Monday Nitro 10-2-95 Review

Monday, October 2nd, 1995 
Denver Coliseum
Denver, Colorado

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Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael hype up the show tonight and are interrupted by Ric Flair. He tells Arn Anderson that he better be ready tonight. We then see the set up for our first match between Lex Luger and Randy Savage. 

Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage

If Luger loses, he has to leave WCW. A whole lot of nothing happens before the commercial break and we kind of don't get a whole lot of anything right after it either. This one has the feeling of "we don't want to give away too much". Finally we get Savage leaping off the top rope for a double ax handle to Luger on the floor. We get a referee bump and Savage hits the top rope elbow drop, but there's no count. Out comes the Giant and he hits the chokeslam on Savage. Thankfully the referee was looking the other way for that one. Luger slowly pushes Savage on his back for the Torture Rack, which was kind of sorry looking because Luger was selling the elbow still. Why he couldn't have just pinned him is beyond me. I think even the referee was expecting that. This was a big disappointment. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Disco Inferno comes out and dances until Eddy Guerrero's music interrupts him. Sure?

Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko

They show Guerrero beating Psicosis on Main Event to earn the right to face Malenko here I guess? McMichael tries to sell us on that by saying these guys fly more than vultures over dead meat. That's one way to put it. They put on a clinic of fast paced action to slowly start to win over the live crowd. Don't worry though, Hulk Hogan's limo is here and they show that in a split screen and then eventually they just show Hogan. Just what the world wants to see, Jimmy Hart and Hogan saying the same crap he has been saying for a decade. We go back to the match and McMichael tries to hype up the match, but even Heenan is talking about Hogan. Guerrero hits a top rope splash from the corner to the floor. Back in the ring, Guerrero goes for the Frog Splash, but Malenko gets his knees up. Guerrero then counters a Malenko pin attempt with one of his own and picks up the victory. After the match, Malenko pulls Guerrero back in the ring and tells him he got lucky and shakes his hand. This was solid, but was ruined by the Hogan stuff. They obviously are capable of much more than this. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Mean Gene brings out Hulk Hogan for an interview. He looks dorkier than most do in a neck brace. Hogan says that he's going to the back to confront the Giant. On his way to the back, a "woman" throws salt in his eyes and attacks him with a cane. In a shocking turn of events, it's the Taskmaster. Out comes Zodiac and Giant to continue the attack. Giant rips off the neck brace and does the same neck snap that no one else believed the first time. They then shave off Hogan's moustache. The American Males come out to try and save him, but as you would expect, that doesn't work. Out comes the Nasty Boys and they eat it too. We get the reunion we have all been waiting for and that's with Zodiac and scissors. Struttin' and cuttin' baby. 

Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair

Congrats to the announcers for making it about a minute before mentioning the Hogan thing again. We then move onto baseball results. Meanwhile, the match here is very vanilla so far. Flair does get on the Figure Four, but Arn is right by the ropes. Flair goes off the top rope, but Arn hits him in the midsection. Flair then blocks a piledriver and hits a back body drop onto the mats outside the ring. Flair does get the Figure Four on again, this time in the middle of the ring. Out comes Pillman and the referee rings the bell before he even jumps off the top rope. Pillman breaks up the hold and then attacks Flair. I don't know if these two could possibly have a duller match than what we got here.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Bischoff says that next week we'll get Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson in a cage match. Plus, Sabu will take on Mr. JL and Big Bubba Rogers will face Hawk. 

Well, this episode stunk big time. This was lifeless television and it felt like no one wanted to do anything to make it special. 

Overall Rating: 29%

Monday Night Raw 10-2-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, October 2nd, 1995
Welsh Auditorium
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

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Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid

We get a bunch of highlights during the entrances, including them talking about Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. I know this will shock you, but these have good chemistry. Dean Douglas is out to take notes and mostly just to make this not as enjoyable. We get a mostly back and forth match here that kind of ends out of nowhere. Kid missed a spin kick and Razor hits him with a clothesline for the victory. Has Razor ever won with a clothesline? After the match, Kid confronts Razor and then they go after each other. Razor puts him in the abdominal stretch, but Kid slaps him. Razor then brings him down and slaps him in the back of the head. Kid again fights back, so Razor sends him into the corner, but runs into the Kid's boot as we go into a commercial break. It' snot often that you get a commercial break after a match is over. During the break, Razor caught Kid off the top rope and apparently pinned him again. So then Kid wants another match, so we are now apparently in the third match between these two. Razor hits a back superplex. He goes for a Razor's Edge, but instead uses a small package to beat him for a third time. After the match, Kid raises Razor's hand and then rolls him up and again the referee counts, but Razor kicks out at 2. The crowd wants the Razor's Edge and Kid holds out his arms for him to put him in it. Then Razor gives him a hug and we're all good? This was kind of a bizarre ordeal. The action was good though. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Barry Horowitz vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

It feels like we haven't seen a whole lot of Helmsley lately. You can call the WWF Hotline to vote to let everyone know if you think OJ Simpson is guilty or not. In a surprising twist, the money actually goes to charity. Helmsley hits a delayed suplex, which is kind of surprising with Bulldog on the roster. The problem with this version of Helmsley is that he has to work so slowly. Helmsley dominates most of the match. Barry gets his little comeback, but ducks his head too early and gets hit with the Pedigree for the victory. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Al Brown & Sonny Rogers vs. PG-13

PG-13 arrives here with no vignettes or anything. They do get a pre-recorded interview and say that they're the USWA Tag Team Champions and want the Smoking Gunns titles. They are definitely on the small side for this era, but they are working a nice squash here. This was a solid debut, even if they don't really look the part. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Next week on Raw, it's Owen Hart, Yokozuna and British Bulldog taking on Diesel, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. Dok then tries to sell us an ugly Bret Hart shirt while Jean Pierre Lafitte is on his way to the ring. 

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Bret Hart

These two had a great one at In Your House, so it only makes sense to give Lafitte another shot on TV. They start brawling on the outside and Bret body slams Lafitte on the steel steps. Back in the ring, Lafitte is able to shift the momentum when he throws Bret on top of the ropes. Lafitte continues to hit high impact moves here to keep Bret grounded. Lafitte is able to throw Bret into the steps after the commercial break and Lawler loves it. How did Lafitte never do anything big in WWF again? Bret is finally able to put together a few moves after hitting an inverted atomic drop. Lafitte tries to go for the Cannonball, but Bret crotches him. He hits a superplex and locks in the Sharpshooter for the victory. This was another really good match between these two and one of the best Raw matches of the year.

Match Rating: ***1/2

After the match, Lawler confronts Bret, which leads to Isaac Yankem attacking him from behind. Really? Did anyone want to see more of this? 

When we come back, they are helping Bret to the back. Vince informs us that Bret will have a cage match with Yankem "in several weeks". 

We hear from Jim Cornette and his squad for next week's six man tag match. We then hear from their opponents and Undertaker talks about rotting carcasses. The results of the OJ poll says 49% guilty, 51% not guilty. What a world.

This Raw taping has to be one of the best of all time up to this point. That is two really good episodes in a row and next week looks like it should at the very least have another good match. Thumbs up again.

Overall Rating: 70%

Superstars 9-30-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, September 30th, 1995
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso, Indiana

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Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Scumbag Vince talk about the tag team division being hot at the moment. They then show Barry Horowitz teaching Hakushi about America as they are walking down to the ring.

Barry Horowitz & Hakushi vs. Skip & Rad Radford

This is the feud that just keeps on giving. This match gets a commercial break, so it's not a rushed Superstars match. Radford hits a big spinebuster and Skip covers him for a 2 count. Dean Douglas is out to the ring to check out the action. They do a poorly executed double team behind the referee's back. I'm not really sure what happened here, but Barry didn't seem to interested in participating. Barry avoids a splash and tags in Hakushi. He hits cartwheel reverse elbows in the corner on both opponents. He props Skip on the top rope and tags in Barry. They hit a double superplex and Barry hits a weird leg drop. Radford is able to break up the pin attempt and then hits a second rope elbow behind the ref's back. Hakushi comes back and hits a splash behind the ref's back to even the score. Barry is able to cover Skip and picks up the victory. There were a few weird spots, but the match was good overall. Hakushi is too good for this role, but it worked here.

Match Rating: **

It's time to go to Dok Hendrix to hype up the next In Your House. British Bulldog and Diesel both talk about their main event match. Shawn Michaels will definitely also take on Dean Douglas for the Intercontinental Championship.

Razor Ramon vs. Al Brown

Razor rocking the bright yellow and red combo here today. He hits the same notes he has been hitting for awhile in his squashes. The crowd loves it though, so you can't blame him. I'm good with it as well. He's always done a good job of maintaining his bully status despite being a face. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get to see Ahmed Johnson for the first time. He talks about competition. For some reason he's talking on an angle like he's watching a TV backstage. 

Bob Holly vs. AC Conner

At this point, I'm not really sure what the point of Holly is any more. Conner is of course D'Lo Brown and he gets in a spin kick. Conner goes for a top rope splash, but Holly rolls out of the way. Holly comes back and hits a top rope crossbody for the victory as JR compares him to the recently returned Marty Jannetty. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They recap the tag team situation from In Your House. To be honest, I can't really remember what ends up happening in the next few months, if anything, with those titles. I do know we'll have some new teams soon, I just don't remember if anything happens prior to then. We'll see if Netflix allows me to continue this truly engaging saga. 

Fatu tells us he's going to take care of British Bulldog today while the Blu twins are entering the ring. 

Jacob & Eli Blu vs. Bill Gorgan & Sonny Rogers

Here's a reminder that the Blu twins still exist. It's a shame that we were stuck with 8 Ball and Skull for so long because this variation is much better. That's not saying much, but it's true. They make quick work of the jobbers here, which is how it should be. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Next week, it's Henry Godwinn and Bam Bam Bigelow against Sid and Kama. Plus, Marty is back too. 

We go to Dean Douglas, who is now in his wrestling gear for a Report Card. At least he isn't with the chalkboard. He challenges Barry Horowitz next week, ha ha ha.

British Bulldog vs. Fatu

There's a lot of time left in the show for one match. Fatu gets no televised entrance here. I know I am a broken record here, but Fatu is another guy who has done absolutely nothing since coming back. People knew and liked this guy, even if his new gimmick is lame. Fatu gets off to the hot start, but then Jim Cornette slaps Fatu's ankle. He goes after Cornette, but is too wise for Bulldog and catches him before he can sneak attack him. Bulldog is eventually able to take control and uses the steel steps to do so. Two matches with commercial breaks this week. Bulldog slows down a Fatu comeback with a knee to the gut and then slows down the match. Bulldog hits a DDT, but Fatu no sells it and he does some Rikishi Fatu dancing before hitting a superkick. Fatu hits a top rope splash, but has some pain from the splash I guess. Bulldog crotches him the top rope. This has to be one of the longer Superstars matches of 1995. Bulldog then hits a knee to the back of the head and lifts him up for an impressive running powerslam for the victory. It wasn't necessarily a great match, but both guys put in a good effort and came out looking good. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Back to Dok and he talks about Mabel vs. Undertaker in a revenge match from King Of The Ring. When do the fans get their revenge? We hear from Undertaker and Paul Bearer and he talks about the hounds of Hell or something. 

Barry Horowitz is on his way back to the ring into the final commercial break. When we come back, they just tell us that he will be facing Dean Douglas. I'm not sure anyone is mad, but that was a weird choice. Kama, Sid and Ted DiBiase yell and we're off. 

This was a good episode by Superstars standards. The two matches were both effective in what they were trying to accomplish. They are trying to build heel Bulldog and they succeeded.

Overall Rating: 56%

Monday Nitro 9-25-95 Review

Monday, September 25th, 1995 
Florence Civic Center
Florence, South Carolina

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We get the usual intro and then we're right off to the matches. I don't hate watching these shows that don't have the 15 minute interview spot to start the show.

Alex Wright vs. Disco Inferno

For as much as WCW liked to poke fun at WWF's gimmicks (and a lot of the time, rightfully so), this was right out of Vince's bad idea box. Wright is able to hit a missile dropkick to the back of Disco and he dumps him out of the ring. He hits a dive to the floor. Steve McMichael tells us that we already know that San Francisco is going to win tonight. Well guess what, my friend. The Lions took care of business over the 49ers and I was there. They do a good job keeping the pace up for this quick match and Wright finishes him off with a backslide. This was forgettable, but fun. 

Match Rating: **

We go to Jimmy Hart and Hulk Hogan in a neck brace. He's building himself a new Hulkamania monster truck. Oh, good. He also challenges Giant to a WCW Championship match. Sorry, the big, nasty, stinky Giant. This was as terrible as you would expect. 

After a Slim Jim commercial, Mean Gene is in the ring. He shows us what happened last week with Randy Savage and Lex Luger. Savage is out when we come back and then Luger comes running out. Luger challenges him to a match next week and puts his #1 contender spot on the line. He also says that if he doesn't beat Savage, he'll leave WCW. Did he really have to put up 2 things here to get Savage to agree? I'm pretty sure he didn't have to offer either of these stipulations to get him in the ring.

Kurasawa vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman

Kurasawa hits a flurry of kicks and then hits a unique slam onto the concrete outside the ring. Pittman is able to send a charging Kurasawa over the top. Bischoff can't shut up about this stupid monster truck. Pittman tries to put on Code Red, but Kurasawa gets his foot on the rope before it happens. Kurasawa hits a German suplex into a bridge and he pins him for the victory. Kurasawa looked good here. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman are now in the ring with Mean Gene. Pillman yells a lot and flashes the 4 sign. Anderson tells Flair that he's made enemies with the people he wants to be his partner. 

They then show us the lame Kevin Sullivan attack on Savage at the beach. Absolutely terrible. 

Taskmaster vs. Randy Savage

Zodiac is also at ringside. He's able to attack Savage behind the referee's back. Sullivan continues the attack outside the ring. This match is mostly shenanigans, as Zodiac ends up in the ring. That doesn't end the match though. Instead Savage takes the referee and throws him on the ground and that's the end of the match. He stacks Sullivan on top of Zodiac and goes for the elbow drop. Sullivan moves out of the way, so Zodiac eats it. Out comes the Giant and he gives Savage a chokeslam. The ring bell has rung about 75 times by this point. A couple of jobbers come out and they get chokeslammed. Alex Wright comes out and he gets a bear hug. Luger is now out and he takes his time. He stands over Savage and then Giant grabs him. They get into it and he eats a chokeslam. Taskmaster doesn't seem happy that he did that to Luger. This was pretty good for what they were trying to accomplish. 

Match Rating: *

Lex Luger vs. Meng

Luger is already down in the ring from the attack and Meng comes running out to be able to continue the attack. Meng just dominates the wounded Luger the whole match. Luger attempts to make a comeback, but Meng uses a spike and the referee doesn't see it and picks up the victory. That was a pretty flat main event. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We get a recap of the show and they want us to come here next week. Hulk Hogan will be here and so will the American Males. Also, the Nasty Boys and Dean Malenko. 

This was a much better show than last week. Both Raw and Nitro were strong this week, but I'd give the edge to Raw overall. 

Overall Rating: 60%

Monday Night Raw 9-25-95 Review

Monday, September 25th, 1995
Welsh Auditorium
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

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Vince hypes up Undertaker being on the show before going into the controversy over the Tag Team Championships from last night's In Your House. They show Jim Cornette with Clarence Mason working on getting a resolution. Owen Hart and Yokozuna are the champions still, but will have to defend their titles tonight. 

Marty Jannetty vs. Skip

Vince hypes up the big surprise of Jannetty returning tonight. He 100% will never do anything stupid again. I promise. Skip doesn't get a televised entrance, which is surprising because, you know, Sunny. We get lots of Marty being too quick and outsmarting Skip and Sunny here. Skip eventually slows things down and for some reason Dean Douglas is watching and taking notes. After a commercial break, Skip hits a clothesline and is still in control. Marty is able to hit a German suplex and catches Skip for a powerbomb. Sunny distracts Marty, but he sees Skip coming and sends him flying over the top. He tries to suplex him back in the ring, but Skip falls on top with the help of Sunny for a 2 count. Marty hits a Rocker Dropper and hits a top rope fist for the victory. I guess you had to have him win his debut, but they sure have made Skip a jobber quickly. Lawler continued to hype up the name Clarence Mason. The match was solid, as you would expect from these two. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We go over the title situation, this time showing Mason negotiating with Gorilla. 

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

Don't forget to buy your In Your House t-shirt. After 2 commercial breaks, we finally get to the match. We get some good action from both teams and the crowd is into this one. Just as Owen is pinning Billy, we get another commercial break. Yokozuna putting on my second favorite move, the nerve hold, is a perfect time to hype up the WrestleMania special on Fox. Billy is finally able to move out of the way of a Yoko elbow drop, but then he misses a leg drop of his own. Owen is tagged in and tries his best to keep Bart out, but Billy makes the tag and Bart hits a military press slam. Yokozuna barely gets in the ring on time to break up the count. They throw Owen into Yoko, knocking him down. They hit the Sidewinder and then Yoko goes to break up the count, but they move and he splashes Owen. The Gunns make the pin and we have new champions. Diesel and Shawn Michaels are out to give high fives to the new champs. What is going on here in the last 24 hours? There's been quite a few really strong matches here on WWF television. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Next week on Raw, Jean Pierre Lafitte will once again Bret Hart. I'm good with that. Razor Ramon will also take on 1-2-3 Kid. Obviously, Nitro has had an impact. 

Dok Hendrix talks to Gorilla Monsoon and he announces that British Bulldog will take on the WWF Champion Diesel at In Your House. He also says that Bret Hart will take on the winner of that match at Survivor Series. He then says that Shawn Michaels will take on Dean Douglas for the Intercontinental Championship as well. I bet he won't.

British Bulldog vs. Undertaker

It's kind of an odd booking decision to have Bulldog take on Taker just after being announced the #1 contender. Taker goes for Old School, but Bulldog drags him off the top. A Jim Cornette distraction helps out Bulldog and he hits a chop block on him. King Mabel and Sir Mo are now watching the match from the aisle. Bulldog surprisingly hits a traditional piledriver and gets a 2 count out of it. Taker comes back, but then Mabel is in the ring. Bulldog knocks into Mabel's arms and he hits the belly to belly suplex. Bulldog then hits the running powerslam, followed up by a Mabel leg drop. Diesel and Michaels are out to make the save. The match was fine for what they were aiming for here. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

They actually show video footage of the end of the Razor Ramon/Dean Douglas match. No still photos! They hype up next week's double main event while Diesel and Shawn continue to celebrate in the ring. 

This was one of the absolute best Raw episodes of the year. We got some new champions, a couple of good matches and the new style of announcing matches with Gorilla Monsoon just making stuff happen. The main event was meh, but it had star power at least. 

Overall Rating: 77%

In Your House 3: Triple Header Review

Sunday, September 24th, 1995
Saginaw Civic Center
Saginaw, Michigan

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We get the usual Todd Pettengill narrated intro and a quick In Your House music video. The fact that they did a pay per view in Saginaw is still kind of amazing to me. Jerry Lawler now says that Owen Hart is going to be the new Intercontinental Champion after yesterday predicting there would be new Tag Team Champions. Jim Ross thinks it will be Yokozuna walking away with the Intercontinental Championship.

Savio Vega vs. Waylon Mercy

If this match doesn't scream "In Your House", I don't know what does. Mercy hits a body slam outside the ring and throws Savio back in the ring. Mercy drops Savio's throat onto the top rope and we go to Dok Hendrix. He tells us that Owen Hart is not in the building and he has no idea what this means for the main event. Mercy slaps on the sleeper hold, but Savio comes back with a back suplex. Savio hits a big boot and a spin kick for a 2 count. Savio ducks too soon and gets a kick to the face and a brainbuster, but Savio kicks out at 2. Savio comes back with a German suplex into a bridge and gets another 2 count. He hits a running spin kick and that gets him for the "upset". I will say, Savio looked determined to pull a good match out of Mercy here. It was nothing special, but it was fun enough. 

Match Rating: *3/4

We go backstage to Gorilla Monsoon arguing with Jim Cornette. He says that Owen isn't here, but he's in Michigan. Gorilla says the match will go down tonight and the fans will not get ripped off. 

Sid vs. Henry Godwinn

Godwinn's music just doesn't work for a babyface. I probably like both of these guys more than most, so let's see what we get here. Godwinn gets dumped out of the ring and DiBiase gets in a few cheap shots. I do appreciate that there was more story to this one than I had remembered, even if it was a pretty big drop off for Sid after being in the main event. Sid slaps on the Camel Clutch. Godwinn eventually gets out and Sid misses a leap in the corner. He goes off the second rope and Godwinn hits him in the midsection. Godwinn hits a kick to the gut and the Slop Drop, but DiBiase interrupts the count. Godwinn goes after DiBiase and that allows Sid to regain momentum. Godwinn gets tripped running the ropes and Sid hits a leg drop to the back of the head. Sid hits the powerbomb and that's all. This may honestly be the most I've seen DiBiase get involved. After the match, Sid mocks Godwinn and does the thing where he shoves him out of the ring with his head. They grab the slop bucket, but out comes Bam Bam Bigelow to attack them. Kama is right behind him and makes the save. I'm glad to see Charles Wright didn't miss his cue for this much more important Sid match. Godwinn comes from behind and slops DiBiase to the crowd's delight. There was a little too much interference for this one to really get going. 

Match Rating: *

We go back to Jim Cornette and Gorilla Monsoon. He gives him two options. He can have Yokozuna defend the titles by himself or he can find a partner that Gorilla will sanction for tonight. 

British Bulldog vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Bulldog is without Jim Cornette here. The eventual result of the main event would have been more effective if Bulldog didn't already have to wrestle. They let us know that Bulldog will face Undertaker tomorrow on Raw. Good thing Peacock is losing Raw from their library soon. They show Cornette talking to Sid backstage. Bulldog avoids a charging Bam Bam and he falls to the floor. Bulldog slows the match down and works on the legs of Bam Bam. Bulldog gets him up for a body slam, but Bam Bam wills his way on top for a 2 count. The crowd is more into this than I was expecting, but that is the nice thing of running smaller towns. This time Bulldog is able to hit a body slam and that is all. This was actually a little better than I remembered, even with Bulldog slowing the match down. They got a few more minutes, so that was necessary. 

Match Rating: **

Bob Backlund is out to kill some time. Oh, I guess it's to introduce Dean Douglas. Dean Douglas then introduces his opponent for some reason. 

Dean Douglas vs. Razor Ramon

Razor rushes to the ring and is right after Dean. Dean uses the ref to try and take advantage, but Razor just decides to hip toss him over the top rope. They then show Jim Cornette talking to King Mabel. Honestly from a kayfabe standpoint, that probably would have been the right choice. Razor hits the fall away slam and gets a 2 count. Douglas does finally get some offense in and sidesteps Razor to send him outside. He leaps over and hits a double ax handle on the back before driving him into the ring. Razor makes his comeback after Dean works on his back for a bit. Man, Tim Patrick is really slapping that mat here today. Dean hits a top rope reverse crossbody and gets reversed into a close call pin attempt. Dean throws Razor into the referee. Dean misses with a second rope leap and Razor puts him up for the Razor's Edge. Backlund is waking up the ref for some reason, but instead 1-2-3 Kid comes down to the ring and counts to 3. Razor thinks he won, but sees that it was Kid. He shoves Kid out of the ring and Dean rolls up Razor for the victory. That was kind of a fun screwy ending. Dean had to pick up a win here. They then show the replay and Dean pulled the tights. Razor seemed disinterested in making Dean look good here. Razor throws Kid in the ring and slaps him in the face. Officials and referees are out to break it up and Jim Ross thinks it's all Dean Douglas' fault. That's a stretch. 

Match Rating: **1/2

They announce next month's In Your House will be in Winnipeg with King Mabel vs. Undertaker and the debut of Goldust. Get ready for it!

Dok Hendrix is showing off the Shawn Michaels hat and glasses for only $25! Diesel and Shawn are here and they cut a terribly cheesy promo. 

Bret Hart decides to try and top their promo with another cheesefest. 

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Bret Hart

We get the famous Bret dive through the ropes that they used a lot in hype videos. Lafitte gets the better of Bret in the early going and Bret ends up getting his shoulder into the ring post. Lafitte then throws Bret into the steel steps for good measure. Lafitte hits a top rope leg drop and gets a 2 count. He misses with the top rope somersault though and Bret hits an inverted atomic drop followed by a clothesline. Lafitte then misses with a somersault over the top rope to the floor. Bret returns the favor and throws Lafitte into the steps. Bret goes off the second rope, but Lafitte gets his boot up. That move rarely gets countered, so that was good stuff. Bret goes for a crucifix, but Lafitte counters it and hits a rolling slam. Lafitte is killing it here and of course did nothing after this. Lafitte counters a bulldog and shoves Bret into the turnbuckle chest first. Lafitte misses with a top rope splash and then they collide when running the ropes. Bret puts on the Sharpshooter while they are lying down. He gets up and Lafitte submits. This was a really good match and one that you see on a lot of underrated lists. 

Match Rating: ****

Jim Cornette announces that he's decided on British Bulldog as Yokozuna's partner. Gorilla Monsoon allows it and reminds him that if Bulldog is pinned, they lose the tag titles. 

Vince goes live on the house mic and we get lots of feedback. He announces Alundra Blayze and she models the Triple Header t-shirt. Then they hype the free video you get with it and it's just a black cassette tape again with no box to let you know what it even is. 

Triple Header Tag Team Match For The WWF Championship, Intercontinental Championship & WWF Tag Team Championships
Yokozuna & British Bulldog vs. Diesel & Shawn Michaels

We get a fun, fast paced opening sequence between Shawn and Bulldog and then Diesel knocks Yokozuna out of the ring. Shawn tries to use his quickness to work on Yoko, but he runs into a back elbow. He's able to avoid an elbow drop and tags in Diesel, who then runs into a clothesline. Diesel comes back with a boot and knocks Yoko out of the ring. In comes Bulldog and he tries getting Diesel up for the delayed vertical suplex and loses hold of him. So he picks him up again and pulls it off. Bulldog gets Diesel up for the running powerslam, but Diesel slips out of it and pushes him into the corner. He hits some running clotheslines in the corner before tagging in Shawn. He hits a body slam and then Shawn hits a splash off the shoulders of Diesel for a 2 count. Bulldog comes right back and puts Shawn into a military press before crotching him on the top rope. Yoko then sends Shawn flying into the corner and Bulldog hits a body slam on the outside of the ring. Bulldog sends Michaels pretty high up there with a back body drop. Yoko goes for the splash in the corner, but Michaels is able to move out of the way. Both men crawl and make tags to their partners. Diesel hits snake eyes in the corner and then the splash with Bulldog draped on the middle rope. He hits the side suplex and then all four men are in the ring. Bulldog and Yoko are thrown into each other and then they toss Bulldog into Yoko. Yoko then falls on Bulldog and then Diesel hits the big boot on him. Diesel goes for the Jackknife, but Cornette distracts the ref and Yoko makes a save. Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on Yoko. Bulldog hits the running powerslam, but Shawn leaps off the top rope for the save. Out comes Owen Hart and he goes off the top rope, but Diesel hits him in the midsection. We then get a stupid finish where Diesel hits the Jackknife on Owen and the referee allows the victory over the guy not in the match. In what world would that even make sense? It's a shame because other than that, this match was a blast. That may have been the best I've seen Yoko move around since he returned at WrestleMania also. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Make fun of me all you want, but I enjoyed this show. The two main matches more than delivered what we were hoping for and the undercard was good enough. I'd gladly watch this one again. 

Overall Rating: 77%

Superstars 9-23-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, September 23rd, 1995
Erie Civic Center
Erie, Pennsylvania

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It's time for some slop puns, as we recap the Henry Godwinn/Ted DiBiase feud. Jim Ross is with Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler today because he likes bacon. 

Kama & Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Henry Godwinn

Bam Bam hits a double clothesline, but the cheating of Kama and Tatanka gets the best of him as we go to commercial. When we come back from commercial, DiBiase brings out Sid. I feel like we are at the point where it's pretty safe to say that Kama is an absolute turd of a character, right? They gave him like 20 minutes with Undertaker at the second biggest show of the year and still no one cares. We get a double crossbody between Tatanka and Bam Bam, allowing both men to make the tag. Godwinn hits Kama with a clothesline and a back body drop. Tatanka pulls down the top rope and Godwinn falls in front of Sid. The ref is distracted by Bam Bam and Sid hits Godwinn with a powerbomb. The bell rings and we have a countout. Bam Bam scares them off with the slop bucket. This was fine at doing what it was supposed to do. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

We go to Dok Hendrix, who is now handling the In Your House hype duty in the famous mid-90s studio. They hype up what happened last time Diesel and Shawn Michaels tagged. Jean Pierre Lafitte says that Bret is afraid and then Bret calls him a big, fat, stupid pirate. 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Tony Williams

This is Hunter's first appearance on Superstars since August 12th. We get a random commercial break with no prompting and then Hunter hits the Pedigree for the win. That was strange, but who cares? 

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time to listen to Goldust ramble off names of actors in a theatre with a guy in a vest and a lady with no head in it. He then quotes Batman.

Vince is now in the ring to talk with Diesel and Shawn Michaels. Sorry, two dudes with attitudes. When they get to the ring, Jim Cornette and his crew crash the party. They argue back and forth, with Cornette doing the better job. 

Bob Holly vs. Isaac Yankem

If Kama is a turd of a character, I'm not sure what that makes Isaac Yankem then. Or Glenn Jacobs the human for that matter. We get another fade out commercial break and was kind of hoping they'd just skip to the end of this match. Yankem hits one of the worst looking big boots you'll see. Holly hits a missile dropkick and then a standing dropkick that Yankem sells terribly. Yankem kicks him in the gut and hits the DDS for the win. Almost as terrible as his political career. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Next week it's going to be Hakushi and Barry Horowitz vs. Skip and Rad Radford. Plus, Fatu takes on British Bulldog. 

Savio Vega vs. Sid

Vega gets off to a quick start, but then runs into a chokeslam. Sid sets him up for a powerbomb, but Bam Bam runs in and attacks him for the quick DQ finish. Godwinn is down to the ring as well. He chases DiBiase off with the slop bucket, but then dumps it on Sid. I mean, Sid is from Arkansas, he should be used to it. Sid then grabs a chair and slams it in anger. Boy, is he mad.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Back to Dok Hendrix to remind us that In Your House is tomorrow. If you weren't planning on buying it, you probably still aren't. We hear from Dean Douglas, Razor Ramon and British Bulldog.

We then see Sid, who is still snapping because of the slop. If only he cared that much when he was losing to Diesel every month. 

We see Sid throwing garbage around in the back now after they hype up that titles will change hand tomorrow. DiBiase doesn't know what to do. They then do predictions and basically spoil the entire event. Jerry Lawler predicting Diesel and Michaels will win? What?

This was kind of a weird show to me for some reason. They tried their best to make the Sid/Godwinn stuff feel important and I guess for the most part it worked, but I'm not sure people care enough about it. The rest of it was kind of there, but I am looking forward to In Your House, as I kind of remember liking it. 

Overall Rating: 39%

SmackDown 6-1-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, June 1st, 2007
John Labatt Centre
London, Ontario, Canada

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MVP & Miz vs. Chris Benoit & Matt Hardy

Well, Matt Hardy is in the match, so you know it will get some time. We continue to get closer to the Miz actually meaning something in WWE with the draft coming up. Sometimes I don't really feel like recapping the action and this is one of those times. Sometimes it's just kind of nice to watch the match and take it in. They do a nice little ending segment that features a dive from Hardy onto MVP to the outside and Benoit putting on the Crossface on Miz. After losing cleanly to MVP at Judgment Day, it's only natural that they would give him a win here over the weak link of the match. This was solid tag team action. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Hornswoggle is shown backstage with Finlay getting ready for his match against Little Boogeyman. 

Jillian vs. Michelle McCool

What a treat. I am a big supporter of women's wrestling and it's good that they are giving the ladies television time here. However, McCool was not ready to be in the ring and this really served no purpose. They are basically being set up to fail here. Don't get me wrong, they have trotted out much worse than McCool is here, but why not have here train a little longer? Jillian hits a leg drop out of a cartwheel and loses it when she doesn't win. Out comes Ashley and that distracts her so that McCool can hit a spinning backbreaker for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Boogeyman is now with Little Boogeyman. 

Little Boogeyman vs. Hornswoggle

Little Boogeyman puts a worm in Hornswoggle's hat and puts it on his head. This is what we're dealing with here. Boogeyman hands Little Boogeyman a huge handful of worms and throws them in Hornswoggle's face. Hornswoggle comes back with some green mist to the face. Hornswoggle then kicks Little Boogeyman out of the ring. Finlay then comes from under the ring and levels him with a right hand. He throws him back in the ring and Boogeyman comes to make the save. Hornswoggle then hits a leap off the apron onto Boogeyman. This allows Finlay to hit Little Boogeyman with the shillelagh and Hornswoggle hits the Tadpole Splash for the victory. I can't stand Boogeyman, but Finlay in this role is so good. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We get a Mark Henry hype video for his match with Kane. God help me. 

More Randy Orton/Rob Van Dam hype. I guess that's what happens when you have two pay per views just two weeks apart.

Kane vs. Mark Henry

Kane is a moron. I don't know how else to convey how little I care about this match. Watching Kane wrestle just makes me miserable. Just to make this worse, they don't even let Mark Henry beat him clean. They have to do a countout victory. Henry caught Kane off the apron and then drove him into the ring post. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Kristal is with Edge to ask about The Cutting Edge with Batista later on. He says that he's the champion and he's not intimidated by Batista.

Deuce, Domino and Cherry are with some random interview guy that I don't remember. He asks about the draft and I have to say I smiled when he made a joke about the draft for the war. They try to hype up that anyone can be split up with the draft. 

Triple Threat Match For The WWE Tag Team Championships
London & Kendrick vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor vs. Deuce 'n Domino 

We actually get a commercial break for this match, so that's a big win. I wonder if this match was cut from One Night Stand so they just threw it on here? This is a good combination of a mat wrestling team, a high flying team and a character team. They are slowly winning over the crowd because of it too. I honestly can't believe that Dave Taylor lasted this long. They naturally isolate London and Kendrick since they are your bumpers. London finally gets a hot tag, which is always fun. London goes up top, but Deuce distracts the referee and Cherry shoves him off the top rope for the victory. This was a nice little match that slowly built to that finish. I'm a little surprised that the champs retained here, but I honestly can't remember what happened to these titles after they won them. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Great, they just announced Mark Henry vs. Kane in a lumberjack match at One Night Stand. I think I remember that one and it sucked. I may be half assuming. Have they even mentioned Saturday Night's Main Event tomorrow? Maybe I just didn't catch it. The card for One Night Stand sucks big time. 

We go back to Teddy Long, Vickie Guerrero and Kristal. Kristal is all worried that she might be separated in the draft. Kristal asks if Teddy would be willing to leave his job as SmackDown GM in order to be with her? He says that he loves her so much that he would. Vickie then says that she would run the show to the best of her abilities and tells Teddy and Kristal to head out early tonight. They then show Edge heading to the ring for The Cutting Edge. 

Edge brings out his guest, Batista and asks him to have a seat. Edge doubles down on not being intimidated since he beat Batista already. Batista takes off his jacket after Edge implies that he's intimidated of him. Things get pretty cheesy from there and then Edge shoves Batista. Batista then hits him with a right hand and tells him he should be afraid of him. And that's it...? That was a lame segment. 

This show featured two matches worth your time and just about everything else was worthless. I mean, I guess that's par for the course, but it felt very apparent on this show. One Night Stand is one of the worst builds for a show that you will ever see and the card is trash to match. There isn't a whole lot to be excited about these days.

Overall Rating: 43%

ECW 5-29-07 Review

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
John Labatt Centre
London, Ontario, Canada

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Randy Orton is out to start the show because this is ECW. He shows the footage of what he did to Rob Van Dam on Raw. He announces that he'll be taking on RVD in a stretcher match at One Night Stand. Out comes Tommy Dreamer to stand up for his friend. He tells him that he's not welcome here, but he wants him in a match tonight and Orton accepts. He claims he will kill the legend of ECW. 

No Disqualification Match
CM Punk vs. Elijah Burke

Let's see if they can improve upon their Judgment Day match here. It feels like I watched that forever ago and that's probably because it was. NFL has definitely cut into my retro wrestling time. It doesn't help that this stretch of 2007 is not very good. We get an early commercial break and then see that Punk missed with a leap and then was driven into the ring post. Burke hits his nice looking running top rope handstand elbow drop thingy, as he continues to work on Punk's ribs. Burke sets up a table in the corner and that allows Punk to fight back. Punk hits the running knee in the corner, but Burke counters the bulldog into a back suplex. Punk snaps Burke's neck on the top rope and goes for the springboard clothesline, but Punk legit slips. Punk goes for Go To Sleep but out comes Marcus Cor Von with a chair. Punk fights him off and rolls down his knee pads. He goes for an Elijah Express, but Burke blocks it. Punk is able to throw Burke out of the way and Cor Von hits Punk with the Pounce through the table. Burke covers him and picks up the victory. I was hoping for a little bit better between the two and the finish was a foregone conclusion given the stipulation. 

Match Rating: **

We go to Vince McMahon live in a studio. He makes fun of Joey and Tazz's names. He brings up Lashley and he is also live in another studio. Lashley laughs when Vince says he was brought up in the streets and tells him he had a silver spoon in his mouth. Ironically, neither are true. This is terrible. Lashley wasn't good in these situations yet at this point of his career and Vince is just so stale as a character. This feud can't end soon enough. 

We get more of the Rob Van Dam/Randy Orton feud. 

It's time for Extreme Exposé. They dance. 

Kevin Thorn vs. Balls Mahoney

Great. Thorn is without Ariel. Thorn throws Balls into the ring post because he's so serious now. He hits his sit down spinebuster and Original Sin for the easy victory. Whatever.

Match Rating: 1/4*

The Major Brothers are talking about RVD and in walks Matt Striker. Striker says that if RVD was smart, he wouldn't show up at One Night Stand. Striker then hypes up the draft and hints at splitting them up. Striker challenges one of the Major Brothers for next week. This was pretty poor television. 

Randy Orton vs. Tommy Dreamer

This match should be a 5 minute spring of a brawl. Instead, it's at a crawl almost instantly. Orton dropkicks Dreamer off the apron and to the floor. Dreamer is able to hit a superplex and then some right hands. Dreamer avoids a dropkick and gets a 2 count. Dreamer hits a bulldog and a sit down spinebuster. He sets up Orton in the tree of woe and hits the running dropkick. Dreamer hits an inverted DDT and gets another 2 count. Dreamer goes for the DDT, but Orton is able to hit the RKO and pick up the win. I'm surprised Dreamer got in as much offense as he did given that Orton is getting a big push right now, but in the end no one will remember that this match existed. After the match, Orton hits Dreamer with another RKO. Orton hits the punt for good measure. Out comes RVD and Orton takes care of him quickly and RVD is selling the concussion again. 

Match Rating: *

This was another ho hum episode. I suppose that's better than why does this exist ECW, which is a lot of weeks also. Nothing important happened here and they just continue to rush into too many things like Saturday Night's Main Event, One Night Stand and the draft. 

Overall Rating: 38%

Monday Night Raw 5-28-07

Monday, May 28th, 2007 
Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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We get a Memorial Day tribute before we start our show that is starting in Toronto, which makes sense. 

Memorial Day Bikini Beach Blast Battle Royal

Your contestants here are Candice Michelle, Mickie James, Maria, Jillian, Kelly Kelly, Brooke, Layla, Michelle McCool, Kristal and Melina. There are squirt guns, water balloons and noodles in the ring. So obviously this is really good. For some reason Layla is wearing high heels. Kelly Kelly gets thrown out between the first and second rope and I guess that doesn't matter. Melina and Michelle McCool are the last two remaining. McCool wins. I couldn't have cared any less about this if I tried.

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Shane McMahon is on his way to the ring and Jerry Lawler hypes up a major announcement. 

Shane is out after the commercial break and in 2 weeks we are going to have the first ever tri-branded draft. He also says that he's going to pin Lashley in the main event tonight. 

The Hardy's, Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team, Johnny Nitro & Kenny Dykstra

We get pretty standard action to start and we get a random top rope dive to the floor from...Trevor Murdoch. That naturally leads us to our commercial break. Didn't expect that though. When we come back, the heels take control. Nitro hits his nice double team move when Jeff is on Dykstra's knees and Nitro hits an slingshot elbow. Shelton hits a nice kid to the head, but it's not enough to get Jeff out. After a heel beatdown segment, the Hardy's do their thing and hit the Twist Of Fate/Swanton combo for the victory. They celebrate together until Shelton grabs a mic and tells everyone not to go anywhere. He says that they won, but they didn't beat them. He challenges the Hardy's for the titles at One Night Stand. Matt says they'll give them a match, but it will be a ladder match. This made no sense back in 2007 other than to have Shelton and Jeff in the same ladder match. Since they don't really care about the tag team division (although they have been putting in a better effort lately), this is kind of a why not? moment. This match was not bad and got more time than I expected. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We get a WrestleMania 24 is coming to Orlando commercial. 

John Cena is with Todd Grisham and is asked if he is scared of Great Khali. He then mocks Khali's speaking and says that it translates to that he isn't afraid. 

Maria is with Santino Marella. We get a lame joke about his accent and then Randy Orton comes out to interrupt. He has no respect for Rob Van Dam and he will truly enjoy what he does to him tonight. 

Rob Van Dam vs. Randy Orton

We get a little bit of a slow start, which means they are likely getting some time. RVD starts to get the best of Orton, but Orton is able to roll out of the ring when he goes for Rolling Thunder. Orton is able to turn that into some offense of his own. RVD leaps up on the top rope and Orton is able to dropkick him to the floor and into the commercial break. It then turns into your usual slow paced Orton match. Orton misses with a dropkick and RVD hits Rolling Thunder. RVD gets a nearfall and then tries to leap up top and slips a little bit. He shows some signs of a head injury, but then hits Orton with a single leg kick off the top and to the floor. Orton comes back with the DDT on the ropes, but RVD kicks out at 2. The ref checks in on RVD and he's selling a concussion. The referee stops the match and calls for help. Orton hits an RKO on him while he's doing so. I get they were going for drama, but this was so dull. They had a big arena full of people and they went with the slow kill here and it just didn't work for me. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

Ric Flair & Torrie Wilson vs. Carlito & Victoria

This is an intergender tag match, so the men can wrestle the women. Pretty quickly into the match, you have Victoria giving Flair chops and then him putting on the Figure Four. She reverses it and tags in Carlito. Torrie gets a hot tag and hits a series of clotheslines on Victoria. Carlito hits Flair with a chop block outside the ring. Torrie hits a facebuster, but Carlito breaks up the pin attempt. Carlito gets tagged in and kisses Torrie. She hits him with a slap, but then he hits the Backstabber for the victory. Obviously this was an intergender match for a reason. This was short and only existed to get Carlito over as a heel. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Umaga and Great Khali are yelling nonsense to each other. Shane comes in and talks strategy before more yelling. 

We come back and Maria is still doing the Kiss Cam. Obviously that means an angle is going to happen and it's Chris Masters coming down. Yes, he still works here. He took notice of Maria flirting with Santino. He calls out Santino and wants to see if he can get out of the Master Lock. He doesn't show, but then Masters hints at putting it on Maria instead and out comes Santino. They start brawling and it leads to the Master Lock being put on. The crowd actually starts chanting for Santino, but Masters throws him to the mat and Santino sells the effects. 

Umaga, Great Khali & Shane McMahon vs. John Cena & Bobby Lashley

Apparently there is a Saturday Night's Main Event this week. They taped it at this show, so that kind of explains the smaller pop than usual for these guys. We get a quick heat segment on Cena, so I guess Lashley gets to be the hero tonight. It's probably going to happen soon, since we are under 5 minutes left in the show. Cena is able to get his chance with Shane and then tags in Lashley. The match breaks down and the heels once again regain control. Khali hits his double handed chokeslam. Shane tags in and hits a top rope elbow for the victory over Lashley. That was decisive. Vince then comes out to congratulate Shane and team when we go off the air. This was nothing other than to remind you that Khali is a beast. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

This wasn't particularly good, but I guess it wasn't terrible either. That's a win for this era. There isn't anything that really stood out for me on this episode, but I've seen much worse than this. I do think they missed an opportunity for Orton and RVD to have a really good match before the angle, but that's me. 

Overall Rating: 44%

Off The Grid, Volume 52: Survivor Series 1988 Review

Thursday, November 24th, 1988
Richfield Coliseum
Richfield Township, Ohio

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Off The Grid, Volume 52:

I still am kind of surprised I haven't done this show yet, but there were a lot of Survivor Series to go through. Of all the arenas they ran for multiple pay per views, Richfield Coliseum is one of the more random ones. Jesse Ventura in a pilgrim hat and Gorilla Monsoon are our hosts tonight.

Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Blue Blazer, Sam Houston & Jim Brunzell vs. Honky Tonk Man, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine, Ron Bass & Bad News Brown

They sure did not stack Warrior's team here. I like the blue tights with the yellow boots here for Valentine. Beefcake slaps on the sleeper hold on Davis and that's all that takes. Per Wikipedia, he lasted all of 78 seconds. They wisely keep things quick here, with lots of tags and no dull spots. Brown hits the Ghetto Blaster and Brunzell is eliminated. That seemed like a foregone conclusion. Sam Houston seems like the next foregone conclusion and he runs into a big boot from Brown. Brown holds Houston up, but Houston ducks and Valentine accidentally hits Brown. Brown doesn't like it and decides to walk away and is counted out. They all beat up on Houston and Bass finally hits a powerslam to eliminate him. Warrior is finally in the match and destroying everyone. He hits the shoulder tackle on Honky and then launches Blue Blazer off the top rope onto Bass, who kicks out at 2. We get a mess up on a leap from Blazer onto Valentine's head. Blazer goes up top, but Honky shoves him off and Valentine gets the shin guard flipped around. He slaps on the Figure Four and Blazer is gone. Honky goes off the top and gets hit in the midsection by Beefcake on the way down. Beefcake slaps on the sleeper and they roll out of the ring. They start brawling and Beefcake slaps on the sleeper again. Both men are counted out, leaving it as a two on one for Warrior. As you would expect, Warrior overcomes the double team and eliminates Bass. He hits a double ax handle and that's enough to get rid of Valentine and making Warrior your sole survivor. This started off really strong and lost a little bit of momentum as it went on. It was still a pretty enjoyable match overall though. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Demolition, Brain Busters, Bolsheviks, Conquistadores & Fabulous Rougeaus vs. Powers Of Pain, Young Stallions, Hart Foundation, British Bulldogs & Rockers

The ring has been specially reinforced. I am shocked that Vince would ever agree to pay this many people for one match. The only thing that doesn't make sense about this match is how far around the ring each team member is. You can basically make a tag from just about anywhere. I'm not even going to try and bother to recap this one. We get a fairly quick elimination when Bret gets a small package on Raymond Rougeau. Apparently they were eliminated early because of the heat with Dynamite Kid and this gave them a chance to leave the arena. Dynamite seemed like a great guy. Things are pretty sloppy for the most part here. It doesn't help that they can barely run the ropes. Jim Powers gets eliminated by Boris Zhukov, which is a pretty good sign that you're going nowhere. The Rockers use a blind tag on Zhukov and eliminate him with a sunset flip. The managers have not played a role in this match so far. We get a pretty lengthy stretch with no eliminations until Bret hits a German suplex into a pin and Blanchard gets his shoulder up, but Bret doesn't. I'm surprised Bret was fine with that finish. We get another double elimination with the Rockers and Brain Busters, this time as a disqualification. Having that happen two matches in a row seems a little repetitive. I have never really figured out why the Conquistadores made it as long as they did in this match. Just as I type that, Gorilla and Jesse say the same thing. Gorilla puts it at 100 to 1 that they are the last team standing. Dynamite misses with a top rope headbutt and Smash hits him with a clothesline to eliminate him. Mr. Fuji just randomly gets on the apron and just keeps swinging his cane at nothing. Smash runs the ropes and Fuji lowers the middle rope and he falls through it. He is counted out and Ax is out to confront him. They get into an argument and they slam Fuji to the floor. Powers of Pain then go outside to check on Fuji and help him up. Gorilla and Jesse are onto it and Fuji is now in their corner. Fuji trips up one of the Conquistadores and Barbarian hits a headbutt for the victory. The crowd cheers out of habit, but they immediately celebrate with Fuji. Out comes Demolition and they attack the victors. The crowd isn't quite sure how to react here. This was a looonnng match. A lot of the action was pretty good, but it just took forever and I'm not really sure Fuji executed that finish as good as he should have. 

Match Rating: ***

Sean Mooney is with Bad News Brown and he lets us know that he smelled a conspiracy because everyone wants to be the first to beat him. He wants a shot at Randy Savage's WWF Championship. 

Mean Gene is with Mr. Fuji and Powers of Pain. Mr. Fuji says that he made Demolition. 

Mean Gene is now with Bobby Heenan's team. After two lackluster interviews, this was more the style we are used to. 

Sean Mooney is now with the Mega Powers team. It's kind of odd to see Koko B. Ware and Hercules mixed in with the main event level. 

Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, Scott Casey, Ken Patera & Tito Santana vs. Andre The Giant, Dino Bravo, Mr. Perfect, Harley Race & Rick Rude

Lots of punching and kicking in this one. This really is the prefect type of match for a guy like Duggan. He brings good energy in his spots and doesn't have to do too much. On the other hand, did anyone care about Scott Casey? Ken Patera is eliminated by Rude and no one cares. Patera is about as dull of a wrestler as they ever had in the Hogan era. Bravo then eliminates Casey and no one cares about that either. Tito hits the flying forearm on Race and gets him out of there. Andre finally gets in there and surprisingly shows some pretty good intensity here. He just sits on Tito and that's enough to eliminate my guy. Duggan charges in and we get the tied in the ropes spot. The crowd loves this and then Jake gets his chance to get some right hands in. After taking a beating, Jake finally tags in Duggan and sends Dino soaring with a back body drop. Jim Duggan then does what he does best, which is lose by DQ, leaving Jake all by himself against four opponents. Bravo and Rude take advantage of the situation, but all it takes for Jake is to pull down Rude's pants and he then hits the DDT to eliminate him. Andre comes in with a vengeance and starts choking the life out of Jake. He refuses to break the hold and gets disqualified. He hits him with a headbutt on the way out and Mr. Perfect runs in and pins him to score the victory for him and Bravo. Jake goes and grabs the bag with Damian and throws it in the ring. No one is in there, so he carries it towards Andre and he heads to the back. Once they got rid of the no namers, things picked up, but not enough to make this anything really special. This may have been Andre's last good performance though. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Mean Gene is with the heel team of your main event. Akeem isn't wearing his hat and looks like he just left a wedding. Who in the world thought it would be a good idea for the Red Rooster to be on this team? 

Akeem, Big Boss Man, Ted DiBiase, King Haku & Red Rooster vs. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim & Hercules

As you would expect, the crowd is crazy into this, so that automatically scores some points. Koko hits a missile dropkick on Rooster, but he surprisingly kicks out. So Hogan comes in and hits him with a big boot. He tags in Savage and he hits a top rope elbow drop for the easy elimination. Hillbilly gets in some offense on Akeem, but the momentum quickly changes after Akeem hits a clothesline. He hits the 747 and eliminates Hillbilly. The Twin Towers move onto Koko and Boss Man hits the Boss Man Slam to eliminate him. Hogan and Boss Man are in there now. Hogan gets him up for the slam, but Boss Man comes back with a spinebuster. We get some more tags, leading to Hercules and DiBiase in there. Virgil trips up Hercules and that's enough of a distraction for DiBiase to roll him up and eliminate him. Savage then does the same to DiBiase and now he's gone too. We get a Hogan arm drop scenario with Haku's dreaded nerve hold. After that fails, Boss Man hits the Boss Man Slam. Being the intelligent heel that he is, he decides to celebrate instead of pinning him. He goes for a top rope splash and Hogan is able to move out of the way. Hogan gets the hot tag to Savage, but it doesn't last long thanks to Slick. Slick then goes after Elizabeth. Hogan chases after Slick, but it backfires when Boss Man handcuffs Hogan to the bottom rope. Boss Man is counted out in the process and then hits Hogan with the nightstick. Boss Man then goes and helps with Savage and that gets Akeem disqualified. Hogan is still handcuffed and Haku was taking care of him. Regardless it's Savage and Hogan against Haku, so even though they tried for drama, no one in the arena thinks Hogan is losing. Slick and Heenan get knocked out and Elizabeth is able to retrieve the keys for the handcuffs. Savage is getting beat down by Haku and hits a top rope splash for a 2 count. Savage is able to make a tag to Hogan and he does his usual for the easy victory. Despite the predictability, the overall pacing of the action was well done in this one and the crowd was into just about everything. After the match, Hogan picks up Elizabeth and Savage isn't digging it. The announcers don't make any mention of it and we go off the air. 

Match Rating: ***

This was about what you would expect from a Survivor Series during this era. None of the matches were bad, but nothing really stands out as a must watch either. There were a few odd wrestlers on here, which kind of makes it more of rewarding watch if you are a diehard fan of the era. I can't really go out of my way to recommend the show, but I also can't say anything really bad about the show. It's significantly better than a lot of the Survivor Series shows that you'll get after this one. 

Overall Rating: 54%

Monday Night Raw 9-21-95 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, September 21st, 1995
Canton Civic Center
Canton, Ohio

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We get a fairly lengthy "Last week on Raw" intro to kick it off. 

1-2-3 Kid vs. Razor Ramon

Kid attacks Razor on his way into the ring and we are underway. Razor hits the second rope fall away slam and gets an early 2. Razor is all over Kid here and is wondering if this is all he has. Kid is able to sidestep Razor and he falls to the floor. Kid hits a slingshot dropkick over the top and throws Razor back in the ring. He hits him with a kick, but Razor has his foot on the bottom rope. He slaps on a sleeper hold and we get a commercial break. When we come back, the sleeper is still on. Razor battles out of it and hits a back suplex. Razor hits a big clothesline in the corner. We then get a collision spot, with the referee also being knocked out. They show the replay for some reason, even though it makes it look like Hebner flopped. Out comes Dean Douglas and he hits a top rope splash on Razor before running away. Kid and the ref crawl back in the ring and we get the slow count for the victory. That was a fun match with a dorky finish. Obviously, we were going to get a finish like that, but you would have thought it was one that would have made Razor look a little better than that. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We then get a Report Card with Dean Douglas and he gives another boring promo with the same formula. 

Kama & Tatanka vs. Savio Vega & Bob Holly

The phrase "dream match" gets thrown around a lot, but I don't think I'm stepping out of line in saying that this isn't one of them. Jerry Lawler says that Holly runs hot, which is maybe the first time I've heard them reference that. We all just think he's a dorky race car driver at this point. Both depictions are accurate. Tatanka pulls Holly's foot off the apron and Savio isn't able to make the tag as a result and Kama takes advantage. They then hit a double boot while Holly is still complaining. Holly again hurts his partner by trying to get in the ring and they isolate Savio in their corner. Tatanka and Savio hit a double clothesline. Both men tag in their partners and Holly is able to hit a missile dropkick. Tatanka breaks up the pin attempt. We get some chaos and then a sloppy finish when Holly goes off the top and Kama is supposed to catch him and hit a body slam. Instead it looks like he just reversed it into a pin and almost injured Holly's neck. This was entertaining enough for what it was. 

Match Rating: *1/4

We get a Razor Ramon interview and he tells Dean Douglas that he's going to carve him up. 

The WrestleMania XI special is on Fox on September 30th. 

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Brian Walsh

Walsh gets in a dropkick, but the second one misses. We get Bret Hart on the phone from the set of Lonesome Dove. Just in case you didn't know it was 1995. Bret's talking and Vince is still doing his "Oh!" over top of him for this competitive match. He hits running double knees with Walsh on the second rope. He hits the Canonnball and that's all. Squash.

Match Rating: 1/4*

In Your House is this Sunday.

Men On A Mission vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna

We get the rare heel vs. heel match here. Owen gets to be the lucky one here and has to bump around for Mabel. Some blessed fan also likely got a big wad of spit on them when Mabel hit the turnbuckle. This one just has a weird dynamic, with Owen and Yoko kind of playing the babyface role. We're getting lots of high voice Vince, which means the crowd is dead. When we come back from commercial, Mabel plays the babyface role, throwing Owen into Yoko. Owen goes up top, but Mo crotches him and hits a superplex. Yoko comes in and knocks Mabel out of the ring. Owen hits a drop toe hold on Mo and Yoko hits the leg drop. Yoko holds Mabel's ankle while Owen picks up the victory. The dynamic was weird, but the action was fine enough considering who was in there. 

Match Rating: *

Shawn Michaels and Diesel cut a promo saying that they will win the Tag Team Championships at In Your House. 

We go back to the ring with the champs. Jim Cornette hypes up that it will be the first time that all three titles will be on the line in the same match. I know I mentioned it before, but I thought this was legitimately one of the coolest ideas. It wasn't enough for me to convince my parents to order the show though. Cornette cuts his usual solid promo before another commercial break. 

Next week, the winner of the triple header match will be here on Raw. Lawler gives his royal prediction and that Yokozuna will be the new WWF Champion. Next week, British Bulldog takes on Undertaker. 

This was a pretty good episode overall. I didn't think they did a great job building to In Your House, but provided an easy to watch episode. 

Overall Rating: 56%

Monday Nitro 9-18-95 Review

Monday, September 18th, 1995 
Freedom Hall
Johnson City, Tennessee

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Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael are here to kick it off. Bischoff says that there is an emergency in the back and we go to Mean Gene with an ambulance pulling in. Out comes Kevin Sullivan and Giant. Gene says that if Giant's father was alive, he'd be ashamed. Giant is in Waterboy mode here. 

WCW Tag Team Championship Match
American Males vs. Blue Bloods Harlem Heat

Bobby Eaton was on the way out and Harlem Heat attacks him. Heenan assumes that they already knocked out Steven Regal. Heat are the new champions, winning the title just last night at Fall Brawl. They say they are going to give these two punks a title shot tonight. Sure. They tell us that Nick Bockwinkle is not here, so they're not sure how it will be handled. The Males play the plucky underdogs, as you would expect. Booker is able to hit a big scissor kick and the Heat are dominating. Booker hits a big kick and gets a 2 count on Riggs. We then see a big sign in the crowd that says "We want it Raw!". Bagwell makes a hot tag that isn't so hot. Out comes Colonel Parker and he starts making out with Sherri. He carries her away and Bagwell reverses a body slam into a pin on Booker and they pull of the upset to become new champions. The Heat were clearly the over team, but there is storyline going on and obviously they wanted something at least remotely shocking every week to begin with. I can live with that booking. 

Match Rating: *

Mean Gene is in the ring and brings out Ric Flair. He says that Arn Anderson broke the code by bringing an outsider into their match. He's going to chop Brian Pillman so hard that Boomer Esiason is going to feel it in Long Island. Flair also drops the first curse word. 

This week on Saturday Night it's going to be the rematch everyone wants to see when Sgt. Craig Pittman takes on Cobra. Sometimes I'm glad I can't watch that show. 

Paul Orndorff vs. Johnny B. Badd

Orndorff comes out to new annoying heel music that I had no idea existed. Orndorff looks pretty old at this point. He was just about to turn 46 here, but he looks older than that. Badd apparently had 9 stitches put in after his match with Pillman at Fall Brawl. We get a commercial break before anything exciting happens. Basically nothing happens here and we then get a crap finish that takes forever to get to, where Orndorff counters and grabs the legs for the pin. It didn't seem like anyone was really happy with that. This stunk.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We then go to Randy Savage doing bench presses on the beach until Kevin Sullivan attacks him by pushing the bar on his throat. Then a couple of lifeguards and Ric Flair gently lift him off and he just gladly goes away. That was awful. That brings Mean Gene out and he brings out Savage. Savage says "Thanks, but no thanks" to Flair helping him. He says that he'll take care of Taskmaster himself. He then says that Hulk Hogan is a terrible judge of character, which is obvious based on him being the mascot of the garbage man that just was voted President. He says that Lex Luger had a personal agenda and that he was hit with a cheap shot at Fall Brawl. Luger comes out and wonders if Savage is jealous of him. Luger says that the reason he's here is because he was sick of playing with kids, he wants the big boys. Out of context, that sounds pretty bad. Savage says right here, right now. That's code for we're going to commercial because it's not happening. This was the first positive of the episode so far. 

We go to a pre-tape interview with Mean Gene, Hulk Hogan and his motorcycle. This was from before Fall Brawl. We then get the absolute cheesiest video of the Giant smashing Hogans motorcycle. They then show Giant coming down to save Kevin Sullivan from Hogan. This was horrendous. 

Brian Pillman vs. Ric Flair

These two go right at it and Pillman misses with a dropkick. The announcers are shocked by Pillman's aggressive new attitude. I blame Flair's haircut. Pillman slams Flair off the top rope, but then misses with a splash. We get a collision spot and both men are down. Flair is able to hit a suplex and puts on the Figure Four and Pillman taps? Sure. He then says that he's waiting on Arn Anderson. This match was nothing. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

The announcers wrap up the show and we'll have Randy Savage vs. Kevin Sullivan next week and Alex Wright vs. Disco Inferno. Bobby Heenan tells us that something's going on in the back, Eric Bischoff agrees and we never see anything. Sounds about right. 

This episode was nowhere near as good as the last two by a mile. Outside of the Savage/Luger spot, this was extremely dull and even had a bad Pillman/Flair match. 

Overall Rating: 38%

Fall Brawl 1995 Review

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

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

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

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

Match Rating: ***1/2

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

Cobra vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman

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

Match Rating: 1/4*

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

WCW World Television Championship Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Renegade

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

Match Rating: 1/2*

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

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

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

Match Rating: 1/2*

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

Halloween Havoc is coming back to Detroit. 

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

Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair

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

Match Rating: ***

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

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

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

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

Match Rating: 3/4*

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

Overall Rating: 34%

Superstars 9-16-95 Review

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

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Hakushi vs. Skip Rad Radford

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

Match Rating: **

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

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

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

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

King Kong Bundy vs. Henry Godwinn

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

Match Rating: 1/4*

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

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Scott Taylor

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

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

Savio Vega vs. Rick Stockhauser

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

Match Rating: 1/4*

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

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

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

Overall Rating: 32%

SmackDown 5-25-07 Review

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

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

London & Kendrick vs. Dave Taylor & William Regal

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

Match Rating: *1/2

We get a recap of the Shawn Michaels situation.

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

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

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

Matt Hardy vs. Miz

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

Match Rating: **

We get a pre-taped vignette of Mark Henry. 

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

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

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

Chavo Guerrero vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

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

Match Rating: *1/4

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

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

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

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

Match Rating: ***

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

Overall Rating: 44%

ECW 5-22-07 Review

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

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Snitsky vs. Tommy Dreamer

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

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

Match Rating: 1/4*

Kevin Thorn vs. Wyatt Lara

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

Match Rating: 1/4*

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

Matt Striker vs. Brett Major

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

Match Rating: 1/4*

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

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

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

Match Rating: **

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

Overall Rating: 38%

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

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

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Off The Grid, Volume 51:

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

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

Randy Savage vs. Jimmy Snuka

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

Match Rating: *3/4

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

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

WWF Championship Match
Ted DiBiase vs. Hulk Hogan

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

Match Rating: 3/4*

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

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

Haku vs. Roddy Piper

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

Match Rating: 3/4*

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

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

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

Rick Martel vs. Tito Santana

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

Match Rating: ***1/2

We get more Piper making fun of the Heenan family. 

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

Rougeau Brothers vs. Bushwackers

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

Match Rating: 3/4*

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

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

Overall Rating: 70%