Monday Night Raw
Date: August 20, 2012
Location: Save Mart Center, Fresno, California
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the night after Summerslam and nothing of note has changed. Punk is still champion, Lesnar beat up HHH as we expected him to, and there isn’t much else to talk about. Things will start to die down now as they always do in the fall but hopefully things aren’t all that bad. Let’s get to it.

Here are Heyman and Lesnar to open the show. Heyman brags for Lesnar about making HHH tap last night. Apparently that means that HHH quit on all of the fans because he couldn’t survive Lesnar. It’s HHH’s fault though because he told the referee to not stop the match no matter what happened and that’s what happened. Heyman asks the referee to come down here to be addressed by Brock.

Lesnar gets in the referee’s face and pulls Armstrong to himself, before saying good job. Heyman says Lesnar is the new king of kings. He’s the master of the Brocktogon and the conqueror of the WWE Universe.

Sin Cara/Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Prime Time Players/Cody Rhodes

Kofi and Young start us off with Darren being in trouble early. The champs’ team clears the ring and we take a break. Back with Truth coming in to punch Young a bit more. Ax kick hits and Khloe Kardashian is the social media ambassador tonight. Good grief. Off to Cody who comes in with a release gordbuster on Truth to take over. Titus comes in with the neck crank on Truth as things slow down.

O’Neal barks which is called the Q Bark now apparently. He suplexes Young onto Truth for two which is a takeoff on the Hart Foundation’s slam version back in the day. Off to a bodyscissors from Young followed by a chinlock from Titus. Kofi seems to have disappeared. Cara snaps off some ranas to clear the ring and Kofi dives on the Players. I guess he didn’t disappear. Back in the ring Cody goes for the mask but gets rolled up by Cara for the pin at 10:10.

Rating: C-. This was a bit slow but I have no problem with combining a few feuds. That being said, why are the Players facing Kingston and Truth still? They lost twice already, clean both times I believe. Anyway, Cara continues to look good as they keep him in short bursts. A feud for the mask is fine but wasn’t that what his first feud was for? Anyway this was decent.

AJ is in the back when Otunga returns. He offers his services and she gets mad for some reason, giving him a match against a mystery opponent. Otunga leaves and AJ responds to a Tout from Punk earlier, where he said he wanted to name his own number one contender. That’s cool with AJ, but she has final say over it.

Ryback vs. Mike Spitter/Andy Takarez

One step forward, two steps back for Ryback. Ryback hits three powerbombs on let’s say Andy. He shouts for Jinder and loads up the double Shell Shocked when Mahal comes in for the DQ at 1:29.

Ryback puts on the Clutch but gets destroyed anyway. The jobbers get beaten up too.

Dolph comes up to Jericho in the back and Jericho lists off his names. AJ comes in and makes a rematch between the two, with the obvious stipulation of Case vs. job.

Here’s Del Rio to say exactly what you would expect him to say. We get stills of him having the foot on the ropes, he wants a rematch, we’re all going to be bored. Cue AJ who says that’s not her territory but Del Rio can have a match here instead.

Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio

Before the bell and after a break, here’s Sheamus to join the fun. Orton dropkicks Alberto down for two almost immediately and hooks a chinlock. A slingshot suplex puts Del Rio down and there’s the Circle Stomp and kneedrop for two. Del Rio comes back with a knee and a chinlock for the sake of calling some spots. He mocks Orton’s mat smacking and goes up for some reason, only to get superplexed down for two. They slug it out from their knees with the Viper taking over.

After the clotheslines from Orton he loads up the Elevated DDT, only for Del Rio to escape and hit an enziguri. A charge from Del Rio is caught and Orton hooks his backbreaker. After a pair of kicks to the arm it’s apparently time for the armbreaker (he should just call it Destiny) but Orton counters into a neckbreaker for two. The Elevated DDT out of the corner gets no cover as Orton loads up the RKO. Ricardo comes in but Sheamus and a glare from Orton stops him. Del Rio hits a Backstabber for two as Sheamus points out the feet being on the rope to the referee. The distraction lets Orton hit the RKO for the pin at 8:30.

Rating: C. This wasn’t bad and hopefully it sets up a triple threat instead of another one on one match. Orton is in the kind of position where he can be thrown into a match like that and lose without it hurting him at all. He can add a lot to the match though, especially some fresh blood to a boring feud between Sheamus and Del Rio. Decent enough match here.

Punk says there was no controversy to his win last night. He still wants respect.

We get a Tout from Antonio Cesaro and Aksana in the ring after winning the title last night.

Here’s the video on the stuff WWE did in LA this past week.

Damien Sandow vs. Brodus Clay

The intellectual says he’s going to send the Funkasaurus back into extinction. That’s quite the mind. Sandow sends him into the corner but the power game takes over for Brodus. He backdrops Damien and dances a bit. Sandow gets slammed down again and an elbow keeps him down. Daniem tries to go after the knee of Brodus which has been bad for weeks now. That gets him nowhere other than put in the corner where Brodus does Big Show’s gyrating hip attack. A running headbutt to the chest puts Sandow down again but a splash misses in the corner and Sandow rolls him up with tights for the pin at 2:40.

We go to Shawn Michaels in San Antonio. He says he was watching last night and talks about how it may have been the end for HHH. Shawn says you can prepare yourself for the end of your career but when it hits, you can’t be ready for it. HHH left it all in the ring last night and couldn’t get it done, so maybe his career is over. Shawn says that he was another distraction to HHH and if he had been in HHH’s corner, maybe he would have won. HHH is one of the best ever and Shawn we all love him.

David Otunga vs. Big Show

Total dominance by Show who is wrestling more like a face here. He fires off some knees to the head of Otunga and hits the Eye of the Hurricane (I think Show called it the Final Cut back in the day but I’m not sure) before finishing with the WMD at 2:07.

Earlier today Show ranted about the match last night.

Kane/Zach Ryder vs. The Miz/Daniel Bryan

The idea is that the partners have had issues in the past. That’s an understatement. They do acknowledge the issues Kane and Ryder have had which is a big help. Ryder gets in the ring very slowly and doesn’t look happy at all. Bryan starts with Kane but Bryan tags out less than two seconds in. We get a DANIEL BRYAN chant as it’s off to Ryder. There were two tags within the first fifteen seconds.

A middle rope dropkick sends Miz into the corner but Miz kicks Ryder in the face to escape. Bryan comes in and the place ERUPTS. He stomps on Ryder while taunting him about making a tag. Back to Miz who pulls on Ryder’s face and hits a neckbreaker for two. Back to Bryan who fires off some kicks in the corner. Bryan accidentally runs into Miz, allowing Kane to get the tag.

Miz won’t tag in now so it’s Bryan vs. Kane. Daniel’s solution? Slap the monster. Bryan runs into the crowd and Miz leaves too. Kane chokeslams Ryder for old times’ sake and beats up the steps and table. The timekeeper gets thrown around and Ryder gets a tombstone. Does Vince have some kind of fetish for seeing Kane beat him up? We’ll say the match ended at 6:00.

Rating: D+. Not much here but unfortunately it doesn’t set up Miz vs. Ryder for the IC Title which would have been a good short feud for both guys. Kane and Bryan both having anger management issues could be interesting, although I hope it doesn’t wind up being about Charlie Sheen as the dynamic there would be weird.

Cena won’t say Punk is best in the world.

Punk says that he picks John Cena for his #1 contender if Cena will accept a condition. It’s not particularly stated but the condition seems to be that Cena has to respect him.

Divas Battle Royal

This is for the #1 contendership. I think there are seven in this and I’m not going to bother listing them. Aksana and Rosa go out at the same time and we have Eve, Tamina, Alicia, Natalya and Kaitlyn in there still. I didn’t see Beth or Kelly in at all. Kaitlyn is sent to the apron but Tamina drags her back in for no apparent reason.

Eve is down in the corner and talking to a referee about something. Tamina and Natalya double team various people but they don’t eliminate anyone. Alicia dropkicks them to the apron but both get back in. Natalya gets sent to the floor by missing a charge, Tamina superkicks Alicia out and Kaitlyn throws out Tamina. Eve gets up but can’t get Kaitlyn out so Kaitlyn clotheslines her out to win at 4:10.

Rating: D. It was longer than it needed to be, it was boring, and the two most famous Divas weren’t in it. I guess this sets up the match at Night of Champions which is as good a way as anything else to get us to that. Nothing to see here though as the Divas are just worthless other than looking good.

After a recap of the opening segment, we see a Tout from Lesnar saying he’s done with WWE because he’s accomplished everything he wanted to here. Winning one match was his whole list?

Wade Barrett is still coming back.

Daniel Bryan has to go to anger management classes, which gives us a way to talk about the WWE App for Android.

Vickie yells at Dolph about AJ. Dolph says this is about him tonight and not Vickie. Vickie freaks out again and Dolph says he’ll win. He leaves her in the locker room.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho

Contract vs. MITB Case here. Jericho gets a quick rollup to start and Dolph bails to the floor. Back in and Jericho grabs another rollup for the same result. A missile dropkick puts Ziggler down and Jericho backdrops him out to the floor. The springboard dropkick puts Dolph out there again and we take a break. Back with Ziggler holding a chinlock and doing the handstand. Jericho finally escapes and takes Ziggler down with a shoulder.

A top rope double ax gets two as does what was supposed to be a rana but Jericho’s legs wound up under Ziggler’s legs. That could work as another move in its own right. Ziggler grabs a jumping DDT to put Jericho down and the match slows a bit. Fameasser misses and but Jericho can’t hook the Walls. Small package gets two for Ziggler but the Zig Zag is countered. The Lionsault hits knees and the Zig Zag gets rid of Jericho at 10:30.

Rating: C+. Another good match here from these two, although I’m not sure if last night’s result was the right call now. Wouldn’t it be better to have Jericho lose “the big one” last night and put up his job for a final chance to win? On the other hand, the win last night made Ziggler look like he was in a lot more jeopardy tonight so it’s hard to say. Actually the right call would have been to have these stips last night, but that’s too much foresight so we got this instead, which was still fine. The ending was never in doubt though as we knew Jericho was leaving.

Ziggler celebrates a lot post match but Jericho takes the case from Vickie. He hits Ziggler with it a few times and hits a Codebreaker for good measure. That’s a pretty heelish exit after he lost completely clean.

Here’s Punk to close the show. He goes to Lawler and wants an apology for Lawler saying that Punk turned his back on the WWE Universe. Before he can get that, here’s Cena. Punk is annoyed that Cena came out early because he’s stealing the spotlight again. He’s tired of taking a backseat to Cena and Rock and everyone else. Punk has done it out of respect but he’s never gotten any respect back.

He’s tired of walking through airports and having people saying “what’s up champ, why weren’t you in the main event?” Punk says that he respects Cena and allows him to go on last, drawing a CM Punk chant. Punk talks about beating Cena twice last year for the title and for beating him last night for the title again. Last year he had to hold the company up to get some respect. Cena is the #1 contender now because Punk has to beat him again to get respect.

Punk talks about looking into the crowd and seeing all of the green (Cena’s current colors in case it’s 2017 or something). He wants Cena to say he respects Punk because the people will follow whatever Cena says. The title shot is his if he’ll say Punk is the best in the world. That line gave me flashbacks to Jesus in the wilderness with Satan. Cena talks about how he believes in the people and how he has to believe in himself. Based on that, he can’t say it because he doesn’t believe it. He says he believed in everything he said leading up to the match with Rock and if he gets a rematch he’ll say it again.

Punk has held the title for nine months and all anyone remembers is him blowing a kiss to Vince (which was before this title reign but you get the point). Cena will not say Punk is the best in the world but he’s giving Punk another option: he’s offering Punk vindication. If Punk can beat Cena in Cena’s hometown, that will prove he’s the best in the world. If Punk won’t do it, Cena has no respect for him. With that, Cena leaves Punk in the middle of the ring alone.

Punk immediately turns to Lawler and says he wants an apology right now. He demands an apology because he never turned his back on the WWE Universe as Lawler said he did. Lawler gets in the ring and says it’s a misunderstanding but apologizes. He goes to leave but Punk stops him. If Cena won’t say Punk is the best in the world, the people will believe Lawler, as he’s the minister of propaganda for the WWE. Lawler thinks but he can’t say it. He goes to leave again and Punk kicks him in the head. Punk stares down as the show ends.

Overall Rating: B-. There was something very important tonight that has been missing from Raw lately: there was a clear direction. Tonight we had I believe three potential matches set up for Night of Champions. Everything on the show seemed to have a point and that kept things from dragging. This was a decent show and I liked it more than most of the recent episodes, which is a good sign as we’re in a new period of the year. Cena and Punk are channeling Savage vs. Hogan in 88/89 when the Mega Powers Exploded and that sounds awesome.

Results

Kofi Kingston/R-Truth/Sin Cara b. Prime Time Players/Cody Rhodes – Rollup to Rhodes

Ryback b. Mike Spitter/Andy Takarez via DQ when Jinder Mahal interfered

Randy Orton b. Alberto Del Rio – RKO

Damien Sandow b. Brodus Clay – Rollup with a handful of tights

Big Show b. David Otunga – WMD

Kaitlyn won a battle royal last eliminating Eve

Dolph Ziggler b. Chris Jericho – Zig Zag

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: February 7, 2000
Location: Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
Attendance: 12,893
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

This is another request from about six weeks after the previous request I had. There have been some major changes, namely the arrival of the Radicalz from WCW. They’re in the main event tonight (minus Eddie who broke his arm in his debut match with the company) in a ten man tag that you hear a lot about for reasons that elude me completely. Let’s get to it.

Here’s X-Pac along with Tori who looks a lot better in black and green. As they get in the ring, here are the Radicalz (Saturn, Malenko, Benoit and Guerrero) who say they wanted to get into the WWF but on Thursday, they weren’t good enough to earn their contracts. Eddie thanks the fans (NOT FREAKING UNIVERSE) for their support and the privilege of performing in front of them. Benoit wants to thank the man that brought them here: Cactus Jack.

Cue Cactus who has just come off a masterpiece of a fight against HHH at the Rumble. Before Foley can say anything, here are HHH and Stephanie, who is still only 24 here. She says this is making her sick and makes fun of the Dallas Cowboys. Her acting is at its usual levels here. HHH says this has gone on too long so he wants Jack one more time. At No Way Out, it’s Jack’s last shot at HHH or the title. It can be any kind of match Jack wants, but there are no sharp metallic objects, no 2×4 wrapped in barbed wire or none of Jack’s sadistic toys.

Jack runs down the rules HHH just listed and says that he can have any kind of match other than that. He doesn’t think that sounds very fun, but he has a good idea: Hell in a Cell. HHH says it’s on but Jack’s career has to be on the line, and that means all incarnations of Foley: no Dude Love, no Mankind, no Cactus Jack. Jack says he’s done it all in his career and he lists off some accomplishments of his, but there’s something missing: he’s never been in the main event of Wrestlemania.

If he can’t beat HHH in the Cell, he never wants to wrestle again anyway. Shawn Michaels would use nearly those exact words 10 years later against Undertaker at Mania 26. Jack throws in the stipulation that if he wins, HHH gets no rematch and gets to be in the world title match of Wrestlemania no matter what. HHH says you’re on and starts walking to the ring. He says Cactus has 20 days left and then it’s over.

HHH takes what he wants when he wants it and right now he wants a piece of Cactus Jack. Speaking to the Radicalz, he says they can either get out of the ring or show their appreciation to the man who gave them their contracts. The Radicalz jump Foley, the man that brought them to the company. The heat from the crowd is off the charts here. It’s a 6-1 beatdown and the Pedigree leaves Jack laying.

Now let’s talk for a minute about why this segment was awesome. First of all, I want to discuss HHH. He gets a lot of well deserved flack for how dreadful he made 2002 and 2003, but in 2000, the man was untouchable when it came to being evil. He and Rock traded the world title for most of the year and there was no one else that deserved it more. HHH was on fire in this promo for multiple reasons.

First of all, he challenged Jack. After being in the fight of his life about two weeks ago, here he is asking for another match with the guy that gave him one of the worst beatings in the history of wrestling. He gave Jack the option of what match Jack wanted and said he didn’t care because he wanted Jack gone that much. HHH was a lot of things in the year 2000, but rarely could he be called a coward.

That brings us to Jack. As usual, Foley was golden on the microphone here and made you believe that all that mattered to him was being in the main event of Wrestlemania. It’s something you always hear about and it makes you think of main eventing that show as something that means more than anything to Foley. It gives him a reason to put his career on the line in a match that is perfectly suited to him.

That brings us to the Cell. Today, there’s a PPV called Hell in a Cell which has at least one match in the Cell no matter how long the feud has gone. Here, much like at Wrestlemania this year (2012), the match came up because the feud called for it. After the street fight Jack and HHH had at the Rumble, they had to step it up and give us something that would somehow be even more violent and dangerous, which is what the Cell could be. Given the stakes in the Cell match, it makes the match feel like it’s something huge and like something we as fans would want to pay money to see.

That brings us to the big surprise to end the angle: after HHH agreed to the match, we got a major turn in the Radicalz joining with HHH who basically bought them with contracts. That stacks the deck against Jack and makes you wonder how could he possibly pull this off. The only way to find that out is on PPV. At the end of the day, this was a huge moment and a great promo which made me want to watch these two fight again and makes me want to see how Jack can get out of this. Great stuff.

The Radicalz and HHH are in the back and HHH announces a ten man tag: himself, X-Pac and the Radicalz vs. Foley/whomever he can find.

Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. Edge/Christian

Edge and Christian are challenging. As soon as the bell rings the Dudleys come out to watch. They’re in the middle of a feud with the Canadians (no really) and are at the moment the hottest tag team act since the 80s. Billy and Christian start us off and Christian speeds things WAY up, sending Billy into a near fit. Christian dives off the top onto both Outlaws on the floor but we missed part of it due to looking at Bubba looking at JR.

Billy avoids another Christian dive and it’s off to Road Dogg, but Christian gets in a shot of his own to bring Edge back in. A spinwheel kick gets two on Roadie and Edge is sent to the floor. Billy sends him into the steps and the most famous and successful guy out of all these four is in trouble. D-Von is going off on whatever comes to his mind on commentary, showing more emotion than I’ve heard from him in about ten years combined. Billy hits a Jackhammer for two.

Bubba wants to put JR through a table and Jerry actually claps. Edge hits a double neckbreaker on the Outlaws and the place erupts. Dallas has always had good crowds. There’s the hot tag to Christian and everything breaks down. Billy and Edge are sent to the floor and Christian counters the shaky punches into the reverse DDT for two. Edge spears Billy down for two but Bubba hits a cutter on Christian on the top rope, allowing Roadie to hit the pumphandle slam (his finisher) on Christian to retain the belts.

Rating: B-. It’s amazing how hot a good tag match can get a crowd. This was back when the tag division had been the Outlaws and whatever random teams were thrown together to fight for the tag titles. Then all of a sudden you have the Dudleys (who would basically squash the Outlaws for the titles later this month), the Hardys, Edge and Christian, the Outlaws to an extent and Too Cool and they were having some rocking matches. Unfortunately it only lasted a year and a half, but man alive it was a great year and a half.

The Dudleys brawl with the Canadians post match but run away.

Mark Henry asks Mae to stay in the back for the sake of their unborn baby.

Kurt Angle vs. Mark Henry

Angle makes fun of Henry for impregnating Mae, saying it took intensity but lacked intelligence and integrity. Angle as the holier than thou smiley man was glorious. Who would have thought this would have been the main event of a major PPV one day? Angle takes him to the mat but Henry LAUNCHES him into the air to escape. That looked awesome. Henry powerslams him down and drops a big old leg for two. A jackknife gets two but Mark misses a charge and goes over the top and out to the floor. Cue Mae Young who jumps Angle for the DQ.

Angle hits the Angle Slam on Mae who takes it better than half the guys I’ve seen it used on. Angle would win the European Title later this week on Smackdown.

Rock is here.

Mae is checked out. She doesn’t like being on her back so she shows everyone her puppies. The medic is traumatized.

Hollies vs. Acolytes

Hardcore match. The Hollies charge the ring and are immediately knocked to the floor. All four head into the crowd and to the concourse. We hit the concession stand and it’s time to drink beer. Bradshaw loads up a powerbomb on a table but here’s Viscera with a 2×4. After he slips on beer and gets up, he breaks the weakest 2×4 ever over Bradshaw’s back to give Hardcore the pin. This was short but fun.

Here’s Jericho with the IC Title and a mic. Jericho says he’s glad to be in Dallas but he’s worried about having to face the love child of Mr. T. and Fat Albert.

Intercontinental Title: Chris Jericho vs. Viscera

Jericho pounds away but gets backdropped to stop the momentum dead. A missile dropkick puts Viscera down but walks into a spinwheel kick (yes Viscera at 6’10 and 500lbs could do those) to send him out to the floor. Back in and Jericho tries the springboard dropkick but slips, making it more like a flying leg attack. Viscera takes him to the floor and splashes him against the barricade before heading back inside. Back inside and a Samoan Drop gets two. Jericho hits the bulldog out of nowhere followed by the Lionsault but the Hollies come in for the DQ. Too short to rate but this was exactly what you would expect.

The Acolytes come in as well and it’s a brawl to likely set up a six man somewhere soon. Actually scratch that as I can’t find a record of that ever occurring. That’s surprising.

The Radicalz (not yet named that I don’t think) say they’re not sorry for what they did earlier.

Kevin Kelly is outside Rock’s locker room.

Gangrel gives Luna a weird pep talk.

The XFL is coming. That launched on my birthday.

Women’s Title: Luna vs. Jacqueline

Jackie is defending and please make this short. Jackie is from Dallas so guess who the fans like. They start on the floor and the referee gets sandwiched between them. Inside Jackie gets a small package for two but Luna comes back with what we would call an AA. A Vader Bomb misses though and Jackie hits a German suplex for the quick pin to retain.

Gangrel DDTs Jackie post match and I begin to smile.

Kevin Kelly explains No Way Out to Rock until he’s finally shut up. Rock asks Kevin if he’s ever had pie. Kevin says he had some apple pie earlier but Rock wants to know about poontang pie. Kelly says of course he has but Rock tells him not to lie. Rock says today is Kevin’s lucky day and he’s got Kevin’s first piece of pie. It’s actually a shirt that Rock puts over Kevin’s head.

Now we get down to business because it’s not about who is going to Wrestlemania, because it’s about who is Rock facing for the WWF Title at Wrestlemania. Big Show isn’t going to stand in Rock’s way at No Way Out because it is Rock’s destiny to go to Wrestlemania. Rock pauses to ask if Kevin is bored by his pie.

As for Cactus Jack, tonight it’s not 5-1 but rather 5-2 because Rock has his back. Rock doesn’t care if he’s fighting Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto or Uranus, because they can turn their contracts sideways and shove them. Rock was feeling it here and it’s amazing how much better promos were back then, as the guys had the chance to show off.

Godfather’s ho’s are ready for his tag match.

Dudley Boys vs. Godfather/D’Lo Brown

The Dudleys charge the ring and we’re on fast. Godfather boots D-Von down and they’re the starters. Off to Brown who double teams D-Von with the pimp for two. D-Von takes Brown down with a forearm but misses a middle rope legdrop. Back to Godfather who cleans house and hits the Ho Train. The Ho’s get on the apron and the referee misses Bubba chop blocking Godfather. Why they needed to distract the referee is beyond me but whatever. It’s basically a handicap match here but Brown manages a Sky High and Low Down on D-Von but Bubba makes the save. 3D ends this quick.

Medics are checking on Godfather’s knee so Bubba goes and steals one of them to put through a table. Edge and Christian finally come through the crowd to make the save along with the Hardys.

There’s a Stone Cold racecar.

Cactus says don’t count him out either tonight or in 20 days. He was never supposed to be here because 15 years ago he was told he wasn’t good enough to be in this business. He was ready to go one on five but he’s not stupid enough to turn down Rock’s head. Cactus says he’s going to Wrestlemania.

HHH/X-Pac/Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko/Perry Saturn vs. Cactus Jack/The Rock/???/???/???

Before the bell rings, Rikishi and Too Cool come out to even the odds. It’s a wild brawl to start and I’m not even going to try to call it. Rock and HHH are fighting on the ramp as Benoit and Cactus head into the crowd (DANG that could have been an awesome feud). Stephanie is on commentary and the fans are blowing the roof off the place. Grandmaster and X-Pac get things going and Sexay misses a middle rope knee drop.

Off to Saturn and Scotty, the latter of whom has a bandage around his head. He loads up the Worm (with five hops instead of four) but Malenko interferes before Scotty can cover. A big old suplex puts Scotty down and Dean comes in legally. Scotty gets in a shot and brings in Rikishi who runs Dean over. Off to Benoit who charges right into a Samoan Drop. He can’t suplex Rikishi but Benoit pounds on his back and is all like oh yeah boy you’re going and suplexes Rikishi down.

Jack comes in and pounds Benoit down into the corner. This is one of the hottest crowds I’ve ever seen. Jack goes for HHH and they head to the announce table. Saturn and Pac have to save HHH from death and we head back inside. HHH stomps Jack down in the corner and shoves the referee away. Off to Pac who almost immediately walks into a neckbreaker to take him down.

Hot tag brings in Rock and it’s spinebusters all around. Pac takes a Rock Bottom for two as HHH saves. Saturn kicks Rock down but Rock is having none of this Bronco Buster nonsense. Grandmaster hits the Hip Hop Drop but Pac gets up and kicks the goggles off Sexay’s head. HHH comes in again with the flying knee and it’s off to Saturn and Benoit for some double teaming.

Benoit suplexes Sexay down for two and it’s back to HHH. The heels are tagging incredibly fast. Grandmaster hits a double DDT out of nowhere on Benoit and HHH. There’s the hot tag to Cactus but the referee didn’t see it. Everything breaks down and HHH hits the Pedigree on Grandmaster followed by the Swan Dive from Benoit for the pin.

Rating: B. This seems like a match where the crowd reaction carried it to a higher level which is fine. It’s certainly better than I remember but it’s not as good as I’ve seen some people make it out to be. Anyway, you could see the great matches coming and this would give Too Cool a nice push, resulting in their only tag title run a few months after this.

The fight keeps going post match and the Outlaws run out with clubs or pipes or something like that. The lights go out and KANE is back (complete with Paul Bearer), hunting for X-Pac. He’s even rocking the inverted colors with the black and red trim. Kane runs through DX and the Radicalz and sends them running away to end the show.

Overall Rating: A+. This was one of the best Raws I can ever remember. We had good wrestling, we had comedy, we had an excellent promo, we had a big main event, and we had a return. What more can I possibly ask for? Oh yeah: Jackie getting beaten up. Screw it this is getting a perfect score. The WWF was absolutely amazing in 2000 and this is a great example of why. If today’s Raw was even 40% this awesome, it would be the best wrestling show on TV bar none.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 20, 1999
Location: Compaq Center, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 12,063
Commentators: Jim Ross, Doc Hendrix

This is a Raw request which I don’t remember the reason for. We’re just past Armageddon 1999 and Big Show is world champion. We’re inching closer to the Rumble and I would have expected to do the January 3 show which is the one where HHH won the title from Show. I don’t remember anything specific about this show so let’s get to it.

HHH and Stephanie, who are currently in power, are in the back to open the show. The Mean Street Posse are around them. Stephanie was insanely hot at times back in the day. She says that tonight, they’re going to spread some holiday cheer around here. We’ll start with this.

Test vs. New Age Outlaws

Test jumps Billy during the entrance but Road Dogg jumps Test to take over. The Hardys/Edge/Christian are watching in the back. Roadie’s dropkick gets two on Test as the tall Canadian is in trouble. A double backdrop is countered into a double DDT from Test and the Outlaws are down. A big boot puts Billy down again as does a gutwrench powerbomb. The pumphandle to Roadie is broken up by a dropkick from Billy which gets two. Test’s nose mask is taken off and the Fameasser get the pin. This was about what you would expect it to be.

HHH and Stephanie are pleased. Edge/Christian and the Hardys come in because they’re tired of fighting each other. HHH says ok then, let’s have Edge/Matt vs. Jeff/Christian.

Post break the relatively new Kurt Angle comes in to see the bosses and HHH makes Angle vs. Viscera, which doesn’t please his wife.

Edge/Matt Hardy vs. Christian/Jeff Hardy

The Hardys come out together as do the Canadians. Edge and Matt jump the other guys to start before it’s Edge vs. Jeff to get us going officially. They head to the floor and Christian dives on Edge while Jeff slides back in and dives on Matt. Back in and Edge slams Jeff off the top while Matt hits a Razor’s Edge Bomb for two on Christian. Off to Matt vs. Jeff with the black haired one firmly in control.

Back to Edge with a snap suplex for two. The fans chant for Terri as Jeff finally gets the tag to Christian. He cleans house but hits Jeff out of instinct. In an interesting bit, everyone hits their finishers on their regular partners for two. Edge and Matt can’t quite hit Poetry in Motion, allowing Christian to hit the Unprettier on Matt followed by a 450 from Jeff for the pin.

Rating: C+. The match itself was fun but I’m not sure if the idea behind it was all that interesting. The fans weren’t all that into it because I think they just wanted to see these four have their usual awesome matches. Instead we got a pretty good match which wasn’t incredibly interesting. Still though, points for trying at least.

Moolah and Mae come in to see HHH and Stephanie. HHH makes jokes about their age before offering Mae some alcohol. He changes his mind though and says tonight there’s going to be a triple threat tag match: the Acolytes vs. the Dudleys vs. Moolah/Mae. Oh dear.

After a break here are HHH and Stephanie in the arena, apparently to give JR his Christmas gift. JR is brought into the ring and Stephanie yells at him for something in Entertainment Weekly where Vince and Rock were praised for making WWF so entertaining. HHH says he and Stephanie were the ones that made this place entertaining so let’s decorate the place accordingly. On the mini-trons next to the main screen, HHH and Stephanie’s pictures replace the Raw logo. Subtle.

Stephanie talks about how fun it was to slap JR last week but says this is going to feel even better. HHH gets behind JR as Stephanie shoves him down, sending JR to the mat. Cue Mankind who says he can’t stand anymore of this. You can tell he’s serious because he quotes Popeye. He tells HHH to pick on him instead of JR and says the McMahon-Helmsley Era kind of sucks.

Stephanie’s Santa hat gives Santa a bad name because Stephanie is a ho. Steph has to hold HHH back but HHH lets up. He says he has an idea but it takes him forever to get it out. Mankind will have a Boiler Room match tonight but it won’t be with HHH. Stephanie slaps Mankind and says Merry Christmas.

Kurt Angle vs. Viscera

This is during Kurt’s goofy period which was hilarious. Before the match he talks about the Three I’s: Intensity, integrity and intelligence. The goofy look on his face is great. Angle starts by trying to go behind Viscera but is easily bulldogged down. Viscera easily overpowers him and hits a Samoan Drop for no cover. Angle comes back with some dropkicks including one off the top. Steve Blackman, who has been having issues with Angle lately, comes out and blasts Viscera with a kendo stick for no apparent reason, allowing Kurt to hit the not yet named Angle Slam for the quick pin.

Stephanie thinks Angle is cute.

Moolah and Mae are ready.

So are the Dudleys.

The Acolytes are too.

Fabulous Moolah/Mae Young vs. Acolytes vs. Dudley Boys

The Dudleys are brand new and insane here while the Acolytes are big evil guys. D-Von tells the ladies the Dudley Commandments: Thou shall not steal, thou shall not kill, and thou shall not mess with the Dudleys. That was a good catchphrase back in the day. They rush the ring and beat the women down before the Acolytes get here. The Acolytes take their sweet time getting here before beating up the Dudleys. Moolah and Mae hit a held Bubba but he escapes and PUNCHES THEM IN THE FACE. Mae Young gets What’s Up for the pin. This was insane but perversely entertaining.

Mark Henry comes out for the save post match.

HHH gives Stephanie a present: a Santa Claus. That’s Mankind’s opponent tonight apparently. Oh dear.

Mankind vs. Santa Claus

This is in the boiler room. Mankind isn’t sure how his kids are going to handle this. The Posse shows up and jumps Mankind before he goes in and now the real fight begins. Mankind: “Did I just get beaten up by the Mean Street Posse???? That’s embarrassing!” Santa is in the boiler room and Mankind explains the rules to him but says Santa can walk out and win. Three more Santas run in and beat up Mankind but he fights them off with a trashcan.

There are two more Santas in front of the door but they’re pretty quickly dispatched. Oh those two are the Outlaws. There’s a cookie sheet in the boiler room for no apparent reason. Mankind sings some carols but another Santa pops up to hit Mankind with his sack. The final one is HHH. JR: “I’d know that nose anywhere.” Santa wins. File this one under “what are the writers on, because I want some of it.”

Al Snow wants a match with Rock and since it’s Christmas time, he gets it. This was during Snow’s odd heel period. Oh and it’s a Brahma Bull Rope match.

Intercontinental Title: Godfather vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho is defending. The Ho’s look good tonight. Sweet goodness Godfather was over. Godfather goes off on Jericho to start and punches him down. This is pretty soon after Jericho debuted so he’s still a jerk. Jericho low bridges Godfather to send him to the floor followed by a springboard dropkick to send Godfather back to the floor again. An attempted powerbomb on the floor is countered and Godfather makes his comeback. He slams Jericho down and kicks him into the corner as Chyna comes down. With the Ho’s distracting the referee for no apparent reason, Chyna hits Godfather low so Jericho can retain. Another short match.

Terri and BB (a big chested chick) are told they’re in a Top Rope Topless Match. Basically it’s a match between two guys and when the respective guy is thrown over the top, his respective chick loses an article of clothing. The winning guy gets a shot at Jericho on Smackdown.

European Title: Val Venis vs. Hardcore Holly

Venis is defending and this is the topless thing. BB is with Val and Terri is with Holly. Apparently this isn’t for Val’s European Title so scratch the first part of the line. Before the match, Val compares women to Christmas trees: they’re pretty at first but they look great when he plugs it in. Apparently this is for the title. Ok then. HHH comes out to host this and get a better view.

Feeling out process to start but Val’s powerbomb is countered into a rana over the top, meaning both girls have to strip. They take the dresses off and we’re back to the men fighting. Holly hits the signature dropkick and sends Val over the top rope and eventually to the floor, making him the winner but not champion despite him being called the challenger more than once. As usual, since this was barely wrestling I’m not rating it.

Terri leaves and BB takes her top off but only HHH gets to see.

We get a clip from Smackdown with Rock costing Al Snow a match against Mankind due to some trickery.

Al Snow vs. The Rock

This is a Brahma Bullrope match, which means they’re tied up but it’s pin/submission to win. The place goes bonkers for Rock. Before the match, Rock says he has two choices. He can walk up the ramp and let Snow win, or he can beat Snow all over Houston. Rock starts beating Snow up before the rope is even tied up. They’re tied now and Snow is sent into the post and clotheslined down on the floor. Back inside and Snow gets a shot with the bell to the head of Rock for two.

Snow stomps on Rock as the fans are already chanting for Rock. For the life of me I don’t get why they would turn Snow heel. If there has ever been a guy who is just a bad fit as a heel, it’s Snow. Snow chokes with the rope and even tries to hang him. The announcers try to call this Rock’s signature match, even though this is one of only two or three I remember him being in.

A Samoan Drop gets two for Rock and here come the punches. Snow hits the referee low followed by a bell shot to Rock. Snow gets a chair but Rock counters into a DDT. Cue the Outlaws who are quickly dispatched. Rock loads up the Elbow but Road Dogg hits him with a chair, giving Snow a two count. Billy comes in with a Fameasser to Rock, giving Snow the unlikely pin.

Rating: D+. Considering this was a bullrope match and they were only attached for about 3 minutes, there wasn’t much in the way of the gimmick. I’m assuming the Outlaws came out because Rock is on HHH’s hit list but it’s not really clear. This wasn’t a horrible match but it was pretty overdone considering what they had to work with. The rope didn’t need to be a part of this at all.

The Posse spills stuff on Stephanie and HHH so they get a match tonight against two members of Too Cool.

Post break Tori comes in and yells about something so HHH gives Kane, Tori’s boyfriend, a world title match tonight. If he loses though, Tori has to spend the holidays with X-Pac, Kane’s current foe.

Too Cool/Rikishi vs. Mean Street Posse

For no apparent reason this is now a six man. Too Cool cleans house to start before we get down to Scotty vs. Pete (Pete Gas, Rodney and Joey Abs comprise the Posse). Some nefarious maneuvers get Scotty down, including a belly to back suplex. That gets two and it’s all downhill for the Posse from here. There’s the hot tag to Rikishi, right hand, Samoan Drop, Banzai Drop to Joey and we’re done. This was nothing.

It’s time to dance.

HHH and Stephanie talk about the main event.

WWF World Title: Kane vs. Big Show

Show is defending in case that wasn’t clear. This was when Show still had long hair and was relatively slim. HHH comes out to watch again. Kane fires away to start and hits a boot to the face. The champion comes back with a Russian legsweep for two. Stephanie is sitting on HHH’s lap in a recliner on the stage. Kane’s boot to the ribs is caught but he hits an enziguri to the face to send Show to the floor. A big clothesline off the top takes Show down but he picks Kane up and drops him on the barricade. That’s scary strength.

Show hits Kane in the back with a chair for a DQ but HHH says keep things going because it’s no DQ. Show loads up a chokeslam so Kane kicks him in the balls to escape. Kane gets thrown into the crowd for a countout but if you’re paying attention, you know what Stephanie says. HHH makes it falls count anywhere too. Kane gets launched into the barricade but comes back with a backdrop over the barricade and back to ringside for two.

They slug it out again and Show hits a belly to back suplex for a delayed two. Another slug out results in Kane being sent into the steps. Show picks up the steps but Kane dropkicks them back into Show’s face. Cue the Outlaws as Kane picks Show up for a slam, only to have to chase the Outlaws away from Tori. Show powerbombs Kane through the announce table to retain the title.

Rating: B. That’s probably high but this is by far and away the best Big Show vs. Kane match I’ve ever seen. Apparently the formula for these two to have a good wrestling match is to take the wrestling out. Battles of the giants are more fun when you have the two of them beating each other all over the place and having them break a lot of stuff. For a TV main event, this was very fun.

HHH and Stephanie gloat to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was around the time that the Attitude Era was starting to slow down a lot after 1999 was the high point of the insanity. You could see HHH vs. Rock on the horizon as the feud that sent this company to levels no one believed were possible, along with other big stars ready to go. The Radicalz would arrive in about a month for a bunch of new blood and things couldn’t be much better. This show though was going too fast for its own good but you could tell they were clearly trying which is more than you get a lot of the time anymore. Good show.

If you’re interested, I’ve done the Raw from the next week as well:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/02/18/monday-night-raw-december-27-1999-five-run-ins-two-chair-shots-and-a-ref-bump-in-a-six-minute-match/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 13, 2012
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s the final Raw before Summerslam and the card is mostly set. The word on the street is that there’s something big planned for tonight but there’s no word on what that is. The other interesting thing is that Del Rio vs. Sheamus has been canceled (in a TOUT of course) by Booker due to Del Rio’s attack on Sheamus last week. It may be interesting to see where that goes. Yes, the Smackdown title may be interesting. Let’s get to it.

CM Punk vs. Big Show

Yes we’re opening the show with a match. Hopefully this keeps things lively tonight. Punk charges at him and is knocked down almost immediately. Punk comes back with some forearms but he’s going to have to use speed rather than brawn here. Show chops him in the corner and stands on Punk’s head. As that’s going on, there’s something I’d like to talk about for a bit. On commentary, Cole is talking about the length of Punk’s reign, the size of Big Show, what the wrestlers have been up to lately, what titles Big Show has won and all that jazz. What is he not really talking about? What we’re seeing in the ring.

It’s like that’s secondary to every other thing they can think of to talk about. Instead of the wrestling being the focus, it’s as if they’re trying to give us every other reason to care about things. It’s like talking about all the features of a cell phone and all the internet and data capabilities it has but not mentioning that you can make calls on it. That’s kind of the most important thing.

Speaking of the match, Show works on the arm but misses a charge in the corner. Punk hits the running knee but, say it with me, the bulldog is countered. Show spears Punk down….and here’s Daniel Bryan. He yells about how he should be in the title match as Show hits a side slam for two. He loads up the Vader Bomb but Punk takes out the leg. The springboard clothesline gets two and Bryan runs in for the DQ at 6:00.

Rating: C+. I like it when these two go at it. Punk knows how to have a match with big men and it worked here. There’s something about the way Show sells that running knee in the corner that makes it look awesome. Good stuff here even though it didn’t have a lot of time. When you can drag a good match out of Show, that’s saying a lot.

Bryan puts Punk in the NO Lock but Show breaks it up for no apparent reason. Cena comes out to save Punk and clears the ring. AJ comes out and makes the obvious tag for later in the show.

We’re on a break now and I’d like to address the glaring problem with Raw right now: what is new here? It’s the same stuff but with different faces (and that’s a stretch) in the old roles. AJ is standard GM #85 (the Skipping Model), we have three guys fighting over a title with more or less no personal issues, and those three plus a fourth guy are in a tag match to end the show before the PPV. How many times have you seen that EXACT same scenario?

Back and JTG is ranting to Kaitlyn about not having a match when AJ skips by. She puts him in a match with someone. Gee, I wonder who that’ll be. We’ll be RI ght BACK to the arena in a bit to find out. Kaitlyn and AJ have a weird moment that I don’t think anyone cares about.

JTG vs. Ryback

I was right before I even had time to think about it. Ryback has new music with the FEED ME MORE lines in the song now. The fans are getting into this FEED ME MORE chant. You know what might be interesting? Given the reactions Ryback has been getting, hot shot him to the world title. Seriously, what do you have to lose? Ryback is a monster, he’s getting bigger and bigger reactions every week, and he’s been around the main event before. I’m not saying it’ll be successful, but it would be an interesting way of shaking things up. It worked pretty well for Sheamus a few years ago. Anyway JTG gets Shell Shocked and pinned at 1:54.

You can vote for who you want to see in Piper’s Pit tonight: Jericho, Ziggler or Miz.

Santino defends against Cesaro on Sunday.

Piper is in the back sounding drunk and asking who will be in the Pit. He asks someone off screen who he thinks will be in the Pit and Shawn Michaels is next to him. Shawn is worried about Lesnar tonight and he gets a call from presumably HHH who is going to be getting here late tonight.

Heath Slater vs. R-Truth

Now there’s an odd pairing. Truth/Kofi vs. the Prime Time Players on Sunday. Truth starts with his usual stuff but gets caught in a neckbreaker for two. Slater puts on a chinlock but Truth shrugs him off and hits Little Jimmy for the pin at 1:44.

The Players run out for the 2-1 beatdown because Kofi is in China still.

Mark Henry was in London for the Olympics.

Pauly D from Jersey Shore is the social media ambassador tonight.

We recap the Del Rio vs. Sheamus feud and we see the incident from Friday where Sheamus was attacked by fake cops, which is why the title match was cancelled.

Sin Cara vs. Tensai

Tensai tries a powerbomb but Cara rolls into a sunset flip position which doesn’t work either. Tensai takes his head off but his Vader Bomb misses. Cara hits a Swanton to the back of Tensai and an enziguri to both him and Sakamoto. A tornado DDT out of the corner gets the pin on Tensai at 1:06. Tensai HAS TO be done after that.

Tensai hits a Baldo Bomb and backsplash on Sakamoto post match.

Shawn asks someone to let him know if they see Brock.

Time for Piper’s Pit and Lawler has to be there with him to keep this logical. To the shock of no one paying attention, Jericho wins the vote by a landslide. Piper tells the fans to quit cheering Jericho for some reason. They talk about Wrestlemania 25 and the three on one handicap match they were on opposite sides in but Piper doesn’t remember any of it. Piper talks about the fans starting to cheer for Jericho and says on Sunday it’s about some fan in the front row in a red shirt.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but THANKFULLY Vickie comes in to break this up. She brigns out Ziggler who rips into Roddy and his tired old routine. Ziggler says Jericho is headed for the same place Piper is in, but Jericho counters by making a hair joke and telling Vickie to shut up. Jericho says he’ll win the big one Sunday….and here’s Miz. He has a tiny mustache now and says he’s taking over this show. Dolph can be the guest but Piper and Jericho need to leave now. Piper FREAKS and a brawl breaks out.

Chris Jericho vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler

This was made during the break apparently. The heels go after Jericho to start but he fights them both off with ease. Ziggler gets sent to the floor so Jericho chops away at Miz. Dolph trips Jericho up and comes back in for some stomping. Jericho gets double teamed a bit and things slow down. A double suplex puts the Canadian down and Ziggler drops the big jumping elbow.

A second elbow gets two but Miz breaks it up. It’s time for the heels to fight as per custom in matches like these which allows Jericho to get up and clean house. Both heels are sent to the floor and Jericho dives out on top of them. He stands on the announce table and I’m so glad Jericho is a good guy again. I’ve always liked him better that way. Ziggler is sent back into the ring but he knocks Jericho into the announce table as we take a break.

Back with Miz kneeing Jericho down as Jericho tries a comeback. Miz vs. Mysterio on Sunday for the IC Title. Miz stays on the back of Jericho as Ziggler is nowhere in sight. Off to a chinlock for a bit but Miz’s corner clothesline misses. Ziggler finally gets on the apron but Jericho dropkicks him down. Jericho hits the bulldog on Miz but the Lionsault only gets two as Ziggler comes back in.

Miz gets crotched on the top as Ziggler is sent to the floor by the Canadian. A superplex by Jericho is evolved into the Tower of Doom with Miz taking the worst of it. Dolph covers Jericho for two. The Fameasser gets the same and the fans are getting into these kickouts. Ziggler loads up something on Jericho but Miz runs in and hits the Finale on Ziggler….for two.

Jericho counters a reverse DDT on Miz but the Walls are broken up as well. A big boot takes Jericho down but Ziggler breaks up a cover. Dolph walks into a Codebreaker that gets two as Vickie puts Ziggler’s foot on the ropes. Jericho escapes a Final and puts Miz in the Walls. Miz taps but Vickie has the referee. Ziggler comes in and hits the Zig Zag on Jericho for the pin at 14:15.

Rating: B-. I was really digging this at the end. After the commercial this got WAY better after a slow start. I was thinking Miz would win here and he probably should have to keep him looking strong going into a title defense on Sunday, but at least he didn’t lose. This was a very fast paced match and I had no idea who was going to win by the end. Good stuff.

Eve hits on Punk but Punk says he’s the same guy he’s always been. Eve says no one believes he’s changed, especially Cena. Punk says he’ll go tell Cena himself. Eve has an evil smile as he leaves.

We get a LONG recap of the stuff that opened the show and led to the tag main event.

Shawn is panicking about Brock showing up when Cena taps him on the shoulder. Shawn says he’s fine and walks away. Punk walks up to Cena and says that being champion means everything, but he’s not a phony and isn’t going to say he likes a match that he doesn’t. Punk swears he won’t stab anyone in the back and he’ll make sure that tonight is all about him.

Wade Barrett is coming back.

Kaitlyn/Layla vs. Eve Torres/Beth Phoenix

Layla, who is still Divas Champion despite not being on TV in months, starts with Beth and they almost immediately botch a rollup. Layla gets rammed into the corner and it’s off to Eve who is put in a sloppy side roll for two. The champ “hits” a bouncing cross body, giving us some great visuals from behind her. Eve drops down and it’s time for the champion to dance. Off to Kaitlyn who gets a suplex for two but Eve starts pounding on her to take over. Back to Beth who cleans house and knocks Layla off the apron so she can choke Kaitlyn in the corner. An over the shoulder body vice is escaped and an O’Connor Roll pins Beth at 4:17.

Rating: D. This was a longer version of a bad Divas match. I have no idea why the title exists anymore but I’d assume there will be a match thrown in on Summerslam with Beth challenging because that’s all that ever happens anymore. Nothing to see here although I wouldn’t complain about looking at Layla in those pink shorts again. To be fair, at least we now know that single named Divas are better than full named ones.

Video on Lesnar vs. HHH.

Big Show/Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk/John Cena

It’s not even 10pm yet and it’s main event time? A BIG YES chant starts things off, as does Bryan vs. Cena. Punk makes a blind tag after Cena knocks Bryan down and Cena isn’t pleased with it. Show wants in but Bryan wants the champ instead. Bryan gets taken to the mat and it’s back to Cena. Show wants in again but gets a few NO’S. Cena gets some impressive height on a leapfrog and dropkicks Bryan down.

Punk tries to tag himself in but Cena avoids it in a somewhat funny bit. Off to Show who pounds Cena down and does it again with a shoulder as we take a break. Back with Show hitting a charge in the corner to Cena. Cena charges into a bearhug but Bryan tags himself in while cena is in the hold. The fans go NUTS for Bryan again. Bryan misses a running dropkick in the corner and it’s off to Punk who hits his usual, culminating with a neckbreaker for two.

Back to Show who works on the ribs a bit, followed by the big chop against the ropes. The champ gets put in a bearhug but some elbows to the head break the hold. The comeback ends almost immediately due to a backdrop from Show, who then walks over the back of Punk. Punk tries to fight out of the corner but Bryan won’t let him use the WMD. The reactions for Bryan are mind blowing.

Show is walking away as Bryan hits the NO Kicks. Punk kicks Bryan down and looks at Cena but he doesn’t tag. Instead Punk uses Cena’s finishing sequence on Bryan but Cena tags himself in before the Shuffle. Cena hits the corner clothesline and bulldog, but Punk walks away with the title. Bryan tries to steal a pin but walks into the AA for the pin at 13:45.

Rating: B-. This was another fun match and there was some interesting psychology going on out there. When you have no idea who is going to do what in a match, that’s always a good sign. Punk doing the Cena imitation at the end was great stuff and it would lead to a great match between the two of them on Sunday. Unfortunately Show is in it also, which brings it down a peg. Still though, good tag match here.

Post match Punk saves Cena from an attack by Show, but Cena won’t shake Punk’s hand.

In the back, Punk says Cena went into business for himself and wouldn’t shake the champ’s hand. On Sunday, Punk will teach Cena some respect.

Brock and Heyman are here.

Christian vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow goes after him to start but Christian takes over with a shot in the corner. A right hand to the head sets up the jumping back elbow off the middle rope for no cover. Sandow bails before the Killswitch can be set up and they heads to the floor, where Christian is rammed about seven times into the steps. Cue Brodus who is in a cast from the attack last week. The distraction lets Christian roll Sandow up for two. Sandow hits his neckbreaker for the clean win at 2:11.

Shawn is still looking around every corner before he finally runs into Brock. Shawn walks away and nothing is said. Brock looks….pleased?

Here are Heyman and Lesnar. HHH still isn’t here due to flight delays and Lesnar buys that, because HHH wants the match very badly. Heyman is doing all the talking here of course. This was supposed to be the contract signing in case you were confused. Heyman says this is a very personal fight for HHH and therefore, there’s a letter of indemnification, which means if Lesnar hurts HHH, HHH has no legal recourse. You’ll get an uncomfortable beating on Sunday rather than a wrestling match.

Now on to Shawn, who Lesnar confirms is in the arena. Heyman calls Shawn out as a surrogate for the Game but apparently Shawn is afraid. Heyman says that everyone in Texas is a coward and that brings Shawn out. Paul says he’ll accept Shawn’s signature in place of HHH’s but Shawn won’t sign. HHH finally arrives, taking his suit off as he comes to the ring. After a staredown, HHH signs. Neither member of DX has said anything yet. Lesnar signs and leaves.

We get some TOUTS because what would Raw be without them?

HBK isn’t sure if HHH can win, but he’ll be in the Game’s corner.

Show says what happened means nothing for the match on Sunday. We cut over to two cars colliding and see Shawn and Heyman arguing from their respective drivers’ seats. Lesnar runs up and the camera cuts out, but we can hear Shawn getting destroyed.

Back and we recap exactly what we just saw. The car window is destroyed and Shawn is missing. HHH comes up and rants to AJ.

Lesnar carries Shawn into the arena on his shoulders and throws him in the ring. Shawn gets an F5 and Brock puts him in the armbar that he broke HHH’s arm with. HHH charges out and Heyman says stop or Lesnar will break the arm. Lesnar breaks the arm anyway and bails. HHH chases him off before tending to his life partner to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This was easily the best of the three hour Raw’s so far and that’s primarily the case for one reason: they spread things out tonight instead of trying to have the same 8 or so people fill in three hours. There was a lot of variety tonight and that made the show MUCH better as a result. It wasn’t a masterpiece or anything like that, but it covered everything on Summerslam and has me wanting to watch the show for the first time in weeks. Good stuff although the first hour was shaky.

Results

CM Punk b. Big Show via DQ when Daniel Bryan interfered

Ryback b. JTG – Shell Shock

R-Truth b. Heath Slater – Little Jimmy

Sin Cara b. Tensai – Tornado DDT

Dolph Ziggler b. The Miz and Chris Jericho – Zig Zag to Jericho

Layla/Kaitlyn b. Beth Phoenix/Eve Torres – Rollup to Phoenix

Damien Sandow b. Christian – Neckbreaker

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 13, 2006
Location: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
Attendance: 15,266
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

This is happening for one reason: my girlfriend was at the show and asked me to review the show. At least I have a reason for it this time which is more than I can usually say. This is just after the McMahons vs. DX war ended but we still have Coach around to mess with them, so I think we have a show long angle cooking. Let’s get to it.

Here’s DX to open the show. HHH says there have been some loud crowds in the UK but Manchester is going to be the loudest. He does the usual intro but says he doesn’t have anything new to say this week. Shawn takes the mic and says what you can do if you’re not down with that. HHH says DX has made a list and both male McMahons and Bischoff are checked off said list. They make references to the end of last week’s show and we get a clip of Bischoff having his head shoved up a scantily clad area of Big Dick Johnson. JR: “That was controversial and it created cash!” Shawn appears to be getting sick after seeing that again.

That only leaves Edge and Orton on the list, but here’s Coach with something to say. DX can forget about the yet to be named Rated RKO tonight. The fans boo him out of the building and DX makes fun of him for trying to ban them from the building. Coach is drowned out by the crowd again. He says he’s put out a bounty on them worth $10,000. HHH: “You cheap bastard!” Coach makes a handicap tag for right now.

D-Generation X vs. Lance Cade/Viscera/Trevor Murdoch/Charlie Haas

This is joined in progress after a break with Shawn taking Haas down with a shoulder block. A hip toss puts Haas down and Shawn grabs a headlock. Shawn and HHH are in street clothes and it’s off to Cade who is chopped in the corner. Murdoch comes in and kicks Shawn’s head off but he jumps into a boot in that stupid move that gets on my nerves.

Shawn can’t make the tag as Viscera comes in with a side slam which gets two for Haas. A hard kick to the back gets two and it’s back to Cade for a chinlock. Shawn fights up and an enziguri lets him tag his male life partner. House is cleaned and it’s spinebuster/Pedigree for the pin on Haas.

Rating: D+. What in the world were you expecting here? This is why the feud with the McMahons over the summer wasn’t that well received: almost no one can give DX a run for their money in a straight match so there was a revolving door of midcarders to face them in handicap matches. That’s why Rated RKO was such a big help as it gave them people who could realistically challenge Shawn and HHH. Matches like these though were just there to give DX new people to beat up.

Kenny tells the three members of the Spirit Squad not in the upcoming tag match to get the bounty.

We cut to DX in the back and a Squad member (Nicky I believe, more famous as current Mr. MITB Dolph Ziggler) charging at them, only to miss completely. Shawn hits him with a trashcan lid and HHH hits Mikey with the same lid. HHH and Shawn have a quick pow wow, talking about how this is going to be a long night. They take a step towards the camera to avoid a diving Mitch in a predictable yet amusing spot.

Highlanders vs. Spirit Squad

The Highlanders were a Scottish team that you don’t need to remember. This would be Johnny and Kenny for the Squad. Robbie and Johnny get us going and down goes Johnny via a headbutt. Off to the bald Rory who gets two off a cross body. Johnny rakes the eyes and it’s off to Kenny who was supposed to be the breakout star of the team.

The Squad double teams Rory down and it’s off to another chinlock. Rory sends Kenny into the top rope (JR: “Does anyone have a last name anymore?” Jerry: “You just have initials.”) and it’s a hot tag to Rory. Everything breaks down and the Squad sends Rory to the floor so Kenny can roll up Rory for the pin.

Rating: F. From a technical standpoint this was fine, but I literally cannot think of a match that I have ever been less interested in. This match had absolutely nothing at all that made me care. I mean there was nothing at all in here that made me want to see any of these people wrestle again. This was a failure in that regard, which is a horrible result for these guys, and none of them would have a job in WWE two years from the date of this show.

We recap last week where Lawler had to wrestle a match against Chris Masters while being handcuffed to the top rope. Therefore tonight, Lawler is taking the Masterlock Challenge.

The Challenge is right now apparently. Masters takes forever to put it on and then it’s just like everyone else that has been in this. Hey, did you know Masters was really strong? Clearly it’s his fault that the gimmick never got over when that was all he was given to work with for years.

DX is in the back when Eugene comes in to try to claim the bounty. HHH hands him a roll of paper towels. Eugene punches the door and then charges into a food table.

Lita says she’ll beat Mickie James tonight.

HHH tries to use the bathroom but has to beat up Chris Masters instead.

Umaga vs. John Cena

Todd Grisham has jumped in on commentary to replace Lawler now. Umaga beat up Maria last week until Cena made the save. Cena is world champion and Umaga is undefeated here. The champ can’t hurt him to start and Umaga takes him down with an uppercut. A Samoan Drop puts Cena down and it’s time for a nerve hold. Cena fights up and hits the Throwback before knocking Umaga into the ropes ala Andre. Estrada tries to interfere but here’s Big Show (looking like he ate Umaga) for the DQ.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t so much a match but rather angle advancement. Cena and Show were Survivor Series captains in a few weeks so there’s your explanation. This would be the Rumble main event as well as I think Armageddon where Cena had the classic man vs. a monster formula down to a tee. I still can’t get over how huge Show is though. I know he’s big today (August 2012) but he looks SLIM compared to how he looks in 2006.

The monsters destroy Cena.

DX comes in to see Coach and they already have a Benny Hill style video recap of the last hour. DX says Coach wins and they’ll leave, but Coach says they don’t get the $10,000. Shawn steals the money. Ok then.

Intercontinental Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro

Hardy is challenging after Bischoff cheated to help Nitro get the title a week ago. Jeff grabs a headlock to start but quickly switches to the arm. Nitro is sent to the floor but misses a slingshot splash coming back in. Jeff pounds away in the corner but Nitro bails before the Swanton can be launched. Jeff is like screw that and dives on Nitro on the floor as we take a break.

Back with Jeff dropping the leg between the legs for two. Nitro comes back with the kick eventually known as the Flying Chuck for two and it’s chinlock time. Jeff grabs a quick sunset flip out of the corner but Nitro clotheslines him down again for two. Back to a chinlock by Nitro but Jeff breaks it pretty quickly again. Jeff makes a comeback but misses Whisper in the Wind to give the champ control again. A reverse powerbomb gets two for Nitro but he jumps off the middle rope into a powerbomb from Hardy which gets the same. Cool looking counter though.

The Swanton hits but Melina has the referee. Ross freaking out over it makes me miss him as compared to the laid back attitude of Cole. Nitro hits a neckbreaker but an AJ Styles Spiral Tap gets two. Jeff counters the pin out of nowhere into a rollup for the pin and the title. That came so fast that I almost had to rewind the video.

Rating: C. Not a great match here but it seems like it would have been better live. Hardy is a guy that is awesome when he’s flying around out there but Nitro wasn’t ready to be a real threat to him yet. Melina’s screaming gets very annoying very quickly but then again that’s the idea. Nitro would get better when he became John Morrison.

Nitro beats up Hardy post match and pulls out a ladder to further the attack with. I think I smell a rubber match.

DX is outside and HHH thinks they should use the money to go inside and buy tickets. They find scalpers instead (in the form of Cryme Tyme) but HHH can’t understand them. Shawn says he speaks jive. I wonder if they’ll catch an Airplane home after the show.

Carlito is reading a paper in the back when Torrie and some Daily Star (the paper he’s reading) girls come in. Apparently there are scantily clad women in there but Carlito says he’s reading the sports section. Torrie asks him out and invites him to stay in her hotel tonight.

We run down the Survivor Series card.

DX buys all the DX shirts from the merchandise stand. They throw them into the crowd and apparently my girlfriend caught one HHH threw.

Lita vs. Mickie James

Lita is Women’s Champion but this is non-title. DX is in the front row now. Apparently Mickie has to have her feet shackled together for some reason. Mickie says after the match Lita can have the shackles because she needs her legs tied together. Lita jumps Mickie to start and the champ is in full control. DX starts a Lita’s A Ho chant as this is completely one sided so far. The champ goes after them and slaps HHH but he sprays mustard on her. Back inside Mickie hits Lita with a salami (I kid you not) and hits the jumping DDT for the pin. Not really funny but good upskirt shots of Mickie are never a bad thing.

With Lita still recovering, here are Orton, Edge and Coach with the final of those three ejecting DX.

Tag Titles: Rated RKO vs. Ric Flair/Roddy Piper

Flair and Piper took the tag titles from the Spirit Squad so that they could drop the titles to Rated RKO. Seriously, would ANYONE expect the old guys to retain here? I know it’s spoiling things early, but dude come on. In case it wasn’t one sided enough already, Piper comes out first and gets double teamed with a chair by Rated RKO. Flair comes out to fight off Orton but Edge hits a Conchairto on Piper, making it a handicap match.

There’s a WOO banner that is longer than the side of the ring. That’s pretty impressive. Edge starts and Flair’s chops only get him so far here. Off to Orton who pounds Flair down in the corner some more. This is domination so far. A clothesline puts Ric on the floor where Orton suplexes him to follow up. Back inside and Edge hooks a chinlock. Flair ges a low blow on Orton so it’s back to Edge who gets chopped down. Orton misses a dropkick but as Flair loads up the Figure Four, Edge spears him down for the pin and the titles.

Rating: D. The match sucked, but as I said earlier DX needed a credible pair to fight and giving Orton and Edge the titles gave them something to fight over. There was zero drama here and it wound up being a five minute squash. Edge and Orton would hold the titles into the new year until Shawn and Cena won them. HHH would get injured (again) in the big match between the teams but the idea was right.

DX runs out for the save and beats up security to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a tricky one. It’s not what I would call a good show as the best match (the IC Title) was the only one with any significant length. That being said, you can’t say stuff didn’t happen here as we had two title changes and a show long story. Cena was a complete afterthought here other than for about five minutes, but DX was entertaining so I’m not that angry. This is by no means a bad show but there’s nothing on it great. It’s a show that would be better served if you read the results online and Youtubed some highlights.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 6, 2012
Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

It’s Shawn Michaels Appreciation Night, which likely means Brock Lesnar Beats Up Shawn To Get On HHH’s Nerves Night. Other than that we’re on the way to Summerslam and we have a triple threat match for the title at that show, because this is WWE and that’s how we roll around here. I doubt much else will matter tonight but the interesting question is will we have more than the 16 recaps we had last week? Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the end of last week with Show vs. Cena and the announcement of the triple threat for Summerslam.

The song is now that Tonight Is The Night one that was used for Raw 1000. I don’t like hip hop/rap so I’m not wild on it but I guess that’s what people like nowadays.

Here’s AJ to open things up in a white suit. Well it certainly catches my eye. Tonight it’s Orton vs. Big Show and Bryan vs. Cena. She has another idea but here’s Punk with a disruption. Punk says that he needs to apologize for something he said last week. He wants to apologize to AJ when he yelled and screamed at her because he knows what it’s like to not be respected. Punk says he’s sorry and AJ accepts it.

The champ talks about how AJ is bound to make some big mistakes like she did last week so why don’t we just cancel the triple threat for Summerslam. She says she’ll make mistakes but the triple threat isn’t one of them. Punk says he doesn’t want her to be the evil Raw GM because he turned her down. He has no problem with facing either guy in a singles match so just give him one of them or have him face a new opponent, but let’s move on.

Cue Cena with something to say. Cena says you have to come out here and earn respect instead of demanding it. He stops to listen to some dueling chants and says that he’s got eleven of those championships Punk has right now and based on the crowd, Cena has to fight for respect every week. Cena stops to hit on AJ in a somewhat awkward moment. Punk says Cena is the guy that turns a blind eye to facts.

Last week, Cena was the one that went flying into Punk so Cena is the one that started it. Punk talks about how Cena isn’t the same as he used to be but Cena counters by saying that the champ rarely wins triple threats. I’d love to see the stats that backs that up. Punk says we should check Gray’s Sports Almanac and see that Punk won at Summerslam last week.

Cue Big Show but AJ tells everyone to stop it because we’re not going to let everything get out of hand. Cena and Show have matches later but Punk has nothing to do, which he says isn’t right. AJ says Punk has a match and the fans will decide. The choices are Miz, Kane or Rey Mysterio. Gee I wonder who they’ll pick. The match is after a break.

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

Wow I’m stunned by this result. The voting was a bit closer than I expected with Rey having 47% to Kane’s 31. Mysterio takes him to the mat to start and grabs a leg but Punk counters by grabbing the arm. I’m not sure what I think of Rey wrestling in a shirt since his comeback. I don’t dislike it but it’s different to see on him. Rey misses a charge and goes shoulder first into the post so Punk drops a leg for two.

A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for the champ (this is non-title) and he goes up top. Rey kicks him down and hits the seated senton off the apron (not the second rope Cole) as we take a break. Back with Punk superplexing Rey for two. Off to a bodyscissors to fill in some time. Mysterio is sent to the floor but as he comes back in with the seated senton.

Rey speeds things up and hits the kick to the head for a close two. Rey tries to jump out of the corner but gets caught in the GTS. That gets countered into the 619 but the top rope splash hits Punk’s knees. GTS gets the clean pin at 10:11. Punk may have lost a tooth in there somewhere.

Rating: C+. This was the usual good match from these two. Punk winning clean is a good thing and someone like Rey losing isn’t going to hurt him at all. I like that they’re keeping Punk looking strong instead of having him become a coward that can barely beat anyone on his own. Pretty good stuff here.

Del Rio finds a parking spot. This takes almost 40 seconds.

Video on Wade Barrett who is returning. It features clips of a bare knuckles fight and has him talking about going back to that style to reignite his fire. Nice stuff.

Del Rio and Ricardo come in to see AJ. Alberto says he shouldn’t have to fight until Summerslam. She steps away and Del Rio mentions her being crazy. That brings her back and Del Rio has a match up next.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian

Christian jumps him to start but Alberto takes him to the floor and sends him into the post and the barricade. That gets two back inside and it’s time to work on the arm. I doubt we’ll hear about Del Rio putting Christian on the shelf for about six months a few years ago. Del Rio DDTs the arm down but Christian comes back with some forearms. The uppercut while Del Rio is on the ropes puts Alberto down and the top rope cross body gets two for the Canadian.

Killswitch is countered but the Codebreaker to the arm is as well. Del Rio kicks him in the ribs but a backsplash from the middle rope misses. The spear is countered by a superkick and both finishers are countered. Ricardo distracts Christian and Del Rio takes his boot off and blasts Christian in the head with it. The armbreaker gets the submission at 3:05.

Rating: D. This was a mess while it lasted. The idea was that the boot wasn’t completely on because of Del Rio having to get ready in a hurry which is a decent idea, but the rest of the match didn’t work at all. At the end of the day, I do not care about Del Rio and I don’t know of more than a handful of people that do. Nothing to see here.

Sheamus pops up on screen and steals Del Rio’s car which is still in the back.

It appears that Shawn is going to appear tonight but the Appreciation Night doesn’t look to be happening.

Randy Orton vs. Big Show

They trade punches in the corner to start but Big Show comes out with a side slam for two to take over. Show starts slowing things down again and elbows Orton down. Off to a chinlock which looks more like an annoyance to Randy than a painful hold. Orton comes back with a lot of punches and kicks, followed by a dropkick that actually puts Show down.

Show gets up and chokeslams Orton down for two. Orton goes to the floor and guillotines Show as he comes back in. Show will have none of that and shoulders Orton back to the floor. Back inside and Show shoves him right to the floor again. Show’s ram into the post is countered but the RKO on the floor is countered. Show spears him down and it’s a double countout at 5:47.

Rating: D+. I liked this better than I expected to. It wasn’t a good match or anything but all things considered it wasn’t bad. I liked the idea of Orton mixing things up a bit to take Big Show down but it was pretty clear that no one was going to lose clean here. Show has no business in the main event at Summerslam but for some reason he’s there and we have to live with it.

Post match Show loads up the punch but walks into an RKO.

Ryback vs. Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks

Ryback talks about the food chain a bit in an inset promo. Reks starts off but gets powerslammed down with ease. Off to Hawkins who is kicked down immediately. He tags Reks back in and after a Hawkins distraction, a few big boots take Ryback down for one. A double gordbuster puts Ryback down for one and it’s off to a chinlock from Hawkins. Ryback launches them both to the floor before throwing Hawkins back in for a spinebuster. The big clothesline takes his head off and Shell Shock finishes Hawkins at 2:50.

Prime Time Players vs. Primo/Epico

Epico dropkicks Young during the intros but the Players take over almost immediately. Primo does an Ultimo Dragon corner headstand and comes out with a headscissors for two on Young. Off to Titus who powers Primo down before bringing in Young at AW’s direction. Young hooks a chinlock followed by a powerslam for two. Primo rolls under Young and makes the tag to Epico who cleans house. Young gets beaten down so Titus pulls him to the floor. They look to leave but here are Kofi and Truth to stop that. Epico and Primo jump the Players and we head back inside where Epico hits the Backstabber on Young for the pin at 4:29.

Rating: C-. Standard formula here and while it’s only three teams, this is the deepest the tag division has been in years. I’m assuming this is leading to a three way tag title match somewhere so at least there’s a story to it, but I’m not sure if they did the right thing by having the champions pin the Players already.

Quick video on Sandow getting beaten down by DX and then attacking Brodus last week. Sandow says he’s here to rid the WWE of all foolishness, which is what dancing is. Tonight he’ll get rid of Brodus to help us all.

Brodus Clay vs. Damien Sandow

Sandow jumps Brodus during the entrance and goes after the knee again. Brodus, with his pants falling off, fights back but gets clotheslined down. He destroys the knee some more and Brodus has to be helped out.

Bryan is in the back with AJ and says when he wins, the triple threat will become a fatal fourway. AJ says Bryan has to face Kane. A No vs. Yes battle erupts.

Kelly Kelly vs. Eve Torres

Eve tries to bail but Kelly takes her down with a Thesz Press. What would a Kelly match be without a Stinkface either? I’m so glad she came back do do that. Eve tries to walk again but Kelly throws her into the barricade. A top rope cross body gets two for Kelly but she gets slammed into the mat coming out of the corner. Eve puts on a chinlock which is quickly broken up. Kelly hits a standing rana for the pin at 3:04.

Rating: D. Dang it this had to be long enough to rate. I don’t care about Kelly Kelly at all. Yes, she looks good in a swimsuit but that’s about all she has going for her. Her wrestling is ok at best and I refuse to take a girl seriously when her song is about hollering in a club. Nothing to see here but at least it was longer than the usual jokes that the Divas matches are. That’ll help somewhat in the long run.

We recap Sheamus being a criminal earlier tonight. He’s TOUTING about it which we’ll see in a bit.

Here’s Shawn Michaels to a big hometown pop. Shawn says he’s out of shape from only coming down the aisle once every two weeks. He thanks the fans for allowing him to be part of history again at Raw 1000. Shawn talks about there being a lot of new faces in the locker room today but the thing that is the same is that a lot of people are talking about HHH vs. Lesnar at Summerslam.

Cue Lesnar and Heyman with the latter saying everyone should be asking Shawn for his opinion on the match at Summerslam. Brock isn’t going into Summerslam as an entertainer but as a fighter. He’s going to prove that he’s the baddest dude on the planet today. Well, after Ace and Douglas of course. Shawn talks about how Lesnar has pushed HHH further than anyone else ever has and how he barely recognizes HHH anymore.

Shawn picks HHH on this day and he wants to be in HHH’s corner to watch it. Paul tells Brock that that was the big moment that’ll be played over and over. Lesnar takes the mic from Heyman and says the only reason Shawn thinks HHH will win is he’s never been in the ring with Brock until now. Cue HHH to save his buddy. Brock says he’ll see HHH at Summerslam and he’ll see HBK before then.

We get a TOUT from Sheamus at the Alamo. We watch this on Cole’s computer. Seriously.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Alex Riley

Jericho is on commentary and talks about an article comparing Ziggler and Jericho. It’s nice to hear him having some energy on commentary instead of talking all slow. Feeling out process to start and Ziggler takes over. After some trash talk to Jericho, Dolph dropkicks Riley’s head off and drops an elbow for two. Riley makes a brief comeback but charges into the post shoulder first. A neckbreaker gets two and Jericho thinks it’s time to TOUT IT OUT BABY! The distraction lets Riley roll up Ziggler for the pin at 4:18.

Rating: D+. This is what you call storyline advancement. I know that’s a new thing to a lot of you, but it does exist. The Touting doesn’t need to exist and is annoying, but at least we got something new in Jericho vs. Ziggler. Jericho is the undisputed master of putting people over at this point so Ziggler feuding with him is nothing but good.

AJ announces (via Twitter) that it’s Miz vs. Kane next.

Sheamus TOUTS IT OUT AGAIN, this time from the Riverwalk. He’s having Mexican food now.

Kane vs. The Miz

Non-title again. Kane slams him into the corner to start but misses a big boot, allowing Miz to take out the other leg. A powerslam is countered by another shot to the knee and the short DDT gets two. Kane comes back with a pair of uppercuts but Miz takes the knee out again. Off to a chinlock by Miz but Kane powers out and slams Miz down for two. Miz avoids a charge but the Finale is broken up. Kane throws him into the buckle “face” first and chokeslams him for the pin at 3:50 because champions can’t win more than a match a night on Raw.

Rating: D. The botches in this match were bad looking and the ending of Miz losing clean makes it even worse. I love Kane but there was no need for him to win here. This was pretty weak overall with a nonsensical decision on top of everything else. Why would I think this was good?

Del Rio’s car is back and it’s mostly covered in mud.

John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan

They have about 25 minutes here if they want to go pretty long. Ricardo and Del Rio find the car and yell a lot. Alberto blames Ricardo. Scratch the 25 minutes thing as after a break it’s 10:45 and Cena hasn’t been out yet. Cena back him into the ropes to start as the fans are split on Cena again. Bryan heads to the floor to eyll at the fans and comes back inside for a chinlock.

Bryan gets Cena to chase him on the floor and takes over, hitting a jumping knee off the apron to Cena’s head. He gets in a big YES vs. NO war with a fan dressed as a referee and we take a break. Back with Bryan knocking Cena down again and stomping in the corner. The running corner dropkick gets two as Cena is in some trouble. Bryan fires off kicks in the corner and drop toeholds a charging Cena into the buckle for two.

Off to an armbar from Bryan followed by a knee drop to the back of the head for two. Cena escapes the armbar again and starts his finishing sequence. There’s the Shiffle but the AA is countered into a guillotine choke. Cena finally rams him into the corner to escape but he can’t get the STF. Bryan rolls him up for two and gets the same off a big kick to the head. Bryan goes up and hits the swan dive for two and it’s time for the NO Kicks. The last one misses and Cena grabs the STF. Bryan breaks the grip almost with ease and tries the No Lock, but Cena counters into a modified AA for the pin at 14:00.

Rating: B. This was a good match and while it wasn’t as big as they were hyping it up to be, it worked very well. These two have the skill to pull off a major match, but at the end of the day it has the major problem I expected it to: Bryan isn’t the kind of guy you would expect to be able to beat Cena. That’s a problem if these guys are going to have a major PPV match down the line. Still though, good stuff here.

Post match Punk comes out to pose with the belt but Cena shoves him down to fight the coming Big Show. Cena loads up the AA but Punk breaks it up again. Punk jumps on a headset and says that maybe it’s his fault he’s in the triple threat. He goes into a big rant about how he’s tired of doing the right thing and now Raw is ending with him standing tall. Then he goes in the ring and Big Show knocks him out cold with one punch. Cena gets knocked out too to end the show. You still don’t belong in this match bald man.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a MUCH better show than last week in a few regards. The wrestling last week was probably better, but the pacing this week made this a much more bearable show. There weren’t fifteen recaps and they kept the social media down to a level where you didn’t want to kill a Swedish goat. Sheamus vs. Del Rio got some time this week, but stealing and destroying a car doesn’t make me think that much of Sheamus. Better show but at the end of the day, there is zero reason for Raw to go three hours, period.

Results
CM Punk b. Rey Mysterio – GTS
Alberto Del Rio b. Christian – Cross Armbreaker
Randy Orton vs. Big Show went to a double countout
Ryback b. Curt Hawkins/Tyler Reks – Shell Shock to Hawkins
Primo/Epico b. Prime Time Players – Backstabber to Young
Kelly Kelly b. Eve Torres – Hurricanrana
Alex Riley b. Dolph Ziggler – Rollup
Kane b. The Miz – Chokeslam
John Cena b. Daniel Bryan – Attitude Adjustment

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 30, 2012
Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

This is the interesting show as we’re still at three hours, but now we don’t have the legends or the big stuff to fill in the card. We do however have the beginning of Punk’s heel reign and likely the announcement of his opponent (named John Cena) for Summerslam. This should be an interesting show but it’s hard to say where it’ll go. I do expect a rise in TOUTING IT OUT BABY! Let’s get to it.

We open with people still coming into the arena. Apparently there was a pyro issue before the show and a fire broke out. No one was injured but part of the Tron was on fire. No one was hurt which is the important thing.

We get a video from Raw 1000 which we’ve seen twice on WWE TV already. That’s ok though as we haven’t seen it on Raw yet and it’s a cool look back.

Here’s Punk to open the show and it sounds like a mixed reaction to me. Nope there are the boos. Punk talks about how everyone wants a Wrestlemania moment, but he had a Raw moment that was bigger than most people’s Mania moments. He’ll explain his actions in a bit but he wants to talk about how Raw 1000 went off the air. When the show was ending last week, Jerry Lawler said CM Punk has turned his back on the WWE Universe. That doesn’t sit well with Punk so he goes and sits on the announce desk in front of Lawler.

Punk talks about how he’s used to over the top commentary but he doesn’t get this one. If anything, it was Lawler who turned on CM Punk. Rock isn’t the WWE Universe but rather one person. Rock is a delusional movie star who showed the WWE Champion a lack of respect. Last week when Rock was doing his thing with Daniel Bryan, Rock completely ignored Punk which is disrespectful. Once Rock was talking to Punk, it was like Rock was lowering himself to do it. Then later in the night, Rock ran in and tried to make everything about him.

This isn’t ballet but rather the WWE and Punk is its champion. We haven’t heard from Rock in a week which is odd because during the Cena feud, you couldn’t shut Rock up. Lawler likes to spin things but Raw ended the way every show should end: with the focus on the WWE Champion. Cue Big Show of all people and Punk says he’s here to steal the spotlight. Show says Punk is right: the focus was on Punk to end the show last week but it should have been on Big Show. He cost Cena the world title, he made Cena be the first person to cash in and lose, he knocked out Cena and Punk STILL couldn’t beat Cena.

Punk would have tapped if not for Big Show, which Punk denies. Show says he’ll be the next WWE Champion which Punk scoffs at. Cena charges to the ring and goes right after Big Show while Punk looks on. Show runs to the floor and here’s AJ (officially called Lee now) in a business suit. This works for me. Tonight it’s Big Show vs. Cena for the title shot at Summerslam. You know, because Show has proven that he’s equal to Cena so many times now.

Bryan almost goes into AJ’s locker room but doesn’t.

Santino Marella vs. Alberto Del Rio

Del Rio jumps him and takes over quickly, hitting a snap suplex and leg drop. Del Rio has gold/black boots now which work a bit better. Santino backdrops him to the floor and we take a break. Back with Del Rio working on the arm and hitting a double stomp to the chest for no cover. Santino fires off some offense but as he does the splits, Del Rio kicks him in the head to break the momentum. Cross Armbreaker gets the tap out at 7:36.

Rating: D. Another match and another loss for Santino. For the 100^th time, I get that Del Rio is a bigger star and Santino has no business beating him, SO WHY DO YOU HAVE SANTINO FACE HIM??? You have an army of people you can throw out there so you take a champion and have him lose. That’s FREAKING STUPID.

Del Rio says everyone is beneath him and if it’s not a world title match, he won’t compete.

Bryan is still trying to knock on AJ’s door.

Post break here’s Brodus and the dancing girls, but Vickie says she’s going to show how them how to really dance. Thankfully Damien Sandow comes out to break things up. He calls himself a martyr because of what happened with DX last week and calls it a crime against humanity. Sandow jumps Brodus and takes out the knee which has been injured for how many months now? Sandow fires off the knees and Brodus is in trouble. Damien breaks the necklace Brodus wears and leaves him laying. It’s about time these guys got a feud.

We get a clip from two weeks ago with Ziggler taking the Codebreaker from Jericho. Jericho jumped Ziggler on Friday, resulting in Sheamus kicking Ziggler’s head off.

Bryan finally goes into AJ’s room and she seems calm. AJ offers a handshake but Bryan yells at her. She tells him to shut up and says she’s his boss. Last week she saw guys in white coats walking around backstage and Bryan wanted to marry her so she could have him committed. Bryan says they were his groomsmen but AJ doesn’t buy it. Tonight, Bryan gets Sheamus and it’s not even for the title.

The filler continues with a video on Lesnar vs. HHH from last week.

You can vote on the stips for Sheamus vs. Bryan: No Holds Barred, Falls Count Anywhere or Street Fight. This filler is REALLY getting old.

Sheamus says he doesn’t care what match the fans pick but he’s glad the fans are picking. Sheamus thinks Josh is looking nervous but Josh says he’s fine. That seems to go nowhere.

We recap the fire before the show.

Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus

By my math, the poll was open about 6 minutes. Bryan wants the people to stop chanting YES because that’s his thing. Street Fight gets over 70% of the vote and the fans chant YES. This is officially a RAW ACTIVE match, because the fans got to pick it. Oh I’m not going to like these three hour shows. Bryan does the moonsault out of the corner but jumps into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (not the Irish Curse Cole!). Sheamus gets tripped into the middle buckle and Bryan takes over.

Bryan works over the arm which is apparently still injured from the car attack by Del Rio which was almost a month ago. Sheamus comes back with some punches and we head to the floor. Bryan gets sent into the barricade a few times and they head up to the stage. Bryan kicks Sheamus off the stage and the champ (this is non title) falls FEET to the floor, possibly hurting his leg. A running knee off the stage hits Sheamus in the head and we take a break.

Back with Bryan working on the arm. Not the head or the leg, but the thing that was hurt four weeks ago. Back to the floor and Sheamus catches a diving Bryan, launching him into the barricade. Sheamus does the ten forearms with Bryan in the timekeeper’s area. A suplex puts Bryan back at ringside and it’s time for a chair and kendo stick. Bryan knocks both to the floor so Sheamus clotheslines him to the floor again.

As Sheamus goes for Bryan, Daniel grabs the kendo stick and beats the tar out of Sheamus with it. Bryan wedges the chair between the ropes but it allows Sheamus to get the stick and knock Bryan around with it. Bryan hits a dropkick to send Sheamus into the chair for two. We go to the floor for the fifth time and Sheamus hits a shoulder to send Bryan into the barricade. He loads up the steps but Bryan rams him into the post shoulder first. Back in and Bryan loads up the steps but Sheamus grabs him for White Noise. That gets broken up so Sheamus Brogue Kicks him for the pin at 14:10.

Rating: C+. That’s as high as I can go on this. This wasn’t a bad match but it felt like a house show main event. The biggest problems here were how repetitive it got (how many times did they go to the floor and someone got sent into the barricade?) and the psychology as Bryan couldn’t decide what part to work on. It was a decent match but it was nothing great.

Cole lies and says that Punk did his speech earlier at 8pm exactly, despite the first five minutes of the show being about the fire and recapping last week. We see a clip of Punk’s speech and that’s about it.

Post break Bryan is yelling about needing a doctor and he won’t leave the ring. Geez the filler is getting more and more obvious here. To fill time, we see ANOTHER clip of Punk’s speech. After that, Bryan is still whining for a doctor. Kofi comes out for his match anyway along with R-Truth. They tell Bryan to get out so Bryan makes fun of Little Jimmy. He then kicks Jimmy to the floor so Truth and Kofi go to the floor to check on him. The orderlies from last week come out and here’s AJ. She says Bryan needs help and that would include a psychiatric evaluation. Bryan and the orderlies go up the stage…and nothing of note happens.

Vince will name a new GM on Friday. I liked it without a GM on Friday.

Before the match, TOUT IT OUT BABY!

Kofi Kingston vs. Titus O’Neal

Titus starts with the power and catches a cross body. AW makes what sounds like a reference to Kobe Bryan’t rape case from like 8 years ago. Kofi counters a slam into a DDT but I’m trying to get over that Bryant reference. Why in the world would he say that? Kofi clotheslines him down and ruth clocks Darren. AW throws a shoe at Kofi and shouts about Kofi’s mama. That allows the Clash of the Titus to pin Kofi at 2:53.

Punk is talking to Cena in the back and says that he thinks Cena would have done the same thing when he tried to pin Cena. Actually he wouldn’t as he had the chance the week before but whatever. Punk says he respects Cena but he doesn’t care who wins tonight.

Back with an apology for what AW said. We also see what Cena and Punk did just a few seconds ago.

We recap Slater’s decimation by the new batch of legends last week.

Here’s Slater in the ring and he says he’s glad the legends have finally gone to the retirement home. He’s issuing a challenge to any current WWE Superstar to come face him.

Heath Slater vs. Randy Orton

I wrote Orton’s name before his music hit. Orton looks slimmer. During Orton’s entrance, we hear about ANOTHER technology thing you can do called Shazam, where you can get extra content or something. Slater pounds him into the corner but walks into a clothesline. Orton has a mohawk. WHY? RKO ends this at 1:15.

Time for Bryan’s psych evaluation. He answers every question with YES and starts shouting it over and over.

Chris Jericho/Christian vs. The Miz/Dolph Ziggler

Christian and Ziggler start things off and Christian takes him to the mat quickly. Off to Miz who is taken down and punched in the head by the Canadian. The younger Canadian that is. Back to Dolph as we hear about a Tout War between Jericho and Ziggler from over the weekend. Jericho vs. Miz now with Chris getting two off an elbow drop. Back to Ziggler as things speed up a bit. Jericho hits a top rope ax handle and knocks both heels to the floor. Christian dives on both guys as we take a break.

Back with Miz holding Jericho in a chinlock. Apparently during the break a Vickie distraction changed the control. Jericho backdrops out of the hold and it’s off to Christian. Ziggler comes in and avoids the Killswitch but gets caught in the sunset flip out of the corner for two. A BIG dropkick puts Christian down but it only gets two. Back to Miz for another chinlock but Christian sends Miz to the floor to escape. Miz breaks up the hot tag though and Christian is stomped on some more. Ziggler mostly misses a Fameasser and Lawler rips into him for it.

Christian trips Ziggler up and a double tag brings in Jericho and Miz. Jericho springboard dropkicks Dolph off the rope and hits the Lionsault on Miz for two. Christian spears Ziggler in half but gets sent shoulder first into the post. Jericho tries the Walls but Miz escapes and hits a big boot to put him down. The Finale is countered but Christian pokes Miz in the eye, allowing the Codebreaker to pin Miz at 13:23.

Rating: B-. Pretty good match here but Miz loses a week after winning the title because someone has to in this match. This got time and was a fun match, but it means we have to go to more non-wrestling stuff which has been dreadful tonight. The match was a breath of air, but it wasn’t anything above pretty good.

Post match Ziggler hits Jericho with the briefcase.

Time for another fire recap to fill in a few moments.

We go back to the psych evaluation for ink blot tests. The blots are thrown on the table to form a goat, which Bryan freaks out over.

TOUT IT OUT AGAIN BABY!

Tensai vs. Tyson Kidd

No entrance for Tensai anymore. Tensai runs him over and the fans chant Albert. Kidd has a small cut on his forehead. Kidd escapes a nerve hold and hits a spin kick followed by a rollup for two. A kick to the head sets up a Blockbuster for Kidd but it only gets two. And never mind as the chokebomb and backsplash get the pin at 2:10.

Tensai beats him up post match and hits the other the shoulder backbreaker. The decision is reversed. Sakamoto is beaten up too. Is this supposed to make me care about him any more?

Back to the psych evaluation and the result is Bryan is a jerk and obsessed with Charlie Sheen but he’s sane. The shrink leaves and Kane comes in, says he’s Bryan’s anger management therapist, and beats Bryan up. We spent how many segments to have Kane attack Bryan?

We get the same recap of HHH vs. Lesnar from earlier.

Here’s Punk to do commentary on the main event.

Big Show vs. John Cena

Winner gets Punk for the title at Summerslam. Cena pounds away on him to start but gets punched down almost immediately. Things slow way down and Show continues to prove why he gets the reputation of a guy who is slow and dull to watch. The SHH chop misses in the corner and Cena jumps on his back. Cena tries a cross body but gets caught. That goes nowhere so we’ll go back to the choke on Show’s back.

The choke eventually gets two but Cena gets launched to the floor as we take a break. Back with Show throwing Cena around even more and shouting at Punk. Punk seems to be totally neutral so far. Show hooks a bearhug as Punk says the always stupid line of everyone is the same size on the mat. No Punk, they’re not. Cena fights out but Show falls on him in a slam attempt for two. Chokeslam is countered into a DDT and both guys are down.

A side slam puts Cena down but the Vader Bomb misses. Cena initiates his finishing sequence but he charges into a chokeslam for two. Cena rolls to the floor and Punk says you can’t lose out there. Show picks him up to ram Cena into the post but Cena escapes. Show gets sent into the post but Cena dives at him, only to miss and crash into Punk. Cena gets in at 9 and Punk is holding his arm. Show misses the big punch and walks into the AA but Punk breaks it up for the DQ at 16:17. He hit Show in the back.

Rating: D+. This was as slow of a Big Show match as I can remember in a long time. We get the idea already: Show is big and strong, but since he’s gone on this path of destruction, he hasn’t won a big match unless I’m overlooking it. This was really boring and way too slow for anything to come out of it.

Punk kicks Show AFTER the bell. The only question is if the triple threat announcement is this week or next. Punk says both guys are losers. I guess it’s a no contest. Punk leaves and the announcement of the triple threat is made to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This show isn’t horrible, but sweet goodness is it exhausting. There is SO much filler here and that becomes the main problem: instead of doing ANYTHING different, they just took what was a two hour show and stretched it into three hours. It doesn’t make the show better; it just makes it longer. This is going to get very tiring very fast, especially with all of the social media nonsense that only WWE cares about.

As for the actual content of the show, it was nothing great. The big angle of Punk being evil didn’t seem to be followed up on here for the most part as for most of the show he was pretty much in between either side. Big Show sucks the life out of the scenes he’s in as I don’t think anyone really cares about him at all. The Bryan stuff looks like it’s trying to set up a Charlie Sheen match at Summerslam, which is going to be a VERY big risk. This was a very disappointing show and I’m not looking forward to next week.

Results

Alberto Del Rio b. Santino Marella – Cross Armbreaker

Sheamus b. Daniel Bryan – Brogue Kick

Titus O’Neal b. Kofi Kingston – Clash of the Titus

Randy Orton b. Heath Slater – RKO

Christian/Chris Jericho b. The Miz/Dolph Ziggler – Codebreaker to Miz

Tyson Kidd b. Tensai via DQ when Tensai attacked Kidd after the match ended

John Cena vs. Big Show went to a no contest

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 19, 2001
Location: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Well the Invasion is over and I don’t think anyone is really complaining that it’s done. Tonight we basically hit a big reset button tonight as things get back to “normal” for the first time in months tonight. I have no idea what to expect with this show. Well ok I do as I remember watching it and the big surprise on it but it makes for a better intro if I say that. Let’s get to it.

We open with Foley and Vince on a plane earlier today. Foley says he knows that he’s getting fired, but Vince only says Have a Nice Day. That’s the last we would see of Mick Foley in the WWF/E for over a year and a half.

Here’s Vince to open the show and you know he’s happy after last night. He thanks Angle for ending the Alliance and says that ECW is dead. Until there was an opening due to high DVD sales of course. The WCW Title is now the World Championship, which is different from the WWF Championship because…..because this is called the World Championship. Also tonight, someone is going to become the inaugural member of Vince’s special club. That person gets to keep their job (along with the champions as they get to keep their jobs too).

That brings Vince to the leader of the Alliance. As soon as Austin arrives here tonight, Vince’s plans go into effect. There’s one more change: we have an empty seat on commentary. Vince brings out Paul Heyman who sits on the commentary desk, but Vince never said that Paul was the new commentator. Vince calls him into the ring and Heyman immediately starts sucking up.

McMahon says he’s a first amendment guy (Heyman: “And one of the best ever sir!”) and using his first amendment, he says that Heyman is fired. Heyman wants to fight but as the jacket comes off, Heyman runs. Heyman walks on the floor and then lunges at JR, who beats the tar out of him. Security pulls Heyman off and takes him out. Vince calls out Lawler to be JR’s partner again. That just feels right.

Women’s Title: Lita vs. Trish Stratus

Trish is defending after winning the title last night in a Six Pack Challenge. Last night Trish was seen coming out of the Hardys’ locker room when only Matt was in there so there’s some heat here. Trish is AWFUL at this point so don’t expect any kind of a good match here. Fifteen seconds in and they HORRIBLY botch a wristlock.

Spear gets two for Lita as does a sunset flip. Trish sends her into the middle rope for two before hitting an awkward slam. Lita hits a bad flapjack for another near fall before Trish kicks her in the chest to take over. An elbow misses for Stratus but she manages to shove Lita off the top to the floor. Trish kicks Lita into Matt so Matt throws Lita back in. Trish backslides her to retain. This was HORRIBLE.

Vince goes to see the Dudleys, Stacy, Test, Van Dam and Christian. These are the people who aren’t fired for being either champions, immune, or gorgeous. Vince punishes Van Dam for not accepting his offer to join the WWF a few months ago by making him face the Dudleys in a handicap tables match. The three of them and Stacy leave so Christian can suck up to Vinny a bit. That gets him nowhere.

Rob Van Dam vs. Dudley Boys

Jerry has to make up his flirting jokes about Stacy so he fires off a bunch to start. Van Dam has to fight them both off at once and makes D-Von clothesline Bubba by mistake. Rolling Thunder hits D-Von but Rob walks into a Bubba Bomb. Rob comes back by spearing Bubba into the corner, only to walk into a neckbreaker out of said corner from D-Von. Here are a pair of tables, one on the mat and one in the corner. Rob grabs a rope to avoid 3D and sends D-Von to the floor.

A kick takes Bubba down and a Van Daminator takes him down even more. D-Von comes back in and takes some kicks of his own, sending him onto a table. Van Dam goes for what would have been the longest Five Star ever, but he leaves it short (no shock) and breaks the table WITH HIS FACE. FREAKING OW MAN!!! The Dudleys pick up the dead body that used to be RVD and 3D him onto the table, as it doesn’t break. The second 3D wins it and I think Van Dam needs a doctor.

Rating: C. Van Dam has earned this rating on his own. It’s not that the Dudleys didn’t do anything, but those landings with Van Dam were SCARY, especially the Frog Splash. There was no point to this, but the handicap tables match was the signature “punishment” match in 2001. Van Dam should have gotten a bigger push in 2001.

Angle is here and he’s still smug.

Linda McMahon is at WWF New York, likely looking for Connecticut registered voters.

Angle goes in to see Rock and wants his thank you for the company still being in business. Rock isn’t amused and wants to know when Angle was planning on letting the WWF know when he was a mole. Angle spent a month blasting WWF guys with chairs but Angle says it was worth it. Rock agrees and says Angle should try to beat him up now. Angle says he’ll do it for the title. Rock will never trust either Angle or Vince again. I don’t think Rock accepted the challenge for the title match but maybe that was implied.

Shane and Stephanie arrive in a rental car. Stephanie could always make a living if she wore those dresses on the street.

Vince is in the ring again and apparently the acceptance of the match was implied as Vince says it’s happening. Austin isn’t here yet so let’s deal with his kids. Here they are and Vince says he likes hearing Stephanie called a w****. Shane tells Vince that he won and that he (Shane) lost to the better man. Shane leaves and that’s that.

Stephanie plays the daddy’s little girl card, calling herself young and naive. She blames Shane for everything that happened, including Linda getting slapped. It was Shane that made Stephanie slap Linda and tell Vince that she wanted him to die. She says she’s sorry and tries to cry. Vince calls for security and Stephanie is literally dragged away. Vince starts the goodbye song.

Jericho comes in to see Vince (notice his name coming up a lot tonight?) and Vince yells at him for putting the WWF in jeopardy last night by attacking Rock. Jericho says that it was due to his ego which Vince isn’t happy with. Vince doesn’t like big egos, but he loves MASSIVE egos. Oh and Jericho gets Kane tonight.

Mr. T. is here.

World Title: The Rock vs. Kurt Angle

Rock is defending. Kurt gets in some early right hands to take over and Rock gets stomped. Rock comes back with punches of his own but he gets sent to the floor very quickly. Back in and a belly to back suplex gets two for Kurt. There’s the ankle lock but Rock quickly breaks it. The countering doesn’t last long as he walks into a belly to belly to take him down again. Another belly to belly gets two and Kurt pounds away.

They’re clearly just going through the motions here but since tonight is pretty much resetting everything, it’s pretty much ok as the matches are just there to fill time until they figure out what they’re doing next. Angle goes up but gets crotched and Rock hits a belly to back superplex. Kurt clotheslines him down but Rock nips up and makes his comeback. Spinebuster looks to set up the Rock Bottom but Kurt counters into the Slam for no cover. Ankle lock is countered into a rollup for Rock to retain.

Rating: D+. Like I said they were going through the motions here and it didn’t do anything at all. They basically took the night off here and that’s ok. Angle threw in some suplexes to make it look like he was trying but they were clearly in very low gear. Angle would do nothing of note until he went to Smackdown in the Brand Split while Rock kept being Rock.

Angle attacks Rock post match and Jericho comes out to help him. Both use their submissions on Rock.

Here’s Vince for the 12^th time tonight for the Club stuff. The first inductee: William Regal. Regal offers to be a gopher for Vince but Vince says he meant the title of this club literally. Vince has Regal get on his knee and Vince takes his pants down. We’re watching one of Vince’s fantasies aren’t we? Vince takes his underwear down too and makes it dance. Oh wait Regal has to use chapstick first. Vince bends over a bit and Regal kisses it. Someone send Linda’s Senate opponent this clip NOW. The election will be over.

Regal gets laughed at by people like Taz, who still has a job because….someone help me out here. Regal slugs him.

Chris Jericho vs. Kane

Kane speeds things up to start and sends him into the corner. Jericho sends him into the rope and slingshots Kane’s throat into the bottom rope to take over. A swinging neckbreaker misses for the most part but we’ll count it anyway. Jericho grabs a chair which is quickly knocked out of his hand. Kane goes up and jumps into the chair for the DQ. This was nothing.

Jericho beats on Kane and puts him in the “Walls” (they couldn’t quite get it right either time they tried) and no one makes the save. Wasn’t Undertaker the one preaching about being a unit?

Creed Desire video.

Angle yells at Edge but Edge says he saved his own job by winning the IC Title last night. Edge accuses Angle of playing both sides last night. Their feud wouldn’t start for about six months if my memory is right.

William Regal vs. Taz

Taz punches, Tazmission is broken up, Regal Stretch ends this in less than a minute. Taz has a job because of being a commentator. Ok then. The arena is all smoky from Taz’s pyro.

Kurt is melancholy over not being thanked for saving the company, so Vince offers him the WWF Title.

Vince and Angle go to the ring and Vince tells the fans to thank Kurt for what he did last night. Vince says Austin can stay wherever he is because we need a dignified champion. This is a very fast heel turn by Vince who was the nicest guy in the world all night so far. Vince says that as the sole owner of the WWF, he’s going to….be interrupted by some very familiar music.

RIC FLAIR walks out (notice the location of the show) and the place goes bonkers. Vince calls Flair a has been but Flair is very happy. He says he bet on a winner last night when he bet on the WWF. Flair says Angle should win the world title in the ring like he’s capable of doing.

Vince keeps trying to get Flair out but Flair says that this morning when Shane and Stephanie sold their stock in the company (what stock? They had bought WCW and ECW, which in storylines were different companies. What stock would they still have in the WWF? I guess the idea is that Flair bought it in June, but he flat out says he bought it “this morning”. Eh it’s WWF logic so we’ll go with it) this morning, Flair bought it, so now he and McMahon are partners. The look on Vince’s face is GREAT.

Cue Austin who beats the tar out of Angle and runs him off. Flair hands Austin the title as Austin is a good guy again. A beer bash ends the show.

Overall Rating: D. The only good stuff to come out of this was in the last ten minutes, but it raises A TON of questions. First and foremost, WHY DIDN’T THEY BRING FLAIR IN SIX MONTHS AGO??? A Flair owned WCW and a Heyman owned ECW (what a strange business partnership that would have been) vs. the Vince owned WWF would have been a very interesting story, but instead that whole thing is gone, it appears to be Austin vs. Vince again, and Rock vs. Jericho is going to light things on fire for awhile. That’s one heck of a reset.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 12, 2001
Location: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

It’s the final Raw of the Alliance Era and I bet they’ll talk about the Winner Takes All match this Sunday. The fact that this is ending in less than six months has never ceased to blow my mind. There’s no reason for things to have wrapped up that fast, but then again I’m not Vince McMahon so what do I know about how to run a story that could have drawn billions and run for years? Let’s get to it.

We open with a clip from Smackdown with Taz saying that he doesn’t trust Austin anymore, earning himself a beating. The Alliance walked out on Austin. Angle told Austin to shove his hat and Austin Stunned him as well.

Here’s Angle to open the show. He talks about how there was a team that had a chance to win it all, but infighting broke that down and now they’re losers. They would be the Red Sox from this season of course. Angle wants Austin here right now, but instead he gets Edge. Edge calls Angle a coward and wants a US Title match RIGHT NOW.

US Title: Edge vs. Kurt Angle

So not only can all three McMahons and both Commissioners make matches, but wrestlers can too. Sure why not. Edge immediately dropkicks him down but Angle takes him to the mat. Edge speeds things up again and takes Kurt down before doing Kurt’s signature pose. They go to the mat again and Edge grabs the arm to control. The half nelson bulldog that edge stopped doing when he got to be a bigger star gets two.

Angle grabs a belly to belly to send Edge up and over to the floor and the challenger is in trouble. Back in that only gets two but Edge is reeling. Edge comes back with a quick flapjack but Angle rolls him down to the ground and it’s off to a chinlock. Edge tries to go up but he jumps into a belly to belly suplex. The moonsault misses and both guys are down.

Edge makes his comeback and the Edgecution and Angle Slam are both countered. Edge-O-Matic gets two and a victory roll gets the same for the challenger. Angle Slam hits and there’s the ankle lock but here’s Kane. Or rather just his entrance for a distraction so Edge can spear Angle down for the pin and the title in a major upset.

Rating: C-. As good as these guys would get over the next year or so, this really didn’t click for the most part. Edge wasn’t ready to beat Angle here so the cheating finish helps, but it still wasn’t much to go on. They were getting there though and their feud in 2002 basically brought Edge up to a new level.

Post match here’s Kane to beat up Kurt. Kane puts him in the ankle lock until some Alliance jobbers come in to get beaten up instead.

Taz has challenged Austin to a non-title match tonight because he’s all ragey.

WWF Tag Titles: Hardy Boys vs. Booker T/Test

The Hardys slide in but get jumped immediately. A suplex puts Jeff down and gets two for Booker. It’s quickly off to Test but Jeff pounds him back. A gutwrench powerbomb stops the comeback but Test’s big boot misses. The not hot tag brings in Matt who cleans house, hitting the middle rope legdrop on Booker for two. There’s the Twist/Swanton to Jeff but Test kicks Jeff’s head off. Everything breaks down and Lita hits the rana on Booker so Jeff can roll him up for the titles.

Rating: D+. YAY the Hardys are champions again! This matters…..why? No really why does this matter? Everything ends on Sunday so this is like the proverbial changing deck chairs on the Titanic. Who cares if the Hardys get another tag title run or if Edge is US Champion? There was nothing here either as it was barely long enough to grade.

Chavo Guerrero and Hugh Morrus come to Vince and ask for jobs if the Alliance loses. Why would I care if they have jobs or not?

Steve Austin vs. Taz

Austin is in jean shorts and a sweatshirt. Taz jumps him as he comes in and pounds on Austin in the corner. A low blow breaks up the Tazmission and the Stunner gets the pin. This didn’t even last 45 seconds.

Shane comes out and tells Austin to get off Taz. The Alliance is waiting in the back for a speech from Austin apparently.

The Desire video is about Undertaker. It still sounds like a perfume commercial.

Stephanie addresses the Alliance and I’m liking the leather jacket on her. She fires Morrus and Guerrero and Austin comes in. He yells at Angle but Shane yells at Austin, saying Austin needs to worry about The Rock. Booker gets yelled at for no apparent reason and this turns into another “we need to come together” pep talk. Then Shane leaves and it turns into an argument.

WCW Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Scotty 2 Hotty/Albert

Scotty gets jumped but Albert (currently Tensai) in a stupid hat makes the save. Stacy gets in for no apparent reason and hits on Scotty but Albert rips her skirt down. That would be more valuable than all of his current WWE run combined. They load up the Worm but the Dudleys pull Stacy out and pull her out and leave. No match I guess.

Jericho complains to Vince about how Rock is too obsessed with the People. Vince tells Jericho to get over it because the match on Sunday is more important.

Regal is warming up when Christian comes in. They have some tea and Regal casually tells him he’s facing Big Show tonight. Christian panics and Regal whispers something to him which calms Christian down.

Hardcore Title: Undertaker vs. Rob Van Dam

Van Dam is defending and he fires off strikes in the corner to start. Taker comes back with right hands in the corner as well but Van Dam clotheslines him to the floor. Van Dam dives at Taker but gets caught and rammed into the post. They go up to the stage and Taker misses a boot so that his leg gets caught in part of the set. Van Dam climbs up said set and dives off with a cross body for a very delayed two.

Rob knocks Taker over to the edge of the stage but Taker knocks him back for the sake of avoiding death. Taker pounds away and slams Van Dam into the set again. The Last Ride is loaded up but Booker runs out to break it up. Booker and Van Dam pound Taker down and they head back inside. Taker fights back but Booker takes him down again. Booker goes up but gets crotched and superplexed. Van Dam comes in out of nowhere and hits the Five Star while Taker is down to retain.

Rating: D. This show is AWFUL. The matches have no thought or effort into them at all and it’s sucking the little life they had left out of the building. Weren’t Booker and Van Dam having issues recently? Well apparently they patched things up off camera because they’re fine now. Nothing to see here and it’s very clear that no one cared at all.

Rock comes in to see Vince and Vince tries to make peace with Rock and Jericho. Rock wants nothing to do with a “moose hunting Twisted Sister wannabe.” Somehow this took almost five minutes.

Here’s Mick Foley for a promo I remember being very sad to see back in the day. Foley says that he’s out of a job no matter what happens on Sunday because about three days after he became Commissioner, Vince came back and made him worthless again. Foley has a lot of things he wants to do with the rest of his life and answering to Vince isn’t one of them. If the WWF wins, Vince can take his job but he can’t take his pride.

Foley goes on a rant and a half about how the title he has in his closet (the WWF Title he won on January 4, 1999) means nothing anymore because EVERYONE has a title anymore and none of them mean anything at all. With the power he has for a little while longer, he’s going to get rid of some titles. Before he tells us how, he goes on another rant about how at Raw and Smackdown last week, he was told he wasn’t needed. I mean, why put Mick Foley on TV in Long Island? “Maybe I’m not needed on the program, but the program sure needs something and more titles isn’t it”.

On Sunday it’s Edge vs. Test in a US/IC unification match (Foley gets the respective titles wrong but that kind of reinforces his point. Neither guy had held their belts for even a month so does it matter?) and the Hardys vs. the Dudleys in a cage to unify the tag belts (for the second time in three months of course). That brings him to the Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Titles. “Well X-Pac is MIA. No one knows where he is and no one really cares”. Since Pac doesn’t exist anymore, Regal will face Tajiri instead and that’s that.

I want to talk about this promo for a minute. First and foremost, he’s absolutely right about almost everything he said. At this point, there were 10 championships in the company, and that’s counting the tag titles as one title instead of two. Think that that. On top of that, this was Mick Foley, one of the top stars the company has ever had and one of the nicest guys in the history of wrestling, just erupting on national TV because of how awful things had gotten. This was just over seven months after the best show in wrestling history and it’s fallen this far. Let that sink in for a minute.

Christian vs. Big Show

Non-title of course because Big Show can’t be bothered trying to win the European Title. Show shoves him down to start and throws on a bearhug. Christian is knocked to the floor and DDP comes out. That goes absolutely nowhere as he can’t even get in the ring. Christian brings in a chair but Show hits it into his face for the pin at 1:27.

This is EXACTLY what Foley is complaining about: a champion just got destroyed in less than 90 seconds and why? Christian is defending his title on Sunday but do you think his opponent was even mentioned? Big Show is in the main event of the PPV but he’s here squashing Christian in short order? Why? Does this make him look like a threat in the main event? He’s Big Show, a former world champion and a guy that has main evented Wrestlemania.

Why should Christian need to get crushed like this for the sake of Big Show? There are a dozen guys in the Alliance that you could do this to who don’t have belts, but we just HAD to have Christian get beaten up right? At the end of the day, I doubt very seriously that the WWF could have answered that back then, or they would say it doesn’t matter, which is a big part of the problem.

Anyway the Dudleys come out and break a table over Show’s head before the APA shows up for the save. Not the Hardys, as in the team that the Dudleys are facing on Sunday, but the APA, a team that is in a yet to be mentioned on this show battle royal for immunity from being fired. Little things like that are the way you can tell no one is paying attention or thinking at all.

No one is at WWF New York.

Rock is walking in the back and goes into a room. That’s it. Seriously, that’s all they showed here.

Edge was at a Rob Zombie concert in New Mexico. Riveting indeed. Edge just started using Rob Zombie as his entrance music so we see Zombie perform the FULL SONG. I like the song but if I wanted to watch a music video, I’d watch a music video.

Rock is in his locker room when Jericho comes in. Jericho complains about what Rock called him earlier and Rock complains about Jericho complaining about the people. This is pretty much the ONLY thing that was interesting on Raw at this point. Taker comes in to yell at them and complains about getting double teamed while no one came to help him. I guess when Kane and Big Show, as in the other two members of Team WWF, were getting double teamed earlier, Taker was busy having a meatball sandwich and watching Days of Our Lives, because he certainly didn’t help them out.

Kane comes in and gets yelled at too. Taker yells at the team for not being unified. Big Show is never mentioned at all during this speech. Rock and Jericho, two of the biggest mouths ever, have nothing to say to this. Oh wait Rock says they’re a team and what Taker says is clear. The tall guys leave and Jericho wishes Rock luck. Rock says he’ll be waiting for Jericho.

WCW World Title: The Rock vs. William Regal

Rock didn’t even bother changing into trunks for this. Regal jumps Rock to start and they head to the floor for a bit. Back inside and Regal hits the knee trembler for two. Off to a fast chinlock but Rock comes back with a belly to belly suplex and a DDT for two. They head outside again but Tajiri comes out to Mist Regal. You know, because Rock can’t beat Regal on his own. Spinebuster and Sharpshooter get the win for Rock. This was nothing AGAIN.

Rock calls out Austin and here’s the bald one after a break. They stare each other down and Rock says they go back to Wrestlemania. Rock remembers that night and the next night as well as earlier when Austin says he can beat Rock. Rock hopes Austin jumps to the WWF so Rock can beat Austin up in the WWF for the WWF Title. He says FINALLY but Austin takes the mic out of his hand. Now Austin wants to say FINALLY but Rock takes the mic. Rock tries to say it again but Austin pulls the mic away again. He makes fun of the people chanting Rocky and says FINALLY, but Rock pulls the mic away again. Now Rock makes fun of WHAT. It’s so clear they have NO IDEA how to fill in this time so they’re just messing around.

Austin WHAT’S the crowd for a bit and the fans applaud. Austin says that’s the bottom line but Rock steals the mic before Austin can finish. Rock says what (complete with a stutter that sounds like WOO WOO WOO beforehand) but Austin takes the mic away for about the 9 millionth time. Rock says Austin’s breath smells like strudel. Austin says he (as in Austin) has a beer belly and it’s fuel for fighting but he’s not going to do that right now. Austin says Rock has hurt his feelings and it looks like they’re finally about to fight but instead Austin wants to sing. Yes I said SING.

Austin talks about a rock band called Boston but he doesn’t remember any of their songs right now. Instead he’s going to sing Delta Dawn (complete with a shout out to a fan in Texas with a busted up leg. Ok then) and he does in fact sing the song. Rock counters with The Gambler by Kenny Rogers and we’ve officially entered the point where I have no idea what to think anymore. Rock: “That make you feel better?” Austin: “I feel like crap.” And now, TIME FOR A DUET!

They sing Margaritaville as I’m trying to remember these two singing in front of nearly 68,000 people in Houston. Oh scratch that as that was a thirty minute blood bath in the classic main event of the greatest show of all time. Instead they’re here talking about a lost shaker of salt. Aren’t they supposed to be fighting for their jobs on Sunday? Rock says he’ll never forget and Rock Bottoms Austin. Angle comes in and the big brawl between the teams ends the show. Jericho makes the save with a chair and stands behind Rock but he doesn’t swing it.

Overall Rating: F. I am in awe of what I just spent 90 minutes watching. The last fifteen minutes of this show was a singing contest between two of the three biggest stars in wrestling history. You know, as in the guys that have had the only main event trilogy at Wrestlemania ever. Now don’t get me wrong: the segment was kind of entertaining, but when it goes on for FIFTEEN MINUTES at the end of a dreadful show, it’s only going to be so good. These guys are supposed to hate each other and they look like they’re at a comedy club. Horrible show with a freaking bizarre ending.

Here’s Survivor Series if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/10/history-of-survivor-series-count-up-2001-the-end-of-the-alliance-thank-goodness/

Also here is an article I wrote about the Invasion and my thoughts on why it didn’t work and what I would have changed:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/01/28/i-want-to-talk-a-little-bit-about-the-invasion/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Night Raw
Date: November 9, 1998
Location: Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas
Attendance: 13,684
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

It’s the final show before Survivor Series and the Deadly Game Tournament to crown a new WWF Champion. Nothing has been announced tonight but Rock is currently out of the tournament, so I’d bet there’s going to be a way tonight for him to get back into the field. I barely remember this time for some reason but next week we’re in Lexington, which I didn’t go to for some reason. Let’s get to it.

Rock vs. Henry tonight and if Rock doesn’t win by pin or submission he’s fired.

X-Pac vs. Undertaker

Pac tries to fight fast, kicking Taker into the corner to start. Taker grabs him by the throat and launches Pac into the corner to pounds away. Maybe 30 seconds in the lights go out and here’s Kane.

Taker stands X-Pac next to him and Kane shoots a fireball at Pac. Kane chases Taker up the ramp.

X-Pac is getting treatment on his eye in the back.

Vince tells Mankind that he has to defend the Hardcore Title tonight against Shamrock. Mankind is cool with that but Vince also wants to give Mankind a makeover. This could be interesting.

Val Venis vs. Steve Blackman

Terri still says Val is the father of her baby but last night on Heat Val said he had a vasectomy. Val tries to start fast but Blackman kicks him in the chest to take him down. Off to a quick chinlock followed by a chop to the chest to take Val down again. A snap suplex gets two for Steve as does a spin kick. In a counter I’ve never seen before, Val avoids a sunset flip to send Blackman crashing to the mat. Val hits some knees to the ribs but here’s Terri to hit Val low and draw the DQ.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here as this was about Val and Terri more than anything else. Blackman was nothing of note by this point and he just filled in a spot on the roster. Val was another character that only had so much of a shelf life as an adult star isn’t something that can go very far, at least not on basic cable. This was pretty worthless.

Owen Hart runs out and beats up Steve Blackman.

Mankind gets a haircut.

Mosh vs. Road Dogg vs. D’Lo Brown

Brown and Dogg get started without Mosh. Shane McMahon is the referee and Mosh is in now. Everyone fights everyone to start and no one can get a clear advantage. Mosh rolls up Dogg for two. Brown is the only one left standing and he informs us that he does not suck. He misses a charge into the corner and Mosh pounds away at him, only for Roadie to roll him up for two.

Mosh dumps Brown to the floor and gets two on Road Dogg. A top rope leg drop misses but the frog splash misses Mosh. Everyone is down so Shane counts a bit. Road Dogg is the first one up and he double clotheslines both guys down, only to walk into a leg lariat from Brown. Mosh hits the Stage Dive (top rope seated senton) out of nowhere on Brown for the pin.

Rating: C. I liked this as they didn’t have a formula for these things yet so this actually came off as something different out of a three way match. They were playing up the idea that anyone could win here so that on Sunday when the titles were on the line in the triple threat the titles would seem to be more in jeopardy. This was surprisingly good.

Jarrett says Al Snow ticks him off and on Sunday he’s going to take him out. As for tonight, Debra (who sounds like she has a sore throat) says she’ll prove Goldust is all man.

Mankind gets a pedicure and mourns his losing of Socko.

Goldust vs. Jeff Jarrett

Terri comes out in the Marlena outfit but Goldust tells her to get out of his life because she’s earned her problems. Jarrett jumps Goldie and knocks him to the floor. Back in and Goldust rolls through a top rope cross body for two and takes over with his usual strikes. Back to the floor and Jarrett gets dropped face first onto the steps. Debra offers a distraction and Jarrett clotheslines Goldust, somehow making him fall forward. That gets Jeff nowhere though as Goldust hits a bulldog for two back inside. Goldie pounds away in corner but Debra blocks Shattered Dreams. Goldust kisses her but walks into a guitar shot for the DQ.

Rating: D+. Again this was just filler but it had some cleavage in it at least. Other than that though this was just filler until we got to the guitar shot as well as a way to have the beginning part with Terri being told to get away from Dustin. These two seem to be the same kind of old school guys so the match wasn’t bad but it was pretty worthless.

Rock arrives.

We talk about Jesse Ventura being elected recently.

Rock says he doesn’t like Vince that much but he’ll keep his job tonight. He doesn’t quite have his signature promo style down yet but that would really come into form next year.

After Rock is done talking we turn to see Goldust beating the tar out of Jarrett. The Blue Blazer runs up and attacks Goldust. Goldust gets up and goes after Jarrett again as the Blazer has left.

Hardcore Title: Ken Shamrock vs. Mankind

Mankind is defending but I can’t call him the champ because Shamrock is IC Champion. Mankind is in a tuxedo here. Vince and company come out to watch on the stage. Shamrock pounds him down to start and hits a leg lariat to put Mankind down again. Mankind takes off his shoe to hit Shamrock in the head and take over again. After a quick trip to the Tree of Woe we head to the floor and Shamrock grabs a small package for two.

Now Shamrock hits Mankind with the shoe and they go onto the announce table with Mankind pounding away. Back into the ring as Lawler is amazed by the shoe for some reason. Mankind and his blue vest are backdropped onto a chair for no cover. Back to the floor and Mankind reverses a whip, sending Shamrock into the steps. There’s the Claw on the floor as the announcers take some jabs at WCW for the Halloween Havoc 98 debacle.

Shamrock sends him into the steps to escape the hold and things slow down a bit. A belly to belly suplex puts Mankind down but Ken can’t cover. He goes for the ankle but Mankind kicks him low to escape. A chair shot to the back puts Shamrock down again but Mankind DDTs him on the chair for a close two.

Mankind chases him up the ramp with the chair but he can’t make contact on any of the swings. Shamrock grabs a belly to back suplex up by Vince but it only gets two. With both guys slowly getting up, Shamrock kills him with a chair but Bossman hits Shamrock with the nightstick and Mankind gets the pin to retain. Mankind didn’t see Bossman hit Shamrock.

Rating: C+. This was a far different kind of match than the Hardcore Title matches you would get used to which were based in comedy, as these two were beating the tar out of each other. Also this was back in the day when there wasn’t a history of these matches. See, new stuff did come out of the Attitude Era.

Rock has been attacked but we don’t know anything else about it.

Scratch that as apparently Rock has been hit in the back of the head with something.

Here’s Austin for a chat. Austin talks about overstepping his bounds with Vince and lists off some of the ways in which he’s done that. Here’s Bossman who says he’s well paid to take care of Austin on Sunday. Austin says that sounds like a threat so Austin implies that Bossman likes having fun with inmates in the shower. Or maybe that’s just how I interpreted him saying Bossman hears squeaks in the night. They’ll fight on Sunday. One thing to note here: Bossman kept saying the date of Survivor Series. That’s an old school tactic to sell a show and it’s very effective. Why does no one do that more often?

Rock is still being worked on.

Vince says Rock still has to win as an ambulance is being loaded up.

Al Snow vs. Tiger Ali Singh

Singh says Snow is wrestling Babu. Snow jumps Singh and hits him with Head. Here’s Debra as Babu gets sent into the ring.

Al Snow vs. Babu

Snow hits a wheelbarrow suplex but Singh offers a distraction. Babu gets in some offense but Snow shrugs it off. Singh low bridges Snow and Debra steals Head. Back in the ring the Snow Plow kills Babu but Snow sees Debra with Head. Singh bulldogs Snow and gets the pin. Since this is 1998, we’ll go with “sure, why not.”

Video of Sable working out.

Rock is STILL down in his locker room. Vince says he has to fight tonight.

Kane vs. Edge

Who would have thought this would be a world title match on some PPVs 12 years later? Kane has a can of gasoline and what appears to be a blowtorch. Edge runs to start but Kane gets his hands on him. The monster chokes in the corner but Edge clotheslines him to the floor. Back in and the beating really begins as Kane starts throwing the much smaller Edge around.

A rana is countered into a powerbomb and Edge is in trouble. He gets up and tries a missile dropkick but Kane shrugs it off. Kane sits up out of a DDT and throws Edge over the top and onto Gangrel. He clotheslines Edge off the steps and starts beating up the rest of the Brood. Edge gets in a baseball slide and a dive over the top rope to take Kane down. The rest of the Brood beats on Kane and there’s the DQ.

Rating: D. There was nothing to see here as Edge was getting NOTHING here, although to be fair he was nowhere near ready to do that yet. We don’t know anything about the Brood yet other than Edge and Christian are brothers. This wasn’t much of a match and the ending really hurt things too. Still though, nothing to see here.

Kane chokeslams all of them and piles them all up. He gets the gasoline and blowtorch as it’s time for a little human burning. Kane chokeslams the referee and puts him on the pile too. Other referees come up and save the guys from incineration.

Kane goes into the crowd for no apparent reason and chokeslams a fan over the railing.

Here’s Vince with something to say. Vince has the goons turn him to the stage so he can see Rock come out. Rock can wrestle with a headache so where is he? Vince says we’re in Dallas, the home of the Cowboys. Some Cowboys are here tonight and he wonders if they have the guts to stand up and be recognized. Vince makes fun of the Cowboys and says they’re on a losing streak. I’m a big Dallas fan so this is great heel stuff for me.

Instead Shane comes out with a mic. He says that this is about family business, not Rock or Austin or the people. Vince says this is his business, not family business. He tells Shane to get out before the goons beat on him. Shane stands his grounds so Vince tells Bossman to get him. Before Bossman hits him, here’s Austin for the save.

The Rock vs. Mark Henry

If Rock loses or doesn’t win by pin or submission, he’s out of a job. Vince and company are still at ringside. Apparently if Rock wins he’s also back in the tournament. After three times playing his music, here’s Rock in workout gear. Rock jumps Henry and fires off right hands. Rock hits some elbows to the chest and they head to the floor. Henry gets in a low blow and back inside we go.

Henry works on the back of Rock, despite the BIG FREAKING HEAD INJURY he had earlier in the night. Then again no one ever accused Henry of being a genius. Rock comes back with a suplex but Henry takes his head off with a clothesline. An elbow drop gets two and it’s time for a bearhug. Rock fights out of it and they clothesline each other down. Some clotheslines get two for Rock and with Brown up on the apron for some reason, Rock hits Henry low.

Henry comes back with a powerslam for a close two and now Bossman and Brown both get up on the apron. Somehow Bossman cuffs himself to the ring and Rock DDTs Henry for two but Brown pulls the referee out. There’s the Rock Bottom and the People’s Elbow but there’s still no referee. Shane runs out and counts the pin just to tick Vince off even more.

Rating: C-. The match was nothing of note here but the place was on fire for Rock. That’s what amazes me more and more as far as Sunday goes. Henry was his usual self here but Rock is strong enough to do something with a guy the size of Henry. Rock is one of those guys that can make ANYTHING entertaining and that’s what he did here. The head injury pretty much disappeared though.

Post match Rock beats up Vince and leaves him laying with a Rock Bottom.

Overall Rating: C+. This show’s wrestling was hit or miss but it was certainly entertaining. The tournament is way bigger than it needed to be as for the most part there were about six people (and that’s a stretch) who had a chance at winning the title. The show on Sunday would change things for the next several months, but dang it would get fun.

Here’s Survivor Series if you’re interested:

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

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews