Monday Night Raw 7-4-94 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, July 4th, 1994
Westchester County Civic Center
White Plains, New York

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Tatanka vs. Jeff Jarrett

It really is kind of weird to hear Gorilla Monsoon call this match. Tatanka gets the best of Jarrett early on. Jarrett then sidesteps Tatanka and throws him over the top rope. Jarrett goes outside and rams Tatanka's back into the ring post. Tatanka tries to fight back outside the ring, but it leads to him being thrown into the ring post again. Jarrett gets back into the ring and the bell rings. Jarrett is announced the winner by countout. Jarrett grabs the mic and says that he didn't come all this way to win by countout. He demands that the ref restart the match. Why is this a heel move? Tatanka tries to make a comeback and puts on a sleeper hold. Jarrett rams the injured back into the turnbuckle and Jarrett puts on a sleeper of his own. I have to say it feels so good to hear Gorilla talk about the winner's share of the purse money during this era. Tatanka turns thing around and hits a DDT for a 2 count. Tatanka hits a top rope chop, but Jarrett gets his foot on the bottom rope during the pin attempt. Jarrett rolls out of the ring and out comes Dink. Dink sprays him, so out comes Doink and he chases him with a bucket of water. Jarrett runs back into the ring and Tatanka rolls him up for the victory. This was actually a really smartly worked match that I enjoyed more than I expected. I didn't agree with the countout portion, but both guys put in a good effort here.

Match Rating: **3/4

Bret Hart vs. 1-2-3 Kid next week. Can't wait. 

1-2-3 Kid is now Jerry Lawler's guest on the King's Court. Gee, guys. The Kid doesn't hate Mr. Bret Hart, Mr. Lawler. Lawler tries to talk Kid into going heel to win the title, but Kid is to focused on sounding like a kid from a 50s sitcom. 

Jim Neidhart vs. Gary Scott

Owen is of course here with Neidhart. This is a pretty dull squash, so I'm not going to say anything other than Neidhart wins with a powerslam. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Iron Mike Sharp vs. Duke Droese

With this being a Droese match, we get lots of punches, kicks and elbows. Sharp is 2 years younger than AJ Styles is now. Droese hits his elbow drop finish and gets the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Fake Undertaker vs. Mike Bell

We're now less than 2 months away from the end of this turd of a gimmick. This match is really testing me right now as I fight to stay awake. Faker goes for Old School and hits it. After that I begin to yawn as the Taker hits the Tombstone for the victory. No one in the arena seems to care about any of this. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Out comes Paul Bearer and he tries to call and now I legitimately fell asleep. Can't believe it would happen during this storyline. Faker then acts as if he is going to follow Bearer and we're going to a commercial break...on a taped show. DiBiase pulls out some money, but Faker doesn't take it. DiBiase is livid and takes out more money and that does it. 

Next week on the King's Court, it will be Ted DiBiase. 

For a holiday show, this wasn't bad. The opener was very solid and took up most of the show. However, the Kid looked like a goof and the squashes sucked. We'll split it down the middle.

Overall Rating: 50%

Royal Rumble 2022 Review

Saturday, January 29th, 2022
The Dome At America's Center
St. Louis, Missouri

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Universal Championship Match
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins is coming out to the Shield music through the crowd in the gear. I love that. Undertaker would be proud of both of how long these entrances are. They are selling Reigns being in the head of Rollins and as a result, Rollins gets off to the hot start. He goes for a springboard leap, but eats a fist from Roman. Roman follows that up with the Drive By. He goes for a Superman Punch off the steps, but Rollins blocks it and hits a Shield Bomb through the announce table. Rollins rolls him quickly back in the ring and hits a Frog Splash for a 2 count. Rollins goes up top again, but rolls through because Roman moved and then hits Roman with a boot. He hits a Buckle Bomb and hits the Stomp, but Roman kicks out. I actually thought that was it there. Rollins goes again for the Stomp, but Roman hits a clothesline and both men are down. Rollins is able to put on a triangle choke, but Roman lifts him up and hits a powerbomb. He throws Rollins into the ring post and then over the barricade. He throws him back in the ring and hits the Superman Punch for a nearfall. Roman hits a Spear outside the ring and throws him back in. Roman goes for another, but Rollins counters it into a Pedigree. He rolls him over, but again Roman kicks out. Rollins goes for the Stomp, but again it's countered. Rollins is able to hit some kicks to the head, but Roman fights back and hits a Spear. Rollins is down, but is laughing at Roman. Rollins wants a fist bump, but Roman puts him in the Guillotine in the center of the ring. Rollins is so close to the bottom rope and gets it when the ref checks his arm. Roman won't break the hold and Charles Robinson calls for the bell. Roman sells the moment for a long time with no official announcement yet. Roman slowly walks out and grabs a chair. Rollins is turned around and he recreates the Shield breakup moment with a series of chair shots on Rollins. Roman is getting heavy boos here. The match was awesome until the finish, but at the same time the finish made sense. It's just not what we wanted to see after such a good match. 

Match Rating: ****

Women's Royal Rumble

#1 and #2 are Sasha Banks and Melina. Melina is 42 years old here and honestly, I'm not really sure what she's been up to. I'm not sure she even lasts 42 seconds, as Sasha quickly gets rid of her. #3 is Tamina. Sasha attacks her before she gets to the ring and hits a Meteora. Out next at 4 is Kelly Kelly, another clear cut favorite. She kind of botches her headscissor spot and then does the cartwheel elbow. Kelly does a handstand submission over the top, which is real smart. She quickly gets eliminated from that by Sasha. #5 is Aliyah and she doesn't get much going at first. These feel a lot quicker than 90 second. Liv Morgan is in at #6 and should be the winner. She goes right after Sasha and is almost able to dump her out. Queen Zelina is #7 and she eliminates Sasha with a kick off the apron in a pretty big surprise. Last year's winner, Bianca Belair, is in at #8. Dana Brooke is in at #9 and I'm still shocked she somehow has survived all of the roster cuts. #10 is the returning Michelle McCool. Dana Brooke almost gets eliminated, but is caught by Reginald. Dana quickly gets eliminated right after. We're a third of the way through the entrants and nothing really of note has happened yet. #11 is Sonya Deville and she goes to the announce table. She sticks around there and out comes Natalya at 12. Bianca has Tamina on her shoulders and from behind Natalya tips them both over. Bianca is able to hang on, but Tamina is finally eliminated. Cameron returns at the lucky 13 spot. Sonya takes off her jacket and goes in the ring to attack Cameron. They are playing up the feud with Naomi and she quickly eliminates her. #14 is out and it's Naomi. She checks on Cameron and then goes right after Sonya. She hits a springboard kick and hits a kick on the apron to eliminate Sonya. #15 is out and it's Carmella, who takes her time getting into the ring. Rhea Ripley is in at #16 and she goes after Carmella and throws her into the ring. Ripley then lifts up both Carmella and Zelina and they land on the apron. She knocks off both tag team champions as we count down to #17. Charlotte Flair is in next and she quickly eliminates Aliyah. She knocks Naomi out, but she holds on with her hand. She teases a Kofi spot, but Sonya grabs her hands and pulls her to the floor. #18 is none other than Ivory out to the RTC "music". She walks down to the ring and she says that nothing has changed and that she sees a bunch of lost little girls. Ripley picks her up while she still talks on the mic and pushes her off the apron. That was at least fun. #19 is Brie Bella making her return and doing the "Yes" chants. Out next at #20 is Mickie James. Michelle McCool kicks her off the apron on her way in. Mickie fights her off and uses a hurricanrana to eliminate her. Alicia Fox is in at 21 and hits a few kicks before Ripley goes after her. 22 is Nikki A.S.H. and she sneaks from behind and tries to eliminate Rhea. It doesn't work, so Nikki rolls under the bottom rope. #23 is Summer Rae making her return and she gets into a slap fight with Natalya. She gets the better of her but Charlotte steamrolls her. Natalya dumps her out shortly after. Nikki Bella is in at #24. Her and Bree get rid of Alicia Fox. Sarah Logan is making her return at #25. Her and Liv have a moment, but then the Bellas take them out and dump Sarah. They go for Liv next and succeed after a struggle. #26 is Lita and she goes after Mickie and eliminates her. Lita and Charlotte begin to battle and out comes Molly Holly at 27. Nikki blindsides her before she gets to the ring and throws her into the steps. She throws her in the ring and dumps poor Molly out. #28 is out and it's Ronda Rousey to a HUGE pop. Nikki A.S.H. is eliminated and then Brie eliminates her sister. #29 is Shotzi Blackheart. Rousey eliminates Brie. Out comes Shayna Baszler at 30 and she quickly has the attention of Rousey. Charlotte interrupts it before it begins. Shayna eliminates Shotzi and Natalya also is gone. Natalya goes back in, so Rousey tosses her out again. Lita hits a Twist Of Fate on Charlotte. Lita goes up top, but Ripley throws her off and then Charlotte knocks her off. Ripley and Rousey are on the apron, but Charlotte kicks of Ripley after Rousey gets thrown into the ring post. Bianca and Baszler both get eliminated, leaving us with Rousey and Charlotte. They have a quick exchange and Rousey gets the easy victory. This was the right call here and I hope they have her go up against Becky. The match itself was pretty standard overall, but got fun down the stretch. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Raw Women's Championship Match
Doudrop vs. Becky Lynch

This at least feels like a fresh match, even if they've done everything in their power to make no one care about Doudrop. The crowd is distracted by something going on while Becky puts on a sleeper hold. I'll be honest, this is longer than I expected. I figured this would be the 3 minute match. Becky hits a missile dropkick off the second rope. Doudrop hits a splash that looked like it couldn't have felt good. She hits a somersault into the corner and gets a 2 count. Doudrop goes for the Vader Bomb, but Becky gets the knees up. She climbs up top and hits a somersault dive of her own for a nearfall. Becky drapes Doudrop over the top rope and hits a leg drop, but Doudrop kicks out again. They really didn't do this match any favors by putting this here. Becky hits the Manhandle Slam from the second rope and that is all. At 10:03 EST, we still have 3 matches, one of which is a Royal Rumble. This match was a TV match in front of a dead crowd that apparently just saw the WrestleMania sign on fire. This just wasn't the time or place for Doudrop to get her chance.

Match Rating: **

WWE Championship Match
Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar

There is almost 90 years between the two and you would never know it. Both men are just freaks. Lashley hits a big German suplex, which Brock seems to enjoy. Brock follows up with one, but holds on and gets a second one in. Brock goes for a F5, but Lashley slips out and hits a Spear. He hits a second Spear and Brock rolls out of the ring. Lashley goes for a Spear outside, but Brock moves out of the way and they once again do the barricade spot. Lashley is able to push Lesnar into the ring post and then back into the ring. Lesnar avoids a charging Lashley in the corner and hits another German. He hits a few more and I have to say that I am surprised at the pace they are working here. I was expecting a sprint. Lashley locks in the Hurt Lock in the middle of the ring. Lesnar is able to push Lashley into the corner, but he hits the referee. Lesnar hits the F5 and Lashley's legs hit the ref and he is out of the ring. In comes Roman Reigns and he Spears Lesnar. He stares down Heyman and then Heyman hands him the WWE Championship. He drills Lesnar with the belt, another referee comes down and we have a new WWE Champion. This match was a disappointment, as I thought they'd go with the Goldberg/Lesnar match here. Again, the booking here makes sense, it just wasn't satisfying as a match finish. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Mixed Tag Team Match
Miz & Maryse vs. Edge & Beth Phoenix

The ladies start off and Maryse runs away, leading to Maryse falling on Miz. Maryse tags in Miz and in runs Edge. Maryse grabs Edge's hair when he goes off the ropes and that gives Edge the opening. Miz gets in the Miz Kicks, but misses the last one and gets rolled up for 2. He hits the backbreaker/neckbreaker combo. Maryse gets a slap in there and Beth is chasing her once again. She grabs a chair this time, but thinks better of it and heads back to her corner. Edge is able to hit Edgecution and both men are down now. The women are back in and Beth slams Maryse's head to the mat multiple times. Miz pulls Maryse into her corner, so Beth wants a piece of Miz. Beth picks him up and drives him into the corner. Maryse comes from behind and hits her with the purse, but Beth kicks out at 2. We get a series of counters that lead to both women being down now. The men are in and Edge goes after Miz again. Edge goes up top, but Miz meets him there. Beth comes from behind and powerbombs Miz and Edge follows up with an elbow drop, but Miz kicks out at 2. Maryse sneaks from behind and pulls her onto the apron and into the steps. Edge misses a Spear in the corner. Maryse goes up top and hits a top rope hurricanrana on Edge. Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale, but Edge kicks out. They go for a double Skull Crushing Finale, but Beth and Edge hit a double Spear. They then hit a double Glamazon Slam for the victory. A lot of people probably liked Lashley/Lesnar more than I did and I can guarantee that I liked this a lot more than most people did. Miz and Maryse are just such great characters, they make me care about things a little bit more than just about everyone on the roster. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Men's Royal Rumble

#1 and #2 are AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, which just feels like a feud that was from forever ago. At 11:05 EST, the bell finally rings for the Royal Rumble. They have a pretty standard opening and in comes Austin Theory at #3. He comes in and shows off his athleticism, but the crowd isn't really popping for it. #4 is Robert Roode and he gets no reaction at all. He hits a couple of spinebusters and then turns his attention to TNA pal, AJ Styles. It doesn't last long, as Styles knocks him off the apron with a forearm. Remember when Roode was NXT Champion for what felt like forever? At #5, it's heavy favorite, Ridge Holland. Styles eliminates Shinsuke, which is kind of surprising that he's gone before Rick Boogs comes in. Up next at 6, it's Montez Ford and he wakes up the crowd a little bit. Damian Priest is the 7th entrant. The crowd just seems tired. My man Sami Zayn is in at #8. I'm not timing it, but it feels like the time between entrants is less than 90 seconds. A little bit too obviously, it's Johnny Knoxville at #9. He takes Zayn down and throws down before pointing to the WrestleMania sign. Styles steps in and Knoxville slaps him. Styles destroys him and then Montez hits a Frog Splash on him. Ridge sets him on the apron, but Sami runs in and hits the Helluva Kick to knock him out. Styles runs from behind and now Zayn is gone. #10 is next and it's Angelo Dawkins and then Omos at 11. Omos quickly gets rid of Dawkins. Ford goes up top, but Omos catches him by the throat and throws him out as well. In at 12 is Ricochet, but he quickly gets thrown up in the air and to the mat by Omos. Chad Gable is lucky 13 and he rallies everyone together to tell them his plan to get rid of Omos. His plan is for Priest to go after him because he's the biggest and it surprisingly gets rid of Priest. I figured he'd get a long run. The rest of the guys attempt to take out Omos and #14 Dominik Mysterio helps out. Styles runs in and Omos is now eliminated. Happy Corbin gets us to the halfway point here. Ricochet gest eliminated by Corbin after trying to hit a springboard move. Dolph Ziggler is #16 and it's his 15th Royal Rumble match. Styles is able to knock Theory off the apron just before the countdown to 17 hits. It's none other than Sheamus and they eliminate Ridge Holland right in front of him. Out comes Rick Boogs as the 18th competitor. Boogs picks up Gable and throws him all the way to the floor. Out at #18 is Madcap Moss. There is a real star issue here in NXT. Corbin hits a combo on Styles and then Moss gets rid of Styles. Riddle is out at 20 and we are 2/3rds of the way through here. There have not been any surprises so far and a definite lack of star power. 21 is Drew McIntyre and he gets a good reaction. McIntyre clotheslines Moss out and throws Corbin out as well. McIntyre goes out of the ring and continues the beating on them. As that keeps going, out comes Kevin Owens at 22 and he starts brawling with McIntyre. In the ring, Owens hits a pop up powerbomb on McIntyre. Owens is in there stomping on Riddle's feet and out comes Rey Mysterio at 23. Owens hits a Stunner on Mysterio an then Sheamus and McIntyre go after Owens. #24 it's Kofi Kingston and now he goes after Owens. Kofi goes for a springboard and Owens pushes him right off. He grabs the barricade, but his feet clearly touched. That was...weird. Otis comes out at 25 and he no longer really seems to do much for the crowd. 26 is Big E and it sounds like there were supposed to be some spots with him and Kofi, so this should be interesting to see how it plays out. #27 is Bad Bunny and he goes off the top rope onto Sheamus. Owens goes for a Stunner, but he hits a headscissors instead. Bunny hits a Canadian Destroyer, but then gets pounced by Sheamus. He eliminates Sheamus and then Dolph Ziggler with an assist from Mysterio. He high fives Mysterio and then tries to eliminate him. Otis then runs into Mysterio and sends him out as Shane McMahon comes out at #28. Owens tries to throw Shane right out, but Shane reverses and Owens is gone. At #29, it's the hometown Randy Orton. Orton hits a RKO on Big E and he and Riddle dump him out. Man, did they just stop caring about Big E or what? Riddle leaps off the back of Otis and hits a leaping RKO on McIntyre. They then team up to dump out Otis. Out comes the obvious #30 in Brock Lesnar. He gives suplexes to just about everybody in there and tosses Orton out. Lesnar picks up Bunny and hits the F5 before tossing him out. Brock catches Riddle and chucks him out. Lesnar clotheslines Shane out and we are down to Brock and McIntyre. Lesnar goes for a F5, but McIntyre hits a Glasgow Kiss. Lesnar gets him up again and F5's him out of the ring. Wow, was this underwhelming. Neither Rumble killed it tonight, but this one just felt incredibly unimportant. 

Match Rating: **1/4

This show was all over the place. The opener was a fantastic match with a flat finish and it was a roller coaster the rest of the way. Neither Rumble was great and the men's was a bit of a train wreck that lacked star power. I didn't hate the show or anything, it just felt like it should have been so much more. 

Overall Rating: 68%

Superstars 7-2-94 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, July 2nd, 1994
Wilkes University Mart Center
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

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Jim Ross is back this week for the first time in a long time. Is this the debut of the JR/Lawler combo? 

Doink vs. IRS

Oh boy, crappy Doink vs. the most boring wrestler on the roster. Doink hits a scoop slam and a weak looking dropkick to knock IRS out of the ring. IRS hits a knee to the midsection and then slows the match down to his usual snoozefest. IRS hits an elbow to the face and goes to grab for his briefcase. Dink steals it away and the chase around the ring allows Doink to hit a double ax handle off the apron. Doink hits a belly-to-belly suplex for a 2 count. IRS hits a small package and gets the victory. I'm really not sure what the point of this match was. It didn't tell a story and the finish was dumb. After the match, he opens the briefcase and it was booby trapped with a small flame. I have been sticking up for 1994 a lot lately, but this is not helping my case. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

For the Live Event News, they show Alundra Blayze and 1-2-3 Kid going skydiving. I guess this is just a reminder that Alundra Blayze still exists? 

1-2-3 Kid vs. Reno Riggins

Kid is gearing up for his title shot with Bret Hart on Raw. Riggins actually kind of dominates the match  a little bit and hits one of the worst squashes on the ropes I have ever seen. He misses the second attempt and Kid hits him with some kicks. Riggins goes up to the top rope, but Kid hits a dropkick and a superplex for the victory. Kid always took his squashes seriously. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show the Lawler/Duke Droese segment from Raw two weeks ago because it's doing such big business. 

Heavenly Bodies vs. Rich Myers & Derec Domino

The Bodies will forever be a wasted opportunity. It's not like they cared about tag team wrestling in 1994, so why not strap them with the titles? This one is pretty quick, as Pritchard puts his opponent away with a reverse elbow off the top rope. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Now it's time for another terrible storyline with Ted DiBiase. 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Mike Maraldo

This is the first time DiBiase is with Bam Bam, so there's that. Bam Bam hits a bulldog, spins Maraldo around to face the camera and gets the quick win.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Tatanka takes on Undertaker next week on Superstars. 

It's time for the Heartbreak Hotel and our guest is the loneliest man in the WWF, Paul Bearer. This segment is one of those ones where you are dumber for watching it. Shawn plays along with the stupid storyline and all of a sudden the lights go out and the bell rings. Ohhhhh yeah. 

Executioners vs. Smoking Gunns

The Executioners actually have names here and they are Pain and Agony. The tag division still makes no sense to me here in '94. There just is never anything going on. Billy hits an elbow drop off the shoulders of Bart for the victory.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Jim Neidhart vs. Todd Mata

Owen is with Jim here in full king garb. It's weird that Neidhart was never really able to become a bigger singles star, but he never was able to get rid of the tag team wrestler stigma. He puts on a variation of the Camel Clutch for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the Stars And Stripes Challenge from last year with Lex Luger body slamming Yokozuna. 

Next week, we get Diesel, Owen Hart, Duke Droese and Alundra Blayze vs. Luna. We also get Tatanka vs. "Undertaker". 

This one was one of the weaker episodes, mostly because the IRS match was boring and the Heartbreak Hotel segment was death. This is rarely must see TV, but I do typically at least enjoy it. This episode, not so much.

Overall Rating: 35%

SmackDown 6-23-06 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, June 23rd, 2006
Pepsi Arena
Albany, New York

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After a King Booker/Lashley recap, Miz is here to get the crowd hyped up. 

Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. Mexicools

I would have loved to have seen these two teams have a 15 minute match at some point, but I'm pretty sure that never happens. Kendrick and Super Crazy have a cool segment together that leads to a Kendrick submission attempt. In come their partners and London hits a top rope mule kick on the back of Psicosis. Crazy gets a hot tag and he takes care of both men. He goes up top for the moonsault, but Psicosis tags himself in. He goes for a top rope leg drop and misses and the champs get the win. After the match, the Mexicools start brawling with each other, with Crazy standing tall. The match was a good TV style match, but I wanted some more time. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Tatanka vs. Simon Dean

Simon comes out spouting out insults and Tatanka attacks him. They have a match for a few, but this is all just a vehicle for Great Khali to come out and destroy both guys. He then mocks the Undertaker with his pose. Good times. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Finlay vs. Gunner Scott

Gunner runs in and takes it to Finlay. Finlay quickly hits a couple of clubbing clotheslines. Gunner makes a come back and hits a missile dropkick. Finlay snaps Gunner's neck on the ropes and out comes Hornswoggle. Finlay attacks him to stop him from attacking Gunner and gets bit for doing so. Finlay grabs the shillelagh and hits Gunner in the head with it behind the referee's back for the victory. I'm not really sure I understood the point of this. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Vito compliments Ashley and asks her out. 

Sylvain's vignettes are still a thing apparently. 

They talk to Chavo Guerrero about Rey Mysterio's chances against Mark Henry tonight. They show clips of Henry attacking Chavo. 

We now go to Mark Henry and he talks about bones snapping or something. 

King Booker vs. Lashley

They really are having way too many matches for this feud to work for me. Lashley still has the knee taped up from last week. Booker works on the knee. Lashley reverses a submission attempt with a small package, but it's only a 2 count. Booker then immediately clocks him with a clothesline. Booker gets in a thumb to the eye to keep things under control. Finlay is now out and it leads to him hitting Lashley with the shillelagh behind the referee's back. Michael Cole is beside himself. Lashley tries making a comeback, but Booker hits a drop toe hold into the bottom turnbuckle. Booker gets Lashley into the Figure Four for a lengthy amount of time until Lashley finally reverses it. Booker gets out, but Lashley explodes for a belly-to-belly suplex and gets a 2 count. Lashley goes for the Dominator, but Regal gets on the apron and Finlay comes in to interfere. Lashley fights him off, so Sharmell gives Booker a chair. Lashley stops that as well and then hits Regal and Booker with the chair, causing the disqualification. I'm surprised they gave them that much time for that finish, but they probably also wanted to see what Lashley could do. He played his role well and Booker led him to a good match. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We go back to Miz, who hypes up the main event tonight. He then gets interrupted by Mr. Kennedy's entrance.

Mr. Kennedy vs. Funaki

Kennedy reminds us that nice guys finish last and then goes on to attack Funaki. Kennedy, of course, has a big few months ahead of him, as they try to re-build him here. He hits the Kenton Bomb for the victory. This was probably the first time they gave him a total squash. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

King Booker and Queen Sharmell are not happy backstage and tell Teddy Long will never step foot in the ring with Lashley again. Teddy says that he can't make that proclamation and he will face Lashley one more time next week. Teddy also informs him that there will be no interference because it will be inside of a cage. 

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Mark Henry vs. Rey Mysterio

Henry starts off strong, but since there's a commercial break coming up, Rey hits a dive. When we come back, Mysterio is back to getting dominated. During the commercial, they show that Rey missed a jump off the apron to the floor. Rey runs into a big boot and then hits a big right hand to Rey on the top rope, sending him to the floor. I really am not a fan of Henry's ring gear. The gold knee pads are awful. Mysterio makes his comeback and hits a springboard bulldog for a 2 count. Henry swats Rey away from another springboard move and then rips off the top turnbuckle. He throws Rey into that corner, but he also hits the referee who was trying to repair the turnbuckle. Out comes Chavo Guerrero and he hits Henry with a chair to the back. Henry no sells it and hits Chavo with a right hand. Rey dropkicks him from behind and hits a 619 with the chair to his face. He goes for the springboard seated senton, but Henry catches him. Chavo comes in and takes out his knee. Chavo takes the chair and bangs it on the ring post and tosses it to Henry. He tells Rey to stay down and shows the referee. He calls for the DQ and Henry isn't happy. Both men worked hard here and delivered a pretty good main event. 

Match Rating: **1/2

SmackDown continues to be the red headed stepchild with all of the Raw/ECW crossover going on and not to mention the DX reunion. However, they typically deliver a pretty good television product and tonight was no different. This wasn't must see TV or anything, but it was an enjoyable show. 

Overall Rating: 60%

ECW 6-20-06 Review

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
Pepsi Arena
Albany, New York

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Ariel debuts as the tarot card fortune teller in the intro for the show tonight. 

Sabu vs. Tony Mamaluke

Mamaluke gets in a little bit of offense, but Sabu quickly turns the tide. Sabu hits a triple jump plancha to Mamaluke on the outside. Back in the ring, Mamaluke mocks Sabu and throws a chair in his face. He goes up top, but Sabu throws a chair at him when he's in the air. Sabu hits a dive to the outside on a table and puts in the Camel Clutch for the victory ahead of his match with John Cena this weekend. They crammed a lot of moves in a short match here and it wasn't bad for what it was. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Kelly Kelly says that last week she was so excited she couldn't get her bra off. So this week she's going to show us everything. 

Rob Van Dam talks about his match tonight against Edge and Randy Orton. 

Big Show comes out and then Tommy Dreamer follows...for an interview? Dreamer says if he wants to go through ECW, then he needs to go through him and slaps Show in the face. Show naturally beats the snot out of Dreamer. This felt pretty flat. 

Macho Libre vs. Sandman

Libre does a poor Randy Savage impression and it of course leads to Sandman coming out and destroying him in seconds. I've just grown to not care for Sandman much at all any more. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

A couple of refs tell Paul Heyman that John Cena is here. 

After commercial break, Heyman is meeting with the ECW locker room and in walks Cena with a black eye. Cena makes an offer for Heyman to bring everyone he has because Cena says their match Sunday is an Extreme Lumberjack match. Meanwhile, Sabu makes a face like an angry dog in a cartoon. 

It's time for Kelly's strip segment. This feels like a million minutes long until Mike Knox comes and covers her up. If he wanted her to not do it, why wouldn't he have come out earlier? Also, I completely forgot what Knox looked like when he first debuted. He looked a lot more clean cut. 

We get a promo for Test and he's coming for ECW. 

Edge & Randy Orton vs. Kurt Angle & Rob Van Dam

Edge comes out first and grabs the mic to tell everyone that ECW sucks. RVD crotches Orton on the top rope and hits a side kick from the top rope, sending Orton to the floor. RVD hits a standing moonsault from the apron to the floor. The heels gain control during the commercial break and then Edge throws RVD off the ring. RVD is able to finally get Angle into the match and he hits the trio of German suplexes. He puts the Ankle Lock, but Edge pulls Orton out of the ring. He goes for the Angle Slam on Edge, but Orton hits a chop block. If there are no rules, then why do they have to tag in? RVD grabs a chair, but Orton stops him from going in. So RVD throws the chair at Orton. Angle puts Edge in the Ankle Lock. Lita tries to go after him, but Angle ducks and hits her with an Angle Slam. Orton hits the RKO and then RVD hits him with a kick off the top rope. He goes for Rolling Thunder, but Edge hits a dropkick on him midair. RVD avoids a Spear and hits the Five Star Frog Splash for the victory. I'm surprised they had Edge take the pin there, but I suppose it doesn't really matter all that much. This match was entertaining for a TV main event, but I expected it to be slightly better considering who was involved. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Well, this was a better episode than last week. The Kelly and Sandman stuff isn't good at all, but the rest all served it's purpose. I am a big fan of the hour format though and it was a big reason that I typically watched every week. 

Overall Rating: 54%

Monday Night Raw 6-19-06 Review

Monday, June 19th, 2006
Blue Cross Arena
Rochester, New York

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Vince talks about his failures with Triple H the last few weeks and the DX reunion. He says that it will be the destruction of DX instead. A guy brings him a live chicken because Vince loves cocks. Get it? Then a guy dressed up in an alien Halloween costume follows him. Vince gives him a look and he walks away. Then some male strippers come and dance for him, including the debut of Big Dick Johnson. Get it? We get a Skinner sighting and then Dusty Rhodes asking Vince what's going on. Dusty promotes his DVD instead. Vince then has something delivered to him and it's a penis pump. Vince then walks out and says he's going to destroy DX. Shane McMahon comes out and tells him that Stephanie is going into labor. After JR and Lawler talk a bit, we go back to Vince and Shane getting into a limo. Vince tells Coach that he is in charge and then says that Stephanie has always had the worst timing of anyone he knows. 

They show Torrie Wilson behind the scenes of her WWE Magazine photo shoot. 

Bra & Panties Tag Team Match
Torrie Wilson & Maria vs. Candice Michelle & Mickie James

Man, this episode couldn't be any more 2006 if it tried. Torrie and Candice start the match off and a sunset flip and reversal leads to Candice getting her shirt ripped off. Mickie is in and pulls off Torrie's pants. Maria is tagged in and Mickie hits a flapjack and rips off Maria's shorts. She rips off her shirt and then Torrie's. At least it was quick. After the match, Mickie hits a clothesline on Candice and rips off her shorts. In a WrestleMania 12 call back, Mickie tells Candice to get out of her ring. Mickie then grabs JR's hat and then takes a shirt off a female "fan" in the crowd. Well, I can't say that wasn't a random idea. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Viscera vs. Charlie Haas

Haas is already in the ring in case you were curious as to how much respect they show him. Before the match, Viscera says he's giving Haas one more opportunity to apologize to Lilian Garcia. Haas says that she already did accept his apology and he tells him that the two of them went out to dinner. After dinner she accepted his apology over some pillow talk. Garcia is upset at that and Viscera attacks him. Viscera hits a sidewalk slam, but Haas quickly fights back. Haas gets nailed with a clothesline. After an Irish whip, Vis smashes Haas in the corner. All of the Spirit Squad run into the ring and attack both men. The match was nothing worth seeing. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

The Spirit Squad calls out DX and they show them standing on the Titan Tron. Triple H takes a dump on them by calling them "just cheerleaders" and says they aren't coming down there just because they call them out to. They said they'll do it when they want to do it and that will be later. They then get green slime dumped all over them and they spray paint the "camera" with DX. 

Coach is talking backstage with the Spirit Squad and they talk about taking care of DX. Coach then walks into Vince's office and Paul Heyman is there. Paul wants to negotiate and he wants Edge and Randy Orton to take on Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam. He then also proposes Balls Mahoney vs. John Cena tonight. Coach agrees to both requests. We go to ringside where they are cleaning up the slime and JR and Lawler are as well. 

JR and Lawler do an interview with Kane, standing backstage. Kane says he knows exactly who this person is and he's even more demented than he is. Kane struggles to find the words as to what this guy did. The acting here was pretty horrible. 

Umaga vs. John McChesney

Umaga hits all of the high notes that he's been hitting for the last couple of months. They really took their time with building him, which was rare for this time. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

John Cena vs. Balls Mahoney

Cena is all business tonight and takes it to Balls early. Heyman is at ringside with a chair in support of Balls. Balls hits the Balls punch and a kick to the head. Super Cena battles back and hits a shoulder block. Heyman hands the chair to Balls as Cena is going off the ropes, Cena sees it and hits a drop toe hold and slaps on the STFU for the quick victory. Somehow this was the longest match on the show. Cena turns his attention to Heyman, but in comes Sabu and he throws a chair in the face of Cena. JR is losing it and Sabu hits Cena with the TV monitor. He sets up Cena on the table and hits a springboard leg drop through the table. He got all of that one and Cena is bleeding. The match was nothing.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Randy Orton vs. Snitsky

This is about as random as it gets. Snitsky actually gets to hit a couple of clotheslines, a side suplex and a running shoulder block. Orton catches him with an elbow, but Snitsky goes for a pump handle slam. Orton counters and hits the RKO for the victory. The matches are clearly not the focus tonight. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

After the match, Lawler goes to interview Orton about his match tomorrow night and says that he's tougher than Cena. 

Carlito is now in the ring and said that he was backstage laughing at the DX stuff, so Coach punished him by giving him a handicap match tonight. 

Handicap Match
Carlito vs. Johnny Nitro & Shelton Benjamin

Carlito gets dominated until you guessed it, Benjamin and Nitro start arguing. They start fighting and Nitro clotheslines Shelton over the top rope. Carlito rolls him up, but Nitro rolls through it and gets the semi-surprising win there. Nitro has been booked like such a dud since coming to Raw, so I guess this was the best they could do on short notice. After the match, Carlito and Shelton brawl, leading to Carlito hitting the Back Stabber. This was hardly a match.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Coach is now in Vince's office and it's been vandalized. DX is there to show it off. DX then offers to watch the rest of the show with Coach. 

Maria is now with Eugene backstage. Eugene says that Hacksaw is at home resting. In walks Rob Conway. No, seriously. He says something They pretend to leave and then throw Coach through the wall. They pull down his pants and he's wearing a G string and spray paint his butt. Oh boy. 

The Highlanders visit a motel and then watch adult films. 

Edge vs. Ric Flair

Mick Foley is your guest announcer and says that he's going to stink up the joint at Vengeance. Edge goes off the second turnbuckle, but gets hit with a chop on the way down. Edge goes for a shoulder in the corner and hits the ring post instead. Edge grabs a chair and it distracts the ref, allowing Flair to hit a low blow and get a 2 count. Flair hip tosses Lita into the ring and then goes back to Edge. Lita distracts the ref and Foley puts on the Mandible Claw. Edge hits the Spear and that's all. This is Vince Russo era Raw here. Out of nowhere, RVD is here and hits a kick off the top rope. That was at least fun. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

The Spirit Squad rallies up a bunch of heels and tells them they all need to go after DX. 

DX makes their official return and do their entrance. They start cutting a promo on the Spirit Squad and are interrupted by their music. A group of little people come out dressed in their gear. They beat them up, but Triple H thinks they came up a little bit short there. Triple H then brings out his Spirit Squad and it's obnoxious females. They do a cheer and take off their tops to expose DX bras. This brings out the real Spirit Squad and their back up. Unfortunately for them, their back up leaves and they beat up the two of them in the ring. The little people come back in the ring and moon them with Suck It on their butts. What a time to be alive. 

This was a really bizarre show and one that really reminded me of what 2006 was like. The transition between the Attitude Era and PG Era was really just a hodgepodge of recycled ideas. There really was no wrestling to speak of and it didn't do that great of a job building towards Vengeance. It really just felt like it was all for that last segment, which was kind of just there. On the bright side, it mostly flew by and wasn't all terrible.

Overall Rating: 49%

Off The Grid, Volume 18: Royal Rumble 1991 Review

Saturday, January 19th, 1991
Miami Arena
Miami, Florida

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Off The Grid, Volume 18:

The show starts off with the American flag and them playing the national anthem. I would like to see what the girl eating a pretzel is up to now. 

Vince then gives us one of his classic pay-per-view intros and reads off all of the entrants in the Royal Rumble. We go to Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper to kick off the actual show.

Orient Express vs. Rockers

At this point in time, the Rockers were the best team in the WWF. We start things off right away and the Rockers get the best of the Express. The Rockers hit stereo dives through the ropes and the crowd is loving it. The Rockers are able to dominate the early portion of the match until Tanaka is able to hit a flying forearm. Michaels fights back with a double noggin knocker and puts Tanaka in the sleeper. Kato is able to hit Michaels off the second rope behind the referee's back. Things break down a little bit and Michaels is able to hit a moonsault, a rarity for the time. The Rockers clear the ring and then go flying off the top rope to the floor. They go to work on Michaels and he does the flip in the corner from the Irish whip. Shawn makes the hot tag and Marty has the fans in the palm of his hand. Michaels joins in on the cheating and trips up Kato for a 2 count. They hit a double superkick and then go for a Rocket Launcher, but Tanaka knocks Shawn off the top and to the floor. They hit a slingshot into a Tanaka chop. They go for it again, but this time Michaels comes in and Marty goes into a sunset flip and the Rockers pick up the victory. This match rules and the live crowd agreed with me. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Randy Savage is backstage with Sean Mooney and he says that he is the #1 contender no matter who wins the WWF Championship. Mooney asks if he has that commitment from Ultimate Warrior and he says he will after Sherri baits him tonight. They go to Sherri with Mean Gene and she invites Ultimate Warrior out. Sherri tries to seduce Warrior and gets down on her knees. This all leads to Warrior screaming "Nooooooo" in her face. Savage is backstage and is furious. He runs out through the arena to the stage and goes nuts like only he can.

Barbarian vs. Big Boss Man

Barbarian goes up top early on, but Boss Man catches him with a fist to the midsection and then clotheslines him over the top rope. Barbarian is able to turn the tide and slams Boss Man into the ring post. Heenan even gets in a cheap shot behind the ref's back. Boss Man is able to break out of the bear hug and hits an enzuigiri. Boss Man hits a stun gun, but only gets a 2 count. Both men collide and are down. Barbarian is up first and hits a nice top rope clothesline, but Boss Man gets his foot on the bottom rope. Barbarian goes for a clothesline, but Boss Man catches him and hits the Boss Man Slam. During the pinfall, Barbarian sort of, kind of gets his fingertip on the rope. Barbarian goes up top again and hits a crossbody, but Boss Man rolls through and picks up the victory. This was a really impressive big man match, especially for 1991. We weren't used to watching guys like that work that hard in the ring. Even if the finish was a little sloppy, it all worked for me. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Sgt. Slaughter and General Adnan talk a lot about the "Ultimate Puke". Warrior says that the only people who would follow Slaughter are the demented. 

WWF Championship Match
Sgt. Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior

Warrior runs in, clears the ring and rips Slaughter's flag. Warrior then uses the flag as a weapon, which for whatever reason is not a disqualification. Warrior shoves the flag in Slaughter's mouth and slams his face into the ring post. Warrior throws Slaughter all over the ring and then over the top rope. Out comes Sherri to ringside. She grabs the leg of Warrior and Warrior chases her down the aisle. Savage is there to blindside Warrior and then hits him with one of the lights. Meanwhile, Slaughter keeps breaking the ref's count. Warrior begins to crawl to the ring and Slaughter tosses him back in. Slaughter hits a backbreaker and mimics spitting on him. Warrior ducks a clothesline attempt and they hit a double clothesline. Slaughter slaps on a bear hug and a weak looking one at that. He then moves to the Camel Clutch, but Warrior's legs are under the ropes. Warrior starts shaking the ropes and makes his comeback. He hits the leaping spear and out comes Sherri again. She distracts Warrior again, but this time he throws her in the ring. He puts her up for the press slam and he throws her to the floor onto Savage. Slaughter hits him in the back with a knee and then Savage drills Warrior with the scepter in the head. Slaughter pulls him off the ropes and is your new WWF Champion. As a kid, when I heard that this happened, my jaw hit the floor. They take a long time to make the official announcement. Warrior runs to the back and Fink finally declares Slaughter your new champion. This match actually was a lot better than it had any right to be. I'm not sure why they went so heavy on the interference, as it made Slaughter look pretty weak, but they gave a good effort overall. Plus Savage and Sherri were marvelous in their roles, but that's no surprise. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We get a great WrestleMania VII ad and we promise it's at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Koko B. Ware vs. Mountie

This was the pay-per-view debut for Mountie and it's when he was playing the character a little bit more seriously. Koko gets in some offense to start, but Mountie slows him down with a back body drop to the floor. Jimmy Hart yelling at Frankie is good fun. I like both of these guys, particularly Rougeau, but I'm not sure why this isn't more of a sprint than a house show style match. Mountie goes for a piledriver, but Koko counters with the back body drop. Mountie gest up and kicks Koko in the kidney. Koko hits a swinging neckbreaker. Koko goes up top and his a missile dropkick and a crossbody for a 2 count. Mountie out of nowhere hits a chokeslam and gets the victory. Goofy Mountie is more fun and they made this way more competitive than it should have been. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Sean Mooney is back on Savage duty and we get lots of yelling. They scurry as soon as they hear someone knocking on the door. 

Sgt. Slaughter is with Mean Gene and that's an order. Gorilla and Piper then crap all over him. 

They then show some fans sending wishes to all of the troops. 

Now it's time for some Royal Rumble interviews featuring Jake Roberts, Earthquake, Greg Valentine, Texas Tornado, Legion Of Doom, Undertaker (still with Brother Love), Jim Duggan, Rick Martel, British Bulldog, Mr. Perfect and Tugboat. 

Ted DiBiase and Virgil are back with Mooney and they play up their storyline with Virgil giving him some looks. 

Dusty & Dustin Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase & Virgil

This one always felt weird to me since Dusty was gone right after this. Once things settle down, Dustin hits a clothesline and a dropkick on Virgil, which leads to DiBiase giving him a little talk outside the ring. Dustin this time clotheslines Virgil out of the ring and again DiBiase is there to tell him what to do. DiBiase tags in and goes to work on 21 year old Dustin. Dustin is able to slam DiBiase's face to the mat and this leads to back and forth elbows from the father/son combo. In comes Dusty and he hits a series of elbows and puts in the sleeper hold. Virgil wisely breaks it up and Dustin gets tagged in again. He hits a dropkick and Virgil breaks up the pin attempt. Dustin injures his knee and Virgil capitalizes. DiBiase is able to slam his knee into the ring post behind the referee's back. Virgil accidentally hits DiBiase and DiBiase starts unloading on him. He dumps him out of the ring and Dusty gets the hot tag. He misses DiBiase in the corner with an elbow and gets rolled up for the victory. They took that a different direction than you would have expected and it worked for the Virgil storyline. The match was actually better than I remember. After the match DiBiase gets on the mic and orders Virgil to get the Million Dollar Championship and put it around his waist. Virgil instead brings it in and drops it at his feet. Virgil gets down to his knees and picks it up, but he hits him in the face with it and gets a huge pop. This was fantastic storytelling and one of the unsung stories of this era. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Hulk Hogan now gets his chance to talk about the troops and the Royal Rumble. If you had any doubt that he was going to win, here was one last obvious decision here. Mean Gene says that Sgt. Slaughter claims he's getting a live update that Slaughter is defacing the American flag. Hogan then loses his thought in one of the more famous bloopers. 

Royal Rumble

Talk about having lousy luck, Bret Hart is #1. Dino Bravo is #2, which is a little underwhelming. Bret almost eliminates Bravo immediately, but Bravo is able to push up on the apron. At #3, it is Greg Valentine and he goes right after Bravo. Jimmy Hart starts yelling at Valentine and this allows Bravo to attack him from behind. Valentine is able to dump Bravo out pretty unceremoniously. Valentine then pushes Jimmy off the apron. Bret hits an inverted atomic drop on Valentine and tries to eliminate Valentine. Paul Roma is #4 and he sort of teams up with Valentine to get rid of Bret. Texas Tornado is in at #5 and evens the score. #6 is Rick Martel and he goes right after Bret. Roma goes after Martel, but then when Bret was trying to eliminate Martel, Roma comes and save him. Then Roma tries to eliminate Martel. Make sense? At #7 it is Saba Simba, who gets an "ugh" reaction from the crowd. I didn't realize Atlas was only 36 here. He is the first competitor so far to not get a match at WrestleMania VII. Tornado puts the claw on Roma in the corner as Butch comes in at #8. Butch marches around the ring for a bit and then Simba picks up Martel, Martel hangs on and out goes Simba. There's just so much action that Gorilla forgot that Simba just got eliminated. #9 is Jake Roberts and I'll give you one guess who he goes after. Jake destroys Martel and signals for the DDT. Martel tries to escape and in the chase, Valentine grabs Roberts and goes to work. We're 1/3rd of the way through the event now that Hercules is in there. He goes in and saves Roma from Butch. We've got 8 competitors still in there, so it's basically your standard battle royal at this point. Tito Santana comes in at 11 and Roma is eliminated when he misses a crossbody on Jake. Tito goes right to Martel, which is fun. We get Undertaker in at 12 and we finally have a top contender. The biggest problem with this Rumble is that there are just too many upper mid-card guys and not enough top guys. Taker comes in and quickly throws Bret out. Why is Butch still in there? Lucky #13 is Jimmy Snuka. I have mentioned it in previous Rumble reviews, but having the music for the guys really helps make the match a lot more special. British Bulldog comes running down at #14, but we still have too many guys in there. Gorilla calls Brother Love a fat piece of garbage. I would say that up to this point, Martel has been the MVP of this match. I'm still not 100% sure why they didn't give him an Intercontinental run. At the halfway point, it's Smash. We are less than a year away from Repo Man. Jake gets eliminated kind of out of nowhere. In comes Hawk at #16 and this starts a big brawl. There are about 10 guys still in the ring, which is just too many for this. This is one of the more predictable Rumble matches and they should have dressed it up a little bit better. Out comes Shane Douglas for his first cup of coffee in WWF. Both Snuka and Tornado get thrown out and they barely even show it. The production of this match improves so much over the years. #18 comes and no one shows. This of course is Randy Savage and it leads to some boos. At 19, Animal joins Hawk in the match. They team up and eliminate the top contender in there in the Undertaker. That gets a nice pop from the crowd, who has very much died down during this match. At the 2/3rd mark, Crush makes his Royal Rumble debut. He and Smash go right after Bulldog. Out comes Jim Duggan and he really wakes up the crowd. Say what you will about Duggan, but the crowd always loved him. We get another one of the top guys, as Earthquake is in now. Sadly, this is really his last big moment as a singles star in WWF. He dumps out Animal as he charges at him. #23 is the Intercontinental Champion, Mr. Perfect. Duggan goes after him and we get the famous Hennig bump in the turnbuckle. Duggan charges at him and out goes Duggan. They should have had Duggan in a lot earlier. #24 is here and it's the guy everyone knows is going to win, Hulk Hogan. Hogan quickly dumps out Smash and then goes after Earthquake. It's time for Haku at 25. As a result of the undercard being so strong, we missed out on no Ultimate Warrior, Sgt. Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Big Boss Man and Barbarian in the Rumble, which any combination of those guys would have made this match a lot better. #26 is Jim Neidhart. Quake just dumps Tito out with authority. 27 is Luke, Royal Rumble legend. He becomes a legend right here, where Quake dumps him right out and he keeps marching on to the back. Homage just released a shirt of this. Somehow there are still 17 minutes left in this show. The biggest storyline here is that Martel is still in the match, which was not common at this time. A much slimmer Brian Knobbs is in the match. I never understood why Sags wasn't in the match and instead fought Sam Houston in a dark match before the show. Warlord is in at 29 and goes after future WrestleMania opponent, British Bulldog. Hogan eliminates Crush, who takes a pretty painful looking fall. Hogan gets Warlord out with a clothesline, which is kind of surprising. The last competitor is Tugboat and he runs right into Earthquake. They talk about Savage as being the missing entrant and speculate that Warrior ran him out of the building. When you add Savage to the list that I gave earlier, there was a much better Rumble match in here somewhere. Tugboat and Hogan start fighting and Tugboat almost eliminates Hogan. He of course doesn't want to be sure that he did, so he walks away and then Hogan eliminates him. Perfect gets eliminated and Heenan chucks his towel into the crowd. It goes right to this group of people, but this random guy runs over and then walks away disappointingly. Martel goes up top, but Bulldog crotches him and eliminates him. Martel broke the record for the longest time ever. I forgot why Knobbs is in there, because he's Hogan's BFF. Quake and Knobbs get rid of Bulldog and we are down to 3. They beat Hogan down and Earthquake hits the big splash. Hogan of course no sells it and hits a double clothesline. A big boot sends out Knobbs and then hits one on Earthquake. He's still on his feet. Quake battles back and hits a big elbow drop. He hits his trademark powerslam and then tries to pin him. Hogan kicks out of the non-pin and Hulks up again. Hogan clotheslines him from behind and Hogan becomes the first two time winner. This was a pretty bland match overall. I mean the Rumble is always pretty fun, but there isn't much to take away from this one. 

Match Rating: **1/4

This show for me is all about the undercard. The tag team match was fantastic and really the rest of it was very good for this era of WWF with the exception of the Mountie match. The Rumble itself wasn't anything special, especially for this non-Hogan fan. It's hard to give it a major recommendation, but it is an enjoyable show overall. 

Overall Rating: 77%

NXT 6-19-14 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, June 19th 2014
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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They recap the Adrian Neville/Tyson Kidd match. They then show Natalya talking to JBL at Raw and she suggests that maybe Tyson and Sami Zayn team up. 

Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss

Summer Rae still comes out with Charlotte and Sasha, but they treat her like they don't like her. Alexa was still figuring things out during this time, but she has always had a great presence. They have a little bit of a sloppy start that leads to Sasha hitting a backbreaker. Sasha then puts in a surfboard, which I have to say I didn't expect to see in this match. Meanwhile, Summer and Charlotte begin to argue on the outside. I think we all know where this is going. Sasha goes to check on what's happening, Bliss rolls her up and that's all. This was designed to get Bliss a win and to continue the BFF story. Obviously. They start arguing and shoving outside the ring.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Tyson Kidd is talking to Natalya and he says the she cost him the NXT Championship. Kidd then says he didn't need Natalya to get him a Tag Team Championship match, he could have done it on his own. 

The Vaudevillains are backstage in black and white talking about how they are going to take NXT by storm. I would have thought there was more build up for this. 

Mojo Rawley vs. Garrett Dylan

Dylan is the son of Kris Kristofferson, which is random. Mojo seems pretty over here for whatever reason. It's the same match we always see from him. Dylan dominates for a couple of minutes, Mojo hits his three moves and wins. There's just nothing to really get behind with Mojo. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Sami Zayn and Tyson are backstage getting ready for their match. Sami says that tonight is their shot at redemption. 

CJ Parker is walking through the crowd again with a sign. 

Vaudevillains vs. Angelo Dawkins & Travis Tyler

The entrance wasn't quite as good as I remembered, so maybe it's due to it being the premiere. They dominate the entire match. It all leads to a combo of the Green Bay Plunge and a second rope senton. This was a solid introduction for the new team. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Big Cass sings for us backstage.

Rob Van Dam says that he is here to wrestle Adrian Neville because he hears that he's the best in NXT. 

Kalisto vs. Tyler Breeze

I'm looking forward to this one. Breeze quickly slows things down and grounds Kalisto with rest holds. Kalisto gets a little sprint of action in. He goes for a dive, but Breeze moves, so Kalisto stops himself on the ropes into the commercial break. Breeze quickly turns things around and again slows the match down. He gets a little bit more aggressive and becomes a little bit more frustrated. Kalisto gets another opportunity and hits a springboard crossbody. We get a bunch of counters and then out of nowhere Breeze hits the Beauty Shot for the victory. That was very disappointing since they got the time to tell a story and just didn't do much with it. 

Match Rating: *1/2

NXT Tag Team Championship Match
Tyson Kidd & Sami Zayn vs. The Ascension

The Ascension quickly dominate Zayn with lots of punches and kicks. Kidd starts getting frustrated and walks out of his corner. Zayn is able to make a tag, but Kidd isn't there. Connor smashes him in the corner and they hit the Fall Of Man for the easy victory. This was really short and cut right to the chase with Kidd leaving and Zayn getting destroyed. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

I would classify this episode as a disappointment. It wasn't bad or anything, but when you look at the card, it looks like it would be a top tier episode. Instead, it's just an average one.

Overall Rating: 50%

Monday Night Raw 6-27-94 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, June 27th, 1994
Westchester County Civic Center
White Plains, New York

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They start off recapping the Duke Droese/Jerry Lawler angle. They show pre-taped interviews of both and Lawler keeps trying to apologize for his actions, but can't do it. He finally does and the Raw intro music hits.

Mabel vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The irresistible force meeting the immovable object here. So good to have Gorilla here. Bam Bam gets off to a quick start and gets the big man down. Mabel comes back with a boot and a leg drop. Luna gets off the apron and distracts Mabel. However, she gets knocked off the apron when they go off the ropes and is down. Oscar checks on her and Bam Bam shoves him away. Mabel comes off the apron and knocks Bam Bam down. They start brawling and Mabel rolls in, allowing him to win by countout. Bam Bam decided to go check on Luna again instead of going for the win. After the match, Bam Bam is upset and out walks Ted DiBiase. They cut away to him introducing the fake Undertaker. This was a nothing match.

Match Rating: 3/4*

IRS vs. Rich Myers

IRS loves to put the crowd to sleep with his rest holds in a squash match. He finally puts on the Penalty and gets the victory. This was at least a little quicker than his normal match. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Jerry Lawler introduces the leader of the Hart Foundation, Jim Neidhart. He uses the old school (and better) version of Bret's music. Neidhart says that he carried Bret and he never showed any gratitude. He said the reason he stopped Diesel from winning is that so Owen could win the title from Bret. Out comes Owen in all of is king attire. This is actually one of Owen's better promos up to this point. He is no longer the Rocket, he is now to only be known as the King Of Harts. Owen says he only needs one shot at Bret and he will be WWF Champion.

Headshrinkers vs. Executioners

It's Randy Savage's favorite team of all time. Gorilla and Savage brag about SummerSlam tickets selling much faster than Woodstock. Samu hits a DDT off the second rope, but he pulls up the shoulders on the pin attempt. Fatu hits the top rope splash and that's all. This was a little longer than it needed to be. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show DiBiase with Nikolai Volkoff, Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon backstage. He kicks the cameraman out of there. 

Jeff Jarrett will face Tatanka next week on Raw. 

Kwang vs. Mike Moraldo

Nothing like having to watch two Kwang squashes in 3 days if you were a fan back in 1994. Kwang hits a standard looking clothesline that Moraldo makes look like it was devastating. Kwang hits his best move, which is the spin kick in the corner. Kwang tells IRS to hold his beer, as he slaps on a rest hold here. Moraldo goes for a monkey flip, but Kwang counters and then hits another spinning kick for the finish. He gets absolutely no reaction at all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They do a New Generation commercial that shows guys like Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan and Iron Sheik as the old and then shows Jeff Jarrett, Diesel, Razor Ramon and Roddy Piper. Yes, Roddy Piper. 

Lex Luger vs. Mike Bell

As Luger is dominating, they show DiBiase peaking through the entrance to watch the match. Luger hits a big running clothesline and a backbreaker. He puts Bell in the Torture Rack and that's all. This was pretty standard fare. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Ted DiBiase announces that he's signed Bam Bam Bigelow and says that Luger is next before we go off the air.

As someone who actually likes this era more than most, when I think of what is awful about it, it's the Million Dollar Corporation. It is without question one of the worst factions in company history. With DiBiase dominating TV after the King Of The Ring, it has sucked a lot of the life out of the shows. That's not a criticism on DiBiase, just the storyline he's being associated with. On the plus side, Owen had a nice heel interview here and that was about it. 

Overall Rating: 39%

Superstars 6-25-94 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, June 25th, 1994
Erie Civic Center
Erie, Pennsylvania

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This is a bizzaro episode here. We have Gorilla Monsoon on announcing, it was taped a month before it aired and we have Pierre and Polo here against Typhoon.

Pierre vs. Typhoon

We get lots of house show level stalling to start. Polo, who for some reason is dressed in a shirt and tie, distracts Typhoon and Pierre hits a knee to the back. Pierre hits a missile dropkick for a 2 count. Typhoon hits a body slam and a splash for the victory because of course he does. Pierre really was solid, but he was lost without Jacques here.

Match Rating: *

We go to Todd for the King Of The Ring Report. We get lots and lots of still photos. 

Well Dunn vs. Gary Sabough & John Paul

Here's a reminder that both Well Dunn and Harvey Wippleman both still exist. Well does most of the work here and actually looks pretty good. Sabough makes a quick comeback and Gorilla loves it. Well hits a nice spin kick in the corner and Dunn hits a running forearm for the victory. Gorilla proclaims that there is a bright future ahead for these two. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show a live event promo and nothing eventful happens.

Sparky Plugg vs. George South

"This is going to be a tremendous matchup" proclaims Gorilla. You've got to love it. South gets more offense here than you would think and no one cares. Half the crowd looks to be out of their seats at this point of the taping. Plugg is subjected to winning by a crucifix into a roll up. Why?

Match Rating: 1/4*

PJ Walker vs. Fake Undertaker

Faker does everything in his power here to keep his hair over his face, while Gorilla discusses why he went to the devious darkside. The crowd seems to have figured it out by the time he hits his first move. He hits the Tombstone and that's all. The angle is stupid, but in this instance they did a pretty good job of hiding it wasn't him. After the match, DiBiase holds out some money and Faker follows him. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

1-2-3 Kid vs. Jeff Hardy

Well, we have a future pay-per-view match here. Hardy was 16 years old here. This is the rare time that Kid is the bigger guy and actually wrestles like it. Hardy goes up top and misses a sort of moonsault. Kid puts on a submission hold that Gorilla calls the pretzel hold and that's all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Kwang vs. Chris Hamrick

Hamrick slides under Kwang and hits him with a superkick. He tries again and misses, so Kwang hits him with the chop. So if you're Kwang, a guy played by someone always described by other wrestlers as a great wrestler, why do you not change things up at this point? It's obvious the gimmick is not getting over, but yet he has the same match week after week. Hamrick avoids Kwang in the corner, runs to the opposite corner, goes off the second rope and Kwang hits him with a superkick for the finish. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Todd. Again. Photos. Again. 

Lex Luger vs. Barry Horowitz

They find the one adult in the crowd with a Luger shirt to be the guest announcer for this one. We're just about a year away from Barry's big run. Luger takes Barry to clothesline city and puts him in the Torture Rack for the easy victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week, Paul Bearer will be on the Heartbreak Hotel. Plus, IRS vs. Doink and Jim Neidhart is in action.

If you love watching TV to see thing that don't move, then this was the episode for you. Kidding aside, this was a pretty pointless episode of Superstars, which is saying something. Really the only thing of note was the first match of the fake Undertaker, which is something we would all rather forget. 

Overall Rating: 38%

SmackDown 6-16-06 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, June 16th, 2006
Sovereign Bank Arena
Trenton, New Jersey

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The Miz is here to announce Lashley vs. King Booker and Gregory Helms vs. Rey Mysterio. JBL then comes down to join Michael Cole as the new color commentator for SmackDown. 

Rey Mysterio vs. Gregory Helms

Mysterio is selling a shoulder injury and is wrapped up. After a little bit of back and forth, Helms targets the shoulder. Mysterio hits a headscissors and throws Helms out of the ring. He hits a nice baseball slide and tosses Helms back in the ring. JBL distracts Mysterio on his way back in the ring and Helms clubs him and attacks him in front of JBL. Helms hits a swinging neckbreaker for a 2 count. Mysterio is able to hit a bulldog and a springboard seated senton. Mysterio misses with a springboard crossbody and Helms rolls him up for a 2 count. Mysterio misses with a 619 and Helms hits a Sky High for another close call. Helms misses the Shining Wizard, Mysterio hits the 619 and the springboard leg drop for the victory. This was a really nice little match that made Helms look good in defeat. 

Match Rating: ***

King Booker vs. Bobby Lashley

On his way down to the ring, Lashley gets attacked by Finlay and Regal. Matt Hardy and Gunner Scott come out to help Lashley. 

After the commercial break, they show Lashley with a trainer. The trainer says that he may not be able to wrestle tonight, but Lashley insists.

Mr. Kennedy vs. Nick Berk

Kennedy dominates as you would expect and hits a neckbreaker that he calls the Green Bay Meat Packer. I don't remember this at all? This was what you would expect it to be. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

The Mexicools are backstage and they tease not having each others back tonight against Khali. 

21 days until the return of Batista. 

Sylvan gets a vignette and he gives us a commercial to visit Quebec in French. 

Handicap Match
Mexicools vs. Great Khali

Khali tosses both guys around a little bit and pulls Psicosis off the top rope. Super Crazy tries a dropkick to no avail. As he's demolishing Crazy, Psicosis grabs a chair, but he instead decides to abandon is partner and Khali gets the win. Two squashes in a row. After the match, Daivari grabs the mic and announces that Undertaker is afraid of Great Khali. Khali grabs the mic and lots of loud noises. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show a highlight package of the bikini contest last week and go to Miz and Ashley in the crowd. Ashley announces the next match for Miz. 

Gunner Scott & Matt Hardy vs. Finlay & William Regal

This match is about as random as it gets. I honestly forgot Gunner was still on the roster at this point. Gunner and Hardy dominate the early going until Regal runs in and gets a cheap shot on Hardy. Hardy still fights back and hits the bulldog/clothesline combo. The action spills outside and Hornswoggle gets in a low blow. Regal and Finlay cut the ring in half, using classic heel tactics into the commercial break. Hardy finally gets the hot tag to Gunner and they seem to have the fake crowd pumping here now. Gunner hits a missile dropkick, but Regal breaks up the pin attempt. The referee gets distracted and Finlay hits Gunner with the shillelagh and that's all she wrote. Out comes Hornswoggle and he goes nuts, even on Regal. I still really love this 15 years later. The match was pretty good. They got some time and Regal and Finlay are an effective heel team. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Teddy Long informs Booker and Sharmell that he will be wrestling Lashley tonight. They don't take the news well. 

Michael Cole introduces Chavo Guerrero. They talk about whether or not his retirement was the right choice and that brings out Mark Henry. This all of course leads to Henry destroying Chavo as they continue to try to make him relevant after basically being squashed by Taker at WrestleMania. 

Ashley is backstage and Michelle McCool wants to teach her a lesson. They argue over whose body is better, so Ashley challenges her to an impromptu bikini contest. Michelle declines and that's that. 

Vito vs. Scott Wright

Vito destroys poor Wright while we have to listen to Cole and JBL argue about his lifestyle. Vito hits a spinning DDT and then puts on his embarrassing submission hold and that's it. I can't believe this didn't get over. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

King Booker vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley comes out limping and Booker quickly takes advantage. Lashley spills to the floor right before the commercial break. After the commercial, Booker tosses Lashley out of the ring again, as he continues to sell the knee injury. Booker hits the Book End, but Lashley is able to kick out at 2. Pretty much out of nowhere, Lashley catches Booker and hits a running powerslam for the victory. That was a pretty lengthy match, but it felt like nothing happened in it. This was a disappointing way to end an otherwise good show. 

Match Rating: *1/2

With all of the ECW storylines going on, SmackDown kind of feels like an afterthought. However, they are doing a pretty good job on their weekly television now that they found their groove. This episode wasn't great, but the pacing was pretty good and the wrestling was solid. 

Overall Rating: 57%

ECW 6-13-06 Review

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006
Sovereign Bank Arena
Trenton, New Jersey

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Paul Heyman is here to introduce Rob Van Dam. He talks about One Night Stand and Heyman hands him the new ECW Championship. Edge is out to try to make things interesting here. Edge says that he respects RVD and that they have more in common than he probably thinks. They are both Money In The Bank winners and both had to work their way to the top. Edge shakes his hand and then of course hits him with a Spear. Edge retreats through the crowd, but Cena is there to attack him. The three men start to get into it. Cena then hits Heyman with a big right hand and the ECW locker room comes out to check on him. 

After the break, Heyman is handing out the Kool Aid to the locker room and says that they will be invading Raw this week. 

The Zombie vs. Sandman

As I look up who played Zombie here, it sounds like he sadly passed away 6 years ago. He grabs the mic and starts grunting. Out comes Sandman through the crowd, as Joey Styles reminds us of how terrible of a person he is. Sandman attacks him with the kendo stick and hits a side Russian leg sweep for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Kelly introduces herself and she's an exhibitionist, which means she's going to take off all her clothes tonight. 

They show us the entire match of Jerry Lawler vs. Tazz at One Night Stand.

Kurt Angle vs. Justin Credible

Angle quickly takes down Credible and hits him with a forearm. Angle hits a German suplex and then dumps him over the top rope. Angle hits a headbutt and puts Credible in a chokehold for the victory. This was just to establish Angle as a machine and to remind us that this is very much a WWE program.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Angle grabs the mic and accepts Orton's challenge at Vengeance and he'll make him tap out. 

Paul Heyman says he's throwing out the plans for the rest of the show and he's going to have an Extreme Battle Royal. The winner of the match will face John Cena at Vengeance. 

Kelly says she's next. 

They then show a vampire outside the arena, who of course is Kevin Thorn. 

They now introduce Kelly, this was the prequel to Kelly Kelly. She starts dancing and stripping down. She covers herself and that's it. I thought this was the Mike Knox introduction, but I guess not? 

Extreme Battle Royal

The competitors are Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, Al Snow, Danny Doring, Amish Roadkill, Stevie Richards, Balls Mahoney, Tony Mamaluke, Little Guido, Big Guido and Big Show. This of course is supposed to be 10 men, but if you can count, that's 11. Weapons are legal here. When we come back from the commercial break, the weapons are all being used in the ring. Sabu sets up a table outside the ring. A bunch of the guys work together to hit Show with weapons. Al Snow grabs Head, but Show blocks it and he drives Snow out of the ring. Doring is next and he's gone. Show then tosses Richards and Roadkill out. Show hits his new move, but Balls barely gets up for it and the Show throws him out. Dreamer starts smashing Show with a street sign to slow him down. Sabu goes for Air Sabu off Dreamer's back, but Show catches him and tosses. Sabu hangs on, but Show then throws Dreamer through the table outside the ring. Show chokeslams Little Guido on Mamaluke and he then throws out both of them. Big Guido now stands toe to toe with Show. They start brawling and Guido is quickly eliminated. Guido holds onto Show's arm and Sabu comes from behind and hits him with a chair to eliminate him. Sabu will take on Cena at Vengeance. That felt really rushed and that like no one mattered outside of Show and Sabu. In hindsight, they never ended up booking any of the others like they mattered, so it's not surprising now. The match was fine for a battle royal, but hardly anything to get you talking about the first episode. 

Match Rating: *

This was not a well received episode and it's kind of easy to see why. I am probably one of the bigger WWECW fans out there, but this one just missed the mark. It was rushed and just was all over the place. There have been many, many worse episodes of wrestling that WWE has produced than this, but this one had higher expectations.

Overall Rating: 40%

Monday Night Raw 6-12-06 Review

Monday, June 12th, 2006
Bryce Jordan Center
University Park, Pennsylvania

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In memory of John Tenta.

We then go to Paul Heyman backstage and he goes over the Rob Van Dam title change at One Night Stand. Since the match was contested under ECW Rules, the ruling stands. Tomorrow night on ECW's first episode, the WWE Championship will become the ECW Championship. Rob Van Dam will still take on the #1 contender Edge at Vengeance. He introduces Rob Van Dam, who then introduces himself.

Randy Orton vs. Kane

It still is bizarre how they tried to talk about how sadistic Kane was in See No Evil, even though it's a movie. Kane sits up from Orton's offense and hits a side suplex. He goes up to the top rope, but Orton gets there to slow him down. Kane headbutts him to the mat and hits the top rope clothesline. It's pretty clear that this match isn't going to last long. Kane goes for the chokeslam, but Orton grabs the ropes. Kane knocks him down to the floor and they start brawling up the ramp. Both men get counted out to a chorus of boos. Orton goes for the RKO, but Kane counters it and throws him to the steel. That's a pretty tough bump for a throwaway like this. The imposter Kane comes out and attacks Kane. They both grab each other by the throat and imposter Kane wins the battle. He knocks Kane off the ramp and onto a production area. Even without hindsight, this was pretty bad. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Charlie Haas is out here to discuss when he accidentally knocked Lilian Garcia off the ring apron last week. He asks for her to forgive him for his mistake and before she can answer, out comes Viscera. He says that Lilian may accept, but he doesn't and he starts to attack him. So far we have had the fake Kane attack the real Kane and Viscera attack Charlie Haas in the first 20 minutes of the show. So obviously best episode ever. 

After showing highlights of last week's junk with Vince and Triple H, Coach is trying to get everything just perfect with the production crew for the upcoming state of the WWE address.

They show what everyone was talking about from One Night Stand and that of course was Eugene getting destroyed by Sandman. We go to Eugene backstage and he's worried about Umaga. Hacksaw Jim Duggan is there though to give him a pep talk. 

Vince talks about ECW starting tomorrow night. He then moves onto Triple H and that he'll face the Spirit Squad in a gauntlet match. This was a whole lot about nothing. 

Wet And Wild Water Contest
Torrie Wilson vs. Candice Michelle

The winner of this match gets to be on the cover of WWE Magazine. There are a bunch of water guns and water balloons in the ring. Candice is able to slam Torrie into a bunch of water balloons. Candice hits a Vader Bomb splash off the second rope, but Candice kicks out. She then takes a bucket of water and throws it at the referee. Candice misses with an elbow and Torrie hits a dropkick. This seems like it is an injury waiting to happen. Torrie hits a clothesline in the corner and the stinkface. Torrie tries to spray Candice with the gun, but it doesn't work great. Torrie dumps more water on her and hits the X-Factor and gets the victory. They show two dudes in the crowd loving it. 2006 at it's finest. Torrie starts throwing water balloons at JR and Lawler. This was not WWE's finest moment. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

They show actual moving footage of RVD winning the Championship last night. 

The Spirit Squad is getting pumped up backstage. 

Gauntlet Match
Triple H vs. Spirit Squad

Vince comes out first and shows what he did to Shawn Michaels. He says it's going to take longer with Triple H and the first competitor is Mikey. He eats a clothesline after he leaps in the ring. Vince sends out Kenny before Triple H beats Mikey. It all just leads to Vince sending out four members and they destroy Triple H. This feud just keeps getting better and better. They grab a chair and put it on his knee, but Vince tells them to put it around his neck. Vince calls for Mitch to join the gang, but he's shown getting attacked and out walks Shawn Michaels. Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music and then runs into the ring and he and Triple H clean house. We get another Sweet Chin Music and Triple H hits a Pedigree. This all leads to the crotch chops to Vince and a good reaction from the crowd. Triple H then moons Vince. This wasn't really a match, especially since we didn't even get a finish. 

Match Rating: *

Vince and Spirit Squad are all fired up backstage and will face DX at Vengeance.

Jim Duggan vs. Umaga

This was set up last week when Umaga attacked Duggan. Duggan goes after Umaga on his way into the ring, but it doesn't work. Umaga puts him in the tree of woe, but Eugene knocks him out of it and hands him the 2x4. Umaga hits him with a kick first and he breaks the 2x4 over his head. Umaga hits the Samoan Spike and that's all. Eugene is very upset about this and checks in on his hero. This obviously leads to Umaga tying Eugene up in the ropes and Umaga hitting the butt to the face of Duggan in the corner. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Mick Foley says that the human Muppet is back. Before he can really say much of anything, Ric Flair is out to interrupt. Flair says he doesn't care about what happened last night at One Night Stand, he wants to talk about him and Foley. Flair says the only person around here that holds up with him is Joe Paterno. Boy, does that comment hold up well 15 years later. Flair then calls Foley a glorified stuntman. He hates that guys like him, Michaels, Triple H and Kurt Angle have wrestled their way to greatness and all anyone can talk about is Foley falling off a cage. Foley then goes off on how he was able to do all of that without wearing $10,000 suits and sleeping in cots to save money. Flair wants to go right now, but Foley says he has blurred vision from last night. Flair says he'll throw thumbtacks down in the ring, he just wants him right now. Foley says that instead he challenges Flair to a match at Vengeance in a 2 out of 3 falls match. This was all kind of confusing because really Foley is the sympathetic figure and yet is playing the heel. Regardless, this was very entertaining because both guys are great talkers and it's something we have never really seen, even if it is like 8 years too late. 

Johnny Nitro vs. Carlito

Shelton Benjamin joins the announce table and they inform us that there will be a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship between these three. Carlito beat Shelton last week, so obviously Nitro has to win this one. Carlito hits a big back body drop on Nitro, but Nitro then dumps Carlito to the floor. Shelton goes to check on the action up close. Shelton holds Nitro's arm when Carlito goes for the Backstabber and Nitro gets the victory. Why were they so scared to make Nitro look good? I know some people wouldn't agree, but Nitro was already better than Carlito at this point. This was just a short match to let you know these guys were on the card at Vengeance.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Mickie James is backstage for an interview. She talks about how it's funny that first Ashley got hurt and is on SmackDown, Trish got injured and now Beth Phoenix is injured. She then kisses her title and in walks Orton. He says that everyone is talking about the greatest upset in history, which was Angle beating him. He then challenges Angle to a match at Vengeance under WWE rules in a WWE ring with a WWE referee. They certainly are just throwing this show together, aren't they?

The Highlanders are coming and are shown in Times Square eating out of the garbage. 

They run down the Vengeance card that was pretty much all made tonight. 

Lita introduces Edge backstage. Edge says that he's going to accept the invitation and be on ECW tomorrow night. 

Stevie Richards, Justin Credible and Balls Mahoney are shown walking through the crowd to get to their seats. 

Edge vs. John Cena

Cena runs in and starts attacking Edge. Edge tries to run up the ramp but Cena is there to throw him into the ring steps and back into the ring. Lita comes in and jumps on Cena's back and the ref rings the bell. Justin Credible hits Cena, allowing Edge to escape and Cena starts brawling with the ECW crew. Cena grabs a chair and starts hitting some pretty stiff chair shots. Cena grabs a mic and says that he got an awakening as to how ECW does business. He says that anyone can show up and do whatever they want. He says he likes it and he's going to show up tomorrow and do whatever he wants. This was your classic non-main event here. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

There certainly wasn't much in the way of wrestling here tonight, but they did cram in a lot of storyline as they are in panic mode for the show they have in 13 days. The Flair/Foley stuff was really entertaining and the crowd absolutely loved the DX reunion. It wasn't the most focused of shows, as they had to promote both ECW and Vengeance, all while cramming in random stuff like Umaga and Viscera. However, there have been much worse in 2006 and this one I would call a solid show. 

Overall Rating: 59%

NXT 6-12-14 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, June, 12th 2014
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Bayley, Emma & Paige vs. Charlotte, Sasha Banks & Summer Rae

They are playing up the drama of Summer coming back last week. Charlotte and Emma start off with some wrestling, but quickly becomes more physical. The BFFs continue to keep Emma isolated on their side of the ring. Emma is able to lock on the Dil-Emma on Sasha and tags in Bayley. Bayley takes care of Charlotte and things start to break down. Charlotte is mad at Summer and kicks her out of the ring. This allows Bayley to roll her up and get the victory. It's odd that Paige was here just to stand there. After the match, the BFFs aren't too happy with one another. This was more of an angle than anything.

Match Rating: *

They show JBL signing a contract with someone in a mask and it's Bo Dallas. He thanks JBL for the opportunity. 

The BFFs are in the locker room with Sasha and Charlotte arguing with Summer. Alexa Bliss walks in and asks Sasha for a match. 

CJ Parker is walking through the crowd with a "100% Organic sign". 

Colin Cassady vs. Sylvester Lefort

Cassady quickly starts tossing Lefort around the ring. Lefort is able to go after the knee of Cass, but it doesn't last long. Cass hits the East River Crossing and that is all. This was just a glorified squash. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Natalya is backstage with Tyson Kidd. He's trying to tell her that it's about him, not her being ringside. 

Aiden English is backstage singing and in walks Simon Gotch. He offers to shake his hand, but doesn't talk. This was kind of strange. 

Sami Zayn vs. Mr. NXT

The crowd chants "You can't fool us" while the announce team argues about who it is. Meanwhile, Dallas nails him with a clothesline and yells "I'm not Bo Dallas". Zayn counters the tilt-a-whirl DDT and rips off the mask. Zayn hits the Helluva Kick and gets the victory. I'm not really sure why Bo kept lingering down in NXT, but this was semi-fun. 

Match Rating: *

After the match, security comes out to get Bo. He tries to escape, but they eventually get him and have to carry him away. He grabs a mic and asks for help, as they drag him out of the building. He escapes from the cart, but gets caught again outside the building. After the commercial, they show him going away on the golf cart. 

NXT Championship Match
Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd

Natalya is at ringside with Kidd. After some mat wrestling to start, Neville knocks Kidd out of the ring and hits a corkscrew dive over the top rope. Kidd is able to get Neville in a seated position and hits a nice dropkick. Kidd hits a back suplex and continues on the mat. Kidd sets Neville up on the second rope and hits a somersault leg drop. Neville is able to get his foot on the bottom rope to break up the pin attempt. The camera angle for that didn't really do it any favors, as you could kind of see how the magic works. Kidd sets up Neville in the tree of woe and hits a big dropkick. Kidd locks up the Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring, but Neville is able to drag his way to the bottom rope. Neville tries to battle back and goes up top for the Red Arrow. Kidd kicks the ropes and knocks him off. Kidd hits a blockbuster off the top rope, but Neville is able to kick out. He hits the springboard elbow drop and that's still not enough. Kidd goes outside and grabs a chair. Natalya stops him and grabs it from his hands. Neville hits Kidd with a superkick and hits the Red Arrow for the victory. The only thing that doesn't really make sense to me is that had Natalya let him use the chair, he would have lost anyways. That put aside, this was another very good match between these two as NXT continues to ascend in terms of in ring quality. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

This was a very strong episode overall as we got a very good main event, a fun spot with Bo Dallas and more stories being developed in the women's division. You can't ask for much more out of a one hour episode of wrestling.

Overall Rating: 75%

Day 1 2022 Review

Saturday, January 1st, 2022
State Farm Arena
Atlanta, Georgia

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SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
New Day vs. Usos

These two have had some pretty classic matches over the years that it's kind of weird that they are on the same show. I know that I'm in the minority here, but I don't really care for Pat McAfee as a wrestling announcer. Anyway, the Usos are dominating the early portion of the match here. Kofi hits a DDT off the top rope and makes the tag to King Woods. He hits the rolling clothesline and a dropkick to the back. Woods hits a dropkick through the ropes to the floor, but Jimmy attacks Woods right after and hits a corkscrew clothesline off the top rope for a 2 count. They hit a double team pop up Samoan drop for another 2 count. Kofi finally gets tagged back in and hits a top rope crossbody for a nearfall. The Usos then hit a splash off the top rope and we have another kick out. I wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't tell these teams to add another 5-10 minutes or so to their match to help make up for the loss of Brock/Roman. Kofi gets a couple of roll ups for nearfalls and then SOS for a 2 count. Woods hits a double stomp to the face off the top rope and it's still not enough. Kofi then gets hit with a superkick and then a double superkick. They hit the double Uso splash but Woods is able to get in to break up the pin attempt. The Usos hit a 3D and pick up the victory. Well that was a fricken fantastic way to start the show. These two teams couldn't have a bad match if they tried. Nice work by all four men in here. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Big E is backstage with his reaction of Brock Lesnar being added to the title match tonight, but he says that he will knock them all down. 

Kayla Braxton is now with Migos and yet again, I have no clue who they are. I swear that I'm not 70 years old. 

Madcap Moss vs. Drew McIntyre

It may not be any good, but I will say that at least Baron Corbin's character has evolved over the years. Moss is one of those guys who feels like has been on the roster forever, but I know nothing about. Drew rips off Moss's shirt and gives him a big chop. McIntyre's post-title run kind of feels like Bret Hart in 1995 wrestling Bob Backlund, Hakushi, Lawler and Pierre Lafitte. Corbin tries to distract Drew, but he just hits a belly-to-belly suplex with a release to the mat. Moss is able to get in some offense, but the crowd could not care less. Drew sidesteps Moss and he hits his head face-first into the turnbuckle. I actually liked that instead of the usual shoulder in the ring post spot. Drew hits a pop up sit down powerbomb, but Moss is able to kick out. Moss catches McIntyre in the air, loses his balance, but uses the ropes to get it back and hits a fall away slam for a 2 count. I really didn't think this match would be this long. McIntyre, goes for a superplex, but Moss counters. He gets Drew into the tree of woe, but Drew curls up and throws Moss off the top rope. He goes for the Claymore Kick, but Moss hits a boot. It doesn't matter because McIntyre just bounces back and hits the Claymore Kick anyways and that's all. That was way more competitive than expected and really not too bad, it just didn't feel like it mattered much. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Kevin Owens isn't happy with all of the changes in his match tonight. 

Raw Tag Team Championship Match
Street Profits vs. RK-Bro

It really is still sort of bizarre to see Randy Orton in the tag team division with Riddle no less. We get a lot of back and forth action, with neither team really staking their claim so far. The Profits get to work on Riddle for a little bit after a spinning splash in the corner by Dawkins. Orton gets an early hot tag and hits a double draped DDT on both opponents. The action breaks down and Ford hits his awesome dive over the ring post and hits both Orton and Riddle. Orton avoids a Ford top rope splash and Riddle comes in and tosses Ford to Orton for the pop up RKO and that is all. That was a solid match, but just couldn't come close to the opener. After the match, the two teams show each other respect and high five with Migos. 

Match Rating: ***

McIntyre is being interviewed but is attacked by Corbin and Moss, so the feud...must...continue. They Pillmanize him with a chair around the neck. 

Brock Lesnar is here and he mimics Paul Heyman. 

Miz vs. Edge

Edge comes out to the Brood music and entrance. I don't care what anyone says, Miz is one of the best WWE performers of this century. Despite the fact that both of their careers did cross one another for a few years, it feels like they are from such different eras. Maryse is able to distract Edge for a moment and that is all that Miz needs to throw him into the ring post. Miz hits his leaping clothesline in the corner and Edge is able to hit a neckbreaker from the second rope. Edge goes for the crossface, but Miz is able to dump him out of the ring. Edge trips Miz up on his way out and he hits a seated Edge-cution to the floor. Miz is able to hit Edge face-first on the ring apron. He goes for Skull Crushing Finale on the announce table, but Edge counters and slams Miz face-first on the table. Edge goes up ot the op and hits a kind of weird looking crossbody for a 2 count. Miz puts on the Figure Four. After a lengthy stay, Edge battles out of it, but Miz hits him with a slingshot in the corner. He tries for the pin, but gets caught with his feet on the ropes. Edge slaps on the crossface again, but this time it's in the middle of the ring. Miz is able to get out and they hit a double boot to the face. Miz this time hits his clothesline in the corner and decides to go up top. Edge meets him up there. He hits a hip toss from the top rope, which I don't think I've ever seen. Edge leapfrogs Edge's Spear attempt and pretends to have hurt his knee. This allows Maryse to interfere and Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale, but Edge kicks out. Beth Phoenix is out and chases Maryse off. This distracts Miz and Edge hits the Spear for the victory. Obviously Beth was going to get involved in this eventually, I just thought Miz should have gotten the victory here. This was a good match that just didn't quite hit that next gear. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Lashley and MVP are confident in their chances tonight. 

Raw Women's Championship Match
Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch

Liv feels so fresh in the women's division and is just so easy to root for. It's actually kind of disappointing that her chance is in the no man's land of the time between SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. Liv starts out aggressive and tries to lock in Disarm-her on Becks. The crowd hasn't acted disinterested, but it hasn't come across as very loud either. After a little bit of Becky offense, Liv fights back again and hits a Lou Thesz press and a series of right hands. Liv hits a missile dropkick off the second rope and gets a 2 count. Liv climbs up to the top rope, but Becky hits a forearm. Liv slips under and she hits a unique sunset powerbomb for a 2 count. Becky comes back with a vengeance and sets Liv up for an atomic drop, but then drops her face-first. Liv fights back and this time she hits a top rope missile dropkick, but Becky rolled out of the ring. Liv hits a dive through the ropes and again Becky runs through the ring and to the outside. Becky starts slamming Liv into the table repeatedly and rolls back in the ring. Liv is able to break the count, but Becky tosses her out of the ring again. Liv throws Becky into the steps and then stomps on her arm. Liv locks in the Rings Of Saturn, but Becky counters into a pin attempt. Becky hits the Manhandle Slam and retains her title. That was a good match, but just off from being beyond good. 

Match Rating: ***

They show Johnny Knoxville's announcement from Instagram earlier today that he wants to be in the Royal Rumble. 

Fatal Five-Way Match For The WWE Championship
Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Big E vs. Brock Lesnar

Rollins and Owens go right after Lesnar and he greets them with suplexes. Big E runs in and rocks Lesnar with two clotheslines, the second sending Lesnar over the top rope and with an ugly looking fall for Lesnar. Lashley puts Big E on his shoulders and rams him into the ring post. Lashley then hits a Spear through the barricade onto Lesnar. Really had to do that spot again? Rollins and Owens team up on Lesnar and then move onto Lashley. After hitting him with the ring steps, they clear off the announce table. They try to double suplex Lashley, but he battles out of it. In comes Big E and he hits a Rock Bottom through the table. Owens hits Big E with a superkick and they then DDT Lesnar on the steps. Big E gets the knees up for the Senton Bomb from Owens, but then Rollins comes from another corner and hits the Frog Splash. This match is already killer. Rollins goes for the Stomp on Big E, but Lesnar comes in and hits him with the F5. He then gives F5 to Big E and Owens. Lashley comes in and hits the Spear on Lesnar, but Lesnar kicks out at 2. Lashley puts the Hurt Lock in the middle of the ring, but Big E comes in and hits the Big Ending on Lashley. Lesnar gives Big E the F5 and we have a new WWE Champion. I didn't think they were going to give him the belt here until I saw Big E's intensity and had a feeling that was part of the reason why. This match was bonkers and completely my style of match. I wouldn't be shocked if this ended up in my top 5 "Premier Live Event" matches of the year. 

Match Rating: ****1/2

This show was bookended by two really awesome matches, so it's hard to give this anything but a thumbs up. Everything honestly was good on here, even if a couple things felt like TV matches. WWE may not be anywhere where they need to be in terms of weekly television, but they are still are capable of putting on good shows and this was one of them. This one is definitely worth watching. 

Overall Rating: 80%