Fall Brawl 1995 Review

Sunday, September 17th, 1995
Wells Fargo Arena
Des Moines, Iowa

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Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are the hosts tonight and they tell us that the Giant ran over Hulk Hogan's motorcycle with a monster truck. Absolutely devastating. 

United States Championship #1 Contender Match
Brian Pillman vs. Johnny B. Badd

Two of my favorites from this era, despite the Badd gimmick being so lame. It's about time that I get to defend Marc Mero the wrestler. I don't care what people say, he was good in the ring. This is also the beginning of the Pillman loose cannon era or at least it should be shortly. It will be interesting to watch the pay per views after this, since I just jumped into this timeline and none of the stories really make sense out of the couple they have promoted on the first two Nitro episodes. We get mostly 50/50 wrestling here, with both being faces and they are obviously going to be getting some time here. Badd hits a nice slingshot leg drop and gets a 2 count out of it. Badd hits a suplex off the apron and sends to the floor. Badd then follows that up with a dive over the top. They go back in the ring and Badd goes up top. Pillman nails him with a dropkick in midair for a 2 count. We get an announcement that there are 3 minutes remaining in the time limit. Pillman goes for a tornado DDT, but Badd throws him away. Things kind of slow down again, which is a little surprising. Badd gets out of a submission around the 30 second mark and then hits him with the Tutti Frutti. He covers him and thinks he won, but Pillman's leg is under the ropes. Pillman gets a pin attempt, but the bell rings that the match is over. The referee tells Michael Buffer that they will go into overtime. They say that since this is to determine the #1 contender for the United States Championship, we have to have a winner. Pillman goes up top and both men throw dropkicks at the same time. Pillman locks in the sleeper hold in the middle of the ring. Badd gets out of it and hits a top rope sunset flip for another 2 count. Badd goes for a powerbomb, but Pillman counters it for a hurricanrana. After that's not enough, Badd hits a top rope hurricanrana and Pillman still gets his shoulder up. Pillman hits the tornado DDT and this time Badd gets his shoulder up. Badd sends Pillman into the guardrail and then goes for the Bad Mood, but Pillman gets his knees up. This is where WCW just wasn't as good as WWF during this era. There are just so many spots where the guys feet are under the ropes and just awkward pauses like that. They hit a double crossbody and even though it looks like Pillman got the better of it, Badd gets the pinfall and the victory here. The guys fought hard, but it's hard to ignore the little things that made it a little clunky at times. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Ric Flair is with Mean Gene and he's talking about everything that he and Arn Anderson have gone through together. A pretty restrained interview and appropriately so. 

Cobra vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman

Some guy comes out instead of Pittman to distract Cobra. Pittman then comes down from the ceiling and then slithers in the ring. Pittman then chokes him out until the bell rings and then tosses the foreign object out of the ring. Cobra goes off the top rope, but Pittman counters it. He puts the Code Red on and that's all. This was terrible and had no reason to be on this show. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show Paul Orndorff snapping in his locker room because he's questioning if he's Mr. Wonderful anymore. Gary Spivey, who is apparently a psychic, comes in and talks to him. He tells him that he's Mr. Wonderful. This goes on forever and is as pointless as it sounds. 

WCW World Television Championship Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Renegade

Page attacks Renegade as he's still showing off his title belt. It doesn't last long until we are forced to watch Renegade's offense. Page is able to sidestep a crossbody and then chokes him on the top rope. Page hits a swinging neckbreaker and the announcers are hyping this being Renegade's longest match to date. I can't imagine why. DDP goes for a Diamond Cutter, but Renegade pushes his way out of it. He rolls him up and gets a 2. Max Muscle gets on the apron and Renegade throws DDP into him. He hits a powerslam and then dives off the top rope onto Muscle. DDP hits a Diamond Cutter back in the ring and wins the title belt. I mean, Renegade sucked so bad that they had no choice here. DDP tried his best, but you can only do so much.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Heenan and Schiavone talk about how Col. Parker and Sister Sheri have gotten together finally. 

WCW Tag Team Championship Match
Harlem Heat vs. Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater

I like both teams, but this pairing feels odd to me. My instincts are right and this one is putting both myself and the crowd asleep. It's just a couple of moves, rest hold, repeat. Stevie Ray finally gets a tag in and hits a few power moves. Then in the second ring, we have Sheri and Parker making out. Out come the Nasty Boys and they interfere and it allows Harlem Heat to pick up the win and become new champions. This match felt like 100 minutes long and I don't think I even wrote 100 words on it. It stunk.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Mean Gene interviews the losing team and Bunkhouse Buck is confronting Col. Parker about what happened. Parker tells him that he'll get another match, so go away. When Parker goes on his monologue, for some reason Gene can't hide his smile. 

Halloween Havoc is coming back to Detroit. 

We go back to Gene and he's with Arn Anderson, but first we get a video package. WWF was a lot better at those during this era than WCW. Anderson gives a solid promo, but the feud still seems a little off. 

Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair

Was this a match that fans wanted to see? I don't mean that sarcastically, just genuinely curious. They show a bunch of WCW wrestlers at ringside watching the match. We get the slow, important match beginning. Flair gets the first big break of the match, dumping Arn to the floor and then hitting a double ax handle off the top rope. They continue to go pretty standard here, mostly being 50/50. Arn gets Flair into the tree of woe and after goes for a DDT. Flair is able to hold onto the rope to counter and then goes up top. Naturally, Arn throws him off the top and drops a knee for a 2. Flair comes back and puts on the Figure Four in the center of the ring. Arn is able to eventually reverse it and Flair gets out of the hold. Flair goes for it again, but Arn counters into a small package and gets a 2 count. Now Pillman comes up on the apron while the referee is checking on Flair. He hits him with a right hand and a kick to the head. Arn hits a DDT and picks up the victory. The match was solid, but because of the finish they went with, it never got to that final act. 

Match Rating: ***

It's time for the hype video for WarGames and it's as horrible as you would expect. There is no way that anyone could have possibly thought this was good in 1995. 

Gene is with Hogan and team and they are all dressed in camo gear and face paint. If you thought Hogan couldn't look any dumber, you obviously didn't see him at Trump's rally. 

WarGames Match
Zodiac, Shark, Kamala & Meng vs. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Sting & Lex Luger

If Hogan's team wins, Kevin Sullivan must face Hogan in the cage. Shark and Sting start things off. You would have thought Meng would have made more sense, but this is likely to stink no matter what. Not much happens outside of Sting failing at hitting a body slam. This will shock you, but the heel team gets the advantage with Zodiac. Even less happens here until Savage comes in as the fourth entrant. I take that back, nothing happens again. Let's see if Kamala can do anything. Yeah, I can't believe I typed that either. Luger comes in next for Hogan's team and he hits a double clothesline on Kamala and Shark. We get some infighting with Luger and Savage after a mistake is made and Sting has to break them up. Meng is in now and the Dungeon of Doom is in clear control. It's Hogan time and we naturally get a cheesy spot where Hogan hits Zodiac with right hands and he bounces off the ropes back and forth. All I know is that there are less than 10 minutes left in this show. Hogan puts on a pathetic camel clutch on Zodiac and that's enough for the win. This was a terrible WarGames, as you would expect. After the match, Kevin Sullivan tries to leave and allows for one person to hold him back with little to no attempt. Sting comes out and throws him back into the ring. Even more comically is that Meng and Zodiac walk right by them as it's happening. Hogan just throws Sullivan into the cage multiple times. They go out of the cage and he throws him into it a few more times. Hogan hits the big boot and then out comes the Giant. Giant "chokes" Hogan and of course Hogan gets out. Giant does get back and then does the fake breaking of the neck. Hogan's squad comes back out and check on him while Giant heads to the back. This was all just so bad. The crowd was semi into it, I guess. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

After some good episodes of Nitro, this was an absolutely terrible show. Yes, Pillman/Badd was good and Arn/Flair was solid, but the rest was pure trash. It felt like 6 hours instead of 3. No thank you.

Overall Rating: 34%

Superstars 9-16-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, September 16th, 1995
Erie Civic Center
Erie, Pennsylvania

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Hakushi vs. Skip Rad Radford

Sunny lets us know that Skip is hurt and he's out sporting a sling on his arm. So Rad Radford is their replacement. Radford gets in a little offense until he's back body dropped over the top and then Hakushi hits him with a dive. We get lots of high voice yelling Vince, which is usually him overcompensating for a match that the live crowd doesn't care about. Hakushi hits a splash off the top rope while Sunny is distracting the referee. Skip then starts unloading on Hakushi with his "injured" arm. The referee ends up seeing it, but we don't get a DQ. The ref wants him Skip in the ring, but Skip doesn't oblige. Barry Horowitz comes out and throws Skip into the ring. Hakushi pins Skip and the referee counts it and lets him pick up the victory. Vince loves it, which means it probably sucks. The match was pretty good, though. 

Match Rating: **

We go to Todd for the In Your House report. We hear from Jim Cornette, Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna and Owen Hart and then Diesel and Shawn. They say nothing of importance. Don't forget about Henry Godwinn vs. Sid. It's only $14.95!

We get a lot of highlights from the disappointing Sid vs. Shawn Michaels match on Raw. 

Now it's time for a video package on the Ted DiBiase/Henry Godwinn feud. 

Now it's time for an In Your House commercial. Did they forget to tape wrestling this week? 

King Kong Bundy vs. Henry Godwinn

Godwinn teases slopping DiBiase early on and after getting away from it, DiBiase looks like an idiot and gets slopped. Bundy is being forced to work a match longer than 30 seconds, so I'm sure he's not happy about that. Godwinn is able to hit a big clothesline, but misses the follow up elbow drop. This one is at a crawl now. Bundy hits a back elbow. Bundy misses an avalanche in the corner and Godwinn kind of hits a body slam for the weird victory. Now Tatanka and Kama are out to attack Godwinn. Bam Bam Bigelow comes out to make the save. This was not very good.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week we get Sid vs. Savio Vega and Isaac Yankem vs. Bob Holly. 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Scott Taylor

Helmsley is disgusted that they are still cleaning up the slow at ringside, so he refuses to wrestle. 

We then get a replay of Razor Ramon vs. British Bulldog from Raw, which was also disappointing. They show the drama between Razor and 1-2-3 Kid as well.

Savio Vega vs. Rick Stockhauser

We get an interview from Waylon Mercy while Savio is in control. They announce that Gorilla Monsoon just made Henry Godwinn and Bam Bam Bigelow will take on Tatanka and Kama. No one cares about the match, which is now over with an easy Savio victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We're back to Todd, who is making Back To The Future jokes. We hear from Bret Hart and Jean Pierre Lafitte. Bret doesn't call it "the" In Your House, which is disappointing. 

Now Vince and Lawler hype up next week before we go to a video package of when people were when Barry Horowitz won his first match. Shawn Michaels, being the big babyface, acts like a jerk. 

This was a real disappointment of a show, with most of it being a recap of Raw and In Your House preview. I mean, I get it, but they were doing a nice job making this show a fun watch lately. 

Overall Rating: 32%

SmackDown 5-25-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, May 25th, 2007
Wells Fargo Arena
Des Moines, Iowa

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We get an Edge hype video talking about his greatest week ever. Obviously he didn't watch back his match with Batista at Judgment Day. He then talks about how everyone applauded Batista and Undertaker for their great matches and where did it get them? Now he is standing before us as the World Heavyweight Champion. He says the Rated R era is not just a catchphrase, it's a fact. Out comes Teddy Long to remind him that he has to defend his title in 9 days against the winner of the fatal 4-way match tonight. Kane, Finlay, Mark Henry and Batista will square off tonight. I still can't believe they were trying to get people to buy shows 2 weeks apart from one another. Oh wait, I totally can. The match at One Night Stand will also be in a steel cage. 

London & Kendrick vs. Dave Taylor & William Regal

Deuce 'n Domino are out to watch. London and Kendrick use their quickness early on, but of course it backfires and Taylor tosses Kendrick over the top to the floor. Taylor is only 3 years older than AJ Styles is in 2024, but looks and works like he is 20 years older. Kendrick is able to come back and hit Sliced Bread #2 and makes a tag to London. London runs into a boot, but hits Regal with a spin kick. London goes up top, but Domino shoves him off for the DQ finish. Taylor then shoves Domino off the apron and that leads to a brawl outside the ring. This was fine.

Match Rating: *1/2

We get a recap of the Shawn Michaels situation.

Hornswoggle has stolen Edge's World Heavyweight Championship belt and Finlay intervenes. Finlay gives Edge his belt and says that he can have it back...for now. 

Jillian Hall is singing in the ring and the Boogeyman's music hits. He and Little Boogey torture her. Has anything happened on this show? 

Teddy Long offers Vickie Guerrero the position of his assistant. Kristal is very happy about it. 

Matt Hardy vs. Miz

Miz is quickly on offense to allow Michael Cole and JBL to tell us how improved he is. Hardy eventually comes back after hitting a big clothesline. Hardy hits a bulldog and gets a 2 count. Miz is able to avoid a Twist Of Fate but gets hit with a Side Effect instead. Miz tries some more counters, but Hardy is able to hit the Twist Of Fate this time and picks up the victory. This served the purpose of them telling us Hardy has been better than ever and that Miz isn't just a goofball anymore.

Match Rating: **

We get a pre-taped vignette of Mark Henry. 

MVP is here for his United States Championship celebration. MVP says that it isn't his style to say "I told you so", but he's going to say it. He says that this celebration is missing someone and asks where Chris Benoit is? Out comes Benoit and MVP tells him that we are all so happy he could join us to celebrate. Benoit accepts MVP's handshake, but that's not enough for MVP. MVP says that he beat Benoit in two straight falls and tells Benoit that he needs to raise his hand. Benoit hits a trio of German suplexes instead. 

We get a Great Khali/John Cena recap. Are they even trying tonight? There has been so much dead air on this episode. 

Kane says that tonight will be fatal for Batista, Mark Henry and Finlay. Only because we have to watch this moron wrestle. 

Chavo Guerrero vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

Both of these guys are fine in the ring, but there is just no reason to care about this. We get lots of mat wrestling from Chavo. It's one submission after another here, just in case there were a few people out there that still wanted to care about this. Yang starts doing the quick pinfall attempts to get the match going. Yang goes for a moonsault, but Chavo moves and Yang lands on his injured knee. Chavo hits the Three Amigos and goes up top. Yang greets him with a right hand and goes for a superplex. Chavo counters that to a sunset flip, which Yang counters to hurricanrana and a victory. This was just too slow for what they were trying to accomplish. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Batista tells Kristal that tonight is going to be fatal, just not for him. 

Edge is on his way out to the ring to watch the main event. 

Fatal 4-Way World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender Match
Batista vs. Kane vs. Finlay vs. Mark Henry

We split off into Kane/Finlay and Batista/Henry as expected. Henry gets a powerslam on Batista, but Finlay breaks up the pin attempt. Batsista starts being the star of the show, hitting a superplex on Finlay, but then gets squashed by Henry. Oh, now we get Henry and Kane squaring off. Henry runs into one of the laziest boots you'll ever see since Kane is gassed from trying to work hard for 30 seconds. Batista hits him with a spinebuster thankfully. Henry hits the World's Strongest Slam, but Batista kicks out. Finlay hits Henry with the shillelagh and they act as if he has to be distracted, but there are no DQs. He then hits Batista in the leg with it. Finlay and Kane then start brawling outside and out comes Hornswoggle. Batista hits a spear on Finlay, then Kane and lastly Henry. Batista hits the Batista Bomb on Finlay and that's all. I'm not really sure what the point of Hornswoggle was there. They kept this short, which was wise. As a result, we got a nicely paced TV main event. 

Match Rating: ***

Typically a good main event is enough to give a decent review to, but there was just so much wasted time on this show. Did we really need another Lashley recap? The company just has so little going for it right now that it's become more of a chore to watch than I thought it would be. This was much better than ECW and Raw, but that's not saying a whole lot. 

Overall Rating: 44%

ECW 5-22-07 Review

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
Wells Fargo Arena
Des Moines, Iowa

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Snitsky vs. Tommy Dreamer

Me: "Let's see if ECW can at least be better than Raw."
Also me: "Nope."

Why did we think we needed this Snitsky run? He can't even get a reaction in Iowa. Dreamer hits a few moves on the big man and his DDT even gets about 20 fans to cheer. Snitsky catches Dreamer with a clothesline when he goes off the top rope. He hits a big boot and that's all. That was terrible. Snitsky grabs a chair and then drives Dreamer into the corner. Out comes Rob Van Dam and he hits a top rope kick into the chair on Snitsky. We get lots of angry head nodding from Snitsky as he heads to the back. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Kevin Thorn vs. Wyatt Lara

The hits just keep on coming. At least they got the memo on this one. Thorn hits his big moves and wins. No one wants to see anything more than that. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Elijah Burke is talking strategy with Marcus Cor Von and Matt Striker tries to talk to them. Burke blames Striker for his loss at Judgment Day. He tells him he has to face one of the Major Brothers and if he doesn't win, they're going to have a problem. Striker says he will get it done. 

Matt Striker vs. Brett Major

We get Zack Ryder here tonight. Tazz is impressed with Striker's back suplex. Majors gets a sunset flip for a 2 count. Striker just hits a bunch of moves and wins. I mean, I guess he looked fine. But again, no one cared, even in Iowa.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Oh good, a recap of the 2 hours of Lashley and Vince. 

Rob Van Dam & CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke & Marcus Cor Von

We get the pretty standard pre-commercial break stuff with CM Punk getting a hot tag and cleaning house. When we come back, we get the pretty standard heels are working over the babyface. RVD is finally able to find a way to tag Punk and he goes right after Burke. RVD tries to hit a dive, but he misses and hits the floor. Punk goes for the Go To Sleep, but Cor Von breaks it up and then hits him with the Pounce. That's a DQ? People do that in every tag match. After the bell rings, he hits the Pounce on RVD to some boos. It's about time they gave some shine to Cor Von. This was a very vanilla match unfortunately. 

Match Rating: **

2007 just continues to be a disappointment for me. This show was full of stuff no one cared about and even the main event that was interesting on paper, disappointed. Maybe next week, but probably not.

Overall Rating: 38%

Off The Grid, Volume 51: Saturday Night's Main Event XXIII Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, October 14th, 1989
Riverfront Coliseum
Cincinnati, Ohio

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Off The Grid, Volume 51:

Obviously, we start off with the quick-paced interviews that we have come to know and love from Saturday Night's Main Event. This time we get Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Bushwhackers, Ted DiBiase and Zeus and Hulk Hogan. We then go to Jesse Ventura and Vince McMahon. 

We get a clip of Randy Savage being crowned King. Jesse is now with Savage and Sherri. It almost gets lost in the shuffle of how great Savage was with the King gimmick. Mean Gene is with the likely murderer and as usual, he cuts a garbage promo. 

Randy Savage vs. Jimmy Snuka

Savage attacks Snuka as he leaps into the ring, but as you would expect, Snuka gets the hot start. A Sherri distraction allows Savage to regain control. Savage hits the top rope double ax handle to the floor and Sherri gets in a few cheap shots. Sherri and Savage is the all time unhinged duo in wrestling history. Snuka puts his hands on the ref and doesn't get disqualified. Sherri hands her purse to Savage and then distracts Snuka and he hits him with it. He rolls him up and gets the victory. In true Snuka fashion, he kicks out just after 3. After the match, Savage misses with a top rope elbow drop. Snuka hits a body slam and goes up top. Sherri gets in the way of him. He leaps over her and hits a headbutt on Savage. Yeah, you definitely need to protect this jobber who will go on to do absolutely nothing the rest of his career. The match was fine because of the chaos that Savage brings to every match.

Match Rating: *3/4

We get the quick backstory of Zeus and then go to he and DiBiase. DiBiase cuts the same promo he cut for like 8 years and then Jesse makes some comment about Donald Trump whipping Merv Griffin. It looks like it was another case of Trump being an absolute sleaze, as usual. 

Speaking of sleaze, here's Hulk Hogan. He talks in terms of money and refers to God as the "big bank teller in the sky" because why not? 

WWF Championship Match
Ted DiBiase vs. Hulk Hogan

I wasn't watching at this point, but I know that there is no chance that I would have thought DiBiase had any chance here. Not that anyone reads this, but did anyone out there at this time consider him a threat to Hogan's title? I'm genuinely curious. Zeus gets involved right away by grabbing Hogan's leg. Just as DiBiase finally gets Hogan down, Jake Roberts is out to watch Hogan's back. That distracts DiBiase and Hogan rolls him up for 2. We come back from commercial and we are back to DiBiase slowing down the pace. He hits an elbow off the second rope and that's not enough. We get a double clothesline spot and both men are down. Hogan is up first, but he runs the ropes and gets hit by Zeus in the back. Hogan makes his comeback, so Zeus just comes in the ring and grabs Hogan. Hogan ducks and rolls up DiBiase for the victory. He and Zeus are about to go at it in the ring, but then DiBiase attacks from behind. He tells Zeus to break his neck and Zeus and he wrenches it. DiBiase then puts on the Million Dollar Dream. Hogan is out, but then Jake comes back out to have them scurry off. This was everything you have seen a million times and I just couldn't find a way to care about it. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

They show Rick Rude attacking Roddy Piper and then we go to Bobby Heenan and Haku. Showing that video is code for Haku is about to get squashed.

Piper is with Mean Gene and he welcomes back to Saturday Night's Main Event. Piper says he makes Hurricane Hugo look like a summer breeze. 

Haku vs. Roddy Piper

They start brawling right off the bat and Piper clotheslines Haku over the top. He then hits a Thesz press off the apron. Piper then goes after Heenan and he leaps like I don't think I've ever seen Heenan leap. This is Haku's opening and he hits a reverse elbow to Piper's jaw. Haku hits a shoulder breaker and gets a 2 count. Haku misses the top rope headbutt and Piper slams Haku's head into the mat. Piper hits a belly to belly suplex and that's the finish? That was lame. I'll never understand why Haku was the easy opponent all the time during this era. Piper was very over here though. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

DiBiase is sick and tired of Jake Roberts. He's not the WWF Champion because of him and he'll pay the price. Zeus then yells and no one cares.

Mean Gene is with Rick Martel and Slick. Any time I can hear a Slick promo, I am here for it. 

Tito Santana says he is never surprised by Martel, arriba!

Rick Martel vs. Tito Santana

Hearing Martel come out to Slick's music is bizarre. Akeem, Big Boss Man, Jimmy Hart and Honky Tonk Man are out with Martel. Tito then brings out his amazing team of Red Rooster, Brutus Beefcake and Dusty Rhodes. This is the reason I wanted to see this show so bad. I love both of these guys and I don't believe I ever have seen any of their post breakup matches. We get a quickly paced beginning, as you would expect from these two. Dusty wearing the Boss Man hat is great. After a crossbody for 2, Martel is able to bait Tito and throw him into the turnbuckle. Tito comes back and hits a back body drop. He hits the forearm, but Slick distracts him by jumping up on the apron. The partners get up on the apron and out comes another referee as we go to commercial break. When we come back, things have settled down and Martel is working on Tito. Tito falls to the outside and Martel is flexing in the ring. Martel goes for the Boston crab, but Tito is able to grab the ropes. Martel climbs up top, but Tito shakes the ropes and crotches Martel. Tito goes for the Figure Four and again Slick is on the apron. Tito knocks him off and then Boss Man levels Tito. It turns into a brawl with all eight men as the bell rings. They call it a double disqualification, but honestly Tito should have been the winner. The action was good and the crowd was into it, so naturally we never got a pay per view match between these two. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

We get more Piper making fun of the Heenan family. 

The Rougeau Brothers don't get an interview, but the Bushwhackers do. Naturally, they lick Mean Gene.

Rougeau Brothers vs. Bushwackers

Jimmy Hart was always so good in these comedy matches. The Bushwhackers pull off the pants of Hart and he clearly is wearing something under his Rougeau themed boxer shorts. He runs to the back and the Rougeaus attack. Jacques hits a leaping elbow on Butch, but then accidentally hits a knee on Raymond. In comes Luke and he hits a clothesline on Jacques. Double noggin knocker and then they hit the Battering Ram. They hit the double gut buster and that's all. What a travesty. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Just in case you weren't sick enough of Hogan, here he is again. He hypes up Survivor Series and Gene promises more to come. Which by that is just Jesse and Vince recapping things. Vince then hypes up more to come, which again is now them just saying bye. 

I still do really enjoy these SNME recaps, but I was more annoyed by Hogan than usual. Savage, Tito and Martel all did a great job in their roles though and the pace is always good for these shows. It just wasn't as good as some of the other ones I have reviewed.

Overall Rating: 70%

Monday Night Raw 5-21-07 Review

Monday, May 21st, 2007 
Mark Of The Quad
Moline, Illinois

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

Bobby Lashley is here to kick off the show. He says that since he has to beat Vince McMahon in order to win the ECW Championship, he proposes the match tonight. Out comes Vince, Shane and Umaga. Vince declines and says that he is on to One Night Stand, where every match will be Extreme Rules. He will defend his match in a Street Fight with the #1 contender, the Blue Meanie. Lashley doesn't understand why it's not him. Shane interrupts Vince and says that Vince will take him on because he is invincible in Street Fights. Vince then says that Lashley has to run the gauntlet. I don't think I could possibly care any less than I do about any of this. 

Ric Flair vs. Carlito

Was the match at Judgment Day so good that they had to do the rematch the very next night? Carlito is aggressive to start and works on the arm of Flair that he worked on in the aforementioned match. Flair comes back with some chops and goes to work on the leg. Carlito hits a thumb to the eye and clotheslines both Flair and himself over the top. They brawl outside and we get a double countout. Before the announcement can be made, Carlito attacks Flair some more. He then spits his apple in Flair's face and walks to the back. This was just storyline for an angle that just needs to be put to rest. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Melina vs. Candice Michelle

Usually when someone has to keep telling you they're improving at something, it means they aren't. In this case, it's Jim Ross continuing to tell us how much better Candice Michelle is at wrestling. She does 3 moves and they act like she is capable of main eventing WrestleMania. She hits a surprise pinfall and gets the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Great Khali is backstage and looks to be upset. 

Bobby Lashley vs. Chris Masters

There aren't many lower honors that you can have than being the first mystery opponent in a gauntlet match. Masters actually dominates early on and gets the Master Lock put on. They remind us that Lashley is the only one to break the hold. Lashley is able to break it by grabbing the rope this time. We all know it's not going to last and of course Lashley hits a Spear and wins. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

The Hardys vs. Johnny Nitro & Kenny Dykstra

This is the Raw debut of Dykstra teaming with Nitro. I actually did think they had potential as a team, but of course WWE lost interest in tag teams again. I think the most underrated aspect of Nitro's career is that he always went all in when he tagged with someone. He is truly one of the best tag team wrestlers of the last 20 years in WWE. The Hardys pick up the quick win and then The World's Greatest Tag Team run into attack the Hardys. They were watching at ringside and then Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch come in and make the save. They celebrate together and no attack. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

The Great Khali is out and Ranjin Singh is along with him. They talk about being cheated last night and that he knew his foot was under the rope. They show the footage and it is in fact correct. He says that Cena can't beat him and wouldn't you know it, out comes Cena. Cena says that two things are true. One is that Khali's foot was under the rope and the other is that he made Khali tap out. Cena says he isn't scared of Khali anymore and can beat him anywhere in the arena. He wants a rematch and they go at it. Khali destroys him and stands over him. 

Bobby Lashley vs. Viscera

Just a reminder that Lashley is supposed to be on ECW. Speaking of which, how was Viscera not on ECW? Lashley hits a body slam and gets a 2 count. Viscera hits a sidewalk slam and does his signature rolling kick. Lashley battles back and hits the Spear for the victory. Vince is upset backstage. He truly thought that people that never win on TV would beat Lashley. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler talk about Shawn Michaels concussion from last night and pretend like WWE cares about concussions. Out comes Randy Orton and we get a video package. He says that all he did was take advantage of a weakness like any professional would have done. He beat Shawn Michaels not because of a concussion, but because he is the Legend Killer. How is there still 20 minutes left in this show? 

Vince is talking to Umaga, getting him ready for Lashley. 

Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga

This is just too much Lashley for this variation of him. This is his third match of the night, so naturally Umaga is taking advantage of that. He hits a Samoan drop. Lashley makes a comeback while JR insists that Umaga weighs more than 350. Lashley gets hit with a kick when he leaps off the apron and then Umaga hits Lashley in the head with a chair. Like I said, WWE cared a lot about concussions. Lawler for some reason is shocked that Lashley won the match by disqualification. At this point, I don't think anyone cares about anything. They are completely on autopilot here. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show that Umaga hit a Samoan Spike during the commercial break.

Bobby Lashley vs. Shane McMahon

Lashley is having a hard time getting to his feet to start the match, but he does and the bell rings. Shane takes advantage and the action goes outside. Umaga wants to hit him with a chair again, but the McMahons talk him out of it. They send Umaga to the back and Lashley comes back with a spinebuster. Shane comes back with a DDT and gets a 2 count. Shane puts on the Boston Crab, but Lashley powers out of it. Shane is back on the attack and then hits a second rope elbow drop. He now goes to a Camel Clutch. Lashley gets out and goes for a powerslam, but Shane gets out of it. He goes up top, but Lashley hits him with the Spear in midair and wins. That means he will face Vince at One Night Stand. Good riddance to this Raw. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

This was an atrocious episode of Raw after a boring pay per view. That's not how it's supposed to work. This was way too much Lashley and absolutely no drama whatsoever. The roster feels so thin at this point and there are very few interesting things going on for Raw. 

Overall Rating: 19%

Monday Nitro 9-11-95 Review

Monday, September 11th, 1995 
Knight Center
Miami, Florida

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

So apparently because NXT moved to CW Network, NXT episodes are no longer available on Peacock. So I guess that timeline is on hold until further notice. At least I ended on a high note at TakeOver. 

Here at Nitro, Eric Bischoff hypes up the match of the century with Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger and we get Steve McMichael in the booth for the first time. They show Luger's shocking return last week. They announce that Vader is no longer available to be on Hogan's team this weekend. 

Sabu vs. Alex Wright

Even though I have seen this before, it still feels so bizarre that Sabu is in 1995 WCW. They stick him in with 20 year old Wright and pray that he can survive. Sabu hits a dive over the top early on and surprisingly doesn't get a better reaction with it. He sets up Wright on the barricade and does the leap from a chair, but Wright is able to move. Wright hits a dropkick and throws him back in the ring to hit a missile dropkick. Sabu tries to go up top, but Wright meets him there and hits a superplex. Wright hits a German suplex into a bridge and gets a 2 count. Sabu's lack of psychology is on display here and he just gets up from it and hits a victory roll type move from the top rope for the victory. Sabu attacks Wright after the match and drops him face-first on the apron. Sabu then grabs a table and sits Wright on it. He hits a reckless dive that looks good for no one and then they reverse the decision, disqualifying Sabu. This was something. 

Match Rating: *1/2

The crowd is pretty hyped up with Mean Gene in the ring and he brings out Ric Flair. He talks about how Arn Anderson was with his family instead of running around with Flair. Probably a good choice. He tries to hype up his match with him Sunday, but out comes Lex Luger. I'm not really sure what the point of this was because nothing happens. 

They hype up Fall Brawl, but no match rundown like we get with the Toddster. 

VK Wallstreet vs. Sting

Bischoff asks Heenan about the "VK". Gee, I wonder. Bischoff then spoils the Raw matches for the first time. McMichael then says that he and his football buddies don't watch football, they watch wrestling. Sting hits a quick hip toss and some dropkicks to start the match. Sting mostly dominates the match here and hits a top rope crossbody for the victory. What was the point of even bothering with Wallstreet? The match was just an extended squash. 

Match Rating: *

Scott Norton vs. Randy Savage

McMichael says that Norton would have been a guard if he was a football player and I have to agree there. Norton attacks Savage as soon as he walks in the ring and still has his jacket on. Norton catches Savage off the top rope and squeezes for a second before throwing him to the ground. Norton hits a powerbomb and gets a 2 count. Norton hits a power slam and gets another 2 count. Bischoff tries to do the serious voice telling us that Savage is hurt. Norton hits a draping DDT from the top rope and climbs to the top rope. Savage catches him and slams him face-first to the mat. Savage makes the comeback and then out comes the Dungeon of Doom. Avalanche falls on top of Norton's legs. Savage hits the top rope elbow and pins him with Avalanche still on top of him. Norton isn't happy about it after. Bischoff called him Avalanche despite him wearing the Shark gear. I'm not sure a single person cares. The match was fun, as is usually the case with Savage matches. 

Match Rating: **

WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Lex Luger vs. Hulk Hogan

I'm trying to remember what the buzz was for this match. They are obviously trying to hype this up as a dream match. I was always such a Hogan hater, that nothing with Hogan was a dream match. We get mostly standard muscle man stuff here. Hogan gives us an early Hulk up and he hits a big boot and a leg drop. In comes the Dungeon of Doom and we have a DQ finish. Macho Man and Sting are out to help try and make a save. I'm surprised they let Hogan hit his finisher so early if this was the way they were going to go. There are still a few minutes left in the show. After the match, Hogan shoves Luger and we go to commercial. This wasn't much of a match.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Mean Gene is in the ring to interview Hogan. He's all fired up about Vader not being in their corner this Sunday. Hogan wants to know why the Dungeon of Doom didn't jump him when they attacked? Savage agrees, but Sting of course sticks up for his buddy. Sting thinks that Luger should be the fourth man, but Savage says he'd rather be down a man. Savage then throws Jimmy Hart under the bus too. Savage sticks with no, but Hogan uses his deciding vote to have Luger on the team. Luger says he'll be their partner, but he wants that title shot down the line. Next week on Nitro, it will be Johnny B. Badd vs. Paul Orndorff and watch Fall Brawl. 

This was the first head to head Raw vs. Nitro and Nitro wins it easily. There was nothing super memorable, but the pacing was good and the storyline progression was better than Raw. 

Overall Rating: 64%