First off, thank you all for sticking with me through all this. I’ve been doing this for just under nine years now as something that was just a fun project has turned into my actual job and I never would have believed that was possible. It legitimately is the best job I could have ever imagined having and I can’t thank you all enough for it. You’ve actually changed my life and I couldn’t ask for anything better. Thank you all for reading my stuff and valuing my opinion. I’m a huge wrestling fan and love talking about it more than anything else so to have people care about what I have to say is quite the thrill. Thank you all so much.

Also note that this is LONG, taking me well over a month to put together.

I don’t usually do this but it’s a special moment so I might as well do it this way. Back in 2009, Wrestlemania XXV was coming up so I decided to do something special for the big show. Therefore, I started watching each show and seeing what I thought of them in the form of written reviews. They were a big success on the WrestleZone Forums so I did the same thing with In Your House and the rest of the Big Four.

Since I have a rather addictive personality, I figured I’d do every major pay per view ever. Someone told me I couldn’t do it and that’s just not a good idea with me so I went insane, spending the next three and a half years reviewing every major pay per view ever, culminating with Backlash 2006, the first live pay per view I had ever attended. Along the way I started reviewing the weekly TV shows as well, which can add up in a hurry.

Now we’re (close to at least as I’ve probably lost track somewhere in between) at review #5000 and that’s call for something special. Therefore, in something I always say I never do, I figured I’d look at some of my favorite matches. I’ve done fresh reviews of thirty one (no particular reason for that number) of my favorite matches ever, plus a special bonus.

I’m not saying these are the best matches ever or anything like that, but rather some of my favorites or matches I’ve been wanting to watch again lately. I hope you enjoy them and thanks for being around for the first 4999 reviews. I’ll be around with them as long as you guys are. Now go buy my books and read them on Amazon Prime!

These are in no particular order (I made a list and used a random number generator), save for the last two which are my favorite matches ever. I’ll throw in a quick recap for all of them in case you’re not up on your history (Which you really should be. Enough of this “I have a life” nonsense. Wrestling is what really matters.). Let’s get to it.

Before we get started, a quick honorable mention:

Strikeforce vs. Sacrificial Altar – Kingdom Come V

If you don’t know what that is, just move along. To those who do know what this is, that thing still rocks.

Anyway moving on.

From In Your House VII: Good Friends, Better Enemies.

So Shawn won the WWF World Title at Wrestlemania XII (still overrated but good, with the first superkick being the first time a wrestling move made me jump off my couch) and needed a monster to slay. His old best friend Diesel just happened to be leaving the company and had freshly turned heel, so I think you know where this is going.

WWF World Title: Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel
Date: April 28, 1996
Location: Omaha Civic Auditorium, Omaha, Nebraska
Attendance: 9,563
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

Shawn is defending and this is no holds barred. Diesel throws his vest onto Vince in a funny bit. It’s serious Shawn here as he charges straight at Diesel and hammers away, only to eat a shot to the ribs. Another shot sends Diesel outside and Shawn is able to take off the chaps. Shawn scores with a moonsault to the floor (in case you thought it was Diesel), nearly breaking his leg in the process.

To mix things up a bit, Shawn steals Hugo Savinovich’s boot (maybe it’ll make him less annoying) and smacks Diesel in the head, only to get ax handled off the apron and into the barricade. The pace slows as he fans are just loathing Diesel here. Diesel seethes right back at them with Lawler pointing Vince out to him in a funny bit.

Snake Eyes and the spinning side slam (two of the moves Diesel can do quite well) allow him to walk around even more….and then choke out the referee with his tape. Diesel rips the referee’s belt off to give Shawn a whipping. Lawler: “RUIN HIS LIFE! RUIN HIS LIFE!” The big man seems to follow the advice by hanging Shawn over the ropes. A weak chair shot has Shawn in more trouble but another one hits the ropes and bounces back into Diesel’s face.

Shawn loads it up for a change but gets cut down by a low blow. Diesel scores with a backdrop to mess up Shawn’s back even more and get two as a bonus. We hit a neck crank for a bit until Shawn starts popping up, even with Diesel punching him down every time. In the big spot of the match, Diesel takes him outside and Jackknifes him through the announcers’ table (still an old wooden one at this point).

Shawn still won’t stay down (Vince: “LET IT BE OVER!”) as Diesel puts the title around his own waist and we’re still at it. A blast from a fire extinguisher blinds Diesel and brings the fans right back into this thing. There’s the forearm into the nip up and Shawn gets in two good chair shots (after nearly destroying a bunch of equipment tied around the chair). The big boot cuts Shawn off and gives us a great sell job as a bonus. Shawn punches out of the Jackknife and scores with a top rope elbow.

Sweet Chin Music is cut off with a hard clothesline and a second one puts Shawn on the floor. With nothing else working, Diesel grabs Mad Dog Vachon and RIPS OFF HIS PROSTHETIC LEG! Let me repeat that: he RIPPED OFF A MAN’S LEG. Shawn cuts him off with a low blow though and hits Diesel with the leg instead. Sweet Chin Music retains the title at 17:53.

Rating: A. I’ve watched a lot of wrestling and it takes a lot to really draw me into a match that I’ve seen a bunch of times but they completely had me here. I was getting WAY into this on Shawn’s comebacks and even I wanted to see him kick Diesel’s head off at the end. Shawn needed this kind of win to prove that he could hang with anyone in the ring and that’s what he did here. I had a great time with this and that’s a lot more than I was expecting with a match I’ve seen at least a dozen times. That’s the sign that it’s a great one and this certainly fits the bill.

That’s a classic you might not remember so let’s go on to one you probably do remember.

From Wrestlemania XIII.

I’m pretty sure you know this one but it’s the story that kick started the Attitude Era and set the company on fire for years to come. Bret Hart returned from his post Wrestlemania XII hiatus to face Steve Austin but found that everything had changed. He blamed all of his problems on Austin and knew he had to beat him once and for all. This was Bret putting EVERYTHING on the line, knowing that he was done if he couldn’t make Austin submit. Austin of course was all like make me say it then and one of the most important matches in WWF history was made.

Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin
Date: March 23, 1997
Location: Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois
Attendance: 18,197
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Vince McMahon

Submission match with newcomer Ken Shamrock as guest referee. Bret had basically turned heel six days earlier but the fans haven’t quite caught on yet. Austin famously comes out with the glass actually shattering and both guys having to step over it. You can see the fire in Austin’s eyes here and this just feels huge. Austin wastes no time in taking Bret down and slugging away but Bret is right there with him.

They head outside in a hurry with Bret sending him into the post but getting crotched on the barricade for his efforts. A clothesline knocks Bret right into Tony Atlas and it’s time to head into the crowd where Austin grabs a drink of Coke. Bret sends him into what looks like hockey boards and they fight deeper into the crowd. Back to ringside (and past the big RF Video sign) with Bret being sent HARD into the steps. A hard pull sends Bret into the post and they actually switch things up by heading into the ring.

Bret gets in a swinging neckbreaker and it’s time to start in on Austin’s leg. This is also where the commentary gets better as you have Vince and Lawler doing their storyline stuff and JR getting in there to do the play by play and explain the psychology while adding in the emotion. It’s a really good balance and something I’d like to see a lot more often.

Austin grabs a quick Stunner for a breather but gets taken right back down for the Hartbreaker (Figure Four around the post, where the post still doesn’t add much to it). He still won’t quit so Bret grabs the bell and then a chair, meaning it’s time for some Pillmanization. THAT brings the fans back to Bret’s side but Austin gets back up and cracks him with the chair, turning the fans back to Austin.

Another chair shot to the back sets up a hard whip into the corner as you can see Stone Cold starting to come out in spades. With JR taking every shot he can think of at WCW, Austin kicks Bret low and we cut to Bret’s daughter covering her face. Lawler: “I think she was just instructed to cover her face!” The daughter is all of eight, making that line all the better.

Austin grabs something like a reverse Koji Clutch (as taught to him by Al Snow) before we go to a Boston crab for an odd pop. Bret grabs a rope so Austin tries some completely messed up version of the Sharpshooter. Thankfully it’s broken up with a rake to the eyes but it gives us one of the most ominous exchanges in the history of WWF commentary: Lawler: “Wouldn’t that be something? If Bret Hart had to submit to the Sharpshooter?” Vince: “Hey…..it could happen!”

They head outside with Austin going into the barricade to draw a heck of a cut to the head with blood going EVERYWHERE. Back in and Bret just unloads on the cut before grabbing the chair again. Some hard shots to the knee have JR losing his mind (in the best way possible) but Austin rakes the eye to break up the Sharpshooter. Bret slugs away so Austin just kicks him low to take him down again.

Austin sends him chest first into the buckle and stomps away in the corner, complete with two middle fingers. This is the Austin that would change wrestling forever and you can see every bit of it in him right here. A superplex drops Bret again but Austin can’t follow up. Sweet goodness he is COVERED in blood and it’s quite the visual (not THE visual, but the visual). Austin chokes away with an electrical cord but Bret grabs the bell to knock Austin silly.

That’s some VERY long form storytelling as Roddy Piper wouldn’t use the bell on Bret in 1992 but Bret will use it here. The Sharpshooter goes on and in the most famous wrestling image of the 90s (and maybe second only to Hogan and Andre), Austin screams into the camera with blood flowing down his face. In Austin’s words, that shot sold a lot of t-shirts. Austin breaks most of the hold but can’t quite do it, allowing Bret to get it on again. The blood loss is too much this time and Austin passes out to give Bret the win at 22:05.

Rating: A+. My goodness what a performance. This is one of the best matches of all time and one of the greatest performances by two people you’ll ever see. Bret won the match where he was the heavy favorite but Austin gave one of the gutsiest fights you’ll ever see. The key to the whole thing though: Bret sees Austin as the problem with the company and beat the heck out of him. However, he could only slow him down and didn’t stop him.

Austin never quit but Bret gave into his inner demons and went to a place he didn’t want to go. Austin would win in the long term but Bret won this and their other masterpiece back in November. I pick up on different things every time I watch this match and it never gets old. Outstanding stuff here and one of the best (and most important) matches ever.

Post match Bret isn’t done and stays on Austin’s leg until Shamrock pulls him off. Bret walks away from a fight, leaving Austin to Stun a regular referee and limp up the aisle to a standing ovation. The shot of blood all over the mat gets me every time.

Let’s jump to another promotion for a minute in the only TNA match on the list and my favorite ever from the company.

From Lockdown 2005.

There isn’t much to this one. Jeff Jarrett is World Champion and needs an opponent. That means we need a #1 contender so let’s make it a heck of a fight inside a cage. AJ Styles is the best wrestler in the company and Abyss is the ultimate monster. I think that sums everything up.

AJ Styles vs. Abyss
Date: April 24, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 775
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

AJ wastes no time by hitting a running flip dive through the door to drop Abyss before he gets into the cage. An Irish whip sends Styles underneath the barricade (Seriously, who does that?) but he pops back up with a hurricanrana as the match hasn’t started yet. Abyss slowly hammers him down but AJ dives over the barricade and onto a small platform for the Phenomenal Forearm over a bunch of fans. That’s the superhero shot that you can’t top and makes you believe that the guy can do anything.

Abyss sends him crashing over the barricade again though and it’s time for a beating. A chokeshove sends Styles into the fence behind the fans as we’re still waiting on an opening bell. Back to ringside and Abyss slams the door onto AJ’s face twice in a row with the second shot dropping AJ hard. Styles is busted open so Abyss hammers away at the cut. It’s time for the bag of tacks though and WE ACTUALLY START THE MATCH. I mean, there’s no bell but they’re both in the cage so I’ll take what I can get.

Abyss wedges a chair into the corner before wrapping a chain around AJ’s throat. A chain is wrapped around another buckle and Abyss sends him flying face first into a regular buckle. We hit a neck crank for a bit until AJ is sent into the cage again. It’s back to the chain but AJ reverses a chokeslam into a DDT onto said chain. A headscissors staggers Abyss and he charges head first into the char in the corner (thereby satisfying wrestling rule #14). AJ gets two off a rather impressive German suplex but walks into the Black Hole Slam for a close two.

It’s time for the tacks but AJ avoids a chokeslam and somehow hits a STYLES CLASH TO SEND HIM FACE FIRST INTO THE TACKS! OK SO HE’S WEARING A MASK SO IT’S NOT AS BAD BUT IT STILL LOOKED AWESOME! AJ heads up top but Abyss throws the referee at the cage to slow him down. Well whatever works I guess. Abyss throws the chain around AJ’s neck to choke him over the cage wall, only to have AJ bite the fingers for an escape. A sunset bomb off the cage and onto the tacks FINALLY ends Abyss at 11:00 (or so).

Rating: A-. Now that’s how you have a fight between a monster and a superhero like Styles. These guys beat the heck out of each other with Styles surviving and slowly chopping Abyss down, which is exactly the kind of formula that you need to use to make this work. Really good stuff here, and also Abyss’ favorite TNA match ever.

And now, for a match I almost left off of this for some reason.

From Summerslam 1998.

HHH leads DX, the Rock leads the Nation of Domination, they’ve been feuding for months, let’s have a ladder match for Rock’s Intercontinental Title.

Intercontinental Title: The Rock vs. HHH
Date: August 30, 1998
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 21,588
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

The DX Band plays HHH to the ring because of course DX has its own band. HHH has a really, really bad knee coming in. Mark Henry and Chyna are the respective seconds. They stare each other down and Rock says some rather un-PG things (reading lips can make you cringe at times) but a facebuster slows him down early on. Neither can hit their finisher though and it’s HHH being backdropped to the floor.

It’s too early for the ladder though as HHH makes a save and scores with the jumping knee to the face. They head outside again with HHH being sent into the ladder twice in a row. The first slow climb doesn’t work though as HHH dives in for the save, only to have the ladder fall onto him. Rock is up first and stays on the knee by wrapping the ladder around it and smashing said ladder with a chair.

The knee gets dropped onto a bridged ladder but somehow a mostly fresh Rock still takes forever to climb. The ladder is looking rather shaky so HHH tries a new strategy by tossing it outside. He can barely walk at the moment anyway so it’s not the worst idea in the world. Unfortunately Rock can walk and catapults HHH into the ladder for good measure. They fight up the aisle again with HHH clotheslining him down.

A Pedigree on the ladder is broken up because it would have resulted in a bad case of a broken head. Henry throws in a fresh ladder but Chyna takes him out, allowing HHH to dive in for another save. A baseball slide sends the top of a ladder into Rock’s face for a painful looking crash.

Back up and HHH makes a climb so Rock takes the ladder out as well, sending HHH crashing down onto his knee. They slowly head up again for the slugout on top of the ladder but HHH gets knocked off, only to slam into the ladder in another save, earning a double standing ovation. Here here indeed. Rock picks up a ladder but HHH picks up a chair and just unloads on him to get a breather.

The knee is still too bad though and it’s a slam onto the ladder, setting up the People’s Elbow and a Rock Bottom. HHH pulls him down off the ladder and scores with a Pedigree but Henry throws powder in his eyes. The blind HHH goes up with Rock right after him, only to have Chyna hit Rock low, allowing HHH to win the title at 26:05.

Rating: A. This one really doesn’t get old. HHH fighting through the bad knee and then beating Rock in the end was all that he needed to do here. As you probably know, this is the match that made both guys and Rock would be World Champion in just a few months. Unfortunately HHH would have to undergo knee surgery shortly after this and vacated the title. I’d think he did well enough though as he won the World Title a year later. Outstanding match here with both guys leaving everything in the ring to steal the show.

The recurring theme here seems to be overcoming the odds. That’s a very simple, effective storyline that a lot of fans can understand. Here it is in tag team form.

From Summerslam 1990.

This is a special match from a special show for me. It’s the first wrestling tape I ever had and I watched it so often that we had to get three copies. I had to include something from this show and I’ll take easily the best match on the card. To be fair though, I could have done this whole show as the 5000^th review and been completely fine. This show means a lot to me and probably had a lot to do with my love of wrestling being so strong.

Oh yeah the match. So Demolition won their third Tag Team Titles at Wrestlemania VI and needed some challengers. The Hart Foundation wanted the belts back and challenged Demolition as a result, only to have a third member named Crush join the champs. The idea here is the Harts don’t know which two members they’ll be facing in the 2/3 falls title match.

Tag Team Titles: Hart Foundation vs. Demolition
Date: August 27, 1990
Location: Philadelphia Spectrum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 19,304
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Roddy Piper

The Harts are challenging and facing the surprise combination of Smash and Crush. Basically Ax was having health issues at this point so he was being phased out in favor of Crush as the new Demolition. You could tell the steam was rapidly running out though. Smash and Bret get things going as Vince and Piper actually debate the logic of choosing Crush. That’s called analysis and sounding like normal people, which you don’t see anymore.

Everything breaks down in the first few seconds and a double elbow drops Smash. Bret slaps on an armbar as Piper asks Vince what he’d say if Neidhart wanted to date his daughter. Well I’d guess he’s a downgrade over HHH. It’s off to Crush, who gets punched in the face until he casually slams Bret down to take over. Neidhart comes in for the power of….a headlock. Yeah HHH would be better. Crush kicks him from the apron though and the champs take over again.

That goes nowhere though as Bret is back in a few seconds later to clothesline Smash. He has to dive onto Crush though as Neidhart is nowhere to be seen for some reason. Demolition is thrown into each other, leaving Bret to grab a Russian legsweep for two on Smash. The fans are WAY into this, as you would expect from a Philadelphia crowd. Crush legdrops Bret and it’s the Demolition Decapitator for the first fall at 6:20.

Bret is in a lot of trouble as the second fall begins and something like a chokeslam puts him down again. We hit the neck crank for a bit before the champs keep up their fast tags. Bret gets in a Hart Attack clothesline on Smash and crawls over for the rather hot tag to Neidhart. An ax handle to the chest and a powerslam get two each on Smash. The Hart Attack connects but Crush grabs the referee at two, drawing a DQ to tie things up at 10:38. I still have no idea why they didn’t just let Smash get pinned there.

Bret is down after the second fall and the distracted referee misses Ax running down and hiding underneath the ring. Things keep going with Neidhart shouldering Smash down and powerslamming Bret onto him in a cool move. The referee isn’t cool with that though and Ax switches places. Vince: “THAT’S AX!” Piper: “He is kind of energetic.”

I remember watching this when I was about three years old and I still have no idea how I’m supposed to believe that someone couldn’t tell the difference between Ax (who is rounder, with shorter hair and a big bald spot in the back) and Smash (who has different face paint). It’s a fine idea but this isn’t quite the Bella Twins.

Crush comes in and gets two off a backbreaker and Smash comes back out from underneath the ring with Crush taking his place. Cue the Legion of Doom to pull Crush out and trip Ax. NOW the fans are back into this, just as Neidhart hits a slingshot shoulder to knock Crush into a school boy for the pin and the titles at 15:49. This was pretty much it for Demolition, save for jobbing to the Legion of Doom (who they never faced in the big match) and Ultimate Warrior in some six man tags.

Rating: B. This obviously wasn’t so much about being a great match (though it’s very entertaining) but rather all about the emotion. The fans saw what Demolition was doing and wanted the Harts to win in the end. That’s a good story being told and it’s a simple enough bit of chicanery that it works just fine. A lot of people find this to be a feel good moment and I’m very close to the top of that list, as I have been for years now.

Now so far the theme has been overcoming the odds. Let’s try a new theme here: really big suplexes.

From Clash of the Champions XVIII.

I’m a big fan of a good suplex. There’s something cool about watching someone being thrown all over the place, especially by someone who knows how to do it. For me, no one ever did it better than the Steiner Brothers so let’s watch them suplex a couple of monsters. No real story here, but there doesn’t need to be.

Steiner Brothers vs. Mr. Hughes/Big Van Vader
Date: January 18, 1992
Location: Expocenter, Topeka, Kansas
Attendance: 5,500
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

Hughes (a big bodyguard in a suit and sunglasses) and Vader have Harley Race in their corner. Scott and Hughes start things off and a fireman’s carry puts Hughes down without too much effort. A clothesline drops Scott, who pops back up for an overhead belly to belly suplex. Everything breaks down and the Steiners are sent outside, only to have them come back in with a double top rope clothesline (from the same corner).

We settle down to Vader suplexing Rick a few times and crushing him with a corner splash. As expected, Rick shrugs it off and hits another belly to belly. Vader bails but catches Rick diving off the apron with ease. There’s something so cool about watching these good sized guys just throw each other around.

Back in and Vader heads up, only to get taken down by a belly to belly superplex. Scott hits a heck of a German suplex but dives into a powerslam. It’s back to Hughes for a clothesline but he misses a splash and gets hiptossed. Eh close enough to a suplex. Everything breaks down and Vader hits Hughes by mistake. Scott and Vader fall to the floor and it’s the Steiner Bulldog to end Hughes at 9:02.

Rating: B. Not bad for a free TV match. The Steiners literally throwing around monsters like this is always impressive and Vader did the same with raw power. There’s just something so basically entertaining about a match like this, even if it doesn’t mean anything. I’m not sure what else to say here. There’s no big story to the match or anything and there doesn’t need to be. Sometimes that’s enough and it was in this case.

One of my favorite matches of any year is the other match at Wrestlemania. You know what I mean. There’s the main event/featured match of the show and then the other match that is an awesome performance but also goes a bit overlooked.

From Wrestlemania XVII.

Pretty simple idea here: HHH said he’s beaten everyone there is to beat so Undertaker comes out and says HHH has never beaten him. HHH then destroyed Undertaker’s motorcycle and beat him up so Kane threatened to murder Stephanie to get the match made. This would pretty easily fall under the category of “there’s no way they can screw this up” and at this show, they actually wouldn’t.

Undertaker vs. HHH
Date: April 1, 2001
Location: AstroDome, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 67,925
Commentators: Paul Heyman, Jim Ross

Motorhead plays HHH to the ring for the first time ever. I love the visual of the wide shot where HHH comes out and poses at the entrance as it just makes the whole thing look so huge. The incredibly long ramp makes things even better. Undertaker gets to show it off even more by really cranking up the motorcycle and getting more speed than he ever has before.

They slug it out on the floor to start and you can feel the energy in this one. The Spanish announcers’ table is quickly broken for the second time tonight but HHH pops back up as it’s way too early for something like that. In something that sounds almost bizarre now, JR says Undertaker is 8-0 at Wrestlemania. It’s so insane to think that it’s not even to the halfway point yet. They get inside for the jumping knee to Undertaker’s face but that’s shrugged off as well with HHH eating a powerslam.

Undertaker loads up Old School (I know this because he shouts OLD SCHOOL) but HHH pretty easily breaks it up (I wonder how he knew). A swinging neckbreaker gives HHH two and a facebuster cuts off Undertaker’s comeback. It’s already sledgehammer time but the referee takes it away (spoilsport). The Pedigree is broken up with a catapult into the referee, meaning the count off a chokeslam is delayed. Undertaker beats up the referee as a result, allowing them to fight into the crowd. Eh I’ve heard worse excuses to turn it into the brawl that it should have been.

They fight to the technical area and climb the structure the cameras sit on. Undertaker keeps throwing him higher and higher up but HHH finds a chair for at least ten shots in a row. He takes too long going for one more though and gets chokeslammed off the structure in a great visual. Of course that visual is ruined a few seconds later when you see him on the ground and Undertaker drops a huge elbow, revealing it to be a crash pad.

Undertaker beats up the medics too and takes HHH back to ringside (walking past perhaps the world’s only Billy Jack Hayes sign). It’s sledgehammer time but Undertaker again takes too long and gets kicked low. They slug it out until HHH tries a Tombstone for some reason. Since he’s not Kane, Undertaker reverses into one of his own but there’s no referee. Yeah remember the referee? He’s STILL down ten minutes later from a few kicks and an elbow drop. They really need to hire tougher refs.

The Last Ride is loaded up but HHH grabs the sledgehammer to knock Undertaker silly for one of the best near falls in the history of the Streak. Undertaker is busted open so HHH hammers away in the corner, only to get caught in the Last Ride (the debut of that counter I believe) for the pin at 18:19.

Rating: A-. I still love the heck out of this match as they beat on each other like two people who couldn’t stand one another. That’s what this match needed to be as trying to have a regular match would have been a waste of time. Undertaker winning was the right call too, despite the plans allegedly changing due to HHH vouching for Shawn Michaels and Shawn showing up in no condition to perform. This match might not get the attention that others receive but that doesn’t mean it’s not excellent. Check this out and then watch their other two Wrestlemania matches for a nice change of pace.

Now I’m going to throw in a bit of a curve ball with the one Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker match on the entire list.

From In Your House XVII: Ground Zero.

A few weeks ago, someone asked me if there was ever a trilogy of matches where every one received an A+. Shawn vs. Undertaker does, but that’s only their three most famous ones. What about their first big fight, which was by far the most personal? Shawn was guest referee for the main event of Summerslam 1997 and cost Undertaker the title by accidentally hitting him with a chair. Being kind of a jerk, Shawn laughed it off and then smashed Undertaker with another chair, turning full heel in the process. He’s also been hanging out with HHH and Chyna around this time, though the team hasn’t been named yet.

At the same time though, Undertaker has been dealing with Mankind and Paul Bearer among various personal issues (such as mentions of someone named Kane, though I’m sure that won’t lead anywhere. That means the scariest thing in wrestling: a ticked off Undertaker who is ready to destroy anything in his path. I’ve been watching wrestling for a long time and I’ve seen almost everything there is to see. To this day, a ticked off Undertaker, especially from this era, is more intimidating than anything I’ve ever seen.

Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker
Date: September 7, 1997
Location: Louisville Gardens, Louisville, Kentucky
Attendance: 4,963
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

Shawn hides behind the referee but Undertaker punches him out and stares Shawn out to the floor before the opening bell. Commissioner Sgt. Slaughter won’t let Michaels leave though so Undertaker throws the referee over the top at Shawn. Oh yeah it’s going to be one of those fights. The stalking begins as Shawn crawls up to the house set (Vince: “There’s nobody home!”) and gets press slammed onto the stage. A big right hand sends Shawn falling back down the ramp so choking can ensue.

There’s no referee and the bell hasn’t rung so this is all just pre-match torture. More right hands knock Shawn onto and then off of the Spanish announcers’ table. They head inside where Undertaker whips him over the top and back outside. Slaughter brings out a second referee and we actually start the match with Shawn scoring with a chop block. Shawn hammers away in the corner but gets shoved down hard twice in a row.

Another clothesline puts him outside again though and you can see Shawn looking around for any help he can get. Back in and Shawn begs off in the corner, earning himself a good crotching. A clothesline actually gives Undertaker two. I’m surprised he’d cover that early. Some driving shoulders look to set up Old School but Shawn returns the crotching favor.

Shawn’s slingshot dive is pulled out of the air and Undertaker posts him for good measure. Back in and Undertaker starts working on the back with forearms and a backdrop for two (nearly in the same spot as the first cover, which is a detail that probably has no importance whatsoever). Shawn tries to bail again but gets his tights pulled down (as the wife swoons). There’s a swinging neckbreaker but Undertaker sits up, sending Shawn bailing to the floor in fear.

It’s chair time but Undertaker kicks him in the face to break it up. The referee, having a death wish, takes the chair away from Undertaker, who Shawn dropkicks into the referee for good measure. With no referee, Shawn….drops back to back top rope elbows for a delayed two. Cue Shawn’s insurance policy Rick Rude to throw Shawn some brass knuckles so a second referee can count two.

That’s not cool with an appearing HHH and Chyna, who pull him out to the floor as well. They send Undertaker knees first into the steps as Shawn is nice enough to help one of the referees up…only to knock him back down again. What a degenerate. The slow beating continues but Undertaker easily wins a slugout. HHH and Chyna interfere again though, allowing Shawn to score with a top rope ax handle.

Back in and both finishers are blocked with Undertaker throwing Shawn into the corner for a beating. A shot with the brass knuckles knocks Shawn silly and HHH eats a shot as well. The referee crawls over for a very slow two as this match is somehow still going. That earns the referee a chokeslam so the third referee comes in to throw it out at 16:01.

Rating: B+. I love this match as it’s just pure chaos. It wouldn’t have made sense to have them do a regular match here as it should have been all over the place in a wild brawl. Why would you expect two guys who absolutely hate each other to try to have anything resembling a match. I still do love the third referee coming in to call it probably ten minutes after it should have been called in the first place. It’s the weakest of their series but this wasn’t supposed to be a regular match.

Undertaker doesn’t care and chokeslams HHH onto Shawn, but Michaels scores with a superkick to tie Undertaker up in the ropes. The referee keeps calling for the bell for some reason, even as Undertaker kicks the chair into Shawn’s face. HHH saves Shawn from a Tombstone as agents come in and get beaten down as well. There’s a Tombstone to HHH as wrestlers come in and have a big more success in breaking things up. Undertaker is like screw that though and debuts the Taker Dive to get at Shawn again but DX finally bails to get out of this alive and end the show.

That was one kind of a brawl so let’s try another one.

From King of the Ring 2001.

Shane McMahon had shocked the world and bought WCW right before Wrestlemania XVII and that wasn’t cool with Kurt Angle. A feud started and the only solution was a street fight as Shane isn’t exactly a wrestler. It should also be noted that this is Angle’s third match of the night after Shane helped him win the King of the Ring semifinal and then cost him the finals in a rather smart move. You might remember this one.

Shane McMahon vs. Kurt Angle
Date: June 24, 2001
Location: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey
Attendance: 17,777
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

Street fight. Angle takes him down before the bell and rides Shane like an Olympic Gold Medalist would ride a non-wrestler. Some armdrags and a leg trip put Kurt down and Shane bails to the floor to start messing with Kurt’s head. That’s fine with Kurt, who drops down and lets Shane have a free shot. Shane agrees but gets taken down with as much ease as you would expect. A belly to belly drops Shane again as Angle is bleeding from the eye. After a second suplex, Angle offers him another chance on the mat but this time Shane kicks him in the ribs in a smart move.

Angle takes him down again without much trouble but gets sent outside to give Shane a breather. Shane dives off the barricade with a clothesline for one of his first big shots as they’re already banged up just a few minutes in. It’s kendo stick time with Angle taking some hard shots to the back before missing a charge into the post. A shoulder drives Kurt into the steps and now we’ll get to the real weapons. This time it’s the trashcans with the accompanying lids but first Shane gets in a few shots with a handicap parking sign. I really hope he didn’t steal that thing.

With the wrestling not working, Shane takes him down into an ankle lock and then a Sharpshooter. A rope is grabbed without too much effort so Shane goes with some jabs to the face. Angle is down so Shane loads up the shooting star onto the trashcan onto Kurt, only to have the mat and part of the moved can. They fight up the aisle with Shane suplexing him, breaking Angle’s tailbone in the process.

Angle sends him into part of the set (featuring the massive metal throne, which is still one of my favorite sets ever) before going to the famous part of the match: a belly to belly suplex against the glass pane, which DOESN’T BREAK, leaving Shane to fall on his head on the concrete. With Shane insulting him about how weak he is, Angle LAUNCHES him through the glass in a rather terrifying visual. Since that’s real glass, both guys are badly cut open when Shane bounces off the other piece of glass twice in a row.

Again Shane insults Angle’s strength so Kurt THROWS HIM THROUGH THE GLASS HEAD FIRST. In the words of Jim Cornette (you knew I was working him in here somehow): “These are crazy people.” Since Shane is dead weight, Angle commandeers an anvil case and wheels what’s left of Shane back to the ring. The amount of blood here is insane and I can understand why Vince thought about coming to the ring and stopping this multiple times.

They get back in….and Shane kicks out, giving us the great visual of Angle sitting up and falling over, nearly in tears that we’re not done yet. A low blow cuts Angle down and Shane starts swinging with a trashcan lid. There’s an Angle Slam to Kurt for a delayed two. Angle catapults him onto the top and grabs a big wooden board, which he bridges over the ropes. That means a SUPER ANGLE SLAM with Shane bouncing off the mat, which if FINALLY enough to end Shane at 25:58.

Rating: A-. This one has lost a bit of steam over the years but sweet goodness they beat the heck out of each other in this. Having Angle come in a little spent was the right call, as was having Shane go down in the end. There comes a point where you can’t buy Angle losing here and it makes sense that he had that little extra in the tank to hang on in this one. Still though, outstanding brawl and one of the most physical matches you’ll ever see in company history.

Let’s try something a little less physical and more about technical skill.

From Takeover: R-Evolution.

Oh you knew NXT was going to get in here somehow. Back in 2014, Sami Zayn was tired of losing all the time and started a storyline called Sami’s Road to Redemption. This journey saw Sami defeat all of his old foes on his path towards the forever elusive NXT Title. He had his shot against champion Adrian Neville but came up short when he was too worried about Neville injuring his ankle. This led Sami to put his career on the line as he was tired of letting his own emotions cost him his goals. It wasn’t a heel turn, but it certainly felt like one was possible around this time, for either guy actually.

NXT Title: Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn
Date: December 11, 2014
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Attendance: 400
Commentators: Alex Riley, Rich Brennan, Corey Graves

Sami is challenging and we get the eternally cool tracking shots from the back to the entrance for both guys. You can feel the energy in Sami’s entrance too as this just feels big. Neville is heartily booed but it’s more the crowd being pro-Sami than anti-champ. Sami soaks in the chants for the minute plus as we’re waiting on first contact. A front facelock takes Sami to the mat for all of a few seconds as Graves tries to turn this into a soccer analogy.

Neville nips out of a headscissors and it’s an early standoff. It’s time to work on the arm with the champion slowing things down and landing on his feet when Sami tries an armdrag. Back up and Neville keeps flipping around to avoid Sami until he gets caught in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to send him outside. That means a moonsault from the apron to bring the fans right back to life.

Back in and Neville kicks him in the back of the head to set up a chinlock as Sami just can’t can’t keep anything going. Neville drops some knees for two, followed by a middle rope dropkick for the same. Sami comes right back with those hard clotheslines and a dropkick of his own but Neville snaps off a good looking hurricanrana. A backdrop puts Neville on the floor though and Sami brings the crowd right back to life with his great running flip dive.

Back in and Neville cartwheels into an electric chair but Sami spins him right back down into the Blue Thunder Bomb for an even closer two. I mean, it wasn’t a move that was going to get him a win but at least it looked good. Neville is right back with a German suplex and a sitout powerbomb is good for another near fall. A high crossbody gives Sami his first real near fall but a slugout goes to the champ.

Sami scores with another clothesline but can’t hit the Helluva Kick. The Red Arrow hits knees and Sami slaps on a Koji Clutch to bring the crowd right back up to a roar. Sami kicks out of a victory roll and the ref gets bumped, which isn’t the most common thing around here. In classic Sami fashion, he goes to check on the ref but gets superkicked and reverse hurricanranaed for the closest near fall yet.

Now it’s Neville’s turn to be shocked as the fans are all over this stuff. Neville’s kick to the head misses and Sami rolls some German suplexes into a half and half suplex. It’s still too early for the Helluva Kick but Sami settles for the diving tornado DDT through the ropes. Back in and the Helluva Kick connects but the ref gets bumped with Neville possibly pulling him in the way. Sami grabs the title but can’t bring himself to do it. The distraction lets Neville roll him up for tow but it’s the exploder into the corner, setting up the Helluva Kick to make Sami champion at 23:17.

Rating: A. This is NXT in a nutshell: it’s all about the journey, but sometimes the end goal is outstanding as well. Sami being built up to the title for over a year and then finally taking it from Neville to end his very long run was a perfect story and the fans were with him every step of the way. This was Sami winning the big one and it was an outstanding story, which isn’t something you get very often. The fact that it was a classic helps as well. Great match, great story, great moment, and the Match of the Year in 2014.

Post match Sami celebrates for a long time until his best friend Kevin Owens, who debuted earlier in the night, leads the locker room out to celebrate with him. They lift him up as confetti falls but Neville is back up. Sami offers him a handshake but Neville kicks the hand away and they hug to confirm Neville’s face status. Everyone else leaves and it’s Sami and Owens left. They walk up the ramp with the copyright notice coming up….and Owens turns on him, slamming Sami’s head off the ramp and powerbombing him on the apron to end the show. That’s still one of the most brilliant endings I’ve ever seen to a show and it still holds up.

I love that match for all the positive reasons, so now let’s look at one that I love for being such a disaster.

From Starrcade 1997.

I’ve spent years ripping on this match and it wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t do it again. For well over a year, Hollywood Hogan and the NWO had dominated WCW. The company had waited for someone to rise up and save them and it was clear that the man would be Sting. This lead them to Starrcade 1997 and the biggest match in WCW history. The levels of disaster this would hit is off the charts and I’ve yet to see anything get close to it.

WCW World Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Sting
Date: December 28, 1997
Location: MCI Center, Washington D.C.
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Dusty Rhodes, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

Hogan comes out first and struts to the ring because six months of running from Sting means nothing when he can show off on the grandest stage. Sting comes out to the awesome voiceover and with the lightning and thunder all around. It’s an incredible entrance and the peak of Sting’s power in WCW. Then the bell rings.

It should be noted that Nick Patrick, who was part of the NWO over the course of the year, is guest referee. Hogan shoves him away so Sting slaps him in the face. A lockup goes to Hogan and he drives Sting into the corner, only to get slapped again. That’s enough of this selling for Hogan so he punches Sting several times, even dedicating one to his son. We’re three minutes in and Sting’s offense has consisted of two slaps to the face.

Hogan misses some elbow drops and a dropkick puts him on the floor for a total of no follow up. The feeling is there but the match itself has been a grand total of nothing so far. Back in and Sting hits another pair of dropkicks and we’ll stall some more. Hogan comes back in and we hit a headlock to bring the offense up to two slaps, three dropkicks and a headlock at the six minute mark.

The hold is broken and Hogan hits a clothesline with Sting staying down for over fifteen seconds until Hogan picks him up. A suplex is no sold though and I’m all the more confused. Hogan pokes him in the eye to cut off another comeback as this is getting harder to watch. They head outside with Hogan hitting him in the back with the bat to continue the beating.

Sting tries a splash but hits the barricade, allowing Hogan to hammer away even more and crotch him on the barricade. Back in and the big boot and legdrop retain Hogan’s title at 11:20 but Bret Hart won’t let the bell ring. He decks Patrick and throws Hogan back inside. The bell rings for a restart and Sting comes to life with rights and lefts in the corner. The Stinger Splash sets up the Scorpion Deathlock to make Hogan give up at 12:54.

Rating: R. For Russo, who would probably think this was too much. For me, this was the death knell for WCW. I know they had a long time left from here but this was the big moment after the better part of a year and a half and they screwed it up. This should have been the biggest layup the company ever had and somehow we got this mess.

Let’s look at some of the mistakes in this and I’ll probably miss some of them.

First of all, the match was completely wrong. Sting comes back for his first match in over a year and is almost squashed. Like I said, six minutes in and he had all of maybe five moves with a dropkick as the high spot. There was no fire, there was no emotion and there was WAY too much Hogan. The fans were into the thing throughout but it never came close to feeling energetic.

That brings us to the other half of this problem: Hogan acted like he was in a glorified workout. He strutted to the ring, shoved Sting around to start and acted like this was all a big game. Now, if that’s what he had done for the last year then fine, but Hogan had run scared of Sting for the better part of a year and now we’re supposed to buy that he’s all good and the Hogan of old? It threw the whole thing way off and made Hogan look like the star instead of Sting.

Then there’s the big one: the ending and going with something screwy instead of a regular win. The problem here is mainly in the way the fall went down, which made Sting look like he got beat clean. Over the years there have been various ideas of why this happened but none of them really make sense when you think about the.

There’s the idea of Sting showing up in no condition to perform, though if that was the case he gutted it out just fine, especially in the last minute or so, which makes me think that’s a bunch of nonsense. Or there’s the idea of the count allegedly being a fast count that didn’t look especially fast. Again, that doesn’t hold up as if that’s the case, Sting should have kicked out a split second before the three but he’s still down long after the pin, basically making it look like Hogan just won clean in about eleven minutes.

No matter how you look at it, this match basically came and went with Hogan beating Sting up and then winning in short order. You can have all the screwiness you want but at the end of the day, this was Hogan looking good and Sting looking like a clown, which was the very last thing they needed to do. WCW had waited for someone to destroy Hogan once and for all but he was strutting to the ring, treating Sting like a joke and then pinning him with the big boot and legdrop.

Oh and don’t forget Bret. I know it’s not even two months after Montreal but who in the world decided that we needed a Montreal reference in the ending? If they had done the fast count properly then maybe it’s a possibility but they couldn’t even do that right (WCW? Screwing up something easy?).

Bret is out there to stop a screwjob before it’s even happened (he was grabbing the timekeeper’s arm before he could even ring the bell, meaning he was at ringside long before Hogan had done anything nefarious. Of course this is also assuming that you knew of Montreal as a WCW fan, which was far from a guarantee as it wasn’t quite the infamous moment it would later become. If you’re not familiar with what the WWF is doing at this point, this made no sense as Bret had barely been around WCW at this point. It’s another idea that didn’t need to be there and came off like a disaster.

I’ve watched this match several times over the nearly twenty years since it took place and it’s one of the only matches that doesn’t lose its impact over time. The more I watch it, the more amazed I am at how horrible of a disaster this really is. WCW managed to screw up the easiest win in wrestling history with Hogan getting to look great at the company’s expense. Couple that with the title win meaning nothing because WCW decided to hold the title up and wait until February with Hogan having it back by April and it’s WCW in a nutshell.

And now, for a better Sting match.

From Bash at the Beach 1992.

This is one of my favorite WCW shows and one of the better ones they’ve ever produced. The idea here is simple: Lex Luger was sending monsters after Sting and one of them is Cactus Jack, who came out of a gift box. After dispatching Luger and finishing his feud with the Dangerous Alliance, it’s time to put Jack away. Jack is rather insane and agreed to face Sting in a falls count anywhere match, which is Jack’s specialty. The title isn’t even on the line because Jack is only interested in hurting Sting, which is quite the change of pace and a good example of Jack being a fascinating character.

Sting vs. Cactus Jack
Date: June 20, 1992
Location: Mobile Civic Center, Mobile, Alabama
Attendance: 5,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jesse Ventura

Falls Count Anywhere, which basically means hardcore here. They start it out on the ramp with Sting backdropping and bulldogging him onto the carpeted wood for an early near fall. The Stinger Splash hits the corner though and Sting falls down onto the floor. Jack follows him with an elbow off the apron onto bare concrete (thanks Bill Watts), followed by a swinging neckbreaker. A sunset flip off the apron onto the concrete gets two more but Sting backdrops him over the barricade.

There’s a suplex onto the floor for two and Jack is sent hard back to ringside. They actually get inside (Jesse: “I don’t believe it!”) as the announcer says five minutes have passed. It’s not even four but WCW can’t be bothered with telling time. Jack kicks away at the knee before driving a running knee into the ribs.

We actually hit a bodyscissors of all things but Sting quickly elbows his way to freedom. A Cactus Clothesline takes them outside again where Jack scores with some chair shots. Just to keep things nuts, they do a pinfall reversal sequence on the floor. As is almost always the case, the Stinger Splash hits the barricade but Jack’s knee gives out in a piledriver attempt.

Jack misses a middle rope elbow to the floor, landing HARD on his knee. Sting slams him on the ramp and scores with some chair shots of his own but it’s too early for the Scorpion. The double arm DDT on the ramp gives Cactus two but Sting is right back up with a running clothesline. A clothesline from the top puts Jack away at 11:24.

Rating: A-. Yeah it’s still awesome and still a very hard hitting fight when you remember that most of it is taking place ON CONCRETE. Jack’s elbow drop alone should make you cringe and the rest of the match is just as painful looking. This felt like two people who just wanted to hurt each other and that’s exactly what they were going for here. Check this out if you haven’t seen it in awhile as it made me cringe more having not seen it in a few years.

That worked so well that we’ll try another violent Jack match.

From Halloween Havoc 1993.

I’ll ignore all of the ridiculous stuff about Jack losing his memory and thinking he was a sailor in Cleveland (dang it WCW) and skip to this where he said he was faking the whole thing and wanted revenge, along with Vader’s blood. Vader’s World Title isn’t on the line here for whatever reason, though I’d bet on it being WCW being stupid again.

Vader vs. Cactus Jack
Date: October 24, 1993
Location: Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jesse Ventura

Non-title and a Texas Death Match, which is basically Last Man Standing, but you have to get a fall before someone can be counted. Also, there’s a thirty second rest period between the fall and the count beginning, meaning you REALLY have to hurt the other guy to put them down. They go at it on the ramp and Vader loses his mask in a hurry. Well it’s not like it’s hiding much anyway.

Vader punches the post by mistake and Jack hits him in the chest with a chair. With Vader knocked up against the barricade, Jack bashes him in the head with a camera, followed by a chair to the same general area. The fans are WAY into Jack here and it’s so strange seeing him as a full on face in WCW. They head inside with Vader (or ADER as the side of his tights say since the top is covering the V) just blasting him with a clothesline.

Some of the shots to the head bust Jack open and it’s time to head to the ramp again. Vader’s manager Harley Race tries to bring in a chair but Jack hits Vader with it instead as they fight into the awesome graveyard set. They fall into the Vader grave (awesome visual) and the referee won’t follow them in. A bloody Vader follows Jack out and gets clotheslined for the first fall but Vader beats the count.

Jack finds a wooden cactus (they’re native to New Orleans you know) and knocks Vader off the ramp. There’s the big elbow off said ramp for another three count. Vader beats the ten again and it’s table time. The referee actually sets the table up for them in the corner and Vader’s head bounces off of it for two. Vader blocks the sunset flip off the apron but sits on the floor by mistake (thankfully there are mats again).

Jack tries a running flip dive over the barricade but just bounces off Vader in a bad looking crash. A backdrop puts Jack at ringside again and a SICK chair shot knocks him even sillier. Just in case, Harley has a taser in his pocket and shoves the camera away from seeing it. Back in and Vader’s moonsault is good for a pin and, of course, Jack beats the count. You know they need something more than a simple Vadersault to win this thing.

Jack jumps onto Vader’s back and they head to the ramp where Vader just drops backwards, jumping into the air to make it even worse. That’s still one of the sickest, most painful looking spots you’ll ever see and Jack ruptured a kidney (partially on purpose, as he was trying to claim an insurance policy to get out of the ring) in the process. A HARD chair shot and a DDT onto the chair put Cactus out with medics coming to check on him before the pin. Jack gets up anyway but Race electrocutes him for the win at 15:58.

Rating: A-. This one is more hard to watch than anything else (especially that thud on the ramp, which needs to be seen to be believed) as Jack was just beaten senseless here. It’s still an outstanding brawl though and one of the best fights you’ll ever see in WCW. Thankfully Foley can still remember his name today so hopefully it’s not as bad as it seems.

Earlier on I mentioned that this was going to be a collection of matches and a special surprise. We’ll do that surprise now.

From the WWE Hidden Gems Collection.

Yes we’re going to Georgia as I’m FINALLY watching the Last Battle of Atlanta. Tommy Rich, the biggest face that ever faced in Georgia Championship Wrestling was involved in a mega feud with Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer that lasted nearly two years. They finally blew the thing off in a cage with Sawyer’s manager Paul Ellering in a shark cage above the regular cage. This is considered the inspiration for the Cell but given that it’s just a regular cage with a top on it, I’m not sure how well that holds up. Of note: this was originally going to be the only thing I did for the 5000^th review but you know how I tend to get carried away.

Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer
Date: October 23, 1982
Location: Omni, Atlanta, Georgia

No commentary here as it’s just a filmed house show match. Of note, it’s announced as the Battle of Atlanta with the “last” part never mentioned. It is however mentioned that they’ll never fight again after this. Rich elbows him in the head to start but Sawyer swings the arm into the cage to take over.

The arm is wrapped around the ropes as this is a big more scientific than I was expecting. Sawyer bites at the head and you know the blood is coming sooner or later. A low blow gets Tommy out of trouble and there’s the blade job. Buzz sends him into the cage and bites away like a villain should. A low blow cuts Sawyer down but he can’t follow up. Instead Sawyer rubs his head into the cage as this has been one sided so far.

Rich comes back with a right hand and a big boot though before biting Sawyer’s head open for a change. Rich gets in a piledriver and the referee (on the floor, over a house mic) starts counting Sawyer down. Buzz is up though, allowing Rich to send him into the cage again. Sawyer does the same right back though and scores with a piledriver of his own. With nothing else working, Rich blasts him with a right hand but gets caught in a backbreaker for two (as the referee now counts a cover).

Rich’s blond hair is almost entirely red now as Sawyer misses an elbow to put them both down again. They slug it out from their knees until Rich misses a middle rope fist drop. Sawyer is back up with a crossbody but only hits the cage. Rich sends him into the cage a few times but can’t follow up. He rams Sawyer in again before falling down and crawling over for the pin at 12:05.

Rating: B. It’s a good cage match but obviously this is much more about the history and it being such a hard to find match for so long. That being said, the blood was great here and it felt like they were out to finish each other once and for all. It would have been better had I seen the build but for a standalone blowoff, this was quite good.

We’ll go with another violent match (a trend, which I’ll get to later) from a different era. It’s also a rematch but unfortunately it’s not the final match between the two.

From Judgment Day 2005.

As you probably know, John Cena won his first World Title at Wrestlemania XXI. However, he had a rematch with former champion John Bradshaw Layfield and this time around it was Layfield’s style: an I Quit match.

Smackdown World Title: John Cena vs. John Bradshaw Layfield
Date: May 22, 2005
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 12,000
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

Layfield is challenging and comes out in the white limo with the bull horns. He also comes out with the regular title belt because he hates Cena’s spinner title. Well he’s right on some things. To counter the limo, Cena comes out on a flatbed truck with a DJ playing him to the ring. He even walks over the limo and kicks the horns off to make this personal before they’re even in the ring together.

Cena headlocks him down to start before going with an armdrag into an armbar. Layfield comes back with a forearm to the back and a DDT before trying a cover as you might expect someone to do. Cena fights back with a clothesline to send JBL outside and that might mean it’s time to crank up the violence. Both guys are whipped into various objects and it’s Cena being knocked into the crowd.

Something the camera misses (revealed as a swinging neckbreaker) puts them both down on the concrete and it’s already back to ringside. Cena won’t quit, even when JBL threatens to own a certain part of his body. Given some of the stories about JBL, I would tread VERY carefully there. Another whip sends Cena into the steps and it’s time to give the champ a whipping.

JBL loads up a piledriver through the table but of course that’s not happening. Instead it’s a backdrop through the other table and a heck of a monitor shot to JBL. That’s fine with JBL (Dang it why do they both have to be named John?), who BLASTS him with a chair to bust Cena open. A shot with the steps has easily the worst cut Cena has ever had, to the point where his chest is covered in just a few moments. Three straight Clotheslines From JBL set up a choke with Cena’s chain as the blood is already disturbing.

Cena slugs his way up but gets low blowed right back down. With that not working, JBL hits him in the head with the microphone and demanding that Cena quit. That just earns him some clotheslines and the ProtoBomb into the Shuffle. Cena’s blood is all over JBL and it literally looks like Cena is wearing a mask. The FU drops JBL but he flips Cena off and walks up the aisle. That’s fine with Cena as he drops JBL on the hood of the limo.

JBL scores with another swinging neckbreaker on the same hood, denting it up and covering it with blood. They go to the electrical area with JBL choking with a cord, meaning you can guarantee sparks soon. Cena throws him face first through a TV to bust JBL open. It’s a good cut but Cena is one of the worst I can remember seeing in company history so it doesn’t have the same effect.

Now it’s JBL going through the window of the limo (Cole: “JBL IS BEING ABUSED!”) and trying to crawl inside, only to have Cena throw him into the open door. That doesn’t break the door off so Cena kicks it off and throws it away. They go onto the flatbed truck from Cena’s entrance and JBL grabs a DDT for a breather. With that not being enough, JBL climbs onto a speaker to choke with another cord, only to be slammed through a table. Cena goes back to the truck, RIPS OFF A METAL EXHAUST PIPE, and heads back to JBL. Just the threat of contact is enough to make JBL quit at 22:45 in a smart ending.

Rating: B+. This is a completely different side of Cena and I loved what I saw here (save for Cena losing a stupid amount of blood). The ending is the best part as it’s not even what Cena did but what JBL knew he was capable of doing to make him quit. That makes JBL, the big tough guy, look both like a coward and a defeated man at the same time. That’s a hard trick to pull off but this turned Cena into a violent killer, which is a completely different side of him and in a good way. Another great and insanely bloody brawl.

The bloody Cena is shocked that he won that way but uses the pipe to put him through the logo wall anyway. Sweet goodness that’s a lot of blood.

Let’s try something a lot less bloody and what I called the co-Match of the Year for 2015.

From Takeover: Brooklyn.

If there’s one thing NXT excels at, it’s the long form story. They know how to build up a story for months and pay it off at the right time. Sami Zayn’s Road to Redemption might have done it first, but this one might have done it better. Bayley started out as a goofy fangirl but wound up climbing the card into a kind of cult favorite character. She never could reach the title, but she reached the point where she could be a serious threat. After defeating everyone else in the division (and getting the world’s cutest fan in the form of 10ish year old Izzy), Bayley’s title shot was set against Women’s Champion Sasha Banks.

The idea here was all about the serious wrestler vs. the fun character, though the fun character was no slouch. This was also part of the Women’s Revolution as Sasha, Charlotte and Becky Lynch had moved up to the main roster in the midst of the best American women’s push of all time. While this match wasn’t going on last, it was without a doubt the main event of the evening, which was a really amazing moment when you think about it.

Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
Date: August 22, 2015
Location: Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Attendance: 15,589
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Rich Brennan

Bayley is challenging and I will never get over the level of popularity she had reached around this time. She wasn’t quite there yet but she would soon be the most popular person in NXT, gender aside. Banks rides into the arena in a Cadillac Escalade with four very large bodyguards. We hit the Big Match Intros and this feels like a major match on the level of any men’s main event. I know I’m harping on this but it’s nothing short of remarkable when you consider we’re just a year or two removed from the women being lucky to get eight minutes in a thrown together pay per view match.

They stare each other down to start and Sasha basically laughs at Bayley for thinking she’s on this level. The fight is on with Bayley getting the better of it and hitting an elbow to Sasha’s back for two. The crowd is already WAY into this as they know the ending already and are fired up anyway. That’s NXT in a nutshell and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Bayley shrugs off being sent into the buckle and ties her in the Tree of Woe for a running elbow and a near fall. A baseball slide underneath the ropes in the corner drops Banks again but she kicks Bayley off the ropes for a crash. Back in and Banks scores with a sliding shot to the head for two more. We hit the neck crank and the fans just won’t stop cheering for Bayley. Back up and Banks tries the double knees in the corner, only to have Bayley catch her on her shoulders.

That’s fine with Sasha, who pulls Bayley face first into the corner. With Bayley stunned, Banks puts her on the top for the double knees to the ribs and Bayley is in so much trouble that her hair is messing up. Banks talks trash about how Bayley is such a loser so Bayley KICKS HER IN THE FACE and hammers away. That just earns Bayley an arm snap over the top rope and control changes again. Sasha starts ripping the tape off Bayley’s recently broken hand and sends it hard into the steps.

The hand is crushed behind the steps and Banks is all fired up. The thing is she’s also starting to lose some of her poise and cool as she can’t keep Bayley down. Keep that in mind for later….and by later I mean after Banks hits a HUGE over the top (and over the referee) flip dive to take Bayley down again. Back in and Banks tries a rope walk but Bayley shoves her out to the floor in a heap.

They slug it out in the boo/yay style with Bayley getting the better of it and suplexing Banks into the corner. Banks blocks the Bayley to Belly though and grabs the Bank Statement in the middle of the ring. Bayley crawls for the ropes and in the spot of the match, Banks stomps on Bayley’s bad hand until Bayley kicks off the rope and rolls over into a Bank Statement of her own. I’ve seen that reversal a dozen times and I’m still not sure I get how she did it.

The fans (including me both live and after I’ve seen it a few times) go NUTS as Bayley cranks back but Banks slips out. The Bayley to Belly gets two and Bayley is stunned. They head up top with Banks shoving off a super hurricanrana attempt, sending Bayley down ONTO HER HEAD. Thankfully she’s ok enough for Banks to drop the top rope double knees for two more and frustration sets in hard.

They go up in the other corner and Bayley hits a reverse super hurricanrana to knock Banks silly. The Bayley to Belly is academic and Bayley is champion at 18:16. The part that I love about the ending: Banks was DONE after the hurricanrana. She didn’t get caught in a quick pin after the Bayley to Belly. That just put her out of her misery. It makes Bayley look like the winner instead of someone who just caught Banks.

Rating: A. I absolutely love this match and I still do every time I watch the thing. Bayley is basically NXT’s Sting: maybe not the greatest worker (though certainly good) but the fans BELIEVE in her. That’s more important than anything she can do in the ring and it gives you moments like this. The crowd carried this one way beyond anything it was going to be able to do on its own and made it an instant classic.

One other thing that makes this match so great is Sasha falling apart by the end. She comes to the ring in full Boss mode, with the expensive car, the personal security, the sexy outfit (A major plus for her when she gets the right color scheme working. Again though: it’s never discussed and it’s a detail rather than a focal point, which is how it should be.) and all the swagger in the world.

By the end, she’s been completely broken down where she can barely stand and is just throwing right hands to try and stay in it. Her hair is messed up, she’s drenched in sweat and looks like she’s been in a war. All the Boss stuff is gone and it’s just Sasha vs. Bayley until one of them can’t stay up. I love that kind of storytelling in a match and this one did it to near perfection.

Bayley celebrates until Charlotte and Becky Lynch join her and Sasha in the ring. The Four Horsewomen pose together for the first time in the ring to show the new generation. That might be the image of the year to go with the Match of the Year. Seriously go watch this match and see how much you start cheering for Bayley by the end. It’s that good.

That’s one of the finest performances you’ll see from this era. Now let’s go back a few eras and see something completely stupid yet a huge guilty pleasure at the same time.

From Halloween Havoc 1991.

This is another one where I watched the tape (or maybe it was a recording of the pay per view) over and over for years. The opening match of this show was one of the most WCW-est of all WCW matches: the Chamber of Horrors. Basically imagine the big blue cage (gray in this case) made into the Cell (without a roof but with weapons provided, including a casket with a random masked man inside). Then take eight pretty big names and throw them inside in teams of four. Still with me so far? It’s not that bad until now.

Then take a huge electric chair and put it in a small cage above the ring that is eventually lowered into the ring. Someone has to be put in the chair and strapped down until another member of the team can climb the cage wall and throw a lever TO ELECTROCUTE THE GUY IN THE CHAIR. Oh sorry: according to the ring announcer, you “render the opponent helpless”. He does however call the match “electrifying” so they’re not exactly hiding what they’re doing.

Chamber of Horrors
Date: October 27, 1991
Location: UTC Arena, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Attendance: 8,900
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

El Gigante/Sting/Steiner Brothers

Cactus Jack/Diamond Studd/Abdullah the Butcher/Big Van Vader

Gigante is the worthless yet huge man who would become Giant Gonzalez and Diamond Studd is Scott Hall. There really is some awesome talent in this one, which makes me wonder WHY THEY’RE STUCK IN THIS STUPID MATCH. As usual, WCW’s entrances are awesome as they walk through the door of a haunted house and through a graveyard (with funny headstones).

The brawl starts on the ramp with Sting vs. Cactus (the best matchup available in this one) with Rick knocking Abdullah down as well. Scott gives Studd a tiger driver as Rick has a freaking CHAINSAW. Everyone winds up inside and it’s going to be a bunch of wild brawling for a long time. The other gimmick of this match is a camera on the referee’s head, which is a nice idea but it doesn’t really add anything. I get why they put it on him though as this is a mess and there isn’t room for a traditional camera.

Rick and the Studd climb the opposite sides of the cage for no apparent reason. An elevated super DDT plants Jack as the electric chair (the CHAIR OF TORTURE) comes down with Cactus nearly getting crushed (because he Cactus). Vader almost immediately goes to put Rick in the cage but a Steiner Line gets Rick out of trouble. Naturally, Rick plays with the chair for a bit.

Cue the Ghouls (people in white face paint dressed like medics) with a stretcher for no adequately explored reason. Scott breaks a kendo stick over Jack’s head before Cactus and Sting climb the cage again. Back down and Sting has to fight out of the chair as the mindless brawling continues. We cut back to the Ghouls, who are just sitting on the ramp as Rick jabs at the empty chair with a broken kendo stick.

During the melee, Cactus has to climb up and put the switch back in place as it fell down due to the cage shaking. Again, because WCW. Everyone is pretty clearly getting tired and now a referee has to go fix the switch again. Rick nearly punches him until he realizes what’s going on. Abdullah puts Rick in the chair but gets belly to bellied into the chair as Jack hangs on the cage next to the switch for absolutely no apparent reason. He FINALLY throws the switch with Abdullah in the chair, sending off a bunch of fireworks to end the match at 12:41.

Rating: D. Ok so this one is much more about nostalgia than quality as the match is horrible. There’s no flow or story to the thing and it’s just a bunch of mindless brawling until the ending. The switch falling down over and over was rather funny, because of course you can’t set it so the switch has to be thrown up for the win. Terrible match but a lot of fun memories and “because WCW” moments to this one.

Jack checks on Abdullah and gets beaten up for his efforts. Abdullah beats up the Ghouls to let off some steam.

Let’s try something a little better.

From Wrestlemania XVII.

I’m not going to waste your time on an introduction. It’s Austin vs. Rock II.

WWF World Title: Steve Austin vs. The Rock
Date: April 1, 2001
Location: AstroDome, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 67,925
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

Rock is defending in case you’re really slow. Now of course I have to watch the My Way video. WWE produces some of the best videos in wrestling and this is the be all and end all of their glorious achievements. Set to Limp Bizkit’s My Way, it tells the story of Austin winning the Royal Rumble to move him closer to the title on his comeback from neck surgery.

Rock is the reigning champion and became a huge (well, huger) star during Austin’s absence. They locked eyes during the Rumble and that was Wrestlemania. Austin sums it up perfectly: “The fact is Rock, you got the WWF Title and I want it.” Simple, effective, and it tells you the entire story in one line.

As JR puts it: “60,000 in the AstroDome to see the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin!” As Dave Meltzer put it (I think he did at least): “It the place held 100,000, they would have sold that out too.” Make no mistake about it: this is one of the biggest matches of all time and save for something like Hogan vs. Andre, very few matches have ever felt more important or grand for lack of a better world.

The entrances alone deserve a long discussion. First of all, there’s this. Fink: “In this contest, there will be NO DISQUALIFICATIONS!” JR: “WHAT???” Cue glass shatter. Austin’s entrance is one of the all time greats with JR perfectly summing it up: the Texas fans revere Austin and see him as a folk hero. In other words, no matter what Austin does, he’s going to be cheered all night long.

Austin’s entrance is a sight to behold as the fans just lose their minds for him, which says a lot in a building this large. There’s an awesome shot where the camera is close up on Austin in the aisle but zooms out to show the size of the stadium and the sheer amount of people in the building. Rock gets a VERY mixed reaction, which you’ll probably never hear for him in the rest of his career. Also of note, they show a shot of Rock and then cut to Austin….who is having a major problem adjusting his knee brace. That’s cut away from in a hurry and it’s time for the staredown of the ages.

Thankfully they don’t bother with Big Match Intros (they’re just not needed here) and the fight is on in a hurry with Austin slugging away but missing a belt shot. The Thesz press takes Rock down and the middle finger elbow connects. Rock mostly botches a swinging neckbreaker (fair enough given the nerves) and can’t hit a Rock Bottom or a Stunner. Austin throws him over the top to the floor and that’s the first minute of the match. A quick fight into the crowd goes to Rock but Austin has to keep adjusting the knee brace.

Back in and Austin stomps him down before a superplex gets two. Rock makes a comeback with right hands and a belly to belly, nearly getting booed all the way out of Houston. A clothesline puts Austin on the floor but he gets in a bell shot to take over. I love the big main events where that’s just a move as opposed to a game changer in other matches. Back in and Rock avoids a ram into an exposed turnbuckle, only to get caught in a neckbreaker for a pop and a half.

Austin slowly stomps and knees away at the bloody Rock (not exactly flowing) but goes to yell at the referee, allowing Rock to BLAST him with a clothesline. It’s Austin going into the exposed buckle and Rock hits a bell shot of his own (with the base instead of the bell itself), drawing some blood from Austin’s head. Some right hands have Austin sprawling around the ring, followed by Rock driving an elbow (not a great one either, pun intended) into the chest. Austin is right back with a catapult into the post with Rock turning his body so his head hits it square and hard. Great visual there.

Austin monitors him in the head and, after stealing a very covert shot of water from one of the announcers’ bottles, gets two back inside. Rock comes back with his eternally not great Sharpshooter in a callback to Wrestlemania XIII (scroll up a few pages), eventually sending Austin over to the ropes. Now the blood is really flowing for both guys as Austin grabs his own not great Sharpshooter (closer to a Scorpion Deathlock actually, and yes there are differences, including how the legs are crossed and how you grab the legs).

FINALLY the Rock comes back to the ropes but Austin is smart enough to know he doesn’t have to let go. Then of course he lets go. It’s off to a Million Dollar Dream of all things with Rock having to climb the ropes and flip back ala Bret Hart for two (and the second Bret spot that Rock can’t do as well). Rock grabs a Stunner out of nowhere for a delayed two and NOW the fans are getting into the near falls.

With both guys down, here’s Vince McMahon for reasons that can only be bad. They trade spinebusters with Rock following up with the People’s Elbow. That’s good for two as Vince pulls the referee out. The chase is on and brings Rock straight into a Rock Bottom from Austin for two more. The ref gets bumped and Austin goes low, before telling Vince to give him a chair. Vince chairs Rock in the head for two in a heck of a false finish.

Austin grabs the chair but walks into a Rock Bottom. This time it’s Vince distracting the referee so Rock hammers away, only to catch a Stunner to give Austin an even closer two. One heck of a chair to the head gives Austin two and that’s one kickout too many. A ridiculous SIXTEEN CHAIR SHOTS to Rock knocks him cold and gives Austin the title at 28:07.

Rating: A+. Oh come on do I need to explain this one? It’s Austin vs. Rock for the title in the best Wrestlemania main event ever. The energy is unlike any match ever, the chemistry is probably the best ever, the action is intense and bloody and the right guy won. I still don’t hate the ending (it was stupid to do in TEXAS) but it was certainly a twist. I don’t think this one really needs much of an explanation and if you haven’t seen it before (somehow) go do so immediately.

Austin and Vince share beer and shake hands, officially ending the Attitude Era and the biggest feud in wrestling history. JR is shocked and Austin hits another belt shot on Rock for good measure. As you might expect, the face continue to go coconuts for this and that’s really all you could expect from them.

This is another great example of a major point that people need to remember: Austin was good. Like, really good. I know his talking and energy are what made him famous but the guy could have some of the best matches you’ll ever see. This was a masterpiece (one of his many) and it always amazes me how good he really was when I watch these matches back. Austin is revered for a lot of reasons but it’s a shame that people don’t get just how great his stuff between the bells really was.

Oh and one more thing. Remember back when Vince vs. Austin started? Vince said Austin had two choices: either the way Vince wanted to do this or the hard way. So, after three years of all out war, Vince can say to Austin that he sees things…“my way.” If that was foreshadowing, I’m buying a hat so I can take it off to this show.

If that’s the best Wrestlemania main event ever, this is the biggest.

From Wrestlemania III.

Again, this shouldn’t need an introduction or a recap but just in case. Hogan won the title in 1984 and was congratulated by Andre the Giant. They became best friends (as is often the case with Hogan) but Bobby Heenan got in Andre’s head and turned him evil. Andre ripped Hogan’s shirt and crucifix off while issuing a challenge for Wrestlemania III. Hogan said (or shouted rather) yes and the biggest match ever was on.

WWF World Title: Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan
Date: March 29, 1987
Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan
Attendance: 93,173
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura

Hogan is def…..I’m not even finishing that as I’d consider it an insult to your intelligence. Again the entrances are awesome with Andre coming to the ring via the cart. Bobby Heenan is with him in a white tuxedo, which makes me think of Jose Sebastian Varga entering Los Angeles (If ANYONE can tell me what that reference is without looking it up, I’ll send you a free wrestling comic book. You deserve it if you have such good taste. First person to get it only of course.). The villains are pelted with trash in a visual you don’t often see.

Hogan’s entrance is nothing short of iconic as he walks to the ring instead of riding down, giving us the awesome wide shot with the spotlight on the champ the whole way down. Jesse gives us the tale of the tape and I continue to smile at the fact that my calves are equal to Hogan’s.

I could recite the commentary for the entrances (and the match for that matter) almost from memory as this match is just that huge and historic. Jesse: “This is the biggest match in the history of professional wrestling.” That would indeed be correct. I love the visual of the dark stadium and the occasional flash of light that shows you how many people are there. The atmosphere gives this match so much more (most of its strength actually). They stare each other down in the most famous visual in wrestling history, as well as the shot that I think sums up professional wrestling in one image.

Hogan slugs away but tries a slam WAY too early, causing Andre to fall on him for the near fall that caused the rematch next February. Andre slowly works over the back and it always amazes me how huge that man really is. More trash is thrown at Andre (with referee Joey Marella picking one piece out of the air in something I’ve never noticed before) and he steps over Hogan’s back. Andre crushes him in the corner and follows Heenan’s orders to headbutt him.

Another headbutt hits the buckle (to be fair Heenan didn’t tell him to do that one) and Hogan gets in some right hands. Andre gets sent into the buckle ten times but he’s still able to get up a big boot to cut off a charge. We hit the bearhug (you knew that was coming) but after two plus minutes, Hogan’s arm only goes down twice. Hogan slugs him off but charges into a chop, followed by a boot to the ribs to knock him outside.

Another headbutt hits the post (again, not Heenan’s instruction) so Hogan tries a piledriver on the exposed concrete (which appears to be exposed wood actually). Since it’s A, on the floor and B, ANDRE THE GIANT, he backdrops out of it without much effort. Back in and a running clothesline puts Andre down, sending the fans right back through the roof. It’s Hulk Up time and the most famous bodyslam of all time sets up the big leg to retain the title at 12:09.

Rating: D+. As I always say here, if you think the point is to have a great technical match, you don’t get wrestling. This is ALL about the presentation and the atmosphere and Hogan soundly defeating the only name close to his level. Andre was the big star ten years ago and how Hogan has defeated him once and for all. This would be like Cena defeating Undertaker now: it doesn’t really change anything, but it’s the moment that counts. It just happened to be in the biggest match of all time.

Of course it’s not great from a wrestling perspective, but why in the world would you want that? This was a stadium match (everything is designed to be an easily identified move with big spots that are easy to see) and that’s the only style they should have worked. It’s all about the big moments here and they nailed those harder than anything else ever did.

Actually let’s jump back to the previous show.

From Wrestlemania XVII.

If Austin vs. Rock II was everything it was expected to be, this one is everything people expected it to be and more. For about a year and a half, Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz feuded in one big gimmick match after another. At Summerslam 2000 they had an amazing match called Tables Ladder and Chairs which blew the doors off. Therefore, let’s have a sequel, naturally called TLC II. The specifics around this match don’t matter and aren’t really brought up. You just know these three teams are feuding and this is the only way they can blow it off (for now).

Tag Team Titles: Hardy Boyz vs. Edge and Christian vs. Dudley Boyz
Date: April 1, 2001
Location: AstroDome, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 67,925
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

The Dudleys are defending and it’s TLC. Both Canadians get beaten up by a tag team and there’s a great looking double flapjack to Christian. Edge and Christian head outside, leaving the Dudleys to take Poetry in Motion. It’s already time for the first ladder along with a chair with Jeff charging right into a double drop toehold into said chair. JR says Dudleyville is right outside of Parts Unknown and Matt is clotheslined off the ladder.

Edge gets dropped as well with a Poetry in Motion dropkick. Christian is put down and it’s a Hardy coming off a ladder each for a legdrop/splash combination. The Dudleys hit What’s Up on Edge and it’s table time. Well you knew that wouldn’t take long. Bubba and D-Von bring in one each (it’s nice to see Bubba do it himself for a change) with Edge being placed on one. Jeff’s hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb through Edge through the table as the carnage is starting to mount up.

Four tables are stacked up on the floor (oh that’s going to be a big deal later) as Heyman explains the Dudley Construction Company in Dudleyville. And who says kayfabe is dead? Two ladders are set up in the ring with Bubba grabbing a third and SMASHING it onto Matt’s head. All six go up at once and it’s Jeff, Matt and D-Von all falling onto the ropes. Christian goes all the way over the top and down to the floor in a heap. Bubba and Edge (via some weak slaps) go down too, leaving all six on the mat/floor.

Cue Bubba and D-Von’s half brother Spike as the match goes into fresh territory from its predecessors. Spike takes Edge off the ladder and hits a Dudley Dawg (Sliced Bread #2) on Christian, taking him off the apron and through a table on the floor. Edge and Christian’s friend Rhyno comes out (Can you believe that he and the Hardys are STILL on the WWE roster sixteen years later?) to clean house with whatever power move he can think of at the moment.

Now it’s Lita to make this a nine person affair, starting by pulling Edge off the ladder (Which JR describes as Lita “jerking Edge off”. Oh come on at least wait until Matt isn’t in the same room.). Spike saves Lita with a low blow to Rhyno and then chairs Rhyno into the ladder, taking Edge down again. A Doomsday Device keeps Rhyno in trouble (they’re giving him a heck of a rub here with this much being needed to keep him down) and Lita cracks Spike in the head with a chair. Lita takes her top off but walks into 3D.

Edge and Christian come back in to drop the Dudleys with chairs and Edge wants the BIG ladder. Said top, with Lita’s top hanging off the bottom, is set up in front of some tables on the floor and yeah this is going to be bad. Jeff climbs the big ladder for a mega Swanton onto Spike and Rhyno (meaning he mostly misses Rhyno and almost completely hits Spike, who takes the thing almost in full).

The big ladder is set in the ring alongside the three regular ladders and it’s D-Von and Christian going for a climb. Matt moves the ladder from underneath them (Matt: “HERE WE GO!”) and D-Von falls down. Jeff can’t quite walk the ladders like a tightrope. Instead he climbs a regular ladder…..as Edge climbs the big one.

Jeff loses his balance and, in the spot that people remember the match for and the spot that made Edge a star, it’s a HUGE SPEAR FROM THE BIG LADDER to take Jeff out of the air. My favorite line about that whole thing was when someone asked Edge if he was scared of that in rehearsal. Edge: “YOU THINK I DID THAT MORE THAN ONCE???” Matt and Bubba go up the big ladder but Rhyno shoves them through the four tables at ringside. Back in and D-Von goes up, only to have Rhyno give Christian a boost to the titles for the win at 15:48.

Rating: A+. What a performance. You see a lot of ladder/TLC matches these days but this is the one that holds up better than any of them. Now why is that the case? For me, it’s a combination of the history between the teams and how well the teams work together. They also don’t stop with the spots here. There’s no wrestling in the middle and that’s how it should be. They started off a bit slow but once it picks up, this is one huge spot after another, which is what a stunt show like this should be. Outstanding stuff here, as you probably know.

Also this is the end of the three way feud, which had dominated the division for a year. To put this in perspective, from February 27, 2000 thru April 17, 2001 (415 days), these three held the titles for 353 days. It was time for some fresh blood but sweet goodness what a way to wrap things up.

Now for some carnage and intricate booking in a completely different format.

From In Your House XXII: Over the Edge.

So it’s 1998 and Steve Austin is WWF World Champion. The feud with Vince McMahon is off to a blazing start as Vince has his first challenger to the title. In this case it’s Dude Love, but those aren’t the highest odds yet. Instead McMahon has installed Pat Patterson as guest ring announcer, Gerald Brisco as guest timekeeper and himself as guest referee. Vince insists that only his fall can count the pin, which sounded like a loophole. Undertaker is watching though, meaning all hope isn’t lost. Of note: when I was setting this list up, this was the first match my wife thought would make it as I rave about it that much.

WWF World Title: Steve Austin vs. Dude Love
Date: May 31, 1998
Location: Wisconsin Civic Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Attendance: 9,822
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Austin is defend and if he attacks Vince, he loses the title. Fink reads some special introductions, including saying Patterson made a career on pride, dignity, honor and integrity. He was the first Intercontinental Title in a grueling tournament in Rio de Janeiro (JR: “WINK WINK!”) and can only be compared to other Canadian greats such as Wayne Gretzky. Oh and he’s a role model to children.

Patterson comes in to take over the job, meaning an over the top introduction for Gerald Brisco. Pat: “Someone people call him the next Jim Thorpe. We’re lucky enough to call him a friend.” We hear the FULL contact information for the Brisco Brothers Body Shop and now it’s time for the main event. It’s on to Vince’s introduction so we hear about how he’s an American icon who has given us hope and the will to say YES I CAN. Wait that’s it? No song? No statue? I’m disappointed people.

Vince has no entrance music yet (give him about eight months) and Lawler gives him a standing ovation. As for Dude, he’s the cat that makes the kittens purr. The fans just start going nuts as soon as it’s time for Austin, but Pat has some announcements for him too. Austin is a beer swilling fool, a foul mouthed punk, a disgrace to every human being today….and Patterson isn’t introducing a bum like that. The fans lose it for Austin’s entrance again but we’re STILL not ready to go. Instead here’s the Undertaker to keep an eye on things, meaning the awesome entrances continue.

We finally get the bell with Austin driving Dude into the corner, earning a clean break from Vince. That’s good for the first middle finger of the match and Austin only gets madder when Vince counts a VERY fast two off a rollup. We hit a headlock of all things to keep Dude down as the fans call Vince gay. Love loses his teeth and Austin stomps on them (actually a spot stolen from Ronnie Garvin and Ox Baker), followed by the Thesz press. They head outside with Austin going into the steps so Vince can add some trash talking.

Back in and Dude starts switching into Cactus mode, stomping and biting in the corner. A running knee in the corner gets two on the champ but he fires off some clotheslines to get a breather. The Mandible Claw cuts Austin off so he throws Dude into the ropes, getting Dude’s head tied in the ropes. Vince makes the save and it’s time for the announcers’ table….as Patterson reminds us that this match is No DQ. JR is LIVID (as only he can be) and Austin sends Dude into the timekeeper’s area, crushing Brisco in the process.

One heck of a clothesline knocks Dude over the barricade and onto the concrete, popping the crowd all over again. Back in and Austin misses the running crotch attack on the ropes but BRISCO IS UP AND HAS HIS HAMMER READY! We can breathe easily now. They head back outside with Dude hitting a neckbreaker on the floor….and Pat tells us falls count anywhere. JR: “SINCE WHEN??? SINCE WHEN??? THAT’S NOT RIGHT!!!” I love the indignant JR.

They fight up to the entrance (which has a bunch of cars for some reason) with Austin being backdropped onto the hood for two. A hot shot sends Dude into a Gremlin for two but Dude shoves him off the roof for a big crash. Since Dude is freaking nuts, it’s a sunset flip off the hood onto the concrete for two more. They fight near the trunk of a Mercury and Austin is busted open. A suplex on the floor has Vince cheering Dude on but the elbow (off the Mercury of course) only hits concrete. That’s just such a sick crash.

Back to the ring and Vince trips Austin so Dude, who can somehow still walk, can hammer away. Austin goes head first into an exposed buckle a few times but for some reason Dude doesn’t cover. Maybe is has something to do with DIVING OFF A CAR ONTO CONCRETE a few minutes ago. A comeback is cut off by another ram into the buckle but you can hear the crowd still with Austin.

Patterson hands Dude a chair for a double arm DDT (good one too) for another near fall that should have been hotter than it was. Austin gets back up with a chair shot to the head but Vince won’t count. Dude is back up and chairs Vince by mistake, earning himself a Stunner. A second ref comes out but Patterson takes him out. The Mandible Claw goes on Austin so Patterson counts two, earning himself one heck of a chokeslam through the announcers’ table (ROAR).

Brisco goes through the second one (JR: “WHO’S YOUR DADDY???”) and Austin hits a Stunner on Dude. Vince is out though so Austin grabs his hand and slaps the mat for the pin to retain at 22:27. JR goes nuts and Austin is all kinds of fired up because he knows they just tore the house down.

Rating: A. See, this is what Vince Russo’s ideas could pull off if you get the other parts right. The problem though is very simple: Austin vs. Foley for twenty two minutes is going to be awesome every time because they can make any kind of match work. You can’t say the opposite though, as Russo’s ideas have proven that they can’t stand on their own time after time. Giving this match the extended time and having that kind of talent in there made the ideas work VERY well though, especially with two of the best brawlers ever involved.

All that aside, this is one heck of a physical brawl with all the pieces fitting together perfectly. The look on Austin’s face after he retains tells you the whole thing as the fans just exploded for the win. They bought into anything Austin was doing at this point and having a classic match is a great way to go. This is one of my favorite matches ever and Austin’s energy is a great reason why. Just watch his eyes and you’ll see what everyone else saw in him. There’s a fire there that you just can’t make up and Austin had it more than anyone ever.

We’re going to completely switch gears now and go to my favorite of all gimmick shows.

From Survivor Series 1989.

I’ve always loved Survivor Series and I had to have a match on here. I’m also a child of the 80s (ok the very late 80s) and that means I had an awesome generation of wrestlers to watch. That’s what we have here, with easily the most awesome Survivor Series team in the history of ever. I’ll let you guess which is which.

Hulkamaniacs vs. Million Dollar Team
Date: November 23, 1989
Location: Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois
Attendance: 15,294
Commentators: Jesse Ventura, Gorilla Monsoon

Hulkamaniacs: Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts, Demolition

Million Dollar Team: Ted DiBiase, Zeus, Powers of Pain

I think you can guess who is feuding with whom here. The villains won’t let Hogan and company in so they’re stuck standing on the floor while Real American plays. Jesse: “COUNT ALL FOUR OF THEM ALL OUT!” The solution to this problem? THROW A TWENTY FOOT SNAKE INTO THE RING! Just….yeah this match wins. I don’t care how horrible it is after that. Jake throwing the snake in to clean house is all I need from this match.

Zeus wants Hogan to start so Hulk spits at him. Gorilla: “What’s the Z on the side of his head for? Is that in case he gets lost?” I know Monsoon would ask a bunch of weird questions but….really? Jake actually starts for the team but Zeus demands and receives Hogan. Trash is talked and Hogan tries a shoulder, only to fall down as a result. A bunch of shots to the head have no effect so Hogan rakes the eyes for a slam. Zeus pops right back up and twists Hogan’s neck before choking away for a DQ. He wasn’t a wrestler so there’s only so much you can do to get rid of him.

DiBiase drops in some knees on the downed Hogan but that just means a few right hands from the champ. It’s off to Jake (feuding with DiBiase at this point) to hammer away, followed by Ax chopping DiBiase down in that classic Demolition style. Smash and Hogan get in their shots as well as DiBiase is taking one heck of a beating. An elbow to the jaw finally gives Ted a breather and it’s off to Warlord.

Ax elbows him in the jaw and scores with a clothesline but Mr. Fuji trips him up. Warlord drops an elbow for the elimination, which really shouldn’t be enough to pin Ax. The three remaining Hulkamaniacs come in and work over Warlord as this is just kicking and punching so far. Barbarian kicks (See what I mean?) Smash in the face and it’s back to DiBiase for the falling punches. Smash starts a comeback with a hot shot but Barbarian makes a blind tag, setting up a top rope clothesline to put Smash away.

Jake comes in but can’t get the DDT. Instead the rotating beatings continue with DiBiase hitting a piledriver (Jesse: “IT’S OVER! IT’S GOTTA BE!”) but Jake gets his foot on the ropes. A middle rope elbow misses though and the hot tag brings in Hogan to clean house in a hurry. He even uses a suplex for two on Barbarian. The Powers get together for a spike piledriver and that’s a double DQ, meaning three members of DiBiase’s team has been disqualified. You can imagine Jesse’s livid reaction and it’s glorious.

Ted slaps on the Million Dollar Dream until Jake makes the save. Jesse: “NOW WHY WASN’T HE DISQUALIFIED???” He has a point actually. Hogan punches him out of the air and the hot tag (eh lukewarm at best) brings Jake back in. Cue Virgil for a distraction and he eats a DDT, allowing DiBiase to hit a fist drop for the pin on Roberts.

So it’s Hogan vs. DiBiase in 1989 and I think you know where this is going. Ted shoves Virgil’s cold body outside and we hit the chinlock. Hogan fights up and it’s a double clothesline to put both guys down. A belly to back suplex triggers the Hulk Up and it’s the big boot into the legdrop to give Hogan the pin at 27:33.

Rating: D. What a weirdly booked match. A good chunk of this had the heels at a disadvantage which goes completely against the way a match like this should work. That’s not the best idea when you have the WWF World and Tag Team Champions on a team plus Jake as a bonus. It’s just not a good match, mainly from the booking and the lack of almost anything interesting in the match. The opening is great though and Jesse losing his mind is highly entertaining as always.

Now let’s try the other company’s big team gimmick match.

From WrestleWar 1992.

Oh now you knew I was getting a WarGames match in here and there’s no other option (Well maybe 1991. Or the original. Dang WarGames was awesome.). So this is during the time when Sting ruled the world in WCW and, in the span of a few months, feuded with about ten different people.

Five of them (not counting managers) were part of the Dangerous Alliance, one of the best heel groups of all time. Basically it was Paul E. Dangerously (Heyman) wanting to destroy WCW, which would start with destroying the franchise player. This lead to the team attacking Sting every chance they had so Sting got some friends and we had the stage set for WarGames.

For those of you unfamiliar, WarGames is a fairly complicated idea. You have two rings with a double cage over it (no wall between the two rings) and a door at either end. A member of each team will start the match and fight for five minutes. After that, there will be a coin toss (the heels won every single time until TNA had the faces win because TNA was actually dumber than WCW) with the winning team getting a one man advantage for two minutes. After two minutes, the team that lost the toss will get to even things up for two minutes. The teams alternate every two minutes until all ten are in, then the first submission wins.

Sting’s Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance
Date: May 17, 1992
Location: Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jesse Ventura, Tony Schiavone

Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff

Rick Rude, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko, Steve Austin

Remember that submissions don’t count until all ten are in the cage. Sweet merciful goodness that’s some insane talent. Seven are in the Hall of Fame at the moment, Rhodes will be, Eaton should be and Koloff would have been if his wife hadn’t gotten sick. Windham and Austin (Barry took the TV Title from Austin recently) start fast with Barry blocking a whip into the cage. Instead Austin backdrops him and drops an elbow as Dangerously is talking strategy with his team.

Barry rakes Austin’s face into the cage as Jesse rants about Barry’s taped up hand. You know, because there should be disqualifications in WAR. Austin comes back with a diving clothesline (so weird to see from him) over both sets of ropes to take Windham into the other ring. Barry pops back up and sends him into the cage a few times before just raking Austin’s face over the cage to draw some blood. Paul: “Oh no! Oh no!”

The coin toss goes to the Dangerous Alliance and it’s Rick Rude coming in for a two minute advantage. Rude is all kinds of fired up and unloads on Barry as Austin is trying to remember what planet he’s on. Another clothesline takes Windham down and a double ram into the cage makes things even worse. Ricky Steamboat evens things up and goes right for Rude as the energy picks up all over again.

Windham can’t get back up though and Steamboat gets double teamed. That’s fine with Ricky, who grabs the top of the cage and kicks Austin away. The four split up again until it’s Arn Anderson coming in to give the Alliance the advantage again. A spinebuster takes Steamboat down and it’s Rude and Anderson putting on a double Boston crab. Barry comes over to make the save so Rude piledrives Steamboat instead.

A double clothesline takes Rude and Steamboat down though and it’s Dustin Rhodes coming in to even things up. House is cleaned with some clotheslines, followed by an electric chair to plant Austin. Windham isn’t about to be outdone and shoves Anderson’s head between the two rings for a great visual. Steamboat has Rude in a Figure Four until it’s finally Larry Zbyszko comes in, only to have Dustin cut him off to keep Rude in the hold.

Alliance manager Madusa goes on top of the cage to slip Dangerously’s phone to Anderson and it’s the Alliance taking over again. They’re about fifteen minutes in at this point and the intensity hasn’t dropped a bit, which is a huge key to the whole thing. It’s like they’re fighting for their lives and that makes for a great atmosphere. Sting comes in to even things up and he starts with a very impressive gorilla press to send Rude’s back into the roof four times in a row.

Anderson’s bloody face is raked over the cage as all eight are in the same ring for some reason. Sting keeps cleaning house until it’s Bobby Eaton in to complete the Alliance. Dustin kicks Austin’s blood covered face but Eaton gets in a few shots from behind for a save. Zbyszko and Rude start loosening the top turnbuckle but Steamboat comes over to hammer on Larry. Everyone fights with everyone and it’s Koloff (whose loyalty to Sting is in serious question due to a long history together) coming in to give us all ten men inside.

Koloff hammers away and even pulls Sting up before shoving him away to take a double clothesline for him. It’s Koloff and Sting with a double clothesline of their own, followed by a hug to pop the crowd again. Rude goes after the turnbuckle again as Jesse brings up a good question: how is the referee supposed to hear a submission in this chaos? Sting slaps the Scorpion on Anderson but Eaton makes the save as the buckle has been broken.

Things start to slow a bit (likely due to massive blood loss) as people start trying submission holds. Sting gets beaten down by Larry and Bobby until Zbyszko picks up the turnbuckle with the metal hook and hits Eaton by mistake. Larry gets knocked down and an armbar makes Eaton submit at 23:27. That loss would end Zbyszko’s time with the team and the Alliance would fall apart in short order, again because WCW is stupid.

Rating: A+. What a battle. Find this match if you want to see a group of people just beat the fire out of each other for over twenty minutes with no one ever stopping. The Alliance was the weaker group of talent but they’re more than enough of a challenge here to the better team. This is one of the most violent, bloody matches you’ll ever see from the top promotions and one of the best team matches as well. It’s also a case where the blood makes for a better match and they certainly let it flow. Check this one out and see what WCW could do when its head was on straight.

And now for something COMPLETELY different.

From Wrestlemania III.

I’ve often called this one of the best opening matches ever and I still say that to this day. No story here as this would be a dark match today.

Can-Am Connection vs. Don Muraco/Bob Orton
Date: March 29, 1987
Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan
Attendance: 93,173
Commentators: Jesse Ventura, Gorilla Monsoon

Muraco and Orton have Mr. Fuji with them. Rick Martel starts with Muraco with Rick actually running him over off a shoulder. A hiptoss and something like a monkey flip gives Martel two. Everything breaks down and Orton takes a double hiptoss, followed by an armbar. Gorilla thinks Orton has excellence of execution, which is a pretty fair assessment. I’m sure Bret Hart won’t quite agree but I’m sure he has some more complaining to do.

Muraco accidentally forearms Orton down for two and it’s time to stay on Orton’s arm. It’s off to Muraco so Orton can get in a knee from the back to give the villains control. A collision puts both guys down and there’s the hot tag to Martel. Everything breaks down with Muraco backdropping Orton, only to get double dropkicked outside. Orton is knocked to the floor as well, leaving Muraco to get crossbodied over Martel’s back, giving Zenk the pin at 5:37.

Rating: B-. Here’s the thing: it’s not a great match or anything special at all really, but it’s a simple, easy to follow and entertaining match. This got the crowd going and that’s all it was supposed to do. There are definitely higher quality opening matches, but this is a nearly perfect fit and I’ve always liked it for just that reason. The Connection was a very fun team and the predecessors to one of my favorites in Strike Force.

Here’s a slightly better and more famous/important tag match.

From Takeover: Toronto.

I’m really not sure what all I can say about this match. NXT knows how to deliver white hot tag matches and they did so again here, as DIY challenges the Revival for the Tag Team Titles in a 2/3 falls match. It’s awesome and that’s all there is to say about it.

NXT Tag Team Titles: Revival vs. DIY
Date: November 19, 2016
Location: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 12,649
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves

Revival is defending and it’s Dawson and Gargano to start things off. They go after the legs to start with a few trips for a few near falls and Dawson hides in the corner when he’s told it was a two. Gargano runs the ropes and makes a blind tag, allowing Ciampa to come in and crank on Dawson’s arm, as a wrestler likely should be doing.

Dawson breaks that up by ripping at Ciampa’s face to take over and the champs are in control. Dash is lifted up and dropped into a legdrop for two but a dropkick is enough to bring in Gargano to speed things up a bit. Johnny’s jumping neckbreaker gets two on Wilder but the slingshot spear is countered into the Shatter Machine for the first fall.

We start the second fall with a slingshot suplex getting two on Gargano as the beating continues. They be clubberin and Graves is smart enough to know to call it that. It’s off to a bodyscissors for a bit before Dawson switches it up to the Gory Special. Since that hold can only stay on for so long, Johnny slips out and hits a tornado DDT/enziguri combination to take the champs down.

Wilder offers a distraction though and the referee misses the hot tag (one of my favorite tag team spots). A Hart Attack gets two but Johnny fights out of a belly to back superplex and the hot tag brings in Gargano. Something like a reverse Rough Ryder (think a Fameasser version of the same move) sets up a running boot to Dawson’s face for a rather close near fall. What looks to be a spike piledriver is broken up and it’s Meet in the Middle to put Dawson away and tie things up.

NOW we’re ready to go because that was nothing more than a glorified warmup. We take a quick breather before starting in on the third fall where things can really crank up. Wilder and Ciampa slug it out with the fans giving us a good hearty BOO/YAY chant. Ciampa gets the better of it and it’s off to Dawson, who reverses the flip armbar into a crucifix for two. Gargano comes back in with a slingshot DDT but gets caught in a European uppercut/German suplex combination.

A diving save breaks things up and the fans are WAY into this all over again. Ciampa gets posted so Gargano has to kick Wilder away and grab a small package for a very close two. Wilder throws Dawson belt, which he uses to block a rolling kick to the face in a smart move. Since Dawson is smart, he slaps on an inverted Figure Four and Gargano starts screaming. He finally makes the ropes, drawing a heck of a roar from the crowd.

The champs load up Meet in the Middle but Wilder superkicks Dawson by mistake, setting up a Shatter Machine on Wilder for a VERY close two. The fans (and myself) completely bought that and you can feel the air go out on the kickout. Dawson grabs a rollup for two…but the referee realizes that he’s not legal. That’s so out of place but it makes perfect sense in a match like this.

Wilder BLASTS Gargano’s good knee with a chop block but we actually go to a pinfall reversal sequence. A rollup is countered into the Gargano Escape and the fans are all over it again. Dawson dives in for the save, only to be cut off again by Ciampa, who slaps on his flip over armbar. The champs are in trouble in the middle of the ring but grab hands to hold on. It only lasts for a little while though and the double tap FINALLY makes DIY champions at 22:17.

Rating: A. I called this the co-Match of the Year along with Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura from Takeover: Dallas as I just couldn’t separate the two of them. This is another great example of the crowd carrying a match far beyond where it was going to go on its own and that almost always works wonders. The stolen Shatter Machine was one of the best near falls I can remember in a LONG time and the ending, with the double submission to make it clear that both champions had been bested making it even better. Just an outstanding piece of tag team wrestling and something everyone needs to see.

Let’s try some singles wrestling instead, with a gimmick that they’ve never really used since.

From In Your House XIII.

So back at the 1997 Royal Rumble, Steve Austin was eliminated but snuck back in and eliminated real winner Bret Hart to be declared the winner. The solution: throw the remaining four into one match to crown a new #1 contender. In this case it’s a mini battle royal with over the top, pinfalls or submissions for eliminations. However, less than a week before this, Shawn Michaels misplaced his smile and vacated the WWF World Title. Therefore, let’s just throw it on the line here.

WWF World Title: Bret Hart vs. Undertaker vs. Steve Austin vs. Vader
Date: February 16, 1997
Location: UTC Arena, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Attendance: 6,399
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

The title is vacant coming in and the winner has to defend against Sid tomorrow night. Vader has Paul Bearer with him, continuing Bearer’s long running war with Undertaker. The monsters slug it out to start while the normal (work with me here) sized guys go at it in the corner. That goes nowhere so it’s Old School for Austin, only to have Vader grab a belly to belly on Undertaker.

Vader and Undertaker head outside (through the ropes, meaning they’re still in) with Vader swinging a chair, only to hit the post by mistake. A second attempt is kicked back into his face, drawing a good reaction from the already hot crowd. Vader’s eye is busted and since it’s Vader, you know it’s going to be a good one. Everyone gets back in with Vader slugging at Undertaker’s face while Austin jawbreaks his way out of a sleeper for two.

Something like a Stunner (which was sold more like a swinging neckbreaker) gets the same on Undertaker and Vader hits Bret low. Austin and Undertaker take turns throwing each other into the corner, leaving the other two out on the floor. A chair to Bret’s back has him in trouble as Austin tries to piledrive Undertaker in the aisle. They switch off with Undertaker vs. Bret (an easy winner) in the ring and Vader vs. Austin (that’s an interesting one) in the aisle.

Austin misses a swing with the steps and gets his face clubbed in as the announcers try to call the whole thing. Vader gets whipped into the timekeeper’s area and beaten with the belt as Vader’s eye is just gushing. For some reason Vader pulls Bret outside, leaving Undertaker to crotch Austin in the corner. Bret and Vader wind up in the crowd for a few seconds with Bret actually getting the better of it. Austin heads up top for a clothesline (he was such a different, and yet still awesome, worker before the neck injury) on Undertaker before breaking up Vader’s Sharpshooter on Bret.

Undertaker PUNCHES VADER RIGHT IN THE BLOODY EYE, followed by a Thesz Press and right hands from Austin to the same eye. They’re all back in for the first time in a good while with Bret piledriving Austin for two more. Vader’s moonsault misses Undertaker though and the giants head outside again. Bret and Austin tease some over the top eliminations (yeah those are still a thing) as Vader chokes Undertaker down for two. Vader and Hart slug it out with Bret returning the favor for the low blow.

Undertaker can’t get Austin out as Vader (with half of his face covered in blood) armbars Bret. That goes nowhere so Vader just hits him in the jaw really, really hard. Why mess make things more complicated than it needs to be? They trade off and Bret dumps Austin (who was NEVER scheduled to win this, despite stuff that many, including myself, have said before) for the first elimination.

Austin nearly collapses on the floor, which is understandable as he was sick with the flu during this show. Undertaker gives Vader a Stinger Splash of all things but Vader is right back with a chop block. That puts him down on the floor (not eliminated) and Vader FINALLY takes off the mask…which really doesn’t change a thing. Bearer clocks Undertaker with the Urn and gives us some of that high pitched trash talk. Bret gets the attention back on him with A FREAKING TOP ROPE SUPERPLEX ON VADER. A very shaken Undertaker gets back up and breaks a Sharpshooter on Vader for some reason.

Cue Austin to stomp on Bret because he just hates him that much. Vader loads up the Vader Bomb but Undertaker hits him low for the second elimination. Undertaker scares Austin off and chokeslams Bret (going down with him for a spot he didn’t do in his last years). The Tombstone is broken up as Austin grabs Bret’s legs for some reason, leaving Undertaker to go after him. The distraction is enough for Bret to clothesline Undertaker over the top for the title at 24:05.

Rating: A. Sweet goodness what a fight and what a way to kick off possibly the best period the company has ever had. Bret would lose the title to Sid the next night, claim a conspiracy, and turn heel in the process, followed by the aforementioned masterpiece against Austin at Wrestlemania. As for this one though, they were just beating the tar out of each other (with JR NAILING the commentary the whole way through in one of his all time best performances) with Vader’s eye being a highlight. Just a brutal, brutal match here with Bret winning being the right call, especially with what was coming up.

What’s better than a four way brawl? How about one of the best one on one brawls of all time?

From Royal Rumble 2000.

HHH is a monster who the WWF World Title from Mankind the night after Summerslam 1999. After losing the title to Vince McMahon and trading it with Big Show, HHH is already a three time champion in less than six months. Somehow though, he hasn’t had the big feud as champion and still doesn’t have the signature win. If you need someone to get a new megastar over though, there’s one man you call and he just happens to have three different personas living inside his head.

The match was eventually made (after Mideon acting as a Mankind impersonator and Rock threatening to start his own wrestling company) as Mankind vs. HHH in a street fight at Royal Rumble 2000. However, a week or so beforehand, HHH beat the heck out of Mankind in a tag match and left him laying.

Mankind said he wasn’t ready to face HHH in that kind of a match, but he had a suitable replacement. He took off the mask and opened his button down shirt to reveal the Cactus Jack shirt, sending the fans through the roof and HHH into total panic. That’s one of my favorite promos/segments ever as HHH sells it to absolute perfection as he suddenly realizes how far he’s in over his head. So much of this is due to the effort that Foley had put into his characters in the past. It wasn’t just a costume change for Foley, but rather a complete personality change. HHH knew what was waiting on him and he was petrified.

The story on the surface is great enough, but there’s an extra layer (which was barely mentioned in the build and certainly not mentioned during the match) that takes it several steps further. Back on September 4, 1997, Monday Night Raw made its Madison Square Garden debut and featured an incredible falls count anywhere match (which probably should have made this list) between Cactus Jack and HHH with Jack piledriving him through a table on the stage for the pin.

That’s what makes this match so much better. It’s not just Cactus Jack vs. HHH. It’s Cactus Jack vs. HHH in Jack’s signature match in Jack’s backyard in a match where he has every advantage over the champion. HHH was a lot of things at this point but he absolutely was not a street fighter. He had always been able to sneak away with a win and survive, but this time he has no choice but to come out swinging. I love this story and the fact that the match is still to come makes it even better.

WWF World Title: HHH vs. Cactus Jack
Date: January 23, 2000
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 19,231
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

HHH is defending. Sweet goodness I miss the My Time theme. I know the Game intro has become his signature entrance but My Time is just an awesome song for him. Stephanie wisely bails because this is going to get violent in a hurry. They slug it out to start with Cactus pretty easily getting the better of it, as he certainly should. A swinging neckbreaker on the floor drops the champ and we get a CACTUS JACK chant.

The bell bounces off Jack’s head though as HHH is trying to get in whatever shots he can. Jack pops back up so HHH waits in the ring with a chair, but Jack comes right in to face him anyway. One heck of a chair to the face puts Jack down and HHH is looking the slightest bit comfortable. It’s not enough to keep Jack down for more than a few seconds though and Jack drops a leg onto the chair onto HHH’s face. They head outside again with HHH getting backdropped into the crowd and stumbling towards the aisle (which is awesomely decorated like a street for the street fight).

Jack suplexes him onto some wooden pallets, followed by some whips into the metal doorway entrance. HHH gets in a suplex of his own to drop Jack onto a trashcan, followed by a whip to send Jack knees first into the steps. For some reason this just wakes him up and it’s time for the barbed wire 2×4. I mean, it’s obviously the rubber stuff but it’s a cool visual at least. HHH takes it away though and blasts Jack in the ribs a few times. A low blow with the barbed wire cuts HHH off though and the referee takes the board away.

The Spanish commentary team puts it underneath their table, which more or less guarantees a return in a few minutes. It’s actually just a few moments though as Jack goes outside and gets it, only to bump the referee by mistake. Jack blasts HHH in the head with the wire and we’ve got a heck of a blade job. Another shot to the face gets no cover, despite the referee being back up. In the famous shot of the match, Jack rips at HHH’s already cut forehead with the barbed wire. A piledriver through the announcers’ table is broken up as HHH somehow fights back (despite a cut on his calf).

Back in and a catapult sends HHH into the corner and another ram into the wire gives Jack two more. There is so much blood here and it really is making this feel more violent, in a very good way. There’s the Cactus Clothesline (you knew that was coming) but Jack goes knees first into the steps again. Back in and HHH starts swinging away with the barbed wire 2×4….before pulling out handcuffs. Things instantly get more serious as the flashbacks to last year’s I Quit match start up.

HHH cuffs the hands behind Jack’s back and slugs away but stops to grab the steps. A drop toehold into the steps gives Jack a breather but HHH cuts him off with a chair. They head up the aisle with HHH blasting him with the chair over and over. Jack says hit him again but here’s the Rock to cave HHH’s head in with a chair. A cop shows up to unlock the cuffs and Jack has another chance.

Now the piledriver through the table….still doesn’t work as HHH BOUNCES OFF THE TABLE. It’s time for thumbtacks, which was still a huge deal back in the day. Cue Stephanie for a distraction though and HHH backdrops Jack onto the tacks. The Pedigree connects….and it’s good for two. The roof is blown somewhere over New Jersey so HHH Pedigrees him ONTO THE TACKS to retain at 26:52.

Rating: A+. Yep it still works and it still made HHH into a fighter for the rest of his career. This was the match that HHH needed to launch him to the next level because he showed just how far he could and would take it to retain the title. For once he wasn’t just a coward who would use his mind but rather a brawler who could use his fists. Incredible match, with Foley knowing exactly how to string the fans along the whole way and suck them into the story they were telling. Incredible stuff here and one of the best brawls the company has ever had.

HHH is taken off on a stretcher but Jack gets up and takes him back inside for one more shot with the barbed wire to set up the rematch inside the Cell at No Way Out. Stephanie looking terrified at what she just saw is a great visual.

I’ve been liking watching HHH get beaten up so let’s do it again.

From Raw, May 21, 2001.

The night after Wrestlemania XVII, Austin, HHH and Vince formed the Two Man Power Trip (with three members of course). They soon held the World, Intercontinental and Tag Team Titles, dispatching the Hardys and the Brothers of Destruction without too much effort. New challengers were needed and they DESPERATELY needed to be some fresh blood. That’s exactly what we got as well, as Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho issued a challenge to start the show and received their shot later that evening.

Tag Team Titles: HHH/Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho
Date: May 21, 2001
Location: Compaq Center, San Jose, California
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman

Austin and HHH are defending. Jericho starts with Austin as you can feel the importance in this one. A running forearm gives Jericho two and a top rope elbow to the head has Austin in early trouble. Benoit comes in for the hard chops that only he could make sound that vicious. Austin gets caught in a top rope superplex and Jericho comes in for no logical reason, allowing HHH to make a save.

Benoit shrugs it off and grabs a Crossface on Austin but HHH hits him with a chair for a delayed near fall. The reactions to the first kickout are very strong, which tells you a lot about how much the fans want to see this one. Benoit has to slug it out with HHH but gets caught with a facebuster for two. Austin’s running crotch attack on the ropes keeps Benoit in trouble and it’s time to work on the ribs.

A few stomps set up an assisted abdominal stretch. Benoit fights up again but gets caught in a sleeper. As you might expect, Benoit suplexes his way to freedom and scores with an enziguri for the tag to Jericho….which the referee misses. Austin takes Benoit outside for a heck of a whipping but the referee gets rid of him, meaning there’s no one to count after a Pedigree. Jericho uses the distraction to missile dropkick HHH and NOW the hot tag brings him in.

Everything breaks down and the Thesz press is countered into the Walls. HHH dives in for the save and OW I TORE MY QUAD! In one of the toughest performances you’ll ever see, HHH loads up the announcers’ table but gets put in the Walls instead, basically making him want to cry in agony. Back inside, Benoit Swan Dives Austin for no count as HHH is tapping. The Stunner hits Benoit but Jericho pulls the referee.

HHH pulls out the sledgehammer as Jericho hits Austin with the Lionsault. There’s still no referee so HHH grabs the sledgehammer, only to hit Austin by mistake (like a Star Destroyer hitting the Death Star in Return of the Jedi), giving Jericho the pin and the titles at 13:55 to one of the biggest reactions you’ll ever hear.

Rating: A-. It’s shorter than I would have liked (NO COMMERCIALS THOUGH) but the ending was absolutely insane. There are rare moments in wrestling where you know things are going to go one way and then something happens to change everything and you suddenly believe in the impossible. That’s what happened when the sledgehammer hit Austin by mistake and the fans came back to life. It’s a great moment to go with a great match and it still holds up.

Now let’s completely shift gears and go with one of my other loves.

From Raw, December 23, 2013.

Something you might not know about me is that I’m a Christmas fanatic. I decorate the house, I wear a Santa hat for the better part of a month, and I regularly watch at least 100 Christmas specials/movies (and yes, I keep a list of them) every year. You don’t see many Christmas related wrestling matches, but that’s what we got here.

It’s a battle to save Christmas between Good Santa (a 400+lb wig splitter who may or may not be the World’s Strongest Man) and Bad Santa (who may or may not be a Latin speaking know-it-all from California). One wants to cancel Christmas and the other wants to save it, meaning IT’S TIME TO HAVE A MATCH ON RAW!

But first, the tale of the tape:

Good Santa (The World’s Strongest Santa)

Height: 6’4

Weight: 405lbs

From: The North Pole (Silsbee, Texas)

Sleigh Make/Model: Humvee H2

Known Associates: Elves, Reindeer

Favorite Christmas Treats: Christmas Cookies and Protein Shakes

Favorite Gifts to Give: Toys, XBOX, Gadgets

Favorite Christmas Tradition: Filling Stockings

Bad Santa (The World’s Smartest Santa):

Height: 6’4

Weight: 243lbs

From: The South Pole (Palo Alto, California)

Sleigh Make/Model: 1977 AMC Spirit

Known Associates: Substitute Teachers, Truant Officers

Favorite Christmas Treats: Onions, Clamato

Favorite Gifts to Give: Slide Rules, The Gift of My Company

Favorite Christmas Tradition: Throwing Snowballs at Carolers

Good Santa vs. Bad Santa
Date: December 23, 2013
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

There’s a Christmas tree and some presents at ringside and Bad Santa comes out to Xanta Claus’ music in a VERY nice touch. Bad Santa, with a dirty suit, comes out carrying coal. Good Santa drops him with a single kick to the ribs before opening a present. It’s a toilet and of course Bad Santa goes face first into the bowl. Bad Santa pulls out a fire extinguisher…..which doesn’t work.

Good Santa makes it work though (not only does he deliver, but he knows proper fire safety) and they head up the ramp as Cole and JBL argue over whether Santa’s suit is fireproof or if it’s Santa himself. Bad Santa’s candy cane kendo stick is broken in half and Good Santa rolls him down the ramp, right through the tree. Back in and Bad Santa still can’t get the extinguisher to work, meaning he gets blasted again. The World’s Strongest Slam saves Christmas at 3:17.

Rating: A+. I still love it. Moving on.

Post match Good Santa opens some presents (JBL: “ARREST HIM!!! THAT MAN IS A THIEF!!! SANTA DOES NOT STEAL PRESENTS!!!) and finds some Christmas cupcakes. After declaring them pretty good, Bad Santa takes them to the face. JBL: “JIMMY STEWART IS ROLLING OVER IN HIS GRAVE!!!” Stewart is my favorite actor so we’ll call that a bonus.

And finally, back where it all began.

From Wrestlemania I.

It’s the first match I ever reviewed and there’s nothing else to wrap this up with.

Tito Santana vs. The Executioner
Date: March 31, 1985
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 19,121
Commentator: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura

No story here as Executioner is just a generic masked villain played by Buddy “I ONLY WEIGH 200 POUNDS!” Rose. Before the match, Tito says he doesn’t know much about the undefeated Executioner but he’s standing in Tito’s way and no one gets to do that. Executioner, who stumbles through his words, says he’s going after Tito’s leg. Well to be fair, an executioner doesn’t need to be the most secretive about his strategy. His promo was AWFUL though as he kind of rambled and sounded like any given guy instead of anything menacing.

Executioner is actually much smaller than Tito, which makes for quite the odd visual. Tito backdrops him down and a dropkick puts him on the floor. Back in and Tito scores with a headlock takeover, followed by some right hands into the corner. He takes a bit too long though and Executioner kicks him in the ribs, meaning it’s time to go after the leg. That lasts all of fifteen seconds before Executioner cowers away in the corner as this is almost entirely one sided. A gorilla press off the top gives Tito two and another slam sets up the flying forearm. No cover, but Tito slaps on the Figure Four for the win at 4:49.

Rating: C. Nothing match here but it was a great way to start the show. Tito was a huge crowd favorite and would get a reaction no matter what he did. He’s also one of my all time favorite wrestlers and I had to get him in here somehow. There was no story here and Executioner was a standard villain of the time, but they did this exactly right. Tito was a perfect choice here and it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

For a little bonus, here’s the original review, the first one I ever did.

Tito Santana vs. The Executioner

Anyway, let’s get going with the show. To begin with, in the first match in the history of Wrestlemania, we see Tito Santana vs. The Executioner, portrayed by Buddy “Blow Away” Rose. Before the match we get a pre-recorded interview (which I believe all of them are tonight) from the Executioner saying that he’s going after Santana’s leg which was already injured.

The match is pretty much what you would expect for an 80s WWF match. Very standard stuff that’s by no means bad, but not really great either. Tito is at his best here against a random heel, and he wins in standard fashion with a forearm and the figure four.

Rating: C. Considering it’s the first ever match at the biggest show that would ever exist, I didn’t know what to expect. It’s certainly not bad, but doesn’t really set a good first foot forward for Wrestlemania if that makes sense. This is more famous for simply being the first match in the history of the biggest wrestling series ever, but it wasn’t anything special at all.

Yeah….I think I’ve gotten a bit better, though I didn’t even realize I did the joke about Rose’s name even back then. That made me smile.

Before we get to the final two matches, there are a few that I left off for one reason or another (watched it recently, forgot to put it on at first, didn’t feel like watching it at the moment etc). I’m sure I forgot a few that should be on here but this is kind of like an honorable mention list.

Doomsday Cage – Uncensored 1996

I’m never reviewing this again because I can’t top the old review. It’s by far and away the funniest thing I’ve ever written and I went to a place I’ve never gone when reviewing that one. It was pure comedy and I got into a groove with the match, so I’m not even going to waste my time trying to top it again.

Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton – Wrestlemania XXX

I was there, I got to hear “AND NEW WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION” for the first time in my life, which was a wrestling goal. It’s an amazing performance and the only way to cap one of the greatest shows of all time.

Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA, I Quit Match – Starrcade 1996

Bret vs. Austin basically copied this at Wrestlemania, albeit with several twists to make it their own. This is one of the best things WCW/the NWA ever did and it’s still one of the most violent matches you’ll ever see.

The Rock vs. Mankind – Raw, January 4, 1999

“Mick Foley has achieved his dream, and the dreams of everyone else who has been told YOU CAN’T DO IT!” How does that not give you chills?

Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – Takeover: Dallas

I’ve never seen a fight like this in person before and it was the co-Match of the Year for 2015. As HHH put it: “When they’re HOLY SH***** the entrances, you’ve got something special.” And they did.

Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan – Great American Bash 1996

We had enough brawls on here, but these two beat the fire out of each other and it’s excellent stuff with both guys leaving it all in the ring.

Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle – Royal Rumble 2003

It’s as good of a technical masterpiece as you’re going to see with Benoit finally getting trapped, not beaten.

The Rock vs. John Cena – Wrestlemania XXVIII

I’ve seen a lot of wrestling (as you can see). There are very few big matches I haven’t seen over the years and that makes you kind of jaded as a fan. It’s very rare to reach a point where I need to see a match, but that’s what happened here. I didn’t know if it was going to be good and I didn’t know if it was going to be bad, but I needed to see it.

John Cena vs. CM Punk – Money in the Bank 2011

Vince McMahon to Cena: “What if you can’t beat him?” And tickets were sold. The fact that it’s a masterpiece is almost a detail as the story was a textbook example of how to build a match and make people need to see what happened.

Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels – Wrestlemania XXV

Shawn Michaels is the only wrestler who has actually had me on the edge of my seat. He’s done it three times (the Iron Man match vs. Bret, here, and a match we’ll be getting to) and this might have been the best ever. Just outstanding stuff and one of the only times I completely believed the Streak was over.

John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar – Summerslam 2014

Brock started hitting German suplexes and then hit the first F5. As he covered, I sat up and shouted out loud “NO WAY!!! NO WAY!!!” Getting that kind of a reaction out of me takes something special and Cena taking that kind of a beating in a glorified squash did exactly that.

And now, on to the biggest battle of good vs. evil that you’ll ever find from WCW.

From Starrcade 1992

Sting was WCW’s Hulk Hogan. He had more charisma than he knew what to do with, would fight evil at every turn, and never stopped being my WCW hero. Then along came a monster the likes of which we had never seen. His name was Vader, and at Great American Bash 1992, he did the unthinkable by squashing Sting to win the title. Later in the year, WCW held a tournament called the King of Cable (named after the ropes, because WCW is weird that way) and guess who was in the finals. Sting talked about taking Vader to a place he had never been before and the hype was on.

King of Cable: Sting vs. Vader
Date: December 28, 1992
Location: The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Jesse Ventura, Jim Ross

Vader has Harley Race in his corner and, since this was a show built around the Battlebowl competition, both have already wrestled tonight. Vader poses at him to start but Sting doesn’t bite. A lockup goes to Vader about a minute in so Sting slugs away to little avail. Another slam drops Sting so he charges at Vader….and is dropped with the standing splash. Sting gets knocked outside before coming back in with a string of clotheslines.

The Cactus Clothesline puts them outside and Vader is ROCKED, even losing his mask. A slingshot dive takes out Vader and Race as Sting is all kinds of fired up, just like the crowd cheering him on. Back in and a DDT plants Vader again as Sting has already done more against him than almost anyone ever. Sting isn’t done as he grabs a super DDT for two but Vader gets the rope to break the Scorpion.

They head outside again with Vader splashing him against the barricade to get things even again. A couple of clotheslines get two and it’s a suplex into a splash for the same as Sting is looking desperate. We hit something like a seated abdominal stretch with another clothesline taking Sting’s head off. Vader misses a sitdown splash though and Sting snaps off a belly to back suplex to get a breather. He’s so banged up though that Vader actually gets a cover before Sting can get up.

Vader hammers away in the corner with Sting trying to cover up. It works for a bit…until Vader connects with a shot to knock Sting into the other corner. Back up and Vader slugs away again, this time knocking Sting silly with a shot to the jaw. A superplex is broken up though and the fans are right back into it on the hope spot. Sting loads up something on top but just falls down from exhaustion.

More right hands in the corner have Sting in trouble but he says bring it on. Vader keeps slugging away but they’re getting a little weaker each time. Sting on the other hand is getting fired up and a right hand staggers Vader. A few more put him down and a Samoan drop plants the monster again. Sweet goodness that’s impressive strength.

Sting gets two more off a top rope splash but a Race distraction lets Vader BLAST him in the back of the head. A chokeslam puts Sting down again and Vader goes up for a middle rope splash with the impact bouncing him off the cover. Vader goes up again, only to dive into a powerslam to give Sting the pin and blow the roof off the place at 17:40.

Rating: A-. As I said earlier, it takes something special to get me fired up watching a match I’ve seen time and time again. This was every bit of Rocky vs. Apollo Creed and/or Clubber Lang with Sting taking everything they had and somehow surviving until he could catch the monster with one big shot. Sting is one of the most cheerable wrestlers you’ll ever see and him slugging away at the monster who could move like that was one of the most entertaining things WCW ever did. This match never gets old to me and that makes it special.

With all that done, there was only one thing that could have topped this list.

From Raw, May 2, 2005.

Back in 2005, Batista needed a #1 contender so we had a tournament. The first round was held on one episode of Raw and there was a surprise entrant. Here’s my favorite match ever.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Shawn Michaels
Date: May 2, 2005
Location: FleetCenter, Boston, Massachusetts
Attendance: 6,500
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

Shelton’s Intercontinental Title isn’t on the line and you can see him being a bit nervous when Shawn’s music hits. Shawn tries to wrestle him to the mat and you just don’t do that against an All-American wrestler. Back up and Shawn tries it again, only to have Shelton easily ride him for a bit. You can see the frustration sitting in on Shawn early so he tries a headlock instead.

Shelton seems to miss his timing as he kicks Shawn away but he makes up for it with some fast armdrags. A headlock keeps Shawn down for a bit until he pops up for a running forearm. That’s fine with Shelton who Cactus Clotheslines him out to the floor as Michaels can’t get out of the blocks.

Back from a break with Shelton reversing a belly to back superplex into a crossbody. A modified backbreaker gives Shelton two as you can hear the crowd getting more into these near falls. Shawn finally hits the flying forearm into the nipup….but Shelton nips up as well (if not a bit better). He looks like he saw Undertaker sitting up and we hit the pinfall reversal sequence.

A Stinger Splash cuts Shawn off in the corner he’s in big trouble. Sweet Chin Music is countered into a very loud Dragon Whip for a close two. Shawn is able to shove him off the top though and the top rope elbow gets two. Sweet Chin Music is blocked again though and Shelton kicks his head off for an even nearer fall. Shelton jumps from the mat to the top rope (WHO DOES THAT???) into a spinning clothesline for two more and now frustration is setting in on Benjamin.

With nothing else working, Shawn sends him to the apron where Shelton tries a springboard….only to jump right into Sweet Chin Music to take his head off for the pin at 14:43. That’s still one of the best finishers I’ve ever seen, even if I have no idea what Shelton was going for.

Rating: A. Of all the matches I’ve seen, this is my favorite for more than one reason. First and most obviously, it’s really, really good with Shelton being an athletic freak and Shawn being the one person who could hang with him until he could catch him off guard. That spot where Shelton nips up and Shawn is stunned sums up most of the story and made Shelton look like a huge deal as Shawn doesn’t impress easily.

The idea of this match is great too: it’s Shawn fighting himself from ten years ago. Back in the 90s, Shawn was the athletic freak that no one could hang with, but now he’s been surpassed. Now though, Shawn is ten years older and ten years smarter. He knew that Shelton was going to get too flashy, just as Shawn had before, and that’s when he could catch him with the big shot. It’s Shawn setting a trap based on his own history and setting Shelton up for something he wasn’t ready for. That’s telling a story and psychology, which is why this match is special to me.

What really makes this one special though is it’s the first time I ever understood the concept of telling a story in a match. Until this match I never quite grasped the idea of subtleties and psychology and all that good stuff. It’s basically the match where it clicked for me and it just happened to be in a classic match with a great story. I saw Shawn being outmatched by the same stuff he used to do and then catching Shelton in the end and I understood the story. It was the light turning on and a big step forward for me as a wrestling fan, which had a big help in getting me where I am today.

And that’s that. It’s almost impossible to believe that I’ve been doing this for almost nine years now and things are actually only just getting started for me in a way. I’ve been to three out of the last four Wrestlemanias and I’ll be going to my third in a row next year. Even when I started this, that would have sounded crazy to me but yet somehow here I am, having met close to two hundred wrestlers, including the four in those final two matches.

I’ve said it since the beginning and it’s still true today: I don’t have any special knowledge or inside information when it comes to wrestling. All I am is a really big fan who has watched wrestling my whole life (I still haven’t missed an episode of Raw since it debuted) and knows a fair bit of history. There are things about wrestling I’m never going to know or understand and that’s not going to change anytime soon. I’m just someone who watches a lot of wrestling and got lucky with a reviewing style that people seem to enjoy I’m very lucky that way and I still don’t quite know how it works.

I have no idea how I got here but I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else. Wrestling is one of the true passions in my life and I still love watching it every single week. Somehow I’ve turned that love into a career and while I have no idea how I pulled that off, I know I never could have done it without an amazingly loyal group of readers and fans, all of whom I am so grateful for every single day.

It’s because of all of you that I’ve had someone stop me at a show because they’re a fan of mine and why I have a shelf of books with my name on them and why when people ask me what I do, I can say I write for a living. That’s something I never would have believed just a few years ago and I’m still in awe over it every single day. As I said at the beginning, because it can’t be said enough, thank you all so much for every single thing you’ve ever done and I hope I’ve entertained you once or twice over the years. I’ll be around as long as people want me to be, still loving what I do every day.

KB

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

 

As in portraying fans.  This would suggest to me that they can’t even manage to GIVE tickets away to these shows.  If that’s the case, they might have hit a new low.

Bound For Glory 2017
Date: November 5, 2017
Location: Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

It’s finally time to have something fresh for this company as we’ve spent over two months on taped TV setting up this show. The real main event is Moose/Stephan Bonnar vs. Lashley/King Mo in a wrestling vs. MMA cage match, which has been pushed far harder than the World Title match. Let’s get to it.

Alberto El Patron arrived earlier today.

Opening sequence, looking at the big main events, as you might expect.

The ring ropes are red and white for CANADA!

X-Division Title: Sonjay Dutt vs. Trevor Lee vs. Garza Jr. vs. Petey Williams vs. Matt Sydal vs. Dezmond Xavier

Lee is defending and there are tags this time around. Dutt and Sydal hit the mat to start and speed things up in a hurry, but the fans are more interested in Petey. Well of course they are. Xavier comes in to kick Sydal down, only to get tripped up and hit with a standing shooting star for two.

They fall outside and it’s Garza and Petey coming in, meaning this is lucha rules. Ok then. Lee comes in and grabs Garza’s bad arm, only to stop so GARZA CAN TAKE OFF HIS PANTS! Garza puts Lee in the Tree of Woe and we hit the O CANADA for the pop of the night. It’s Tower of Doom time though with Lee being the only one to not get slammed down. We hit the dives, leaving Lee to suplex Dutt into a powerbomb for a big heap.

Dutt gets stomped down and things slow down a lot. Lee poses a lot and hammers on Dutt in a non-Canadian way. The fans want Petey (well duh) and Dutt finally avoids a charge to give them what they want. A Russian legsweep and a Downward Spiral drop Lee and it’s off to Sydal, who sends Petey into the ropes. Williams adds a slingshot hurricanrana on Lee. Everything breaks down and it’s Xavier coming in with all of his corkscrewy goodness.

The Final Flash gets two on Lee with Dutt making the save. Dutt’s tornado DDT gets two on Xavier but Sydal runs everyone over. Garza is back in with a headbutt on Sydal, followed by a posing choke. Petey comes in and grabs a Sharpshooter on Sydal because it’s Canada and there are certain things you have to do. Sydal has to bail out of the shooting star and it’s a Canadian Destroyer to plant Xavier. Lee sneaks back in and tosses Petey though, allowing him to steal the pin and retain at 12:40.

Rating: C. Well you have to make sure you keep that AMAZING Trevor Lee reign going you see. The title has completely died and a lot of that is due to the lack of interesting characters or personal issues. It’s just “here are three faces, here are three heels, they’re doing flippy stuff”. I need more than that, but we don’t have time for that because we need videos on MMA titles being stolen. It’s not like they could spend time building up Xavier and/or Sydal, both of whom have crashed HARD into a wall in recent months. Good choice for an opener, but the crowd died when Petey didn’t win.

Tyson Dux vs. Taiji Ishimori

Oh that’s how they’ll fill in time: random matches with this eternally present international talent. Dux was in Team Canada like thirteen years ago, end of his noteworthy accomplishments in America. Ishimori sends him outside to start and it’s an early standoff. Back in and Tyson gets two off a delayed belly to back suplex. The mess that is Laurel Van Ness wanders into the crowd as we hit a chinlock on Ishimori. That goes nowhere as Ishimori fights up and hits a slingshot double stomp for two of his own. A guillotine choke knocks Dux silly and it’s a 450 to give Ishimori the pin at 4:47.

Rating: C-. This was the latest instance of two guys who I neither know nor care about having a match I didn’t want to watch. At least it wasn’t long though and in this case they needed to do something to fill in some time with Rosemary vs. Taya being gone. I was actually looking forward to that match though, making this quite the disappointment.

Grado can’t talk his way out of his match with Abyss later.

Here’s the returning Alberto for his big speech. He talks about working as hard as he did in this promotion and being told how awesome he was. Then something happened and they suspended him because they don’t have any cajones and believed all the lies. The reports will tell you that he didn’t do anything but they suspended him anyway. They even stopped paying him! Well they have been having payroll issues as of late you see.

All this company did was listen to reports on the internet and ruined his career. His kids were disappointed in their dad and it was all over lies that never happened. No one got in touch with him while he was gone and that’s what’s wrong with everything. The people are what’s wrong around here and he’s about to do something tonight.

Alberto turns his focus to JB and, of course, calls him a perro. He goes up to JB, who never texted him or called him once. JB apologizes and we get a very slow handshake but Alberto is here to make a statement. Eh or not because tonight is going to be amazing. Alberto walks away without doing anything to JB.

We recap Grado vs. Abyss. Grado is trying to stay in the country and signed up with Abyss’ brother Joseph Park as his agent, only to have Park rip him off and steal his money. Grado wants out of the deal and we’re having a match for his freedom, only it’s Monster’s Ball against Abyss instead of Park.

Grado vs. Abyss

Monster’s Ball, meaning hardcore. Before the match, Grado tries to talk his way out of the match and Abyss tells him do dance. Grado does just that, only to jump the monster to get things going. It’s already weapons time with Grado throwing in some chairs, only to have Abyss knock a cheese grater out of his hands. Instead it’s a staple gun to the head and the violence begins.

The barbed wire boards are brought in but Grado saves himself, only to have the tacks poured onto the mat. A cheese grater between the legs slows Abyss down though and some trashcan shots give Grado a breather. He takes too much time going up though and gets shoved through the barbed wire for the big crash. It’s Janice time (Josh: “How did he get this into Canada?”) but Grado gets out of trouble with the dancing punches. You know, in a hardcore match.

And now, let’s cut to Van Ness again. You know, IN A HARDCORE MATCH! Grado escapes a chokeslam and sends Abyss into another barbed wire board. A third is stacked on top of Abyss for a big splash, cutting both of them open and giving Grado two. Laurel stumbles into the ring though and steals Janice from Grado before hitting him low.

She picks up Janice and there go the lights. Cue Rosemary (because Heaven forbid we just put her in the title match) to mist Laurel and Abyss, earning herself a chokeslam onto the tacks. Grado rolls Abyss up for two (with the bell ringing and being waved off), only to get Black Hole Slammed onto the barbed wire for the pin at 10:32.

Rating: D. Well that happened. If you’ve seen one of these things, you’ve seen them all as there’s practically a checklist of things you have to see in this match. Grado losing is rather dumb, but maybe they can’t afford to fly him in anymore. The women didn’t need to be involved, but at least they have a connection to the guys in the match.

Team Impact is ready with Ethan Carter III being very serious.

We recap Team AAA vs. Team Impact. AAA invaded, three Impact guys fought back, they’ve had a bunch of matches and now it’s a six man tag.

Team AAA vs. Team Impact

It’s Pagano/Texano/El Hijo De Fantasma vs. Ethan Carter III/Eddie Edwards/James Storm. Texano won’t shake hands with his partners as he and Fantasma are feuding in AAA. Eddie and Fantasma start things off with Fantasma being sent to the apron for an elbow to the face. Carter won’t tag in for some reason so it’s Storm in instead. Texano comes in as well and drives the once again legal Eddie into the corner with Pagano crotching him against the post.

The fans chant for lucha libre as Pagano chokes Edwards on the mat. Edwards hurricanranas both Fantasma and Texano at the same time but Carter still won’t tag. Instead it’s Storm, who grabs a neckbreaker to drive Texano and Fantasma down at the same time. Pagano crotches Storm down though and it’s time to continue the beating. Texano adds a shot with a bull rope and clotheslines Storm in the corner.

An Alabama Slam gets Storm out of trouble though and NOW Carter is willing to come in and clean house. A flapjack drops Fantasma and there’s a Downward Spiral to Pagano. Everything breaks down and Eddie scores with a suicide dive. Back in and Eddie hits Carter by mistake though, leaving Pagano to hit a running….elbow I think to drop Storm.

Pagano gets catapulted into a flip dive onto everyone else and Storm adds his own flip dive (off the post) onto the pile. Back in and we get the required Tower of Doom with only Storm being spared. Instead it’s James coming in with a top rope elbow onto Texano, followed by a double clothesline to Fantasma and Pagano. Eddie enziguris Pagano back down and a second does the same to Fantasma.

That’s about it for Eddie’s run though as Fantasma comes back with his kneeling tombstone to drive Eddie onto the apron in a disturbing heap. Pagano drops a top rope leg onto Carter, who pops up with a double low blow. A double 1%er drops Texano and Pagano and it’s back to Storm, with Carter telling him to kick someone’s head off. The Last Call ends Pagano at 15:24.

Rating: C-. The match was watchable but it felt like it just kept going. The other problem here is it doesn’t solve anything. This is just a match that happened and doesn’t really change anything. There’s no reason for the feud not to continue, which it likely will at the next set of tapings. Carter vs. Storm would seem to be in the cards, which is certainly an upgrade for both guys.

Carter and Storm share a beer.

Chris Adonis and Eli Drake are ready to retain the title tonight. The Gravy Train is coming to run Johnny Impact over and the only thing Johnny deserves is a one way ticket to a beating.

We recap OVE vs. LAX. OVE won the titles and LAX swore revenge, citing their huge numbers advantage. LAX beat OVE down multiple times so OVE is bringing in a relative to help in the street fight rematch. This would seem to be the debuting Sami Callihan.

Hang on a second as we see a body down with a Mexican flag over him. The same thumbs up into a thumbs down is seen, which is Callihan’s signature.

Tag Team Titles: OVE vs. LAX

LAX is defending and this is a street fight. There’s no Homicide, suggesting that he was the one down in the back. Santana and Ortiz dive onto the champs to start in a hurry. The brawl splits in two with Jake kicking a trashcan wrapped around Ortiz as Dave and Santana fight in the crowd. Ortiz fights back and grabs a running Liger Bomb off the ramp through a table to basically kill Jake.

Santana climbs the scaffolding as the fans chant about how they can’t see anything. A big splash from near the roof crushes Dave through a table and thankfully they’re both alive. Back at ringside, Jake fights off a table and pelts a chair at Ortiz’s head to save himself. Some chairs are set up in the ring and it’s Jake superplexing Ortiz through them, banging up his own back pretty badly in the process.

Santana is back inside and the Street Sweeper onto a pile of chairs plants Jake, only to have Dave come back in for the save. Four strikes to the face give us a quadruple knockdown with LAX getting the better of it. Some ladders and tables are set up at ringside but here’s Callihan to throw powder in Konnan’s face. He throws Ortiz onto a ladder and piledrives Santana through a table, giving OVE a double pin to retain at 10:21.

Rating: B-. Fun brawl, though they didn’t exactly hide the ending. It also doesn’t help that OVE was losing a fair fight when Sami came in. That should be a heel turn and given how this company goes, it really wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. Good match though, with the violence being the focus, as it should have been.

Post match OVE keeps stomping as Sami is announced as the newest member of the team. That’s rather heelish, especially since LAX was fighting two on two.

We recap the Knockouts Title match, which is basically a farewell tribute to Gail Kim. She’s retiring from the company after tonight and wants to go out with one last title reign. Allie and champion Sienna are just window dressing.

Gail is ready to win the title back by being herself.

Santino Marella is shown in the crowd.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Sienna vs. Allie

Sienna is defending and gets double teamed to start, only to double clothesline the challengers down. A double camel clutch has Gail and Allie in trouble until Sienna gets sent outside. Allie hits something like a Sliced Bread #2 into a Stunner on the floor, followed by Gail adding a 619 around the post. That leaves Allie vs. Gail inside with a slugout being quickly cut off by the returning Sienna.

Gail snaps off a super hurricanrana to the champ and all three are down. Sienna is up first and runs Allie over before choking Gail with her own hair. A fall away slam from the middle rope has Allie reeling and a spinebuster to Gail is good for a double cover. Gail slips out of the AK47 and gets two out of a sunset flip. Eat Defeat gets two on Allie with Sienna making another save. Sienna throws Allie outside in a heap but walks into a super Eat Defeat to give Gail the title at 10:30.

Rating: C+. Well now don’t we all feel better? The most praised Knockout ever gets ONE MORE accolade to go out on, because we just haven’t spent enough time talking about how amazing she is over the years. I get that she’s great but she has practically ever accolade ever and I really don’t need to see her get even more praise.

Bobby Lashley and King Mo are going to the ring on their own.

Here’s Jimmy Jacobs, who says hi to commentary and leaves. Uh, good?

We recap Lashley/King Mo vs. Stephan Bonnar/Moose. American Top Team wants Lashley to be in MMA full time but Moose was sent out to give him one last match. This turned into a huge brawl with the American Top Team guys beating Moose down. Moose got former MMA fighter and rookie wrestler Bonnar to help him, setting up a tag match in a cage.

Bobby Lashley/King Mo vs. Stephan Bonnar/Moose

Pinfall or submission only inside a cage with American Top Team in Lashley and Mo’s corner. Some rapper plays Moose to the ring in a cameo that really didn’t need to happen. Apparently it’s Moose’s brother, which really doesn’t make this any better. Thankfully there are no tags and the MMA guys are laid out in twenty seconds, leaving Moose vs. Lashley, which is what this should have been from the beginning.

Mo punches Moose out and Bonnar drops Lashley, leaving us with the MMA showdown. And hang on again as the fighters are dropped a second time so Moose can charge into a powerbomb into the cage wall. Bonnar is back up with a powerbomb to Lashley, who lands on his shoulder. Mo is busted open but the wrestlers take the fighters down a third time as I guess they’re building drama? To a non-wrestling match?

Lashley turns Moose inside out with a clothesline but Moose is back up with a spear to put everyone down. We finally get Mo vs. Bonnar and they go to the mat with Josh doing his worst Joe Rogan impression. Bonnar gets an armbar as the fans chant for Georges St. Pierre. Back up and Bonnar misses a kick and gets taken down by Mo again. A choke has Mo in trouble but Lambert just opens the cage door and sends in the MMA guys. Oh my goodness I can’t stand anything about this match.

Moose comes back and cleans house, including a high crossbody to take down a bunch of guys. A super chokebomb takes down one of the fighters before Moose and Mo leave the cage. Lambert throws Mo back inside and goes in as well before locking Moose out. Mo punches out a fighter by mistake, leaving Bonnar to kick him down. Lashley spears Bonnar but Moose climbs the cage and takes everyone out with a big dive. Lambert is left alone but Lashley spears Moose down for the pin at 10:40.

Rating: F. Oh sweet goodness I KNEW IT! I picked the wrestlers in the predictions but I had a feeling that TNA would have the MMA guys win. Why? Well it would be the dumbest thing they could do and make the wrestlers look like losers to people who probably won’t even be around. This is so TNA and I can’t get over it. Oh and they managed to have a horrible match because it was more about MMA than anything else. Bonnar couldn’t do basic stuff right and Mo didn’t even try to do anything other than slow MMA stuff. Terrible match with the worst possible ending, so we’ll call this the TNA Special.

Johnny Impact talks about everything he’s given up over the years (friends, family gatherings, carbs). When he was growing up, he had two heroes: Randy Savage and his father. After tonight, he’s taking the title back home to his father, who will tell him it’s never too late to go to law school. His dad is going to be proud though, and that’s what matters most.

Impact Wrestling World Title: Eli Drake vs. Johnny Impact

Drake is defending and has Chris Adonis in his corner. Impact avoids a pre-bell jumping and starts fast with a clothesline. The champ bails to the floor so Johnny is right on him with a slingshot dive. A running flip kick off the apron has Drake in more trouble and a backdrop makes things even worse. Johnny adds a sliding German suplex as Josh says this is the first real test for Drake as champion. Keep in mind that Impact already had a title shot, making Josh sound dumber than usual.

Adonis gets in a cheap shot though and Drake takes over with an elbow off the apron. Drake keeps him outside and throws him into the barricade before choking with a boot. Back in and Drake gets two off a powerslam, followed by some elbow drops. They head outside again with Johnny kicking him in the face, knocking the champ into the post. Johnny’s leg hits post though and Drake takes it back inside.

That’s fine with Impact, who kicks him down and tries a moonsault, only to get elbowed for his efforts. A belly to back superplex drops Drake and another moonsault gets two. The standing shooting star gets the same as that leg seems just fine after hitting the post. Countdown to Impact misses as we’re just waiting on the ref bump/Alberto. Johnny kicks him in the head and goes up again, only to have Adonis offer a distraction.

This time it’s Drake running the corner for a superplex and another near fall. They head up at the same time this time around with Johnny scoring with a super Spanish Fly. That’s not enough either so Adonis throws Drake the belt. Johnny takes it away though and takes Adonis down, followed by Countdown to Impact for two. The Gravy Train is countered into a Shining Wizard but Drake sends him shoulder first into the post.

They head up again (fourth time) but Johnny kicks him down, setting up Starship Pain for two as Alberto pulls the referee out. That’s not a DQ for no logical reason so Johnny dives over the top at Alberto, hitting the referee by mistake. Alberto hits Drake with the belt before breaking a chair over Johnny’s head (Who needs PG?). Drake is pulled onto Johnny to retain the title at 19:49.

Rating: B-. Well Alberto looks like a big deal, Johnny looks like a choker and Drake and the title are now somewhere in the top seven or eight most important things in this company. This sets up Johnny vs. Alberto, but we have no one to challenge for the title. I mean, assuming we don’t get a triple threat out of this, which would be one of the least interesting things they could do. Alberto is clearly the focus of the promotion whether you like it or not, but he should be better now that he’s away from the horrible LAX feud. The match was good, but it was a long exercise in waiting for Alberto.

We’re off the air less than thirty seconds after the match ends. The screen says “matchup graphics” because we needed to go out on one last production error.

Overall Rating: C-. So that’s the biggest show of the year. This show was the definition of mediocre with some good action, horrible booking choices and practically nothing memorable whatsoever. The ending of the cage match was about as dumb as they could get and I didn’t really expect anything less. Tomorrow they start another marathon taping session to take us into the new year, but this time it’s without anything major to build towards. In other words, imagine a show with even less motivation than its had lately.

The show certainly wasn’t terrible and there was some good stuff sprinkled throughout, but it was nothing that hadn’t been done before. That’s this company in a nutshell for you: it could have been worse, but it’s nothing you’re ever going to want to go back and see again, plus one major error in what should have been a layup. Oh and former WWE people who didn’t add much. I was hoping for more from their Wrestlemania, but I didn’t once actually expect it. If that doesn’t sum up TNA, I don’t know what does.

Results

Trevor Lee b. Sonjay Dutt, Garza Jr., Petey Williams, Matt Sydal and Dezmond Xavier – Canadian Destroyer to Xavier

Taiji Ishimori b. Tyson Dux – 450

Abyss b. Grado – Black Hole Slam onto a barbed wire board

Team Impact b. Team AAA – Last Call to Pagano

OVE b. LAX – Piledriver through a table to Santana

Gail Kim b. Sienna and Allie – Super Eat Defeat to Sienna

Lashley/King Mo b. Moose/Stephan Bonnar – Spear to Moose

Eli Drake b. Johnny Impact – Chair to the head

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

I don’t even know where we are at this point. This promotion has turned completely upside down with large chunks of the show being built around action from other promotions, often which had nothing to do with Impact Wrestling. Other than that, it’s been a lot of talk about mixed martial arts, because it’s really the same thing right? I’m not sure what we’ll be getting at “Bound For Glory 2017”, but it turns out there will be one less match than we were expecting. Let’s get to it.

X-Division Title: Trevor Lee(c) vs. Dezmond Xavier vs. Garza Jr. vs. Matt Sydal vs. Petey Williams vs. Sonjay Dutt

If this sounds familiar to you, it’s certainly not because they ran the same thing on this week’s episode of “Impact Wrestling”. No see while that was a one fall six way match, this is a one fall six way match for the title. It’s totally different that way. That was won by Xavier, which in theory should eliminate him from contending for the title. However, that’s not the way things work around here.

I’ll go with Sydal winning the title here, as the company certainly seemed ready to do something with him but pulled the plug in a hurry. Xavier would make the most sends (and would actually make the Super X Cup mean anything whatsoever) while the rest are really just warm bodies. Well somewhat colder in Garza’s case because HE TAKES OFF HIS PANTS! Then again it’s not like the X-Division Title means anything but hopefully they can put on an entertaining match in the time they’re given.

Abyss vs. Grado

This story….I’m not sure what to think about it actually. It’s a pretty simple concept (I help you, you take advantage of me, I want revenge) and the immigration stuff is all just window dressing. The problem is I have no reason to care about Grado. I’ve never really found him funny and the reason he was wanted to stay in the country was to eat various American foods. That’s the best hero we can have?

I’ll take Grado to win here as getting rid of him wouldn’t make sense, though that’s never stopped this company before. Above all else, he needs to be around for the sake of filling in a spot on the roster. Abyss has lost a ton of these things before and it wouldn’t surprise me if he slipped on a banana peel and lost again here. Grado isn’t exactly entertaining but he has more potential than Abyss at the moment.

Team Impact vs. Team AAA

So here’s the invasion match, which feels like they just wrote “insert invasion angle here with whomever you have left” in the script and hoped for the best. There’s no reason to care about either team and none of them interest me whatsoever. This story has been lame from the start and there’s no real reason to assume that it’s going to get any better as we do the six man.

Team Impact should win here as it’s really the only logical way to go and I’ll take them to do so, though I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see Team AAA win so this partnership can keep going. I still have no idea why I’m supposed to care about a bunch of wrestlers that I know almost nothing about coming in to this company but the announcers have spent so much time telling me how awesome these three are that I would feel bad if I didn’t watch.

Knockouts Title: Sienna(c) vs. Gail Kim vs. Allie

I’m going to do this assuming that Rosemary, who is now out of a match, isn’t added to the match, though it would make perfect sense to put her in (four Canadians instead of three) with the Taya Valkyrie fight falling through. I’m not even going to waste much time here: this is going to be all about Gail Kim whether you like it or not, which is almost always the case around here.

Of course I’m going with Kim. This company has basically worshiped her (not saying it’s completely undeserved) and it wouldn’t shock me to see her give her a big, grand farewell, basically leaving the division looking like a bunch of losers in the process. Allie and Sienna are just details here and that’s all they’ve been the whole time. I wish there was another way of looking at this but it’s been the Kim show the entire time, as you knew it would be.

Tag Team Titles: OVE(c) vs. LAX

This is a 5150 street fight, which basically means a street fight with numbers in the title. In theory this means the entirety of LAX is allowed to fight, which is why OVE has brought in Sami Callihan to help them out. That should be enough to help the champs even the odds, as Konnan can’t do anything physical and Homicide is really just there for cheap shots.

OVE retains here of course, as we’re already past the point of LAX meaning much. Of course there’s also the issue of who in the world challenges the champs next. It’s not like there’s much of a division at the moment so it’s either build a new team from the roster or keep going with LAX. Either way, OVE retains here.

Impact Wrestling World Title: Eli Drake(c) vs Johnny Impact

Sure the World Title is on the line here but let’s not pretend for a minute that this is the real main event. Drake has been champion for a few months now and Impact is one of the biggest stars the company has at the moment. He’s also the AAA World Champion and you know how this promotion likes to cross-promote with the international promotions. That’s not a good sign for Drake, but stranger things have happened.

I’ll take Drake to retain the title here, possibly due to interference from the returning Alberto El Patron. I think the company would like the idea of having El Patron vs. Impact for some kind of real champion of Mexico match and we’d just be lucky enough to have it be treated as a bigger deal than the World Title feud. Of course don’t count out the idea of El Patron somehow walking out as champion either. Drake wins, but there’s a good chance that things aren’t over for him yet.

Bobby Lashley/King Mo vs. Moose/Stephan Bonnar

Let’s not pretend that this isn’t the main event. This match has gotten more development, airtime, promos and attention than anything else on the card by a mile. Impact Wrestling has had a very longstanding obsession with mixed martial arts and it’s no surprise that they’re putting it on the big stage like this. Really, you knew they wanted to do this as soon as they had a fighter like Lashley on the roster.

I’m going with Moose and Bonnar to win, even though this really should just be Lashley vs. Moose. It’s the same match and we wouldn’t have to wait around for King Mo and Bonnar, who have no business wrestling at this high of a level. You have to assume that Lashley is going to head to MMA sooner or later, so taking him off TV would make sense. This probably should close the show, though I’m fine with the World Title getting that spot, disparity in importance on TV aside.

Overall Thoughts

The crazy long taping cycle killed the build towards this show and there’s barely any way to recover from that. So much of the shows has been spent on matches from Canada, Mexico and Japan, almost none of which had anything to do with setting up the pay per view. That being said, this promotion has a history of being FAR better on pay per view than they are on TV, as it’s just the wrestlers wrestling instead of the nonsense with the creative department. The show could be good, but they desperately need (another) change of pace to fire up their TV, which has been dreadful lately.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: November 2, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

It’s the go home show for this year’s Bound For Glory and that really could mean anything tonight. The big question is how much action will actually take place in this country, which has been up and down over the last few months. They need to set up some stuff for Sunday though and that needs to be done in a hurry. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Video on Rosemary vs. Taya Valkyrie.

From Border City Wrestling in Canada.

Rosemary/Allie vs. KC Spinelli/Sienna

Well at least most of them are from GFW. The villains jump Rosemary and Allie to start and Allie gets choked in the corner. It’s quickly off to Rosemary for a crossbody and a kick to Sienna’s head. A cheap shot from behind puts Rosemary in trouble as the announcers talk about everything on Sunday.

Rosemary’s choke over the ropes has Sienna in trouble but she has to let it go and falls to the floor. The lights are so dark that she’s hard to see out there, suggesting that there are very few fans at the show. A double collision allows the hot tag to Allie so house can be cleaned. Everything breaks down and Sienna kicks Spinelli by mistake. A Codebreaker from Allie sends Sienna into a German suplex, allowing Allie to grab the pin at 6:20.

Rating: C. This was a noted improvement: three of the four people involved actually work for the company putting on this show. They tried to tie something in with Allie pinning Sienna but that title match is so entirely focused on Gail Kim that these two are really just details. Passable match, but I’m really hoping we get something else to hype up the title match.

Video on Lashley/King Mo vs. Moose/Stephan Bonnar.

Here are Lashley and American Top Team to yell about how fake wrestling is. The men they’re fighting on Sunday are athletes, but Moose isn’t a fighter and Bonnar is famous for losing. On Sunday, they’ll be exposed as fake fighters and everyone will know that wrestling isn’t legit. Then they’ll stop coming and wrestling is destroyed for good. Again: Lambert is a good heel, but he’s stuck in this story which is both really downplaying wrestling and is also the show’s main event. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Moose and Bonnar lose either, because TNA really is that dumb.

Recap of Grado vs. Joseph Park.

From Pro Wrestling Noah in Tokyo.

Moose/Yuji Okabayashi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima/Masa Kitamiya

Yuji and Masa trade some shots to start before it’s off to Moose to clean house with a dropkick and bicycle kick. Kitamiya gets dropkicked off the top rope and out to the floor and a hesitation dropkick in the corner gives Moose two. Moose and Kitamiya get in a hoss fight until Moose sends him shoulder first into the post.

Josh says this is strong style you’re only going to see in Impact. Well, save for IN THE NOAH PROMOTION WHERE THIS IS TAKING PLACE BECAUSE GFW CAN’T EVEN GET TV RIGHT. Moose gets sent outside and a double bulldog gets two on Yuji. A spear gets two on Yuji but he pops up to slug it out with Kitamiya. Yuji takes him down and hits a top rope splash for the pin at 8:32.

Rating: D+. Same problem on a different show: this focused on the three Japanese guys, none of whom I’m supposed to be paying to see in a feature match on Sunday. The commentary was more about hyping up the GFW Network so you can see more of this kind of wrestling there. The match was fine enough with four big guys hitting each other hard, but it does nothing to set up the match that matters.

We run down the Bound For Glory card.

LAX is in their clubhouse when Eli Drake and Chris Adonis show up. They bring guacamole as a peace offering and an agreement is made for one night only. They’ll help take out each others’ opponents for Sunday in a six man tag tonight.

Video on OVE vs. LAX.

Video on the six people in the X-Division Title match on Sunday. What title match you ask? Eh don’t worry about it, as this is the first time it was mentioned.

Trevor Lee vs. Dezmond Xavier vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Petey Williams vs. Matt Sydal vs. Garza Jr.

Non-title and one fall to a finish. It’s a huge brawl to start (of course) with Williams dropkicking Garza in the back of the head. Stop though, because GARZA HAS TO TAKE OFF HIS PANTS! Sydal comes back in to drop Xavier and Garza at the same time, followed by a standing moonsault for two on Dezmond. It’s Lee coming in to take Sydal down and we take a break.

Back with Lee getting kicked in the face by Dutt as we hear about THE EXACT SAME MATCH taking place at Bound For Glory. Not an Ultimate X match, not an elimination match, not even a match with tags etc. No, it’s the same match and it happens to be for a title. In other words, they had two chances to come up with an idea other than “throw everyone in there at once” and couldn’t manage to do so.

Dutt dives onto a pile of people at ringside, leaving Garza to hit a powerbomb on Xavier and a World’s Strongest Slam on Williams at the same time. That’s only good for two though as Sydal comes back in, only to have Petey hit the Canadian Destroyer for two. A powerbomb gives Lee two on Petey but Xavier comes back in with his moonsault kick to put Lee away at 11:30.

Rating: C+. That’s all well and good but, as announced during this match, NONE OF THIS MATTERS EVEN A LITTLE BIT. Yeah quite literally, this match will be repeated on Sunday with the title on the line. Watching the match happen was supposed to make me want to pay to see the match happen again. That’s what I’m sitting through with this company people. It’s not easy on Thursday nights.

Long recap of Team Impact vs. Team AAA.

Video on Gail Kim and the other women in the title match with her.

Here’s Gail Kim to talk about what her journey has meant to her. She’s ready for both opponents and promises to take the title back where it belongs as she ends her career.

Global Forged video.

We run down the pay per view card. Again.

Video on Eli Drake vs. Johnny Impact.

LAX/Eli Drake vs. OVE/Johnny Impact

The tag teams start brawling in the aisle before Impact shows up. Drake waits for Impact at the entrance and gets in a belt shot from behind. The beating is on outside the ring with the villains in full control. Johnny is finally thrown in where he has to take care of Adonis before we get an opening bell. Impact hits a big corkscrew dive to take out all of the bad guys and we take a break.

We come back joined in progress with Johnny superkicking Ortiz into a double spinebuster for two, only to have him come back with a flapjack. Jake gets beaten down in the corner and Santana gets belly to back suplexed for two. Drake’s over the shoulder powerslam drop gets two more and it’s time to plug a movie on Pop! Jake fights up and makes the hot tag as everything breaks down. A big flip dive sends Jake crashing onto Ortiz as we hear about LAX going to Germany. Is that where we’re going next week? Johnny sunset flips Santana for the pin at 5:13.

Rating: C-. Not enough time to mean much here but we’ve got important stuff like Canadian tag team matches to air instead of the World Title feud. Johnny pinning a member of LAX makes the most sense and sends him into the pay per view with some momentum, but there’s no hiding how unimportant the World Title match really is going into Sunday.

Post match the villains beat the winners down with Johnny being sent back first into an exposed buckle. Drake and Adonis pull back the mat and expose the wood, setting up a Gravy Train to leave Impact laying to end the show….at 9:57, with another Bound For Glory ad ending the show.

Overall Rating: D-. I don’t know what they were going for here but it really didn’t work. This taping cycle, which has now gone on over several months, has completely ruined their biggest show of the year. The fact that they can’t even fill in a two hour show every week without bringing in nothing matches (like that Moose tag) to cover the rest of their time shows what a mess this place is in.

You can give whatever excuses you want (it’s cheaper this way, it’s showcasing other promotions etc) but there’s a simple fact: GFW looks like a joke right now and that’s been the case with whatever you want to call this promotion for a very long time. At this point I’m wondering how many of the outsider teams are going to win on Sunday as you can almost guarantee at least one screwup of that nature.

I’m almost completely fed up with this company (again) as they’ve managed to turn this show into a showcase for the rest of the world without giving us a reason to care. If they can’t run a two hour show on their own (and I’m curious to see how they’re going to do that without the GFW talent), just stop running the thing already. I don’t want to watch Noah, I don’t want to watch the Crash, I don’t want to watch Border City Wrestling and I don’t want to watch Global Forged. I want the wrestlers I watch the show to see featured rather than thrown into cards around the world.

This promotion has been bad before but now they’re being bad in other countries and making me not want to see them either. How many times are the fans expected to just stick with it for the sake of loyalty to this place? We’re coming up on what is likely to be another two month long taping cycle and it’s likely going to be even more of a mess this time around. I’m so thrilled.

As for the show itself, it wasn’t a terrible go home show but how much other stuff could be built up in exchange for the Japan and Canada matches? It’s certainly not the worst I’ve ever seen (I’m sure TNA has put on a worse one before) but it comes at the end of one of the most miserable set of taping I can remember, which showed off every deficiency this place has, which is covering A LOT of ground. The worst part: Sunday’s show will likely be fine as the wrestlers will be fresh and just wrestling instead of trying to keep going when the energy is all gone. At least it’s finally something fresh, but that might make things even worse.

Results

Rosemary/Allie b. KC Spinelli/Sienna – German suplex to Sienna

Moose/Yuji Okabayashi b. Katsuhiko Nakajima/Masa Kitamiya – Top rope splash to Kitamiya

Dezmond Xavier b. Trevor Lee, Sonjay Dutt, Petey Williams, Matt Sydal and Garza Jr. – Moonsault kick to Lee

Johnny Impact/OVE b. Eli Drake/LAX – Sunset flip to Santana

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 26, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Jeremy Borash

We’re back in Orlando and whatever other city/country they’re using material from this week. That’s the major issue at this point: a lot of Impact isn’t so much from Orlando but rather from all over the world. It’s nice once in a while but it’s mainly just showing how horrible the Impact Zone is. Let’s get to it.

Dan Lambert, Bobby Lashley, Moose and Stephan Bonnar arrived earlier today.

Johnny Mundo arrived earlier.

Opening sequence.

We recap Team AAA vs. Team Impact.

From AAA in Mexico.

James Storm/Ethan Carter III vs. El Hijo de Fantasma/Texano

It’s a brawl to start with Fantasma being double teamed in the corner. Texano pulls Carter outside and posts him as the brawling continues. Storm beats on Fantasma against the barricade as Carter stomps on Texano inside. The announcers recap why this feud started, which all began when Hector Guerrero didn’t vote for Fantasma in a Grand Championship match? Remember that? Remember the Grand Championship? Remember Hector Guerrero being involved in this feud? You shouldn’t, as he hasn’t been mentioned since that initial appearance.

Storm hits Carter by mistake and Fantasma takes over with an enziguri. The vill…I have no idea who the villains are supposed to be here actually, as you would think the guys from Mexico would be faces in Mexico. Anyway they crotch Storm with the bull rope and Carter gets kicked in the head. Texano trips Fantasma to continue a feud taking place in AAA but Fantasma comes back with the kneeling tombstone on Carter. Fantasma kicks Texano in the face but gets Last Called for the pin at 7:14.

Rating: D. This was barely a match and was much more about advancing Fantasma vs. Texano, which is a feud I didn’t even know existed coming into this show. The story continues to be a combination of uninteresting and bad here as apparently it’s over that Grand Championship match from a few weeks back. I’m sure this is leading to a six man tag at Bound For Glory, even though there’s next to no interest in this whole thing (which to be fair could apply to the company as a whole at this point).

Eli Drake is on the phone when he runs into Dutch Mantel. Apparently Eli is missing media appearances and marketing calls so Dutch wants to know what’s up. Drake blows them off and says those things aren’t important before returning to the phone. It’s not clear who he’s talking to but Drake thinks it’s time they came back.

After a break, Jim Cornette, Scott D’Amore and Mantel yell about Drake. Scott leaves to make sure they have a show tonight. Cornette comes up with an idea: if Drake loses the title, this whole thing might work itself out.

From Border City Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

GFW Tag Team Titles: OVE vs. Phil Atlas/Brent Banks

OVE is defending and we’re joined in progress with Dave and Atlas coming in off hot tags. Phil is taken into the corner and kicked in the face for his efforts. Jake gets two off a dropkick as the announcers talk about almost anything else. Not that it matters as Brent comes in again with a dropkick of his own and a front flip into a nip up. Dave sends the champs into each other but Banks hits a falling cutter. A top rope elbow gives Banks two but it’s the spike tombstone to Brent to retain the titles at 5:10 shown.

Rating: C-. Who are Phil Atlas and Brent Banks and why does GFW think I’m interested in them? Better yet, what is Border City Wrestling? AAA and Pro Wrestling Noah are big deals but the Crash and Border City aren’t exactly household names, or really even big time indies. They’re just promotions that are included occasionally and it’s not like this is outstanding action or anything like that. It’s another match that doesn’t do anything for me and that’s been the case since these international matches started.

Another long recap of Moose/Bonnar vs. American Top Team. By the way we’re 24 minutes into the show and we haven’t seen any wrestlers in the Impact Zone arena.

Drake won’t do an interview and texts someone instead.

From Pro Wrestling Noah in Tokyo.

GHC Title: Eddie Edwards vs. Naomichi Marafuji

Edwards is defending. Feeling out process to start as they run the ropes with neither being able to get much of an advantage. It’s a standoff and we’re clipped to Eddie hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. An enziguri knocks Marafuji off the top but he comes back with a no sold Saito suplex. A hard shot to the chest drops Marafuji and we’re clipped to Edwards not being able to hit a suplex.

Clipped again to Marafuji kicking Eddie in the head to stop a dive. They head outside with the pads being pulled back. Eddie can’t hit a piledriver on the concrete but settles for a superkick instead. Another clip takes us to Eddie hitting a nasty suicide dive. Clipped again to Eddie getting piledriven on the apron (good looking crash) and yet again to Marafuji hitting a top rope C4 for two.

Another clip has Eddie grabbing a super hurricanrana, followed by another clip into the Boston Knee Party getting two. A tiger bomb gets two more and it’s an Emerald Fusion to retain Eddie’s title at 6:36 shown. Way too many clips to fairly rate this but this looked to be a heck of a match, which ran about twenty six minutes in full.

Marafuji shakes his hand post match.

OVE is sick of LAX and has a friend to help them out. We don’t see his face but he gives a thumbs up, which switches to a thumbs down. That’s the pose of Sami Callihan, who has been rumored to be coming to the promotion.

Drake says he doesn’t have time to talk but is ready for his tag match against Johnny Impact and Garza Jr.

Laurel Van Ness is in the arena with two glasses of champagne. She’s the first GFW talent in the arena tonight and we’re 47 minutes into the show.

Back to Border City Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Petey Williams vs. Idris Abraham vs. Tarik vs. Kiyomiya

One fall to a fall and it’s a brawl to start with Kiyomiya getting knocked down, setting up a brawl between Abraham and Tarik. Abraham gets put in the Tree of Woe for O Canada and we’re clipped to Petey hitting running corner dropkicks. Petey dives onto Kiyomiya and grabs a crucifix for two on Tarik.

Back in and Abraham starts cleaning house with some forearms, only to have Tarik send him into the corner for a running elbow. What looks to be a Cross Rhodes is broken up and it’s Tarik hitting Ricochet’s Benadryller for two on Kiyomiya. Petey comes back in with a bicycle kick and it’s the Canadian Destroyer to put Tarik away at 5:55.

Rating: C. Pretty standard four way match and I’m not even going to bother making the same complaints that I’ve made so far. The other problem here is this was a way to showcase Petey Williams. That’s all well and good, but is there NO ONE else that could get this kind of a spotlight? I mean, of course that would suggest actually putting the focus in the arena and on GFW, which isn’t the point of this show, at least in the first half.

Recap of Impact vs. Drake.

Eli Drake/Chris Adonis vs. Johnny Impact/Garza Jr.

Adonis shoves Garza into the corner to start and Garza TAKES OFF HIS….shirt. Dang it that’s quite the tease. An enziguri puts Adonis down and it’s off to Impact for some double chops. Chris pulls Impact’s hair from the apron though and Drake comes in to hammer away. Everything breaks down for a big and Drake clears the ring without too much effort.

Adonis adds a clothesline to take Johnny down but he sends the villains into each other, allowing the hot tag to Garza. That means IT’S TIME FOR GARZA TO TAKE OFF HIS PANTS, followed by a superkick to Adonis. Stereo moonsaults get two on Drake but Garza gets knocked down as we take a break.

Back with Garza getting double teamed in the corner and Adonis doing his biceps pose (This guy might have fewer moves than Kevin Nash). We hit a camel clutch for a bit before it’s off to Drake for a bad looking powerslam. Garza kicks him away though and it’s the hot tag to Johnny. A running knee to Adonis sets up the springboard corkscrew crossbody with Drake making the save. Everything breaks down and Adonis hits Drake by mistake, allowing Johnny to grab a rollup for the pin at 14:02.

Rating: C. Just a tag match here though they made a point of having Drake avoid Impact. They’ve set up a nice little story for the title match, but the company is kidding themselves if they think this is the top story going into the pay per view. The World Champion shouldn’t be taking a huge backseat to something that isn’t a really important feud and that’s not something Bound For Glory has.

Alberto El Patron is returning at Bound For Glory.

Video on Trevor Lee coming to the Crash and wondering who he’s facing for the X-Division Title.

From the Crash in Tijuana, Mexico.

X-Division Title: Trevor Lee vs. Ultimo Ninja

Lee is defending, which shouldn’t be that surprising as we haven’t seen Ninja (Garza Jr.’s brother) before. Ninja wastes no time in taking Lee down for a dropsault. Lee sends him outside and scores with the running apron kick to the chest. Back in and things slow down again with Lee slowly stomping and posing a lot. Ninja fights back with a missile dropkick for two, followed by a running flip dive to the floor. A spinning kick to Lee’s face gets two more on Lee but he raises his boots to block a moonsault. The standing double stomp retains Lee’s title at 6:00.

Rating: D+. It’s not a good sign when the fans who know Ninja didn’t seem to care about him either. This was a short match with two guys not doing much of anything special. There was no reason to believe that the title was changing hands, making it just a step ahead of an old school squash.

Global Forged.

King Mo doesn’t like Moose or Bonnar. You remember King Mo right? He’s that MMA guy who shows up every few years, doesn’t do anything important and leaves again without most people realizing he’s gone. But he a Bellator mainstay so he’s always being brought back. His history with TNA isn’t mentioned here so if you don’t know that stuff coming in, he’s just an MMA fighter with a big mouth.

Moose vs. Bobby Lashley

Bonnar and Lambert are the seconds here. They don’t waste time as it’s Moose taking him into the corner to start for some hard forearms to the chest. Lashley sends him into the corner as well for some forearms of his own. Moose puts him on the top for a dropkick out to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Lambert grabbing Moose’s leg so Lashley can kick him to the floor. Lambert gets in some choking with a boot as he’s holding some kind of trophy. Lashley hits some posing on the floor and stomps away on Moose back inside. There’s something to be said about someone who can do all the power stuff and wrestle a strong amateur style going with a simple offense instead.

It’s quite the heel move as he’s basically saying he doesn’t need to go to the good stuff when simple offense is more than enough. A chinlock doesn’t last long and it’s Moose coming back with the bicycle kick. Moose’s hesitation dropkick connects but Lambert comes in for the DQ at 11:41.

Rating: C. Something that has gone under the radar in this feud: Dan Lambert is a pretty good heel manager. He’s obnoxious and condescending and can talk fairly well, but he’s stuck in this terrible story. Kind of a shame really. Anyway this worked well and they were smart to do the non-finish with less than two weeks before Bound For Glory. Lashley and Moose are good choices for power guys and you can almost guarantee a tag match at the pay per view. I have no idea why we’re not just seeing this singles match there, but I’m assuming it’s something about the company thinking wrestling fans care about MMA.

Moose and Bonnar clean house post match with Moose powerbombing one of the American Top Team guys onto the pile. The MMA guys bail to the stage and Moose throws out a challenge for Six Sides of Steel at Bound For Glory.

A promo for LAX vs. OVE wraps us up.

Overall Rating: D-. They do know that Bound For Glory is in less than two weeks? You really could have cut this show down to about thirty five minutes and no one would have noticed the difference. There were seven matches on this show and three of them (one of which was heavily clipped) involved wrestlers with matches actually on the pay per view card. It really does feel like they’re throwing whatever they can out there and hoping people watch.

I know they have some issues with filling in so much content over the way too long marathon taping sessions but filling it in with this isn’t working. There’s a good chance that they’re going to do the exact same thing with the Ottawa tapings and that’s going to make for some very, very long episodes in the future. This show was hard to sit through and that’s with a goal in sight. How bad is it going to be when they don’t have a pay per view for another eight months?

Results

James Storm/Ethan Carter III b. El Hijo de Fantasma/Texano – Last Call to Fantasma

OVE b. Phil Atlas/Brent Banks – Spike tombstone to Banks

Eddie Edwards b. Naomichi Marafuji – Emerald Fusion

Petey Williams b. Tarik, Idris Abraham and Kiyomiya – Canadian Destroyer to Tarik

Johnny Impact/Garza Jr. b. Eli Drake/Chris Adonis – Rollup to Adonis

Trevor Lee b. Ultimo Ninja – Standing double stomp

Moose b. Bobby Lashley via DQ when Dan Lambert interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 19, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

Hopefully with more wrestling this week. We’re less than a month away from Bound For Glory 2017 and that means it’s time to really crank things up. The big story is Johnny Impact becoming #1 contender to Eli Drake’s World Title. Well at least that’s the big story on the wrestling side. On the MMA side, Moose has been joined by Stephan Bonnar to go after American Top Team. Let’s get to it.

Moose and Stephan Bonnar arrive with everything they stole from the American Top Team facilities.

American Top Team is here as well. It’s going to be another one of those shows.

Recap of Chris Adonis attacking Johnny Impact last week.

Chris Adonis vs. Johnny Impact

Adonis slugs away at Johnny to start but gets kicked in the ribs. We hit the bearhug on Impact for a bit before a spinebuster gets two. The Adonis Lock goes on but Johnny is able to dive over the top for the break in a unique idea. Back in and Impact slugs away in the corner, including a kick to the head. The flip neckbreaker gives Impact two, followed by a springboard corkscrew kick to the head for another near fall and we take a break. Back with Impact breaking up a superplex attempt and hitting the countdown 450 (Countdown to Impact) for the pin at 10:15.

Rating: C. Impact looked fine here, albeit about as bored as you’re going to be against Adonis. At least this match made sense for Impact as he was fighting Eli Drake’s lackey instead of fighting Garza Jr. for no logical reason. The match was more about advancing the story than anything else and that’s what this story needs.

Post match Eli Drake runs in but gets his pants ripped off. The double teaming takes Impact down but Garza Jr. runs in for the save because HE is the one who rips the pants off around here.

Alberto El Patron is back at Bound For Glory. Again I say: PLEASE NO!

Hijo de Fantasma vs. James Storm vs. Texano vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Ethan Carter III

This is from Cancun, Mexico, the winner goes on to a match we won’t be seeing and it’s one fall to a finish. It’s a brawl to start with Storm being sent outside as JB talks about how Team Impact needs to work as a unit. Again, one fall and singles matches of course so let’s talk about teamwork. Carter clotheslines Texano down and it’s time for some triple teaming until Carter doesn’t want Storm to get the pin. Fantasma crossbodies Eddie for two but it’s Storm up again to take over.

That’s still not cool with Carter, who says he should be getting the fall. We hit a parade of big moves until Carter and Texano hit a double clothesline to put everyone down. Back up and Texano posts Edwards, leaving Fantasma to piledrive Carter. Storm and Texano tease going after Fantasma’s father at ringside but the distraction just lets Texano pin Carter at 8:22.

Rating: C-. I’m running out of ways to say I don’t care about this story. They’ve run the same people fighting in Orlando over the promotion invasion and now they’re fighting in Mexico for a spot in a match we won’t be seeing. These matches are watchable but I need more of a story to make me care whatsoever.

OVE is in Tijuana, Mexico to find Konnan, who agrees to meet with them in exchange for a title defense in the Crash promotion.

Carter, Storm and Edwards bicker about the loss in Cancun.

American Top Team yells at Jim Cornette over the stolen property. You have breaking and entering, destruction of property and theft on tape/national TV and you go to the wrestling boss?

Dezmond Xavier vs. Andrew Everett

Everett takes him down by the neck for two to start and a snap suplex gives him the same. Xavier is sent outside as we hear that Taryn Terrell won’t be in the Knockouts Title match at Bound For Glory. Sounds like an injury or someone else leaving the company. That’s enough talking about the Knockouts so the announcers discuss Alberto El Patron returning.

Xavier makes his comeback with some kicks and a backdrop to the floor, followed by the running flip dive to take out Everett and Trevor Lee. Speaking of Lee, he offers another distraction but Xavier misses a charge into the corner. The moonsault kick to the head gives Xavier the pin at 4:37.

Rating: D+. Yeah this happened. It was your usual flip match with the announcers ignoring the action because the X-Division doesn’t mean a single thing in this promotion. As usual, it’s the vaguest of issues (Lee thinks he and his boys are the best, the rest of the division disagrees) and odds are they’ll be thrown into Ultimate X for the title match. That’s lazy writing and I’m not a bit surprised.

Preview of Lee going to Tijuana next week to defend the title. GOOD GRIEF ENOUGH WRESTLING FROM MEXICO ALREADY! These are just matches for the sake of having matches and this is now the third story on the show set in Mexico. I get that a partnership is cool but this is taking over the show.

Oh hey let’s go to Mexico again where OVE is looking for Konnan. They’ll have to defend the titles tonight.

Bonnar and Moose have the Bellator gear in the back. Yes they really brought it here with them and we’re supposed to believe this is real.

Long recap of the issues between Grado and Joseph Park with Park exploiting Grado and taking his money.

Here’s Grado to call out Park. Grado is ready to prosecute Park for stealing from him (or maybe just taking whatever Grado agreed to give him in the contract) and he’s going to be Park’s executioner. We hear a rant about how Grado has been worked ragged for Park’s benefit and Grado doesn’t want to hear any jokes. Park admits that the money was too tempting for him and he gave in. However, the visa keeps Grado in the country so he pretty much has nothing to say right now.

Grado wants the visa handed to him but Park has a better idea: a match at Bound For Glory for Grado’s freedom. Grado immediately signs and Park is rather happy. See, Grado still hasn’t learned about reading the fine print. It turns out that the match is going to be Monster’s Ball and against the monster Abyss.

Recap of Moose/Bonnar vs. American Top Team. My goodness this show loves its recaps.

A panicked Grado gets in his car when someone changes the radio to Abyss’ theme. It’s Father James Mitchell of all people, who scares Grado away.

Tag Team Titles: OVE vs. Black Diamond/Black Danger

OVE is defending and this is in Tijuana for the Crash promotion. Jake, in most of a suit, crossbodies Diamond to start and it’s OVE firing off some kicks to the ribs. We finally settle down to Danger being sent into Diamond, only to have Danger catapult Jake into a spear out of the air. Cool spot if nothing else. A superplex into a powerbomb gets two on Danger and it’s a spike tombstone (with a top rope double stomp) to put Diamond away at 3:44.

Rating: C. Points for having OVE get a win but, again, the focus was this being in Tijuana than anything else. I get that the company thinks going to these other promotions is the coolest thing in the world but all it does is make me think that the Impact Zone is a joke and that the company doesn’t think much of their own talent because they need to go elsewhere to make the show work.

JB is in the ring for what sounds like the Hall of Fame announcement when American Top Team interrupts. Dan Lambert says this isn’t how it was supposed to be. This was supposed to be a thing with Jeff Jarrett but now he’s the villain in the story, despite being a huge wrestling fan for forty years. He got into MMA through Japanese shoot professional wrestling promotions and has the biggest collection of wrestling memorabilia in the world.

Lambert pulls out Bruno Sammartino’s first WWWF World Title belt, the National Tag Team Titles from Georgia, the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Titles, and Jerry Lawler’s AWA World Title (which I believe Lawler said he still had on the AWA documentary). Lambert talks about Moose and Bonnar taking their stuff and showing no respect.

Therefore, at Bound For Glory, we should have a fight with the two of them facing King Mo and Lashley. That’s a fight that wrestling can’t win because they’re not real fighters. Cue Moose and Bonnar with the Bellator titles but they’re quickly beaten down. Lambert runs his mouth about how horrible wrestling is and American Top Team beats down security and the invading roster.

This was a better segment than any other from the MMA guys but EGADS the level of focus this story is receiving is getting very old. It’s a bunch of guys who aren’t going to wrestle plus Lashley and King Mo, who wrestled like three times and wasn’t interesting. Lambert is a decent heel manager but I get really, really tired of hearing about how awesome mixed martial arts is every single week. As usual, this company has no idea what draws fans in and just goes with an idea that they like for months on end, probably leading to a tag match which should be a regular match, but that would imply that the wrestlers are the interesting ones.

OVE gets to meet Konnan and want their pay for the night. Uh, Konnan never said he’d pay them. He said he’d talk to them in exchange for them wrestling. Konnan basically says as much and here are the Crash guys to beat OVE down. Who decided to have two beatdown segments in a row?

Global Forged videos, as we continue to have ANYTHING but Impact on this show.

Recap of Taya Valkyrie vs. Rosemary.

Taya Valkyrie vs. Rosemary

Rosemary wastes no time in charging at Taya in the corner and throwing her across the ring. Taya chokes her in the corner a bit and we take a break. Back with Rosemary stomping in the corner as the announcers make a not so subtle reference to Sexy Star injuring Rosemary in Mexico. Rosemary’s modified Tarantula slows Taya down but Valkyrie throws her into the corner to take over again.

A quickly broken chinlock keeps Rosemary in trouble but she grabs a release German suplex. They loudly slug it out with Rosemary screaming a lot, only to be taken down by some hard kicks to the chest. Rosemary is dropped with her legs bent underneath her, only to come back up with an Undertaker style situp. Not that it matters as Taya hits a double stomp for the pin at 10:55.

Rating: C-. Well that was surprising. I would have bet on this being saved for Bound For Glory but we got it here instead. Having Rosemary lose here shows how strong they’re making Valkyrie, who will probably be Knockouts Champion when we’ve praised Gail Kim enough. I mean, that’s been the case for years now but why change what’s working so little over the years?

Post match Taya loads up the Road to Valhalla but gets misted for her efforts. Rosemary says they make each other see red so it can be a different shade of red at Bound For Glory: blood red. That sounds like a first blood challenge, though I’m more curious about why Taya’s face looks completely normal after taking red mist to the face.

Overall Rating: D+. What is Impact Wrestling? I know it’s supposed to be this promotion that has a bunch of international talent coming in but it feels like a place that has been taken over by that international talent and showcases it’s own talent when they’re given the chance. On this show, we saw the Team Impact guys, the X-Division Champions and the Tag Team Champions in Mexico, along with a woman who calls herself lucha royalty in the main event, the AAA World Champion challenging for the World Title and the main story on the show being built around something that started in Mexico.

As I’ve been saying for weeks now, this show is about everything other than Impact Wrestling. I’m having real issues caring about most of this stuff because I have no real reason to care about them. The MMA stuff continues to bore the heck out of me (pick a reason why, starting with the fact that it’s almost ALL about the MMA people with Moose feeling wedged in there to make it a wrestling angle) and the World Title feud feels like a midcard match. This show is really frustrating as they seem to be charging in the wrong direction as we had into the biggest show of the year.

Results

Johnny Impact b. Chris Adonis – Countdown to Impact

Texano b. Hijo de Fantasma, James Storm, Eddie Edwards and Ethan Carter III – Piledriver to Carter

Dezmond Xavier b. Andrew Everett – Moonsault kick to the head

OVE b. Black Danger/Black Diamond – Spike tombstone to Diamond

Taya Valkyrie b. Rosemary – Double stomp

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 12, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Jeremy Borash

We’re less than a month away from Bound For Glory and some of the card is starting to come together. You can pretty much guess a lot of the things they’re going to do, though one question is will Moose manage to do something dumber than walk into an MMA gym alone and pick a fight. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Eli Drake and Chris Adonis attacking Johnny Impact, only to have Garza Jr. interrupt. This sets up Impact vs. Garza for the Bound For Glory title shot.

Garza says he’ll win. No dude, you won’t.

Opening sequence.

We look at Eddie Edwards winning the GHC Title and Garza trying to win the title. As usual, GFW is really, really overestimating how interesting these other companies are.

Eli Drake is defending the title in Japan this week.

Here’s LAX with something to say. They want their title match right now and don’t care what rules they have to abide by. This brings out OVE to say bring it, even if it’s a 5150 street fight. The champs don’t care but Diamante says it’s all of LAX vs. OVE at the same time. The match, and the brawl, is on with the champs getting beaten down, including Dave being sent through a table at ringside.

We look at a press conference announcing GFW wrestlers going over to Tokyo to invade Pro Wrestling Noah. Is it really an invasion if you announce a working relationship and hold a press conference announcing the matches? More on this later, because we’re just that lucky.

Video on American Top Team, including them attacking various GFW employees and Moose going to their gym and getting beaten down. This is a compilation of clips and packages we’ve seen before.

Another video on Garza Jr. By the way it’s 8:31 and we haven’t had a match yet. I’m not sure if that’s a complaint or not.

Rosemary vs. Hannah Harper

Red Wedding ends Harper in 59 seconds. Nearly half of that was them staring at each other.

Post match Rosemary calls out Taya Valkyrie for a dance with the demon. Taya comes out and mists Rosemary for a change of pace, followed by the Road to Valhalla.

We look at Moose getting beaten down at the American Top Team facility.

Moose is going back to the facility, but this time he has backup.

Here’s Taryn Terrell to tell us all to shut up. She’s got a Knockouts Title shot at Bound For Glory but now she wants to focus on Gail Kim. Taryn talks about Gail’s husband Robert Irvine and says after she’s done, they’ll be heading appearing on Divorce Court. Gail comes out and says she won’t be attacking Taryn, only to slap her anyway.

Alberto El Patron is back at Bound For Glory. DANG IT MAN JUST GO AWAY ALREADY!!!

Sienna is ready for a mixed tag tonight and can’t wait to beat up Allie. One of her partners, Texano, says AAA is awesome. The other partner, Caleb Konley, says North Carolina is awesome.

Grado is very tired and says no more. Joseph Park comes up in an expensive car with a bunch of good looking women. They’re just interns, though one of them calls Grado the meal ticket. Grado isn’t happy as Park leaves with the ladies.

Wrestlers talk about the importance of Bound For Glory. This is probably the fifth promo for the show in the first hour to go with the 53 seconds of in-ring action.

We’re an hour into this show and it’s been little more than a recap show so far. 53 seconds of wrestling and an announcement of a tag match for the pay per view. Wrestling Challenge was run better than this.

Sienna/Caleb Konley/Texano vs. Allie/Dezmond Xavier/James Storm

We finally break a whole minute of wrestling an hour and nine minutes into the show. Sienna stomps Allie in the corner to start but gets taken down with a clothesline. It’s off to Texano vs. Storm but Konley comes in instead. Some villainous cheating has Storm in trouble but Storm is quickly out of a chinlock. A leg lariat gives Texano two and Sienna stomps away as well.

Texano gets dropped again and the diving tag brings in Xavier. Kicks abound and a standing corkscrew moonsault gets two with Sienna making the save. Everything breaks down and it’s a Codebreaker from Allie into a Backstabber from Storm. Konley comes back in with a swinging slap, only to have Xavier hit a 619 around the post. Lee breaks up something off the top but it’s the Last Call to end Konley at 6:38.

Rating: D+. Normally I’m a fan of throwing a bunch of feuds into one match but what happens when the feuds aren’t interesting in the slightest? This was more evidence that Bound For Glory isn’t an interesting show as the TV building it up isn’t compelling in the slightest. There’s no reason for AAA and GFW to be feuding and Xavier feels like he hasn’t been around in weeks. I’m sure he’ll be in the X Title match at the pay per view because that’s what they do with that title most of the time. More uninspired booking here, which is becoming a trend.

Here’s a slightly different package on the wrestlers in Japan. Some of the quotes and clips are the same.

Yet ANOTHER video on Garza Jr., this time of him in Japan.

This week’s Global Forged as this show is allergic to wrestling. This one focuses on Jon Bolen, the head trainer.

LAX is ready for the street fight.

Moose went to the American Top Team facility again (we’ve seen the clip of him on the phone at least five times now), though this time he has backup. Fellow MMA fighter Stephan Bonnar (not named until after the segment is over) is there this time though and they have pipes. They walk in and that’s all for now.

Garza Jr. vs. Johnny Impact

The winner faces Eli Drake at Bound For Glory. Feeling out process to start until Impact takes him down with a headlock. Garza sends him outside for a suicide dive as the announcers promise more American Top Team stuff later tonight. Johnny is back up with a flipping elbow off the steps and we take a break. Back with Garza forearming Impact in the corner but LET’S TAKE OFF THOSE PANTS!

Some kicks to the face have Johnny in trouble and they slug it out, followed by a crossbody to put both guys down. Back up and Johnny kicks him down for two more but he has to bail out of Starship Pain. A second attempt completely misses and Garza gets two off a standing moonsault. Garza’s missile dropkick gets another near fall but a pinfall reversal sequence goes to Impact for the pin at 13:50.

Rating: C+. I don’t know how else to say it but no one cares about Garza. He’s just a guy who was in the lucha tag team and then he’s randomly in the #1 contenders match. A bunch of packages on him for one night isn’t enough to make me care about him in this spot, especially when they weren’t hiding the fact that Impact was winning.

Post match Cornette comes in to interview Impact but Adonis comes in and breaks a board over his head.

And now, back to the real story with American Top Team and UFC LEGEND (yes UFC LEGEND I say, along with JB who says it multiple times) Stephan Bonnar. Everyone is gone (it’s the middle of the night) so they just break stuff with the pipes instead and Moose steals some MMA belts. They also wreck the merchandise area. This is the way they’re hyping up the biggest show of the year people. It’s the best idea they have. Moose leaves a note with the receptionist (who didn’t say a word while in the same room where all this was happening) to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. This is only above a failure because the main event wasn’t bad. I just sat through two hours of Bound For Glory ads, the same clip of Moose on the phone saying he needed help, videos that didn’t make me interested in Garza Jr. and GFW in Japan. If you take out the commercial from the main event, there was less than twenty minutes of action on the show and less than two minutes out of the first seventy were spent on wrestling.

I know they’re strapped with all the taping marathons and such but with this many wrestlers running around, there’s really no excuse to have almost no one to put on the shows. Come up with something better than a squash, a six person tag and a really obvious main event. With as many people as they have, including all the talent they bring in, there’s not much of an excuse for this. This show wasn’t so much bad as it was unacceptable, which is much worse.

Results

Rosemary b. Hannah Harper – Red Wedding

James Storm/Dezmond Xavier/Allie b. Sienna/Caleb Konley/Texano – Last Call to Konley

Johnny Impact b. Garza Jr. – Rollup

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 5, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

We’re closing in on Bound For Glory and fresh off another show that ended in chaos with the American Top Team guys cleaning house. World Champion Eli Drake actually got to do something though as he and Chris Adonis got to beat down Johnny Impact and Garza Jr., who is now involved in the main event scene for some reason. Let’s get to it.

In Memory of Lance Russell.

We get a Pray For Vegas graphic.

We open with a recap of Johnny Impact vs. Eli Drake last week with Impact getting cheated out of the title. Johnny wants a fair rematch.

Opening sequence.

Here are Drake and Adonis to open things up. Drake talks about driving down Victory Road last week and pulling straight into Slam Town. He turned the ghetto into a parking lot and built Eli’s Cakes on top. Eli: “YUMMY! YEAH!” Johnny isn’t here tonight and there’s a good chance he won’t get back after that Gravy Train he took last week.

Drake turns his sights to Jim Cornette, whose golden boy couldn’t get the job done. Cornette has brought up every challenger he can and next week he’s sending the champ to Japan. Since he has to go halfway around the world next week, he’s getting the night off tonight. As for Adonis though, he wants to fight so let’s get an opponent out here right now.

Chris Adonis vs. Garza Jr.

Adonis is in street clothes and Drake joins commentary. Garza scores with a series of kicks for two but Adonis takes over on the arm. Back up and a hurricanrana takes Adonis out to the floor but he drops Garza onto the barricade as we take a break. We come back with Garza fighting out of a chinlock but getting caught in a butterfly suplex.

Adonis cranks on both arms as this match just keeps going. Seriously it’s Chris Masters vs. the local luchador. Why is this getting ten minutes? A spinebuster plants Garza but we cut to the back where Johnny Impact arrives. The Adonis Lock doesn’t work as Garza sends him into the corner. Drake bails to feed the parking meter and THERE GO GARZA’S PANTS!!! The Lionsault misses and Impact runs in for the DQ at 12:00.

Rating: D-. We just sat through Chris Masters vs. the luchador whose big spot is taking his pants off for twelve minutes with a run-in DQ. That’s the best thing they have to open the show? Horrible stuff here as Adonis really isn’t interesting and hasn’t changed a bit since he was in WWE. Find something more interesting than this.

Post match Impact beats up Adonis but gets in a fight with Garza. Cue Jim Cornette to make Impact vs. Garza Jr. for next week (yay). He throws in a bonus: the winner will be facing Drake for the title at Bound For Glory. So Garza goes from a midcard tag guy to possibly #1 contender for the World Title in the main event of the biggest show of the year in a few weeks? Even Jinder Mahal would think that’s extreme. Garza and Impact brawl some more. By the way, the total time between Cornette coming up and the music playing after his announcement: 87 seconds.

Recap of Moose vs. Bobby Lashley, which of course features the American Top Team guys. Good grief why do they think we care?

Moose is in a parked car looking for Lashley. He’s heading for the American Top Team headquarters.

Wrestlers are ready for Bound For Glory.

We look at OVE winning the Tag Team Titles last week.

Konnan yells at LAX for losing so Santana gets in his face. The card table is turned over.

OVE vs. Jon Bolen/Trey McGill

Non-title. Jake starts with Bolen but gets waistlocked for his efforts. A high crossbody and neckbreaker drop Bolen and McGill is sent outside as well. Jake drops both of them with a double suicide dive, followed by Dave’s Asai moonsault. Back in and OVE kicks McGill in the head a few times and let’s plug those Pop TV sitcoms. A High/Low puts Bolen away at 3:38.

Rating: D+. Just a quick win here to further establish OVE as stars. It would be nice if they established some other teams though as I’m not sure who OVE is supposed to feud with after they presumably defeat LAX in the rematch at the pay per view. The tag division is one of the company’s weakest points and that’s really covering a lot of ground.

We recap James Storm/Ethan Carter III vs. the AAA guys, who completely hate this company because the script tells them to.

Here are KM and Sienna with the latter complaining about not having a match on Bound For Glory. No one has a match on the show yet you nitwit. She says she’s going into the Hall of Fame this year so here’s Gail Kim to interrupt. Gail wants her show at the Knockouts Championship Title (still such an odd way to word it) at Bound For Glory.

Cue Taryn Terrell to say she was the longest reigning Knockouts Champion in history and wants a chance to get the title back. Now it’s Allie coming out with Josh seemingly liking her look this week. The other three might be former Knockouts Champions but she’s Allie and deserves another chance to become champion. Cue Karen Jarrett to say Sienna isn’t going into the Hall of Fame. Yes, they actually felt that we needed that explained to us. It’s also a four way for the title at Bound For Glory.

Joseph Park has a meet and greet scheduled for Grado but Grado thinks the prices are a little high. Park says you can charge these marks anything. He pays Grado what seems to be a small amount of money but Grado again seems happy with it.

Caleb Konley/Andrew Everett/Trevor Lee vs. Sonjay Dutt/Petey Williams/Matt Sydal

Remember like three weeks ago when Sydal was getting a World Title shot? Or remember like fourteen years ago when people cared about Petey Williams? I mean you should, as it’s the only reason he’s in this spot at the moment. Everything breaks down just a few seconds in with the villains taking over early on, only to be sent into each other. A triple dropkick sends them outside, followed by an apron moonsault and a double suicide dive.

Back from a break with Dutt and Sydal legsweeping Lee and Konley to set up stereo standing moonsaults. Dutt gets kneed in the back and kicked in the face as the beating begins. Konley works on the arm as the announcers talk about the villains’ unity for wearing all black gear. Or they want to make sure no one recognizes them on this show.

Dutt grabs a tornado DDT while dropkicking everyone else, setting up the hot tag to Petey so house can be cleaned in a hurry. Everything breaks down and Sydal’s top rope double knees takes Lee down. Matt throws Lee into Everett on the top, followed by the shooting star to end Everett at 14:31.

Rating: C. I’m not even going to bother with the sarcasm here. It was a completely watchable cruiserweight match that means a grand total of nothing because they’re going to be thrown into an Ultimate X match for the title where no one gets to showcase any individuality and the whole thing is about crazy spots that we’ve seen before and we hear about how important the X-Division is despite it never getting any focus. We’ve heard the same thing for the better part of ten years now and I’m tired of pretending it’s going to change.

Dutt wants the title shot at Bound For Glory and the winners get in an argument over who should have the chance. Just announce Ultimate X already so it can be over hyped.

Here’s this week’s Global Forged.

Sydal, Dutt and Williams argue in Cornette’s office. Cornette storms out.

Laurel Van Ness is back in the audience looking a husband.

Moose arrives at the gym and shoves Dan Lambert away. He gets in a cage but a fighter punches him in the face so the beatdown can be on. They throw Moose out of the building.

Ethan Carter III/James Storm vs. El Hijo de Fantasma/Texano Jr.

In what is becoming a trend, this is getting nearly half an hour. Storm takes Texano down to start as JB hypes this as main eventers vs. main eventers. Carter and Storm get in an argument over a tag though and it’s Fantasma sneaking in for a cheap shot to take over. Storm slips over and makes the tag to Carter for a flapjack on Texano.

The TK3 gets two but Fantasma gets the same off a dropkick. Carter is taken into the heel corner for some stomping, followed by a hard kick to the chest for two. It’s off to the chinlock for a bit until Carter fights up, only to have Pagano come strolling down. Back from a break with Carter still in trouble via some more choking on the ropes.

Texano adds in a jawbreaker and shouts in Spanish for Fantasma to go up. That means a missed splash though and a cutter allows the hot tag to Storm. Everything breaks down again and Storm starts to clean house. It must not be a very big house though as Fantasma superkicks him down, only to get crotched on top. He hasn’t had much luck up there.

The Tower of Doom takes everyone down and thing slow a bit. Carter is thrown outside and then into the post by Pagano as Eddie Edwards not being here to even things out is likely going to be a plot point. Storm loads up a suplex, only to have Pagano trip him up and hold the leg so Fantasma can get the pin at 19:50.

Rating: D+. This one boils down to whether this story interests you or not. It doesn’t in my case as I still have no reason to care about any of the AAA guys, nor do any of them have any motivation to be heels other than they’re from another company. That’s not enough of a story for my taste and I really didn’t need to see a completely average at best tag match going on for twenty minutes.

We go back to the LAX club house where Konnan has a big idea: a street fight at Bound For Glory. Everyone leaves to party and Low Ki is shaking his head.

Overall Rating: D. The show still feels completely flat as almost nothing interesting happened all night long. A big part of that is the roster being filled by so many outsiders, be they from MMA or AAA. It’s one thing if the matches are tearing the house down or something (like the lucha libre in ECW where they were a bunch of outsiders but stealing the show in a way no one had seen in America before) but that’s not what we’re getting here.

Instead it’s a bunch of average matches with very weak stories that aren’t drawing in any special interest. Odds are the MMA guys get in the ring at Bound For Glory, which hasn’t been interesting before and won’t be this time either. Either way, I’m sure we’ll be told that it’s the most thrilling thing we’ve ever seen and how the company is changing wrestling.

What GFW doesn’t seem to get is that changing wrestling isn’t always a good thing and just being different for the sake of being different doesn’t work. They need a focus and I really haven’t seen that in a long time. Figure out what you want to be and go with it, but just bringing in a bunch of people from another promotion whose entire characters are “this person is from this promotion and they’re awesome” isn’t enough. The show wasn’t terrible by any stretch but it also was one of the least interesting ones they’ve done in a good while, which is the case way too often around here.

Results

Chris Adonis b. Garza Jr. via DQ when Johnny Impact interfered

OVE b. Jon Bolen/Trey McGill – High/Low to Bolen

Matt Sydal/Sonjay Dutt/Petey Williams b. Trevor Lee/Caleb Konley/Andrew Everett – Shooting star press to Everett

Texano/El Hijo de Fantasma b. James Storm/Ethan Carter III – Crossbody to Storm

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Updated History of the Intercontinental Title in E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/10/02/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-the-intercontinental-title-updated-version/

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

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

Impact Wrestling
Date: September 28, 2017
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Jeremy Borash, Josh Matthews

We’re still in the invasion period as stars from both AAA in Mexico and the American Top Team fighters are around, making lives rather difficult for the Impact Wrestling crew. With less than two months to go before Bound For Glory, things are starting to pick up and that means some stuff needs to start being set up. Let’s get to it.

The opening video looks like the World and X-Division Title matches tonight.

Opening sequence.

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Trevor Lee

Williams is challenging because he doesn’t like how Lee stole the title and wants to return the title to its glory days. You know, like when you cheated by using a hockey stick or various other Canadian things. In other words, this story is a stretch at best and unnecessary at worst. Williams hurricanranas him down to start as the announcers debate the wrestlers’ IQ’s.

Lee sends him into the steps to take over though and another hard whip into the corner gets two on Petey. As Josh takes shots at fans/news talking about the company being in trouble, Lee grabs a quickly broken chinlock. A Canadian legsweep gets two but Caleb Konley gets on the apron for a distraction. Now the Canadian Destroyer connects but Lee pulls the referee out at two. Petey begs for it to not be a DQ and settles for Konkey being ejected instead. The distraction lets Lee hit a belt shot for two but the standing double stomp puts Williams away to retain at 8:09.

Rating: C. I’m still waiting on a reason to care about Williams other than nostalgia. He’s a one move guy and nothing else he does really stands out. Yeah he used to be a big deal around here but that was over ten years ago and it’s hard to care about him now when I didn’t care about him in the first place. Lee retaining is good though I’m not looking forward to them just throwing the title up in an Ultimate X match instead of having a story put together.

LAX is ready to retain their Tag Team Titles.

Taya Valkyrie/Taryn Terrell/Sienna vs. Gail Kim/Allie/Rosemary

Sienna and Rosemary start things off with the latter throwing the champ around like she’s nothing. It’s off to Taryn who runs from Gail and brings in Taya instead. Everything breaks down with the villains being sent outside as we take a break. Back with Gail getting triple teams and Taryn hitting a swinging faceplant for two. The Road to Valhalla is broken up though and the hot tag brings in Allie to clean house. Not that it matters as Sienna rolls Allie up and puts her feet on the ropes for the pin at 9:34.

Rating: C-. Just a match here with a good chunk being spent on a commercial. The Knockouts division is starting to pick up steam again but it’s not going to matter if we just hand it right back to Kim for the sake of a big retirement present. Allie has become just another person too and that’s quite the shame after everything she did over the spring. There’s still time for her but sweet goodness it’s gone down hill in a hurry.

Eli Drake says he’ll retain and that’s just a fact of life.

An exhausted Grado goes to dinner with Joseph Park and is given his first royalty check. Without looking at it, Grado offers to take care of dinner but Park has to leave to answer a call. Grado opens the envelope and really isn’t happy.

Johnny Impact has stolen Drake’s couch and says he’ll take his title tonight too.

Here’s James Storm for a chat. He doesn’t like the AAA guys coming in and disrespecting him like so many other wrestlers have done in the past. This is GFW (not for long dude) and Storm has the fans stand up and chant the letters with him. He doesn’t care what the AAA guys think because he’ll be here beating people up and drinking beer. Cue Texano but Storm says cut the music.

Storm doesn’t have a problem with Mexicans but he has a problem with Texano. A Taco Bell joke is made and the fight is on. Fantasma runs in to beat on Storm with Texano beating on him with the bullrope and hitting his own Last Call. Fantasma calls AAA the best company in the world but Ethan Carter runs in to break up a beer bottle shot to Storm’s head. House is cleaned and Storm offers a handshake, which Carter finally accepts.

Post break Storm and Carter demand a match from Jim Cornette even though they hate each other. Cornette makes it for next week but tells them not to screw up the AAA deal.

Another video on Global Forged. I still have no idea why this is supposed to be interesting.

Tag Team Titles: LAX vs. OVE

OVE is challenging and goes straight at the champs during the entrances. Dave rolls Santana up for two to start as the announcers talk about the World Title match. Santana is right back up with a middle rope Russian legsweep and we take a break. Back with Dave in trouble and Ortiz dropping a middle rope legdrop for two.

A double suplex drops Dave again but he rolls away and brings in Jake for the house cleaning. Jake powerslams Santana into the corner (cool) for two, followed by a super hurricanrana for the same. A Death Valley Driver sends Dave into Jake for a rather near fall. Back up and Dave grabs Search Encompass (a snap DDT) for the pin and the titles at 11:14.

Rating: C. The match was fine but they didn’t have time to do much with it. OVE winning makes sense and they’ve been built up well enough though I have no idea who they’re supposed to feud with other than LAX. In other words, get ready for the big gimmick rematch at Bound For Glory.

As usual, we speed away from the title change to get to what matters: a video on Lashley deciding if he wants to be a fighter or a wrestler. Dan Lambert brags about how awesome of a fighter Lashley can be and tells the cameras to get out of here. Can someone please explain to me why an MMA gym owner is the top heel in this promotion?

Johnny Impact is ready to win the title.

GFW World Title: Johnny Impact vs. Eli Drake

Drake is defending and unless there’s something else to end the show, they have nearly half an hour. Eli sends him into the corner to start but gets tossed outside for his efforts. Back in and a neckbreaker drops Impact again. Impact slugs away until Chris Adonis pulls him down from the floor, earning Adonis an ejection.

Back from a break with Drake teasing walking out and getting suplexed on the ramp for his efforts. Johnny charges into an elbow in the corner though, followed by an elbow on the apron for two. A chinlock keeps things slow with Josh saying it’s not boring because it’s how Drake wins matches. Fair enough.

Johnny fights up with a neckbreaker and the breakdancing legdrop, followed by the standing shooting star for two. Back from a break with Drake getting two off Blunt Force Trauma. The referee gets bumped so there’s no one to count the pin off the Flying Chuck. Adonis comes back as Drake hits Impact with the belt for two from another referee.

Drake punches the second referee as Adonis helps beat Impact down. The belt shot hits Adonis though and Johnny’s flip neckbreaker gets two more from the first referee. Drake shoves the first referee and kicks Johnny low, setting up the Gravy Train to retain Drake’s title at 25:23.

Rating: C-. So did Cornette just skip off to Wendy’s and miss the entire main event? Of all the things he complains about seeing, this is the kind of thing he would likely stop in a heartbeat but all this stuff is just allowed to happen? The match was fine, albeit completely overbooked of course, which tends to be the case in so many of these main events. You can probably pencil this in for the main event of Bound For Glory too, which isn’t the worst idea in the world.

Post match Adonis holds Impact so Eli can talk trash to him. Of all people, freaking Garza Jr. runs in for the save but LAX comes in to beat everyone down. Konnan shoves a fan and LAX takes down an Impact official. Adonis and Drake beat up some referees as Cornette and Scott D’Amore come out to end the show. Of all the people you could put into that spot, GARZA JR.??? REALLY?

Overall Rating: C. The show wasn’t terrible for the most part but the lack of personalities is getting worse every week. Drake and Impact (to a lesser degree) can talk quite well but for the most part, people just come in, do their matches and leave without making any kind of connection to the fans. It doesn’t help that the big villain is an MMA guy and the second villains are all from AAA for a lame invasion angle.

Overall, the show just feels lifeless at times and boring the rest of the time. There’s very little that stands out as impressive on the show and it feels like a combination of unoriginal stuff with uninspired characters. The wrestling is watchable but they really need to work on their storytelling, which is a disaster at the moment.

Results

Trevor Lee b. Petey Williams – Standing double stomp

Taya Valkyrie/Taryn Terrell/Sienna b. Gail Kim/Allie/Rosemary – Rollup to Allie with feet on the ropes

OVE b. LAX – Search Encompass to Ortiz

Eli Drake b. Johnny Impact – Gravy Train

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

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

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