with some name value to the more common wrestling fan (Madison isn’t a star but she’s better known than the Stardom women in America). I’m a bit surprised given that Madison is in the Mae Young Classic but this feels like a one off title shot anyway.

Here are Cody and Brandi Rhodes to take issue with the way his World Title rematches have gone. Yes he’s had two shots, but neither of them have been on on one. He needs someone to come out here who is all business so here’s NWA World Champion Nick Aldis, who Cody will be defending against at All In. Aldis talks about agreeing to their match at All In, but where’s the upside for him? What does Cody have to offer him? There’s no ROH World Title on the line so Aldis has nothing to gain, and that doesn’t sound like good business.

Cody offers up the ring of honor as collateral, which Aldis accepts and leaves. Hang on a second though, as Cody calls out Aldis for beating a 53 year old history teacher for that title while Cody was beating Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi. Aldis gets back in and holds up the ring but here’s the Bullet Club to break things up. Nice segment here, especially for a match with the most obvious ending in the world.

Cheeseburger/Flip Gordon/Josh Woods vs. Bully Ray/Punishment Martinez/Shane Taylor

The Club is defending but hang on a second as here’s Bully Ray to post Flip and take him out. Post break, Bully and company say Cheeseburger and Woods need a partner so the fans chant for Colt Cabana. Cheeseburger says they’ll do it 3-2 so let’s hit the bell.

Cheeseburger/Josh Woods vs. Bully Ray/Punishment Martinez/Shane Taylor

Woods and Taylor start things off but Shane tags out to Martinez instead. That’s fine with Josh, who slugs away in the corner and a suplex has Martinez in trouble. Martinez stomps him out of the corner though and now Taylor is willing to come in so Woods suplexes him as well. Bully comes in and Cheeseburger comes in for the not very well done staredown. Cheeseburger slips out of a powerbomb and avoids a charge but Ray hides in the other corner.

The distraction lets Taylor crotch Cheeseburger and we take a break. Back with Ray talking a lot of trash as Cheeseburger tries to crawl to the corner. Shane knocks Woods off the apron with the running right hand and with Cheeseburger alone, Cabana runs in to be the third man and clean house. Cheeseburger tags himself in for a top rope double stomp and Cabana dives onto Ray. Taylor comes back in with Greetings From 216 and the pin at 7:41.

Rating: D. Good. I liked watching Cheeseburger’s head bounce off the mat and I was smiling when he got pinned. The character wasn’t creative in the first place and I’m sick of having the same stories pounded into my head for years now. It’s really annoying to watch him in there so often and even occasionally getting the better of people nearly 200lbs heavier than him. I can’t stand the guy and it was nice to see him get beaten up and pinned. Do it less often though, because it would mean Cheeseburger isn’t wrestling as often.

One positive: a thrown together team was fighting people they have issues with and not getting a random Six Man Tag Team Title match. I had just glanced at the graphic earlier and thought this was a title shot for Cheeseburger and company so the match we actually got was a bit of a relief.

Post match the beating is on but Flip Gordon comes back out with a chair for the save. Ray and company bail to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Like I said, this was another show where it was a total guessing game of what you were going to see. The wrestling wasn’t great to say the least (though the opener was good) and the main event angle is one of my least favorites in wrestling for the last year minimum. Building towards All In is better than nothing and gave the show its best segment. Other than that though, it feels like they were just throwing stuff out there and hoping for the best this week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/07/23/new-book-kbs-complete-2003-monday-night-raw-reviews/

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

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

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kihie|var|u0026u|referrer|rstrf||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Night Only: Amped Anthology Part I
Date: August 11, 2017
Location: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Cyrus Fees, Chael Sonnen

So this exists. Back in 2015, Global Force Wrestling FINALLY got around to their TV tapings and over two years later, we’re FINALLY getting to see the things. Most of these people have moved on to different promotions but I’m really interested in seeing how these things were going to be. There were eight one hour episodes and I believe we have four of them here tonight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a quick intro, basically saying that none of this is scripted. It also comes off like a partial reality show with a lot of focus on people working as hard as they can to get here. It’s amazing how many of these names are already in WWE and in many cases have already won titles there.

The announcers welcome us to the show with Chael playing a heel and loving the idea of tournaments to win titles.

It’s a six sided ring because of course it is.

Nex Gen Title Tournament First Round: Seiya Sanada vs. PJ Black

The production values are quite good, probably better than today’s Impact. We get the crazy spinouts from the wristlocks to start and it’s off to a standoff. Black flips him down to the mat and grabs a headlock as the announcers explain Black’s background. A kick to the back of the head gets two on Sanada but he pops right back up with a dropkick. Black springboards into a dropkick to the ribs and we hit the abdominal stretch.

That goes nowhere (like you would expect it to in this kind of a match) so Black spinkicks him down, only to miss the top rope Lionsault. Sanada misses his own though and it’s a double breather. Back up and Black fires off some kicks but gets caught on top. A tiger suplex gives Sanada two and a TKO gets the same. Sanada loads up a superplex but gets shoved off, setting up the springboard 450 to send Black on at 8:45.

Rating: C+. So you know all those other X-Division style matches that don’t have much of a story but feature a bunch of pretty good flips and dives? Well this is one of them. Black is a good high flier and Sanada is a bit more well rounded but these matches just kind of come and go for me. It was good but another X-Division/Cruiserweight Title doesn’t do much for me anymore. We’ve seen it so many times that seeing it again isn’t the most thrilling thing in the world.

Here are the brackets for the first time.

Black

Sonjay Dutt

Jigsaw

TJP

Andrew Everett

Trevor Lee

TBD

Video on Kevin Kross. Believe it or not, he was inspired by Japanese wrestling.

The resident lucha libre team is ready for their six man tag later and two of them are ready to win the Tag Team Titles.

Here’s Bobby Roode, to his own Against the Grain TNA theme, for a chat. Roode says he doesn’t belong here because he’s always been and always will be a TNA guy. He lists off a bunch of people he’s held the TNA World Title than, which is better known as a list of people who will never be here. He’s here tonight to take the GFW World Title from Jeff Jarrett (who isn’t champion mind you) but here’s Nick Aldis, better known as Magnus, to interrupt. Aldis says this isn’t the Impact Zone and Jarrett brought everyone here to join the force. Cue Kongo Kong (who looks just as bad as he does now) to jump Aldis, allowing Roode to grab a Crossface.

Black is ready to move forward towards the title.

Video on Jarrett creating the company.

Bestia 666/Blood Eagle/Samu Jr. vs. Los Luchas/Misterioso Jr.

Zokre and Eagle start things off with a lucha sequence, which Sonnen says is reminiscent of the Hart Foundation. Everything breaks down and Zokre gets beaten down with a wheelbarrow Codebreaker planting him. The triple teaming makes things even worse with all of the technicos taking a beating as we head to a break.

Back with Eagle powerbombing Zokre for two as the announcers are trying to keep up with everything going on to little avail. Misterioso hits an Asai moonsault onto Samu and Los Luchas add stereo running flip dives. A Codebreaker and a hurricanrana driver plants Eagle and something like a Lionsault gives Misterioso the pin at 6:14 shown.

Rating: C. This was your run of the mill lucha insanity but I have no idea who any of these people are. Commentary did a horrible job of telling us who they were and there was no reason to like one team over the other. It wasn’t bad but the days of just doing lucha for the sake of doing lucha are long behind us. Well save for around here and on 205 Live of course and it’s no wonder that neither is the most successful product in the world.

Here are the brackets for the Tag Team Title tournament:

Bollywood Boyz

Akbars

Los Luchas

Reno Scum

Celo/Misterioso

Teaze N Sleaze

Bullet Club

Killer Elite Squad

Preview of the rest of the season.

The second episode begins with a recap of last week’s show, even if it didn’t seem like much happened. The big focus is on Roode vs. Kross for a spot in the GFW World Title tournament.

Virgil Flynn and Kushida are ready to go after the Nex Gen Title.

Kushida vs. Virgil Flynn

Non-tournament and non-title with Kushida’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title not on the line. I’ve never heard of Flynn but Kushida is probably my favorite New Japan guy. They fight over a wristlock to start until Kushida grabs a front facelock to take over. A drop toehold puts Kushida into 619 position though and a kick to the head staggers him even more. Back in and Kushida kicks him down before sending him shoulder first into the post.

Bored of that, Kushida hits the basement dropkick for two. Virgil gets in a jawbreaker, which Chael describes as old school. It’s too early for the Hoverboard Lock and Virgil snaps him off the top with a hurricanrana. Kushida wins a slugout but his crossbody is countered into a powerslam for two. A 450 hits knees though and Kushida fires off kicks to the arm before just punching him in the jaw. The Hoverboard Lock makes Flynn tap at 10:37.

Rating: C+. Flynn wasn’t bad though this was just a step above an extended squash. Having Kushida around is a good idea as he’s one of the best in-ring talents in the world, though having the IWGP Title out there didn’t look good. You’re trying to convince people that you’re the best in the world. Don’t mention other promotions every chance you get as it makes you look like you’re riding their coattails instead of standing on your own. See also a major problem for GFW and ROH today.

Aldis says he’s fine and can appreciate Kong trying to make a name for himself. He’ll be winning the GFW Title though.

Kushida and Flynn endorse each other.

Video on the women of GFW. This includes Karen Jarrett talking about how many opportunities the women will be getting because she’s this company’s Stephanie McMahon.

Video on Kevin Kross, who seems to be a shooter/MMA guy with some anger issues.

Video on Chris Mordetzky, who is totally different than when he was in WWE.

Video on the Bollywood Boyz, now known as the Singh Brothers.

GFW World Title Tournament Qualifying Match: Bobby Roode vs. Kevin Kross

Roode works on the arm to start before lounging on the top rope. Kross reverses a hammerlock and runs him over, which isn’t exactly what I think of when I hear someone is a shooter. A quick breather on the floor seems to do Roode some good as he comes back in and sends Kross into the post.

The bad arm is rammed into the barricade a few times, which I guess isn’t MMA style as Kross is in even more trouble. Back from a break with Roode hitting the Hennig necksnap and cranking on the arm some more. The spinebuster looks to set up the Roode Bomb but Kross escapes into a rollup. Not that it matters as Roode reverses into the Crossface for the tap at 7:39.

Rating: D+. So much for the shooter/MMA guy. I know Jarrett did the thing where he was a fake MMA guy but does he know that there’s such a thing as real MMA style wrestlers? Kross was every run of the mill angry wrestler here with nothing that suggested he had a shoot background whatsoever. That left us with little more than a glorified (though not glorious) squash, which doesn’t do much for Kross.

Video on the Akbars, doing the standard “we’re treated differently because we look different” stuff.

Episode three begins with another recap.

Here’s a lounge singer named Henry Maxwell for no logical reason other than to be beaten down by the Akbars before their match.

GFW Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Akbars vs. Bollywood Boyz

The Akbars are Ali and Omar, both of whom are best known from OVW. Gurv and Omar start things off and it’s a small package for two on Omar. That means it’s already off to Ali, who is sent scurrying back to Omar thanks to an armdrag. They have quite the low tolerance for pain.

Some double teaming puts Harv in trouble though and it’s a double suplex for no cover. Back from a break with Harv still in the wrong corner and a snap suplex into a chinlock. A running knee and elbow drop get two but hang on because we need to plug an upcoming Karen Jarrett appearance.

We get the classic fight to the corner for a tag the referee doesn’t see, which always makes me smile a bit. Omar misses a middle rope leg and there’s the hot tag to Gurv. A DDT and spinwheel kick get two as everything breaks down. Harv hits a top rope back elbow to the jaw, setting up a top rope elbow drop for the pin on Ali at 8:52.

Rating: D+. This was quite a bit of nothing special with the Akbars being as generic a set of villains as you could find. The Boyz were better, though still not exactly setting the world on fire. Their actual wrestling has never been great though at least they seem to have found their calling as the crash dummies for Jinder Mahal.

Sonjay Dutt is ready to win the Nex Gen Title to go with his bachelor’s degree.

Jigsaw is a masked man who has wrestled everywhere and sounds very standard for having such a cool name. He’s a hybrid wrestler and wants to win the Nex Gen Title too.

Another video on Mordetzky, with a lot of the same material being covered.

Here’s Karen Jarrett, who is introduced as the Queen of the Knockouts. She makes a women’s match for the main event but Lei’D Tapa and her manager Royal Red cut her off. Red doesn’t want to hear about the old news that is Mickie James. Karen tells her to shut up because she’s all tough and awesome. She wants Tapa to cage up her husband before her triple threat tonight with James and Christina Von Eerie.

Video on Kevin Kross, who wants to fight Bobby Roode again.

Nick Aldis is ready to face Kongo Kong.

GFW Women’s Title Tournament First Round: Lei’D Tapa vs. Mickie James vs. Christina Von Eerie

The winner is in the finals because this tournament isn’t exactly deep. Tapa shrugs off an early double teaming attempt and we’re off to a way too early break. Back with more double teaming working better and Tapa being sent outside. Mickie hurricanranas Christina out of the corner as Tapa gets back in.

A double Samoan drop….hurts Tapa as well as she bumps her head on the way down. The Barbarian’s niece shouldn’t be hurt by a blow to the head like that. Come on and get your stereotypes right already people. James and Von Eerie double team Tapa down again but get in an argument over the cover (you might have seen this idea before). The MickieDT (and a bad one at that) drops Tapa but Von Eerie sends James outside. A Backstabber to Tapa puts Von Eerie in the finals at 6:58.

Rating: D+. Another lackluster match that followed the same formula you’ve seen for this match a dozen or more times. Von Eerie going over is interesting and probably a better call as James is an established star and Tapa, no matter how many companies hire her, still isn’t interesting. Not terrible here but I’m already forgetting parts of it.

Von Eerie gets the winner of Katarina Leigh, the Bullet Babe and Lauren James. She’s ready for any of them.

Here are the brackets for the World Title tournament:

Chris Mordetzky

Brian Myers

Nick Aldis

Kongo Kong

Shelton Benjamin

JR Kratos

Bobby Roode

TBD

The lounge singer from earlier turns out to be Kong’s manager. Uh….ok then.

Episode four means another recap.

Video on Sonjay Dutt vs. Jigsaw.

Nex Gen Title Tournament First Round: Sonjay Dutt vs. Jigsaw

They speed things up to start and it’s the fast paced moves with little to no impact that almost always start these things off. Jigsaw scores with a few shots to the face and a dropkick gets two. Cyrus talks about Jigsaw taking a title from Dutt in CZW to put him on the map. Chael: “You did NOT see that match.” Cyrus: “Uhhh…..”.

After making the face announcer look like an idiot like that, Dutt fights out of a Gory Stretch and dropkicks him to the floor. Back in and Dutt kicks him in the face before grabbing an Octopus Hold. Jigsaw sends him outside for the required flip dive, followed by the missile dropkick back inside.

Neither can hit a piledriver so we’ll go with the standard superkick to drop Jigsaw instead. A standing shooting star gets two and a tornado DDT gets the same. Jigsaw avoids a charge and hits a double stomp to the back, followed by a kneeling reverse piledriver (Jig and Tonic) to advance at 10:15.

Rating: C. Another good, fast paced match here though still nothing that hasn’t been done before. Dutt is a name that has been around forever while Jigsaw, who I’ve liked in the times I’ve seen him, was basically lost as soon as I heard him talk for the first time. His name and look suggests something mysterious but he’s just another guy from New York. Think this stuff through people.

Video on Kongo Kong attacking Nick Aldis on the first episode to set off their feud. Or whatever you can count as a feud here as they’re just having one tournament match.

Jigsaw is happy and Dutt praises him for his win.

Here’s Chael Sonnen in the ring for a chat. He immediately heels it up by telling everyone to be quiet and insults MMA fighter Phil Baroni in the front row. Sonnen issues something of a challenge and says the fight would be one more for the bad guy. Now he calls out Virgil Flynn and mocks him for the loss, only to say that he’s in the Nex Gen Title tournament anyway. I guess Kushida was too busy. PJ Black comes out, tells Flynn that he’s awesome, and superkicks him for a heel turn. Eh you have to turn someone.

Video on Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) who wants to win the title.

Video on Reno Scumm.

GFW World Title Tournament First Round: Kongo Kong vs. Nick Aldis

Maxwell does Kong’s entrance and is a pretty lame heel manager. The fight is on in a hurry with Kong missing a charge in the corner and falling out to the floor. Back in and Kong hammers away some more because he’s big and fat and therefore strong. Maxwell gets in a cheap shot from the floor so Kong can get two off a legdrop. We hit the nearly required bearhug and a belly to belly gets two on Nick.

Back from a break with Kong yelling at the referee so Maxwell can get in a cheap shot. That means another bearhug as they’re certainly staying within the lines of the paint by numbers formula. Aldis fights out and hits a belly to back suplex, followed by some clotheslines for two. A superplex plants Kong and the top rope elbow gets two. Maxwell offers a distraction so Kong can hit the Cannonball for two more. Kong misses a moonsault though and the Spine Shaker sends Aldis on at 9:27.

Rating: D+. What in the world does Jarrett see in Kongo Kong? He’s embarrassing looking and doesn’t do anything of note in the ring. We’ve seen big guys do moonsaults for over twenty years now and it’s certainly not as impressive as Vader’s or even Bam Bam Bigelow’s. He’s just a big guy who looks like a monster, which isn’t exactly the most impressive thing in the world. Aldis was the only option here and thankfully he slayed the monster in relatively short order.

Overall Rating: C-. This is one of the trickiest things I’ve ever had to grade. First of all, it’s really hard to look at this as it was originally intended. These shows were A, meant to be seen week to week and B, aired two years ago. In 2017, it comes off like a bunch of Impact guys and people who have left for the greener pastures of WWE. That’s a very different presentation than they were shooting for but it’s really hard to look at it as originally intended.

As for the show itself….it’s really just ok at best. I look at the lineups and matches here and all I see is a group of people who aren’t good enough to be in WWE. Myers and Mordetzky stand out for me above all others. They’re the definition of WWE rejects and neither showed anything here to make me think that they’re anything more than generic wrestlers. That’s the case with a lot of people on the show and it doesn’t do it many favors.

You also have the severe lack of stories, though that’s to be expected on the first set of shows. This is ALL about the tournaments and really nothing more. The only other story is Roode wanting to mess with the company and even then he’s in the tournament. That’s fine for something like this but it needs to change going forward.

Another big problem is the commentary. It really felt like neither of these two knew a lot about professional wrestling. Sonnen sounded like he knew the combat stuff but his heel shtick felt really, really forced, especially his in-ring promo (which I remember hearing was literally just thrown in because Sonnen wanted to do it and Jarrett said sure). It seemed like they were given some notes about each wrestler and little more, which doesn’t mean you know something about the wrestling itself. It was really noticeable and became annoying very quickly.

Let’s talk about some of the good things because they definitely do exist. First of all, the presentation is great. The show looks like an upper level production with good lighting, good graphics and no major errors or flaws. It feels like you’re watching something with a budget and some effort and that can make all the difference in the world.

It also helped that the wrestling was all perfectly acceptable. There’s some stuff that wasn’t as good as the rest but it was all watchable enough with nothing embarrassing. They weren’t trying to reinvent the wheel with the matches and it made for a good enough outing, which is often all you can ask for from something like this.

Overall, the show isn’t bad but it’s also nothing that really stands out other than a historical (work with me here) curiosity. I’ll probably watch the other parts in the series (Part II, likely out of four total, has already been given a release date) and hopefully things pick up a bit. This could have been something, though it’s hardly anything that blows you away like New Japan or unique like Lucha Underground. It’s really just the not quite good enough for WWE troupe going out and putting on a pretty standard set of shows. Nothing bad, but also nothing memorable.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

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