SmackDown 2-2-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, February 2nd, 2007
Toyota Center
Houston, Texas

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We get a Royal Rumble recap to start the show before announcing that we will have a United States Championship match to kick off the show. 

United States Championship Match
Chris Benoit vs. Finlay

As these two roll around on the ground, it seems like a decent time to note that both Chuck Palumbo and Boris Alexiev (Santino Marella) both had dark matches before this show. Benoit misses with a sliding dropkick under the ropes and Finlay is able to throw him into the steel steps. Finlay goes to work on the injured knee and slaps on a half crab. Benoit gets a rush of offense, but misses with the top rope diving headbutt. Finlay then goes and rips off the top turnbuckle pad while the ref is checking on Benoit. Out comes Hornswoggle, but someone is pulling him back under the ring. Finlay loses the tug of war and has to roll back into the ring. The Boogeyman's music hits and it's shown that he's the one pulling Hornswoggle. He picks him up over his shoulder and the distraction allows for Benoit to get the roll up and the victory. I mean, I guess I wasn't expecting that to happen here tonight. Boogeyman lets him go and Finlay tries to put him back under the ring, but Hornswoggle doesn't want it. Finlay eventually throws him back under the ring. The match was decent, but obviously was more of a set up for an epic feud. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We get a rare "Earlier today" backstage interview with Kristal and Vickie Guerrero. Vickie says that the working conditions on SmackDown are bad because of Teddy Long. She plans on returning to SmackDown very soon and that there is an opportunity that she has her eye on. She thanks Kristal for her support. 

Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. Deuce 'N Domino

We get a look at the crew getting into the car before heading out to the ring and us to a commercial break. I'm sorry, but I am loving this gimmick. Half of the match is JBL and Michael Cole arguing over what a veteran in WWE is. London takes the beatdown after a distraction. Deuce and Domino show off their mostly punch and kick offense until Kendrick gets the hot tag. He hits multiple flying fists until Domino escapes Sliced Bread #2. They had knocked London out of the rng and they hit their running boot finisher for the victory. This was obviously a non-title match, which WWE loves to do with these new teams that come in. This was a solid match, mostly because the challengers offense doesn't rely on rest holds. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Teddy Long is on the phone until Batista walks in and tells him that Undertaker needs to make a decision.

King Booker is out to be given the key to the city of Houston. There's no beating around the bush, they give him the key quickly and he and Sharmell act the most king/queen-like that they have since the peak of the gimmick. Booker then gives a speech accepting the award. He then gets serious and says that it's about time. He asks if Walter Cronkite ever beat Big Show and John Cena in one night. Roger Clemens never won the King Of The Ring. He then asks the people that presented the award to bow down and kiss his ring. He forces the one guy and the other guy gives in and cowardly kisses it. He then talks about Billy Gibbons being there and then wants him to kiss his feet. Out comes Kane\ and he chokeslams the one guy from Houston and then hits a boot to Booker to send him to the floor. Booker and Sharmell escape out of the arena through the crowd. 

Mr. Kennedy vs. Vito

Kennedy doesn't do his intro here and is in a bad mood after Royal Rumble. Vito hits a scoop slam before mocking Kennedy's microphone. It backfires and Kennedy is quickly on the attack. Kennedy rips off Vito's dress and continues to take out his aggression on Vito. He hits the always impressive rolling slam off the second rope for the quick victory. After the match, he grabs the dress and chokes Vito with it. He then grabs his microphone and announces his name in Vito's face. He gets in a few more cheap shots. This was a good way to keep Kennedy strong after his loss at Royal Rumble. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Jillian, Kristal and Ashley are out for a Diva bikini contest, with JBL as the host. Kristal and Ashley awkwardly dance around as per usual. When it's Jillian's turn, she reveals a cutoff t-shirt and shorts. She says she's too talented to be dancing around like this. JBL then takes a poll and Ashley is the overwhelming favorite. Jillian says that the crowd has no clue what talent is and Ashley attacks her. Ashley then rips off her clothes and Jillian runs to the back. 

Maryse welcomes us back after the commercial break. 

We get a Royal Rumble recap and then go to Mr. Kennedy yelling at Teddy Long about getting screwed at Royal Rumble. He wants a rematch and says that he'll go above Teddy's head if he can't get it. Teddy says that next week he'll get his shot on SmackDown. 

Matt Hardy vs. Miz

Hardy hits a few elbows and a back body drop for a 2 count. Miz hits a drop toe hold to avoid a charging Hardy and he goes to the floor through the ropes. Hardy comes back and hits the clothesline/bulldog combo. He jumps up to the second rope and hits an elbow drop. Hardy hits the Side Effect, but Miz kicks out. Miz has the referee distracted and out comes Joey Mercury to hit Hardy with his mask. Miz hits the Mizard Of Oz and picks up the upset victory. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Batista is shown walking to the ring backstage. 

Batista is out to talk about how badly he wants Undertaker at WrestleMania, but he wants his answer tonight. Out comes John Cena talking about the week he has had and that Undertaker could choose him. He says that he would like to know as well because he would like time to prepare for the biggest match of his life. You would think Bobby Lashley would be coming out too, but nope it's time for Undertaker to come out. Taker takes a look at both men and then out comes Shawn Michaels. Shawn says that he's not the only one who wants an answer from Undertaker. He wants Undertaker to put his title match on the line right now so they can prove who the better man is. Out comes Mr. McMahon and he tells Undertaker that he has a decision to make. Vince also shoots down the match that Shawn wants and then insults the fans. Vince says he'll give us a match that has never taken place before and probably not again. He says that at No Way Out it will be John Cena and Shawn Michaels against Undertaker and Batista. We still have no decision from Undertaker and we go off the air.

This was actually a pretty good show from top to bottom. Everything had a purpose, even if we didn't get much in the way of No Way Out hype, which is in 16 days. It was a pleasant surprise to see Shawn and Cena in the final segment and I like the way they are teasing the Undertaker decision, even if it is obvious.

Overall Rating: 60%

ECW 1-30-07 Review

Tuesday, January 30th, 2007
Toyota Center
Houston, Texas

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Vince McMahon is shown walking around and he shakes Marcus Cor Von's hand and says that he is a breath of fresh air around here. He then goes to Sandman and yells at him for drinking on the job. He mocks his name and then says that he thinks he'll find his comments tonight very interesting. 

CM Punk vs. Matt Striker

Well Punk is quite the hot topic here in 2023, but for now I'll enjoy him in a time where he was just a young up and comer. Punk quickly clotheslines Striker over the top and tries for a suplex to the floor, but Striker snaps his neck on the top rope. Striker hits a draping neckbreaker that gets a reaction from the crowd. Punk battles back and hits the knee in the corner into the bulldog. Punk hits a butterfly backbreaker for a 2 count. Punk tries a sunset flip, but Striker grabs his legs and the second rope to steal the victory. I get that they are trying to build Striker, but there's no way they could think that he had anywhere the amount of potential that Punk had. 

Match Rating: *1/2

They show highlights of Undertaker winning the Royal Rumble and being on Raw. 

We go back to Vince and now he's making fun of Tommy Dreamer's name and tells him he doesn't deal with dreams.

Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly

If you ever wanted to hear Tazz impersonate Larry The Cable Guy, here's your chance. RVD hits a dive to the outside just before they go to commercial. When we come back, RVD is still in control and hits a leaping leg drop. Holly is able to shove RVD off the top rope and to the barricade. That has become a staple of RVD matches lately. Holly gets a short heat segment before he gets hit with a spin kick by RVD. The comeback doesn't last long, as Holly comes back with a dropkick. RVD hits a monkey flip and a spin kick in the corner. He climbs up top and hits the single legged kick to the jaw. He hits Rolling Thunder and gets a 2 count. He goes for another monkey flip, but this time Holly catches him and hits a powerbomb. Holly climbs up top, but RVD crotches him. He goes for a superplex, but is shoved off. Holly goes off the top and gets hit by a spin kick. RVD misses with the 5 Star Frog Splash. Holly goes for the Alabama Slam, but he's not able to lift him up, selling his back. He throws him into the ring post and then hits the Alabama Slam for the victory. Holly was one of those guys who we all knew was decent, but never in a million years was anyone going to buy him as a serious threat to anything in 2007. The match was the usual solid one from these two.

Match Rating: **3/4

Vince runs into Sabu and makes a Taliban joke. Yes, really. He then says that he knows who he is and for him to stay away.

61 days until WrestleMania.

Vince runs into Balls Mahoney listening to his headphones and jamming. They talk about their Irish ancestry. He then questions if he'll be able to live up to his first name today. 

It's time for Extreme Exposé. Vince comes down and takes over the ring and talks about how the original ECW sucks. He then announces that Elijah Burke is the epitome of the new ECW. I was very into Burke at this time, but even 16 years later, this seems way too early to be doing this. He rips on the ECW originals and then out comes Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Balls Mahoney and Sabu to attack him. He ends up being put through a table and Vince is upset. I mean, what did he think was going to happen? This was a stupid segment.

ECW Championship Match
Bobby Lashley vs. Test

Getting this match 3 times in 1 week is the definition of #BLESSED. They quickly go outside and Test struggles to roll up the mat. He goes for a piledriver, but Lashley counters with a back body drop into the commercial break. During the break, Lashley missed with a Spear and hit the ring post. They seem to be in a bit of a rush, so I'm guessing something ran long since there are less than 4 minutes left. Lashley makes a comeback after ducking a big boot and hitting an exploder suplex. He hits the running powerslam and that's the end of Test as we know it. After the match, Lashley kicks him out of the ring before celebrating. The lights go out and we hear the Undertaker's bell. When the lights come back on, Taker is in the ring. Test grabs a chair, but Taker grabs him by the throat and hits a chokeslam. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

This was a solid episode of the show that featured just about every noteworthy star on their very thin roster. The Elijah segment didn't seem to do anything for him, but we'll see where they go from here. Plus, I think we are finally done with Test as a "top guy", so that's a win. 

Overall Rating: 53%

Monday Night Raw 1-29-07 Review

Monday, January 29th, 2007
American Airlines Arena
Dallas, Texas

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Shawn Michaels is out to talk about the Royal Rumble. He says that he will somehow still face the WWE Champion at WrestleMania. When he mentions the chance of Undertaker selecting to face Bobby Lashley for the ECW Champion, the crowd boos. Out comes John Cena, who is kind of selling his injuries from his match with Umaga. Cena agrees that the sound of him him and the Showstopper at WrestleMania, but it is up to Undertaker. Now it's time for Edge to interrupt and talk about how he has Cena's number. That of course leads to Randy Orton interrupting him. They argue which leads to Cena saying instead of bickering, why not come down there and fight. Vince McMahon gets on the Titan Tron and tells them to stop and that he tells the fans what they want. He says that tonight is fan appreciation night and that Rated RKO will defend their titles against John Cena and Shawn Michaels. 

Cryme Tyme is backstage and giving shoutouts on the way to the ring.

Cryme Tyme vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team

Jim Ross hypes up Cryme Tyme as undefeated. Charlie Haas has dreadlocks now and Cryme Tyme isn't digging it. Shelton gets a cheap shot in on Shad's leg to give them control. They work on the leg until he gets the tag to JTG. He hits a series of dropkicks and a reverse elbow. Shad throws Shelton over the top, but Shelton skins the cat and uses a headscissors to take Shad out to the floor. JTG then rolls up Shelton, but Haas comes out behind the referee's back and gives JTG a DDT and Shelton gets the pin for Cryme Tyme's first loss. This was short and the crowd doesn't truly care.

Match Rating: *

Melina is talking with Vince and it ends with her hugging him. In walks Jonathan Coachman and Vince talks about Mr. McMahon Fan Appreciation Night and how he will be thought of a humanitarian after tonight. 

On This Week In Wrestling History, they show highlights of the first ever Royal Rumble. One Man Gang eliminated a quarter of the entrants until Jim Duggan won the match. 

WWE Women's Championship #1 Contender Match
Melina vs. Maria

Melina announces that this will be a "First contenders match". Maria runs in and gives Melina a wedgie and then a Bronco Buster. We get some very sloppy offense after that with no flow to it at all. Melina hits a flapjack and then a unique submission that she calls the California Dream. That was the only part of the match that worked. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Todd Grisham interviews Shawn Michaels backstage and he says that he's walking out a champion. He then says that John Cena is no Triple H and walks away. 

Super Crazy approaches Mickie James and asks if she remembers when everyone called her crazy. He then does the "I am super, I am crazy, I am Super Crazy". Then Melina tells Mickie that the title is hers. Super Crazy grabs Mickie's hand and uses it to slap Melina and then they start brawling. This was very random. 

Edge is with Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade. They call Orton overrated, but Edge stops them there. He says there is no better partner than Orton.

Val Venis vs. Umaga

If you would have given me 100 guesses for a match on this episode of Raw, this wouldn't have been one of them. Venis tries to charge and Umaga, but gets knocked down. Umaga hits the Samoan drop and then puts him in the tree of woe. He hits the diving headbutt in that position and then hits the butt to the face. The Samoan Spike puts Val down for the count. This was all about rebuilding him after losing the feud to Cena.

Match Rating: 1/2*

As Umaga is heading to the back, Vince's music hits and he's out wearing a cowboy hat. He and Umaga make eye contact and then he starts strutting to the ring as we go to commercial break. When we come back, Vince mocks some cowboy talk and then says how ridiculous it is to wear a cowboy hat. He then throws it on the ground and starts stomping on it. He then moves onto fan appreciation and how he wants to give back to all the little people, which is all of us. He says that he can't give back to everyone, but one lucky person tonight will be rewarded and brings in a 20 something female from the crowd. He then gives her a giant blow up photo of him on Muscle & Fitness magazine. He has her leave and then he talks about giving and starts rambling until an even bigger moron shows up on the Titan Tron, Donald Trump. He says that no one would ever want that cheesy photo and the fans want value for the tickets they bought. He then says he will give everyone what they really want, money. He starts dropping money from the ceiling and Vince claims it is Monopoly money. They show fans with it and it's real money. Vince is irrate and to be honest, I'm shocked there weren't any fights in the crowd. Vince throws a fit and then storms out to the back. 

62 days until WrestleMania 23. 

Coach apologizes to Vince and gives him some money he gathered and gives him $10 of his own and Vince grabs it from him and drives off in his limo. 

Carlito & Super Crazy vs. Chris Masters & Kenny Dykstra

Talk about a heel team that no one cares about. It's all Crazy and Carlito to start and they hit double dives to the outside. Masters is able to trip up Crazy as he's running the ropes behind the referee's back and shifts the momentum in their favor. We get a boring heat segment until Carlito gets the hot tag and hits the springboard reverse elbow. Masters avoids a moonsault, but Carlito lands on his feet and hits him with a dropkick. Crazy takes Kenny out of the ring and then Carlito hits a Back Cracker for the victory. The two minutes or so with Carlito and Crazy in control were good. The rest, not so much.

Match Rating: *1/4

Todd Grisham is now with Randy Orton and he says that they will retain their titles tonight. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Jeff Hardy vs. Great Khali

Khali grabs the title out of the hands of the referee, so Hardy attacks him. Khali throws him right out of the ring and then pulls him back up to hit some clubbing blows to the chest. Khali beats down Hardy with some more boring offense until Hardy is able to hit a Whisper In The Wind. Khali props Hardy on the top rope and hits a chop to the head. Hardy falls to the floor and is counted out. I can't believe they kept going with this push. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

For the WrestleMania Recall, they show the Money In The Bank match from WrestleMania 21. 

They show Vladimir Kozlov in the crowd again. He says that he wasn't impressed by the Royal Rumble. 

They show highlights of the John Cena/Umaga match at Royal Rumble. It's a match that any wrestling fan should see. 

They show Cena talking with Ric Flair about possibly being a tag team champion. Flair puts the idea in Cena's head that Michaels may want to make an impact and hit him with a superkick.

World Tag Team Championship Match
Rated RKO vs. Shawn Michaels & John Cena

One thing that injuries forces you to do is to create some fresh matchups and even though 3/4ths of this match is the same, it feels different with Cena in here. After some pretty standard action, Cena pushes Orton into Edge and he falls to the ground. Orton gets revenge, but Edge starts heading to the back as we go into a commercial break. When we come back, Edge is getting hit with a shoulder tackle from Cena. Obviously he didn't leave. They flip the momentum and have Cena reeling. Cena is able to power his way out of a rest hold, but is bleeding and both men are down. He makes the hot tag to Michaels, but when he's tuning up the band, Orton illegally hits a dropkick. Orton goes for the RKO, but Michaels kind of blocks it. He tags in Cena and he hits the FU on Orton and we have new champions. The celebration is short, as Michaels teases Sweet Chin Music on Cena. Before their argument can really get started, Undertaker's music hits and he rises up on the stage with flames. As good as Michaels/Cena and Batista/Undertaker would go on to be, they really probably should have gone with Cena/Undertaker in retrospect. Either that or they should have found a way to have it happen shortly after this. The match was solid and a little surprising in that they won the titles. 

Match Rating: ***

There wasn't a lot to love on this show, but it was fairly entertaining overall. This wasn't one of those episodes that dragged, it just would have been nice to have a few more memorable moments other than the ones that involved Cena and Michaels.

Overall Rating: 51%

NXT 4-8-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, April 8th, 2015
McEnery Convention Center
San Jose, California

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After only exclusively filming at Full Sail University, we have our second out of town episode in the last four week. This one is coming from WrestleMania Axxess. They are going to show the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal tournament. They show highlights of Finn Balor defeating Baron Corbin, Tyler Breeze defeating Bull Dempsey, Hideo Itami victorious over Jason Jordan and Adrian Neville over Kalisto.

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Qualifying Tournament Semifinals
Hideo Itami vs. Adrian Neville

We don't see entrances or anything here, which seems odd since the show only has 3 matches. The look of the show definitely reminds me of going to Ring Of Honor back in the day. Hideo gets the best of Neville early on in the match, knocking him over the top rope. It's kind of interesting that they had a "Previously Recorded" up in the corner of the screen. After a fairly short slowdown by Neville, Itami is back with some kicks and a top rope clothesline for a 2 count. Itami hits a fisherman suplex, but Neville is able to avoid the GTS. Itami runs into a superkick, but kicks out at 2. Itami is able to move out of the way of the Red Arrow and hits the running dropkick in the corner. He hits a running kick and that is all. It started off a little slow, but the ending was enjoyable.

Match Rating: ***

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Qualifying Tournament Semifinals
Tyler Breeze vs. Finn Balor

Neither competitor really gets a good string of momentum in the early going. Finn is able to hit a Sling Blade and a running dropkick. He hits the Coup de Grace and that's all? I know my review doesn't reflect a 5 minute match, but it was extremely quick. The action was good, but I was expecting a lengthier match with there only being 3 matches on the card. 

Match Rating: **1/4

They show highlights of the big arena show that NXT ran during the WrestleMania weekend that proved that this was a little bit more than something small. Scott Hall even hypes it up. 

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Qualifying Tournament Finals
Hideo Itami vs. Finn Balor

They trade sequences and then Itami slows it down with a chinlock. Itami tries to capitalize, but Balor hits him with a kick to the head in the corner. Itami hits a kick as well and follows it up with a top rope clothesline. He goes for the GTS, but Balor comes out of it. Itami hits a kick and then Balor hits one as well. They trade forearms, with Balor getting the best of it. Itami hulks up and hits a running dropkick. Balor comes back with the Sling Blade and goes up top for the Coup de Grace. Itami crotches him and gets him up for the GTS. He escapes again and Balor gets a nearfall out of it. Itami hits him with the Shotgun Kick and that's all. All three matches were good here, even if two of them were short. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

There is still 15 minutes left in the show, so let's see what they fill the air with here. 

We get a look at a day in the life of Hideo Itami at WrestleMania. First, they go back to when KENTA signed with WWE and Hulk Hogan announcing it to the Japanese fans. We then see him letting NXT fans know that he is now known as Hideo Itami. They show him with his family and then defeating Tyler Breeze at the WrestleMania NXT event with the GTS for the first time. Itami is very likeable and it really is one of the big disappointments that he didn't become a thing in WWE. Itami eliminates Bo Dallas, but then gets knocked out by Big Show. "Welcome to the big leagues" says Michael Cole and it's easy to see why he didn't make it. They try to hype it up like it was some grand thing, which is so WWE and that's all for this week.

This was a good show with all three matches delivering on some level and then a nice video package of Hideo at WrestleMania, even if it was the typical crap of having him eliminated extremely quickly to remind him that his stardom in Japan means nothing to Vince McMahon.

Overall Rating: 70%

Off The Grid, Volume 38: Fall Brawl 1993: War Games Review

Sunday, September 19th, 1993
Astro Arena
Houston, Texas

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Off The Grid, Volume 38:

WCW Television Championship Match
Lord Steven Regal vs. Ricky Steamboat

Tony Schiavone is claiming that they are going to turn away about 2,000 fans tonight. Yeah, I don't think so. Steamboat attacks Regal after the announcements and we're underway. Steamboat has a rib injury and it selling it early on. Schiavone and Jesse Ventura are arguing about this being a brawl rather than the scientific match they were expecting. There's been some good action here so far, even during the slowdowns. Steamboat hits a crossbody and gets a 2 count. Regal naturally continues to target the ribs when needed and then puts on a variation of the surfboard. Steamboat is able to hit catapult into the corner, but he's not able to muster up enough strength to do much more. Regal goes for a piledriver, but Steamboat climbs his way up and reverses it into a Tombstone. Steamboat goes for some pin attempts, but Regal continues to kick out. Steamboat hits a snap suplex and is getting fired up. He hits a top rope crossbody, but it's still not enough. Regal tries to throw Steamboat over the top, but Steamboat skins the cat. Sir William hits him in the head with his cane on the way up behind the referee's back. Regal hits a German suplex into a bridge and we have a new champion. This was a solid match and a good way to open the show. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Eric Bischoff is with the Nasty Boys. They say that they have a big surprise tonight and then claim that they are going to win with a bulldog off the top. 

Big Sky vs. Charlie Norris

Whoever thought that this was worthy of being on a pay-per-view should be re-fired. After some boring offense, Norris runs into a boot in the corner. Sky hits a chokeslam and a scoop slam. Sky goes up to the second rope and misses with a knee drop. Norris hits some chops and a big boot to the face for the victory. What a stupid match. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get an interview with British Bulldog to talk about War Games. 

Paul Orndorff & Equalizer vs. 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell 

Equalizer has to be one of the worst wrestlers to get a semi-push that I can think of during this era. Orndorff looks unhappy to be stuck in this match and is taking it out on Scorpio. Like most of the crowd in the arena, I've already lost interest in this one. All of the pointless offense in this match leads to Orndorff accidentally hitting a knee on Equalizer and Scropio this a 450 splash for the victory. Equalizer attacks Scorpio immediately after the match. Orndorff joins him and then they head to the back. Whatever. 

Match Rating: *1/2

We go to Eric Bischoff and Steven Regal. He says he will defend his titles against the peasants.

Shanghai Pierce vs. Ice Train

I do not get the mask that goes with Shanghai Pierce. I'm starting to question my decision making skills as to why I picked to watch this show. Pierce tries a double clothesline with his buddy, Tex Schlazenger. Ice Train runs right through it and hits a body slam and wins. God, this show is horrendous. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

WCW Tag Team Championship Match
Nasty Boys vs. Arn Anderson & Paul Roma

Missy Hyatt is the Nasty Boys surprise. How did they not block off sections better for this event? The empty red seats are so easily pto spot with the bright lights in the arena. We get lots of stalling to start things off. I like the Nasty Boys, but I'm not sure even their biggest fan would say that no one wants to see them in a 20+ minute match. Arn goes to work on the leg of Sags after hitting it on the ring post. The crowd on the floor is chanting things that would become popular amongst ECW fans and most degenerates. It's all Horsemen for quite a bit of time until Sags distracts Roma and Knobs capitalizes on it. After a distraction created by Missy, the Nasty Boys are up to no good and use a chair to their advantage. This match has just come to an absolute halt. After seemingly forever, Arn finally makes the tag to Roma. Roma hits a nice missile dropkick, but Sags lethargically breaks up the pin attempt. Knobbs puts Roma up on his shoulders so that they can win by the bulldog that they called earlier. Arn shoves Sags off the top and it knocks Roma down and into a sloppy pin. Arn hits a spinebuster, but then we get shenanigans that lead to the Nasty Boys cheating and winning the Tag Team Championships. That sucked. There were some spurts of a good match in there, but the heat segment was just awful.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Jesse Ventura interviews the winners and this isn't anywhere near as fun as when they won at WrestleMania VII.

We get the story with Cactus Jack and Vader. This was not Foley at his best and this video goes on forever.

Yoshi Kwan vs. Cactus Jack

Cactus goes after Harley Race and then knocks Kwan over. Let's not breeze over the embarrassing gimmick for Kwan. I just want this show to be over with. Cactus gets tripped up by Race, but then the Race distraction backfires and Jack hits the double arm DDT for the win. He challenges Vader after the match. I don't know, this was just all so stupid.

Match Rating: 1/2*

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship Match
Rick Rude vs. Ric Flair

They are aware that this championship is just stupid, right? This is the Fifi era of Flair, which is 100% one of the worst parts of his career. Rude has Fifi on his tights, as expected. We get lots of rest holds to start since god forbid they have a match under a half hour. The pace picks up a little bit with Flair hitting a backslide and getting a 2 count. Flair then hits a crossbody that takes both men over the top rope. Rude puts on a camel clutch and gives me some time to look up a few things I forgot to look up earlier during the Nasty Boys match. Flair attempts a comeback, but Rude hits a press slam onto the top rope. It feels like they lost the crowd already, which doesn't happen too often to Flair during this era. Flair finally makes a comeback and chooses to hit a Rude Awakening, but Rude gets his foot on the rope to save the match. Flair goes to work on the knee, but isn't able to get the Figure Four on. Flair hits a chop from the top rope to the floor on Rude. Rude comes back and then pulls Fifi into the ring. Flair defends her and hits a back body drop. Flair locks in the Figure Four. The referee is talking to Fifi and it allows Rude to pull something out from his trunks and hit Flair in the face with it. He covers Flair and we have a new champion. Finally. This was about 20 minutes too long.

Match Rating: *

WarGames Match
Vader, Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat vs. Sting, Shockmaster, Dustin Rhodes & Davey Boy Smith

Ah yes, the Shockmaster. For some reason Road Warrior Animal is out with the faces. He tries to stop Dustin Rhodes from competing first, but he runs in there anyway and goes after Vader. He is selling some rib injury and Vader is all over him. He's able to fight back and hits a DDT. They do the coin toss and wouldn't you know it, the heels win. Dustin catches Vader off the second rope to hit a powerslam. In comes Kane to help Vader. They continue the beatdown until Sting comes in to clean house. Sid is next and he hits a chokeslam on Sting. Now Davey Boy is in and evens the score. Kole is in now and it just kind of feels like nothing noteworthy has happened in this one. Shockmaster is in last and now the match beyond begins. I always thought that was kind of dumb. Shockmaster comes in and they try to convince us that he's actually good. We get the usual chaotic finish where everyone is just brawling and the match ends with Shockmaster putting on a bear hug. Are you serious? Kole claims that he didn't give up. What a fitting end to a stupid show. This was entertaining, but I already forgot it happened.

Match Rating: **1/2

This was one of the harder shows for me to get through. It wasn't as bad as the Slamboree that I watched recently, but it wasn't far off. There is nothing you need to see here. This is a complete dud.

Overall Rating: 27%

Monday Night Raw 4-17-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, April 17th
Mid-Hudson Center
Poughkeepsie, New York

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We get a quick clip from Action Zone, where Ted DiBiase announced that Sycho Sid was the new crown jewel of the Million Dollar Corporation.

Duke Droese vs. Jean Pierre Lafitte

Here's your reminder that Droese still exists. For some reason he decides to offer a handshake to Lafitte, so Lafitte attacks him. Vince just wants to know why he wears an eye patch. Meanwhile, Droese clotheslines Lafitte over the top rope. Lafitte comes back with the reverse neckbreaker and a second rope leg drop for a 2 count. We get a commercial break after a failed sunset flip attempt from Droese. We get a double clothesline and both men are down. Lafitte goes off the second rope again, but Droese gets his boot up. Droese hits a big power slam and climbs to the top rope. Lafitte rolls out of the way of a weird looking splash. Lafitte climbs up top and hits a senton for the victory. I just realized that Lafitte was basically the Kevin Owens of his era. This was a decent match, with Lafitte looking like someone worth pushing.

Match Rating: **1/4

We see the same Bob Backlund spring break skit from Superstars. 

Doink vs. Raymond Roy

I guess this is also our reminder that Doink exists. We get more Duckman talk, for those who are into that. Doink seems to have a little less pep in his step here today. He hits the Whoopee Cushion and we get the fart sound. Dink then hits one and we get another fart sound. Doink picks up the victory. This just needs to end.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Todd Pettengill for the In Your House Report. I guess Stephanie gets the weekend gig. Don't forget to try and win that house in that exclusive neighborhood in Orlando. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Bob Holly & 1-2-3 Kid vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna

I could watch Owen and Kid wrestle any day of the week. Kid gets the best of Owen early on and tags in Holly. They hit a double back body drop and then Holly hits some arm drag takedowns. Owen is able to get a tag to Yoko and they have done a nice job of making Yoko look like the difference maker when he's in there. Holly actually is able to yank Yokozuna down by his hair, which doesn't make sense to me. However, when Holly is running the ropes, Owen pulls down the top rope and Holly goes crashing down. Owen then drives Holly's back into the ring post. Back in the ring, Owen hits a snap suplex for a 2 count. Holly is able to sneak in a backslide for a 2 count right before the commercial break. Holly once again goes crashing down to the floor, as his beatdown segment continues. Owen and Holly collide and both men are down. Both men make the tag and Kid hits a series of kicks. After about 10 kicks, he gets Yoko down and then goes flying over the top to take out Owen. He goes up top, but Yoko catches him and hits a slam for the victory. That last burst from the Kid was great and again they made Yoko look like a guy who is always just one move away from winning any match. This wasn't as good as I was hoping for, but it was still a good match.

Match Rating: **3/4

Undertaker does a don't drink and drive ad. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Rich Myers

We have Cornfed from Duckman, who is the pig in the show. Get it, he's a pig and Godwinn is a pig framer. Godwin hits a press slam and an elbow drop while they 100% ignore the match to interview a cartoon character. Vince loves it though and that's all that matters in Vince's mind. Godwinn  hits a headbutt to the gut and finishes him with the Slop Drop. This was a USA commercial.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week, it will be Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Diesel here on Raw. They show how Bam Bam has been kind of kicked to the curb by Ted DiBiase. 

This was a good episode of Raw for the era. Lafitte looked like a character that could have a future (even though he doesn't) and the Owen and Yoko team was built nicely here. I'm curious to see what other build we are going to get going into In Your House as well. 

Overall Rating: 67%

Superstars 4-15-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, April 15th, 1995
Glens Falls Civic Center
Glens Falls, New York

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Allied Powers vs. Bert Centeno & Tony DeVito

No Jerry Lawler here today and instead we have the Superstars debut of Dok Hendrix. You know you are right in the heart of the New Generation with Dok. The crazy thing to me is that Hendrix is only 36 years old here. He seems like he's from a completely different generation. This is your typical tag team squash here, with Bulldog hitting the running powerslam for the victory. Vince hypes up the tag division after and Hendrix refers to 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly as Beavis and Butthead.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We have Stephanie Wiand now to talk about In Your House and how it's only $14.95. It's kind of crazy that 25 years later I can watch WrestleMania plus every other WWE show for $5.99 a month. She announces that the main event will be Diesel vs. Sid. 

Dok Hendrix shows us photos of Alundra Blayze's broken nose.

Bob Holly vs. Black Phantom

Dok then says that he did some digging and found out that Bertha Faye and Harvey Wippleman live in the same trailer park. Dok criticizes Phantom's choice of moves and then Holly hits a dropkick. He follows that up with a body slam and a top rope elbow for the victory. He is much better as a tag team wrestler in this era. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the clip of Diesel saying he might have lost the title at WrestleMania if it weren't for Sid. I still don't get this part of the story. They show Shawn's response and what it leads to. 

Smoking Gunns know all about Hakushi and Kwang's martial arts experience and seem pretty happy overall despite losing their championships. 

Hakushi & Kwang vs. Smoking Gunns

This has to be one of the last Kwang appearances considering Savio Vega should be debuting soon. We get going before the Gunns can even take off their dorky shirts. After some good tag action, the Gunns work on the left arm of Kwang. They hit a Hart Attack, but a distraction from Shinja prevents a pin attempt. Kwang is able to get a kick in and sprays the red mist into the air. Hakushi gets tagged in and hits a headbutt. Hakushi hits his variation of the Vader Bomb and we go to commercial. We get a double crossbody with Hakushi and Bart, knocking both men down. They both make tags and Billy is a house of fire. He ducks a kick and hits a crossbody for a 2 count. Kwang accidentally hits Hakushi with a spin kick and then Billy rolls up Kwang for the victory. This was a pretty good offering for a Superstars match. I'm not sure I would have had Hakushi take a loss so soon, even though he didn't take the pin. 

Match Rating: **1/4

After the match, Hakushi and Kwang are ready to brawl, but are broken apart before anything happens.

After an In Your House commercial, Hakushi and Kwang begin brawling near the entrance and have to be broken up by officials. 

We see the clip of Aldo Montoya beating Jeff Jarrett last week. Next week they'll face each other with the Intercontinental Championship on the line. 

We get our first Hunter Hearst Helmsley vignette. He talks about the Bushwhackers, Headshrinkers and Smoking Gunns and how he's better than them. He actually does a pretty good snob once you get over how he's talking compared to what we are used to. 

Adam Bomb vs. Mike Bell

Bomb dominates and hits a disappointing dropkick and Bell disappointingly falls over the top rope. Bomb is fired up after a couple of offensive moves from Bell. He hits a hip toss and two clotheslines. He hits a back suplex before going up top to hit a clothesline for the victory. Bomb has lost all of his momentum.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go back to Stephanie Wiand to talk about the house they are giving away. I can't wait to see this for another 8 episodes. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Nick Barberri

This one is pretty quick with Godwinn hitting his usual offense here. He hits a Slop Drop and rolls him over with his head for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Bob Backlund on the beach for spring break. He has sunscreen on his nose in his dorky suit and bowtie. The camera man keeps trying to show girls in bikinis, but Backlund keeps nudging the camera back to him and his rant.

Next week outside of the Intercontinental match, we'll also see Razor Ramon in action. 

There's pretty much a standard for 1995 Superstars and the overall quality doesn't really deviate too much from that spot very often. This was a very typical episode that had a decent enough feature match. The rest was the usual take it or leave it type of stuff.

Overall Rating: 44%

Royal Rumble 2007 Review

Sunday, January 28th, 2007
AT&T Center
San Antonio, Texas

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MNM vs. Hardys

For the first time that I can recall, the production crew kind of botches the red carpet entrance. They try to tell the story of Matt having an injured jaw from the Snapshot on SmackDown. It's a seesaw start, but when things settle in, MNM is indeed working on Matt and his jaw. Mercury misses with an elbow off the second rope and in comes Jeff. Jeff hits Whisper In The Wind, but Mercury breaks up the pin attempt. Matt and Jeff both climb to the top rope, but Nitro gets his knees up on Jeff's splash. Matt still hit the leg drop, but Jeff is the legal man. It's Jeff's turn to get the beatdown thanks to some illegal shenanigans. Matt gets the hot tag and hits the combination bulldog/clothesline. It's not quite the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, but it's still pretty good. All four men end up in the ring after a Snapshot attempt and instead the Hardys hit Poetry In Motion. They go for it again, but Nitro ducks and almost steals the match. Matt hits the Side Effect and then a Twist Of Fate. Mercury runs in and drives Matt out of the ring. Matt made a tag to Jeff on his way out though and he hits the Swanton for the victory. This was a good opener and probably better than their December To Dismember match by a slight amount. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

We go back to the Royal Rumble tumbler room. Jonathan Coachman and Teddy Long argue about which brand will win before Edge walks in. He introduces himself to Kelly Kelly and then makes fun of her. Randy Orton also joins and they pull their numbers. Edge then says that he'll show him his, if Orton shows him his. King Booker is disgusted by the wording. 

ECW Championship Match
Test vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley hits a T Bone suplex and a delayed vertical suplex, which is pretty impressive on the size of a guy like Test. Test is able to throw Lashley into the ring post from the apron and he falls to the floor. Test goes to work on the shoulder, but it only slows down Lashley for a minute or two. Lashley comes back with some offense until he tries a gorilla press slam and his shoulder gives out. Test then hits hiim with a big boot to the face for a nearfall. Lashley comes back again and is able to knock Test out of the ring. For whatever reason, Test decides it's a good idea to just get counted out and Lashley, being the babyface he is, is okay with that? That makes no sense on either side of the argument. Lashley runs and attacks him and hits a running powerslam before celebrating his lackluster victory. You would think you would want to try and get more people to watch the less popular brand, but instead they gave us this.

Match Rating: *

John Cena is being checked out by a doctor backstage. Vince walks in and asks if there's any chance of him forfeiting his WWE Championship. Vince says he can't see Cena as the last man standing tonight or the WWE Champion.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Mr. Kennedy vs. Batista

Mr. Kennedy has been one of the recent success stories here in this era of WWE and he gets his first title shot tonight. Kennedy is able to drive the knee of Batista into the ring steps. Kennedy targets the knee from there and Batista is in trouble. Kennedy has some blood coming from his nose and licks it while he has Batista in a half crab. Batista comes back, but is selling that knee injury. We get a weird timing issue on a slam from Batista. Batista signals for the Batista Bomb, but Kennedy is able to hit the knee of Batista. Batista runs into the referee and Kennedy hits a low blow. The ref is still down and can't make the cover. Kennedy hits a DDT and this time the ref counts, but Batista gets the shoulder up. Batista comes back and hits a Batista Bomb and just like that it's over. This was a solid match that was better than I remembered it being. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Ariel tells Kevin Thorn that their number is just as the cards predicted and Coach says that there are some freaks in ECW. In walks Hornswoggle to start banging on the tumbler. He picks a number and Coach makes a small joke, so he jumps on him and bites him. In walks Great Khali and Hornswoggle runs away. Khali grabs 3 balls, but Coach lets him know and he drops 2 of them. Kelly then makes the most obvious and stupid joke you'll see about them being the two biggest balls she's ever held. In walks Ron Simmons. 

Last Man Standing Match For The WWE Championship
Umaga vs. John Cena

I've been really looking forward to watching this one again. It's all Umaga to begin the match and he nails him with a big clothesline to give us our first semi-serious count from the referee. Umaga introduces some ring steps to the match, but Cena is the one who ends up using them as he chucks them from in the ring to Umaga on the floor. That was great. Umaga is back up and he hits a spin kick. Umaga grabs the steps again and puts them in the ring. He props Cena up in the corner against the steps, but Cena is able to move out of the way of the butt bop. Cena rams the steps into Umaga and then Umaga hits a spinning slam. Cena is able to get his knees up on an Umaga slam for a low blow. He then hits a blockbuster and a slam both on the steps. Cena hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle while Umaga is draped on the steps. He gets him up for the FU, but his head gives out and he falls onto the steps. Umaga still did fall on the steps. Cena is up and is bleeding from the forehead. Cena tries to do a hulk up, but Umaga hits him with a Samoan drop. The way Cena landed didn't look good there. Umaga signals for the Samoan Spike, but Cena blocks it. Umaga still hits him with a headbutt and puts him into the tree of woe. Cena sits up when Umaga goes for the headbutt and then hits a leg drop off the top rope. This match is fantastic. Cena throws Umaga into the ring post and then grabs a TV monitor out of the hands of Armando Estrada. Cena then nails the monitor on Umaga's head and that gets about a 7 or 8 count. Umaga catches Cena from the apron and he drives him into the ring post. He lays Cena on the announce table and then runs across two other tables before missing with the splash. Umaga barely breaks the count and they 100% have the crowd here. Estrada is up to something in the corner with the turnbuckle. He removes the entire turnbuckle and the ring rope is down as a result. Umaga grabs the metal turnbuckle as a spike, but Cena ducks and hits the FU. He knocks Estrada off the apron for good measure. Cena uses the turnbuckle on Cena and then uses the rope to choke Umaga in the STFU. Cena continues to choke the life out of Umaga until he's basically passed out. Cena gets up and Umaga is down for the 10 count. The finishes to Last Man Standing matches are always a little anticlimatic, but this was a clever finish and the match was awesome from bell to bell. Bravo to both men here. 

Match Rating: ****3/4

More arguing from Long and Coach until Sandman comes in and drinks a beer and hits his head with the cane. He says it doesn't matter and walks away. In comes Ric Flair and then dances with Kelly Kelly and crew. 

We get a nice Royal Rumble video package, as they usually do. 

Royal Rumble 

Your first two competitors are Ric Flair at #1 and Finlay at #2, giving us over 100 years of life experience right off the bat. This is a very odd pairing to start the match with and they have a mostly uneventful start before Kenny Dykstra comes down at #3. Please let them get this feud out of their system here. Kenny and Finlay eventually start working together on Flair before Matt Hardy is #4. He hits a Side Effect on Kenny and then almost eliminates him. Edge is out at #5, as we have our first serious contender in the match. He comes right in and hits a Spear on Flair and Finlay. He misses it on Matt and he hits a Twist Of Fate on him. Kenny and Matt hit a double clothesline and everyone is down. Flair goes under the ring and grabs a chair. Kenny gets to him first and he knocks the chairs out of the ring. Edge and Kenny throw Flair out and then Edge tosses Kenny out. #6 is Tommy Dreamer and he immediately goes to Edge. Dreamer puts Edge in the tree of woe and hits the running dropkick. #7 is Sabu and he grabs a table on his way to the ring. He sets it up outside the ring and goes after Dreamer. Gregory Helms is #8 and naturally goes right to Matt. #9 is Shelton Benjamin and almost eliminates both Dreamer and Matt. #10 is Kane and the pyro goes off. Kane quickly disposes of Dreamer and then chokeslams Sabu through the very table he pulled out. CM Punk comes out at #11 in his first Royal Rumble. #12 is King Booker and chucks Helms over the top. #13 is Super Crazy and is my pick to win this thing. We're due for a ring clearing soon. Jeff Hardy is #14 and I don't think he'll be the one to do it. He teams up with Matt to start and hit Poetry In Motion to Kane. #15 is Sandman and he comes through the crowd. He brings the cane into the match and starts leveling everyone with it. Before I could even finish typing that sentence, King Booker dumps him out of the match and JBL declares that we know he's not Stone Cold. #16 is Randy Orton and adds another credible contender here. He and Edge team up to dump Super Crazy from the match. Rated RKO teams up and eliminates both Hardys. Chris Benoit is #17 and hits a bunch of suplexes. #18 is Rob Van Dam making it 6 former World Champions in the ring. King Booker is eliminated by Kane. He comes back in and attacks Kane and hits the scissor kick. He dumps him over the top rope and they treat it as an elimination. The battle continues outside the ring and this will lead to a feud that absolutely no one cares about, just like most Kane feuds. #19 is Viscera and no one cares about that either. Johnny Nitro is out at #20, with the biggest note being that Finlay is still in there. Oh boy, at #20 it's Kevin Thorn and at #21 it's Hardcore Holly. What a drop off in names since Rob Van Dam. So you know something big is coming and at #23 it's Shawn Michaels. He comes in and eliminates Finlay and Shelton Benjamin. We also get a group elimination of Viscera. #24 is Chris Masters and he comes out to silence. Johnny Nitro is eliminated by Chris Benoit from the second rope. Chavo Guerrero is out at #25 and the announcers try to sell us on him having a chance of winning. Kevin Thorn is eliminated and what a loss that is. #26 is MVP and his burned back. Masters is eliminated by a RVD dropkick and JBL (a heel) makes fun of Masters (a heel). Carlito is your #27, as he draws the so called "lucky" number. I'm guessing there will be no luck here tonight. #28 is Great Khali and he doesn't get much of a reaction either. He hits a bunch of headbutts and chops on the field. He throws Hardcore Holly out just as Miz's music hits for #29. Khali quickly tosses him out of the ring and then Rob Van Dam. CM Punk is next and then Carlito. Chavo becomes the 6th person eliminated by Khali in the matter of a minute or two. Shawn Michaels tries to get something going, but Khali hits the double handed chokeslam. #30 is Undertaker of course and Khali is ready for him. Taker and Khali trade blows and then Taker clotheslines Khali over the top and out of the match. So just to get it right, it took about 10 guys to eliminate Viscera, but only Undertaker to take care of Khali? Sounds about right. Taker hits Old School on MVP and then throws him out. We're down to Edge, Orton, Michaels and Taker. MVP grabs a chair and Orton gets his hands on it, using it on Undertaker's head. Edge goes for a Spear on Orton, but Orton sees it and puts his chair up. Edge stops and they begin to argue. Orton hits a RKO on Michaels and then goes back to arguing with Edge. They go back to working together and target Undertaker. Taker is bleeding from the forehead after the chair shot. Taker is able to lay them out with a double clothesline and hits Snake Eyes on Edge. Taker goes for a chokeslam on Orton, but Edge hits a Spear before that can happen. Edge hits another chair shot to the head of Taker. WHY ARE WE STILL DOING CHAIR SHOTS IN 2007? Edge goes out and grabs the second chair and sets up Taker. Michaels returns to the ring and eliminates both Rated RKO members before they do it. Both Michaels and Taker are down in the ring and Taker is the first to sit up and then Michaels does the kip up. Michaels does some serious bumping for Taker and some close calls on being eliminated. Taker misses with a boot in the corner and he's almost falling to the floor. He battles his way out of elimination from the apron. They start to battle up on the second rope and Michaels is able to fight his way out of a superplex and/or elimination. Michaels hits an elbow drop from the top and then tunes up the band. Taker catches it and hits a chokeslam. Michaels comes back with Sweet Chin Music and they are both down again. Michaels goes for Sweet Chin Music again, Taker ducks it and dumps him over the top to pick up the victory. The irony of it all is that Michaels sends up being in the main event of WrestleMania anyways. However, this is easily a top tier Royal Rumble that features one of, if not the, best final fours and final two of any Rumble match. This was really good.

Match Rating: ****

This was a really strong show where the top two matches really delivered. Cena/Umaga may be my favorite Cena match. I'll see if that changes as I go through the years here, but it's most definitely up there. Having a mini match with Taker and Michaels was a great idea and the crowd was with them for every second of it. The rest of the card was solid enough, with really only the ECW match being pointless. 

Overall Rating: 85%

NXT 4-1-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, April 1st, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Sami Zayn is here for the first time in weeks. He talks about wrestling in Abu Dhabi and how he should have been enjoying wrestling in front of his people, but instead he couldn't stop thinking about Kevin Owens. He says that he is a different person and that he wants to use his rematch clause to regain his NXT Championship. 

Rhyno vs. Jesus de Leon

Rhyno throws Jesus across the ring and then hits the Gore for the victory. Yes, it was that quick. After the match, he says he came to NXT to make a statement and win the NXT Championship. He calls out Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and Kevin Owens.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Dana Brooke is debuting in two weeks. 

Bayley vs. Emma

Emma is kind of just half doing her gimmick here to go with the semi-heel turn. We get a bit of a hesitant start to go along with the story being told. Emma keeps trying to bring out this new Bayley and as a result, there is a lot of stalling. Bayley misses in the corner and puts on Emma Lock. She hits the splash in the corner, but goes for a cocky pin attempt. Bayley is able to counter that and she picks up the victory. After the match, Bayley checks on Emma and then walks back. Emma looks like she is considering attacking her, but ends up not doing anything. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Becky Lynch talks about being so close to winning the NXT Women's Championship at TakeOver. She complains about not getting a singles match for the title. 

Blake & Murphy vs. Lucha Dragons

Kalisto holds the ropes open for a Sin Cara dive onto both opponents. Kalisto then hits a moonsault to add insult to injury. The crowd is definitely kind of over the Lucha Dragons. Things come to a screeching halt for whatever reason, as you can pretty much assume this won't be a long match. Sin Cara gets the hot tag and he hits a springboard moonsault for a 2 count. Blake shoves Sin Cara off top rope and then this him with a right hand. Murphy hits a running vertical suplex and Blake finishes him with a splash from the top. This was very blah. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Sami Zayn is about to be interviewed backstage, but is immediately interrupted by Rhyno. He says that the line for the NXT title starts behind him. 

We get a Solomon Crowe vignette.

Tye Dillinger vs. Jason Jordan

The former jobber tag team explodes. The crowd doesn't really react to either guy and the very generic music doesn't help. Jordan hits a Spear in the corner and does the strap gimmick. Jordan is showing a nice intensity here and it definitely feels like he's the one they are pushing here. Jordan tosses him across the ring and picks up the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We get a video package of the Tyler Breeze/Hideo Itami feud. 

2 Out Of 3 Falls Match
Tyler Breeze vs. Hideo Itami

After a brief run from Breeze, Itami hits with his signature striking offense and hits a running kick for the first fall. I'm not sure if we're much more than a minute into the match. Breeze is selling that he's injured and the referee has to keep stopping Itami from starting the second fall. Naturally, it's just a trap and he hits the Beauty Shot to earn the second fall. I'm not sure why they couldn't have removed a match from the card so that this wasn't so rushed. I don't know what it is, but the crowd just isn't as good here tonight. We get some back and forth action, with both men selling how exhausted they are, which is a little hard to believe. Breeze hits a Supermodel Kick, but Itami barely kicks out. Itami starts hitting the quick fury of strikes, but misses with the running dropkick. Breeze misses with the Beauty Shot and the second attempt at the running dropkick hits. He goes for the running kick again, but Breeze hits the Beauty Shot and picks up the victory. I have to say that there's no way I would have booked Itami to lose here and I like Breeze. Itami is the guy they should have been pushing and instead he has just turned into a high profile midcard guy. The match was pretty good, but short for the stipulation.

Match Rating: **1/4

This was just a really disappointing show. The crowd was flat and so was the action. It just felt like everyone was just off for the evening. 

Overall Rating: 43%

Monday Night Raw 4-10-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, April 10th
Mid-Hudson Center
Poughkeepsie, New York

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We'll see the shocking footage that we didn't see last week of Sid attacking Shawn Michaels. You know, the footage we just showed on Superstars two days ago. Owen Hart, Yokozuna and Hakushi cut a promo about their big match tonight. We get Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler in front of one of the worst green screens I have ever seen. 

Adam Bomb vs. Tatanka

Hey guys, instead of having a match on WrestleMania, we'll let you wrestle the second taping of the night in Poughkeepsie. Sound good? They seem a step off early on, with Tatanka having to seemingly have to telegraph what he wants Bomb to do on offense. They start to settle in and then we get a commercial break. When we come back, Tatanka is stomping away on Bomb, who is on all fours. Tatanka hits a DDT and Vince hints at big announcements from both Ted DiBiase and Bob Backlund. Bomb makes a comeback, but he just seems off to me here tonight. He hits a series of moves and Tatanka rolls out of the ring. He and Bomb start slugging it out and Bomb slams Tatnaka into the steps. The bell rings and we have a double countout here. That wasn't exactly a great way to kick off the show.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Headshrinkers vs. Mike Bell & Tony DeVito

I guess the Headshrinkers still exist. We're getting real close to Fatu making a difference. I do miss Samu. Fatu hits a clothesline and a superkick. Bell is able to clothesline Fatu after DeVito knees him in the back. Sione returns the favor as McMahon and Lawler continue to talk about Duckman. It's interesting that I always associate Barbarian with WWF, but he really had the much better career in WCW. Fatu hits the splash and that's all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a Jean Pierre Lafitte vignette, even though he already debuted on Superstars. This is a pretty cheap looking vignette. He'll face Duke Droese next week. Remember him?

Now we get to see the Shawn Michaels/Sid footage. It all ends with Michaels being stretchered off.

Kama vs. Scott Taylor

Kama is just not getting over. He does hit a cool move where he pushes Taylor up in the air and hits him with a punch. He hits the Vader Bomb splash and that's all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We then see the Alundra Blayze Women's Championship victory and then her being attacked by Bertha Faye. 

Bret Hart, Bob Holly and 1-2-3 Kid cut their promo ahead of their main event match tonight.

Owen Hart, Yokozuna & Hakushi vs. Bret Hart, 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly

Yokozuna catches Bret and hits a body slam, but misses with the elbow drop. We then get a quicker pace when Hakushi and Holly get in there and of course they go to commercial. Now Kid and Owen get in there and Kid nails a kick. Owen comes back with one of his own and then tags in Yokozuna. Yoko hits a clothesline and tags in Hakushi. We're only about 4 months from these two having a personal favorite match. We get another commercial break, yeesh. Kid is able to get a tag in and in comes Bret on Yokozuna. It takes three clotheslines to take Yoko down and then he hits a bulldog off the second turnbuckle. Owen gets a chance at Bret and slows down his momentum. Bret hits a blind tag to Holly. Bret hits a dropkick and Holly rolls him up to steal the victory. This was a fun TV match, even if the commercial breaks were excessive for such a short match. Owen is obviously not happy after the match.

Match Rating: **1/2

We have fans chanting Duckman and a guy has a Duckman shirt on. Was this really a thing? The fandom, not the show. Don't forget to watch WrestleMania Encore Plus tomorrow. They show a clip of the entrance for LT's team and then announce that Owen Hart and Yokozuna will defend their titles against Bob Holly and 1-2-3 Kid. 

This was a pretty flat show overall. They aren't quite ready yet to build up for In Your House, so we're kind of just stuck with not a whole lot of substance. The main event was good, even if it would have benefitted from a few more minutes. 

Overall Rating: 42%

Superstars 4-8-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, April 8th, 1995
Glens Falls Civic Center
Glens Falls, New York

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Men On A Mission vs. Buck Quartermain & Bill Payne

Men On A Mission are in full heel mode, with Mabel kind of rapping, but not really. This is definitely the transition period for them. Payne gets in a couple of dropkicks, but it's back to Mabel on offense. He hits a belly to belly suplex and that's enough for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Jim Ross for the WrestleMania Report. We see the still photos and then the post-match interview from Bam Bam Bigelow. 

We see Aldo Montoya getting ready for his match and then Jeff Jarrett to talk trash about him. 

1-2-3 Kid vs. Mike Khoury

Khoury hits a hip toss and flexes for the crowd. He hits another one, this time throwing nearly halfway across the ring. Kid kind of hits a spin kick, but then hits a German suplex into a bridge for the victory. That was kind of a weird match. Why did Khoury even get offense in if it was going to be that short? 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show clips of Diesel's interview on Raw saying he'd give Shawn a rematch. We then see Shawn's interview in return with Sid. They show the action from the commercial break, with Sid hitting Shawn with a powerbomb. Shawn is shown being stretchered off and Diesel walking with him. 

They show highlights from the Fan Fest at WrestleMania weekend. 

We see the same celebrity clips hyping up how much fun they had as we saw on Raw. 

Mantaur vs. Rich Myers

How have they not given up on Mantaur yet? Myers is the perfect opponent for him though, as he's flopping all over the ring for him. Mantaur catches him and hits a powerslam for the victory. This was easily the best Mantaur match, which means it was actually watchable. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Aldo Montoya says that he's feeling confident today and then Jarrett comes in and shoves him and they have to be pulled apart. 

They show clips of Alundra Blayze winning the WWE Women's Championship back and then getting attacked by Bertha Faye. 

Aldo Montoya vs. Jeff Jarrett

I wonder how much money it cost for Aldo's pyro? I feel like that would have been one of the first budget cuts. Aldo runs out into the aisle and pulls him in the ring, hitting a crossbody for a 2 count. He then goes for a sunset flip for another 2. Roadie tries to trip Aldo and that's enough to distract him. Roadie then hits a clothesline behind the referee's back. Vince says that Razor hurt his knee again at WrestleMania. It's kind of sad that there's only a year left of Razor in WWF. Although at the rate I am going through it, it will be closer to 18 months. We get a real weird commercial break where Aldo goes for another sunset flip, but Jarrett blocks it and tries to punch him, but Aldo moves. Jarrett hits his fist into the mat and then we go to the break right as it happens. When we come back, Aldo is back on offense. Jarrett misses in the corner and Aldo hits him with a missile dropkick. Jarrett comes back with a back suplex and the ref counts to 3. Jarrett's music hits and he celebrates, but the referee tells him no, that it was Aldo who got his shoulder up. That was kind of a goofy finish and they barely even focus on the ending and just go to a commercial for the WrestleMania XI replay. The match was fun because it followed the underdog storyline where he goes for the victory with multiple pin attempts. Jarrett is good enough to play this role too. We do come back to Jarrett who has the Intercontinental Championship around his belt and heads to the back. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Next week on Superstars, it's Smoking Gunns vs. Kwang and Hakushi in a random matchup. 

Vince and Lawler talk about Shawn Michaels' back injury, saying he will miss some time. 

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Scott Taylor

Here we go, I love Lafitte. He hits some big chops on the chest of Mr. 2 Hotty, but he comes back with a drop toe hold. Lafitte hits him with a knee into the gut and then stomps his foot there as well. He ties up Taylor in the rope and then hits a crossbody twice on him in kind of a unique spot. Lafitte hits a senton and that's all. He looked impressive here, but he worked at too slow of a pace for this squash. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go back to Jim Ross for another WrestleMania Report. Lots of still photos.

We get Vince trying to instigate an Intercontinental Championship match between Aldo and Jarrett and we just kind of go off the air. 

This was a pretty good episode of Superstars, with the feature match being entertaining and heck even Mantaur looked as good as he ever looked. It's mindless fluff, but it was just good enough to pass the time.

Overall Rating: 54%

SmackDown 1-27-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, January 26th, 2007
Mobile Civic Center
Mobile, Alabama

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We get a long recap of the Mr. Kennedy saga ahead of his title match at Royal Rumble.

Batista vs. Gregory Helms

Helms brags about being the longest reigning champion in SmackDown history. Helms gets a thumb in the eye before being driven into the ring post and gets a leg drop in. JBL predicts that Helms will be World Heavyweight Champion in 2007 and that he is SmackDown's best kept secret. That the cue for Batista to make a comeback and he hits the Batista Bomb shortly after. Helms looked good in his small slot of offense.

Match Rating: *1/4

Chris Benoit vs. Miz

Although Miz is extremely inexperienced here, he does a nice job of not looking too out of place here. Benoit was that type of wrestler that could make most guys look good, so I'm sure that helps. They tell the story of Miz being able to hang with Benoit a little bit, probably as a test. He gets in a little bit of offense. He gets hit by the diving headbutt, but is able to get his foot on the bottom rope. Benoit puts on the Crossface and picks up the victory. This was good for what they were going for.

Match Rating: *

They show Deuce 'N Domino backstage playing up their characters ahead of their match tonight. 

Deuce 'N Domino vs. Adam Evans & John Robinson

These guys are a very punch and kick type of team, but I think there is always room for at least one of those on the tag roster. The look works with the gimmick and they have a unique presentation. They obviously squash these two jobbers and win with a kick to the face. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

MVP is blaming Teddy Long for his burns and that he's not fighting Kane tonight. Teddy says that he can't make him, but if he doesn't wrestle Kane tonight, he won't be in the Royal Rumble. 

King Booker vs. Finlay

They show Hornswoggle peaking out from under the ring during Booker's entrance. Queen Sharmell joins the announce team. These two for whatever reason never had great chemistry in the ring. I'm sure the heel vs. heel dynamic didn't help. Booker hits a kick to the jaw and then out comes Hornswoggle. He starts to pull Sharmell under the ring until Booker gets his hands on him. That allows Finlay to attack him from behind, but then he shoves the referee as well. They begin to brawl up the ring entrance and they get counted out. This felt pretty pointless, especially since I know it never really led to anything.

Match Rating: 3/4*

MNM vs. Paul London, Brian Kendrick & Ashley

We get some nice, fast-paced offense to start off the match. London is kicked off the top rope by Melina as he's attempting a springboard maneuver and MNM hits a big back body drop after. Kendrick gets a hot tag, but when he's going for a dive, Melina gets in his way. Ashley runs in and takes her down and Kendrick hits the dive anyway. Kendrick goes for a sunset flip off the top and London dropkicks Mercury into the pin attempt, but Melina breaks it up. Melina then distracts the referee and MNM hits the Snapshot for the victory. This was quite the nice little sprint of a match here. Good stuff.

Match Rating: ***

Kane vs. MVP

MVP is still selling the burns here and Kane of course targets them. JBL is still furious about it and provides the entertainment for the match. Michael Cole then goes on some rant that makes no sense about MVP only being here because he wants to win the WWE Championship or something. Kane hits the top rope clothesline and then signals for the chokeslam. Kane instead dropkicks MVP off the apron and to the floor. MVP then hits him with a chair to the gut and the bell rings. The attack continues and hits him in the head with it. MVP then goes under the ring and grabs a can of gasoline. Kane sits up and hits MVP with a boot. MVP heads to the back and Kane throws the can that clearly isn't anywhere near full to the mat. 

Match Rating: *

Over The Top Rope Challenge

Well, the same six guys that we've already seen wrestle are wrestling again here with King Booker, Finlay, Kane, MVP, Miz and Chris Benoit. Kane is eliminated first, which makes me happy. Despite there only being 5 people in the ring, this is very much middle of the battle royal type action here. Finlay dumps Miz over the top, which to be honest I am shocked didn't happen right away. All of a sudden the lights go out and the bell tolls. When the lights come back on, Undertaker is in the ring and attacks everyone. They all sort of take their turn with him and he of course is just so much better than everyone that they can't stop him. He lays all of them out and then smoke starts coming from around the ring. His music hits and he celebrates in the ring. So basically this is a no contest and was just here to put over Taker. Cool.

Match Rating: *

This was a pretty mediocre show overall. I really enjoyed the tag match, even if it was way too short. The rest I will most likely forget even ever happened. I am looking forward to revisiting the Royal Rumble, but nothing on this show made me want to see it more than I already did. 

Overall Rating: 46%

Payback 2023 Review

Saturday, September 2nd, 2023
PPG Paints Arena
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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Steel Cage Match
Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch

Trish tries to escape, but Becky hits a series of Beck-sploder suplexes. Trish is able to bounce back and hits a spinebuster before rubbing Becky's face in the cage. The intensity is turning up now and they battle up on the top turnbuckle. Trish is at the top of the cage, but Becky gets her on her shoulders. Trish fights out, but ends up eating a powerbomb for a 2 count. Trish comes back and hits a Widow's Peak for a nearfall. She even did the hair thing that Victoria used to do. Trish goes for Stratusfaction, but Becky counters and hits the Twist Of Fate for a 2 count. Trish now hits Stratusfaction and Becky barely kicks out. Both ladies are working really hard here and the crowd is into it. They battle on the top rope again and Trish is able to hit a super bulldog for another 2 count. They go climbing again and the are battling all the way up on the top. Trish is now hanging from the top. Becky picks her up and is able to hit a superplex. Becky starts to climb up the cage and Trish then starts crawling to the floor. Becky sees it and comes down. Becky has her by the legs and out comes Zoey Stark and starts pulling her by her arms. Zoey slams the door on Becky's face, but she kicks out. Becky hits a Manhandle Slam, but Zoey breaks up the pin attempt. Becky closes the door shut with Zoey in there and they start going at it. Trish starts climbing the cage and Becky hits the Manhandle Slam on Stark. Becky climbs and catches her and hits a super Manhandle Slam from the top for the victory. That was absolutely fantastic work by both women. The feud didn't seem to be getting as good of reactions on Raw as I had hoped, but this match ended up making this a great feud. 

Match Rating: ****1/2

After the match, Trish slaps Zoey after an argument. Zoey fires back and hits the Z-360. 

John Cena is our host for the evening and headed to the ring. Cena announces that he'll be the special guest referee for the LA Knight/Miz match and out comes Miz to tell him how much he sucks at hosting. Cena says that he doesn't like Miz, but he respects him. He asks Miz for hosting advice and mocks Cena for looking like the Teletubbies. Cena gets a referee shirt and says that he guesses that he's going to be the referee. LA Knight's music hits and I guess it's match time. 

Miz vs. LA Knight

Miz takes his sweet time getting in the ring and then immediately rolls out of the ring after the bell rings. Miz then heads to the back and Knight charges. Miz ducks and it still ends up in Knight's favor. They start duking it out in the ring and then Knight hits a back elbow. Knight goes for the superplex, but Miz blocks it and drops him face first. Miz hits a double ax handle off the top rope. Knight is able to attack Miz out of the ring and then Miz drops Knight's face into the announce table. Miz charges at Knight and gets back body dropped over the barricade. Knight gets into an argument with Cena after he pulled him off Miz after not breaking a count. That distraction allows Miz to regain control. He hits a variation of the Codebreaker and gets a 2 count. Knight comes back and hits a variation of a Rock Bottom that looked pretty cool. Miz is back though and hits his DDT for a 2 count. Miz misses a clothesline in the corner and Knight hits a twisting DDT. We get some drama with Cena and it leads to Miz hitting the Skull Crushing Finale, but again Knight kicks out. Cena's counts aren't the best. For some reason most wrestlers can never get it right. Miz goes for the 5 Knuckle Shuffle, but Knight is up and he hits a slam and an elbow drop. He hits the BFT and that's all. I don't think anyone thought there was a doubt that Knight was going to win, but they may have bought into that last false finish. The match was pretty good overall. After the match, Cena takes off his ref shirt and reaches out his hand. After a delay, Knight shakes it and Cena lifts up his hand before heading to the back. 

Match Rating: ***

United States Championship Match
Austin Theory vs. Rey Mysterio

Apparently this match is sponsored by Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It's all Theory to start until Mysterio hits a moonsault that no man his age should be able to hit. He hits a sliding DDT before hitting the seated senton from the top rope. Theory is able to avoid the 619 and then catches Rey in the air before hitting a spinning sitdown powerbomb. The most underrated part of Rey Mysterio is that his size allows other wrestlers to hit moves they typically can't. Rey comes back and hits a 619, but Theory gets the knees up on the splash. He puts him up for A Town Down, but Rey counters into a pin and picks up the victory. Rey was Rey here, which is always amazing, but this felt a little more like a TV match than a big show match. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We go backstage to Becky Lynch, but she's interrupted by Tiffany Stratton. She apologizes for calling Becky a former NXT Champion since she wasn't one. 

Steel City Street Fight For The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. Finn Balor & Damian Priest

So there are no tags needed here, it's just a brawl. Balor stomps on a Terrible Towel, which is major heat in Pittsburgh. Owens and Zayn start using trash cans and Owens rips off his shirt to reveal a Terry Funk shirt. The put the can on Balor and start whacking him with kendo sticks. Priest is able to change things in the Judgment Day's favor. The action eventually spills out into the crowd and out comes Dirty Dom to help out. Judgment Day starts celebrating and out comes Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens dressed in Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys and attacking with hockey sticks. Zayn and Balor are in the ring with a bunch of chairs. Priest grabs Zayn, but Zayn is able to escape and hits the Blue Thunder Bomb on the chairs, but Balor kicks out. Man, he can't even win with that move even when it's on chairs. Priest then hits Zayn with a slam onto some chairs propped up, but Owens breaks it up with a chair. We're back in the crowd again. I like how the referee has to wear gloves because Owens is bleeding, but it's okay for him to be walking through the crowd. They battle over by the pre-show announce table and then Zayn does a somersault dive off of it onto both Priest and Balor. Out comes Dirty Dom again, but Owens takes care of him. Now Owens is up over the tunnel and hits a senton through the table. Owens is the slightly saner version of Jeff Hardy. They got a really cool camera angle of the other side of that too. Zayn and Balor are back in the ring and Zayn goes for a Helluva Kick, but Priest throws a trash can at his face. Balor goes through a table and Zayn hits the Helluva Kick, but JD McDonagh makes the save. Owens comes out and gives him a Pop Up Powerbomb onto the announce table. Out comes Rhea Ripley and she Spears Owens through the barricade. Balor hits Sling Blade on Zayn and misses with Coup de Grace. Zayn hits the exploder in the corner and gets the Helluva Kick. Dom makes the save with the Money In The Bank briefcase and Balor rolls over to win the titles. I had a feeling they may give it to them here, but figured they'd just go with the happy ending instead. This was such a fun match that Zayn and Owens added their unique personalities to it from start to finish.

Match Rating: ****

It's time with the Grayson Waller Effect and the guest is of course Cody Rhodes. Cody goes over how we all think this is going to go, which is ending with a brawl and him hitting Cross Rhodes. Instead he announces that he's bringing out Jey Uso to join Raw. Waller tries to mock Uso, but it ends with him hitting a superkick on him. So is this how we get back to Cody/Roman at WrestleMania?

Women's World Championship Match
Raquel Rodriguez vs. Rhea Ripley

Rhea's music has to be in the bottom 10 of all time. This one is already making my eyes heavy. Raquel is such a black hole of personality. For the two people who may stumble onto this page and most likely never read it, please note that I just don't have it in me to recap this match. I know that it defeats the purpose of reviewing a match, but I now have put in enough words to make it look like I recapped it. I guess I'll start now. Raquel hits Rhea into the ring post. Out comes Dirty Dom again and she gives him a body slam. The distraction allows Rhea to hit Riptide for the victory. I just had no interest in this match.

Match Rating: *

John Cena interviews the new tag champs and they say they have all the gold, so it's time to celebrate. So does Damian Priest have one more left in him tonight? 

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Seth Rollins

This has been an intriguing story that has reinvigorated the Nakamura character for me. The first big spot of the match happens when Seth is trying to leap off the barricade onto Nakamura on the announce table. Nakamura gets up and press slams him onto his back into the table. He naturally goes after the back as expected. They battle up on the turnbuckles and Seth is able to hit a hurricanrana. Rollins comes back with a Frog Splash, but it's not enough. Later on in the match, Nakamura is able to put on the triangle choke but then Rollins somehow hits a powerbomb out of it. Both men are able to hit kicks to the head and both are now down. Rollins goes to climb to the top rope, but Nakamura gets there first. He puts him on his shoulders and hits a Landslide from the ropes, but Rollins kicks out. He's selling his back and then Nakamura hits Kinshasa. He wants to go again, but Rollins doesn't get up. Nakamura just hits a series of insulting kicks instead. Rollins counters out of some suplexes and hits the Pedigree. Rollins comes back with the Stomp and that's enough for the victory. I'm not sure that was quite the classic they were going for, but there were some good moments throughout. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

There were two really awesome matches on this show and a good main event, so it's pretty much a guaranteed thumbs up. The Raquel match was really the only thing that I didn't enjoy other than the runtime of the show. There's no reason a 6 match show needs to be over 3 hours long. Kudos to the ladies in the opener one last time for putting on an absolute classic.

Overall Rating: 77%

ECW 1-23-07 Review

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
Mobile Civic Center
Mobile, Alabama

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Over The Top Rope Challenge

We kick things right off with Sandman making his entrance. Other competitors in this match are Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Kevin Thorn and Tommy Dreamer. These types of matches are no brainers and something that I'm just about always good with doing prior to the Royal Rumble. Sabu and Dreamer eliminate each other pretty quickly. Thorn then quickly eliminates Sandman and we're left with Thorn and RVD. Do they have so much planned that they have no time for these guys? Thorn just kind of sucks the life out of every match he's in, pun not intended. RVD knocks Thorn on the apron and then hits a top rope single leg kick to knock him out and win the match. This was not much of a match. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Joey Styles and Tazz announce that the previously scheduled main event of Hardcore Holly/Bobby Lashley was changed and we're getting Test/Lashley instead. That makes no sense when they are fighting each other in 5 days. 

Marcus Cor Von vs. Wes Adams

Cor Von had a sweet debut last week despite them not hyping him up at all prior to the match. Cor Von hypes up the Alpha Male gimmick before the match. He then absolutely destroys poor Adams here. He hits the Pounce, which is such a good move. He hits a Russian leg sweep, some knees to the face and an arm bar to win the match. Another impressive match here for Cor Von.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Hardcore Holly confronts Test about changing the match tonight. He said he doesn't care who it is, but he's going after the ECW Championship. 

It's time for Kelly's return and it's Extreme Exposé featuring her, Layla and Brooke. I don't remember if the Nitro Girls were any good, but this wasn't. 

We get a Test hype video that makes him feel like he's some all timer. 

Matt Striker is out to join the announce team for the next match.

CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke

I feel like this is Burke's first true match here as a singles. As per usual, Punk allows his opponent to get a lot of offense in. Punk hits hits some of his signature offense as he makes his comeback here. Not that anyone cares, but I was eating during this match. Rather than typing, I was just enjoying the match. I'm sure you are heartbroken. You being no one since not one single person will ever read this sentence. We get a roll up situation and Punk pulls of yet another fluke type victory. I'm fine with them booking Burke strong because he has potential, but Punk barely winning every week seems counterproductive. 

Match Rating: **

Extreme Rules Match
Test vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley attacks Test right away and almost plays the heel role early on. Test rolls out of the ring after escaping a powerslam and we go to commercial break. When we come back, we see that Test threw Lashley into the steps to gain the upper hand. Test goes off the top rope, but Lashley gets his boot up. Lashley hits a clothesline, but then misses with an elbow drop. Test then hits Lashley with a series of fists to the head. Test removes the top turnbuckle and for some reason the referee isn't allowing it despite it being an Extreme Rules match. Test removes a different turnbuckle while the referee replaces the first one. Lashley hits his head into the exposed corner, but Lashley kicks out. Lashley comes back with a Spear and some clotheslines. Lashley hits a delayed vertical suplex and then throws Test into the steps. This match has no flow to it at all. Lashley hits another running powerslam and that's all. So what is the draw of them fighting again at Royal Rumble? These guys don't have enough moves in their arsenal at this point of their careers to have a match as long as it went. I mean, I get that no one is buying Royal Rumble because of Test vs. Lashley, but they could have just done a tag team match or something. 

Match Rating: *

Well, this show just felt extremely unnecessary. The first match was rushed, the main event felt like forever and the rest just kind of floated by. There's always next week.

Overall Rating: 39%