NXT 5-13-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, May 13th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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They show a recap of Sami Zayn vs. John Cena on Raw and the injury that occurred during the match.

Solomon Crowe vs. Baron Corbin

Oh boy, my two favorites. Crowe is able to get in a few moves, including a kick to the side of the head. However, he tries to leap at Corbin, he catches him and hits End Of Days. At least it was quick. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

After the match, Rhyno is out and wants to know if they're going to go. They start brawling and a bunch of officials are out and Rhyno hits a few with the Gore.

They ask Finn Balor who he wants to face if he wins. He of course takes exception to "if". He then doesn't think it will matter whom he faces once he wins.

They then ask Tyler Breeze and he essentially says the exact same thing Balor said. 

Sasha Banks grabs the mic and says that she made Becky Lynch and at TakeOver, she is going to show why she is the boss of NXT. 

Sasha Banks vs. KC Cassidy

KC Cassidy is Peyton Royce. This is obviously a tune up for next week's big match. Sasha hits the double knees to the midsection of Cassidy. She locks in the Bank Statement and that's all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Charlotte and Bayley are backstage for an interview. They talk about Dana Brooke and Emma. They say that they both will be at TakeOver and they hope that they show up too.

They show Apollo Crews arriving at NXT and that he's coming soon. 

Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss

Carmella is out on her own. Carmella has control of the match and out come Blake and Murphy to observe. Bliss is able to make a comeback and hits a moonsault with double knees for 2. Alexa goes up top and hits the Sparkle Splash and that's enough for the finish. After the match, Blake and Murphy enter the ring as the crowd chants "No means no". Blake gets on the mic and says that if you are hanging out with trash, you're going to smell like garbage. Carmella then says that Enzo and Cass are going to walk out of TakeOver as NXT Tag Team Champions. The match wasn't very good, but it was all a backdrop for TakeOver.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Hideo Itami says that he wants to fight Kevin Owens because he doesn't have respect for him since he has no respect for anyone.

We go to Emma and Dana Brooke backstage. Emma says that if Bayley wants her to slap more sense into her, then she'll do it. Dana says that she's doing Charlotte a favor by letting her know that she's going to be passed by. They accept the challenge at TakeOver.

Adam Rose & Tyler Breeze vs. Hideo Itami & Finn Balor

Adam Rose is without his Rose Buds and not having as much fun. We get an early commercial break when Balor knocks Rose out of the ring. When we come back, Balor hits a roll through dropkick on Rose. Rose is able to catch Balor with a forearm as he was leaping into the ring and tags in Breeze. They cut the ring in half and Rose hits a big spinebuster. He slaps on a Boston crab, but Balor grabs the bottom rope. Balor is able to hit the Pele kick and tag in Itami. Itami hits a top rope clothesline on Rose and a series of kicks to Breeze. Balor tags himself in and hits Sling Blade. He hits Breeze with the running dropkick. He climbs up top and now Itami tags himself in. Breeze rolls up Itami and runs away with the victory. This was obviously only designed to continue the building tension between Balor and Itami. Breeze attacks them from behind and again stands tall. Adding Adam Rose in there as the obvious guy to take the fall at least made it less predictable. Rose celebrates with Breeze and then Breeze hits him with the Supermodel Kick. The match was pretty standard.

Match Rating: **

They show Sami Zayn vs. John Cena again and then we get a post match interview. He talks about his injury and how awesome it was to wrestle Cena in his hometown. 

It's time for Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to meet face to face here. Sami wants to know what it's about. Is Owens jealous that he got to NXT first? He then wonders if it's maybe that Owens' son wears a Sami shirt instead of his. Owens doesn't answer and walks to the back. Sami wants to know why he has nothing to say. Owens says that everything Sami said is irrelevant. Owens says that he knows the truth about Sami going home. It wasn't to clear his head, it was because he was hurt. He knows he is still hurt, he knows what the injury is and he says that he's going to hurt him again so that he never comes back. That was a strong final segment there.

This was mostly just a buildup before TakeOver, which is to be expected. They did do a nice job in that department and the Owens/Zayn segment was the highlight.

Overall Rating: 49%

Monday Night Raw 5-22-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, May 22nd, 1995
Broome County Arena
Binghamton, New York

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We get a recap of Sid turning on Shawn Michaels and hyping up his return tonight, as he takes on King Kong Bundy. 

Razor Ramon vs. Mike Bell

Razor is out with "Caribbean legend" Savio Vega. I love that we are just to accept that some guy we have never heard of is a legend. Vince talks about how badly Razor needs this victory. He does his usual squash match here until the end. Instead of giving him the Razor's Edge, he shoves him to the ground and stands on his chest for the pin. Quite the babyface move there.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Bret Hart comes out and confronts Lawler. Bret wants to know how he lost to Lawler and calls him worthless scum. He also refers to him as a parasite maggot. Bret then says that he wants one more match at any cost. Bret is very attitude era here, getting bleeped out a couple of times. He then grabs Lawler and has to be pulled apart by referees and officials. That was a well done segment and completely out of nowhere. 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. John Chrystal

This is Hunter's Raw debut. He hits the spin kick again that I don't ever remember being in his repertoire. He hits a version of the RKO/Diamond Cutter and that's all for Chrystal. He looked solid here. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Mr. Backlund, who is considering running for President. He goes over his demands, which includes reading an American novel every week and getting rid of calculators. 

We get a video of Stephanie giving the house to the winner. They open the closet and the Bushwhackers are in there. 

Allied Powers vs. Tony DeVito & Bill Payne

They show a clip of British Bulldog getting Mabel on his shoulders for an electric chair on the Action Zone. This is exactly what you would think it would be. They hit the big spots and put the ham and eggers away.

Match Rating: 1/4*

They re-show the challenge from Ted DiBiase for Sid and Tatanka against Bam Bam Bigelow and Diesel. 

Next week on Raw, Jeff Jarrett will take on Undertaker in a King Of The Ring qualifying match. 

Kama vs. Barry Horowitz

The first three squashes were all a little bit better than this, but who could have expected that? He puts on a half crab and that is enough? 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Todd Pettengill tells us how we can get tickets for the Hall Of Fame ceremony, which will take place the night before King Of The Ring. Antonina Rocca is going to be one of the inductees.

We go to Barry Didinski to show us the brand new $20 Shawn Michaels shirt. Don't forget about the $16 Raw shirt.

King Of The Ring Qualifying Match
King Kong Bundy vs. Shawn Michaels

Michaels knocks Bundy out of the ring before the match starts and continues with his dance into the commercial break. We have Michaels with his mullet/beard combo here. He hits a dive to the floor on Bundy before Bundy ever got back in the ring again. We get Michaels outsmarting Bundy at every turn until Bundy sends him on an Irish whip and Michaels ends up on the floor. Bundy then slams him to the floor before throwing him back in the ring. I'm not really sure why this is even for the King Of The Ring since it has a storyline attached to it and the tournament feels unimportant. This all leads to a bear hug spot, my favorite. They show Bam Bam and Diesel watching the match backstage before we go to another commercial break. When we come back, Michaels hits a top rope reverse crossbody and then hits Sweet Chin Music to pick up the victory. That was a quick post-commercial break finish there. They show Diesel and Bam Bam heading to the ring. Bam Bam plays middle man and Diesel extends his hand out for a handshake. It's wrestling, so Michaels has to look at the crowd for answers. He backs away and then tells Diesel to lift his arm up for a high five and they then hug. As far as Bundy matches go, this is about as good as it's going to get in 1995.

Match Rating: *1/2

Next week, we'll see both Sid and Hakushi in action. Jerry Lawler then tries to address Bret, but he can't talk due to a throat injury. We get an Undertaker and Paul Bearer promo for his match with Jeff Jarrett next week.

The Bret Hart moment was the highlight here and Michaels also looked really sharp in his return. The rest of the show was just fluff, but nothing offensive. 

Overall Rating: 39%

Off The Grid, Volume 40: Survivor Series 1987 Review

Thursday, November 26th, 1987
Richfield Coliseum
Richfield, Ohio

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Off The Grid, Volume 40:

Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura are introduced and welcome us to the show. It's crazy how much difference a year or so makes in this era, because this show still looks and feels very old fashioned even compared to 1988-89. With this being the first ever Survivor Series, they go over the rules of the matches.

Craig DeGeorge is with Honky Tonk Man's team and it's lots of chatter while Honky hyping up the team. This is the type of fun that's missing from the current era of wrestling. We go to Mean Gene with Randy Savage's team and we get some more fun nonsense. 

Honky Tonk Man, Harley Race, Hercules, Ron Bass & Danny Davis vs. Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake, Jake Roberts & Jim Duggan

As is the case with most major matches during this era, the crowd is outstanding to start here. Beefcake and Hercules start if you are wondering for trivia purposes. Beefcake slaps on the sleeper quickly, but he's able to get out of it. Davis is able to hit a knee to the face of Steamboat to slow down Savage's teams momentum. Race tries throwing Steamboat out of the ring twice, but both times he skins the cat. Steamboat throws Race out, but he races quickly in and hits a suplex. In comes Duggan and he clotheslines Race over the top rope and they start brawling on the floor, leading to a double countout. So your first ever eliminations are Duggan and Race. Savage is able to make a blind tag to Beefcake and that leads to him hitting a high knee on Bass to eliminate him. We get some classic Honky Tonk Man selling from Beefcake until Beefcake runs the ropes and into Davis's knee. Honky hits the Shake Rattle 'N' Roll Neckbreaker and Brutus is gone. Jesse basically buries Honky by saying "What he lacks in ability, he makes up with sheer luck", which is kind of an odd comment for a heel commentator to make about a heel wrestler. Roberts hits the short arm clothesline on Davis and into the DDT to eliminate Davis. Hercules comes in and clocks Roberts. After working on Roberts, he's able to get a hot tag to Steamboat and the crowd is loving it. It leads to Savage hitting the top rope elbow and we now have a 3 on 1 situation for Honky Tonk Man. He gets absolutely dominated, so Honky decides to head to the back for the anticlimatic victory for Savage, Roberts and Steamboat. This was good fun though overall with a hot crowd. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

We go to Bobby Heenan, Andre The Giant, Butch Reed, Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, Slick and One Man Gang to hype up their main event match tonight. 

We get a weird cut with the women already in the ring. I wonder what was there originally?

Dawn Marie, Donna Christianello, Sensational Sherri & Glamour Girls vs. Velvet McIntyre, Rockin' Robin, Fabulous Moolah & Jumping Bomb Angels

Moolah being a face seems kind of weird to me and she doesn't get much of a positive reaction. Christianello is 45 here and looks 65. She gets eliminated quickly by McIntyre with a victory roll. They know they aren't as over since they are never on television, but they are definitely trying to make the most of the opportunity here with the effort. I should note that Jimmy Hart is managing the Glamour Girls. Rockin' Robin hits a crossbody on Dawn Marie and she's gone. We get a taste of the awesome Jumping Bomb Angels and they show off some innovative offense. Sherri is able to eliminate Robin with a suplex. We kind of hit a lull in the match where the match just isn't as sharp. Ironically, it's when the old veteran Moolah is in. No coincidence there. She stinks. She telegraphs getting hit by a clothesline and thankfully is out of this match. Sherri hits an awkward looking suplex on Velvet. Leilani hits a nice double underhook suplex, but the Jumping Bomb Angel bridges out of that. The bell rings because apparently they don't know the difference between 2 and 3. Velvet hits an airplane spin on Sherri and then hits a victory roll to pin the champion. Leilani is able to eliminate Velvet and we now have a true tag team match. That probably would have just been the better choice here. Kai misses a top rope splash and gets hit by a crossbody to eliminate Kai. The Angels knock Jimmy Hart off the apron and then pick up the victory on Martin. This was just way too long and really lacked in storytelling. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

It's time to go to the heel team for the tag team match. Bobby Heenan once again leads the way on teh interview. Jimmy Hart comes in and he's on edge, but changes his jacket. More fun chaos. We then go to the ring with Slick introducing the Bolsheviks to sing the Russian national anthem. No one interferes. 

Mean Gene is with the face team. It's good to see best buddies Jacques Rougeau and Dynamite Kid get to team together. 

Bolsheviks, Demolition, Dream Team, Islanders & Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs, Young Stallions, Rougeau Brothers, Killer Bees & Strike Force

As it has been said many times over the years, there are just too many wrestlers on the ring apron for this one. It's an absolute nightmare for the camera crew. Santana is able to catch Zhukov with the flying forearm and the Bolsheviks are gone. The Rougeaus are eliminated after a missed crossbody by Jacques. This is probably the hardest I have ever seen Dino Bravo work before. Smash runs into the turnbuckle and gets hit by a Dynamite Kid clothesline. Smash and Ax start double teaming Dynamite and the ref tries to stop them, so they shove him out of the way, causing the disqualification. Bret Hart comes in and hits a piledriver for a 2. The pace quickens and Tito is able to hit a flying forearm on Neidhart, but Bret makes the save and apparently the elbow to the back of the head was enough for Neidhart to pin Tito. That was weak. Ventura is impressed by the Young Stallions being able to kick out of pins. I'm sure they will have a great career. So far all of these matches have hit a wall at some point where the inexperience of this type of match is shown. They just start doing whatever and lose the momentum from the early part of the match. Davey Boy hits a running powerslam on Haku, but he's able to kick out. The Bulldogs hit a suplex/second rope headbutt combo. Dynamite sells the hard head of Haku and gets hit with a superkick to be eliminated. Dino hits that deadly side suplex and instead of pinning him, he tags in Valentine for the Figure Four. He kicks out of it and it leads to Roma hitting a sunset flip to eliminate the Dream Team. This thing has just gone on way too long here. Tama dropkicks Bret while Brunzell has him up, but it backfires and Brunzell rolls through and pins Bret. We get some pretty standard stuff until the Killer Bees use a mask to confuse the referees and illegally pin the Islanders. Um, sure? So the Stallions and Bees are your survivors, which given hindsight seems like a pretty poor decision. This was good, but it was so long that you just started to not care about it. 

Match Rating: ***

We go to Ted DiBiase in a limo counting money and talking about how much better he is than us. They then show him insulting children and adults from TV. Early DiBiase was classic. Much like the tag team match, this was also very long. 

We get a long recap of the show so far with Gorilla and Jesse. They are just killing time and it's making this show feel like it's 5 hours long.

Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart come out to the arena for a live interview. This show just continues to drag, as he basically says nothing here. 

We go to Mean Gene with Hulk Hogan's random team. Seriously, they couldn't have spared him someone a little better than Ken Patera? 

King Kong Bundy, Rick Rude, Butch Reed, One Man Gang & Andre The Giant vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, Don Muraco, Paul Orndorff & Hulk Hogan

Rude and Muraco start things off. Rude's tights...yikes. I'm not even sure what he was going for with street sign tights. The face team just destroys Rude to start, but he's able to get to Butch Reed for the tag. Hogan and Orndorff double clothesline Reed and then Hogan hits the leg drop to eliminate him. Hogan is celebrating with his team and when he turns around, Andre is there. For some reason Hogan tags Patera. The match comes to a crawl with Patera and Gang in there. They both go for a clothesline, but Gang's is the one that wins and he falls on top of Patera to eliminate him. Bam Bam and Hogan hit a double boot on Gang to shift the momentum, however Bam Bam and Gang collide and both are down. Rude is back in, but so is Orndorff. Orndorff is a house of fire and signals for the piledriver. Bundy comes in from behind and nails him, allowing Rude to roll him up and eliminate him. Muraco hits a powerslam on Rude and that's enough to eliminate him, making it 3 on 3. Muraco tries to slam Gang, but he falls on top and almost gets eliminated. Muraco is thrown into Andre's corner and he takes a shot allowing Gang to hit a splash to eliminate him. Bundy hits a big clothesline on Bam Bam, but Hogan breaks up the count. We finally get back to Hogan and Andre. It all just leads to some distractions on the outside from Gang and Bundy, which just means Hogan is getting counted out. The crowd is not happy with this, as this was an absolute rarity during the Hogan era. They announce that if Hogan doesn't go to the back, Andre's team wins. That leaves Bam Bam to take on 1,500 pounds of Andre, Gang and Bundy. Bam Bam hits a dropkick on Bundy. He hits a slingshot splash on Bundy and he's gone. One Man Gang goes up to the top, but Bam Bam moves out of the way and we are down to just Bam Bam and Andre. Bam Bam tries to use his speed to avoid Andre, but he eventually gets him and hits a suplex for the victory. Not to be outdone, Hulk runs down right away and nails him with the WWF Championship. This is the match that gave us the "Hogan must pose" quote. I mean Andre didn't even get a second to acknowledge the victory. This match was a little bit more well constructed than the others and has the rare Hogan loss to boost it a little bit. 

Match Rating: ***

As Hogan is still posing, we go back to Mean Gene with Andre and Heenan. They naturally want a title shot. Jess and Gorilla wrap it up before we get some still photos of the show to close it out.

The matches were mostly decent here, but the show felt like 6 hours instead of 3. They were still figuring out things as far as how the Survivor Series matches flowed and the production wasn't what it would be in a year or so. I'm sure some people love this one, but it's not one I watch often for a reason.

Overall Rating: 46%

Survivor Series: WarGames 2023 Review

Saturday, November 25th, 2023
Allstate Arena
Rosemont, Illinois

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Women's WarGames Match
Bianca Belair, Shotzi, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. Bayley, Iyo Sky, Asuka & Kairi Sane

Becky Lynch and Bayley start things off. This match is brought to you by Ruffles if you can't tell. Becky's team was voted by the fans to have the advantage. They battle between the two rings and Bayley is able to hit a suplex on the steel plate. Becky throws Bayley into the cage and then hits a few running low dropkicks into Bayley. She puts on the Disarm-her, which Bayley can't submit here. Dakota Kai comes out and pokes a kendo stick into Becky to break the hold. The kendo stick is in the ring and now Shotzi is running down to the ring. Bayley tries to block her from coming in, but she slams the door into Bayley. Shotzi grabs a trash can and some chairs to bring into the ring. The crowd boos because they want some tables. Bayley tries to climb to escape, but both opponents are right after her. You can't leave the cage or you lose the match. Out next is Iyo Sky, who apparently has now been in 5 WarGames matches. She brings in a chain to even the score. Bianca is out next and she helps save Shotzi from a double superplex. She hits a double suplex of here own. Kairi Sane is now on her way to the ring and grabs a..trash can lid? They then cover Shotzi in chairs and Iyo pushes Kairi up to let her hit a big elbow drop. I'm not really sure why that didn't at least kind of hurt her, but it didn't. Bianca then tosses Kairi from one ring to the next and onto Bayley and Iyo. It's Charlotte's turn now. She takes care of her opponents and then stares down Becky. Iyo climbs to the top of the cage and drops the chain down to Dakota. She attaches a trash can and pulls it up to the cage. She puts the can over her head and leaps off to take out everyone. I'm not really sure what everyone was doing at that point, but it did look pretty insane. It's now time for Asuka and WarGames will begin. Asuka gets a huge pop by pulling out a table. She also grabs a fire extinguisher. Damage CTRL grab the kendo sticks and get the advantage. They chain up Becky and Bianca and all hit them with the kendo sticks. Shotzi and Asuka both climb the top rope, but Asuka hits the mist in her face. They put a garbage can on Becky and she hits a missile dropkick. We then get a Charlotte moonsault and looks like she drilled Iyo in the head with her knee. Becky and Charlotte start working together and then give a big hug. That leads to a Figure Eight and an arm bar. Bayley comes in off the top to break up Becky's hold. Kairi tries to attack Becky, but she blocks it and again Bayley makes a save on a submission hold. Shotzi hits a Doomsday missile dropkick on Asuka and again is broken up by Bayley. Bianca sprays Asuka with the fire extinguisher but then is hit in the back with a chair. We're into the chaos segment of the match with people hitting big moves. Charlotte goes for a Spear on Kairi, but Bayley moves her out of the way and takes the hit. Bianca hits a KOD on her and puts Bayley onto the table. Becky hits the Manhandle Slam from the second rope and through the table for the victory. There were definitely some pretty crazy moments in this match, but these are always on the longer side and it often feels that way. There was a lot of good effort in there too.

Match Rating: ***3/4

We go back to Alpha Academy, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven are eating Ruffles together. Pretty Deadly come in and cause some disagreement until R-Truth shows up. 

We go back to Sami Zayn and Jey Uso. Sami is worried because Randy Orton isn't here yet. Jey says it's his fault since he took part in putting Orton on the shelf. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Miz vs. Gunther

Miz is able to take out Gunther's leg and slams it on the ring post. He pulls out the Bret Hart Figure Four on the ring post in the very arena he did it to Steve Austin on. Miz goes off the top rope and runs into a big boot. Gunther continues dominating Miz, hitting a German suplex and another big boot. Miz finds an opening and goes back to the leg. He hits a series of big kicks and a tornado DDT for a 2 count. Gunther comes back with a powerbomb, but Miz is able to kick out at 2. They do a turnbuckle spot and the distraction from the referee putting it back on, allows Miz to hit two low blows and a Skull Crushing Finale, but Gunther kicks out. We then get the Bret Hart/Roddy Piper pin, but again Gunther kicks out. Gunther hits a clothesline and then a top rope splash. He puts him in the Boston Crab. Miz almost grabs the bottom rope, but Gunther pulls him back, puts the knee in the back and Miz taps out. That was a heck of a fun match. Miz is just so entertaining and has really become a fine storyteller. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Judgment Day are backstage and Dirty Dom says that he's been told that Orton isn't going to show up. 

Santos Escobar vs. Dragon Lee

Apparently Escobar injured Carlito, so now we get Dragon Lee. I would say that's an upgrade. It's all Escobar at the beginning, but then Dragon hits a hurricanrana off the apron to the floor and then a dive over the top rope. Escobar comes back and hits a top rope hurricanrana adn then tries to rip off Lee's mask. Dragon Lee hits a stomp on the midsection off the top rope but then runs into a superkick shortly after. Lee hits a nice sitdown powerbomb and gets a 2 count. Escobar comes back with a Canadian Destroyer and then the Phantom Driver for the victory. This was solid and the crowd was more into it than I anticipated. That's a good sign for both men. 

Match Rating: ***

Women's World Championship Match
Zoey Stark Vs. Rhea Ripley

We're at the part of the night where I can barely keep my eyes open. Rhea shows off her strength early until Zoey hits a few high flying moves. I haven't seen much Zoey, so this may be old news, but she is pretty impressive. Rhea is able to drop her face first onto the mat. We get a lot of back and forth stuff here, with Rhea hitting Rip Tide for the victory. That was a pathetic recap, if I do say so myself. Like I said, I'm sleepy, so give me a break. They were losing the crowd a little bit just because of their spot on the card, because the match was entertaining. 

Match Rating: ***

Cody Rhodes tries to calm down his team about Randy Orton not being here yet. 

Men's WarGames Match
Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Finn Balor & JD McDonagh vs. Cody Rhodes, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins & Randy Orton

Randy Orton is still not out as we start the match with Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. Rollins leaps from one ring to the next before the match starts and now we are underway. Balor escapes a buckle bomb and hits a clothesline. Judgment Day has the advantage in this match. Rollins goes for a Pedigree between the two rings, but Balor counters into a back body drop. Rollins moves out of the way of the Coup de Grace and hits a Sling Blade. JD McDonagh is the next entrant and eats a boot on his way into the ring. He's able to crack a kendo stick on  Rollins on his second attempt in. Rollins gets hit with multiple shots and a moonsault from McDonagh. Rollins gets his backup and it's Jey. He brings in a chair and is able to shift the momentum. The clock counts down and McIntyre wants in, but Priest stops him and tells him to stick to the plan. Drew isn't happy about that. Priest gets double teamed as he enters, as I guess he didn't get the memo about grabbing a weapon before entering. Just as I type that, he pulls out a baton and starts nailing both Rollins and Jey. Priest hits a somersault dive onto both opponents. It's now time for Sami to enter. He steals JD's kendo stick and hits him with that and then slams Balor's head in the door. Sami gets to be the hero and grabs the table. Sami's all fired up and hits a Blue Thunder Bomb on Balor. Finn grabs a pipe out of the cage and starts using it on his opponents. It's now time for McIntyre and he uses an Alabama Slam on Rollins to dump him on Sami. He shifts his attention to an injured Jey. He throws Jey around in the cage for awhile and takes out some aggression. It's now time for Cody Rhodes, just shortly after a 1D was given. Cody pulls out a bull rope, but Seth grabs the other end. They use it together on their opponents and then argue about Orton coming. It's now time for Dom and he of course comes out to huge boos. Dom is surrounded and gets jumped and then they set up the table. Rollins goes for a buckle bomb through the table, but Judgment Day is there to make the save. Rollins ends up being the one to go through the table and the clock is counting down. Out comes Rhea Ripley and she has the Money In The Bank briefcase. We are going to have a match during the match...or not. It's Randy Orton and he gets a huge pop. What a great crowd tonight. Orton is in full ham mode here tonight. He looks to be in great shape, but also is showing his age a little bit. It may just be ring rust also. The Judgment Day is able to outnumber him and attack him in the corner. We get a big brawl. Randy's team hit 5 draping DDTs at the same time. Orton turns his attention to Jey, but then hits a RKO. We get all the finishers and then they chase JD up the cage. Zayn, Rollins and JD are at the top and Orton is waiting at the bottom. They throw JD off and Orton catches him for the RKO. We get a Cross Rhodes on Priest and that is all. I'm surprised the faces went over in both matches tonight. The heels dominated the others, so I guess it makes sense. Anyway, this was awesome and a great way to cap off a really good show. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

HOLY CRAP, IT'S CM PUNK! He gets a huge reaction as expected and celebrates with the crowd before we go to highlights. It was a little out of left field, as he didn't interact with anyone, but it was great. I know a lot of people will not be happy he's back, but I can't help myself. I am a fan. We'll see how the rest of the story goes.

This was a really entertaining show and I can't emphasize enough how great it is when the shows are kept to 3 hours. This one flew by and every match was good. The main event was just a crazy match that everyone was invested in. Plus, you have two big returns to make this a historic event. This may have been the best show of the year. 

Overall Rating: 90% 

Superstars 5-20-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, May 20th, 1995
O'Neill Center
Danbury, Connecticut

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Smoking Gunns vs. Bob Cook & Mike Khoury

I guess I should mention that Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix tell us how great In Your House was and hype up the Jacob Blu vs. Razor Ramon King Of The Ring qualifying match today. The Gunns are coming off their loss at In Your House. I'm just impressed that we are actually in an arena and that they actually taped this after In Your House. It's the little things. They dominate the entire match and hit the Sidewinder for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get some still photos of the Sid/Diesel main event at In Your House. They show Ted DiBiase's challenge of Sid and Tatanka against Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow. They show Bam Bam in his dorky new outfit and accepting the challenge. We then get highlights from the IRS/Bam Bam match on Raw, with Bam Bam winning. 

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. John Crystal

Crystal looks to maybe go off script a little bit and hits a knee on a back body drop attempt by Lafitte. Lafitte does a spot where he ties up Crystal in the ropes and then hits a couple of crossbodies into him. Lafitte goes up top and hits a top rope leg drop, but decides that isn't enough. He then hits the Cannonball for the victory. This is the most impressive Lafitte has looked thus far.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Stephanie Wiand and she talks about the Bret Hart matches at In Your House with some more still photos. 

We get another Body Donnas vignette. 

Man Mountain Rock vs. Bill Payne

Is the Bill Payne name a rib or is it Maxx's long lost brother? MMR has been absolutely terrible since joining the Federation here and I expect this to be no different. Yep, this was no different and not even worth me recapping. Sorry, that's just how I roll. If you want to know what happened, you sit through this. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show Bob Backlund announcing that he is running for president.

They show a Shawn Michaels music video to hype up his return. 

Mantaur vs. Gary Scott

Again with the Mantaur. After getting crushed in the early going, Scott actually knocks Mantaur down after a couple of dropkicks. He goes off the top rope, but Mantaur catches him and hits a powerslam for the victory. No one cares. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show still photos of the Jeff Jarrett and Roadie match with Razor Ramon and then the interview from Raw. 

King Of The Ring Qualifying Match
Jacob Blu vs. Razor Ramon

We join the match in progress for whatever reason. I'm sure we missed nothing, but it is presented that way. Jacob knocks Razor out of the ring and takes control into the commercial break. Razor finally makes his comeback and hits a bulldog. We get some shenanigans and so out comes Savio Vega to the rescue. He starts brawling with Eli and the distraction allows Razor to pick up the victory. This was pretty standard stuff here. 

Match Rating: *1/4

We go back to Stephanie Wiand. She shows the house giveaway and then talks about the King Of The Ring tournament. 

Next week, we have the debut of Tekno Team 2000! Plus, Duke Droese faces Kama in a King Of The Ring qualifier. Shawn Michaels will also take on Dr. Tom Prichard. 

This was a pretty non-eventful episode, even by Superstars standards. It looks like next week will have a little bit more meat on the bone as we continue the road to one of the worst shows in WWE history. 

Overall Rating: 41%

SmackDown 2-23-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, February 23rd, 2007
ipayOne Center
San Diego, California

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

We get a recap of the No Way Out main event to start the show. Michael Cole is in the ring and brings out Batista. He brings up the streak and that he has nothing but respect for him, but he can't apologize for what he did to him at No Way Out. He says that the fans wouldn't respect him if he was intimidated by Undertaker. There wasn't much meat on the bone here other than it shows Batista slanting heel for this feud. 

They show a recap of the friendship of Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. 

Maryse welcomes us back to SmackDown.

Matt Hardy, Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. Joey Mercury, Deuce & Domino

Mercury and Matt start off and Matt is quickly in the wrong part of town. He fights them off and dumps Mercury on top of his partners. The champs continue the momentum until Domino pulls Kendrick off the top rope behind the referee's back. We get a commercial break in the middle of the heat segment on Kendrick. Hardy gets the hot tag when we come back and he hits the Side Effect for a 2 count on Mercury. He hits a bulldog/dropkick combo this time before hitting the second rope leg drop again for 2. The champs hit a stereo dive on the challengers and Matt hits a Twist Of Fate for the victory. This was a good enough opener for the show.

Match Rating: **1/4

Vickie Guerrero tells Kristal that the little thing she referred to at No Way Out has already been taken care of. 

They show a recap of Edge beating Rob Van Dam on Raw to qualify for Money In The Bank.

They show highlights of Rey Mysterio winning the Royal Rumble.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Scotty 2 Hotty

They show Gregory Helms watching in the back. After a little bit of offense from Scotty, Chavo is able to dump him over the top rope. Chavo goes to work on the back and slows the match down. Chavo goes for the Three Amigos, but the third one is blocked and it leads to Scotty hitting the Worm. Chavo rolls out after the move so Scotty hits him with a dive. Back in the ring, Scotty tries a sunset flip, but Chavo rolls through and puts his feet on the ropes to steal the victory. I get they are trying to push him as an old school heel, but should he really need to do that against Scotty? 

Match Rating: *

The Raw Recap shows Vince McMahon selecting Umaga and him winning the Intercontinental Championship. 

They show Rey Mysterio winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22. 

Falls Count Anywhere Money In The Bank Qualifying Match
King Booker vs. Kane

I guess they thought it was good for these two to fight again after their dumpster fire match at No Way Out. I don't think I could possibly care less about Kane, but here we are. We get mostly heatless brawling here at a sluggish pace. They move up to the entrance ramp and do the same thing. Kane battles back and moves towards the ring. This match reminds me of my matches in my backyard that never ended and had no point. King Booker uses the ring bell after Kane gets distracted by Sharmell and we have a commercial break. We come back and it's more of the same. Kane goes for a chokeslam on the outside and down comes Great Khali to make this turd even worse. He attacks Kane and no one cares. He throws him through the barricade and King Booker looks in shock. So they moved Khali to Raw and then he attacks someone on SmackDown. King Booker pins Kane and is now in the Money In The Bank. This match was awful and a complete waste of television time. At least the feud is over.

Match Rating: 1/4*

King Booker and Queen Sharmell are celebrating backstage and Khali walks in. He shakes his hand and they go back to celebrating. 

We get more of Ashley and Playboy.

They show Rey Mysterio forcing JBL to retire. 

Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman

God, they are really making us re-watch this one also? Hornswoggle is shown hiding under the ring. Finlay slams the arm of Boogeyman into the ring post and goes to grab the bag of worms. Little Boogeyman tries to stop him, but he tosses him out of the ring and starts stomping on them. He throws the bag out of the ring and then gets hit with a low blow from Little Boogeyman. Boogeyman, who had never lost until No Way Out, is still selling the arm injury. Hornswoggle comes in and goes at it with Little Boogeyman. Finlay hits Little Boogeyman with a boot and then Boogeyman attacks him. Finlay hits him with the shillelagh and that allows Hornswoggle to hit a DDT on Boogeyman and pins Boogeyman. Did they finally realize that no one wanted to see this any more? 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the Mr. Perfect Hall Of Fame video again. 

Maryse welcomes us back to SmackDown and find out that we will hear from Undertaker next week. 

It's time for Rey Mysterio and he comes out to a big pop. He gives the standard injury interview where he's going to be back and better than ever soon and then Mr. McMahon makes his way out with a lot of security to surround the ring. He insults Rey's height before just turning this into more hype for his match at WrestleMania. He gets down on one knee to ask who Rey thinks is going to win and he calls him a loser. Vince then brings out Umaga. Vince asks if he wants to change his opinion. He doesn't, so Vince hits him in the guy with Rey's cane. Umaga then tosses him up in the air and straight to the mat. He hits a top rope splash right onto Rey's injured leg and Vince gets up in his face to add insult to injury. Rey does a stretcher job as we go off the air. 

This episode was hot garbage. Sure, the Vince segment was decent, but it was also too long. The No Way Out re-matches were both terrible and nothing really progressed as we head towards WrestleMania. 

Overall Rating: 32%

ECW 2-20-07 Review

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
ipayOne Center
San Diego, California

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We get an "In Memory Of Mike Awesome" to start the show. I can't believe it's already been 16 years. They then show a recap of the Bobby Lashley/Mr. Kennedy match at No Way Out and tonight we have Hardcore Holly vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Bobby Lashley tonight.

The New Breed is out and they are getting some heat. They talk about their victory last week and Matt Striker says that any one of them can beat any one of the ECW Originals. Tonight they select Kevin Thorn. The Originals come out and select Rob Van Dam.

Kevin Thorn vs. Rob Van Dam

It's all RVD to start and he hits a big dive over the top rope after throwing him out of the ring. It puts him in enemy territories and Elijah Burke gets a cheap shot in before he gets in the ring. This brings over the Originals to start a brawl outside the ring. During the commercial break, Ariel shakes the top rope, which crotches RVD. Credit to RVD here, as he is giving a good effort and the crowd is behind him. He hits a spin kick to knock Thorn off his feet and follows it up with the 5 Star Frog Splash for the victory. This was good enough, but I have a feeling we are going to be seeing these 8 work with each other just about every week for the next two months. 

Match Rating: **

Snitsky is coming whether we like it or not.

40 days until WrestleMania 23.

Money In The Bank Qualifying Match
CM Punk vs. Johnny Nitro

It seems like both of these guys should have been a top priority to be in the Money In The Bank match. Punk hits the single leg dropkick and tries to get a quick victory. Nitro then comes back with an Irish whip and a single leg springboard kick. Punk gets a quick comeback and hits the knee/bulldog combo. Melina gets involved and it leads to Nitro hitting a cool corkscrew kick while he was draped on the second rope. Nitro misses the corkscrew moonsault off the top rope. Punk hits him with a knee to the head and that's all. This was a pretty good match, but was rushed.

Match Rating: **

Mr. Kennedy is backstage complaining about not getting a one on one match and Hardcore Holly says ECW is his world. Whatever.

La Resistance vs. Los Luchas

It's the comeback that I'm pretty sure no one asked for. Los Luchas look to weigh about 180 pounds combined. Dupree chucks one of the Luchas over the top and he makes a pretty loud splat sound. The squash the other one and that's all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

After the match, Snitsky comes running out and by La Resistance and hits Los Luchas with some big boots. 

It's time for Extreme Exposé. Kelly Kelly is to Extreme Exposé as Alex Van Halen is to Van Halen in the "Hot For Teacher" video. 

They show the same video for Mr. Perfect as was shown on Raw. 

Triple Threat Match For The ECW Championship
Hardcore Holly vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Bobby Lashley

They start off with a good pace and the hard hitting offense you would expect from this trio. This is one of those matches that it's just easier for me to observe it and not type about every move. These guys did keep up a nice pace and it all leads to Holly hitting the Alabama Slam. From there, Lashley makes his comeback and hits the running powerslam for the victory. Kennedy didn't really have much of  a purpose here, but the match was good action.

Match Rating: **1/2

This was another good episode for ECW and still kind of out of nowhere. I was glad to see CM Punk get his big moment and secure a WrestleMania spot and it was also nice to see the crowd reacting to the New Breed. 

Overall Rating: 64%

Monday Night Raw 2-19-07 Review

Monday, February 19th, 2007
Rabobank Arena
Bakersfield, California

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After once again forcing me to watch a recap of Donald Trump/Vince McMahon, we go to a shot of a mini barber shop set up in the ring and Vince on his way down to hype up this trash. He shows a picture of Britney Spears, who recently shaved her head here. We then get pictures of Trump with different haircuts. Vince then announces his representative as Umaga for the match at WrestleMania 23. Vince then says that Umaga is about to become a champion and that match is now. Jeff Hardy's music hits and he is out apparently to defend his Intercontinental Championship.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy

We join the match in progress and Hardy hits a couple of dropkicks through the ropes, but then Umaga catches him off a dive. Hardy is able to counter and push Umaga into the ring post. Hardy runs on the barricade, but is greeted with a thrust to the throat on the way down. Umaga slows down the pace until he misses with a top rope headbutt. He misses with a splash in the corner and Hardy hits him with Whisper In The Wind. Umaga comes right back with the pop up Samoan Drop to slow down Jeff's momentum. He drags Jeff into the corner and hits the butt bop in the corner. He hits the Samoan Spike and we have a new champion. Hardy was doing a nice job of building the title up, but now it will just become a backdrop for the Trump stuff. Vince stands confidently on the top of the entrance ramp. These two have good chemistry, but this was more of a traditional squash, with Hardy just getting a few moves in. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Ric Flair & Carlito vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

They show the handshake from last week after their match on Raw. So now they're a tag team. After a short heat segment with Carlito, Flair gets the hot tag. He hits a bunch of chops and a back body drop. Flair hits a low blow behind the referee's back and tags in Carlito. He hits the Backstabber and the new team picks up the win. This story just feels like filler.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We go to John Cena and Shawn Michaels backstage for an interview. Cena says that he and Michaels that they know exactly where they stand as far as their WrestleMania main event. Michaels then hypes up the new DX DVD. Cena then promotes The Marine DVD. They compare what their DVDs has and Shawn says that his has Big Dick Johnson, who comes out and dances until Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music.

We then go to Edge and Randy Orton watching backstage. Orton says that he got their rematch against Cena and Michaels for next week. Orton says that after he's done with Cena tonight, it will be real easy to get their titles back. 

They hype up the Money In The Bank match by showing highlights of the last two. 

Money In The Bank Qualifying Match
Edge vs. Rob Van Dam

This is definitely a pretty high profile match for a qualifying match. RVD hits his helicopter leg drop to the outside. Edge is able to hit a swinging neckbreaker on the way back into the ring and shifts the momentum. He hits a Rude Awakening and gets a 2 count. RVD is able to hit a spin kick in the corner and both men are down. RVD goes for Rolling Thunder, but Edge catches it and hits a powerslam. Edge goes for a top rope superplex, but RVD is able to crotch him on the top rope and then hits a single leg kick that knocks Edge to the floor. RVD follows up with a dive to the floor and then throws Edge back in the ring. He goes off the top rope, but Edge hits him with a dropkick in midair. RVD leapfrogs a Spear attempt and then RVD hits the split legged moonsault for a 2 count. RVD goes up top, but out comes Randy Orton. RVD hits him with a kick, but then Edge hits the Spear for the victory. This was a really solid match here, with both guys treating it like a big deal. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

WWE Women's Championship Match
Melina vs. Mickie James

Let's see if they get more than 2 minutes. Mickie hits the first high impact move with a seated dropkick. She then hits a sliding dropkick to knock her out of the ring. She goes for another one outside of the ring, but Melina sidesteps it and pulls her to the floor. Back in the ring, Melina throws her across the ring by the hair. We get into a brawl, with the trading blows on the mat. Mickie returns the favor and throws Melina across the ring by her hair. Melina counters a headscissors attempt by grabbing the ropes. Mickie sells that she fell on her head and Melina uses the ropes to steal the victory and win the title. Two new champions here tonight on what must have been some last minute adjustments for the WrestleMania card. The match wasn't bad, but it felt a little bit like a series of moves.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Todd Grisham tries to interview Mickie James, who then slaps him in his face. 

Highlanders vs. Great Khali

The Highlanders attack Khali as he walks in and as you'd expect, it doesn't really work. He hits the double hand chokeslam and then pins him by standing on him. I get why this existed, but that doesn't mean I wanted to watch it. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

If you didn't get enough earlier, they recap the Vince/Umaga segment.

We go to Coach talking to Kenny Dykstra and in walks Great Khali. He yells a noise and it means he wants more competition. In walks Ron Simmons to do his thing. 

They show Ashley's cover reveal from SmackDown. We go to Melina, who is upset that they had to wait for a video of Ashley before interviewing her. 

We find out that the next inductee to this year's Hall Of Fame class will be none other than Mr. Perfect.

They go back to the original WrestleMania for the WrestleMania Recall.

Next week, Trump is going to pick his opponent for Umaga. Oh boy. Plus, Rated RKO will take on Shawn Michaels and John Cena.

Randy Orton vs. John Cena

They have a pretty standard start to the match, with Cena besting Orton at every turn. Orton tries to grab a chair, but we go to commercial break. When we come back, Orton has taken control and slowed the match all the way down. Orton hits the draped DDT, but Cena kicks out at 2. Orton finally starts signaling for the RKO, but Cena takes him and throws him. Cena gets Orton up for the FU, but in runs Edge and he hits a Spear. He then grabs two chairs, but then out comes Shawn Michaels and he's making the save. The match was decent, but you knew it was going to be a disqualification.

Match Rating: *3/4

This was a one match show, but also featured a couple of title changes and a Money In The Bank qualifier. So in that sense, it was a decent enough episode. There were a lot of low, but there was enough on the show to entertain the crowd. 

Overall Rating: 52%

NXT 5-6-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, May 6th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Emma vs. Charlotte

Emma is in Bayley's shirt in heel mode. She starts off with some mat wrestling, looking pretty good overall. She goes to work on the left leg, slamming it into the mat multiple times. She puts on the half crab, bending it back close to Charlotte's head. Charlotte breaks the hold by grabbing the bottom rope. Emma goes to slam her knee into the mat, but this time Charlotte lands on her feet. She comes back and hits a Spear on her. She hits Natural Selection and that's it? Um, sure. After the match, Bayley is out and she gives Emma a hug, only this time she doesn't let go. She hits a Bayley-to-Belly on her and rips off her shirt. Charlotte pulls her off and she heads to the back. The match felt like it was being set up for a 10+ minute match and then Charlotte just won out of nowhere.

Match Rating: 3/4*

We get a Becky Lynch vignette talking about her journey to NXT. 

Next up, it's a previously recorded sit down interview with Michael Cole and Kevin Owens. Owens repeats over and over that it's about the money that comes with being NXT Champion. Owens reminds him that he never even congratulated him on winning the title. Cole agrees and does so, but in return wants him to tell him why he would do what he did to his best friend. Owens sticks with his story. 

Bull Dempsey vs. Rhyno

Rhyno hits a big belly to belly suplex and hits the Gore for the easy squash. I guess NXT thinks the same about Dempsey as I do. After the match, Rhyno challenges to a match at TakeOver. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Sasha says Fabulous Moolah was the greatest Diva until her. 

They show Apollo Crews signing his contract and a vignette.

Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder were supposed to face Enzo and Big Cass, but the latter don't come out during their music. We then go to the back and we see Blake and Murphy attacking them.

We now go to a sit down interview with Michael Cole and Sami Zayn. He says the biggest difference between him and Owens is that Owens is a liar. Next week, he wants Owens to come out and tell him why he did what he did. They show Zayn fighting Cena on Raw, with Zayn getting hurt. 

We now have the contract signing between Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. Becky cuts a promo real quick on her journey and that she isn't here to take part, she's here to take over. She signs it and then Sasha pulls out a stamp and signs her name that way. We get an attack from Sasha and then Becky gets Sasha to tap out. The crowd reaction was kind of weird for this one.

They show Kevin Owens' attack on Alex Riley and Sami Zayn from last week. Riley then talks about how he's going to need surgery on his knee. He then heard the crowd thanking Kevin Owens for attacking him and that the last minute of the show was all about Sami, not him. He's realizing these risks aren't worth it. We won't be seeing him for awhile now. 

We get a Dana Brooke interview that is having some weird microphone issues, which seems to be a theme here tonight. She's a heel.

Finn Balor is at ringside to watch the main event.

Tyler Breeze vs. Hideo Itami

Things start off slowly and we get an early commercial break. Itami quickens the pace with his comeback and hits a top rope clothesline. He goes for a running kick into the corner, but Breeze rolls out of the way before he can get there. Itami goes for another kick and Breeze misses, kicking Finn Balor straight in the face. They go back into the ring and Breeze misses with the Beauty Shot. Itami hits the running kick and that's all. After the match, Itami and Balor kind of glare at each other, which allows Breeze to attack Itami. Breeze throws him off and goes to Itami. Breeze then hits a Supermodel Kick on Balor and a Beauty Shot on Itami. This was obviously mainly to add some drama to the triple threat match at TakeOver and in that regard, they were successful. The match itself was nothing memorable.

Match Rating: *1/4

NXT continues to be slumping on the weekly TV show. The build to the top matches have been good, but almost at the expense of the show. TakeOver should be a blast, but I'd like to see them focusing on some better TV matches here.

Overall Rating: 42%

Monday Night Raw 5-15-95 Review

Monday, May 15th, 1995
Broome County Arena
Binghamton, New York

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We get an intro of Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS cutting quick promos ahead of their match tonight. Bam Bam vows to run through the entire Corporation. We then go to Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler, with the latter gloating about defeating Bret Hart last night at In Your House.

Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs. Nick Barberry & Bill Weaver

The champions are fresh off their win last night over the Smoking Gunns. Barberry and Weaver try to get some offense in on Owen and it works for a brief moment, but Yoko comes in and takes care of business. He hits a Rock Bottom and picks up the easy victory. Yoko just lays on his opponent for an extended amount of time since he didn't hit him with the Banzai. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We see some still photos of Bret Hart losing to Jerry Lawler. 

We see the "Saving The World" alien WWF commercial that is just super weird.

Oh boy, Man Mountain Rock is back and jamming in the middle of the ring. 

Man Mountain Rock vs. Iron Mike Sharpe

We have to be getting close to the end of Sharpe here. Rock's first mini run was absolutely uninspiring, so I doubt we'll see anything better here. This one is over quickly and not one person seemed to care. It's safe to say that it's time to move on.

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the clip of the house giveaway from last night. We follow this with more still photos, this time of the Razor Ramon match with Jeff Jarrett and Roadie. They talk to Savio Vega backstage and he's all fired up, so Vince has to cut him off to go to commercial break. 

We have an exclusive one night only Sid/Diesel shirt and it's only $16. Don't forget about that totally rad Bret Hart shirt. 

King Of The Ring Qualifying Match
Mantaur vs. Bob Holly

Jim Cornette is still with this goof for some reason. I'm guessing this match set ratings records for the company. Mantaur manhandles Holly to start. Apparently it's a rule that if you have "Man" in your name, you suck. This one is just torture and testing my patience here. Mantaur completely telegraphs missing Holly in the corner and Holly rolls him up for a 2 count. Holly hits a dropkick to the back and a trio of clotheslines. He's still on his feet, so Holly hits a missile dropkick and gets another nearfall. Holly hits a top rope crossbody and pulls off the upset in a terrible match. That's two matches in a row with performers they need to give up on. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Shawn Michaels returns next week and he'll be facing King Kong Bundy. Remember him?

Vince is in the ring with Bob Backlund. It's finally time for Backlund to let us know what his big announcement. He rambles on for 5 minutes about whatever and Vince finally has him focus on the announcement. He announces that he is running for president and a marching band comes out to help celebrate it. 

Well you knew it was coming, yes, it's the still photos of Sid vs. Diesel. 

Earlier today, Jim Ross interviewed Ted DiBiase and IRS as they were walking into the building. Ted challenges Bam Bam Bigelow and Diesel to team up to take on Sid and Tatanka. I'm not really sure why, but between this and the Mantaur match, I have a feeling King Of The Ring may suck.

IRS vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Bam Bam has new ring entrance gear and it's pretty dorky. He also has pyro now and a new theme. Bam Bam brings out Diesel to be in his corner here tonight and he gets a good pop. DiBiase runs to the back just as the match is starting. Bam Bam hits an atomic drop that sends IRS up and over to the floor. After the commercial break, Bam Bam goes for the top rope headbutt, but IRS rolls out of the way. As with all IRS matches, as soon as he takes over, no one cares. IRS removes the top turnbuckle and is able to get Bam Bam to dive into it. He goes for the pin and puts his feet on the ropes. Diesel pushes them off and this distraction helps Bam Bam use the exposed turnbuckle and pick up the win. This wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't that good.

Match Rating: *

They show Sid and Tatanka in the aisle as we go to commercial. When we come back, everyone is gone. They then hype up the return of Shawn Michaels with a music video. King Kong Bundy then says that Michaels won't be back for long. 

This episode was really bad. After I just praised 1995 for being easy to watch, they torture you with an episode like this. Nothing happened and no one cared. That's pretty much what I would say about this.

Overall Rating: 24%

In Your House 1: Premiere Review

Sunday, May 14th, 1995
Onondoga County War Memorial
Syracuse, New York

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I started this journey many years ago with WrestleMania VIII. I have covered a lot of squash matches and a lot of shows in this timeline (it should have been more, but the whole Peacock transition ruined me covering some Superstars). It's finally time to take the next step and head into the monthly pay-per-view era that still exists to this day. This is the premiere of the 2 hour concept, which I don't think was a bad idea, they just didn't have the roster depth to pull it off. Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix are your announcers for this show.

Hakushi vs. Bret Hart

This is the first of two matches for Bret tonight. As Hakushi is entering, Todd Pettengill is back with Bret. Bret says that Hakushi has never faced someone like him. Bret dedicates this match to his mother and wishes her a happy Mother's Day. Near the iconic house entrance, there is a huge bin full of letters of people trying to win that free house. On a side note, I watched the Vladimir documentary on Peacock and I think that any longtime WWF/WWE fan should definitely check it out. As someone who has watched WrestleMania VII about 100 times, he was a big part of my fandom at a young age and it was cool to see him get his due. Bret and Hakushi seem to have a couple of small miscommunications early on. Hakushi rolls out of the ring and he tries to sneak attack Bret, but he sees him before that can happen. 1995 Bret really isn't that far off from peak Hogan, as much as I do like him. Hakushi sends Bret sternum first into the turnbuckle before hitting the second rope splash for a 2 count. They show Jerry Lawler watching the match backstage. Hakushi hits a bronco buster in the corner ande then is able to dump Bret outside the ring, allowing for some Shinja interference. Shinja is able to distract the referee to allow Hakushi to choke Bret out in the corner. Hakushi hits the cartwheel handspring elbow in the corner and then rakes the eyes of Bret before he can come back. Hakushi hits a top rope headbutt and gets a 2 count. Hakushi misses with a springboard splash and Bret hits a side Russian leg sweep. Bret hits the bulldog and a backbreaker before hitting the patented second rope elbow. Bret goes for the Sharpshooter, but Shinja gets up on the apron and Bret stops. Bret hits Hakushi with a big clothesline, but then is tripped up by Shinja. Bret then hits a dive on Shinja and a series of right hands. Back in the ring, Hakushi goes for a suplex, but Bret blocks it and he suplexes both of them over the top rope to the floor. Bret turns his attention to Shinja and then gets hit by a springboard moonsault to the floor from Hakushi. You weren't seeing many of those in 1995 WWF. Bret beats the count back into the ring and Hakushi goes for a suplex. Bret blocks it and rolls him up for the victory. I guess it's only fitting that Mr. In Your House has the first win in the show's history. I've never liked this match quite as much as the consensus, which is strange because I am a big fan of both of these two. It's still a good match, just not quite the classic some make it out to be. They then show Bret hopping out of the ring and he appears to have injured his knee. He hobbles to the back.

Match Rating: ***1/4

They go back to the WWF Hotline area and Lawler is begging to fight Bret right now. 

We go to Stephanie Wiand hyping up the 340,000 entries for the contest. 

Jeff Jarrett & Roadie vs. Razor Ramon

As Jarrett and Roadie are entering the ring, they get on the phone with 1-2-3 Kid. He says that he's keeping a close eye on Roadie and that he'll get back with him when he returns. Razor says that this is his first advertised handicap match, but all along it's been 2 on 1 when he faces Jarrett. This time he's not concerned about the gold because this is personal and then wishes mama Ramon a happy Mother's Day. Jarrett misses with a dropkick and gets clotheslined over the top rope. Razor goes after him and this allows for Roadie to attack him from behind. We get our first glimpse of Roadie as an in ring performer here. They use the handicap to their advantage, making quick tags and illegally interfering. Jarrett gets hit in the midsection on his way down from the second rope. He goes for a Razor's Edge, but he's dumped over the top rope. Roadie then hits a clothesline from the second rope to the floor. Jarrett hits a crossbody off the top rope, but Razor rolls over and almost gets a 3 count. Jarrett comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. Razor and Jarrett collide off the ropes and both men are down. Razor is able to hit a back suplex and both men are down again. Jarrett finally tags in Roadie and he hits a knee off the second rope. You would never think that Roadie was a second generation wrestler, as he is all sizzle and no steak. Razor makes his comeback and hits a back superplex on Roadie. Razor goes for the Razor's Edge, but Jarrett hits him from behind. Jarrett goes for the Figure Four, but Razor kicks Jarrett right into Roadie. Razor struggles, but gets Jarrett up for the Razor's Edge and earns the victory here to a nice pop. After the match, he gives Roadie a Razor's Edge, but Jarrett takes out his knee before he can hit it. Jarrett then puts on the Figure Four until Aldo Montoya comes out to make the save. Yes, Aldo Montoya. They dump him out of the ring and then Jarrett puts on the Figure Four again. Then another man comes into the ring and we don't know who he is. Dok says he looks familiar, but Vince says that he has no business being in the ring. The police come out and he surrenders to the back. This was a smartly worked match and they had the crowd the whole way. I liked this maybe even slightly more than the opener.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Oh boy, it's almost time for King Of The Ring.

We go back to Jerry Lawler arguing with Jack Tunney. This leads us into a Sid vignette. 

It's time for you to buy a new Bret Hart t-shirt and it costs more than it did to order this show. 

King Of The Ring Qualifying Match
Adam Bomb vs. Mabel

Mabel attacks Bomb before the match. The referee isn't happy, but starts the match. Bomb comes back and hits some right hands. He hits a shoulder tackle to the back of Mabel to knock him out of the ring. Bomb hits a slingshot dive over the top rope before throwing him back in the ring. He hits a slingshot clothesline, but Mabel easily kicks out at 1. Bomb goes up to the top rope and hits a clothesline and again only gets a 1 count. Mabel comes back with a spin kick and then catches Bomb for a powerslam and the victory. Bomb put in a good effort here, but we were all aboard the Mabel train here. In that respect, they really didn't make him look that great. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We go back to Razor Ramon and he introduces us to one of the biggest stars of the Caribbean, Savio Vega. He also references that he looks a little different. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Smoking Gunns vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna

Bart gets a big press slam on Owen Hart and tags in Billy to hit the dropkick/suplex combo. Owen is able to hit an enzuigiri after a distraction from Mr. Fuji. Billy then gets clocked by a Yokozuna clothesline. After a sunset flip attempt from Billy, Owen hits him with a dropkick. Yoko tries to charge at Billy, but he moves and Yoko runs into the ring post. Billy then avoids Owen back in the ring and tags in Bart. Bart hits a back suplex and they team up for the super neckbreaker for a 2 count. Bart misses with a crossbody and he rolls through the ropes to the floor. Yoko hits him with a leg drop before throwing him back in the ring. Owen runs over and that's enough for the victory. The finish was weak, but this was otherwise bell to bell action. I'm surprised they only gave them about 5 minutes here because this could have been very good.

Match Rating: **1/2

We go back to Diesel and he talks about this being the first Mother's Day since losing his mom. Todd asks about the lower back after his match with Henry Godwinn. They come out and say that he was hired by the Corporation for the night, but it didn't work because he's here in living color. They talk about Shawn Michaels watching at home and that he has to stop Sid. They say they're about an hour away from the match. There is 35 minutes left in the show. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart

Jerry Lawler is in the ring with his "mother", who is younger than he is. She wants Jerry to beat Bret tonight and then she wants to challenge Helen Hart after. She gives him a kiss for good luck. Bret goes right after Lawler as soon as he enters and we're underway. The knee looks to be fine so far and he hits a back body drop. Lawler comes back and hits a piledriver as his mom cheers him on. Bret is right back up though and he hits a bulldog. Bret hits a piledriver of his own, causing Lawler to reach out for his mom. Lawler goes up top, but he's hit in the midsection with a right hand. Out comes Shinja to distract the ref. They do a cool spot where Bret sends Lawler off the ropes and it causes the referee's leg to get trapped in the ropes. Out comes Hakushi and he attacks Bret. He hits a diving headbutt with Lawler holding him. The ref is back up and Lawler is able to pin him and pick up the surprising win. I absolutely love that ref spot even though they probably don't do it because it seems like an easy way to get injured. After the match, Hakushi accidentally hits Lawler after Bret ducks and Bret clears the ring out of frustration. 

Match Rating: **

We go backstage to Sid telling Diesel that time has run out for him. It's time to meet the master and the ruler of the world. 

It's time to go to Todd and Stephanie to give away the vacation home in Florida. The best part of this is the two nerds there to verify the legitimacy of the contest. They pull out an envelope and call the winner. We get some live TV shenanigans. I will say when they do talk to him, the reaction is exactly what WWF would have wanted. It's won by an 11 year old kid who then went on to flip the house for $175,000. That's equal to over $353,000 in 2023. Not bad. 

WWF Championship Match
Sid vs. Diesel

They stand face to face until Diesel shoves Sid to the ground and Diesel throws him from corner to corner with some splashes thrown in for good measure. Sid is out of the ring, while Ted DiBiase tries to help him regroup. Diesel is there to throw him back in teh ring and hits him with a trio of clotheslines to knock him on the mat. A DiBiase distraction allows for Sid to hit Diesel with a running knee to the back and it knocks him to the floor. Sid then drives Diesel's back into the ring post as the announcers give Henry Godwinn credit for softening that up for Sid. Sid slows things down and continues working on the back. He slaps on the Camel Clutch for a little too long and they start to lose the crowd. Sid signals for the Powerbomb and he hits it. Instead of going for the pin, he goes to one knee for the signature Sid celebration. He finally goes for the pin and of course Diesel kicks out. We have full blown yelling Vince announcing at this point. Diesel ducks Sid and hits the big boot. Diesel then hits the Jackknife but in comes Tatanka to attack Diesel during the pin attempt. DiBiase joins him until Bam Bam Bigelow is out to make the save. You knew this was going to have a lame finish and in that regard, they didn't disappoint. The first portion of this match was good stuff, but the Camel Clutch felt like forever. 

Match Rating: *

This show was a lot easier to digest than I remembered. That seems to be the theme for 1995 WWF. I know that changes at the next big show, but even a lot of the mediocre stuff from this time period is easy to watch. There is nothing on this show that is must watch, or really even close to that, but I think you can do a lot worse, which is a lot better than I remembered it being.

Overall Rating: 48%

Superstars 5-13-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, May 13th, 1995
Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Des Moines, Iowa

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Razor Ramon vs. Todd Becker

Becker is wearing some dorky capri pants that scream 1995. Razor has been doing kind of the same squash match for awhile now, which is fine because it's good as far as squashes go. It of course all leads to the Razor's Edge with a lot of hype for Razor's In Your House handicap match.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We see highlights of Bam Bam being kicked out of the Million Dollar Corporation. Bam Bam then says that he gave Ted DiBiase 100% and says that he got fired, but he wanted to quit anyways. 

Rad Radford vs. Jerry Lynn

I guess Radford just debuts with no fanfare here on a random Superstars taping. It's kind of cool that his opponent is Jerry Lynn though. Lynn gets a nice headscissors here, but then gets clocked with a right hand over the referee's shoulder. Radford hits a dropkick. Lynn fights back until he gets hit with a second rope reverse forearm. Radford hits a spinebuster and Vince makes fun of his dirty looking hair. He hits a Northern Lights suplex for the victory. They looked like they wanted to have a good match, but Radford had to have the decisive victory, which is understandable.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Todd Pettengill runs down the In Your House card for the 15th time (it's only $14.95). 

Vince McMahon announces that Shawn Michaels will be returning in two weeks. 

Doink vs. Brooklyn Brawler

I can confirm that Steve Lombardi is not playing the role of Doink on this show. I mean is there really much to say about 1995 Doink? There's some butt biting and then a Whoopee Cushion. He no longer serves a purpose as far as TV goes.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go back to Skip and Sunny making fun of us for being lazy. 

Men On A Mission vs. Buck Zumhoffe & Tommy Ferrara

We get a rare match that we miss the entire entrance and start in progress here. Ferrara seems to be a pretty jobber. He gets hit in the back of the head by a Mabel spin kick. Mabel hits a squash in the corner and then a belly to belly suplex for the quick win. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a highlight package of Bob Backlund's spring break shenanigans. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Diesel

Diesel hits a big running clothesline early on and hits a clothesline in the corner. Godwinn is able to clothesline Diesel over the top rope and then drives him into the ring a couple of times. Dok Hendrix is hinting at DiBiase backing Godwinn here. Godwinn picks up Diesel and hits his back into the ring post twice. Diesel tries to make a comeback, but he telegraphs his move and Godwinn slams his face into the mat. Godwinn continues to be impressive here in 1995. Godwinn puts on a Camel Clutch, but of course Vince calls it the Boston Crab. They show Sid in the back looking on. We come back from a commercial break and Diesel is able to hit an impressive electric chair. Diesel hits a side suplex and gets a 2 count. Diesel hits a big boot and then hits the Jackknife to pick up the win. As soon as it's over, Sid and DiBiase make their way out to make us aware of their presence. This was a good big man match that showed that Diesel was capable of more than what people seem to always claim. Godwinn was really an underrated worker. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We go back to Todd Pettengill to talk about In Your House (only $14.95). We get a Sid promo where he talks about being the master and the ruler of the world. 

They show the Todd/Stephanie vignette of showing off the house that you can win tomorrow at In Your House. They are just killing time at this point. 

They go to Ray Rougeau with Diesel and the microphone isn't working, so Dok Hendrix talks for them. Vince plays it straight because he's a moron. 

This was another decent enough episode that was boosted thanks to yet another good feature match. Diesel continues to be much better in the ring than I remembered and the pacing is still typically pretty good on these shows. 

Overall Rating: 47%

No Way Out 2007 Review

Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Staples Center
Los Angeles, California

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MVP & MNM vs. Hardys & Chris Benoit

So we were supposed to get a rematch of the ladder match from Armageddon, but instead we are getting this and Paul London and Brian Kendrick will face Deuce 'N Domino. Benoit and MVP weren't feuding, but I guess this will be used as the beginning of their feud. The faces all dominate the beginning of the match until Mercury is able to pull Jeff and throw him into the barricade. Jeff does fight back by hitting a variation of Whisper In The Wind and tags in Matt. The heels are able to work well as a team here and quickly isolate Matt. Benoit comes in and hits a double German suplex to get a nice pop. The Hardys hit Poetry In Motion into a Matt Side Effect, Jeff Swanton and Benoit diving headbutt. They go for the pin on Mercury, but MVP breaks up the attempt. Hardy goes for a sunset flip powerbomb to the outside, but Nitro holds onto the ropes and hits him with a clothesline. Benoit is able to get MVP in the Crossface, but Nitro breaks that up. We get some more chaos and MNM goes for the Snapshot on Benoit, but Matt stops them. Benoit puts the Crossface on Mercury and he immediately taps. That was a nice little match to open the show, which is about the only reason it existed. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Kristal is backstage with Vickie Guerrero, who thanks her for her help.

Hornswoggle can talk now and he says that he doesn't want to go out to the ring because he's afraid of the mini Boogeyman. He throws him into a garbage can and then out comes mini Boogeyman. This is the point of the show where I realized that I skipped over SmackDown in my reviews, haha.

Cruiserweight Open For The Cruiserweight Championship
Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Daivari vs. Gregory Helms vs. Funaki vs. Shannon Moore vs. Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Jamie Noble vs. Chavo Guerrero

This is like the Royal Rumble, where they drew numbers for how they entered. Daivari and Scotty are first and the crowd doesn't even react for Scotty. Scotty hits the Worm and that's it? You have to love how there is just absolutely no logic in these matches. Gregory Helms is next and it feels pretty obvious that he's going to lose it here now. Scotty is going to sign for the Worm, but Helms snaps his neck on the rope. He then hits a variation of the Codebreaker and moves onto the next opponent. It's Funaki and he quickly goes for a crossbody off the top rope, but Helms rolls through and grabs the tights and he is gone. Moore hits a Blockbuster neckbreaker off the second rope and gets a 2 count. Helms comes back and hits that Codebreaker type move and Moore is gone. Out comes Jimmy Wang Yang and he quickly hits a standing moonsault for a 2. Yang misses with a moonsault and lands on his feet, but then is clubbed by Helms. Yang comes back with a hurricanrana and hooks the legs for the pin. We are now guaranteed a new champion as Jamie Noble makes his way down. I like Helms, but his title reign was uninspired. They have never cared about the Cruiserweight division and this run was no different. They battle for a little bit until Yang hits the moonsault for the win. They are about to announce Yang as the new champion, but then Chavo Guerrero's music hits. So anyone could just join after the numbers were drawn and guarantee themselves the last entry? I wish I cared about any of this, but I just don't. Chavo hits the Frog Splash and is your new champ. The crowd barely reacted to any of this. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Kristal is with John Cena and he's in a jokey mood tonight. He just says that tonight he will fight as hard with Shawn Michaels as he will against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania.

Finlay & Hornswoggle vs. Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman

How did the card for this show get approved? Finlay and Boogeyman battle a little bit and it leads to Little Boogeyman being in the ring. Hornswoggle comes out from hiding and rolls up his sleeve. Instead, Finlay knocks him down instead. Hornswoggle goes back into hiding and Little Boogeyman uses a small package to get a 2 count on Finlay. Finlay beats on him for a little bit and then throws him out of the ring. Hornswoggle grabs him and rolls him under the ring. Finlay goes to check and the regular Boogeyman is there. Boogeyman makes a comeback and hits a catapult. He then launces Little Boogeyman on top of Finlay, but Hornswoggle breaks up the pin attempt. Boogeyman pulls out some worms and he bolts through the crowd. Finlay hits Little Boogeyman with the shillelagh and picks up the win. This was death. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Shawn Michaels is now with Kristal and says that the only man he trusts is Triple H, but he gave his word that absolutely nothing will happen to Cena before WrestleMania.

King Booker vs. Kane

You know what will make a show worse? Kane. This just has first hour of SmackDown written all over it. Kane hits a boot to the face and then clotheslines Booker over the top rope. Booker comes back and hits a missile dropkick. Michael Cole is losing his voice on this show and it just adds to the awfulness. Kane goes off the top rope, but Booker is able to catch him with a kick on the way down. Booker tries to suplex Kane, but Kane counters and hits one of his own. Kane hits a side suplex and hits the top rope clothesline. Sharmell distracts Kane and it allows Booker to hit a kick. Kane still comes back and hits a chokeslam and that is enough for the victory? Yet another stupid match. Kane was as impressive here as he has been as a mayor. Kane should have been on the poster for this show so that we could be warned that it would be this awful. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Kristal is now with Batista and he says that SmackDown is going to beat up on Raw. She tries to pretend she is good at interviewing, but instead it's about as convincing as an elementary school play. 

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. Deuce 'n Domino

While I personally love the challengers, it's clear they were not over with the live audience. The champs outsmart them early on and clear the ring. We get a blown spot where Deuce doesn't get into the ring quickly enough and London runs into him. Domino has a bloody lip also in the early going. The challengers come back and slow the pace way down and probably too early for this match. They hit a big double back body drop and go right back to the ground. London avoids a kick and then makes the hot tag to Kendrick. He hits a big dropkick but then runs into a big clothesline. Kendrick is going up top but Domino gets there. Deuce puts him up on his shoulders for a Doomsday Device, but Kendrick ducks it and rolls him up to steal the victory. This was a very disappointing match, as they had done much better work together on SmackDown and this felt like a pointless match.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Mr. Kennedy is interviewed and says that his thoughts on Bobby Lashley are the same as his opinion on the people of LA, phony. He's about to declare himself the new champion until Lashley interrupts him. Kennedy tries to hit him with a right hand, but it gets blocked and Lashley hits him with one of his own. This was kind of a weird segment. 

ECW Championship Match
Bobby Lashley vs. Mr. Kennedy

Lashley is announced first and is attacked from behind. The whole thing falls kind of flat and they just eventually get to the ring and the match starts. JBL wisely brings up the fact that if Kennedy wins the title here, would he be forced to leave? I don't think anyone thinks he would win because this was such an afterthought of a match. The crowd is pretty dead for this as well, which is kind of surprising since Lashley's fan reaction has been improving and Kennedy has been booked pretty strong. Kennedy is working on the leg for what feels like forever here. The crowd is dead and JBL is doing everything in his power to put this over, but this one is just not working. Kennedy goes for the Kenton, but Lashley gets his knees up. Lashley goes for the powerslam, but Kennedy takes out his knee. He goes outside and grabs a chair while the ref's back is turned. Somehow he doesn't hear Kennedy hit him with it even though he is 3 feet away from it. Lashley gets the chair and hits Kennedy with it and is disqualified. What a stupid match. Lashley then attacks him repeatedly with the chair until IRS and other officials stop him. What an absolute waste of time.

Match Rating: 1/2*

The Miz is out to start the Diva Talent Invitational. Up first is ECW's Extreme Exposé and they do seemingly the same dance they always do. You know the one where Layla dances to the beat and the other two don't. How is there 43 minutes left in this show? Jillian is up next and she starts her singing gimmick. She says she wrote her own song and then she needs to warm up first before doing the whole schtick. Miz calls her the female William Hun g and then she snaps back. The other ladies come out to confront her and they all start brawling. Out comes Ashley to pyro and her cover being hung in front of the address. She takes off her top and is wearing nothing on top other than bunnies. Miz then declares her the winner of the contest. If you thought this show couldn't get any worse, you were wrong. 

We get a lengthy recap of everything that has led up to the main event because they realize they have a ton of time to kill still. 

John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Batista & Undertaker

I mean I guess the main appeal of this match was that all of the matchups within the matchup were fresh here. They build up the early part of the match to a hot tag to Cena, which of course receives a mixed reaction from the live crowd. Cena hits a top rope leg drop to a standing Batista, but Taker is able to break up the pin attempt. Cena hits a 5 Knuckle Shuffle to wake up the crowd. He gets Batista up for the FU, but eats a big boot from Taker. Michaels dumps Taker out of the ring. He tries leaping off the apron, but Taker catches him and gets driven into the ring post. Batista gets Cena up for a Batista Bomb, but Michaels takes out his knee. We're getting some good action here, especially after all of the garbage we've been forced to watch prior to this. Cena even plays heel for a second, taking a cheap shot on a wounded Batista behind the referee's back. Batista is bleeding now and Cena puts on the STFU. After a lengthy time in the hold, Taker just decides to come in and hit a boot to the head. Michaels goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Batista ducks and hits a spinning Rock Bottom. Both men make tags and Taker gets the better of it. He hits Snake Eyes on Michaels and a diving shoulder tackle on Cena. Batista hits a spinebuster on Michaels and Taker hits a chokeslam on Cena. Batista then hits a spinebuster on Undertaker. Michaels then hits Sweet Chin Music and Cena hits the FU for the victory as Batista stands and watches. Batista then grabs his title and holds it over a knocked out Undertaker before heading to the back. Taker sits up and gives Batista the look. This was a very entertaining match, but it would have taken an all time classic to save this dumpster fire of a show. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

This was such a bad, bad show. The card was poor, the match layout was uninspired and there was no purpose to just about everything on the show. This was just filler. 

Overall Rating: 26%

NXT 4-29-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, April 29th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Kevin Owens is here to kick off the show. He calls out Sami Zayn and says that he is ready for a fight. We get William Regal out instead and Owens isn't happy with it. Sami does make his way out shortly after and Regal does not want this to turn into a circus again. Regal then decides that Owens and Zayn will square off on May 20th at TakeOver. Owens says he wants to fight him, but he doesn't think he deserves the title to be on the line. Sami says that he doesn't just fight, he fights for a prize and ends up talking Owens into the title being on the line. 

We get an announcement that NXT is hitting the road and then is interrupted by Big Cass, Enzo and Carmella arguing. Blake and Murphy come in and try to charm Carmella after Enzo and Cass leaves. In walks Alexa Bliss and she wonders why Carmella doesn't carry herself with more class if she's a princess. She pushes her and walks away and Blake and Murphy check on Alexa.

Sami is signing his contract with Regal backstage and in walks Alex Riley, who wants another chance. Regal tells him that he's all out of opportunities, so Zayn offers to wrestle him. Riley accepts and says that if he runs through Zayn, he gets Owens at TakeOver.

Enzo & Big Cass vs. Blake & Murphy

The champs get the early advantage on Enzo, but we quickly get a double tag. Cass takes care of both opponents with ease and hits the big splash in the corner before the side suplex. Blake breaks up the pin attempt and then Enzo tries to take out both from the top rope, but misses. Murphy is distracted by Carmella and eats a big boot. Cass then launches Enzo off the top and they pick up the upset victory. This was a non-title match and it was fine.

Match Rating: *

Becky Lynch talks about her journey and that she didn't do all of that just to be second best. 

Bayley is all flustered because she can't find any of her stuff. She goes to look for it and Emma walks in holding it.

We get a Baron Corbin vignette and they remind us that he doesn't get paid by the hour.

Bayley vs. Dana Brooke

Bayley is without her headband here. The thing with Dana is that she has that trait that most subpar wrestlers have and that's how she telegraphs everything she is going to do instead of making it look natural. After a little bit of dominance from Brooke, Bayley shows a little bit more aggression on her comeback. She's up on the second rope and all of a sudden Bayley's music hits. Out comes Emma dressed in Bayley's shirt and headbands. The distraction allows Brooke to hit her finisher and get the 1-2-3. You knew they couldn't have Brooke lose yet, so this at least made sense. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Regal announces that there will be a triple threat match to determine the #1 contender for the NXT Championship at TakeOver. It will be Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Finn Balor.

Hideo Itami vs. Adam Rose

Hideo's look of disgust as Rose entered was well done. We get the usual Rose shenanigans and then Hideo hitting him with some kicks. He hits the running dropkick in the corner and then the big kick for the easy victory. That was a squash.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Bayley is looking for Emma so that they can squash this once and for all.

Becky Lynch vs. Sarah Dobson

Dobson is Sarah Logan looking much different than her 2023 self. They go with a quick pace to start off the match and Becky hits a few running leg drops. They keep up the pace before Becky puts on the Dis-Arm-Her for the submission win.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Rhyno tells Baron Corbin that making people feel pain makes him tick. Rhyno is not just the past, he's the present and the future. 

Alex Riley vs. Sami Zayn

Owens is in the announce table for this one. Riley gets most of the offense to start, as I'm still not really sure what they are doing with him as a character. Zayn ducks a charging Riley and he falls to the outside. Zayn then hits the senton over the top rope. Owens then leaves the announce table and attacks Zayn for the DQ ending. This entire show was about building to TakeOver, so I'm not sure why I would have expected this to be an actual match. Owens then hits a powerbomb on the apron to Riley. Owens walks to the back laughing, as both enemies lay wounded as we go off the air.

Match Rating: 1/4*

NXT's weekly show has been in a little bit of a slump lately. This one was building to TakeOver in 3 weeks, but it didn't necessarily translate to a great episode. I'd like to see some of the younger talent get a little bit of a chance to shine rather than putting them in rushed matches.

Overall Rating: 40%