Monday Night Raw 10-24-05 Review

Monday, October 24th, 2005
Save Mart Center
Fresno, California

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Triple Threat Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Big Show vs. Kane

These are the three competitors that will fans will be voting for to take on Kurt Angle and John Cena at Taboo Tuesday. Jerry Lawler is hyping this up as a match that we have never seen before. I don't think we are even a minute into the match and Big Show already has some blood from the top of his nose. Michaels and Big Show argue over pinning Kane, so Michaels takes him out from behind with a chop block. He and Kane team up on Big Show and knock him out of the ring. Kane takes control over Michaels until Show pulls him out of the ring and takes him out. Back in the ring, he throws Michaels out of the ring and on to Kane heading into the commercial break. That's an early commercial for this show. Show hits a big powerslam on Kane, but Michaels breaks up the pin attempt. Show has Michaels ready for a chokeslam, but Kane attacks him from behind. Wouldn't it have been better to let him hit the chokeslam? Kane tosses Michaels out of the ring again, as they show a countdown to voting opening for Taboo Tuesday. Kane goes for a suplex and sort of, kind of hits it? Kane goes up top, but Big Show gets there and hits a superplex. Michaels climbs the ropes and hits an elbow drop on Big Show. Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on Show, but Kane then hits a big clothesline on Michaels. Kane goes for a pin attempt, but Show kicks out at 2. A frustrated Kane starts throwing chairs into the ring and then destroys Big Show in the head with an awful shot to the head. Kane goes for a top rope move, but Michaels "hits" Sweet Chin Music on him. Well, Kane sold it like he did at least. Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music again on Big Show and gets the victory. Give credit to the two big men here, as they weren't given a ton of time and as a result they really picked up the pace to try and tell their story. Unfortunately, it was also a little bit sloppy as a result and the miss on Kane is just one of those unfortunate things that happens every now and then. Still, it was refreshing to start the show with a match and one that contained star power.

Match Rating: ** (out of 5)

Lawler gets on the live mic and asks the crowd if Coach is doing a good job. They of course boo. They all then cheer when asked if they enjoyed Steve Austin embarrassing him last week. Lawler then announces the three stipulations the fans can choose from for his match with Steve Austin. The choices are a verbal debate, an arm wrestling match or a street fight. Look at how much power the fans have! Coach heads to the ring to call out Austin and tells him he has three minutes to come out here. Austin's music hits and we see the truck coming through. But of course it's all just a ploy and it's Stephanie McMahon in a revealing outfit. Steph announces that Austin will not be here tonight. Coach then calls out Austin for next week on Raw. She announces that if Coach beats Austin, he will be fired. She starts hyping up how much muscle her dad has added and out comes Mick Foley wearing his homemade referee shirt. Foley cuts a passionate promo on JR and Linda stooping to the rest of her family's level. Steph then announces that he will be facing Carlito at Taboo Tuesday and out comes Carlito to no reaction. Steph then hits Foley with a low blow and Carlito attacks him. Carlito spits an apple in his face and heads to the back.

Foley is in the back being looked at by a trainer when Bischoff comes in to insult him. He reminds him that he is still tonight's referee for the main event tonight.

Viscera vs. Triple H

As Triple H is coming down the ramp, Flair comes from behind and attacks him. They begin brawling and Triple H is taking out the referees that are trying to stop him. They finally pull them apart. Triple H heads to the back and Flair heads to the ring, throws a shoe in the crowd and grabs a mic. Flair begs to to be put in a cage with Triple H. Classic Flair here.

A camera is back in the parking lot of the arena and JBL's limo has arrived and he is shown walking out. When we come back to the commercial, he and Bischoff are face-to-face arguing. Bischoff has security there to try and stop JBL. Edge, Lita and Chris Masters are in the ring, talking to JBL. Edge tells JBL that no one cares about him. This is all so random. Edge announces that at Taboo Tuesday there will be a Raw vs. SmackDown match. Edge and Chris Masters will take on two SmackDown competitors. They announce the five options as Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Christian, Hardcore Holly and JBL. They make fun of each competitor, where Masters seems really uncomfortable. JBL plays babyface and makes fun of Masters and challenges him to come out and tells him to try putting the Master Lock on someone a little bit bigger. Masters heads to the back, while Edge says that he's a bigger star than all of the SmackDown stars. Masters and JBL go face-to-face. JBL says that Masters just fell for the oldest trick in the book. Back in the ring, Mysterio attacks Edge and Lita and even hits the 619 to Lita. All of this really makes no sense. Why would Mysterio and JBL of all people put their differences aside to attack Raw? I say that as someone who enjoys the brand warfare more than most people.

Mickie James vs. Victoria

This is James' debut singles match here in WWE. Victoria dominates to start, but Mickie hits a sunset flip for a 2 count. Mickie misses with a dropkick and Victoria quickly stomps her in the mid-section. It should be noted that Trish Stratus, Ashley, Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson are all at ringside. Mickie hits a head scissors and a series of dropkicks for a nearfall. Torrie trips up Mickie as she goes off the ropes and Victoria goes for a vertical suplex, but she counters it into a pin attempt. The ref is distracted by the heels, so Trish comes in and helps James get another pin attempt and this time the ref sees it and Mickie gets the victory. After the match, the ladies all start brawling and Trish, Ashley and Mickie stand tall. Like all women's matches during this era, this was rushed, but it was apparent that Mickie was a trained wrestler.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Vince McMahon is here and lets us know that he doesn't when we second guess the decisions of his family. He announces that he has footage of JR's surgery. Yes, this is Dr. Heiney and Nurse Slobberknockers skit that is full of fart sounds and absolutely awful humor. I don't know how anyone thought this was something that needed to be on television, nor do I think this is a way to treat someone who is so closely associated with your company. This is easily among the worst things that WWE has ever produced and that is really saying something. When they go back to Vince in the ring, the crowd hardly reacts at all.

Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. Rosey 

Rosey walks out alone, looking for his partner. Rosey takes the champs on himself and out walks Gregory Helms. Rosey is asking him to come on down to help him out. Cade avoids a charging Rosey and he goes over the ropes to the floor. The champs quickly take advantage of the situation and aren't getting much of a reaction while doing it. Rosey makes a little bit of a comeback, but Cade hits him with a leaping shoulder tackle. They hit a double vertical suplex. They hit Sweet and Sour for the victory, as Helms look on. There wasn't much to this one.

Match Rating: *

Kurt Angle vs. John Cena

Mick Foley is of course the guest referee here. The crowd has woken up here and rightfully so. Angle dominates early on until Cena hits a hip toss and a body slam, but Angle avoids an elbow drop. Cena recovers and clotheslines Angle to the floor as we head into commercial break. Angle hits a belly-to-belly suplex and follows it with yet another one. Angle starts shoving Foley, so Foley shoves him back and Cena almost gets a quick victory. Angle hits a German suplex and gets another 2 count. Cena makes his comeback and plants a DDT, but is unable to follow up. Both men get up and Cena gets his second win. Cena hits a fisherman suplex for a 2. Carlito comes down to the ring and he and Foley start brawling. Carlito slams Foley into the steps, as Cena continues to beat on Angle. Cena hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle and puts Angle up for the FU. Bischoff comes down in a referee shirt and he of course does all that he can to get Cena to lose. Angle is able to get him in the Ankle Lock. Bischoff grabs Cena's arm and makes him slap the mat and he calls for the bell. Cena tries to fight back, but he sells the ankle injury. The match was pretty good until the finish, but that was to be expected.

Match Rating: **1/2

There's no way around it, this will always be the Dr. Heiney episode of Raw. I wish there was something good enough on the show to make me forget about it, but alas it wasn't to be. The skit was a complete embarrassment and deserves to be forgotten about. Skip it.

Overall Rating: 38%

NXT 7-31-13 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, July 31st, 2013
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Enzo and Collin Cassidy are here for a dance party. Out comes Tons of Funk. What is this? Enzo and Cass try to head to the back and then Mason Ryan forces them back to the ring and Tons of Funk take both out. Ryan then comes in and attacks Enzo. Ryan is heading out of the ring, but he's forced back in to do some dancing. You could not start a wrestling show any worse than this.

Dusty Rhodes is backstage with Emma and Paige, congratulating them on their match. In walks Summer Rae and she's her usual annoying self. Summer challenges Emma to a dance contest. Emma says that it will be a dance battle. Ugh.

Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks

I have to say that it's pretty cool that Charlotte's first two matches were against Sasha and Bayley. We get a quick glimpse of their future characters, as Charlotte shows a little bit of arrogance and Sasha unloads with some open palm slaps. Sasha hits double knees in the corner, but Charlotte shows off more of her gymnastic ability and hits Natural Selection for the victory. This was too short to be much.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Tyler Breeze is admiring himself in his phone and Renee Young comes up to him. He lets us know how gorgeous he is while some dude in the back makes funny faces. This episode is really just the worst so far.

Aiden English & Mickey Keegan vs. The Wyatt Family

The Wyatt's do their main roster entrance with the lantern. The crowd is super into them this time too. Rowan hits a splash on English for the victory. Cool. Bray cuts a promo saying goodbye.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Adrian Neville lets Corey Graves know that Neville will be at Graves' side for his match tonight.

Scott Dawson vs. Corey Graves

Dawson gets a few stiff shots in to start things off. They're working a pretty quick pace, which pretty much tells you this one isn't going to last too long. Graves hits a chop block out of nowhere and puts him Lucky 13 and gets the win. Why would that match only get two minutes? Things were going well and then it just ended. I'm not sure what that accomplished for either guy.

Match Rating: 1/2*

The Shield's music hits and the crowd goes crazy for them. Ambrose challenges Neville. Neville says he wants the match tonight for the United States Championship. Ambrose says they'll do it, it will just be next week.

Leo Kruger & Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn & Bo Dallas

Each week seems to get louder and louder with the "No more Bo" chant. Zayn and Kruger start things off. Zayn hits a trio of arm drags and has Kruger reeling. Bo tags himself in and in comes Cesaro. Cesaro takes control and then kicks Zayn off the apron for good measure. Dallas hits a dropkick and he tags in Zayn who goes after Cesaro, but Kruger gets to him first. They isolate Zayn and continue the attack. Zayn gets a boot up on Cesaro and he makes the tag to Bo. Bo cleans house and then Zayn clothesline Cesaro out of the ring. The two of them brawl up the ramp and to the back. Bo hits his exploder suplex. Kruger gets his knees up on a charging Bo and then hits a clothesline and that is all. The crowd eruprts. This was good action, as they tried their best to save this episode.

Match Rating: ***

Well, this episode was terrible. Just about everything outside of the main event was weak here and one of the worst in some time. I am hoping this one was a fluke.

Overall Rating: 39%

Monday Night Raw 5-31-93 Review

Monday, May 31st, 1993
Manhattan Center
New York City, New York

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Hacksaw Jim Duggan dedicates this episode to all of those protecting our country from outside the Manhattan Center.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Marty Jannetty vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Marty is down with Sherri here and Bam Bam is accompanied by Luna Vachon. This should be interesting, as Bam Bam is a big favorite of the Manhattan Center crowd. Sherri attacks Luna before the match starts, which leads to Bam Bam attacking Marty. Marty is bumping all over here to start. He makes a little run and hits a chop off the top rope for a 2 count. Bam Bam hits a back body drop, but Marty lands on his feet, so Bam Bam puts him in a bear hug. Marty gets on Bam Bam's shoulders, but Bam Bam hits him with an electric chair. Marty gets a boot up on a charging Bam Bam and hits a flying clothesline. Bam Bam hits an awesome variation of a backbreaker. Bam Bam goes off the ropes, but Sherri grabs his feet. Marty hits a baseball slide and then a flying crossbody to the floor. They start brawling on the outside and Bam Bam regains control. As Bam Bam is getting back in the ring, Sherri distracts him one more time and he misses the count. Marty retains the title, but is attacked after the bell. It really is a shame that Marty could never get out of his own way because he was a truly underrated performer that had a lot more to offer than what we got.

Match Rating: ***1/4 (out of 5)

After the commercial break, Sherri is still in the ring and calls out Luna. Mike Chioda blocks Luna from entering, so Sherri attacks her and starts destroying her. Then from behind, Bam Bam holds Sherri's arms to allow Luna to attack her. Tatanka is out to make the save, which is kind of weird since Sherri was just with Marty. Sherri is helped to the back.

The Steiner Brothers vs. Rich Myers & The Executioner

It's so weird that the Steiners have no direction 5 months into their run. Myers has one heck of a mullet. Rick slams him into the turnbuckle and Scott hits a belly-to-belly suplex with a release. The Steiners seem a little sluggish here today. Scott hits a suplex into a piledriver and then they hit flying bulldog for the victory.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Mr. Hughes vs. Bert Centeno

Hughes tosses Centeno around and hits a variation of a powerbomb. This match is putting me to sleep pretty quickly. Hughes finally hits his sideslam for the victory. Not an impressive showing here.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Mean Gene for the King of the Ring Report. Crush vs. Shawn Michaels has been added to the card.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Mark Thomas

Duggan hits a body slam and follows it up with a knee drop. Duggan does his usual here and finishes Thomas off with a clothesline? Nothing to see here.

Match Rating: 1/4*

After the match, he leads the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Kid is here wearing a lucky Raw t-shirt and tells us he was watching Raw with his grandparents and saw Razor's $5,000 challenge. He says that he is not going to accept it due to the amount of risk involved.

Razor Ramon vs. Tony Roy

Roy rolls up a distracted Razor for a close call to start. Razor then takes out his anger on poor Roy. Razor hits a superplex and finishes him off with the Razor's Edge. Razor was so good in this era.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji are here and Fuji cuts a typical Fuji interview. Vince is doing a pretty horrible job asking questions here. While the interview is going on, Duggan comes out in the balcony and chants "U-S-A" and we are off.

This episode started off great and then just completely fell off a cliff. The Marty/Bam Bam match was just another in a line of good matches here on Raw. Unfortunately, nothing else was really worth watching.

Overall Rating: 48%

SmackDown 10-21-05 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, October 21st, 2005
Lawlor Events Center
Reno, Nevada

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United States Championship Match
Booker T vs. Chris Benoit

After a back and forth start, Booker misses with a kick and falls to the outside. Benoit then absolutely shoots himself out of a canon on the dive and slams himself right into the table as they go into commercial. I'm not even sure if he was supposed to hit Booker with it or not. That was brutal looking. Booker goes to work on his back and then hits a vertical suplex. Booker then hits a vicious Irish whip for a 2 count. Booker hits a neckbreaker and gets another close call. Sharmell is starting to show her frustration on the outside. Benoit gets his second wind and hits the three German suplexes and then hits the flying headbutt. Booker goes up top, but Benoit gets to him first and he barely hits a superplex. Wow, he was really lucky there as he lost his footing just as he was about to hit it and almost fell mid-suplex. We get some shenanigans and Sharmell hits a low blow. Booker hits the scissors kick and we have a new United States Champion. This was a nice match that continued the good story they are having with Sharmell and Booker. It's nice when everything comes together and this was a good example of where a finish like that can work out nicely.

Match Rating: ***1/4 (out of 5)

Sharmell is celebrating with the champagne backstage. In comes Benoit and is screaming in Booker's face. He lets her know that Sharmell interfered, but Booker isn't buying it.

Teddy Long is with security and lets them know to tell him if they see any Raw superstars backstage. He walks into Randy Orton tending to his father in pain. Teddy gives Randy the choice of finding a new partner or taking on Eddie Guerrero and Batista alone.

JBL and Jillian Hall are with Josh Matthews. They show a clip of JBL's music interfering in the Edge and Big Show match. He claims that he had nothing to do with his music playing, but he will break Edge's face if he comes on SmackDown tonight.

Matt Hardy vs. Simon Dean

Dean tells Hardy that if he were in better shape, Lita wouldn't have left him. Hardy attacks him and kicks him out of the ring. He launches himself over the top rope and connects. Dean reaches for his bag of supplements, but Hrdy hits a back suplex. The ref takes away the bag and Dean uses his cast on Hardy as he comes from the top rope behind the ref's back. Hardy fights back and hits the leg drop off the second rope. Hardy catches Dean off the second rope and hits the Side Effect. Hardy hits the Twist of Fate and gets the victory. I'm a little surprised it was as competitive as it was, but Hardy looked good here.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Rey Mysterio vs. JBL

Mysterio goes for a springboard crossbody, but JBL moves out of hte way. JBL hits one elbow, but misses the second. Myterio hits an arm drag. JBL gets out of the tornado DDT, but Mysterio snaps JBL's neck over the top rope. Jillian Hall gets involved and knocks Mysterio off the apron. JBL hits a fall away slam. JBL puts Mysterio up in a version of the Torture Rack. Mysterio escapes and hits a springboard bulldog. Mysterio hits a tilt-a-whirl headscissor, but JBL hits him with a thumb to the eye. Mysterio hits a drop toe hold and then hits a split legged moonsault for a 2 count. Mysterio hits a 619 and Edge's music hits. Edge comes in from behind and hits the Spear on Mysterio, causing a disqualification. JBL then chases Edge off into the crowd. Back in the ring, Chris Masters puts Mysterio in the Master Lock. A bunch of SmackDown cruiserweights come down to try and make the save, but are unsuccessful until Hardcore Holly makes the save. The match was good and the crowd was into the finish.

Match Rating: ***

Teddy Long walks into a locker room full of SmackDown stars and Rey tells him he wants Edge.

Bobby Lashley vs. Vito

Vito hits a few back elbows, but Lashley returns with a powerslam. He knocks Vito out of the ring. While throwing him back in, Nunzio attacks him, but Lashley carries him on his back up the steps and tosses him in the ring. He picks up Nunzio up and tosses him, but then eats a kick to the chin from Vito. Lashley then hits a T-bone suplex and a belly-to-belly suplex. He hits the Dominator and gets the victory. Lashley continues to look good in the Goldberg role.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Teddy is back with Palmer Cannon. Cannon talks about the New Talent Initiative on SmackDown and he introduces the Juniors. Long tries to get out of there and when he opens the door, Boogeyman is there.

Sylvan is backstage looking at himself in the mirror. He says he doesn't care about Raw, he only cares about himself. Hardcore Holly comes up and says he has two surprises for him, a referee and a bell. So I guess the Hardcore Match is starting now.

Hardcore Match
Hardcore Holly vs. Sylvan

They brawl through backstage and cut through the Divas locker room. They go up in an elevator as we go into a commercial break. They are now out in the concession area. They make their way into the crowd and Holly knocks Sylvan over a railing into a crate. They are just outside the ring now and Sylvan hits a vertical suplex. Holly breaks a broomstick over the back of Sylvan and throws him in the ring. Holly grabs a trash can lid and smashes it over Sylvan's head. Sylvan hits a spinebuster through the trash can and gets a nearfall. Sylvan puts a table into the ring, but Holly hits an Alabama Slam through the table and gets the victory. This was an entertaining enough bout and we haven't really seen a match like that on SmackDown in some time. I thought Sylvan did a pretty good job here.

Match Rating: **

Eddie and Batista are back in the locker room. Eddie is upset because what he saw happen to Rey tonight, reminds him of the bad choices he made with Rey. Eddie tells Batista how Batista was the better man at No Mercy, but the handshake meant a lot to him and brought a tear to his eye. Batista calls him out and says that there weren't any tears. Eddie snaps out of it and wants to go kick some butt.

Randy Orton & Mr. Kennedy vs. Eddie Guerrero & Batista

This is a big spot here for Kennedy. Referee Nick Patrick doesn't allow Kennedy to do his introduction and Eddie attacks him from behind to get things going. After a commercial break, Batista and Orton are in there. Batista hits a big vertical suplex for a 2 count. Eddie and Kennedy are back in and Orton hits a cheap shot behind the ref's back. Eddie is able to hit a back suplex, but Kennedy tags in Orton. Orton puts on the sleeper hold. Eddie escapes and they collide into one another. Hot tag for Batista and he takes care of both men. On the outside, Kennedy pushes Eddie into the ring post. Bob Orton is out to distract the ref. Batista hits a spinebuster on Orton, but Bob is still distracting the ref. Kennedy goes up top with a chair, but Eddie covers up Batista. Kennedy pauses, but then hits Eddie instead and we have a disqualification. After the match, the three heels continue their attack, focusing on Batista. Orton hits a RKO on Batista and now Teddy Long is out. He announces a six man tag match featuring Randy Orton, Bob Orton and Mr. Kennedy against Eddie Guerrero, Batista and Roddy Piper next week. The action in here was good enough for a TV main event and it furthered a story that is worthy of being featured in the main event. Most of all, the pairings all feel fresh, which is a nice change.

Match Rating: **3/4

I really enjoyed this episode. I felt that they were able to keep it entertaining from start to finish with very little filler. Matt Hardy is another nice addition to the roster and the Booker/Benoit feud is off to a nice start.

Overall Rating: 70%

Off The Grid, Volume 2: The Great American Bash 1989 Review

Friday, June 23rd, 1989
Baltimore Arena
Baltimore, Maryland

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Off The Grid, Volume 2

Double Ring King Of The Hill Battle Royal 

They all start in the first ring and once they are eliminated, they go to ring number two. The winners of both rings will square off in a match for $50,000. There are 14 competitors including Dan Spivey, Sid Vicious, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Scott Hall, Ron Simmons, Terry Gordy, Mike Rotunda, Steve Williams, Brian Pillman, Bill Irwin, Ranger Ross, Kevin Sullivan and Eddie Gilbert. Ranger Ross and Ron Simmons are the first two eliminated and move to the second ring. This obviously makes things hard to follow, but the crowd is really into this. Simmons really gets eliminated by Ranger Ross? The eliminations are quick and we are down to Sid and Pillman in the first ring. Sid wins the first ring in anti-climatic fashion. The second ring is down to Dr. Death, Spivey and Rotunda. Dr. Death eliminates Rotunda, while Spivey watches. Dr. Death tries to clothesline Spivey over the top, but he falls to the mat instead. Rotunda distracts Dr. Death and Spivey clotheslines him from behind, eliminating him. Teddy Long comes to the ring and says that he's not going to let his tag team destroy each other and they are going to split the prize money. This was decent for what it was, but hard to follow along.

Match Rating: * (out of 5)

Gordon Solie is now backstage with Teddy Long. He cuts a generic promo of how everyone should be afraid.

Bill Irwin vs. Brian Pillman

Both of these men were just in the opener. Irwin immediately attacks Pillman, but Pillman fires back with a dropkick. Pillman hits a head scissors and it takes Irwin out of the ring. He hits him with a baseball slide dropkick and then hits arm drags upon Irwin's arrival. If I would have watched this era of NWA wrestling, there's no way Pillman wouldn't have been one of my favorites. Irwin hits a vertical suplex and he isn't particularly over with the crowd here. Irwin hits a clothesline and is relentless with terrible trash talk. Irwin dumps Pillman outside the ring. Irwin misses with a splash on the ropes and Pillman hits some dropkicks. Pillman misses a flying dropkick and lands hard. Irwin the tosses Pillman from one ring to the other. The ref is distracting Irwin and Pillman leaps off the top rope and hits a crossbody into a pinfall and gets the victory. Chalk this one up as a disappointment. Not bad or anything, but Pillman should have been featured more here.

Match Rating: *3/4

Solie is now back with Paul E. Dangerously. He says he doesn't care if he wins tonight, he is just focused on getting Jim Cornette out.

The Dynamic Dudes vs. The Skyscrapers

No one was a cooler dude than Johnny Ace. Ace picks up a kid out of the crowd and plays frisbee with him. I can't believe this gimmick didn't get over more. Jason Hervey is here to high five the Dudes as well. Johnny Ace hits a dropkick that barely gets to Spivey's chest and Spivey no sells it. The Dudes hit a double monkey flip. Ace follows it up with a clothesline in the corner, but Spivey gets the boot up on Douglas. Sid finally comes in to a big applause from the crowd. He hits a few moves and tags right back out. Spivey misses with an elbow, but he hits a side slam on Douglas anyways. The crowd is chanting "We want Sid!", which is really something. Spivey hits a variation of the powerbomb and then a boot sends Douglas to the outside. Teddy Long hits some of the weakest looking kicks to the back of Douglas you will ever see. Spivey suplexes Douglas back into the ring for a 2 count. He tags in Sid again to another big pop. Sid is probably my favorite bad wrestler. Again he only stays in momentarily. Spivey misses with a headbutt and Douglas makes the tag to Ace. He hits a clothesline off the top rope, but Sid breaks up the pin attempt. Sid and Spivey go for a double clothesline, but they end up clotheslining themselves. The Dudes hit a double hip toss on Spivey. Spivey then goes for a powerbomb, but he drops Ace on his head in a bad looking spot. That's enough for the victory though. Why was this so long? This should have just been no longer than five minutes. The Dudes looked extremely mediocre here too.

Match Rating: *

Jim Cornette cuts a promo on Paul E. Dangerously.

Tuxedo Match
Paul E. Dangerously vs. Jim Cornette

Cornette goes right after Paul here, but Paul throws some white powder in his face. They do their own version of a brawl here, which is a sight to be seen. Cornette starts choking Dangerously, but he fights him off. Heyman is only 23 years old here, which is incredible. Cornette is 27. Seeing Cornette as a babyface is just bizarre. Cornette rips off Dangerously's shirt, but they then collide into one another. Dangerously grabs more white powder, but Cornette kicks it into his face and he rips off Dangerously's pants for the victory. Dangerously immediately runs to the back. I know some people find this entertaining and I also know that this is not meant to be graded like a traditional wrestling match. However, this is nothing I ever want to see again in my life. Twice is enough for me.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Gary Hart says that the Great Muta is undefeated and that Japan has the best athletes.

Texas Tornado Match
The Varsity Club vs. The Steiner Brothers

So we have babyface Jim Cornette and babyface Missy Hyatt here. Things get started right away. Sullivan and Rick go at it with a chair outside the ring. Rotunda clubs Scott out of the ring and then hits a clothesline on Rick. The Steiners come back with Scott putting Rotunda in the tree of woe and Rick hits a powerslam. Rick headbutts Sullivan below the belt and then a clothesline. Sullivan hits Rick in the head with a foldable stretcher. Sullivan has Rick up for a body slam, but Scott comes up off the top and they get a double pin seemingly out of nowhere. That was really, really short. It was all action and it was a reminder of how awesome the Steiners were.

Match Rating: **1/2

Sting talks about all of the respect he has for Muta. Eddie Gilbert, wearing a 49ers hat, says that he'll be there to make sure Gary Hart doesn't get involved.

NWA Television Championship Match
The Great Muta vs. Sting

They are both in separate rings when the bell rings, so Sting leaps over and hits a crossbody to get things going. Muta follows up with a chop off the top rope. Muta hits a cartwheel elbow. Sting moves from a moonsault attempt, but Muta lands on his feet. He kicks Sting out of the ring and hits a leaping dive over the top rope. Muta is looking great here. Sting hits a top rope clothesline and then hits a standing dropkick. Sting leaps over the top and lands on his feet to get into a fist fight with Muta. Muta counters a move and puts Sting in the sleeper hold. Sting gets out, but misses a big elbow drop. Muta has Sting in a chinlock and then into an abdominal stretch. Muta unleashes a barrage of kicks. He does the cartwheel elbow, but this time Sting avoids it and then hits a running bulldog. Sting ducks out of the way of mist, but it hits the referee instead. Muta then avoids a Stinger Splash and then hits a moonsault, but Sting barely kicks out. Sting hits a back suplex and gets the victory. Sting was super over here. The match was good, but really short. Sting looked like an absolute star and Muta lived up to the hype. They try to sell the drama of Sting's shoulders being down, but honestly it looks like the match should have never ended.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Lex Luger reminds us that he is the greatest US Champion of all time. He also does not want there to be a No Disqualification stipulation. They try to sell it that there will be no match if they don't remove the stipulation. That probably would have helped if he would have, you know, actually just said it himself.

United States Championship Match
Ricky Steamboat vs. Lex Luger

Ricky gets the big entrance with his family leading the way and then he is carried out on a board holding a komodo dragon. They make the announcement that it would be a No Disqualification Match. Luger gets on the mic and says that no one tells him how to defend his title and tells Steamboat to waive the stipulation or he is leaving. Obviously, Steamboat agrees. Steamboat goes for a few quick pinfall attempts to start, but is unsuccessful. He hits two dropkicks and a back body drop. Steamboat is just so, so good here. They go outside the ring and Steamboat hits an atomic drop. On their way back in, Luger hits Steamboat with a knee lift. Luger goes to work on the back of Steamboat. Steamboat gets a quick pin attempt in while Luger is arguing with the referee, so Luger just clubs him with some good looking clotheslines. Luger hits an inverted atomic drop, but Steamboat comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. Luger gets out of a Steamboat body slam, but Steamboat ducks and Luger leaps to the outside. Steamboat tries to body slam him back in the ring, but Luger pushes him down for a pin attempt and the ref's hand hits 3, but that's not it. It seems like this era of NWA has so many mistakes like that. Steamboat starts hitting some running right hands and then goes up top. Steamboat hits a chop and gets a 2 count. Luger hits a back body drop that sends Steamboat into the second ring. Luger goes to the outside and grabs a chair. Steamboat trips him up and he hits a slingshot into the corner, causing Luger to hit his head with a chair. Steamboat grabs the chair and throws the ref down. Steamboat delivers some chair shots and then chases him to the back. Obviously, they sell that the match should have been a No Disqualification Match. This match was really good, but the ending was absolute garbage. Regardless, this is probably my favorite Luger match of all time.

Match Rating: ***3/4

The Freebirds and Samoan Swat Team are cut a promo about their WarGames Match. The Midnight Express try to cut a promo while Dr. Death is flying around. The Road Warriors come on in and Dr. Death tells them that they are two tough cookies. Nothing, and I mean nothing, makes you sound tougher than saying that.

WarGames Match
The Fabulous Freebirds & The Samoan Swat Team vs. Steve Williams, The Midnight Express & The Road Warriors

We start off with Jimmy Garvin and Bobby Eaton. Eaton tries to use the cage on a kick and the top of that is just so flimsy. After some good action, Eaton has Garvin in a Boston Crab as Terry Gordy enters and they quickly take advantage of the two-on-one scenario. Gordy is a big dude. They throw Garvin into the cage as the countdown begins and Dr. Death comes in and hits a double clothesline. Williams gets Gordy up and presses him up against the top of the cage multiple times in an impressive display of strength. How was Williams never NWA Champ? In comes Samu and the heels regain control of the match. Animal is in next and I love how over all of these guys are. Animal then hits a big leaping shoulder tackle over the top rope of both rings in a spot that would still hold up. Fatu is in and the Samoans go to work on Animal. Stan Lane is surprisingly the next man in. Michael Hayes is in and he has some DDTs to spread around before he struts his stuff. Hawk is finally in and hits a double clothesline off the top rope to a big pop from the live crowd. Hawk goes to work on Garvin's neck and then hangs him up on his back by his neck and Garvin submits. The ending was a little out of nowhere for me, but that was some great action otherwise. After the match, the victors all get out except Animal. They close the door and start destroying him, while his partners try to get in. They finally get in, as the heels retreat.

Match Rating: ****

Ric Flair is backstage and says that Terry Funk will have the fight of his career tonight.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair

They start brawling right away and Flair gets the best of Funk. Funk getting into it with fans is such good stuff. Wait, Funk was 45 years old here? After some intense brawling to start, Funk has Flair reeling. Flair goes for a suplex on the apron, but Funk counters it and both men tumble to the floor. Back in the ring and then Flair dumps Funk out to the floor. Flair hits a few of his signature knee drops and then hits a piledriver. Flair hits a second piledriver and Funk falls out of the ring. Flair locks in the Figure Four, but Funk hits him with a branding iron while Gary Hart has the referee distracted. Flair is now busted open. Funk removes the mat outside the ring and then starts choking Flair with his wrist tape. Funk goes for the piledriver, but he counters and hits a back body drop. Funk goes for an elbow off the apron, but it ends up looking really awkward. Funk hits a neckbreaker right in front of Jason Hervey. Flair is able to get a hold of the branding iron and smashes it on Funk's head. Flair misses with a running knee in the corner and Funk starts using the spinning toe hold. Flair goes for the Figure Four, but Funk puts in a small package. Flair counters that into a pin and gets the win out of nowhere. Flair doesn't have a minute to celebrate as Great Muta comes in and sprays him with the green mist. Muta and Funk destroy Flair and out comes Sting to make the save. After a pause in the action, they start brawling again out in the aisle. They start brawling in front of the announcers. Flair cuts a fun promo telling Funk that they're just getting warmed up. This match was really good, but it was another match with a weird ending.

Match Rating: ****

This is a famous show and for good reason. I don't think it is in the top tier, but it's not far off. For me, the endings to too many of the matches were questionable at best. And I also question anyone who would give the Dynamic Dudes/Skyscrapers match as much time as Luger and Steamboat. The last two hours are full of fantastic wrestling and an extremely hot crowd.

Overall Rating: 90%

Monday Night Raw 10-17-05 Review

Monday, October 17th, 2005
ARCO Arena
Sacramento, California

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As if last week's awful main event segment wasn't enough, Vince McMahon is here to kick off the show again. He lets us know that Taboo Tuesday is the most interactive pay-per-view in the WWE. He makes references to the firing of JR and also Steve Austin. He shows a video package of JR, which of course is him either being humiliated or getting beat up. This leads to him announcing that Coach is now the lead announcer of Raw and he arrives wearing a cowboy hat.

They cut to backstage with Kurt Angle talking to Vince McMahon about being the #1 contender. In walks Hurricane and he lets Vince know that JR is the voice of Raw. He then tells Angle to "sic 'em" and Angle destroys him. He brings him out through the crowd and to ringside. Hurricane starts fighting back and hits a missile dropkick. Angle ducks the Shining Wizard and puts him in the Ankle Lock. Hurricane is tapping and a bunch of officials pull Angle off of him.

Vince tells Bischoff that he wants to empower the audience and he wants him to give them a main event at Taboo Tuesday that is absolutely compelling. Bischoff says he wants to have a Triple Threat Match featuring John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. an opponent of the fans choice. There will be three matches tonight and the winners of those matches being the options. The matches are Edge vs. Big Show, Shawn Michaels vs. Carlito and an 18 man battle royal.

Taboo Tuesday Main Event Qualifying Match
Edge vs. Big Show

Big Show dumps Edge out of the ring a couple of times and then we head to commercial. When we come back, Big Show is hitting Edge with the big chops to the chest. Edge pushes Big Show into the steps and then takes control back in the ring. Lita gets involved and it allows Edge to get in some more offense. Big Show counters out of an arm lock and hits a back suplex. Edge counters the Big Show, but Show counters his DDT attempt by tossing him into the turnbuckle. Edge hits a dropkick to Show's knees and then hits a Spear, which Coach yells out "Gore! Gore! Gore!". Uhhhh...Edge is about to use the briefcase, but then JBL's music hits which distracts Edge and Big Show hits the chokeslam for the victory. What? I'm not sure what I'm missing there with that ending. Why would JBL interfere? Why would it distract Edge and not Big Show? This match was not either guy's best work.

Match Rating: 3/4* (out of 5)

They show a clip of people waiting in line for WrestleMania tickets. I remember sitting online on Ticketmaster trying all morning to get tickets. I unfortunately was unsuccessful.

Edge and Lita are in the back complaining to Bischoff about JBL costing him his chance at the main event. Bischoff asks Edge what is he going to do to fix it? Edge says to watch SmackDown this Friday.

Carlito is in the ring for Carlito's Cabana and says that he is going to beat Shawn Michaels here tonight. He starts making fun of JR and Mick Foley's music hits. It feels like the crowd is not mic'd up the same as usual. It seems as if they are way more muted than usual. Foley says that it's a rarity that he gets to hang out with someone who has less cool looking hair than he does. He sticks up for JR and then Linda McMahon interrupts on the Titan Tron. She says that sometimes you have to make the tough choices in business and they reference JR's colon surgery. She then tells Mick to have a nice day. Carlito says that JR is now just an out of shape, unemployed loser just like Mick. Mick fires back, which leads to Carlito starts to bit his apple. Mick says he should be more worried about trying to get a victory over Michaels tonight.

Taboo Tuesday Main Event Qualifying Match
Carlito vs. Shawn Michaels

As Michaels' fireworks are going off, Carlito runs out to him and drives him into the barricade in the aisle. They get into the ring and Carlito continues the assault. Carlito slows it down until thankfully Michaels starts fighting back with some chops. Michaels puts a sleeper hold on in the middle of the ring. Carlito hits a dropkick to Michaels in the corner for a 2 count. Michaels hits a suplex over the top rope and both men fall to the floor in a dangerous looking spot. When we come back from commercial, Carlito has Michaels in a headlock. Michaels hits a flying forearm and an inverted atomic drop. He goes up top and hits the flying elbow. Carlito ducks Sweet Chin Music and counters a roll up from Michaels out of the electric chair for a nearfall. Michaels almost runs into the ref, but then Carlito shoves Michaels into him and then throws Michaels into the ring post. Carlito misses with a chair shot to the head and Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music into the chair into Carlito's face. The ref miraculously gets back in the ring and makes the 3 count. This was not a particularly good showing from Carlito. He got plenty of time and didn't deliver against the best performer in the company here.

Match Rating: **1/4

As Michaels is heading to the back, Ric Flair's music hits and he and Shawn shake hands. We come back from commercial break mid-sentence with Flair on the mic. He goes on a rant like only Ric can talking about his career. He then busts open his bandage and starts bleeding all over the place and rubbing it all over him. I do not recall this at all. He calls out Triple H and he comes out. Flair pulls out a baseball bat and he chases him with it backstage.

Maria is back with Carlito, who rips the microphone from her hands and challenges Mick Foley to a match at Taboo Tuesday.

Torrie Wilson, Victoria & Candice Michelle vs. Trish Stratus, Ashley & Mickie James

This is the in ring debut of Mickie James. Trish hits a Lou Thesz Press on Victoria and then an airplane flying scissors. She tags in Mickie, who hits a crossbody off the top rope. Mickie then hits a hurricanrana. Instead of making a tag, she looks for Trish's approval. Victoria hits a small package and gets the victory. Torrie and Ashley never made it in the match. After the match, Mickie attempts a Stratusfaction and again looks for Trish's approval. This was short, but not good.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Stone Cold Steve Austin is here and drives his truck into the arena. The women are still at ringside as he hits the ring. That was a cool transition, but it of course was ruined by a commercial break. Austin talks about how unacceptable the treatment of JR was. Out comes Stephanie McMahon. This segment has not aged well. Coach interrupts Austin from trying to spank Stephanie. Stephanie proposes a match between Austin and Coach at Taboo Tuesday. If Austin wins, then JR will get his job back. She then lets him know that if he loses, he's fired. Austin flips her off and then heads up to the announcer booth. Austin messes with Coach and dares him to hit him. He doesn't, so Austin pours a beer in his hat and puts it on Coach's head. This just felt like it didn't work.

Bischoff comes out and announces that Ric Flair will be taking on Triple H and then confirms Carlito vs. Mick Foley. He also announces the Fulfill Your Fantasy Battle Royal for the Divas. John Cena then interrupts Bischoff, tells him "You can't see me" and then comes to the announcer booth. Bischoff then introduces Kane as a participant.

Taboo Tuesday Main Event Qualifying Battle Royal 

Kane immediately chokeslams Carlito and eliminates him. Other noteworthy competitors are Big Show, Edge, Chris Masters and Shelton Benjamin. Conway eliminated Eugene, but then Eugene pulled him over. Shelton eliminates Kerwin White, but then Kane knocks out Shelton. The Heart Throbs double team Kane, but he chokeslams them both. They of course get eliminated and we are down to Chris Masters and Kane. Masters tried to put on the Master Lock. It doesn't work and Kane eliminates him. What a shocker. This was extremely short, even by Battle Royal standards. It also wasn't very good.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Man, the Raw brand is really struggling here lately. The McMahons have added absolutely nothing to the show, John Cena is somehow getting lost in the shuffle and they bring back Austin to take on Coach? Thankfully Ric Flair is particularly motivated and I am looking forward to his feud with Triple H. The Kurt Angle segment was also well done and a true bright spot on a show where not much else seemed to work.

Overall Rating: 39%

The Horror Show At Extreme Rules 2020 Review

Sunday, July 19th, 2020
WWE Performance Center
Orlando, Florida

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Tables Match For The SmackDown Tag Team Championships
New Day vs. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura

Cesaro's entrance is pretty awesome. New Day fights off the challenger's early attack. New Day brings a table in the ring and we get more brawling. Cesaro eats a low dropkick up against the barrier. Big E has Cesaro up on his shoulders, but Shinsuke makes the save on Kofi. They set up Kofi for a superplex, but Big E makes the save. Cesaro then has Kofi up for a military press, but Kofi gets out and Big E hits the spear through the ropes and he just misses a table on the outside. Cesaro is set up on a table outside. Big E tosses Kofi over his head, but Shinsuke and Cesaro are there with the table standing up. Big E blocks the suplex on Kofi and he eats a double kick to the head. Kofi goes up top and nails Shinsuke on the outside and in the ring Big E is stomping on Cesaro. New Day sets up a stacked table on the outside. Big E and Cesaro are battling on the ropes and Cesaro gets the best of him, as Big E tumbles in the ring. We get the Cesaro Swing/sliding kick combo. Kofi comes in and takes out both challengers. Kofi then hits a dive to the outside on Shinsuke and a leaping fist on Cesaro. Cesaro gets Kofi up and hits a powerbomb through the stacked tables and we have new champions. They played heavily on the tease aspect of this type of match, which I think would have worked better had they had a full arena. Either way, they worked hard here and put on a good match. I like Tables Matches better than most, so your mileage may vary.

Match Rating: ***1/4 (out of 5)

Alexa Bliss is backstage hyping up Asuka, Nikki Cross and Kairi Sane.

SmackDown Women's Championship Match
Nikki Cross vs. Bayley

After some early stalling and taunting, Cross hits a neckbreaker and gets a nearfall. Nikki is showing urgency here. She nails a tornado DDT on the outside and then a top rope crossbody. She hits another one and again gets a 2 count. Bayley rolls to the outside, so Cross hits a third crossbody, this time from the apron. Bayley takes back control after she slams Cross into the plexiglass. Bayley slides Cross in between the apron and the ring and starts pounding away. I always loved when Finlay did that. Cross crawled under the the ring and then Bayley slides into the apron and Cross takes advantage. Back in the ring, Bayley hits the Bayley-To-Belly for a 2 count. Bayley hits a superplex and again Cross kicks out. Cross gets a second wind and hits a series of clotheslines and a dropkick. She hits a running bulldog and she goes up top again. She leaps over Bayley and slams her down for yet another nearfall. Bayley charges her in the corner, but Cross moves and Bayley hits the turnbuckle hard. Cross then hits a neckbreaker off the apron to the floor and both women are down. Sasha tries to help pull Bayley out of the ring. This leads to the ref being distracted and she hands the Boss knucks to Bayley. She uses them and hits the Face Plant for the victory. This was really good storytelling. Both ladies really play their roles well and they gave us an entertaining match.

Match Rating: ***1/4

We get a Firefly Funhouse, with Bray Wyatt dressed up as a vampire. Wrestling in 2020.

They announce that Apollo Crews did not pass his physical and is unable to compete. MVP is here and he announces himself as the new United States Champion.

Eye For An Eye Match
Seth Rollins vs. Rey Mysterio

I have no idea where they are going with this match and I honestly don't see a scenario where it pays off. On his way to the ring, Rollins pulls out a pair of pliers out of his jacket. Mysterio shows up behind Rollins instead of coming from the ramp. It only works temporarily, as Rollins tries to slow things down. Mysterio uses headscissors to drive Rollins' shoulder into the ring post. Mysterio goes under the ring for a tool kit and grabs a piece of steel. Rollins hits him with a kendo stick. Mysterio sets up Rollins for a 619, but Rollins rolls out of the ring. Rollins catches a hurricanrana attempt and hits a Falcon Arrow on the apron. Rollins tries to use the kendo stick on Mysterio's eye, but Mysterio blocks it. Rollins slides Mysterio out of the ring and onto a table lying on the ground. Rollins goes again for the eye, this time with a chair. Mysterio gets the chair and misses wildly. Rollins keeps grabbing tools to try and go after Mysterio's eye. This time Mysterio hits a drop toe hold into the corner of the table. Rollins grabs some rop and ties Rey to the bottom rope. It doesn't last long, but Rollins hits Mysterio in the ribs with the kendo stick. Rollins tries to throw Mysterio into the kendo stick that is stuck in the turnbuckle. Rey is fighting for his life and hits a frog splash. Rollins goes for a Stomp, but Rey moves and hits a tornado DDT. Mysterio cracks the kendo stick over Rollins' head and then hits a sunset flip bomb into the the barricade. Mysterio hits a sliding sunset flip bomb into the barricade this time. How is Mysterio able to do the things he does at age 45? Mysterio cracks the kendo stick over his knee and goes after Rollins' left eye. Rollins gets out, but Mysterio is able to hit a 619. Mysterio hits a Stomp on the outside and if there ever was a time for him to rip out an eyeball, I guess this is it. Mysterio tries to recreate the moment that got us here, but Rollins is able to kick him in the balls. Rollins then hits him with a kick to the face against the barricade. Rollins now hits a Stomp of his own. Rollins now drags Mysterio to the steel steps and rubs his eye against the steps. Mysterio is cringing in pain and we can see part of his eyeball out of it's socket, causing the match to end. Rollins is off to the side puking. I can't believe I am typing these words. Who asked for this? As WWE has gotten less violent over the years, what made them try something like this out of nowhere? I actually really enjoyed the match until the last minute there, which makes it hard for me to rate. The action and intensity was good. The match itself was just so stupid. This is a concept that should never, ever be revisited again. But like I said, the actual work here was very good and they made the most of the stupidity.

Match Rating: ***1/2

Bayley is backstage and talks about Rey Mysterio and lets him know that he's not seeing double vision because she's still Bayley Dos Straps. Sasha tells us that she we will be Two Belts Banks tonight.

Raw Women's Championship Match
Asuka vs. Sasha Banks

We get some fast paced action to start, leading to Sasha slamming Asuka on her back. Asuka hits her with a kick, but Sasha gets the Bank Statement on, but Asuka gets to the ropes. Asuka is able to get Sasha into an arm bar, but Sasha gets the ropes. Asuka absolutely levels Sasha with a knee and then hits the Hip Attack, which sends Sasha to the floor. Sasha recovers and goes for a sunset flip powerbomb, but Asuka blocks it and hits another knee to the face. Sasha goes to her submission playbook and tries to take away the Asuka Lock. Asuka hits a Code Breaker and both women are down. Asuka misses a Hip Attack and Sasha tries to hit a suplex off the apron. Asuka blocks it and then she tries for the suplex. Sasha counters it and she hits a powerbomb into the plexiglass. Sasha goes up top and she hits the frog splash for a 2 count. She immediately goes for the Bank Statement, but Asuka is able to crawl to the bottom rope. Asuka is now unleashing a flurry of kicks and suplexes. She hits a Hip Attack for another close call. Asuka misses with a missile dropkick and Sasha hits a running knee for another 2 count. These two are starting to turn it in to second gear here. We get kind of a weird German superplex, where Sasha flips out and lands on her knees and no sells it. Sasha hits double knees in the corner, but then slips off of the second rope. Bayley and Sane start fighting outside the ring. That leads to some quick pin attempts, none of which are successful. Asuka gets the Asuka Lock in the middle of the ring. Bayley tosses a belt in, distracting the ref. However, he sees it and Asuka hits Bayley with a kick. Asuka accidentally sprays the green mist in the ref's eyes, allowing Bayley to interfere. Bayley rips off the referee's shirt and puts it on. She counts 3 and tells them to ring the bell. She awards the title to Sasha. Whoever came up to the finish for this match just couldn't bring themselves to be outdone by a match that featured a ripped out eyeball, huh? God, what a way to just absolutely spoil the good work that was done for the 19 minutes before that finish. At least in the previous match, you knew the ending would be stupid.

Match Rating: ***1/2

After even more commercials, they have an update on Mysterio. They let us know that there is a chance the he is able to regain his vision.

WWE Championship Match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Drew McIntyre

Dolph announces the stipulation that the match will be Extreme Rules for him only. Should McIntyre get disqualified or counted out, Ziggler is the champion. After all the stupidity, this at least makes sense. McIntyre starts tossing Ziggler around until he rolls out of the ring. McIntyre is right there though. Ziggler rakes the eyes and grabs a steel chair. McIntyre blocks it and tosses it out of the ring. McIntyre hits a suplex and after they get back in the ring, he clotheslines Ziggler right back out again. Ziggler throws McIntyre into the ring post and plexiglass. Ziggler pulls out a table, but McIntyre gets to him and teases suplexing him into the table. Instead he spins and suplexes him to the floor. He hits an awesome seated powerbomb for a 2 count. Why in the world was McIntyre so underutilized for so long in this company? McIntyre pulls Ziggler up and starts talking some trash, so Ziggler kicks him in the crotch. Ziggler starts wailing away with a steel chair to the back. McIntyre catches Ziggler off the apron and McIntyre launches him on the table with a suplex. Ziggler hits a Fameasser off of the table and the McIntyre barely beats the count. McIntyre goes up to the top rope, but misses with a fist and Ziggler jumps on the back for a sleeper hold. McIntyre gets to the ropes, but he doesn't have to break the hold. McIntyre escapes and hits a big clothesline. McIntyre hits a slingshot into the plexiglass and throws him back into the ring. McIntyre hits a face-first Alabama Slam. He goes for a Claymore Kick, but Ziggler hits him in the leg with a chair and hits a Zig Zag for a 2 count. Ziggler hits a superkick on the outside and McIntyre is on a table. Ziggler goes up top and he hits an elbow drop through the table. McIntyre again beats the count and Ziggler is losing his mind. Ziggler hits another Fameasser and another Zig Zag. He then hits a Rock Bottom on a chair and McIntyre still kicks out. That was a nice nod to the Rock saying that Ziggler deserves the title. Ziggler tunes up the band, but McIntyre hits an absolutely fantastic Claymore Kick for the victory. Seriously, that is one that needs to be used in highlight packages for anything McIntyre is involved in. This was a really good match. The stipulation made sense, the match made sense, Ziggler bumped around like only he can and McIntyre looked like a star. Thumbs up here.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Swamp Fight
Bray Wyatt vs. Braun Strowman

Strowman walks up to Wyatt in a rocking chair and somehow the lights go out in the outdoors and Bray disappears. Braun beats up some no name jobbers, while Bray is shown in the laboratory cheering him on. He is attacked by himself in the black sheep mask. I already hate this. Braun is now locked up in chains as we magically get to see all of his visions. I would rather see what is going on in Vince McMahon's head on a normal day than Braun. In walks Bray with the lantern. It sure looks as if Braun could just slide his arms out of those chains. Bray just yells a bunch of words that causes my brain to shut off, as I start to think about how I need to be up in 6 hours. Now he has a snake and it bites Braun, which leads him to being next to a fire. He starts beating up more dudes. A dude then gets lit on fire and is running around with some of the worst acting I have ever seen. Braun then hears a voice and it's Alexa Bliss doing her best Haunted Mansion impression. This is by far the highlight of this disaster. Bray attacks him, but Braun slams him into a rowboat. Braun walks into the swamp and then gets attacked by Bray with an ore. Bray tries drowning him, but when Braun finally pops out, Bray is no there. Bray again attacks him with an ore. Bruan is up and kicks Bray back into the water. Braun looks around and the exit credit logo pops up. Wyatt pops out of the water and pulls Braun under the water again. This time the water turns red and the Fiend is shown. I'm going to rate this only because I want to give it 0 stars.

Match Rating: 0 Stars

The best way that I can think of describing this show is that it's the best show that completely insulted my intelligence. There was some really good in ring action, some of the best I have seen in the quarantine era. However, I was also forced to watch a man "lose" his eyeball, a wrestler put on a referee shirt and count a pinfall and then watch a match in a magical swamp. Mind you, they are stooping to all of this while their ratings are the absolute lowest they have ever been. This roster is too talented to have to tell these types of stories and I truly hope they find their next game changer, but this isn't it. I am someone who grades more on match quality than booking, but at some point the booking matters. This would have been a really good show had they just let the performers do their thing. Unfortunately, in those three matches, they did not.

Overall Rating: 64%

NXT 7-24-13 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, July 24th, 2013
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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NXT Women's Championship Tournament Final
Emma vs. Paige

I'm not a fan of this being anything other than the main event. The crowd is surprisingly split here, as we get dueling chants to start. Emma is showing off a little bit more of an aggressive side early on. Paige goes for a backslide, but Emma gets to the ropes and puts her in the Dilemma. After the ref breaks it up, Paige kicks Emma to the floor into the commercial break. Paige hits a Perfect Plex, but Emma kicks out. Paige puts Emma in a Texas Cloverleaf, but after a long struggle, Emma is able to get out of it and gets a small package for a 2 count. Emma goes for the Emma Lock, but Paige gets to the ropes and then headbutts Paige. Paige goes up top, but Emma slaps her and hits a superplex. Paige fights back with a few kicks and hits the Paige Turner and becomes the first ever NXT Women's Champion. The crowd is invested in both of these women and they were along for the ride. The match was pretty good overall, but I would have liked to have seen a little bit more intensity. The women of NXT come out after the match to applaud her. Next, Triple H's music hits and he comes out to raise her arm in victory.

Match Rating: **1/2 (out of 5)

We get a pre-taped promo from Zeb Colter and Antonio Cesaro saying that Sami Zayn isn't here legally.

Angelo Dawkins vs. Tyler Breeze

This is the debut of the Tyler Breeze character. This was pre-selfie stick. Breeze stalls by taking multiple pictures of himself. Dawkins tries to attack him, but Breeze fires right back. Dawkins rolls up Breeze a couple of times for 2 counts. Breeze unleashes on him and then takes more pictures of himself before he hits a spinning heel kick for the victory. This was definitely more about the debut of the character, which he definitely nailed. However, I would have liked to see have seen him show a little bit more of what he can do in the ring also.

Match Rating: 1/4*

The Ascension vs. Aiden English & Mickey Keegan

English and Keegan actually get an entrance, which rarely happens in NXT squashes. New member Rick Victor starts things off by manhandling English. O'Brian squashes English in the corner and then Victor hits a running kick. They hit a high and low combo kick and that is all. They looked about as good as they could in the time given here.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Sheamus vs. Luke Harper

This has potential to be a good, hard hitting match. Sheamus clotheslines Harper over the top and Sheamus follows that up with clubbing blows to the chest of both Harper and then Rowan. The distraction by Rowan allows Haper to hit Sheamus from behind and then clothesline him over the top rope. Sheamus catches Harper and hits a powerslam. Both men get up and just start destroying each other with forearms. Sheamus gets the better of him and hits a knee to the face. Haper quickly recovers and hits a sideslam. Harper misses with a splash off the second rope and Sheamus hits a rolling slam for a 2 count. Sheamus misses with the Brogue Kick, but Harper hits a spinning clothesline for a nearfall. Harper runs into a boot in the corner and Sheamus hits White Noise. Sheamus hits the Brogue Kick and that is all. Bray Wyatt laughs non the rocking chair as Sheamus celebrates. That one was a little bit disappointing, as both men are capable of a lot better.

Match Rating: **

This followed the formula for a good episode of NXT, but the matches didn't quite deliver to the level of what they are capable of. Still, this was another step in the right direction for the brand even if it wasn't a classic.

Overall Rating: 56%

Monday Night Raw 5-24-93 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, May 24th, 1993
Manhattan Center
New York City, New York

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King Of The Ring Qualifying Match
Doink vs. Mr. Perfect

During Doink's entrance they go to Lord Alfred Hayes outside the building, who is standing with another Doink. Doink then sprays Hayes in the face. Doink attacks Mr. Perfect as he enters the ring. Doink uses Perfect's towel to throw him across the ring. Perfect then uses it against him for a clothesline. Perfect takes Doink down and goes to work on his left knee. After the commercial break, Doink fights back and slams Perfect into the ring post. It doesn't last long, as Perfect puts him in a headscissor. Perfect goes back to work on the knee. Doink regains control and we go into a second commercial break. Perfect knocks Doink out of the ring and then we see the second Doink come out and go under the ring. The second Doink comes in the ring and Sherlock McMahon uncovers the fact that the makeup is not the same. Perfect hits the Perfect Plex out of nowhere and gets the victory. The two Doinks start to attack Perfect until Crush comes out and takes care of both of them. This was a really good match and an excellent way to kick off the show. I do have to say that I am a little surprised they had Doink lose here, especially after cheating.

Match Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

We go to Mean Gene and he lets us know that the tournament bracket is all set now with Perfect being the last to join. We go to Hulk Hogan who is in some generic interview set and says he is in New York on Raw about 10 times. This is your typical cheesy 1993 Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart interview.

Money, Inc. vs. Mike Bell & Tony DeVito

They pick someone from the crowd to shine their shoes for $100. IRS then takes $70 of it for taxes. DiBiase slams DeVito face first into the mat and then holds him in place so IRS can hit an awkward looking elbow. DiBiase clotheslines DeVito out of the ring. IRS hits a leaping clothesline and gets the victory. This was your typical tag team squash match.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Crush vs. Bobby Who

Who tries to make an effort, but instead he gets an awkward spin kick. Crush then hits a big vertical suplex. For some reason he puts Who in a bear hug and then switches over to the skull crush submission for the victory. At least it was pretty short.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Razor Ramon is out in the ring with Vince McMahon. He offers $2500 to The Kid to step back in the ring with him. Out comes Bret Hart and he gets the crowd to chant "1-2-3". Bret says Razor doesn't seem to be very focused on being the King of the Ring since he can't even beat an underneath guy.

Bobby Heenan is doing the stupid TV thing again, but this time Johnny Polo comes on and introduces Adam Bomb.

Adam Bomb vs. Phil Apollo

Minus the lame name, I always liked the look of the Adam Bomb character. Bomb dominates and shows off his athleticism by hitting a dropkick. He follows it up with a back suplex and sends Apollo out of the ring. He throws him into the guardrail and back in the ring he hits a clothesline off the top rope. He hits a powerbomb and gets the easy victory. This was a nice Raw debut for Adam Bomb.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Bam Bam Bigelow is backstage for an interview and will be taking on Marty Jannetty next week. They inform us that Luna will be in his corner and Sheri will be in Marty's. That's all the time here this week.

This show had a great start, but kind of died out a little. The Adam Bomb debut was promising, but obviously it never leads to much for him. Perfect and Doink were nearly 1/3rd of the show, so that pretty much means it's worth checking out, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if you only watch that match.

Overall Rating: 60%

SmackDown 10-14-05 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, October 14th, 2005
SBC Center
San Antonio, Texas

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Randy and Bob Orton are here to kick off the show. He lets us know that Undertaker is dead and his legacy has been erased. He says that the World Heavyweight Championship is next for him, which brings out Eddie Guerrero. Randy reminds Eddie that he actually won his match at No Mercy. Eddie dares Randy to give him a RKO and see what happens. Eddie wants one more match with Batista, but Randy says that he is going to go to Teddy Long right now and demand a title shot. This of course brings out Batista. Batista proposes that Orton takes on Eddie tonight to determine the #1 contender. After the commercial break, Michael Cole lets us know that it's official.

United States Championship Match
Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan

At least they aren't doing another 30 second match. Benoit of course tries to put on the Crossface, but Jordan gets the early advantage. Benoit again goes back to the Crossface, but Jordan this time has a counter for everything. Out of the ring, Jordan throws Benoit into the steps and puts him back in the ring. Jordan puts him in the dreaded abdominal stretch. Benoit avoids a charging Jordan and hits two German suplexes, but then goes for the Crossface again. Jordan counters, but Benoit puts him in the Sharpshooter and Jordan taps. The match had some potential, but then it just ended.

Match Rating: *(out of 5)

Sharmell confronts Teddy Long, who is with Palmer Canon. She is wondering why Orlando Jordan got a title show, not Booker T. Teddy tells her that tonight it will be Booker T vs. Christian vs. JBL vs. Rey Mysterio to determine the #1 contender for the US Championship.

William Regal, Paul Burchill & MNM vs. Animal, Heidenreich & Mexicools

So apparently the Mexicools aren't heels any more? Psicosis hits a nice spin kick off the second rope on Mercury. MNM uses teamwork to regain control. The heels get lots of tags into keep Psicosis out his corner. They finally get a tag in and LOD dominates. Christy calls for the Doomsday Device. Heidenreich goes up top, but he is interfered with. Animal hits a side suplex and Super Crazy hits a moonsault for the victory. This was a good example of how thin the tag team division was. After the match, two unknowns attack the Mexicools and leave them lying there. The match was spirited, but far from remarkable.

Match Rating: *1/2

Christian is here for The Peep Show and introduces Stacy Keibler. Christian asks her what it was like fooling around with Jennifer Aniston's boyfriend. Apparently, this was a thing that was in the tabloids at the time. Stacy says that isn't the case and as she is about to plead her case, out comes Jillian Hall. She lets Stacy know that there is no shame in losing your boyfriend to Jennifer Aniston. The crowd is completely dead for this. Stacy then asks Jillian what that thing on her face is and Jillian tries to punch her. Stacy blocks it and smacks her. Again, I'm not sure why a babyface would bully someone for the way they look, but that's just me.

Fatal 4-Way Match To Determine The #1 Contender For The United States Championship
Christian vs. JBL vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Booker T

This falls under Texas Tornado rules, so everyone is in the ring at the same time. Booker T gives JBL a back body drop and some chops in the corner. Mysterio leaps in and hits a seated senton for a 2 count on JBL. JBL catches Christian and hits a fall away slam, but JBL immediately eats a missile dropkick from Booker. Booker goes after Christian, but he pokes him in the eye and then JBL takes Booker out of the ring. Christian hits a gutbuster on Rey and this is a feud that I am really disappointed we never got. Christian hits a face-first suplex and then a baseball slide dropkick on JBL. Mysterio is up on Christian's shoulders and starts fighting off JBL in a fun spot. After the commercial break, Rey hits a DDT on JBL as Booker tries to climb back in the ring. JBL is up and steamrolling people and then hits a vertical suplex on Christian for a 2 count. Christian dumps Mysterio on the top rope while Booker throws JBL into the stairs outside of the ring. Booker is in the ring and starts taking it to Christian. Christian counters a Scissor Kick attempt into an inverted DDT. Rey comes off the top, but Christian avoids it and he hits Booker. In comes JBL and he hits a Clothesline From Hell on Mysterio. Booker hits a kick on JBL, then Rey sets up Booker for the 619, but Sharmell pulls Mysterio's legs. Booker hits the Scissor Kick and gets the victory. That was an extremely well worked and entertaining match. It's not surprising considering who was involved, but that was really well done. It's a shame that they didn't get a few more minutes, but what we got was very good.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Sharmell and Booker are celebrating next week. Chris Benoit is here to congratulate him and let him know that he hopes what happened to Mysterio is going to happen to him. Booker is unaware that Sharmell helped him win. Sharmell distracts Booker and they continue to celebrate. That match will be featured on next week's show.

Mr. Kennedy is out and does his introduction. He says that he doesn't have an opponent tonight because obviously everyone is afraid to face him.

Bobby Lashley vs. Nunzio

Lashley hits Nunzio with an belly-to-belly overhead suplex and then tosses him over the top rope. Big Vito didn't bother trying to catch Nunzio there. Vito hits Lashley from behind, but Lashley levels him. This distraction allows Nunzio to hit a dropkick and he hits a series of right hands. Lashley catches him off the second rope and hits a modified backbreaker and then throws Nunzio into Vito. Lashley hits the Dominator and that is all. Lashley was a lot more impressive here in 2005 than I remembered.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Teddy Long and Palmer Cannon are talking. Palmer reminds Long about the Boogeyman and thinks he would be a great addition to SmackDown. Boogeyman walks in and smashes a clock over his head. I do not remember this being his debut. Why would you debut a character like that in a backstage segment?

Randy Orton vs. Eddie Guerrero

This definitely feels like a pairing that could have had legs for 2006 on SmackDown. Guerrero hits a beautiful dropkick to get started. Eddie uses the tag rope to choke Orton right in front of Bob. Eddie goes for the Three Amigos, but Bob Orton distracts him after the first one and Randy capitalizes and hits a dropkick of his own. After the commercial break, Orton has the dreaded chinlock on and turns it into his variation of the backbreaker. Orton begins losing his temper and dumps Eddie out of the ring. Orton slams Eddie into the table and then into the steel steps. Eddie starts firing back and this time hits all three suplexes. Eddie is heading up top and Bob Orton is on the apron. Eddie kicks him down, but he gets back up and throws him off the top rope. The bell rings for a disqualification and they begin to beat Eddie down. Out comes Batista to make the save and then raises Eddie's arm. Out comes Teddy Long and he announces that next week Eddie and Batista will take on Bob and Randy. They did a good job of giving the match a big match feel, but this felt a little bit like just a teaser of bigger things to come.

Match Rating: **3/4

SmackDown finally has a lot going for it at the moment and even though it felt like they maybe tried to cram a little bit too much into this episode, it still made for some good television. I loved the fatal 4-way match and thought it was one of the better SmackDown matches of the year. Lashley and Mr. Kennedy continue to look good as well, which gives the roster a little bit of a fresher appeal than that of Raw. Thumbs up here this week.

Overall Rating: 65%

Monday Night Raw 10-10-05 Review

Monday, October 10th, 2005
American Bank Center
Corpus Christi, Texas

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After a lengthy recap of Homecoming, Stephanie McMahon is here to kick off the show. She insults the crowd and then tells the men that she has bigger balls than all of them. She then goes up to one of the production crew and slaps him for trying to give her a cue. She then goes to Lilian Garcia and slaps her too. She says that Vince is on his way to the building and that someone is going to get fired. On her way to the back, she stands up on the announcer table to remind us that she is back.

Doink vs. Rob Conway

After Conway getting destroyed by a ring full of legends, he now gets to take on Doink. Doink goes for a sunset flip and purposefully tries to pull Conway's trunks down. Doink blocks a kick and pokes Conway in the eye. Conway loses his temper and hits a clothesline. Conway hits a neckbreaker and it's safe to say the crowd does not care about this. Conway hits the Ego Trip and that is all. This has not been a promising start to this week's episode. After the match, Conway calls all WWE legends a joke and then continues to beat on Doink until Eugene comes out to a mild pop. Eugene turns his back on him and Conway hits the Ego Trip on him too.

Match Rating: 1/4*(out of 5)

After a recap of Triple H turning on Ric Flair, we go to Carlito's Cabana. Carlito tries to start rambling, but Kurt Angle comes out. Before he can finish his first sentence, Shawn Michaels is out to interrupt. They argue about being the #1 contender and then out comes Big Show. You'll never guess what happens next? Edge comes down to make his claim. John Cena is naturally the next person out of the curtain. We get battle rap Cena this time, cutting down everyone in the ring. Cena says that he would fight them all.

Trish Stratus is getting ready for her match tonight. During the break, Eric Bischoff made a 6 Man Tag with everyone claiming to be the #1 contender.

Chris Masters vs. Tajiri

Tajiri attacks Masters during his entrance. Tajiri of course gets the early advantage and puts Masters in the Tarantula. Tajiri hits a reverse kick, but Masters ducks the next kick and slaps on the Master Lock. No one gets out of the Master Lock, so Masters obviously gets the victory here. That could have been a fun match if they had more than two minutes.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Triple H is walking in with everyone staring at him. Michaels confronts him and tells him, it was too much. Triple H just laughs it off. Next to stop him is Big Show and he tells him that someday he will get his. This has Triple H a little concerned. He then bumps into John Cena, who tells him that he's lost some respect. Triple H tells him that the last thing he would do if he was Cena, was to get his attention. There's your first teaser for WrestleMania. Triple H then throws an employee around backstage for effect.

Back from commercial and it's time for Triple H to come out. Triple H says that no one was a bigger mark for Ric Flair than he was. Triple H says that he was the most excited person to see Flair arrive four years ago, until he saw him. He then watched him win the Intercontinental Championship and celebrate his mediocrity, so he put him out of his misery.

WWE Women's Championship Match
Trish Stratus vs. Victoria

Both Trish and Victoria are out here alone. Trish does the Ma-Trish and hits a headscissor. Trish goes for Stratusfaction, but Victoria counters it with a backbreaker. Victoria hits a snap suplex and sets Trish on the top rope. Trish hits her with some right hands, but Victoria hits her with a gorilla slam. Victoria puts Trish in a modified Boston Crab and then gets a nearfall. Trish runs into a reverse elbow in the face. Victoria counters a handstand hurricanrana into a Boston Crab. Trish goes for a Chick Kick, but Victoria blocks it. Trish hits a Northern Lights suplex into a bridge and gets the win out of nowhere. After the match, Victoria attacks Trish, but out comes Ashley to try and make the save. It doesn't last long and then out comes a mystery woman comes out and makes the save for both of them. That woman of course is Mickie James. The match was too short to be anything of note, but they typically have entertaining matches.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Trish and Ashley are walking backstage and Mickie James introduces herself to them. Trish recognizes the name and Mickie tells her that she's her biggest fan and has written her a thousand times. She gives her a hug and Trish is a little creeped out.

Carlito, Kurt Angle & Edge vs. Shawn Michaels, Big Show & John Cena

This is a main event I can get behind. Cena hits a back body drop on Carlito and tags in Big Show. Big Show then manhandles the entire team including a splash in the corner. Back from commercial break and Cena and Angle are in there. Angle hits a forearm and tags in Edge. Cena makes a hot tag to HBK and he hits a big top rope elbow drop on Carlito. He goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Angle comes in and hits him with a clothesline. Angle hits a German suplex with a release and gets a 2 count. Michaels fights out of a body scissors, but Carlito pulls down the top rope and Michaels falls to the floor. He is immediately greeted with a spear from Edge on the floor behind the referee's back. Angle hits a big belly-to-belly overhead throw and tags in Carlito. Michaels begins to fight back, but Carlito hits a standing dropkick. They both collide and Michaels makes the hot tag to Big Show who hits a double clothesline on Edge and Angle. He tells Angle "You can't see me" and tags in Cena, who hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle for a nearfall. Edge grabbed a chair, but Big Show kicks it out of his hands. Cena goes for the FU, but Carlito interrupts. Michaels takes both he and Carlito over the top rope. Angle puts Cena in the Ankle Lock, but he counters it and puts him in the Ankle Lock of his own. Angle rolls Cena up and gets the rare victory over Cena here. I have to say, I didn't remember that happening. This was a good match, although below my lofty expectations. Still, this was the highlight of the show.

Match Rating: ***1/4

We get a vignette for Kane letting us know that he'll be back next week. Mick Foley is the guest next week on Carlito's Cabana.

Out comes Mr. McMahon and in classic WWE fashion, we get shown a sign that says "Your Fired". He of course reminds us that Austin last week stunned the entire McMahon family. He blames the fan for this and tells us that he wants to hire all of us and then tells us we're fired. He then calls out JR, Jerry Lawler and Coach to the ring. He makes them apologize to him for letting his family get stunned. God, this segment is dragging on and on and on. Just as JR is finished, he calls him back and has Stephanie come out and he creepily talks about his daughter. JR apologizes again and Stephanie slaps him. He calls out Shane, but out comes Linda instead. Linda fires JR and kicks him in the crotch. How is Vince clapping here not a meme? What a terrible ending to the show.

Well, this show was pretty awful and I would say one of the worst of 2005. The McMahon segment was 19 minutes of my life that I will never get back. While the main event was good stuff, the rest of the show had nothing worth even discussing again. Add in the fact that they did absolutely nothing in the way of Taboo Tuesday and the show is only three weeks away.

Overall Rating: 34%

NXT 7-17-13 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, July 17th, 2013
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Triple Threat #1 Contender Match For The NXT Championship
Leo Kruger vs. Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn

I am counting down the days until Zayn gets his proper entrance music. Cesaro quickly goes after Zayn, but it doesn't work out as Zayn is able to take care of both opponents early on. Cesaro gets some knees in, but Kruger comes from behind and dumps him to the floor. Zayn sends Kruger off the ropes, but Cesaro grabs him and pulls him to the floor. Zayn then hits a somersault dive over the top rope. After a commercial break, Cesaro catches a leaping Zayn and counters it into a backbreaker. Cesaro hits a double suplex on both men as a reminder how freaky strong he is. Zayn gets a couple of close calls, one off of a pop up hurricanrana into a pin on Cesaro. Cesaro hits a Neutralizer on Zayn, but Kruger comes in and throws Cesaro out of the ring and steals the victory. Not every triple threat has to end this way. This was pretty good overall, but I would have preferred to have just seen Cesaro and Zayn.

Match Rating: ***(out of 5)

Corey Graves approaches Adrian Neville. He says that he isn't looking for a friend, he's looking for a tag team partner.

Scott Dawson vs. Bo Dallas

Sylvester Lefort comes out to introduce Scott Dawson. Both men get a little bit of offense in to start things off. Dawson gets in a clothesline and quickly hits series of moves. Bo fights back with some running forearms and a knee lift. Dallas hits the bulldog and not his best belly-to-belly suplex and gets the victory. Well, that sure made Dawson look like a geek. After the match Leo Kruger attacks him from behind and rubs his goatee on the NXT Championship as the crowd thanks him.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We get an Ascension vignette telling us that they will rise again.

Bayley vs. Charlotte

Ric Flair comes out first to introduce his daughter for her debut match here on NXT. Charlotte looks and carries herself very differently than the 2020 version we all know. Bayley is playing up the fangirl gimmick here. Charlotte quickly shows off her athletic ability early on, but Bayley is holding her own. We get lots of nearfalls and then Ric throws off his jacket for basically no reason. Bayley hits an overhead suplex. Charlotte flips out of a Irish whip and hits Natural Selection for the victory. That was all you could ask out of a 2 minute debut for Charlotte. Bayley made sense as a pick from a storyline point of view, but it obviously made her continue to be an enhancement talent.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Sheamus is backstage and he will competing next week. He doesn't know who, so that means someone is going to attack him from behind and it's the Wyatt Family. This is NXT's favorite way to set up a match.

Tyler Breeze is backstage and this is the debut of his Zoolander gimmick. He won't let the camera see his face. Next week is when we will get to see the debut of gorgeous.

NXT Tag Team Championship Match
Adrian Neville & Corey Graves vs. The Wyatt Family

Graves and Luke Harper start things off. Graves pulls Haper out of the ring and hits him with a series of right hands. Back in the ring, he pulls Harper to his corner and they hit a dropkick variation of Poetry In Motion. Neville hits some fast paced offense, but Graves gets hit with a big boot to the face. The Wyatt's cut the ring in half and use their hoss offense. Graves tries to fight back, but Harper hits an impressive dropkick. Graves kicks out of a pin attempt after a spinning Rock Bottom. Graves avoids a charging Harper and makes the tag. Neville explodes and hits a springboard moonsault on both men right in front of Bray Wyatt. Neville then hits a second rope moonsault corkscrew (I'm making moves up), but Harper makes the save. Bray trips up Neville on the top rope. Out comes Sheamus and he attacks Bray and is cheering on the challengers. Neville goes up top, hits the Red Arrow and we have new champions. That was a good match, as all four men looked motivated here. The Sheamus spot came off nicely as well. NXT's arrow is definitely pointing up.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Well, that was a good episode of wrestling. A good opener and a memorable main event are usually enough for a thumbs up, but this one also has the historical significance of Charlotte making her debut as well.

Overall Rating: 70%

Monday Night Raw 5-17-93 Review

Monday, May 17th, 1993
Manhattan Center
New York City, New York

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They show the entire Mr. Perfect/Shawn Michaels brawl and then cut to Lord Alfred Hayes in the same spot. He says that there is a big surprise tonight.

The Smoking Gunns vs. Tony Vadja & Glen Ruth

I wish I loved anything as much as Vince loves the Smoking Gunns' guns. This is the Raw debut of the Gunns. The Gunns execute a number of quick tags to go to work on their dangerous opponents. They continue their quick tags and hit their leg drop finisher for the victory. They looked good here, which I would assume was the point.

Match Rating: 1/4* (out of 5)

Vince McMahon is in the ring to interview Shawn Michaels. Michaels says that he is a man of his word and that he has been defending his title all over the world. He debunks rumors that he is a reluctant champion and says that he will take on anyone anywhere. Someone walks into the ring in sunglasses and a hood and it's none other than Marty Jannetty. Vince is all excited and wants the match tonight. This is Vince at his absolute dorkiest.

Razor Ramon vs. The Kid

Razor hits the Kid with some stiff chops and then throws him across the ring. Razor catches him and then hits the fall away slam. Kid ducks under Razor and he hits his face in the ring post. The Kid hits a moonsault and gets the surprise victory and the crowd is stunned. This is obviously one of the more famous moments in early Raw history. Razor is livid and the Kid quickly runs to the back. The match was too short to be good, but this was tremendous.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Tatanka vs. Scott Taylor

Tatanka hits a running clothesline and follows that up with a back body drop. Taylor ducks a chop, but Tatanka tosses him over the top rope. Tatanka hits a scoop powerslam and continues to chop poor Scotty 2 Hotty. I'm not quite sure why this match got more time than the Razor one? Taylor gets in his 10 seconds of offense until he hits the Samoan drop for the easy victory.

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time for Mean Gene with the King of the Ring Report. They go over the brackets with Bret Hart taking on Razor Ramon, Lex Luger against Tatanka and Jim Duggan against Bam Bam Bigelow.

Kamala vs. Yokozuna

After a whole lot of nothing, both men charge at one another and Yoko sells losing his balance. They charge a second time and once again Kamala almost causes Yoko to lose his balance. They talk about Yoko gaining weight for the match with Hogan, which causes Vince to chime in that Hogan is getting leaner. I can't imagine why? Kamala hits a series of chops and almost knocks Yoko down until Mr. Fuji grabs his leg and allows Yokozuna to take control and then splash him in the corner. Banzai Drop from Yokozuna and that is all. Well, it was short and better than you would think it would be.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Intercontinental Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty

They go at right away, knowing that time is most likely on their side here. Marty gets a quick roll up for a close call. Marty is on fire and clotheslines Shawn over the top and then hits him with a baseball slide. He then launches himself over the top rope. One can only wonder what Marty's potential was in an alternate universe where he isn't his own worst enemy. Marty ducks a superkick and hits a flying headscissor into a pin attempt. Michaels does the Ric Flair flip over the rope on the Irish whip from Marty. Shawn grabs his title and begins to walk away, but Mr. Perfect is there to stop him as we go to commercial break. When we get back Marty brings Shawn in the hard way. He goes for another flying headscissor, but this time Shawn counters it and hangs him up on the top rope. Michaels slows things down and hits a dropkick. Marty counters another dropkick into a slingshot and gets a 2 count. Marty hits a leaping reverse crossbody and gets yet another nearfall. Shawn gets a close call and the moon is out in NYC, but Marty kicks out. Shawn hits a superkick, but gets distracted by Mr. Perfect. Perfect throws the towel in his face and Marty rolls him up and gets the victory. Marty Jannetty is your new Intercontinental Champion. That match had another 5-10 minutes in it, but what we got was very good.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Well, as far as memorable episodes in 1993 go, this one had it all. The return of Marty Jannetty, the crowning of a new Intercontinental Champion and the big upset of Razor Ramon. There's not much else you could ask for in 1993 WWF on a 46 minute show.

Overall Rating: 74%

No Mercy 2005 Review

Sunday, October 9th, 2005
Toyota Center
Houston, Texas

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MNM & Melina vs. Animal, Heidenreich & Christy Hemme

Heidenreich throws Nitro in the ring while he is still wearing his jacket and the match is underway. Heidenreich turns Nitro inside out with a clothesline. MNM turns the tide on Animal by working on his injured shoulder. MNM hits the Snapshot, but Nitro doesn't get out of the ring and it delays the pin. That was just an awkward way to allow someone to kick out of finisher. Not to mention that they hit it about two minutes into the match. Mercury goes up top, but Animal catches him and hits a body slam. Heidenreich breaks up the pin attempt and Nitro dumps him over the top rope. Nitro jumps off the apron, but Heidenreich moves out of the way. Melina tags herself in and goes off the top rope. Animal catches her and tags in Christy. She hits a Hart Attack clothesline. Christy then hits the scariest looking hurricanrana I've ever seen. Christy goes up top for the Doomsday Device. She barely can get her pinned, but it eventually happens and they get the victory. It's really a little scary how they were trotting out women like Christy and Ashley for wrestling matches when they clearly weren't ready yet. The match was okay for what it was and the crowd seemed to enjoy it for the most part.

Match Rating: *1/2 (out of 5)

Eddie Guerrero and Batista are back in the locker room together. Eddie tells Batista good luck and Batista wishes him the same.

Simon Dean vs. Bobby Lashley

Simon Dean is out with writer Chris DeJoseph, who is carrying out a tray of hamburgers. Before the match, he talks about Houston being the fattest city in America. He says that he is so sure that he'll beat Lashley tonight, that if he doesn't, he will eat all 20 cheeseburgers on the tray. Dean goes for a cheap shot, but Lashley catches him into a double underhook suplex. Dean avoids a charging Lashley in the corner and Dean starts throwing cheeseburgers at the ref. With the ref distracted, he smacks the tray on the head of Lashley, but that just makes Lashley mad. He pulls up Dean by his feet and tries to catch him into the Dominator, but they lose their balance. He picks him back up and hits it and gets the easy victory. Dean continues to be perfect in his role as an enhancement talent and Lashley continues to show more promise than I remember back in 2005. Lashley then shoves one of the burgers in his face.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Jillian Hall introduces JBL backstage for his interview. He talks about Raw potentially invading the show tonight. He says that underdogs simply do not win, but in walks Rey Mysterio. He offers JBL a mask, but then hands it to Jillian Hall.

Fatal 4-Way For The United States Championship
Booker T vs. Christian vs. Orlando Jordan vs. Chris Benoit

Christian and Booker go after one another while Jordan and Benoit do the same. Benoit gets knocked out of the ring and Jordan starts working with Christian on Booker. Booker hits a double leaping clothesline and then throws Christian out of the ring. Christian trips up Booker and throws him into the steel steps. Benoit sneaks in and puts Jordan in the Crippler Crossface, but Christian makes the save. Benoit hits a suplex on Christian and then suplexes Jordan on top of Christian. He then hits a drop toe hold into Jordan below the belt. Benoit puts Christian in the Sharpshooter, but Jordan is right there to break it up. Booker makes his way back and hits a missile dropkick on Christian. Booker hits a slingshot on Jordan and he hits Christian. Benoit then dumps out Jordan and now Benoit and Booker are in there alone. By the time they really get started, Christian and Jordan make their way back in. Benoit hits a belly-to-belly suplex over the top rope and Jordan again gets rid of Benoit. They hit a double clothesline and both men are down. Benoit comes in and goes up top, but Christian slows him down. They are battling on the second rope and Jordan pushes Booker into them, sending both men to the floor. Booker gets a pin attempt and gets a really close call. Booker takes out all three opponents and hits the scissor kick on Jordan, but Christian breaks it up. Christian throws Benoit into Booker. Christian goes for the Unprettier, but Benoit counters that into a German suplex. He goes for a second one, but Jordan I guess blocks it? It sure looked like he and Christian hit heads pretty hard there. Benoit disposes of Jordan and hits another German suplex on Christian. He signals for the headbutt, but instead hits three more German suplexes and then heads up top. Christian moves out of the way and goes for a pin, but Benoit counters it and goes for the Crippler Crossface. After a fight, he gets it in. Jordan comes in an finally breaks it up. Booker again sends him out of the ring with a clothesline and Benoit puts Christian in a Sharpshooter and Christian taps. I wonder why Christian left for TNA? There were probably a few too many instances of guys getting thrown out of the ring here, but this was a hard fought match with a non-stop pace. I liked this a lot better than what I originally rated this match over a decade ago. After the match, Sharmell is telling Booker that Benoit is not his friend.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Lashley is backstage now making Dean eat his cheeseburgers. Dean is claiming how gross they are since they were on the mat. He isn't wrong. Lashley isn't buying it though and Dean tries to choke them down.

Mr. Kennedy vs. Hardcore Holly

Holly brings in Kennedy the hard way and then hits a vertical suplex. Holly then hits his signature suplex, which leads to some chops. Holly's tights look exactly like the new logo for Extreme Rules 2020. Kennedy hits Holly's shoulder into the ring post and goes to work on the shoulder. Kennedy hits a back suplex and the crowd isn't really into this match so far. Holly gets a few chops in, but again Kennedy goes to work on the shoulder. Holly battles out and hits a back body drop. Holly is able to hit a full nelson slam and follows it up with a clothesline in the corner. He sends him to the other corner and hits another clothesline. Holly hits is "completely legal" kick below the belt. Kennedy tries to go for a wheel kick, but Holly swats it away and hits a big boot. He climbs up to the top rope, but Kennedy gets there and gets Holly up on his shoulders. He hits the Green Bay Plunge and gets the victory. His finisher is definitely over. I thought the match would be a little bit better, but it ended up just being pretty good.

Match Rating: **1/4

After the match, Holly is selling his injuries, but refusing medical help. Out comes Sylvan and he attacks him. Holly had to be thrilled to be putting two guys over here tonight.

They go back to Dean eating his burgers and finds a hair in one of them.

Sharmell is backstage yelling about Benoit again. Mr. Kennedy comes in and interrupts and lets them know that he won his first pay-per-view match in his own obnoxious way. Sharmell tells Booker that his problem is himself, not Kennedy or Benoit.

JBL vs. Rey Mysterio

Tazz and Cole talking about the growth on Jillian's face continues to be one of the worst parts of 2005. JBL takes Rey down into a headlock to start. Rey starts using his speed to make JBL chase him around the ring. Rey mocks him by doing jumping jacks and then hits him with a dropkick. Rey starts working on the leg, but JBL gives him a thumb to the eye. Rey hits a tilt-a-whirl headscissor, but JBL is able to avoid a 619. Rey hits a leaping bulldog off the apron and both men are struggling to get back in the ring. JBL trips up Rey as he is climbing up the steps and he falls face first into them. JBL hits a fall away slam from the second rope. Mysterio battles back with a tornado DDT, but is struggling to capitalize. He's able to hit a bronco buster, but the Jillian climbs up to the apron. JBL almost runs into her, but is able to stop. Mysterio hits a moonsault for a nearfall. Mysterio hits a dropkick and follows it up with the 619. JBL ducks the seated senton and hits the Clothesline From Hell and gets the victory. These two have good chemistry and it made for a good match. Then again, who doesn't have good chemistry with Rey Mysterio?

Match Rating: ***

Handicap Casket Match
Bob & Randy Orton vs. Undertaker

Taker gets the druid entrance, so that means it's 24 minutes long instead of 18. The Ortons immediately try to corner Taker, but it's pro wrestling, so it doesn't work. They eventually are able to get Taker down after Bob hits him with a low blow. It doesn't last long and Taker is able to throw Bob into the casket. He quickly gets out and Randy is able to throw Taker into the steps. They team up to get Taker in the casket, but he never leaves his feet and fights his way out of there. Taker is able to hit Old School on Randy. He tries the same on Bob, but Randy knocks him off his feet and they hit a double superplex. They try to suplex him into the casket, but Taker counters it with a double DDT. Undertaker hits Snake Eyes and follows it up with the running boot. Meanwhile, Bob on the outside has a fire extinguisher. Taker drives Randy spine-first into the ring post. As he's trying to put Randy in the casket, Bob is trying to sneak up behind him, but he eats a boot to the face. Taker grabs a chair and drills Orton in the back with it. Bob misses with the extinguisher and puts on the triangle choke on him. Both Ortons are in the casket, but Randy prevents Taker from closing the lid. Taker and Randy begin exchanging fists while Bob is beneath him. Taker closes the casket on Bob and apparently that means it is now a one-on-one match. Randy hits a scoop powerslam and tries to get Taker into the casket. As it opens, he is distracted by his dad in there and Taker hits him with a low blow. Orton gets a little bit of a comeback after a dropkick, but he gets too cocky and Taker hits a Last Ride. He goes to throw Randy in the casket, but Bob pops out with the extinguisher and Randy hits him with a RKO. Bob goes to roll Taker in the casket, but Taker gets up and tries for a chokeslam. Randy comes over and hits him in the head with the extinguisher and it knocks Taker in the casket. Taker pulls Orton in the casket and the lid is shut with both men are in there. When it opens up, Taker goes for a chokeslam, but Bob attacks him. They hit him with a chair to the head and close the door. Who knew a fire extinguisher was Taker's Achilles' heel? This wasn't as bad as I thought, but the casket match certainly is not the best stipulation when it comes to match entertainment. After the match, the Ortons wheel the casket to the top of the ramp. Randy starts chopping the casket with an ax. Out comes Bob with gasoline and a lighter. Randy sets the casket ablaze until the pyro crew puts it out. They find the one person in the crowd who thinks that it's real and then Cole and Tazz try to sell the smell of the smoke and fumes. Meanwhile, the kids behind them seem to not be the least bit bothered by it.

Match Rating: **1/4

Cruiserweight Championship Match
Juventud vs. Nunzio

Remember those three weeks where they pretended to care about the Mexicools? This match was made as a result of Juventud winning a battle royal on Velocity. Nunzio was always an underrated worker. These guys are in the death spot on the show, as the crowd is completely out of it here. Juvy goes up top, but Nunzio pulls him off and gets a 2 count. Juvy is a good worker, but at this point in time Super Crazy was the best of the three and the guy that I would have put in a better spot than he is here. Both men are up top and both end up getting slammed face-first. Michael Cole reminds us that we can only see the cruiserweights on SmackDown. I can't remember the last cruiserweight match that was featured. Nunzio misses with a Sicilian Slice. Juvy goes for a springboard move, but Vito holds his leg. He fights him off and goes for a sunset flip. He ends up hitting Vito with a head scissors. He then hits a top rope crossbody, but Nunzio rolls through for a nearfall. Juvy hits a Northern Lights suplex and rolls through into a Juvy Driver and Juventud is your new Cruisweight Champion. There was nothing wrong with this match, but it just felt like a bunch of moves.

Match Rating: **1/2

Back to Simon Dean and he claims to have eaten all of the burgers. Lashley said that it was only 19 and brings him the 20th, which causes Dean to go puke. I am legitimately surprised that this story got as much time as it has here tonight.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Eddie Guerrero vs. Batista

Sadly, this is the last time Eddie would ever wrestle on pay-per-view. They take their time to start, which is wise, as the crowd is definitely into both competitors. The story to start with is Batista using simple wrestling moves and Eddie having a hard time finding a way out of them. Eddie runs out and grabs a chair, which gets Michael Cole all in a tizzy. Eddie drops the chair and Batista grabs him by the throat and tries to bring him back in. Eddie is able to snap Batista's neck on the rope and goes for the Frog Splash and gets a close call out of nowhere there. Now it's Eddie's turn to use some wrestling holds and focuses on Batista's back. Eddie grabs the tag rope from the turnbuckle and again thinks the better of it, so he hits him with a dropkick instead. Eddie struggles to turn Batista over for a Texas Cloverleaf and he counters it into a small package for a 2 count. We get our ref bump and Eddie immediately grabs a chair. Eddie is struggling to hit Batista with it and Batista takes advantage of it. Batista hits a spear. He goes for a Batista Bomb, but Eddie rolls over and goes for a sunset flip. Batista counters that and turns it into a spinebuster. Eddie gets his knees up on an elbow drop in a little bit of an awkward looking spot. Eddie hits the Three Amigos. Eddie rolls through when Batista avoids his Frog Splash attempt, but Batista immediately hits a spinebuster and gets the victory? That was a little bit of an anti-climatic finish there. It felt like they still had a couple minutes there at the end that would have probably improved this one. After the match Batista helps Eddie up and we get the delayed handshake. Batista turns his back and Eddie stares him down and then walks away.

Match Rating: ***

There were a couple of pretty good matches, but there was no standout and nothing really happened of importance. This was always the issue with the brand split shows and this one is no different. The card itself was good, but it just ended up feeling like a 160 minute episode of SmackDown instead. I wouldn't call it a terrible show, but it's definitely not a good one.

Overall Rating: 49%