Lockdown 2006
Date: April 23, 2006
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

It’s all in the cage this time and the main events are about the same as they would be the next month. We have Lethal Lockdown with Sting’s Warriors vs. Jarrett’s Army as well as Abyss vs. Christian for Christian’s world title. This is one of those shows where I’m not sure how great the idea is as a lot of these matches don’t belong inside a cage, thereby overdoing the gimmick and making it a lot weaker by the end of the match. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how viewer discretion is advised. It comes off like a movie trailer which is a unique idea for a video at least. Wrestlemania 21 was about parodies rather than a trailer for the show for those of you about to complain that I’ve forgotten about that show.

Remember that every match is in the Six Sides of Steel tonight.

Black Tiger/Hiroki Goto/Minoru Tanaka vs. Sonjay Dutt/Jay Lethal/Alex Shelley

This is a World X Cup preview match, meaning it has no bearing on the standings or anything like that. This is Team USA vs. Team Japan of course. Shelley hands So Cal Val the camera to film the match. Everyone has to tag here. It’s Shelley vs. Tanaka to start things off. Shelley takes him down quickly and hits a dropkick to the side of the head to take over. Minoru rolls forward into a dropkick to take Shelley right back down.

Off to Black Tiger as Tenay talks about Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger, which is a very interesting idea actually. In essence, they’re rivals and they keep the character alive by changing the people portraying each. Eddie Guerrero was Black Tiger at one point. Off to Goto vs. Lethal. It’s a feeling out process to start with Lethal taking him down a few times and hitting a basement dropkick. Off to Black Tiger and Shelley again, followed by a triple team attack by Team USA.

Black Tiger gets worked over by Dutt and then Alex. Jay comes in as the Americans are flying in and out very quickly. Dutt finally stays in for awhile but gets caught by a dropkick in the corner. Team Japan triple teams him as Team Mexico is watching from the stage. A triple dropkick gets two and it’s off to Tiger Mask to continue the beating. Dutt finally rolls free and tags in Lethal.

Jay speeds things up and gets some offense in but charges into a back elbow. Back to Goto who hist a fast suplex for two. The Americans hit triple running strikes in the corner followed by a frog splash that gets two for Shelley. Goto gets superkicked into a German for two. Standing shooting star gets two for Dutt as this breaks down. Minoru grabs a cross armbreaker out of nowhere on Lethal but it’s broken up pretty quickly. Lethal and Tiger are legal now but it breaks down again. Everyone hits everyone and Shelley accidentally hits Dutt. Black Tiger hits a tiger suplex on Lethal for the pin.

Rating: B-. This is the right choice for an opener. The whole idea of the X Cup was to send out country vs. country in a big tournament which wound up being pretty entertaining, although mostly worthless at the end of the day. This was a solid match though as both teams were flying all over the place out there. Again though, the cage meant nothing at all for the most part as this could have been held in a regular match just as easily.

We run down the card.

Team 3D says they’ll win the Anthem Match later against Team Canada. Ray says this is about pride tonight and how he’d rather work in WWE than hear the Canadian National Anthem again. D-Von: “You’re kidding right?” Ray: “Yeah I was just ribbing you guys.” Team 3D leaves and Larry wants to know what the major announcement is tonight but JB doesn’t know.

Christopher Daniels vs. Senshi

Senshi seems to be a surprise opponent. Daniels isn’t sure what to do so Senshi fires off rapid fire strikes to send Daniels into the corner. Senshi keeps escaping whatever Daniels tries but a kick to the face finally puts him down. A flying knee in the corner misses and Senshi hits a flapjack to put the Fallen Angel back down. Senshi does his signature kick to the back for two and it’s off to a modified camel clutch.

A suplex gets two for Senshi as the fans are split. They chop it out with Daniels taking a small advantage. Senshi hits a double chop to send Daniels down to his knee but gets caught in a sunset flip attempt. Senshi hits a quick Warrior’s Way for two and Daniels is in trouble. Daniels gets caught in a rear waist lock but he elbows out of it. Christopher hits a kind of suplex into the cage wall followed by a running STO for two. Blue Thunder Bomb gets the same.

Senshi kicks him down HARD for two. He’s getting frustrated which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Daniels hits a Death Valley Driver out of nowhere followed by the BME but it only gets two. He puts Senshi on the top but his superplex is blocked by punches to the ribs. Daniels responds by ramming Senshi’s head into the cage. Well when all else fails, go with the simplest method. Angel’s Wings off the top is countered but the Warrior’s Way off the top misses as well. Angel’s Wings is countered again with Senshi flipping forward and putting his feet on the ropes for the pin.

Rating: B-. Another good match here as I continue to like Daniels more and more when he’s not facing AJ Styles. Senshi is a very acquired taste for me and I still don’t care for him most of the time. Here though he was using something other than kicks which is the key to him being more interesting. He wouldn’t be around for weeks after this though as they wanted to give him a stronger introduction or something like that.

The James Gang and Bullet Bob Armstrong talk about the arm wrestling match between 66 year old Bullet Bob and Konnan, with the winning team getting to give the losers (Konnan and LAX) ten lashes.

We recap LAX vs. the James Gang, which is set to a rap song. It’s about Konnan saying that Armstrong is old and the James Gang taking exception. I think this is still fallout from the 3 Live Kru breaking up.

This is just like every arm wrestling match you’ve ever seen: Konnan doesn’t want to start, then he has an early advantage, then Konnan is in trouble, then he comes back, then Armstrong comes back, then Armstrong wins. The whipping takes WAY too long.

Jarrett’s Army is told they have the advantage in Lethal Lockdown. Larry Z comes in and wants to know if they know the announcement. Jarrett tells him to get lost. AMW says they’ll set the table for Steiner at the end of the match. Steiner says he’s ready to snap.

Elix Skipper vs. Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin vs. Chase Stevens vs. Puma vs. Shark Boy

This is an Xscape match, meaning pin/submission until there are two left, when it becomes escape only rules. Thankfully there are tags required in this. Shark Boy and Petey get us going with Shark Boy chopping away in the corner. Apparently Simon Diamond and Coach D’Amore have formed an alliance with their men in the match. Either way the Dead Sea Drop is blocked by Petey and it’s off to Puma vs. Sharky. For you ROH fans, Puma is TJ Perkins.

Puma goes up but gets crotched and ranaed down by Shark Boy. A missile dropkick puts Puma down again and it’s off to Skipper vs. Shark Boy. Skipper tries a wheelbarrow suplex but Shark Boy climbs the cage with a bulldog for two. Elix goes up the corner again but this time jumps into a kick from Shark Boy to put both guys down. Skipper tags in to Williams and a quick Destroyer eliminates Sharky Boy.

Sabin comes in next and pounds away on the head of Williams. Petey hits a tornado DDT while climbing the cage which gets two. Off to a chinlock which is quickly broken and Sabin tags in Stevens. Chase cleans house and counters the Destroyer into an Alabama Slam. Sabin and Skipper take people down and everyone is on the mat. Stevens goes up top and waits forever for everyone to get in position for a HUGE shooting star dive to take everyone out.

Chase covers Williams and Skipper but gets caught in what we would call White Noise for a pin. We’re down to four now and everyone goes after Sabin. Williams turns on Skipper all of a sudden and sunset flips him out. D’Amore and Diamond are about to brawl but Skipper gets kicked out of the cage and onto the coaches.

Cradle Shock puts Puma out so it’s down to Sabin and Williams in escape rules. Sabin goes up but winds up getting pulled down. Back down and Sabin puts him in the Tree of Woe for the hesitation dropkick. He goes up and over but D’Amore blocks his exit until Williams catches up. Petey lands on D’Amore but his feet don’t touch so Sabin drops down and wins it.

Rating: C+. This was another good match that was only in the cage for the ending. This was yet another preview for the World X Cup with the final two competitors being the captains for their respective countries. The match was nothing great but it was fun to kill about twelve minutes with, and that’s all you need to do at times.

Mitchell says he isn’t worried about waking the monster in Christian. Christian may be the best wrestler in the world, but he’s not a champion. Would a real champion go to Toronto to make movies or leave his wife home alone or be attacked in his own home? Christian did all that, but that’s how he rolls right?

We recap Joe vs. Sabu. The idea is that Joe is extreme so here’s Sabu to challenge that aspect of his personality.

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. Sabu

Sabu immediately puts on the camel clutch but Joe quickly escapes. Sabu has a broken left arm apparently. He throws the chair at Joe’s head for two. Joe comes back with a running forearm and hooks a front facelock in the corner. Sabu gets thrown into the cage to bust him open, which is one of the first uses of the cage all night. Sabu comes back with a chair shot and hits the Arabian Facebuster for no cover.

A spinning legdrop using the chair as a springboard point hits but he still doesn’t cover. Sabu is busted way open now as he pulls out his signature spike. Joe grabs the arm and puts on a cross armbreaker but Sabu blocks the pressure. The champ stays on the arm which is about as logical as you can possibly get. They both go to the top rope but Joe rams the bad arm into the cage and slams him off the top for two. Sabu gets back up and tries the Triple Jump Moonsault but Joe pelts the chair at him and hits the MuscleBuster to retain.

Rating: C-. Not much here but the idea here was more about giving Joe a win over a big name which is fine. Sabu was good at something like this as it was kept short and he didn’t have the room or the time to mess anything up. This was kind of an old school idea of bringing in someone for a one off appearance to challenge a big name, which is something cool to see for a change.

Team Canada makes fun of the Dudleys and D’Amore says the Dudleys have never beaten the Canadians or held the NWA World Tag Team Titles like they have. Larry Z comes in and wants to know about the announcement again. D’Amore rips into him.

We recap Team 3D vs. Team Canada which is your usual patriotism feud. Team Canada laid them out and put the Canadian flag over them, which ticked off Ray.

Team 3D vs. Team Canada

This is a six man so we have Runt in there also. It’s Roode, Young and A-1 for the Canadians. This is a capture the flag match and the winners get their anthem played. The Dudleys have war paint on. Runt and Eric stand on the top ropes as guards for their flags. That’s a smart idea actually. There aren’t any tags for the other guys which makes this even better. Team 3D does a little doe-see-doe to take out the Canadians but Young jumps down and takes both of them down. Spike does the same and then the goalies go back to their respective places. Young gets pulled down and Spike goes for the flag but can’t quite get to it. Roode goes for it also but gets caught.

Ray and Roode go to the top rope and they chop it out before Ray hits a Bubba Bomb off the top. D-Von makes a save of his own with a Russian Leg Sweep off the top to A-1. Runt and Young fight on the top with Young going down and taking a double stomp. Roode goes after Spike but Ray makes the save. Not that it matters that much as the spinebuster kills Runt dead. Team 3D double teams Roode down but A-1 comes in again.

That also goes badly for the Canadians as Ray chops him down. It’s almost all Dudleys so far. The referee gets crushed and Roode takes the 3D. Double flapjack puts A-1 down and What’s Up Eric? Ray goes up and gets the flag but there’s no referee to declare him the winner. The music plays prematurely and D’Amore has a steel chair. Spike keeps playing goalie but the Canadians triple team him.

Eric puts the American flag back up and D’Amore has knocked the gatekeeper out. He opens the cage and puts a table inside but Young drives himself through it by mistake. Acid Drop takes A-1 down and it’s another 3D for Roode. With the referee up this time, Runt goes and retrieves the flag for the win.

Rating: C+. This was ok but the overbooking got annoying. The good thing though was that the same team won the match in the end so it wasn’t that big of a deal. The cage played a role in the match again here so the match didn’t seem as pointless as it had been earlier. Decent match and it blew off the feud which is the right idea.

D’Amore takes a 3D but the Star Spangled Banner never plays after an anthem match. The fans are singing it as Tenay and West talk though so I guess that counts. That’s pretty rude of the announcers though.

Christy Hemme debuts as the newest Knockout. She hands Tenay a letter which has the announcement. Everyone in the front office will now be held accountable and a new face of TNA management will debut soon. The first act of this new person: Larry Zbyzsko is now on probation. You know Larry isn’t going to miss an opportunity to come out and complain. Tenay and Larry argue a bit and Tenay says that Raven is reinstated. Bird Boy comes out and chases Larry into the cage until security takes him away.

Christian has nothing to say.

We recap the world title match. Abyss and Mitchell say that Christian stole Abyss’ show (which is true) but Christian wouldn’t give him a match. Abyss attacked Christian and went to his home to terrorize him a bit more. He also stalked Christian’s wife so tonight it’s about personal revenge.

NWA World Title: Abyss vs. Christian Cage

Christian is defending of course and this is a regular pin/submission match. Abyss tries to meet him on the ramp but Christian tackles him down easily. Christian rams him into the barricade but Abyss throws him over and into the crowd. They’re all the way to the back of the arena and Christian has to fight to keep from being thrown over and down onto whatever is behind the stands.

They go over to that wall that they always go to during main event brawls. Back to ringside and Christian is still in trouble. He gets rammed into the steps as we’re still waiting to get into the cage for the first time. Cage grabs the cage door and rams it into Abyss’ arm but stops to chase Mitchell around, allowing Abyss to ram the cage door into the champ’s face. We get dueling chants and they finally get into the cage. There’s the bell so that was all pre-match stuff.

Abyss is in control and kind of dances into the corner for a splash. He sends Christian’s face into the cage for two and stops a comeback attempt dead. Unprettier is easily countered and Abyss hits a kind of flapjack for two. A few idiot fans sound like they want blood so Abyss crushes Christian’s face up against the cage. He hits the dancing splash into the champ against the cage again and Christian is in trouble.

Shock Treatment is countered but the Canadian can’t hit the German on the American. Abyss powerbombs Christian into his namesake and the champ is in trouble. Abyss takes forever to do anything, allowing Christian to come back with some chops. He avoids a splash against the cage and has to save the referee from getting crushed. The second time he isn’t so lucky though and down goes Andrew Thomas. Christian climbs the cage and comes off with a tornado DDT but there’s no referee to count.

Mitchell throws in the cane and the belt through the hole in the cage but Abyss’ belt shot misses. Unprettier hits but it only gets two. Christian goes all the way to the top of the cage and drops a frog splash on Abyss…..for two. Ok I would have bet on that being the finish and it probably should have been. Another Unprettier is reversed into Shock Treatment for no cover.

Instead Abyss pulls out the bag of tacks which of course takes forever to set up. I’ve seen this in at least one of the two TNA PPVs I’ve watched lately before this so this really doesn’t seem as impressive anymore. Christian breaks the cane over Abyss and goes up top again. Abyss picks up the referee and throws him into the cage to make Christian slip.

Christian is caught in a chokeslam position but escapes and hits a sunset powerbomb into the tacks (same spot as AJ hit on Abyss last year at this show). Slick Johnson comes in but that only gets two. Christian gets the title but walks into a Black Hole Slam for two. Abyss pours out MORE tacks and takes the Unprettier onto them for the pin so Christian can retain.

Rating: B. This was MUCH better than the Full Metal Mayhem match they would have the next month, but the match probably should have ended with one of the other big spots, like the top rope splash. Still though this wasn’t bad and it was a match that actually got violent with Christian looking like he wanted revenge, which was the whole idea behind the match in the first place.

Christian goes to leave but goes back inside to beat up Mitchell. Abyss hits him in the head with the chain, busting him open. Abyss throws him out of the cage and hangs him with the chain. Mitchell puts the title on Abyss’ shoulder and they leave.

Sting’s Warriors say they’re ready for Lethal Lockdown.

We recap the main event. Sting came back and said he wanted to get rid of Jarrett, so let’s have Lethal Lockdown.

Quick recap of the rules: the two starters go for five minutes, then Jarrett’s team gets a one man advantage. After two minutes Sting’s team sends in a man to tie it up for two minutes. They alternate every two minutes until all eight are in, when the roof comes down with weapons attached. Then it’s first fall wins.

Lethal Lockdown: Sting’s Warriors vs. Jarrett’s Army

Sting, Ron Killings, AJ Styles, Rhyno

Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, America’s Most Wanted

It’s Harris vs. Styles to get us going. Harris pounds him down and the fans chant Pussy Cat. Styles blocks being rammed into the cage but the dropdown dropkick misses. The second attempt at the dropkick hits and AJ takes over. Harris comes back quickly and rams Styles’ back into the cage twice. The third time is countered and AJ hits a knee to the back of Harris’ head. Things are going pretty slowly here but that’s to be expected in a match like this.

Both guys go to the top rope and slug it out with Styles knocking him back to the mat. Harris gets rammed into the cage a few times but Styles jumps into the Catatonic. AJ shrugs that off and hits the Clash as Storm comes in for the two minute advantage. AJ dropkicks the door into Gail’s head by mistake (I think) but Storm gets a beer spit into Styles’ face and slams the door on his head. Eye of the Storm puts Styles down and AJ is busted open from something, as is Harris.

The beating continues until Rhyno comes out to tie things up. He fights off both world tag team champions and sends Storm into the cage. Harris takes a spinebuster as AJ is starting to recover. The Gore misses and Harris takes AJ’s head off with a clothesline. AMW is in total control here but Rhyno comes back with right hands as Jarrett comes out to make it 3-2. Rhyno gets out of the cage somehow and goes to meet Jarrett in the aisle. AJ does as well with AMW still stuck in the cage. Rhyno is busted too.

Back into the ring and Jarrett’s team takes over on both guys with Styles getting suplexed into the cage. Here’s Killings to tie things up and get the momentary offensive flurry in. He does the backflip into the splits into the side kick to Harris. Suplex into a Stunner puts Storm down and AJ goes to the top of the cage for some reason. That doesn’t go well for him as it’s a six man Tower of Doom.

Steiner is in to complete Jarrett’s Army and it’s belly to bellies all around. Angle Slams off the top put everyone down again as we’re just waiting for Sting to make the big save. Harris rams Rhyno’s cut head into the cage and shouts GORE which makes me laugh for some reason. Here’s Sting to clean house, including stacking every opponent in the corner and hitting a huge Stinger Splash on all four at once, followed by a second one.

Here comes the roof stocked with weapons and the Warriors continue their advantage. AJ and Storm go up top for my yearly heart attack moment. Gail tries to climb up as well but Jackie rips Kim’s skirt off and pulls her down. The match in the ring more or less grinds to a halt as Storm sets up a table on the roof. Sting and Jarrett both get guitars but Sting drops his for a ball bat instead.

The guitar is shattered by the bat but Steiner saves Jeff with a low blow. AJ sets up a ladder on the roof above Storm who is on the table. He grabs the light structure and drops onto Storm with a splash. That always terrifies me. Truth takes a Stroke onto a chair but gets Gored down. Steiner puts Rhyno in the Recliner but Sting Death Drops him. Harris hits Sting with the handcuffs and puts Sting in the Scorpion. Sting counters into a Scorpion of his own and Harris taps to end the match.

Rating: B. That’s usually the base score for a Lethal Lockdown match and this was about the run of the mill version of one. The problem with these matches is that once the weapons drop, the match more or less completely restarts and nothing that happens before then matters at all. Still though, it’s always a fun concept and a solid main event for Lockdown every year.

Overall Rating: C+. This show is more or less the same thing every year and it’s the world title match that determines how the whole show goes. As usual the problem comes down to most of the matches not needing to be inside of a cage, but the final two matches usually do, which is what makes the whole show work. Good show overall and a solid entry in the series.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #88
Date: May 19, 1997
Location: Ashville Civic Center, Ashville, North Carolina
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

We’re FINALLY past Slamboree and we have four weeks before the Great American Bash where the world title still won’t be on the line. At least that show will have a big time grudge match in the main event but we’ll get to that later on. Anyway tonight is likely going to establish the PPV main event and deal with the fallout from last night. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the ending of the show last night with the old guys winning and Tony declaring it the BIGGEST MOMENT EVER in WCW.

Here’s Flair to open the show. Flair says that last night he erased everything the NWO has done with the help of Piper and Greene. This draws out Syxx who says that the wrong guy got pinned last night and that he doesn’t like the idea of Flair saying he can beat Syxx. Syxx says he can beat Flair and challenges Flair to a match tonight. Flair says he doesn’t know if he can beat Hall and Nash but he knows he can beat Syxx so it’s on.

TV Title: Prince Iaukea vs. Steven Regal

Regal pounds the punk kid down to start and hammers him in the corner. A sunset flip gets two for Iaukea and the fans are on fire tonight. Iaukea crucifixes him down for another two but Regal counters a headscissors by slamming him down face first onto the mat. Regal kicks him in the head and suplexes him before the Regal Stretch ends this. Seeing Prince Iaukea get beaten up makes me smile.

We get some clips from last night with Mortis and Wrath beating up Glacier until Ernest Miller debuted made the save.

Masahiro Chono vs. Dave Taylor

Chono is NWO. Tenay talks about a major name debuting on June 30 on Nitro. I won’t say who but if what I can find is correct, two major names would debut that night. Taylor controls early with some European uppercuts but walks into an atomic drop. Chono knocks him to the floor but back in the ring a piledriver is broken up by Taylor. Not that it matters as Taylor charges into a boot and the STF ends this quick. The STF is Chono’s signature hold if you’re not familiar with him.

Sonny Onoo says Chono has a debt to pay with New Japan and Onoo has someone coming in next week but won’t say who.

JJ Dillon reinstates Nick Patrick.

Scotty Riggs vs. Michael Wallstreet

Wallstreet isn’t allowed to be in the NWO but he’s anti-WCW. Riggs speeds things up to start and hits his decent dropkick, only to have Wallstreet take him down soon thereafter. Wallstreet hooks a chinlock as the fans look at something in the crowd. A small package gets two for Riggs and Wallstreet tries to pull something out of his pocket. Nick Patrick stops him and Riggs gets a sunset flip for the pin. Another short match, but did we REALLY need to see Scotty Riggs vs. Michael Wallstreet when we had an hour for the show? I get that it’s for Nick Patrick, but do we need to focus on him either? Really?

Speaking of wasting time, here’s NASCAR driver Mark Martin to talk about a sweepstakes to win a racecar. The car being brought in is probably what the fans were looking at in the Riggs match. Flair comes out with Martin to try to make this look like it’s important.

Time for the road report to waste some more time. This includes Lee Marshall singing some Elvis.

We get a video from last night with Page holding off Savage and the NWO with a crutch.The Giant eventually made the save when Page got in trouble.

Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael vs. Steiner Brothers

Jarrett and Scott start things off with Jeff being sent into the corner quickly. Jeff comes back with a neckbreaker to take over but a suplex is no sold. Scott gorilla presses Jeff down and hits a kind of Angle Slam off the top for two. Off to Rick vs. Mongo and it’s a slugfest of course. Mongo takes out Rick’s knee but gets caught by a suplex and what was supposed to be the middle rope bulldog but wound up being like a cravate-dog if that makes sense. Everything breaks down and Kevin Greene runs in with a briefcase shot to Mongo’s back, giving Rick the easy pin.

Rating: C-. Apparently they thought last night’s match with White vs. Mongo was so great that we MUST do another battle of the football players. I mean, having Mongo as a ring general is a can’t miss idea right? The match was barely long enough to rate but it’s the longest match of the night so far. The problem with these tag matches is there’s nothing to fight for because the Outsiders weren’t going to defend the titles, so why bother having the other teams fight?

We get a video from during the break where Mongo and Greene got in a fight backstage.

Ric Flair vs. Syxx

Syxx jumps Flair as he comes in but a charge into the corner misses. Flair fires away with punches and chops and here are the Outsiders for the DQ. The match wasn’t even a minute long.

Flair gets destroyed because the Horsemen were escorted from the building due to the Mongo vs. Greene fight. Nash says it’s about putting the old guys out of business. Syxx has flowers for some reason.

Here’s Bischoff for the closing segment. He says that last week he wanted to talk to Sting but he was nowhere to be found. The NWO called him and looked for him and even sent a private detective agency after him. Sting isn’t in the rafters or the locker room tonight because he’s a coward. Sting will never get a match with Hogan because it would mean bad things for the Scorpion enthusiast. Bischoff says if Sting were here, he’d slap the paint off his face. Sting pops up through the ring and lays out Bischoff to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This definitely wasn’t a good show but it was miles better than the previous week’s. I know they only have an hour at this point, but does WCW know that? At times I’m really not sure given some of the stuff they put out there. This show felt like it had some energy to it this week which has been lacking for awhile. Maybe it’s because they’re coming off a PPV or maybe it’s because the build to Slamboree was incredibly long, but this felt much fresher and it made the show go by a lot faster. They’re back to the full two hours next week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #87
Date: May 12, 1997
Location: 1^st Mariner Center, Baltimore, Arena
Attendance: 8,058
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Larry Zbyszko

I think this is another of those hour long shows due to the NBA Playoffs which is a good idea lately. Slamboree is this Sunday and THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT. The shows have been so insanely boring lately that they need something to be completely changed. 1997 wasn’t kind to the company but everyone remembers it as being awesome for some reason. Hopefully there’s more Sting and Hogan here tonight as without them, these shows suck. Let’s get to it.

Michael Buffer of all people opens the show.

Here are Savage and Liz with the Macho Man on his own feet instead of crutches. He talks about Page jumping him last week and firing him up. Savage wants a fight tonight and that’s it. He talked for 25 seconds max. That’s kind of refreshing.

Apparently Sting wants to conduct a one on one interview with Bischoff. The source of this news: Bischoff. Naturally the announcers accept this with no questions.

TV Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Ultimo Dragon

Dragon is defending and Regal talks about how he can outwrestle anyone and will take the title on Sunday. Guerrera starts with a springboard cross body for two followed by a headscissors to send the champ to the floor. Back in and Dragon fires off some kicks followed by an over the shoulder backbreaker for two. Juvy kicks him in the face for two and hits a northern lights fisherman’s suplex for two.

A rana is countered by a Dragon powerbomb and things slow down. Juvy rolls through a rana into a sunset flip for two before escaping a dragon and tiger suplex. They both go up top, resulting in Dragon hitting a superplex to put both guys down. Juvy gets pulled to the floor by Sonny Onoo and Dragon jumps on Guerrera from behind, saving Sonny in the process. Onoo kicks Juvy in the back and back inside, the super rana sets up the Dragon Sleeper to retain the title.

Rating: C. Not bad here but they kept starting and stopping. Juvy is a good choice for an opening act though as he can fly all over the place and do it almost as well as anyone else. That being said, he had no chance at winning the title, but for the most part that’s ok. Sometimes it’s fine to throw out an entertaining match even if the ending isn’t in doubt.

Here are Piper/Flair/Greene to talk about Sunday. Please let this be short. Greene says that everyone pays taxes, everyone dies, and on Sunday he’s going to hurt the NWO. Flair says they’ll be there on Sunday. Piper says he’s isn’t Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. The NWO shows up and makes fun of the guys in the ring. On Sunday, it’s no DQ and no countout.

Dean Malenko vs. Steve McMichael

Dean takes him to the mat almost immediately but Mongo shoves him down almost just as fast. Malenko goes after the knee but Mongo escapes a Cloverleaf attempt. The leg lariat gets two for Dean but a Jarrett distraction lets Mongo clip Dean from behind. Mongo powerslams Dean but the referee went down during the slam.

Here’s Reggie White but Jarrett distracts him too, allowing Mongo to get in a shot. White hits a clothesline and splash on Mongo (Bobby says it’s not fair as Mongo has already been in there five or ten minutes. It hasn’t even been three yet) giving Dean the pin. This was a mess and it set up Reggie White vs. Mongo on Sunday so if it could be rated, the grade would be very low.

Reggie says he’s fighting for Wisconsin on Sunday.

Lee Marshall does his thing. Remind me again why this guy was getting a paycheck?

Scotty Riggs vs. Wrath

Even Scotty Riggs gets pyro. Man how much money did they have to burn at this point? Before the match, James Vandenberg names his monster as Wrath. As for the match, picture any squash between a small pretty boy and a monster that lasts about 40 seconds. That’s the match you get here. Wrath wins it with his double arm Rock Bottom.

Here’s Glacier post match. He doesn’t do anything but he does in fact show up.

Konnan/Hugh Morrus vs. Alex Wright/Ice Train

Clearly a main event in any arena in the country. Tonight, it’s the main event in the 1^st Mariner Arena. The Dungeon team jumps Train to start with no avail at all. Train and Morrus officially start us off with Ice Train hitting a powerslam to take over. Off to Wright who is booed out of the building. Wright won’t tag out and it lets Morrus take over. A clothesline puts Train down and Wright bails to the floor. Train fights back but Wright claims a knee injury and walks away. The Dungeon double teams Ice Train until the Tequila Sunrise gets the submission.

Rating: D. This was all about the heel turn and not about the match at all. This didn’t lead to a match between Ice Train and Wright, at least not on Nitro. This would be Train’s last match on Nitro that I can find for over three years. Nothing to see here as it was an angle instead of a match, but at least the angle seemed to be what was needed given the crowd hating Wright when he came into the match.

We recap the beatdown on DDP by the NWO last week.

We cut to the back where Piper is down and injured. To the best of my knowledge this wasn’t mentioned at all on Sunday.

Here’s Bischoff for the big interview with Sting. Bischoff stalls a lot and we’re rapidly running out of airtime. To the shock of absolutely no one with a functioning brain, it’s the NWO Sting. The fans say they want Sting. Bischoff says a bunch of things that run Sting down while praising Hogan and Sting nods in agreement with everything. The real Sting comes out and beats up the fake one. Bischoff runs to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. The only thing keeping this from being a total failure is that it was half the length of a usual show. There was NOTHING on this show of value at all and it was pretty clear that no one was interested in what they were doing out there. Slamboree would wind up being the textbook definition of a throwaway show and even though the main event wound up being decent, it didn’t mean anything at all past Sunday night. This show however was horrible and thankfully we’re moving towards something new now.

Here’s Slamboree if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/05/03/slamboree-1997-agoobwa/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #83
Date: April 14, 1997
Location: Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay

These are taking longer than I was hoping and now that I’ve got more time on my hands due to being done with the PPV reviews, I’ll be doing four of these at a time instead of two in a row. Also I kind of like these shows more than some of the WWF shows I’ve been doing so it’s more fun for me this way. This is another of the ten matches deep cards tonight but I wouldn’t bet on there being much going on here tonight with the big names. Let’s get to it.

Oh and by the way: we’re in Philadelphia the night after ECW’s Barely Legal. I wonder if we’ll hear a certain chant tonight.

We open with a recap of Nash and Hogan having their summit last week, as well as Sting lowering from the rafters to chase off the NWO.

Apparently Luger wants his earned title shot tonight. This brings the NWO to the announce desk (no Hogan). Nash says that if Luger wants the shot, he has to beat Nash tonight.

Chris Benoit vs. Barbarian

The place erupts for Benoit. Granted it may be for that awesome Horsemen theme. I could listen to that all day. Benoit is on fire to start and takes Barbarian down, hitting a sunset flip and northern lights suplex for two. Jimmy trips up Benoit on the floor and gets punched in the face for his efforts. For Benoit’s efforts though, Barbarian kicks him in the face. Advantage Barbarian.

Back in the ring Benoit snaps off a German but gets crotched on the top. Barbarian hits a BIG overhead belly to belly superplex for two. The savage (Barbarian I mean) misses a swan dive before Benoit hits his own for the pin. For a two and a half minute match, this was AWESOME.

Post match the Dungeon comes in and destroys Benoit until the Horsemen make the save. Benoit says that he’s going to destroy Sullivan before Sullivan destroys him. This feud has been going on for what, almost a year now?

US Title: Hector Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko

Dean gets a huge reaction of course. Apparently Bischoff is going to get a decision made on his future next week. They fight over a wristlock to start followed by some very fast near falls. Dean finally takes him down with a drop toehold and puts on a chinlock. Hector counters an abdominal stretch to send Dean to the floor and follows him out with kind of a standing Vader Bomb onto Dean. Sunset flip back in gets two for the challenger (Guerrero in case you’re rather slow) but Dean powerbombs him down and puts on the Cloverleaf for the tap out. Another short but very fast paced match.

Eddie comes out to save despite his arm being in a sling.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Reggie White is here and will fight McMichael at some point in the near future. They fight over a wristlock to start until Juvy hits a spin kick to the face to take over. Rey counters into a kind of reverse crucifix backbreaker and the fans start the first loud ECW chant of the night. Rey headscissors him over the top and out to the floor where both guys are down.

As Mysterio gets back in, Juvy powerbombs him off the apron and back to the floor. Back in and a springboard knee to the back keeps Rey in trouble. It’s time for the gymnastics portion of the match as neither guy can connect with anything. Rey hits the West Coast Pop out of nowhere for the quick pin.

Rating: C-. Considering who was in here, this was a disappointment. They weren’t really moving as fast as you would expect them to and there weren’t any high spots. Still though the match wasn’t bad and Rey is always worth checking out in 1997. That being said, this was easily the weakest match of the night so far.

Luna Vachon wants the Women’s Title.

TV Title: Lane Carlson vs. Ultimo Dragon

They’re flying through these matches tonight. I’m assuming the title is on the line here. Carlson is more famous as Lenny Lane. Feeling out process to start until Dragon escapes a backdrop and fires off the rapid kicks. A great looking dropkick takes Lane’s head off for two. Lane comes back with a bad looking Rocker Dropper for two and a bulldog gets the same. A clothesline puts Dragon on the floor and Lane hits a flip dive off the top to crush Dragon. Dragon throws Lane back in and kicks him through the ropes to take over. Back in and the top rope superrana sets up the tiger suplex for the pin for Dragon to retain.

Rating: C-. Another fast paced and surprisingly watchable match. This is what WCW was great at: taking a named guy and putting him out there with some no name and letting the no name show off a little bit. Lane would go on to be the Cruiserweight Champion when the company was falling apart.

Cruiserweight Title: Syxx vs. Prince Iaukea

We’re having an extreme lack of promos tonight. Iaukea speeds things up to start, showing off more fast paced offense in 30 seconds than he did in seven weeks as TV Champion. A kick to the face and a mat slam put Syxx down but he comes back with a spinwheel kick. Syxx is Cruiserweight Champion here but I don’t think the title is on the line. We put the camera on Reggie White for about 15 seconds and come back to Syxx holding a chinlock. We have a Hat Guy sighting as well.

Syxx takes him into the corner and hits the Bronco buster but something similar to a Swanton misses. Apparently this is for the title. Iaukea starts a comeback and hits a springboard clothesline for two before going up. Syxx crotches him but gets shoved down so Prince can badly mess up a top rope sunset flip for two. Syxx kicks the Prince down and hooks on the Buzz Kill (crossface chickenwing) to retain.

Rating: C-. The good part here is almost all because of Syxx. Iaukea was just so freaking dull, and when you had guys like Dragon, Mysterio, Guerrera, Benoit and Malenko around at this point, there was no room for a guy like Iaukea. As usual with Waltman, I like him WAY more when he’s against a smaller guy. It’s a shame he killed the Cruiserweight Title for so long though.

Here are Flair, Piper and Kevin Greene for a chat. Piper rambles about bald guys being cowards and something about gorillas in the Congo. He talks about Bischoff wearing Rodman shirts and implies the NWO is all coming out of the closet. If he wakes up with a dead horse’s head in his bed, he’s having a barbecue. Now he goes on a rant about people pouring asphalt and cutting down trees so they could start Starrcade and Wrestlemania. I assure you, this promo doesn’t make much more sense in full context. I think he’s talking about paving the way for the NWO guys.

Kevin says he did everything Hogan told him to do as a kid and then Hogan stabbed everyone in the back. The NWO is a bunch of rookies that are here just for the money. Greene uses the chopping wood and laying asphalt thing and it’s about respect apparently. For a celebrity that isn’t used to being on a live mic, Greene was pretty good here.

Flair talks about being trained by Verne Gagne in 1973 and walking into St. Louis in 1983 (at the age of 35. Think about that for a minute. At the time this is being written, Sheamus is 33. Flair was two years older than that back in 1983. That’s hard to fathom.) and wrestling Dick the Bruiser. Then in 1993 he wrestled Savage in the Hoosier Dome (it was 92 but close enough) and in 2003 he’ll still be going. That’s actually true and he even won a title that year.

High Voltage vs. Public Enemy

This is a street fight and it’s in Philadelphia. Not a bad way to start the second hour. You can barely hear Tony over the reaction for Rock and Grunge. Public Enemy sets up two tables at ringside before the bell and bring in trashcan lids to get us going. The chant starts before the bell even rings. There are about five trashcan lids in the ring and all of them go upside various people’s heads. I’m not really going to try to call anything in this as it barely resembles wrestling.

A horrible piledriver to Rage onto a trashcan doesn’t really do much damage so Public Enemy brings out a toilet seat instead. Heenan suggests dropping a dumpster on people from the ceiling. After a brawl on the floor, Kaos gets in some offense and is promptly booed out of the building. The fans are literally standing in the crowd. Another piledriver on the trashcan puts Kaos down and it’s table time. Two are stacked on top of each other and Rage is crushed with the Quebecers’ Cannonball move for the pin by Rock.

Rating: C+. The match here was completely beside the point. This was a way to fire up the crowd and to put it mildly, it worked very well. The fans erupted over the Public Enemy because they were ECW legends and every ECW fan was on cloud nine at this point. The match was basically a squash and that’s all it should be.

Giant vs. Big Al

Speaking of ECW, Big Al is more famous as 911. We’re told that Giant let Luger pin him at the PPV because Giant owed Luger a favor from when Luger was the first person to welcome Giant back to WCW. That makes sense. Anyway, chokeslam ends this in like a minute.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Konnan

Page works on the arm to start but Konnan stomps him down in the corner for a bit. Page rams him into the buckle, shrugs off a poke to the eye, and hits the Diamond Cutter for the fast pin. Typical Page match from this time period.

Savage and Liz are in the crowd with Randy telling Kimberly to stop calling him. Page charges after Savage but Macho escapes.

Harlem Heat vs. Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael

Jeff and Booker get us going with Booker running him over a few times. Mongo comes in and wants to fight the bigger member of the Heat in Stevie Ray. Mongo powerslams him down for two as we take a break. Back with Jarrett getting double teamed in the corner and taken down via a double elbow. Stevie comes in and pounds Jeff down again before tagging out to Booker for an ax kick. The Heat hit a double suplex for two and it’s off to a chinlock from Stevie.

Booker comes in to break up a sunset flip as we hear about some guy named Tiger Woods winning the Masters. Booker kicks Jarrett down again but a second kick misses. Jeff tries the Figure Four instead of tagging and everything breaks down. The briefcase is brought in but Sherri steals it from Mongo. Sherri tries to hit Mongo with it but the shot doesn’t seem to do much. The girls fight and the match gets thrown out. In a likely unintentional spot after the match, Sherri swings and misses Debra but hits her in the head on the back swing. Good.

Rating: D+. This incarnation of the Horsemen just were not that good. I get the idea that they’re supposed to be arguing, but that went on FOREVER and never went anywhere. How many weeks in a row now have I talked about the exact same kind of things happening in these matches? Oh and what was the point of the ending? It doesn’t help anything.

Apparently the Horsemen win by DQ. Ok then.

Gene talks to Mongo about his match with White at the PPV. As usual, Mongo cuts a heel promo despite being in a face faction. Mongo blasts White for a bit on the mic until White jumps the barricade. Mongo spits in his face and it’s on.

Kevin Nash vs. Lex Luger

The reinforcements come out for the NWO almost immediately. Nash pounds him into the corner and hits the framed elbow. A charge (yes, a charge from Kevin Nash) misses Luger but Lex has to stop to knock Syxx down, allowing Nash to kick Luger’s head off. Side slam gets two and Snake Eyes puts Luger down again. Nash hits the running hip attack to Luger’s back while Luger is in 619 position. Luger comes back with the steel forearm and here’s the NWO for the big beatdown and the DQ.

Rating: D. This was just a way to build up to the ending with the big NWO run in and the post match stuff. Nash was doing nothing but basic stuff and Luger hit about two moves in total. Then again, they only had about four minutes to work with so it may be unfair to blame the guys in the match. On the other hand, it’s Kevin Nash in 1997 so we can safely blame him.

Page tries to make the save but gets beaten down eventually. Giant comes out but Nash has a lead pipe. Sting walks down the ramp with three ball bats, giving one each to Giant, Luger and Page. Sting pulls out one for himself and the ring is cleared to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. As usual, when you let the Cruiserweights do their stuff, the show is good but when the other guys in there, things start to fall apart. The crowd helped this show a lot as they were erupting for everything all night. While it wasn’t a great show because of the lack of anything really happening, the wrestling was enough to carry it.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: August 23, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

Tonight is another Open Fight Night and the main draw of the show is that at the beginning, we’re going to have Aces and 8’s vs. Sting and company. Other than that we’re likely to have a title match as we have on all other Open Fight Nights. There’s also another Gut Check tonight, which again makes the card too crowded. Oh and there’s the Styles/Lynch paternity test thing. Let’s get to it.

After the usual recap, here are Sting, Angle, Styles, Roode, Aries, Hardy, Anderson and the Dudleys. There are some more guys on the floor on top of that. Sting says they’re ready for us and we get some stills of the attacks. There’s no Hogan but the fans want him. Sting calls out Storm who has been cleared of his charges as of last week. Storm is all fired up and wants to go hunting. Sting says Hogan is here and here are two members of Aces and 8’s at ringside.

Sting lets them come into the ring and it’s Angle and Storm to beat them down. Storm hits one guy with a weapon of some sort as Angle destroys the other in the corner. One guy is revealed to be…..someone that doesn’t seem to be anyone of note. Sting interrogates him and the guy says everyone here is in for a long and painful night. Sting kicks him to the floor and we take a break.

Here’s Tessmacher who thanks Brooke for making things right. She wants to know if she can beat Tara and since it’s Open Fight Night, let’s find out.

Tara vs. Miss Tessmacher

Non-title here. Taryn Terrell is the referee again which apparently is a regular thing for the knockouts. Tara takes oer with the power stuff to start as Tessmacher barely can get over here in a leapfrog. A slam gets two for Tara and she easily wins a slugout. Tessmacher clotheslines her down and does Tara’s shake at her, but takes too long going up. A superplex gets the pin for Tara at 2:50. There’s your next title program I’m guessing.

The Pope is out of the BFG Series with a broken collar bone.

Sting talks to Robbie E, AJ and RVD, all of whom still had to face Pope in the Series. There’s going to be a three way instead and it’s winner take all. Robbie T is banned from ringside.

Bound For Glory Series Leaderboard

James Storm 66

Samoa Joe 61

Rob Van Dam 55

AJ Styles 50

Kurt Angle 48

Bully Ray 48

Jeff Hardy 42

Mr. Anderson 40

Christopher Daniels 33

Magnus 28

D’Angelo Dinero 7 (Injured)

Robbie E 5

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Robbie E

Van Dam and Styles throw Robbie to the floor so we can get down to the important guys. Van Dam fires off some kicks to start and a rollup gets two. It’s a standoff and Robbie is back in. he charges into a double hip toss and a suplex from Styles sends him to the outside again. AJ hits the drop down/kick to send Van Dam to the floor but Robbie sneaks in and clotheslines Styles down for tow.

Van Dam is kicked to the floor before he can do anything and we take a break. Back with AJ trying to speed things up but missing a forearm in the corner. Robbie knocks Van Dam to the floor again and AJ gets put in a chinlock. Van Dam pulls Robbie to the floor and beats him up but Styles dives on both of them to put both guys down. He may have hurt his leg in the landing though.

Back in and AJ hits the fireman’s carry into the backbreaker for two. The leg seems to be ok. Robbie can’t get past the apron and Van Dam kicks AJ down. Rolling Thunder hits and Robbie takes a kick to the face as well. Standing moonsault gets two on Robbie and he gets sent to the floor. AJ botches the moonsault into the reverse DDT but gets two off of it anyway. Styles loads up a superplex on RVD but gets knocked back down. The Five Star hits but Robbie runs in and rolls up Van Dam for the pin at 12:53.

Rating: C+. This was a pretty fun match although the way the match was going, it became clear there was going to be a surprise ending. I guess they wanted to avoid Styles or RVD from getting some breathing room in the standings which isn’t a bad idea. The match was pretty good for the most part though and it was a nice surprise all things considered.

Jeff Hardy is here and he calls out Robbie T. I won’t bother listing the call outs unless they’re anything of note.

Jeff Hardy vs. Robbie T

Hardy jumps him to start but Robbie knocks him down with a clothesline. Jeff comes back with a Whisper in the Wind for two and some clotheslines stagger Robbie. Twist of Fate and the Swanton get the pin at 2:36. This was just a step above a squash.

Sting is still looking for Aces and 8’s.

We get a recap of AJ vs. Daniels and the Clair Lynch jazz.

Here’s AJ for the reveal of the results. He says he doesn’t remember the night but if it’s his kid, he’ll take care of it and be responsible for it. If it’s not his though, he doesn’t want to hear from Kaz and Daniels ever again. JB asks Lynch to come out but here are Kaz and Daniels instead. Kaz goes into a somewhat hilarious rant about how people like Styles are the reason for how bad the country is and how overpopulated the prisons are. Daniels says AJ has put Clair through so much stress that she’s in a hospital.

Some chick in a suit comes out and takes the mic from Daniels. Apparently her name is Grace Stein and she’s Lynch’s attorney. She has a statement from Lynch which says she lied, agreed to blackmail AJ, and drugged him on the night the pictures were taken. Lynch never was pregnant and it was all a lie from Daniels. AJ kicks Daniels in the head and that’s it.

The Tough Enough guy says he needs this because he doesn’t have anything else to go home to.

Aces and 8’s are walking in the back when Sting stops them and flips a deck of cards at them. He throws a bat to Hogan who is behind the masked guys and all three get beaten down. Hogan threatens to feed their hearts to his dog if they ever attack his daughter again.

Alex Silva is proud to have won Gut Check.

Gut Check: Kris Lewey vs. Gunner

Kris takes over to start with a shoulder but Gunner knocks him into the corner to take over. An elbow takes Lewey down again but Kris comes back with some bad strikes followed by a bad Samoan Drop. A top rope splash misses and the release F5 gets the pin for Gunner at 2:59. Lewey looked really bad.

ODB is on the phone with Eric Young and wants sex. She hits on someone we can’t see and that’s it. Fish references are made because of Young’s show.

Bound For Glory Series: Mr. Anderson vs. Bully Ray

This is Anderson’s last match in the Series. It’s a feeling out process to start with both guys hitting some chops. We take a break and come back with Ray dropping an elbow. The fans want something but I can’t make it out. A slam looks to set up a Vader Bomb (what is with the popularity of that move lately?) but Anderson moves. They slug it out from their knees and it’s boo/yay time. A clothesline puts Ray down and things speed up. Neckbreaker gets two for Anderson and a spinwheel kick gets the same. The announcers are talking about what Hogan did and call him Hollywood Hogan. That doesn’t bode well.

Anderson tries a fireman’s carry but Ray is too fat. A neckbareker gets two for Ray but as he goes up, Anderson hits him in the ribs and hits the rolling fireman’s carry slam for two. Anderson goes up but gets crotched and superplexed. We cut to the back and see Gunner, Robbie T and Angle beating down three members of Aces and 8’s. Back in the ring and a Bubba Bomb gets two. Another one is countered into a DDT followed by a Swanton Bomb for two for Anderson. Bubba Cutter is countered into the Mic Check for the pin at 12:19.

Rating: C+. Another good match here but that puts Anderson a point shy of the top four, meaning that at the moment he’s out of the finals at No Surrender. That’s probably a good thing though as Anderson is more or less just kind of there in the Series and the company at this point. Then again, that’s been the case for him for years now.

An Aces and 8’s guy is in the back and he says they’ve been playing his game all night. In three and a half minutes, they’re unleashing the Dead Man’s Hand.

Here’s almost the entire roster to end the show. Sting says the three and a half minutes have passed. There’s no Hogan in the ring, nor is there a Joe that I can see. The fans want Hogan. Here they come and it’s a brawl at ringside and in the ring. There’s nothing special to it. It’s just a brawl that the TNA guys are winning. Aces and 8’s are getting run out of the building. Hogan and Storm are fighting in the back with some more members. AJ is there with them too.

Back in the arena, RVD, Aries and Hardy are left alone while everyone else is beating up more members. The camera is cutting all over the place. Aries dives on more guys on the floor. There must be 20 Aces and 8’s guys all around the arena. Hardy is down at ringside. A big guy is in the ring now and he took Aries head off with a clothesline. The big guy calls in some more members and they have a piece of the guardrail stacked up on the buckle. Aries has his arm placed on it and crushed with a chair. Bully Ray comes in for the save and the six guys in the ring bail. In the back Aces and 8’s get on their motorcycles and leave to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. The show was good overall for the most part although there were some weak areas. For one, the AJ/Daniels/Kaz thing was pretty terrible, but if it means they’re pulling out of the thing once and for all, I’m all for it. The Aces and 8’s stuff was interesting and it’s pretty clear they’re heading to BFG with this angle. TNA is doing a great job at making you want to watch next week, which is the whole point of a TV show. Good stuff again here.

Results

Tara b. Miss Tessmacher – Superplex

Robbie E b. Rob Van Dam and AJ Styles – Rollup to Van Dam

Jeff Hardy b. Robbie T – Swanton Bomb

Gunner b. Kris Lewey – Release F5

Mr. Anderson b. Bully Ray – Mic Check

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

WCW Saturday Night
Date: August 21, 1993
Location: Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 750
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jesse Ventura

This was my first request via Twitter. I don’t usually do Saturday Night but the few I’ve done have gone pretty well. This is less than a month before Fall Brawl 93 so we have two world titles at the moment. Both champions are in action tonight. One has a squash, and the other has a 40 minute match against the guy who is probably his greatest rival. Let’s get to it.

Also this is three days after Clash of the Champions 24 but it was taped earlier, so we likely won’t hear much about the Clash.

Sid Vicious/Harlem Heat vs. Ron Simmons/2 Cold Scorpio/Marcus Bagwell

Harlem Heat has been around like two weeks at this point. They’re Kane (Stevie) and Kole (Booker) at this point and all three heels are managed by Colonel Parker. This is just after the Heat were changed from prisoners in shackles won by Parker in a card game to street thugs. How did this company not get sued into the ground? Apparently the commentary was recorded after after the Clash or the results were given to Tony and Jesse beforehand.

Booker and Scorpio start things off with Scorpio countering a kick into a fast rollup for two. Off to Bagwell and the arm work begins. The ring is divided into sections, almost like a bunch of gym mats hooked together. Stevie comes in but Bagwell suplexes him over anyway. That’s more power than I was expecting out of him. Bagwell gets caught in a slam but an elbow misses. While the match isn’t that great, the commentary does offer a good line. Jesse: “Why do they call it an Irish Whip? Did someone from Ireland invent it?” Tony: “Uh yeah Jess.”

Off to Simmons to make it power vs. power. Stevie takes him down with a clothesline but Simmons comes back with a botched spinebuster, making it look more like a shove. The heels bail to the floor and things stop for a bit. Sid comes in and wants a test of strength with Simmons, but as any good heel would do, he kicks Simmons in the ribs instead of going through with the test. Ron is cool with that and it’s time to go after the arm. Considering it’s 1993 and this is Sid vs. Scorpio, 2 Cold is dropped face first onto the buckle pretty quickly and the bad guys take over.

The Heat double team Scorpio on the floor with a clothesline and it’s back in to Sid for a one armed chokeslam, which Tony says is like a powerbomb. Off to Booker who yells at the camera a lot and tags Stevie in again. We head to the floor and Scorpio is dropped throat first on the barricade, making him sound like a cat coughing up a hairball. Back in and Scorpio avoids an elbow drop and it’s off to Bagwell. Everything breaks down and Sid powerbombs Bagwell to death for the pin.

Rating: C. Sid was on his way to the world title at this point and it’s pretty easy to see why. He was the perfect kind of monster giant and him vs. Vader could have been an awesome clash of the titans. Then he went insane stabbed Arn Anderson so we got Flair in the main event, which worked out fine. Harlem Heat would wind up being the most successful out of all these guys though, which shows you never know what you’ll get out of wrestlers.

The announcers talk about the Amateur Challenge, which is something kind of sort of like Tough Enough without an actual contest.

The Equalizer vs. Ron Preston

Equalizer is a big guy who would become “famous” as Dave “Evad” Sullivan. Here he’s just a big bad guy who didn’t really equalize anything. We have a two minute match here and about a minute of that is spent in a neck crank. Full nelson ends Preston.

We go to the Fall Brawl Control Center, which is the old way they used to promote the PPVs. Back then, they would actually take time to hype their matches and tell us why we should buy them, as opposed to today when they have both guys beat the other and then hope that gives us enough reason to want to see them fight a third time. We get some clips of past WarGames matches after the host of the segment says the wrong year for when the match started (it was 87, not 88).

Charlie Norris vs. Fury

So if you’ve read my stuff before from this time period, you know that I don’t really like WCW in 1993. Two of the big reasons for that are Equalizer and Charlie Norris. They were both big, strong, and absolutely AWFUL. Norris is an Indian and that’s about it. Norris hooks on an armbar as the match is ignored for the sake of talking about the PPV. In this case, I’m totally fine with that.

Fury, who is apparently part of a tag team called The Wrecking Crew, hits a clothesline and shoulder block before hooking a chinlock. Norris grabs a sunset flip for two before getting suplexed for the same. Back to the chinlock but Norris gets up, goes on the warpath, and hits a big chop for the pin. Fury by the way is Marcus Laurinitis, brother of John and Road Warrior Animal. He never did much of note.

Rating: D-. This was Norris’ Saturday Night debut, which basically would be his national debut. If that’s the case, why in the world would you have him get beaten down this long, and why would you have this match go nearly seven minutes? Like I said, 1993 in WCW was horrible and it would only go downhill from here for Norris.

We see Cactus Jack’s return promo from the Clash, which is him saying he’s back and he wants Vader. He talks about the look in the eyes of wrestlers when they face Vader. They used to look at him like that and he wants to earn that look again. This is another classic Jack promo.

Mike Thor vs. Johnny B. Badd

Badd has been injured recently and is wearing a mask as a result, but tonight he’s removing it. Badd is still at the point where his character is gay but we can’t say he’s gay because it’s 1993 and you can’t do that. Johnny knocks him into the corner to start and then down onto the mat with a headlock. Off to the arm as Jesse tries to figure out what the B. in Badd’s name stands for. After some near falls, Badd takes the mask off and reveals that he’s fine before hitting the big left hand (the Tutti Fruti) for the pin.

Rating: D. This was about four minutes of armdrags and armbars. Badd would get WAY better around 1995 but he was still developing at this point. To be fair, he was a lot better than he was a year before this, as he now had an actual offensive move set outside of the punch. Also, Mike Thor is a good name for an indy guy.

Badd insists he’s still pretty.

Ice Train vs. Rage

This is Train’s debut and he has a guy named Thunderbolt Patterson with him. Fury is the tag partner of Rage from earlier. Nothing match that Train wins in less than a minute with a powerslam. I always liked Ice Train.

Patterson and Train say Train wants to learn and improve.

Big Van Vader vs. JD Stryker

Chokeslam, punch, powerbomb, pin.

Vader, the WCW Champion, and his manager Harley Race, say they don’t care about what happens in the main event. Race wants to talk about WarGames, where Vader is going to destroy everything. A mystery partner is mentioned, who was already revealed to be the Shockmaster.

So we have almost fifty minutes to go in the show and this is all we have left.

NWA World Title: Sting vs. Ric Flair

I know why this was requested. This is one of those matches that is nearly impossible to screw up and you start at a higher rating than the usual. It’s not about will the match be good but how good will it be. A quick shoulder takes Flair down as Tony talks about the history of these two, without mentioning the original Clash for some reason. Sting wins a battle of a hammerlock as Tony messes up the date of the original Clash (he says April, it was March 27).

Sting controls with a wristlock on the champion (Flair has the belt coming in) and we’re still in the feeling out process here. Flair tries a Figure Four out of nowhere but Sting escapes before he gets close. Things speed up but they botch the gorilla press spot. Sting doesn’t panic though and throws on a chinlock, which is probably the best thing they could do in that situation. Now the press slam hits and Flair goes to the apron.

A suplex back in puts Flair down and there’s a Boston Crab. Flair taps but it doesn’t mean anything yet so he gets a rope and bails to the floor instead. Back in and Flair goes to the eyes before chopping away in the corner. Say it with me: those don’t work on Sting. A half crab works on Flair’s back again, followed by another gorilla press for two. Sting hooks an abdominal stretch and the champ is in trouble.

As is his custom, Sting misses the Splash in the corner and Sting gets his second wind. They head to the floor but Flair tries a piledriver and gets backdropped instead. Flair begs off in a corner and suckers Sting in like only Flair can do. Sting gets thrown to the floor but it just ticks him off. Flair fires off the chops but, say it with me, THOSE DON’T WORK ON STING.

The champ begs off again and walks to the floor for a breather. Back in and Tony calls Sting Steamboat before Sting misses a splash on the top rope, clotheslining himself. There’s the knee drop to the head from Flair and the champ has his third wind. I don’t know what it is about them but Flair does some of the best snapmares ever. Flair rolls up Sting about six times in a row, all for two.

Ric is in full heel mode despite being a face coming in. A cover with the foot on the ropes gets one and a suplex gets about twelve. We take a break and come back to Sting making a comeback. During the break Sting rolled through a top rope cross body by Flair for two. Both guys are down for a bit before Flair hits a belly to back suplex for another few two counts. He must have had seventeen near falls so far.

Flair goes up top…..and the forearm off the top actually connects. You never know what you’ll find in these old shows. A sunset flip gets two for Sting as does a backslide. There’s the Flair Flip in the corner and down to the floor he goes. Flair pokes him in the eye and goes up, only to get slammed down. It wouldn’t be a Flair match if that spot hadn’t happened. A clothesline gets a few two counts for Sting and he clotheslines Flair to the floor.

They head to the outside and Flair chops him against the railing. Even on the floor, THOSE DON’T WORK ON STING. Back in and Flair backs off again and Sting escapes a suplex into an O’Connor Roll for two. Flair pokes him in the eye and there’s the Figure Four (complete with a Whomp There It Is chant from the audience for no apparent reason). That finally gets turned over but Flair gets the rope.

Sid comes out to the commentary desk for no apparent reason as Sting gets a small package for two but the knee is in big trouble. Sid says this should be his title match and talks about bees. Flair chops him again because at times he really isn’t that bright. The gorilla press hits and a bulldog puts Flair down. Another small package gets two for Sting as does an atomic drop.

Probably the fourth gorilla press puts Flair down but the splash hits knees. Sting comes back with a clothesline and puts the Figure Four on Flair. Flair gets the rope and they trade rollups for two again. For the fifth time the chops don’t work on Sting so he superplexes Flair down. Eventually that gets two and gorilla press #5 puts Flair down again. Flair cross bodies Sting to the floor and both guys are down. Sid sneaks in and sends Sting into the barricade to give Flair the win by countout.

Rating: B+. This is one of those matches that it’s pretty much impossible to get wrong. They were getting pretty repetitive at the end though, with way too many rollups and gorilla presses. The first half of the match was great though with Flair trying to get Sting to use energy and Sting working on the back to set up the Scorpion. The ending kind of sucks but they couldn’t put either guy over clean here so I can certainly live with that.

Flair freaks out on Sid but Harlem Heat runs in before there can be another fight. Sting saves Flair and they knock Sid to the floor.

Post break Flair and Sting say that sucked but they’ll get Sid and the Heat later.

Overall Rating: B. It’s a two hour show and 1/3 of that is Sting vs. Flair for forty minutes. The rest of the show was standard 1993 WCW nonsense that no one wanted to see, but for free TV on their flagship show, this was pretty awesome stuff at the end. I don’t have anything else to say: it’s Flair vs. Sting for forty minutes. That sums everything up.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: August 16, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

We’re past Hardcore Justice and for the most part things are the same. Aries is the world champion still and Roode has no rematch. The BFG Series is starting to wrap up with the finals being at the next PPV in the form of No Surrender. Tonight we have at least two BFG Series matches as most of the guys don’t have many matches left. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the end of the show last week with Aces and 8’s not attacking Ray. No mention of the PPV is made at all.

Here’s Aries to open the show. He spells and defines the word fluke which he says he’s proven wrong. The doubters can go fluk (I spelled that right) themselves because he’s now the face of this company. No one is going to tell him what to do or think and this company isn’t going to be held hostages. Aces and 8’s has always been near the world title but he’s going into BFG and keeping the title he walks in with.

This brings out Jeff Hardy who is limping. Jeff, who looks like a tire ran over his face, says he’ll win the Series. Hardy calls out Aces and 8’s but gets Bully Ray instead. He calls Hardy stupid and says Storm is behind Aces and 8’s. Ray references Matt Hardy but he didn’t realize Jeff was that stupid. He talks about how Hardy had Storm in trouble when Aces and 8’s came back. Ray got lucky and won the match, meaning he beat Jeff Hardy and that he’s going to BFG to win the title.

Aries disagrees and talks to Ray’s calves because that’s where the brains are. He says Ray isn’t going to win the title because Aries will be waiting at BFG. Aries suggests Ray is behind Aces and 8’s and the group pops up on the screen. The leader says they’re all about I think luck and commitment. He references Ray getting lucky at the PPV and says sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get the Dead Man’s Hand. Tonight they’re going to make a big impact. Ray says it’s right in front of Aries’ and Hardy’s face and we cut to commercial in mid sentence. It’s very annoying when they do that.

Back with recaps of the three BFG Series matches on Sunday.

Bound For Glory Series Leaderboard

James Storm 66

Rob Van Dam 55

Samoa Joe 56

Kurt Angle 48

Bully Ray 48

Mr. Anderson 40

AJ Styles 36

Jeff Hardy 35

Christopher Daniels 33

Magnus 28

D’Angelo Dinero 7

Robbie E 5

Magnus talks about how he’s ready for Joe because he knows him better than anyone.

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Magnus

Joe has three matches left and we’re not told how many the Brit has left. Joe quickly takes Magnus down but misses a backsplash. Magnus misses an elbow but ducks a kick. The idea is that they know each other so well that they keep countering each other. Joe can’t hook a Crossface so Magnus heads to the floor.

A HARD forearm puts Magnus down but he comes back with a kind of scoop brainbuster (think the Snow Plow but starting in a slam position instead of a suplex) for two. Joe takes him into the corner and kicks him in the head but can’t hit the MuscleBuster. Magnus’ middle rope elbow misses and he charges into the release Rock Bottom. The Clutch is escaped but Joe hooks an ugly looking La Majistral for the pin at 3:23.

Rating: C+. I was digging the idea here and Joe goes to second place again with the win. Magnus is fine in the jobber roll in the competition despite having a lot of points of his own. He needs something to do after the competition so hopefully he gets a feud soon. The match was short but they packed a lot into it which is a good idea.

Post match Magnus hits Joe with a chair but it seems to annoy him instead of hurt him.

Madison is summoned to the ring by Brooke Hogan.

Here’s Madison, the new Knockouts Champion, to the ring. With no Brooke here, Madison says we’re going to party tonight. She says there’s a strong referee behind every great woman, so here’s Earl Hebner. Here’s Brooke who says Madison has some shady stuff going on. Earl isn’t going to referee anymore Knockouts matches. Tessmacher gets her rematch tonight and there’s a female guest referee for later.

Madison yells and says this is typical Hogan, as in she’ll talk about everything but is no action. Brooke charges (well as fast as you can in a dress that short) but Madison runs. Aces and 8’s pop up behind Brooke but the locker room empties out to chase them off. Storm comes in behind them after Aces and 8’s are out and we take another abrupt break.

Post break Sting, Angle, Aries and Hardy are in the ring with Sting going on a rant against Aces and 8’s. Next week on Open Fight Night, it’s on at the top of the show.

Kaz and Daniels are apparently in the new issue of Amazing Spider-Man. Kaz says that the Phenomenal Fetus won’t be Amazing. I have to pause for a second to appreciate how awesome of a line that was. Anyway AJ pops up and says if he loses to Daniels tonight, he’ll accept being the father. If he wins though, there’s a paternity test. Kaz: “HE’S GOING MAURY POVITCH ON US!”

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

Kaz is ejected before the match. They quickly head to the floor and back inside, Daniels tries a rollup with feet on the ropes but gets caught. AJ punches him down and then sends him into a few corners to take over. Styles beats Daniels up for a bit, hitting a BIG backdrop to make Daniels beg off. A clothesline puts Daniels down for two.

We take a break and come back with AJ escaping a headlock and hitting the drop down/kick for two. AJ puts Daniels in a bridging Indian Deathlock and then off to a half crab. Back to the Deathlock but Daniels bites the fingers to get out of it. That’s a smart move if nothing else. Styles gets hot shotted and Daniels hits kind of a clothesline to the back of his head for two. A back suplex gets two as well. Daniels hits a kind of Eye of the Hurricane for two before trying again with his feet on the ropes.

Styles is thrown to the floor as we’re getting close to a time limit here. Daniels knocks him into the barricade in an attempt at getting a countout but AJ comes back in with a sunset flip but he can’t roll through it into the Clash. Daniels tries a standing Koji Clutch and AJ is in trouble. It breaks down into a regular Clutch but Daniels lets it go for some reason. A suplex gets two and we have two minutes left. Daniels pounds away in the corner but AJ comes out with a running layout powerbomb.

Both guys are down but AJ gets up first, hitting the springboard forearm. A gutbuster and clothesline get two as we have less than thirty seconds. AJ neckbreakers him down but Daniels gets his foot on the rope. No mention has been made yet of the time limit as they slug it out. AJ is sent to the floor as we pass fifteen minutes. They trade places and AJ hits his flip dive over the top to the floor to take Daniels out. AJ gets back in as Kaz comes to ringside. They try the Ultimate Warrior at Mania 5 ending and it works, but the referee sees Kaz and waves it off. AJ Pele’s Daniels for the pin at 16:58.

Rating: B-. This was one of their better matches but the time limit thing bugs me. I know that it’s something petty and stupid, but if you say the match is going to last fifteen minutes, then have it last fifteen minutes. The ending was fine as the Pele is good for a secondary finisher for Styles. Good match here.

Hulk is on the phone and says he’ll be here next week because if we don’t fight, they die. They’re going old school next week.

Hardy confronts Storm about Aces and 8’s. Storm says he’ll be there to fight next week and he’ll be at ringside for the main event too.

Here’s Roode to discuss the main event from Sunday. He talks about how he underestimated Aries but there were some shenanigans that cost him the belt. Roode says he should be world champion but due to people like Aries, the referees, Sting and the fans here, he isn’t. Now he’s faced with the question of “what now”. Roode stutters a bit before dropping the mic and walking away.

Next week’s Gut Check guy talks about his brother getting him into wrestling and then getting shot and killed. His name is never given here so I have no idea what to call him.

Knockouts Title: Madison Rayne vs. Miss Tessmacher

The guest referee is Taryn Terrell, more famous as Tiffany in WWE. The best part: Brooke kneels down for no apparent reason as Tiffany is coming out and falls down. Madison chokes a lot so Tiffany yells at her. Tessmacher gets thrown around but grabs a rollup for two. She misses a charges in the corner and gets rolled up herself but Madison’s tights grabbing is caught. Tiffany and Madison argue a bit more until Tessmacher grabs Madison and hits her release mat slam from behind for the pin and the title at 3:55. What in the world was the point in changing the title in the first place?

Rating: D. The match was mainly Tiffany and Madison arguing so the match didn’t do anything. What in the world was the point of this? They mentioned Tiffany being in the new movie The Campaign but it was mentioned so quickly that a lot of people probably didn’t hear it. This was nothing at all and didn’t do anything for anyone.

Aces and 8’s say they’ll be here next week when the clock strikes 8. They have more business tonight though.

Bound For Glory Series: Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray

Before anything of note happens, here’s Storm. Ray goes to the floor and shoves him but Jeff hits a baseball slide to take ray out before anything can happen. We take a break and come back with Ray getting two off something we didn’t see. An elbow drop gets two for Ray and it’s off to a chinlock. An overhead suplex gets two for Ray but he misses a splash.

Hardy makes his comeback and hits the legdrop between the legs for two before walking into a side slam for two for Ray. Bully Bomb is broken up and Jeff hits the slingshot dropkick in the corner. The Swanton only gets two and Ray heads to the floor. Hardy dives over the top but hits Storm by mistake. Back in and Hardy hits the Whisper in the Wind to put both guys down. Aces and 8’s run in but Sting and Angle make the save before any contact is made. Twisting Stunner gets the pin for Hardy at 10:50.

Rating: C+. This is one of those pairings that is hard to screw up due to the familiarity these two have with each other. Hardy is near the top four now but I don’t think he’s quite in it. Ray looked ifne after the possible arm injury from Sunday which is a good thing. Aces and 8’s didn’t mean much here but I think that was the point.

Post match Ray hits Hardy and then yells at Storm, drawing the Cowboy in. Storm superkicks Hardy by mistake and here are Aces and 8’s again. They applaud Storm before taking his head off. Storm gets beaten down as we go off the air.

Overall Rating: C. This was really a placeholder until next week with the big showdown with Aces and 8’s. The more I think about it, the more it looks like Hogan is a candidate. We never saw him get beaten down, the group never attacked Brooke when they had the chance, he’s coming back right in time for the big fight, and he could be jealous of Sting for the attention he got at Slammiversary. There are a lot of candidates for who the boss could be and the more I hear of them, the more I don’t like. The show overall was decent tonight but it felt like it was a building show for next week, which is ok.

Results

Samoa Joe b. Magnus – La Majistral

AJ Styles b. Christopher Daniels – Pele

Miss Tessmacher b. Madison Rayne – Tess Shocker

Jeff Hardy b. Bully Ray – Twist of Fate

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #82
Date: April 7, 1997
Location: Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko

Back to Nitro and it’s the first night after Spring Stampede. Almost nothing has changed as that was one of the least important shows in recent memory. We’re now on the way towards Slamboree which will set the bar even lower as Hogan’s spring/summer vacation continues. Hopefully this is a more interesting show than last week. Let’s get to it.

Tony and Larry suggest there’s turmoil in the NWO. This would be the first of about 87 times this was potentially happening. We get a lot of stills from the main event last night with Nash power bombing Nick Patrick after the pin was counted for Page.

Konnan/Hugh Morrus vs. Psychosis/Alex Wright

Wright and Morrus start us off and the fans seem rowdy tonight. Alex uses the Daniel Bryan moonsault out of the corner and works on the arm of Morrus. Off to Psychosis as the announcers talk about having an opening to beat the NWO now. Konnan comes in illegally but walks into a superkick that didn’t appear to connect from Psychosis. A better looking top rope spinwheel kick puts Konnan down and Psychosis takes Morrus down on the floor as well.

Morrus comes in and with nothing better to do, we go split screen to show Page arriving earlier today and looking hurt. A powerslam gets no cover on the masked man and a middle rope elbow misses for Morrus. Double tag brings in Wright and Konnan and Alex cleans house. A top rope cross body gets one on Hugh but Konnan hits him with a neckbreaker and No Laughing Matter (moonsault) gets the pin on Wright.

Rating: D+. Not much here but it wasn’t bad. The Dungeon of Doom was about a year and a half past their expiration date and they would never mean anything again. For that matter you could say the same for Wright and Psychosis as well, but they had some moderate success. Not a lot to say here.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Steven Regal

No entrances for either guy but at least we got that nifty set of stills from Madusa vs. Hokuto. Regal takes over to start and sends Rey out to the floor and into the barricade. Back inside and we’re told the NWO has arrived. Naturally we look at this instead of the match. I know they’re a bigger deal but this gets on my nerves. You could EASILY show this between the matches and nothing would be any worse. Hogan and Bischoff talk about problems in the family and it’s only the two of them plus DiBiase and Vincent.

Back in the ring, Mysterio sends Regal to the apron but misses a charge. Regal goes up top but takes too long, allowing Rey to hit a springboard headscissors for two. West Coast Pop doesn’t connect properly and only gets two. Regal takes him down and puts on the Regal Stretch but Rey makes the rope. For some reason during part of that hold referee Randy Anderson had his hand on the back of Rey’s head. Regal won’t break the hold and it’s a DQ.

Rating: D+. Not much to see here again but at least we could see most of the match instead of having most of the time being spent on the NWO buying a newspaper or whatever they’re doing this week. Regal was snapping at this point but I don’t remember anything coming out of it, which is a shame as he was good at being psycho.

Prince Iaukea comes out for the save but Regal beats him down and puts him in the Stretch too. The totally calm look on Regal’s face as he tortures Iaukea and punches him in the face is borderline chilling.

The rest of the NWO arrives. Savage is on crutches.

We recap last night’s bizarre one on one match for the tag titles which was basically Rick Steiner being squashed by Kevin Nash. This led to Ted DiBiase getting upset by the amount of punishment Steiner received.

Ice Train vs. Chris Benoit

Woman is continuing to look good here so at least the squash won’t be a total loss. Benoit pounds away to start but walks into a press slam from Train. Benoit starts chopping away but Ice Train yells at him and clotheslines Benoit down. Train puts on a chinlock as we go split screen to see Hogan throwing the belt down and the NWO gets in an argument.

Savage seems to be the one with the most issues here. Nash walks away and Norton says get it together. Back in the ring Woman takes Teddy Long down and a Benoit DDT gets the pin. It was barely long enough to rate in the first place and since we missed a good piece of it for an NWO argument I’ll pass on a rating. It was exactly what you would expect though.

We get a video on the premiere of Double Team, which is Dennis Rodman’s new movie. This is shown because the NWO was there, which brings up a question: the NWO is supposed to be a totally different organization from WCW in storyline terms right? So why would WCW show this stuff? There’s no disclaimer saying that the NWO paid for this and Tony intros it, so why would they show it?

Hector Guerrero vs. Kevin Sullivan

Hector is a dead ringer for Eddie and may actually be more talented in the ring than Eddie was. Sullivan pounds Hector down to start and knocks him to the floor so Jackie can slam him which is supposed to be impressive for some reason. Back in the ring and Sullivan keeps up the assault and then throws him out to Jackie for more of her punches and another slam. The Tree of Woe and double stomp end this quick, and by that I mean the guy that got in all the offense so far, as in Sullivan, wins, in case that was too complicated for you.

Here’s the NWO with something to say. DiBiase says there are clearly problems here and we need to fix them now. Hogan says that Nash has a problem with this and throws the belt down again, saying it means nothing. Nash says that he has no problem with Rodman as he used to be a ball player too. But he spent Easter Sunday in a hotel room with Syxx which was a big problem for some reason.

Hogan says next Easter they’ll go on an NWO Easter Hunt, but for now he wants to know where Hall is. Nash says Hall is NWO for life but Hogan wants to fight right now. Nash talks about Hogan joining Hall and Nash and about how they’re NWO for life. That apparently buries the hatchet but Savage is mad. The fans want Sting. Hogan says he doesn’t want to fight Savage so get it together. Savage says ok but he and Bishoff are on probation with each other. That settles things apparently.

Hour #2 begins and we recap the first half of the show.

Gene brings out Flair for a chat. Flair rants a bit about the NWO and how he’s going to take them out. Here’s Piper who says he’s out of the asylum and rants a bit as well. Flair says Kevin Greene wants to join up with them and I think we’ve got a six man coming. Piper on the NWO: “They smell like six dead otters in a drainpipe.” Greene comes out and praises both guys before going insane as well. This would be the main event of the PPV.

US Title: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho

This should be awesome. Things start off fast and Jericho hits a pair of kicks to take Malenko down. They head to the floor for some more kicks before a missile dropkick gets two back in the ring. A backslide gets the same but Jericho ducks his head and gets powerbombed. There’s the Cloverleaf but Jericho grabs the rope. Dean goes up but gets superplexed down. This is the first slow down they’ve had so far. As Jericho gets up, Dean hits a standing version of Orton’s Punt for the pin.

Rating: B. For a three minute match, this was AWESOME. Dean going all evil and kicking Jericho in the face was a good change of pace for him and it would lead to a decent heel run for him. Jericho was starting to get pushed and it would turn into a title run in a few months in a big win over an NWO member.

Public Enemy vs. High Voltage

High Voltage jumps the Public Enemy to start but gets slugged down almost immediately. A double flapjack sets up a double suplex on Rage for no cover. The fans like the arm waving thing the Public Enemy does. Rock and Kaos officially get us going before Rock is sent to the floor for a beating from Rage. Back in and Rock hits a neckbreaker on Kaos for two. Tag to Grunge who cleans house. They head to the floor and Kaos is put on the table. The elbow through said table misses while back in the ring, Rage hits a northern lights suplex for the pin. Short but energetic again.

Public Enemy says sometimes the table works for you and sometimes it works against you but it’s all good. Rock challenges High Voltage to a Philadelphia street fight next week. They say they’ll get extreme next week.

Prince Iaukea is getting his ribs taped up.

Harlem Heat vs. Steve McMichael/Jeff Jarrett

And there’s no Mongo. Booker gets things going in a match that would be for the world title in about three years. Booker runs him over to start but Jarrett comes back with some hip tosses. Jarrett goes to the corner but gets pounded down as the Heat takes over again. Stevie comes in and catches Jarrett in what we would call the World’s Strongest Slam. Jeff dropkicks both guys to the floor and things slow down a bit.

Stevie slams him down again and it’s back to Booker. The numbers game is catching up with Jeff as Booker side kicks him down for two. Debra has left ringside as the announcers are trying to figure out if Mongo was here earlier or not. The ax kick hits but Booker tags out instead of covering. Jarrett grabs a small package out of nowhere for two and a sunset flip out of the corner gets the same on Booker. A double suplex puts Jeff down for two and Debra is back again. Jeff misses a dropkick and Stevie guillotines him on the top rope.

Even Sherri is getting in some attacks on Jeff, hitting him in the chest and choking him a bit. A quick backslide gets two for Jarrett and he avoids the Harlem Side Kick, crotching Booker in the process. Stevie hits a brainbuster and here’s Mongo who looks fine. Stevie misses something off the top and Mongo is on the apron. There’s the tag and Mongo cleans house. Jarrett is spent so Mongo tags him back in. Mongo shoves him into the side kick and Booker gets the pin.

Rating: D+. This was a long angle advancement which is a good thing, but it’s an angle that wasn’t interesting for the most part. At the end of the day, they’re fighting about Debra who is just annoying beyond belief. Mongo wasn’t any good in the ring and Jarrett was awful as a face at this point. It wouldn’t be until be became a male sexist pig in the WWF that he really came into his own.

Jarrett and Mongo bicker post match. Mongo says he wants more pain but never would say where he was.

TV Title: Ultimo Dragon vs. Prince Iaukea

Iaukea is injured from the attack by Regal earlier in the night. He tries to speed things up to start but a slam fails. Iaukea rolls him up for two and a backslide gets the same. Dragon uses his first opening and kicks the Prince in the ribs to take over. Iaukea gets the feet up to take out a diving Dragon but Dragon kicks him in the ribs a few times and pins him quickly for the title. This was basically a squash.

Another package of stills from last night. I’ll give WCW one thing: other than the title matches which are obvious, they haven’t said who won any of these matches. That’s one thing that annoys me about WWE doing this: they’ll tell you to buy the replay but they’ll explain every single thing that happened. Here at least they’re just showing pictures of it but no endings.

Giant vs. Scott Steiner

Main event here, but Konnan and Hugh Morrus jump Scott on the way to the ring. Giant makes the save. Scott didn’t wrestle last night either so maybe he was injured. No match.

Here’s DDP to close the show. He talks about last night and how no one would have believed that could have happened a few years ago. Page says he’s an anomaly and if he had gotten his hands on Savage last night when Savage was hurting Kimberly, he would have killed the Macho Man. Cue Savage on crutches but Hogan follows him out and stops him.

Hogan says this one is on him and the rest of the NWO appears on stage. Hogan rips his shirt off and here’s Sting on a zip line and repelling from the ceiling. He stands in the aisle in front of the NWO and holds the bat out at Hogan. Sting hands Page the bat but pulls out another one to point at Hogan again. The NWO cowers to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This show worked MUCH better than the previous week’s did and that’s because the big stars were here. Last week and at Spring Stampede, no one showed up and it felt like an unimportant show. This show came off like it mattered and even though the PPV would mean nothing again, this was a good start on the six week build to Slamboree.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: August 2, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

Another trip to Orlando tonight as we’re approaching Hardcore Justice in a week and a half. Tonight we have a big tag match as well as Storm vs. Angle in a BFG Series match. We’re sure to have more from Aces and 8’s as Brooke Hogan is going to say something about her dad, which I’m sure will be riveting. Let’s get to it.

Zema Ion/Bobby Roode vs. Austin Aries/Kenny King

This is a big brawl that was going on when the show started. Roode and Aries were fighting at the top of the stage before coming to the ring to join the other guys. Aries hits a huge dive onto Roode on the floor to take over. There’s the bell and we’re officially going. A double airplane spin puts Ion down and King hits a springboard legdrop for two. King sends Ion into the corner and fires off shoulders to the ribs. Off to Aries for a slingshot corkscrew dive for two. Back to King who gets hit in the back by Roode.

King is sent to the floor and Ion hits a big flip dive to finally give his team the advantage. Roode comes in legally and goes after the leg and ankle of King which was injured somewhere in the match. A knee drop gets two for Roode and it’s back to the X Champion. We take a break and come back with Roode sending King off the topr rope and to the floor with a crash.

King is still in trouble, this time in the corner as Roode stomps away some more. Back to Ion who works on the arm a bit, only to walk into a high cradle suplex to put him down. Aries gets the tag but Roode stepped in for a distraction. Roode, being the heel that he is, comes in without a tag for more stomping. Bobby doesn’t stay in long though as it’s back to Ion again. King punches them both down and everything breaks down. Aries hits a missile dropkick to send Roode to the floor followed by the suicide dive. King hits the reverse F5 on Ion for the pin at 14:48.

Rating: B-. Good fast paced opener here and a good way to get the crowd’s attention to open things up. It’s always cool to see them mix up the played out formula for a change and having King out there isn’t bad either. Ion still does nothing for me and I’m hoping he doesn’t keep the belt until Sorensen is back.

We get the traditional recap from last week.

Sting says he wants to hear it straight from Storm’s mouth.

Here’s Sting who wants Storm out here to say he’s not involved with Aces and 8’s. Cue the Cowboy who wants an explanation. Sting shows him a clip of last week where Aces and 8’s came out but didn’t touch Storm. Storm says he has nothing to do with it and didn’t need them to help him beat Angle a few weeks ago.

Cue Angle who says he’s seen Storm all over the place but he doesn’t get Storm’s motivation. He talks about Aces and 8’s beating up everyone other than Storm. Why would eight grown men run away from one guy? Angle wants Storm to come to his match later, and Sting says he’ll be there for it too because he hopes Aces and 8’s show up. Angle says he’ll make Storm tap out.

AJ Styles was in Australia this week.

We recap the Clair story which has gone on forever it seems.

Daniels and Kaz make fun of AJ while holding their drinks. They’re going to throw Clair a baby shower.

There are going to be three hardcore four ways at Hardcore Justice in the BFG Series, all of which for 20 points:

Daniels vs. Angle vs. Styles vs. Joe in a ladder match

Anderson vs. RVD vs. Dinero vs. Magnus in a last man standing match

Hardy vs. Story vs. Ray vs. Robbie E in a tables match

BFG Leaderboard:

Samoa Joe 47

James Storm 45

Kurt Angle 41

Mr. Anderson 40

Jeff Hardy 28

Rob Van Dam 28

Christopher Daniels 26

Magnus 21

AJ Styles 16

Bully Ray 14

D’Angelo Dinero 7

Robbie E 5

Bound For Glory Series: Bully Ray vs. Robbie E

Ray says he doesn’t trust Storm before the match. Big Rob hits Ray with the list before we get going. Robbie pounds Ray down but some big chops set up a quick Bubba Cutter and we’re done at 90 seconds.

Earl Hebner gives Madison Rayne gifts. She says she cares about him when Gail Kim comes up to complain. Earl leaves and Madison says he’ll call the match right down the middle tonight.

Tara vs. Mickie James vs. Gail Kim vs. Madison Rayne

Winner get Tessmacher at some point in the future. Tessmacher is on commentary here. Tara immediately tries a Tarantula on Gail but gets backdropped to the floor. Mickie is knocked to the floor and it’s heel vs. heel for a bit. Tara comes back in to prevent that from happening, only to get caught in a bad knee to the face from Madison. A neckbreaker puts Tara down and they take turns pounding away. Mickie pulls Gail to the floor but gets sent into the steps for her troubles. The spinning side slam gets two on Madison as Gail breaks it up. Madison chokes Tara and Gail sends Mickie to the floor.

Gail misses a charge in the corner and Mickie is back. Tara heads outside and it’s Mickie vs. Rayne at the moment. Madison is taken down by a neckbreaker but Gail makes the save. Everything breaks down if that’s possible in a fourway. Tara takes over and loads up a moonsault, only to get crotched by Madison. Mickie pulls Madison off the top but Rayne kicks Mickie in the head. Gail superplexes Tara down and everyone is down.

Gail covers Tara but Earl is with Madison. Tessmacher says a superplex like that can only happen with the Knockouts. Bob Orton might want to have a word with you about that. Mickie sends Gail to the floor and fires off clotheslines on Rayne. A flapjack takes Madison down again but Gail sneaks in and sends her to the floor. Widow’s Peak takes Gail down but Madison goes after Tara. Tara rolls her up and gets the pin at 7:30, but, say it with me, Earl gives the win to Madison despite Tara’s shoulder being nowhere near the mat.

Rating: D+. How many times can we have a fourway Knockouts match for the #1 contenders spot? Seriously, I can’t remember how many of these we’ve had recently. The match was just ok and the ending was about as obvious as you could have asked one to be. Madison will likely get the title and few people will care, which is a shame as Tessmacher is a pretty interesting champion.

Roode says Storm is behind it. Aries says he might as well be at ringside too since Roode will be.

Sting is talking to Brooke who says she doesn’t like seeing her dad in pain. She doesn’t know why Aces and 8’s are picking on them. That came off as a really stupid line to me. A messenger comes in with a package for Brooke which has playing cards on it. She bails and Sting is annoyed.

ODB and Eric have a “comedy” segment about how they haven’t defended the titles in months. Apparently it’s not good that Eric is a man. He has a fishing show debuting on Sunday and he thinks that if the belts are always apart, they can’t be stripped of them. Why do these titles exist again?

Chavo Guerrero vs. Kid Kash

Hernandez and Gunner are here to second the respective guys. As if the ending of this wasn’t clear enough already, Grandmama Guerrero is here. Chavo speeds things up quickly and throws on an armbar. Kash escapes and pounds away but gets pulled off by the referee. Kash throws him into the air so Chavo crashes down, followed by a backbreaker for two. A moonsault hits knees and it’s comeback time. Chavo hurricanranas him down and a dropkick gets two. Both seconds get on the apron and Kash hits Chavo in the head. Dead Level is countered and it’s time to roll some suplexes. The Frog Splash pins Kash at 4:41.

Rating: C. This was fine for a debut from Chavo even though it was exactly what you would have expected it to be. Chavo is fine for midcard stuff like this and if he doesn’t rise much higher than this I won’t have many complaints. Nothing much to see here but a decent match that eats up five minutes isn’t a bad thing.

Dixie says it’s time for AJ to step up and set the record straight.

Angle talks to someone’s kid who says that he wants to be a wrestler. It’s Wes Brisco, son of Gerald Brisco. He asks Angle to put in a good word for him and Angle doesn’t seem to be opposed to the idea. Before he can say yes though D-Von and Garrett come in to offer their services to Angle tonight. He says cool.

It’s time for the baby shower. Kaz: “AJ Styles isn’t here tonight. He’s in Australia, promoting Impact Wrestling and possibly impregnating somebody.” Daniels and Kaz invite Clair into the ring and give her a necklace. Daniels talks about how important being pregnant is and says they’ll do what AJ won’t do. The first gift: diapers. The next: a bunch of Impact gear such as toys and t-shirts. The piece de resistance (Daniels: “That means prize piece you idiots. Stay in school.”) is an AJ baby doll. Clair looks into the camera and shouts at AJ to do the right thing.

Joseph Park says he’s been retained by some Impact wrestlers for his legal services. He offers Sting said services but Sting says he’s covered. One thing Sting would like to know though: where did Park learn how to do a Black Hole Slam like that? Park doesn’t have an answer.

Bound For Glory Series: James Storm vs. Kurt Angle

Wes Brisco is at ringside. Weren’t Roode, Sting and Aries supposed to be here too? Feeling out process to start as no one can get an extended advantage. Storm works over the arm which seems to work as well as anything else does for him. Here’s Sting to ringside as well. D-Von and Garrett come out quickly thereafter as Storm hits a facebuster on Angle. Storm is almost sent to the floor but he skins the cat and hits a Thesz Press to pound on Angle some more.

The Last Call is ducked and Angle suplexes him down. Bully Ray is here too. We take a break and come back with Storm hitting an Orton Elevated DDT to put Angle down. Roode and Aries come out as well as Storm hits a hot shot and running forearm. Angle catches him in the corner and hits the Rolling Germans to put Sting down. Angle Slam is countered but Angle kicks Storm in the face for two.

Ankle lock is countered and Storm hits the Angle Slam on Angle for two. Angle takes him into the corner and now the ankle lock goes on. Storm can’t roll through but he won’t tap. Taz is telling Storm to tap out because it isn’t worth it. The hold has been on for a minute or so now. The fans cheer for the Cowboy and he finally rolls onto his back and kicks Angle in the head. Last Call hits out of nowhere for the pin at 13:32.

Rating: B-. This started slow but it got better until the end. For the life of me I don’t get why TNA keeps having these quick endings. The superkick came out of nowhere and it seemed like the perfect time for a kickout. Still though, this was a good match and felt like a big one, which is a good thing for a TV show.

Everyone looks around for Aces and 8’s but Storm grabs the mic. He calls out Aces and 8’s, saying that with everyone here why don’t they come out now. No one comes out so Roode says this is odd isn’t it James? He says Storm doesn’t need them and that’s why they’re not here. Roode says he told everyone and Ray sneaks up on Storm, causing a brawl. Aries and Roode brawl too as we go off the air.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a pretty in the middle show but there was enough good stuff to hold me in for two hours. The Aces and 8’s stuff is starting to roll again, as is the Clair stuff. Both stories have potential to blow up in either a good or bad way at any time, but for the moment they’re both solid enough. There are a lot of questions still, but that’s good enough to bring us back for more. Good show here but nothing great.

Results

Kenny King/Austin Aries b. Bobby Roode/Zema Ion – Reverse F5 to Ion

Bully Ray b. Robbie E – Bubba Cutter

Madison Rayne b. Tara, Mickie James and Gail Kim – Rollup to Tara

Chavo Guerrero b. Kid Kash – Frog Splash

James Storm b. Kurt Angle – Last Call

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 26, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

After last week’s Aces and 8’s show, it should be interesting to see what the retaliation is tonight. We’ll have a ton of BFG Series matches I’m sure, plus some other stuff if they have time. That’s the one issue with the Series: it takes up SO much time on every show that there isn’t much room for anything else. The good thing is that the matches aren’t bad so it’s not like it’s torture. Let’s get to it.

We open with the usual recap from last week.

Tonight it’s Storm vs. Styles and Ray vs. Angle. Also Chavo debuts.

Here’s Sting to open things up. Dixie has named him the interim GM until Hogan is back, so his first act is to call out Aces and 8’s, even though he’s alone. Instead he gets Aries, who says if Aces and 8’s jumps anyone, he’ll jump on them. Here’s Angle who was beaten down last week by Aces and 8’s as well. He says they tried to cost him a world title shot so he wants them too.

Now cue Roode who says he isn’t here with them but he’s here announce that he knows who is behind Aces and 8’s. The mic goes out so Angle gives Roode his own mic. It’s someone who has been in the world title picture for a year and is jealous of both Roode and Angle: the Cowboy James Storm. Storm charges out and jumps Roode. Tehy brawl into the ring while the other three guys let it go. Angle finally breaks it up and Roode leaves. Roode says the truth hurts and we go to a break.

People talk about Chavo debuting tonight.

Post break Roode yells about it being Storm. He takes his bags and leaves as Jason Hervey is apparently the interviewer.

Madison Rayne/Gail Kim vs. Mickie James/Tara

It’s been too long since Mickie has been on my TV. Next week these four are in a fourway for the #1 contender shot. Tara and Gail start with a fight over arm control. Off to Mickie for a low dropkick that gets two. There’s the Thesz Press to Gail and it’s off to Madison who looks GREAT in that blue number.

Madison does little of note and it’s off to Tara to clean house. She hits the spinning side slam for two and it’s off to Mickie. The good chicks hit a cool double rolling mat slam into a double half crab. Gail tries a double dropkick and gets caught in the same hold. Madison is with Earl Hebner though and Mickie rolls Madison up for the pin at 3:51. But Madison gets the win instead. Yep this is the angle they’re giving the Knockouts now. They made a point to show that Mickie’s shoulder was off the mat.

Rating: D+. The ending makes me hate this division all over again. Why in the world would we want to see Earl Hebner get a storyline? BECAUSE IT’S WACKY!!! These four have a fourway next week and I’d bet the ending is going to be the same thing. For the life of me I don’t get who thinks this is a good idea.

Sting tells Aries to make some cuts to the X-Division. You know, right after they were introduced a few weeks ago.

Sam Shaw says he loves this business.

More people talk about Chavo. Ray: “Didn’t I tell you never to bother me when I’m on my Twitter machine?”

Gut Check: Sam Shaw vs. Douglas Williams

Shaw is a smaller guy and a high flier. There are people with signs that say 87, which means Joey Ryan. Shaw controls the early stuff here but there’s a camera on the crowd so you know something is coming. Shaw hits an Orton backbreaker and goes up top. Some people come out as Shaw is slammed off the top rope. Here’s Ryan who hits security and runs. Apparently he hit Snow. Williams kills Shaw with a clothesline and pounds away before hitting Rolling Chaos for the pin at 2:38. Ryan was the bigger focus here but Shaw looked better than any Gut Check guy so far as far as almost winning. The judging is tonight.

Aries is with the X guys and they all do the reality show stuff, saying they should get the X Title shot. Ion comes in and brags a bit before leaving. Aries cuts Rashad Cameron. I think this is just about who gets the title match and that these guys aren’t fired or anything like that. We have King, Darsow and Dutt left as contenders.

More Chavo stuff. This is some of the biggest hype I’ve seen in a long time.

Here’s Chavo in a suit. He says he’s humbled to be here because the Guerrero Family has conquered everything. They’ve been champions everywhere they’ve been except for here in TNA. He says timing is everything and people need to remember this time and date. It’s Guerrero Time. Good debut speech.

Chavo wraps it up but Kid Kash and Gunner come out. Kash lists off all of Chavo’s family members who have been wrestlers. He wants to know where Chavo’s uncle Hector is and suggests that Hector is too drunk. Chavo jumps them and gets beaten down until Hernandez makes the save.

Angle asks Storm if he’s involved with Aces and 8’s. Storm says he doesn’t because if he had a problem with someone, he’d take it up with them. Storm says he has their backs tonight if Aces and 8’s attack. Angle leaves and Storm has a look on his face that says…nothing of note actually.

The Gut Check judges talk in the back and Snow is ticked off about Ryan.

We get a recap of last week’s AJ/Clair/Daniels drama.

Bound For Glory Series Standings:

Samoa Joe 47

James Storm 43

Mr. Anderson 30

Jeff Hardy 28

Kurt Angle 27

Christopher Daniels 26

Rob Van Dam 21

Magnus 14

AJ Styles 14

D’Angel Dinero 7

Bully Ray 7

Robbie E 5

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. James Storm

Feeling out process to start as Clair is watching from the crowd. Storm gets control with the form of a chinlock and a kind of mat slam for one. A backdrop sets up another chinlock but AJ pops up again. The drop down/kick gets two and AJ sends Storm face first into the buckle. A suplex puts Storm down and it’s back to the chinlock. Storm makes his comeback with some clotheslines and a forearm for two. Another suplex gets two for Storm.

AJ sends him into the corner but misses a splash/forearm. Storm puts him on the top rope with AJ’s back to the ring. Styles tries to escape but gets caught in the Eye of the Storm for two. Storm goes to the middle rope but his tornado DDT is countered into a release northern lights suplex into the corner for two. Springboard forearm gets two. Styles Clash is countered into an Alabama Slam for two. Storm rams Styles’ face into the apron for another two. AJ kicks him in the head out of nowhere and hits the Pele….and here are Aces and 8’s for the beatdown at about 11:00. They didn’t touch Storm.

Rating: B-. This was getting good at the end and I’m assuming it was a DQ win for Styles as he was the one that they hit first. At the end of the day, sometimes the best idea is just to have two guys that are talented go out there for awhile and do big moves and near falls to each other. This worked well as you were wondering who was going to get the win, and above all else: CLAIR DIDN’T DO ANYTHING.

Gut Check time. Shaw says he’s got what it takes, Snow says he didn’t get to see what Shaw did tonight but he wants to stick it to Ryan and say yes, but he has to say no due to a lack of evidence. Pritchard says yes. Shaw cuts a promo and sucks up to Taz because he wants to work with the best. Taz says yes, meaning we won’t be seeing Shaw for a few months if the pattern holds.

Back to Aries and the X guys. Aries: “Dutt: Himalayan American, King: African American. Darsow: Wasn’t your dad Russian?” Darsow: “Just a sympathizer.” Darsow says he’s flashy but Aries says he’s cut because Darsow isn’t ready. Aries: “Tell your dad hello and that his repo business is doing great.”

X-Division Title: Zema Ion vs. Kenny King

Dutt doesn’t get it because of his shoulder. Ion pauses for some hairspray and things speed up. King dropkicks him down and hits a flying shoulder attack in the corner. Springboard crossbody gets two and it’s time for some punches. Ion sends him to the floor and hits a flip dive to take over. A missile dropkick puts King down and hooks a crossface chickenwing. Ion has a busted lip or mouth. A sunset flip out of the corner gets two for King but he walks into a modified backbreaker for two for Ion.

King clotheslines him down again and hits an atomic drop followed by a spin kick to the head for two. Overhead high cradle suplex puts Ion down but he keeps coming for some reason. Ion kicks him to the floor and hits a corkscrew plancha to take Ion down again. King loads up a springboard…and Bobby Roode trips him up and posts him, allowing Ion to hit a moonsault for the pin to retain at 6:14.

Rating: C. This was a very strange ending but it’s certainly intriguing. King looked good here and if he’s going to be getting programmed with Roode (even though Roode has a world title match at the PPV) there’s nothing bad about that at all. Ion is going to hold the belt for awhile, but I’d be surprised if there isn’t at least one title change before Sorensen comes back.

My guess is that Roode did that because Aries picked King. Aries runs out and jumps Roode.

Ray says he respects Angle but he’s beating him tonight.

Ion/Roode vs. Aries/King next week.

Bound For Glory Series: Bully Ray vs. Kurt Angle

Feeling out process to start with the Angle Slam and Big Boot both missing. Ray tries to use power but gets caught in the ankle lock as a result. He makes the rope and it’s off to the arm for Kurt. Ray hits a SICK piledriver for two as we take a break. Back with Ray working on the neck some more, only for Angle to come back and hit a belly to belly for two. Ray hits the Bully Bomb for two of his own and it’s time for Rolling Germans.

There’s the ankle lock but Ray rolls through to escape. They slug it out and Ray hits a Rock Bottom for two. Ray misses a big boot and the Angle Slam gets two. Moonsault misses but Angle breaks up the Bubba Cutter. Big boot gets two and Ray is frustrated. Ray misses a charge and the Angle Slam gets the pin at 11:54.

Rating: B. I was digging this as it was Angle 101, which means it works very well. Good match here as you had two guys beating on each other for about twelve minutes and seeing who was going to be able to get the pin finally. Angle winning makes the most sense but it looked great to see Ray getting that close.

Post match here are Aces and 8’s on Angle but AJ, Aries, Sting and eventually Storm come out to clear the ring. Angle still thinks Storm was behind it. Next week: Angle vs. Storm.

Overall Rating: C+. I liked this show better than I have the last few episodes. Aces and 8’s were a factor here but they didn’t dominate the show like they did last week. King being brought up a bit is also a good thing and it gives Roode and Aries something to do before the PPV. They had a good balance going tonight and that’s what the show has been lacking in recent weeks. Better show this week by far.

Results

Gail Kim/Madison Rayne b. Mickie James/Tara – Rollup to James

Douglas Williams b. Sam Shaw – Rolling Chaos Theory

AJ Styles vs. James Storm went to a no contest when Aces and 8’s interfered

Zema Ion b. Kenny King – Moonsault

Kurt Angle b. Bully Ray – Angle Slam

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews