Monday Night Raw 3-26-07 Review

Monday, March 26th, 2007 
Allstate Arena
Rosemont, Illinois

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Jonathan Coachman is in the ring to start the show. He announces that Vince McMahon vs. Bobby Lashley will now be a No Disqualification Match. Any outside interference will result in a fine or a suspension. Glass shatters and out comes Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin talks about how he was getting gifts from Donald Trump to make him think that he was buying Austin off. However, it said from the office of Vince McMahon. Austin asks if Vince thinks he's stupid and Coach then admits that it was him who did that, not Vince. He hits a Stunner on Coach and thankfully ends this segment. 

Austin then is shown trying to leave in his truck and has a limo blocking his way. The limo backs up and then goes next to Austin. Vince is about to lose it until he realizes it's Austin and tries to be nice. Austin flicks him off anyway and then Vince assaults the driver. 

Jillian, Melina & Victoria vs. Ashley, Torrie Wilson & Candice Michelle

Candice's outfit looks like a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. I completely understand why they felt like they needed to use Ashley here, but she just wasn't ready. Anyway, she hits a victory roll on Jillian and gets the win. This is what you would expect from this era. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Kenny Dykstra vs. CM Punk

Punk gets his big Chicago debut here. Kenny gets in a little bit of offense to start. Punk catches him with a kick and then hits the springboard dropkick. He hits the Go To Sleep and that's all for this match. This was basically just to get Punk in front of more people.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Edge is backstage and clapping. Edge says we're going to have all of the Money In The Bank competitors on the Cutting Edge next. 

After the commercial, we get said Cutting Edge. He tells Matt Hardy that he's shocked that he's even on the WrestleMania card. Matt comes back with a joke about Lita. It's safe to say that Matt came a long way on the mic from this time. King Booker starts talking about peasants and Finlay interrupts saying that he's so sick of the verbal diarrhea. Randy Orton says not to hurt Edge's feelings because he may duck out of this match like he has every match the last month. Mr. Kennedy tries to get his name out there, but Edge rips the mic away. Edge then makes fun of Jeff Hardy's dancing and Jeff says that he will steal the show. Even if he has to go through his own brother. CM Punk tells Edge that he's addicted to running his mouth and that leads to a brawl between the competitors. Meanwhile, Edge is on the entrance ramp with a smile on his face. The others eventually realize it and chase him up the ramp and into the commercial break. 

Maria is backstage with John Cena. Cena does his best to explain WrestleMania to Maria and then hypes up his match with Shawn Michaels.

No Disqualification Match
Vince McMahon vs. Bobby Lashley

I am so freaking close to being done with this. Vince rolls out of the ring and out come Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch to no reaction whatsoever. Lashley takes care of both and then Chris Masters is out and attacks Lashley from behind. He goes for the Master Lock, but Lashley counters it and hits a full nelson slam. Now it's Johnny Nitro's turn and his fate is the same as the others. Now Vince calls for Umaga and they start brawling. Vince then attacks Lashley from behind with a low blow. Umaga hits the pop up Samoan drop and Vince pins him for the victory. After the match Umaga hits a top rope splash. Just like the feud, the attack goes on for way too long. This was as dumb as you would expect it to be.

Match Rating: 1/4*

The Hardys vs. Mr. Kennedy & Randy Orton

This match feels like it should have been more important than middle of the show unannounced match level. Jeff has the opening heat segment until he hits a Whisper In The Wind and Matt gets the hot tag. Jeff hits Poetry In Motion on Randy, but misses on Kennedy. This allows Orton to come in and hits the RKO and win the match. This was surprisingly pretty short. If this was SmackDown, it would have been 2 commercial breaks and 20 minutes. It was pretty good for 4 minutes.

Match Rating: *3/4

In a cool moment, Jim Ross is announced as the final member of the Hall Of Fame class for 2007. 

Great Khali vs. Ric Flair

This match lasts about 60 seconds. Khali goes outside and is trying to slam Flair onto the steel steps. Out comes Carlito to cause the disqualification. Khali goes back in the ring and hits the double handed chokeslam on Carlito. Kane comes out with his stupid hook, but Khali knocks it out of his hands. Kane gets some right hands in and Khali leaves the ring before Kane can grab his hook again. Next.

Match Rating: 1/4*

They run down the card for the 4 hour WrestleMania. 

Shawn Michaels gives us his last gasp promo before WrestleMania, which is very condensed here. 

John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Batista & Undertaker

This feels very rushed already. I mean, Taker's entrance was only a fraction of the usual time. The crowd has come alive though and providing a good atmosphere. Cena and Taker start things off, with both guys trying big moves, but neither hitting them. We get a blind tag situation that leads to some tension with Batista and Taker. Then the big moment comes and it's Michaels hitting Sweet Chin Music on John Cena out of nowhere. Batista rolls over and pulls off the victory for his team as Michaels looks down on Cena. Michaels gives Cena the "You can't see me" and crotch chops. This was a great main event for the time it was given. 

Match Rating: **1/2

We get a final commercial break for some reason, which feels odd. When they come back, all they do is recap it and we'll see you at WrestleMania. Strange.

Well, there was at least a little life to this show this week, but there also was still a ton of crap. The main event was great, as was the finish. Other than that, you can skip it.

Overall Rating: 44%

NXT 6-10-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, June 10th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley vs. Elias Sampson & Mike Rallis

Ah yes, the Hype Bros. We get lots of dancing from Rawley, if that's your thing. He hits his 3 moves he has and then they hit their double team, which is the Rough Ryder off of Rawley's shoulders. They go in the crowd to celebrate their big victory. This was a thing that existed. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a Finn Balor demon vignette for Tokyo. 

We get a Dana Brooke video package and try to make her seem important.

Emma vs. Blue Pants

I think Blue Pants is the definition of "you had to be there". Emma is not amused. Emma keeps on Blue Pants, but she keeps kicking out of the pin attempts. Emma misses with an elbow drop and Blue Pants hits a few low impact kicks. Emma quickly bounces back and puts on the Emma Lock for the win. Blue Pants didn't seem ready for prime time here in my opinion.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We go to Enzo, Cass and Carmella. They say that NXT would be a lot better without Blake and Murphy and they'll take care of that next week. 

Tyler Breeze vs. Bull Dempsey

Bull gets the better of Breeze early on. He goes up to the top rope, but Breeze wisely rolls out of the ring. He chases Breeze around and then Bull acts as if he has a cramp. The crowd starts chanting "Car-di-o". They continue the chase and Bull is completely winded now. Breeze throws him in the ring and hits the Beauty Shot for the easy win. My impression as someone who didn't really watch NXT at all during this time was that Bull was a top player for a short amount of time. I guess that was not the case. This was just shenanigans.

Match Rating: 1/2*

They talk about the TakeOver match between Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks.

Becky Lynch vs. Jessie McKay

It's Billy Kaye here and she actually gets some offense here. Becky comes back with the exploder suplex and a unique submission that she ends up slamming McKay face-first into the mat. She slaps on the Dis-arm-her and gets the fairly easy win here. It's another one of those Superstars style episodes of NXT here tonight.

Match Rating: 1/4*

William Regal is ready to make an announcement and then Dempsey walks in eating Doritos. Regal says that he thinks Bull has a problem and Bull says he was doing really well until the end. Regal takes the Doritos and walks away. Bull pulls a chocolate bar out of his tights. What could go wrong here? 

We go to Jason Jordan and he says that he has a new partner. Chad Gable comes in and Jordan says it's not him. Gable tells him that when he's ready, he'll be ready, willing and Gable. Jordan walks away and then he writes his name on Jordan's locker room tag.

Baron Corbin vs. Angelo Dawkins

This show can't get any worse....oh wait. It can. At least we get some Dawkins here. Dawkins goes for a modified bulldog, but Corbin counters and hits a big clothesline. He hits End Of Days and picks up the win. Next.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Samoa Joe vs. Scott Dawson

Kevin Owens is guest commentator for Joe's in ring debut. I find it to be kind of crazy that all 3 of the timelines that I'm watching are in a slump. I'm sure people didn't think of 2015 NXT as being in a slump, but there is not really too much going on outside of Kevin Owens as champ that is interesting. They let Dawson get in his minute of offense before Joe hits the Musclebuster for the victory. I mean, it was what it was meant to be.

Match Rating: 1/2*

After the match, Owens walks away but Joe calls him out on the mic. Owens tells Joe that he has to earn a NXT title match and he simply hasn't done that yet. Out comes Regal and he agrees. He says Joe has earned the right to a fight though and says Joe will face Owens next week. 

This episode was really poor. They have a tendency to have one of these episodes every couple of months where it is 1980s/1990s Superstars and it doesn't always work that well. 

Overall Rating: 31%

Monday Night Raw 6-19-95 Review

Monday, June 19th, 1995
Struthers, Ohio
Struthers Auditorium

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Undertaker vs. Mike McReynolds

We get lots of stinky feet talk during Undertaker's entrance. They try to hype up Undertaker as being more aggressive, but he's just as slow as usual during this era. He hits a Tombstone to put McReynolds away. They then show the Creatures of the Night in the crowd. I assure you, no one cares. After that, they put him in a body bag, which is what every kid wants their favorite wrestler to do after winning. This really makes no sense from a psychology standpoint. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Lawler hypes up his foot again. As they continue to promote this show, you just have to wonder if they knew how bad this would be at this point in the hype.

The WWF World Tour de Force is coming to you. 

They show Bob Backlund from last week destroying Man Mountain Rock's equipment. Rock says that guitar is his soul, man. 

Adam Bomb vs. Bill Payne

Adam Bomb still works here. Payne attacks Bomb from behind, but Bomb knocks him over with a shoulder tackle. He hits the top rope clothesline and quickly takes care of Payne.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Todd Pettengill with the King Of The Ring Report. This just leads to more foot talk. We then get a pre-taped interview of Bret Hart saying that Lawler will be kissing his foot, slimeball. 

Sid & Tatanka vs. Headshrinkers

Is this it for the Headshrinkers? We get the always classic DDT on Fatu and then he bounces up and dances spot. Sid comes in and tries a double noggin knocker, but that doesn't work either. After a commercial break, they announce that Diesel has doctor's clearance to wrestle in the huge tag team match that is definitely worth spending your hard earned money on. Meanwhile, Sid and Tatanka are cheating on Fatu behind the referee's back. Sid misses with a leg drop and tags in Tatanka. He cuts off Fatu before he can make the tag. Tatanka misses with an elbow drop and this time Fatu gets to Sione. He hits a piledriver, but Sid breaks up the pin attempt. Sid clotheslines him over the top. Sid stays in the ring and powerbombs Fatu. He then goes outside and they hit a double powerbomb on Sione, roll him back in the ring and make the pin. They really didn't do much here.

Match Rating: *

They show clips of the Diesel/Sid feud and some In Your House footage. We get an interview with Bam Bam Bigelow and Diesel, who give one of the more depressing face interviews. 

We get more Jerry Lawler shenanigans. 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Buck Quartermaine

This goes back to my complaint on how long it takes for new superstars to have feuds. You have Savio Vega getting a match with Jeff Jarrett next week on Raw, while guys like Lafitte, Godwinn and Helmsley are just directionless. Anyway, Helmsely hits the Pedigree for the quick victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Shawn Michaels vs. Gus Kantarrakis

We get one of the spots that they used to show in Michaels video packages where he walks in the front row and sits down. It also exposes how small the building is that they are performing in. This is mostly Michaels goofing around. Michaels hits a snap suplex outside the ring. He hits a running superkick for the finish. Right after the match, Kama tries to sneak attack him, but Michaels gets the best of him and dropkicks him out of the ring. Out comes Undertaker and he stands there. Gripping.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Lawler says Bret will have to kiss both of his feet. Now I'm for sure ordering this show. 

This was about as ho hum of a show as you'll see and did very little to make you want to buy the pay-per-view in 6 days. Not great.

Overall Rating: 31%

Superstars 6-17-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, June 17th, 1995
Wheeling Civic Center
Wheeling, West Virginia

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During Henry Godwinn's entrance, we get a video of Jerry Lawler getting his feet ready again.

Henry Godwinn vs. Bret Hart

These two should have had an In Your House feud. Bret looks motivated here, as he comes out aggressive. Godwinn slows things down and takes it to Bret's back. Godwinn gets greedy and misses a second rope knee drop. Bret comes back and hits the bulldog for a 2 count. Bret is in the middle of the five moves of doom and out comes Jerry Lawler. Bret goes after him and Lawler tries to hide under the ring. Bret grabs him by the foot and this allows Godwinn to level him with a clothesline. Bret throws Godwinn into the ring post and then chases Bret to the back. The bell rang and we go to a commercial break with no announcement of the winner. When we come back, Vince tells us that it was a double countout. Dok Hendrix is with an angry Bret and he wants another go round with Godwinn and he'll see the slimy rat, Lawler at King Of The Ring. This was an entertaining match that I'd like to see again.

Match Rating: **

Jacob & Eli Blu vs. Gus Kantarakis & John Smith

John Smith? Really? It feels like it's been a minute since we've seen the Blu brothers. They do their usual stuff here, but for some reason they drag this one out. They hit a double boot to the face and then a knee drop for the finish. They really needed a cool double team to help them get over.

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show Yokozuna beating Lex Luger to qualify for the King Of The Ring. We then go to Todd Pettengill for the King Of The Ring Report. He runs down the bracket and then we go to Yokozuna and Jim Cornette. Mabel then says that King Mabel will be born. No way they'd ever do that.

They show Bob Backlund from last week with Man Mountain Rock's guitar. 

Man Mountain Rock vs. Kenny Kendall

Rock is horrible and I find myself zoning out for this one. He puts on the Whammy Bar and that's all. No one cares.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Jeff Jarrett vs. John Senowski

We join this match just as the bell rings. Jarrett hits a superplex and then goes right into the Figure Four for the easy victory. That should have been the length of the last two matches rather than this one.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to a pre-recorded sit down interview between Vince, Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow. They say nothing of value here.

Next week on Superstars, it's Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Bam Bam Bigelow wannabe, Mantaur.

Jean Pierre Lafitte vs. Reginald Walker

The squashes seem a little underwhelming this week. I'm also still not quite understanding the way WWF brings in people during this era. It seems like so many of them just have nothing to do for months and months. Lafitte hits the Cannon Ball and that's all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get two more announced for the Hall Of Fame in Pedro Morales and George Steele. 

We get the same Waylon Mercy vignette about the worm.

Savio Vega vs. Bob Cook

Vega does a bunch of jumping around here and then does this weird pin attempt to pick up the victory. That's a bizarre choice to finish a squash match. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Todd is back to talk more King Of The Ring, which I assure you will be absolutely fantastic. Sid, Tatanka and Ted DiBiase give us nothing of value. A theme for today. 

Next week it will be Shawn Michaels, Undertaker and we now get another look at Aldo Montoya kissing Lawler's foot.

The opening match was an enjoyable feature match and then it was all downhill from there. The squashes just weren't interesting this week and there are just no good storylines to get into. 

Overall Rating: 37%

SmackDown 3-23-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, March 23rd, 2007
Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, Ohio

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Oh good, more Vince McMahon. God, how many times can you just cut the same promo over and over? He talks about him wrestling Bobby Lashley on Raw, but also says he has a match tonight. He brings out his opponent, Mr. Kennedy. Then he brings out his other opponent tonight, Randy Orton. Vince kind of gets feisty with Kennedy about him not getting the job done one on one. He announces that it will be a handicap tables match tonight. Great.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
London & Kendrick vs. MNM

This is obviously just a backdrop for the highly anticipated Melina/Ashley match at WrestleMania. Why would the team that has been the champions for almost a year get a spot on the card when you could give it to Great Khali? It seems like they could have just done a 6 person tag match and made both titles on the lie in that match instead. We get a lot of quick action here, which means they're trying to cram a lot in. MNM goes for the Snapshot, but it's interrupted and Paul London gets a good nearfall. Mercury goes for a superplex, but London knocks him off. Melina tries to shove London off the top, but Ashley is there to make the save. This allows London to hit the top rope crossbody for the win. This was a good match, but deserved at least another couple of minutes because they were cooking.

Match Rating: **

Kane shows off his hook again. Kane is garbage.

Maryse welcomes us back to SmackDown.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

Yang hits a missile dropkick and a series of other kicks. Yang then hits a baseball slide outside. He goes for a top rope crossbody, but Chavo hits him with a dropkick to the midsection. Chavo works on the abs of Yang by dropping him on the top rope. Yang attempts a comeback, but misses with a kick. This opens the door for the Three Amigos to some groans. Yang gets out of the third one and hits a moonsault for the victory. This was a non-title match, so we are getting the usual crappy WWE booking for championships that no one cares about. The work here was solid though.

Match Rating: *3/4

Michael Cole and JBL talk about how much of an impact Arnold Skaaland had on them before showing the video tribute. 

MVP vs. Cedric Von Haussen

Tonight, MVP is facing the Lichtenstein Champion here. Von Haussen is none other than the great Johnny Gargano. MVP clotheslines him while shaking his hand. MVP hits the ballin' elbow drop, but picks him up before the 3 count. He hits the running boot in the corner before hitting the Playmaker for the victory. Since they aren't actually doing any building with the two competitors, this is at least making the feud something. MVP grabs the mic after and says that he's going to his first WrestleMania and going to win his first championship. He talks about Benoit having the honor of being the loser of the first title to MVP and that he'll be featured in video packages and documentaries because of that. He couldn't have been more wrong if he tried.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Randy Orton and Mr. Kennedy are looking at a table like it's the first time they've ever seen one. 

We get the same celebrity video about Vince/Trump from Raw.

Handicap Tables Match
Randy Orton & Mr. Kennedy vs. Bobby Lashley

Michael Cole tries to sell us on this match being nearly impossible to win for Lashley. This is exactly what you would expect from this type of match. An Attitude Era brawl with the heels mostly dominating. Vince is out to watch a little closer. They get Lashley on a table, but while Kennedy is going up top, Lashley battles his way off of it. Lashley catches Kennedy and spinebusts him through a table set up in the corner. He then lifts up Orton and hits a running powerslam through another table and that's all. The match was quick, but at least it was entertaining. However, they really are pushing Lashley to be superhuman and it's to the point where I don't think anyone believes Umaga is going to win. 

Match Rating: **1/4

We're backstage with Batista and they show him the highlight of Undertaker throwing Finlay into Batista. Batista says that he thinks he and Undertaker will get along just fine...during the match.

Chris Benoit vs. Gregory Helms

We join the match just as it is beginning with Helms getting no entrance. Helms catapults Benoit's throat into the second rope. That doesn't last long and Benoit quickly shifts the momentum. He hits the top rope headbutt and slaps on the Crossface for the fairly easy victory ahead of WrestleMania.

Match Rating: *

They talk about the Hall of Fame inductees and give us another one in the Wild Samoans. After they talk about them, JBL says he has something to do and walks abruptly to the back.

Teddy Long is with Kristal and gives her a rose. JBL interrupts and says he wants to interview both Batista and Undertaker on SmackDown. That was worth leaving your position for?

They show Batista heading to the ring and Booker walks up to him. This allows Finlay to attack him and they manhandle the champ. 

King Booker & Finlay vs. Undertaker & Batista

We start the match without Batista, as he didn't make his way down due to the attack. Taker hits Old School on Finlay and then clotheslines Booker over the top. Finlay clotheslines him over the top, but Taker lands on his feet. When we come back from commercial, Taker is going for the leg drop, but Booker clubs him first. I'm not sure this match needed a second handicap match. Undertaker makes his comeback after being beatdown for a few minutes and in comes Finlay with the shillelagh. He hits him in the gut and we get a DQ. They continue attacking Taker and Batista's music hits. He destroys both Finlay and Booker. The numbers game is about to catch up with him, but Taker pulls Finlay off. Batista sets up Booker for a Batista Bomb and Taker sets up Finlay for the Last Ride. As Taker gets Finlay up in the air, Batista throws Booker into Taker and knocks him down before heading to the back. This was a pretty good main event and continued what has been a pretty well built main event match.

Match Rating: **1/4

Well again, this was lightyears better than Raw and ECW. It's just not even close right now. We're close to being done with the Trump stuff, so maybe that will help out. Until then, the blue brand has been reigning supreme with another good episode.

Overall Rating: 61%

ECW 3-20-07 Review

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, Ohio

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We get a lengthy recap of the history of the Master Lock and then show Bobby Lashley being the one to break it. We then get a cheesy promo from Chris Masters saying he's going to break Lashley in half. Our main event tonight is Masters vs. Lashley. They haven't cared about Masters in months and now we are supposed to again? 

Rob Van Dam & Sabu vs. Kevin Thorn & Marcus Cor Von

It's all RVD and Sabu until RVD misses with a kick and it allows Cor Von to clothesline him to the floor. The crowd is surprisingly not into this at all. Sabu gets a hot tag to more of a no reaction. You usually can always count on reactions for Sabu and RVD, but it's just not happening here tonight. We get a really sloppy finish here, but it all leads to Cor Von hitting Sabu with the Pounce and picking up the victory. This was just not a well executed match and the crowd was sitting on their hands. The Pounce is always cool though.

Match Rating: 1/2*

More Snitsky vignettes. Just what this show needs.

Snitsky vs. Mike Tolar

Even worse than the vignettes are the actual matches. He hits a big boot and that's all. At least these are quick. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They announce that The Sheik will be the next inductee in the Hall Of Fame. 

CM Punk vs. Hardcore Holly

It was a good thing that they had the winning streak of the best young talent on their roster ended by Hardcore Holly. Elijah Burke is out to observe the match. With how dead the crowd has been, it has me wondering how bad SmackDown might be. Holly hits a big reverse elbow and takes control. He goes for a superplex, but Punk is able to knock him to the mat. Punk follows it up with a leg drop and now Burke is on the apron. Punk is distracted by Burke, as is the ref. Out comes Kevin Thorn and he snaps the neck of Holly on the top rope. Punk hits Go To Sleep and gets the victory, but Punk isn't real happy about it. This was going along decent until the abrupt ending.

Match Rating: *

CM Punk tells Burke backstage that he doesn't need anyone to help him. Burke tells him to think about what the New Breed can do for him in the Money In The Bank.

It's time for Extreme Exposé again. 

Tommy Dreamer vs. Elijah Burke

Sandman is in Dreamer's corner and Striker is in Burke's. Dreamer is able to hit a reverse neckbeaker and a bunch of punches. He catches Burke and then hits a fall away slam. Burke is in the Tree Of Woe and Dreamer hits him with the running dropkick. He goes for a DDT, but Burke is able to grab the top rope. Burke hits the Elijah Express and that's all. Another abrupt match and another match with no crowd reaction here tonight.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Chris Masters vs. Bobby Lashley

I mean Masters has had nothing on TV other than a Super Crazy feud that has been dropped. I get they are just looking at any possible way to continue to build Lashley, but this one just seems pointless. I'm thinking this one won't be very long. Lashley is dominating and clotheslines him to the outside. Masters ducks a clothesline and Lashley hits the ring post. They get back in the ring and Masters tries for the Master Lock, but Lashley hits a half nelson slam instead. He hits a powerslam and the vertical suplex. Lashley hits the Dominator for the victory. Pointless. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

These last few weeks of ECW and Raw have been so terrible. I must have been blinded by the fact that I was going to my first WrestleMania in order to be so into this. Of course the one show that actually has been good, SmackDown, was the one I typically did not watch. This was a small step up from Raw, which is not a compliment.

Overall Rating: 33%

Monday Night Raw 3-19-07 Review

Monday, March 19th, 2007 
Conseco Fieldhouse
Indianapolis, Indiana

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

This episode is in memory of Arnold Skaaland. 

Shawn Michaels vs. JBL

JBL, who is dressed in a suit, has a mic on his way to the ring. He says that no one tells him what to do and when to do it. JBL basically rips Shawn Michaels and tells him he isn't going to beat John Cena at WrestleMania. Michaels fires back at him and it ends with him hitting Sweet Chin Music on JBL. I didn't do a very good job of recapping that, but it was an entertaining start to Raw and thankfully did not feature Vince or Trump.

Randy Orton confronts Edge backstage and calls him out for screwing him over on ECW last week. Orton says that he talked to Vince McMahon about the last chance battle royal tonight for the Money In The Bank. Orton said it's not for a 9th spot in the match, it's for Edge's spot. It's because Edge promised they would take out Bobby Lashley and they failed so now he has to earn his spot back. Edge is furious about the announcement. 

It's time for another Master Lock Challenge. They hype up that it hasn't been broken in 2 years and show a few highlights. So of course the person who accepts the challenge is none other than Bobby Lashley. Masters has it in for a minute or so and then Lashley just breaks it to a nice pop. Masters is upset and grabs a chair, but just slams is against the ring post and leaves. I get what this was trying to accomplish, but it was kind of uneventful. 

We get another video package about Ashley's Playboy shoot. 

Vince confronts Lashley and gives him the slow clap treatment. He tells him that his gear was thrown in the dumpster and that he is going to be escorted by security out of the building. As he walks away, Vince walks up to Maria and compliments her earrings. He then walks into Eugene and his drink spills over Vince's suit. Vince says that accidents happen and that Eugene is going to be competing tonight. He tells Coach to get him Umaga. In walks Ron Simmons and he does what he does. 

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler address Arnold Skaaland and we then get a video tribute to him. 

We get a WrestleMania All Grown Up commercial of Stone Cold Steve Austin, which is pretty memorable.

Last Chance Money In The Bank Qualifying Battle Royal

We have Ric Flair, Super Crazy, Viscera, Val Venis, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Johnny Nitro, Carlito, Kenny Dykstra and of course, Edge. We are over a 1/3rd of the way through the show and we are getting our first match. They all team up on Viscera and eliminate him because that's what the battle royal guidebook told them to do. Edge is outside the ring and is acting as if he has a knee injury. We go to commercial and they wisely decide it is a good time to get rid of guys like Val Venis and Charlie Haas. Meanwhile, Edge is being checked out by doctors. Flair eliminates old rival Kenny Dykstra and Carlito eliminates Nitro. That leaves just Carlito and Flair, but we all know where this is headed. Flair and Carlito battle for a minute or two and Flair sends Carlito over the top. As they are announcing him as the winner, Edge comes in and tries to throw him over, but Flair botches it. He eventually gets him over and wins. I mean, that was about as telegraphed as it comes. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Oh great, it's time for Vince. After a commercial break. he brings out Umaga. 

Umaga vs. Eugene

Umaga attacks Eugene right off the bat and we're going to get another predictable match here. He does his usual and hits the Samoan Spike for the easy win. After the match, Vince tells Umaga to get Eugene. He puts him in the barber chair and they strap him in. Vince then starts cutting and eventually buzzing his head.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Candice Michelle is here for some reason. She cuts a lifeless promo and calls out Melina for having a problem with women like her. Melina is out and tells her that the only reason she has a job is because she knows how to take off her clothes. Candice is awful here. It's not even worth me recapping but we are getting a bra and panties match.

Bra And Panties Match
Candice Michelle vs. Melina

We join the match in progress if you're wondering how important this match is. Melina pretty quickly is able to disrobe Candice and as soon as the match is over, Ashley is out. She gets in her face and then rips Melina's shirt off. Then Great Khali is out and this distraction allows Melina to attack her. Melina then sneaks out of the ring and Khali grabs Ashley by the throat. Jerry Lawler comes in and kicks Khali's knee. He lets Ashley go and grabs Lawler. He hits his double hand chokeslam and honestly didn't look like he was too gentle on the old man. This episode has just been horrendous so far and we're running out of time to save it.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get more celebrities talking about who is going to get their head shaved. Most of them are making fun of Trump's hair. 

Todd Grisham fills in for Lawler here.

Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton

I am looking forward to seeing the ascension of Jeff here over the next year or so. I'm not really looking forward to seeing that same ascension with Orton. Hardy is selling his back injury from Great Khali last week and now Orton is attacking it. Jeff makes a little comeback and hits Randy with Whisper In THe Wind. Out comes Edge and he goes under the ring to throw a ladder into the ring. Orton steals it from the ref and attacks Jeff with it. That's a DQ obviously, but then Orton and Edge have some words. This allows Jeff to hit a Twist Of Fate and then he hits a top rope leap frog over the ladder onto Orton. Edge walks to the back with a smile on his face. This was very brief and really didn't accomplish a ton in terms of advancement.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Vince is on the phone backstage and announces that next week on Raw it will be him against Bobby Lashley. Coachman doesn't agree with the decision. Vince guarantees that he'll beat him. 

Shawn Michaels is out to join the commentary team.

They show highlights of Eugene getting his head shaved and then go to the back where Eugene is visibly upset. 

Chris Benoit vs. John Cena

Is this the most high profile match between these two? Benoit gets in a fair amount of his offense here. He slaps on the Boston crab and Cena is able to skip out of it as you would expect. Cena hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle and the AA for the easy victory. After the match, Shawn Michaels joins Cena and it leads to Cena getting Michaels up on his back for an AA, but Shawn gets out of it. Here comes JBL and he announces that Cena and Michaels will have a rematch with Undertaker and Batista next week. The show goes off the air with the Undertaker's bell ringing.

Match Rating: 3/4*

This episode was like watching paint dry. Nothing was working here and that seems to be a bit of a problem just 13 days from WrestleMania. Not a good wrestling show. 

Overall Rating: 29%

Off The Grid, Volume 42: Royal Rumble 1989 Review

Sunday, January 15th, 1989
The Summit
Houston, Texas

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Off The Grid, Volume 42:

We get a less enthusiastic Vince McMahon than we do in future Royal Rumbles to kick off the show. We then go to Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura, who run down the card. 

6 Man Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Dino Bravo & Fabulous Rougeaus vs. Jim Duggan & Hart Foundation

Duggan and the Harts come out to a huge pop. I miss when people got big ovations for doing standard moves. The faces get about all the offense to start and Bret almost gets a quick pin with a small package, sunset flip and crossbody. My television is always happy when it has Jacques Rougeau on it. They do a spot where they put all three heels in the corner and a big shoulder tackle on all of them. The momentum shifts when Raymond Rougeau pulls down the top rope and Bret takes a spill. Dino hits the side suplex and the Rougeaus hit their finisher for the first fall. They continue to work on Bret and get a few close calls out of it. The crowd starts chanting "U-S-A" and thankfully Ventura calls them out on it. Bret gets about every submission move from this era in the abdominal stretch, bear hug, camel clutch and Boston crab. Bret blocks a monkey flip and turns it into an inverted atomic drop. He tags in Duggan and the place comes unglued. He slingshots Neidhart and Bret in and they get the fall to tie it up. The heels slow things down and this time they single out Duggan. Bravo is an idiot and hits an inverted atomic drop and Duggan lands right in his corner and is able to tag in Bret. Bret tries to roll up Bravo, but he holds on the ropes. The referee is distracted, so Duggan jumps up and hits him in the back with the 2x4 and Bret picks up the victory. This was your usual good match featuring the Harts and Rougeaus in it. 

Match Rating: ***

We go to get some pre-recorded segments with some of the superstars in the Royal Rumble. Ted DiBiase draws his number and isn't happy with it, so he calls in Slick. Slick says his numbers were unbelievable and DiBiase wants to go talk to him about it. Honky Tonk Many draws his number and he too is not too happy about it. The Bushwhackers are happy, but swap with each other anyway. Bad News Brown says it's good news. Jake Roberts just says that he hopes Andre is still there when he's in there. The Rockers wish each other good luck. 

WWF Women's Championship Match
Rockin' Robin vs. Judy Martin

Sherri Martel gets on the mic before the match and she wants a match with whoever wins. She says that she is more woman than both of them put together. This is basically an answer to a trivia question more than it is anything decent. Sherri is on commentary, which makes it slightly more interesting. Martin does one of the worst small packages I've ever seen and Gorilla calls her out for looking lethargic. I am still trying to figure out how she is only 33 years old here. Robin hits a DDT and gets a 2 count. Martin gets a close call with a back slide. Robin fakes out Martin on a crossbody and then hits it when she comes back to put this match out of its misery. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

WrestleMania V is coming on April 2nd, 1989.

Slick and the Twin Towers are with Sean Mooney. Slick denies talking to DiBiase and then they show the footage they just showed us. He tries to cover and then talks about how good the Twin Towers are.

Mean Gene Okerlund is out for the super posedown between Rick Rude and Ultimate Warrior. We get four total categories with the double biceps, best abs, most muscular and medley of poses. To the shock of no one, Warrior wins all of them. Watching this on Peacock is super annoying with Rude's music being so loud that you can hardly hear Jesse and Gorilla. Kudos to the crowd for somehow caring about this absolute waste of time. Rude attacks Warrior with his bar and then uses it to choke him. Warrior eventually chases him off. This was absolutely a complete waste of time.

We go to some of the managers in pre-recorded comments. Mr. Fuji says that Demolition will be the Powers of Pain's first targets. Miss Elizabeth says that she'll be cheering for both Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. Jimmy Hart talks about Double Trouble, Greg Valentine and Honky Tonk Man. 

Jesse is in the throne to talk about the next match, which is still one of the weirder matches to be on pay-per-view during this era. 

King Haku vs. Harley Race

Race comes out and dumps the seat that Haku is on and sends Haku to the floor. This starts the match and Race keeps the attack going. Race does his usual over the top turnbuckle to the floor spot and Haku gets some mild boos. This one has taken a red hot crowd and completely muted it. Race hits the piledriver, but only gets a 2 count. They collide and Race falls to the floor. Haku suplexes him back into the ring for another 2 count. Now Race hits a vertical suplex for a 2 count. This one feels like a bunch of moves with no story. I'm not the biggest fan of Race and haven't really seen a match that has won me over of his. Race goes for a piledriver outside the ring, but Haku counters it with a back body drop. They go outside again and Race pulls off one of the weaker looking piledrivers I've seen. Back in the ring, he hits a reverse neckbreaker for 2. Gorilla and Jesse are ripping on him for not hooking the leg, as per usual. They both go for moves off the turnbuckle and they both miss. This match needs to go home. Haku hits a beautiful superkick and that is all. At least it finished on a high note. If it were 2024, he would have had to hit 25 more of those and then a piledriver off the top rope. This was not a good match.

Match Rating: 3/4*

It's time for more pre-recorded interviews. Brutus Beefcake says his fists are the only tools he needs to make it through the Royal Rumble. Greg Valentine says he can't trust anybody but himself, including Jimmy Hart and Honky Tonk Man. We get it Greg, you don't want to dye your hair. He literally then says the same thing about his two fists. How does that happen? Mr. Fuji is back again and this time with the Powers Of Pain and again talks about Demolition. Big John Studd talks about this being a long time since he stepped in the ring and Heenan will not be in his corner. Mr. Perfect says that 1989 will be the year of perfection. Randy Savage gives us "Freak out, freak out". 

We go to Mean Gene with Ted DiBiase and Virgil. DiBiase is a lot happier now and says when you're as wealthy as he is, you can be as lucky as you want to be. 

Sean Mooney is with Bobby Heenan, Andre The Giant and the Brainbusters. Tully seems to be okay with Andre winning, but Arn seems to have other ideas.

Mean Gene is now with Hulk Hogan and he says that it will be the resurrection of Hulkamania tonight. 

Royal Rumble

Howard Finkel announces the rules and then introduces our first two competitors. In one of the cooler moments, #1 is Ax and #2 is Smash. They go right at it, as Jesse lets us know that money will make people do anything. The crowd doesn't know how to react to hit, however. As they are still battling, #3 is Andre The Giant. The crowd isn't doing the traditional countdown here. Combo that with the lack of theme music and this is already just not as fun. They go after Andre right away and give us a preview of 14 months from now at WrestleMania VI. #4 is out and it's Mr. Perfect. We have our first elimination when Andre takes out Smash. #5 is none other than Ronnie Garvin. He hits Andre once and he's tied up in the ropes. You'd think Andre would find a way to not do that this far into his career. The focus is obviously on trying to get Andre out of the match, as you would expect here. #6 is Greg Valentine. Andre continues to fight out of the multi-man attempts to tip him over the top. Andre clotheslines Garvin over the top. #7 is Jake Roberts and he runs right to Andre. He gets the biggest pop of the match thus far. Valentine tries to eliminate Andre while he's working on Roberts, but is unsuccessful. #8 is the recently shaved Ron Bass. While he's on his way, Andre dumps Jake to the floor. Bass from afar kind of looks like Rusev. #9 is Shawn Michaels. He'll never amount to anything. Mr. Perfect eliminates Ax, which Gorilla was saying he didn't have enough mass earlier on to do that. Shawn dropkicks Perfect and almost eliminates him. I love how Andre has just no sold everything Valentine has done to him. #10 is Butch and is my pick to win the match. Out comes Jake Roberts again and throws in Damien into the ring. Andre is petrified and eliminates himself. I take back the countdown thing, as the crowd has been doing it more and more. #11 is Honky Tonk Man who comes out to a decent amount of boos, but a far cry from the nuclear heat he used to get. #12 is Working The Network favorite Tito Santana. I will say the action is a little better than I remember it being in this one. #13 is Bad News Brown, who surprisingly jogs down to the ring. If anyone was going to get 13, Brown makes the most sense. Butch and Tito are able to eliminate Honky surprisingly early. #14 is Marty Jannetty and every female in the crowd is loving it. We have both Rockers in there now and they hit a double dropkick to eliminate Bass. Tito is selling a leg injury, but hits a flying forearm on Valentine. #15 is the Macho Man and runs in there and attacks Bad News to a huge pop. #16 is Arn Anderson and while he's on his way, Valentine is dumped out by Savage. Michaels is eliminated as well by Savage and Arn. Tully is in there at #17 as they continue the tag team trope here. Only poor Butch hasn't had his partner in there yet. Marty gets eliminated by Tully after trying his best to hold on by his toes on the top rope. Tully almost eliminates himself trying to get him out. Out comes Hulk Hogan at #18 and he instantly eliminates Perfect. Butch finally gets his pal, Luke at #19. It lasts about 30 seconds as Butch is eliminated. Hogan has Tully up over his head, but instead of eliminating him, he drops him throat first on the top rope. Makes sense. #20 is out and it's Koko B. Ware. Koko is one of the few in the match who doesn't end up having a spot on the WrestleMania V card. Hogan pretty quickly dumps Koko out of there. Then Hogan takes care of Luke. #21 is Warlord and while he's on his way, Hogan eliminates both Brainbusters because of course he does. Warlord gets the famous quick elimination as he gets in and Hogan clotheslines him. Hogan then goes over to Bad News and Savage and dumps both of them. Savage comes in and is in Hogan's face. He gives him a shove and out comes Miss Elizabeth to play peacemaker. They eventually shake hands and the crowd loves it. Out comes #22 and it's Big Boss Man. They have a nice battle and then out comes #23, Akeem. I think everyone probably saw this one coming. The double team is just too much and the Towers eliminate Hogan. In typical Hogan fashion, he gets to be a sore loser and pulls Boss Man out. Out comes Robin, I mean Brutus Beefcake at #24. Hogan pulls Boss Man out again and I guess this time he is eliminated. Gorilla tries to defend it, but it makes no sense. They battle all the way to the back and it's just Akeem and Beefcake in the ring. Hogan was such a turd. Speaking of turds, here is Red Rooster at #25. He teams up with Beefcake to try to get rid of Akeem. Here comes #26, Barbarian. Instead of helping dump Akeem out, he saves him and then tries to do it himself. Even Jesse acknowledges how dumb that is. It's now time for Big John Studd at #27. The action has definitely become less interesting, which is not what you want at the end of the match. Hercules is #28 and Rick Martel is #29. Martel is trying to inject some life, but there are some real lugs in there right now. We finally get to #30 and it's obviously Ted DiBiase. The only thing I don't get is why was he so mad about his spot if he traded with Boss Man or Akeem? Rooster is eliminated and no one cares. Gorilla is livid about Virgil being able to stay out there. Barbarian is able to eliminate both Beefcake and Herc at the same time. Martel is able to get rid of Barbarian and we are down to Akeem, Martel, DiBiase and Studd. Akeem catches Martel and dumps him over. Akeem looked tired about 10 minutes ago, so I'm surprised he has lasted this long. Studd is able to dump him out and we are down to the finals. Studd hits a double underhook suplex, which is kind of surprising. Studd eliminates DiBiase and gets a better pop than I expected. In comes Virgil and Studd takes care of him without any problem. He tosses him over the top and he stands tall in the ring. You can't convince me that this was the right choice even without hindsight. DiBiase was the guy that should have won. The match itself was better than I had remembered. They hadn't picked up on some of the clever touches that make the match even more fun and there were no stakes other than the supposed purse money. 

Match Rating: **3/4

This is never going to make the top of most people's favorite Royal Rumble shows. The three middle matches/posedown were mostly terrible and really hurt the flow of the show. The opener was good late 80s style wrestling and the Rumble wasn't bad. It's just hard to call this a good show.

Overall Rating: 47%

NXT 6-3-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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We get a recap of Kevin Owens defeating John Cena at No Way Out. Owens definitely had one of the better first years in WWE history. 

Tyler Breeze vs. Adam Rose

We get a dueling "We want Kruger"/"No we don't" chant to start things off if you're wondering where Adam Rose is in his career right now. We get a slower mat based start until Breeze is able to hit a reverse elbow. Breeze then hits a springboard dropkick to knock Rose off the apron. He throws him back in the ring, but then ends up on the floor after a back body drop over the top rope and into a commercial break. We come back to Rose with a sleeper hold on. There have been no shenanigans from Rose here so far. I'm also not really sure why Breeze is having such a hard time with Rose here, but I guess Rose is going to be more of a threat on NXT? Breeze hits a hurricanrana, but then runs into a knee in the corner. Rose hits a spinebuster for a 2 count and then puts on the Boston Crab. Breeze is able to crawl to the bottom rope to break the hold. I really didn't expect this match to go on this long. Rose is able to hit the Beauty Shot and finally gets the win here. The pace was pretty slow here, with Breeze almost wrestling like a babyface here. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Solomon Crowe is interviewed backstage and says that Kevin Owens gave him a beating. He says that when he's back, he'll be better than ever. I bet he won't be. 

They show Dana Brooke at the Arnold Classic Brazil 2015. 

Greg Hamilton brings out Total Divas star Eva Marie. She gets booed and she clearly has no idea how to act in front of a live crowd. She says she was at NXT because of all the buzzing about the NXT women. She hopes to get the chance to compete in NXT. This was thrilling. 

William Regal says that on July 4th on the WWE Network, Kevin Owens will take on Finn Balor for the NXT Championship. This was the Beast In The East special. I guess I will have to watch that match as a special bonus or something.

Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss

Carmella unleashes on Bliss to start. Both competitors are still a little rough around the edges. We get pretty standard action here that all just leads to Bliss to roll Carmella up and use the middle rope to steal the victory. Both need some seasoning still. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Rhyno is interviewed backstage to talk about his match with Finn Balor tonight. He said it's time for him to get back to getting on top of NXT. 

Kevin Owens will take on John Cena in a rematch at Money In The Bank. 

We get a Sami Zayn injury/surgery update. The doctor feels good about how the surgery went. 

Vaudevillains vs. Jason Jordan & Marcus Louis

The Vaudevillains get a nice pop for their return here. Marcus Louis also hasn't been on TV in awhile. I guess this goes along with the Chad Gable storyline. Louis is still shaved and doing his Kane impression. Once Jordan is tagged in, they are able to single out Aiden English and put on some submission holds. Then basically out of nowhere, Gotch is tagged in, gains control and they hit Whirling Dervish for the victory. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

We get a Sasha Banks promo video.

We get a pre-taped interview with Finn Balor talking about his match with Kevin Owens in Japan. He talks about his history there, but he's not overlooking Owens. 

Rhyno vs. Finn Balor

It's kind of funny to me that Rhyno wears a NXT shirt as his ring attire. We get a back and forth start and it goes into a commercial break with Balor hitting a senton over the top rope. When we come back, Rhyno is back in control. Rhyno hits a spinebuster and gets a 2 count. Balor battles back and hits a Sling Blade. He follows it up with the running dropkick, but misses with the Coup de Grace. Rhyno goes for the Gore, but misses and Balor rolls him up for the victory. Rhyno looked probably the best he has here, but it helps working with Balor rather than Baron Corbin.

Match Rating: **1/4

After the match, Balor goes up on the top of the ramp to celebrate and Rhyno comes out of nowhere to hit a Gore. Balor kind of telegraphed it a little bit, but it was still a good looking spot. 

This wasn't a great show, but it was a little bit of an improvement over the past few weeks. With Samoa Joe in the mix, I expect the show to get back to where it was a few months ago.

Overall Rating: 50%

Monday Night Raw 6-12-95 Review

Monday, June 12th, 1995
Struthers, Ohio
Struthers Auditorium

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We get a lengthy Lex Luger/Yokozuna hype video.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Duane Gill

We get a special treat with Diesel joining us on the phone. He says he will be back for King Of The Ring, but he won't be 100%. Meanwhile, Bam Bam catches Gill in midair and then hits a suplex. Vince keeps referring to Diesel as "Big D" like he's your friend's dad trying to be cool with a nickname. Bam Bam hits a splash and picks up the easy victory.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Waylon Mercy talking about him enjoying life. He talks about the worm crawling on his arm and he doesn't like that. He also doesn't like wrestlers touching him. He's going to do to them what he does to this worm, which is squash it.

The Smoking Gunns are playing mad caps and you can buy the WWF set. Only $25! If you order it, you get a new shirt and Vince thinks it looks great on Barry. I don't remember pogs being called mad caps. 

Kama vs. David Haskins

They show the Creatures Of The Night again. Kama hits a big clothesline. He hits a belly to belly suplex and that is all. He once again goes over to the Creatures Of The Night and gets in their faces. They again no sell all of it. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time for the King Of The Ring Report. We hear from the Million Dollar Team about their big tag team match. We then go back to Jerry Lawler holding a fake foot full of gross stuff on it and he says his foot will look worse than that. Todd then runs through the tournament bracket. 

The WWF World Tour de Force is coming to you. 

It's time for Man Mountain Rock to jam into the commercial break.

Man Mountain Rock vs. Bob Cook

Bob Cook's hair is top notch here. Rock puts on the Whammy Bar and that's all. That was pretty close to 60 seconds, which is only about 55 seconds longer than you'd prefer Rock's matches to be.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Stephanie Wiand updates us on the WWF Hall Of Fame and talks about Fabulous Moolah and Pedro Morales being inducted. The Grand Wizard and George Steele will also be inducted. 

Bob Backlund is shown backstage and he knocks over Man Mountain Rock's equipment before going on a yelling rant about how evil the guitar is. 

Tekno Team 2000 vs. John Crystal & Mike Khoury

Tekno Team was 5 years ahead of their time. Khoury and Crystal are wearing jorts that are rolled up at the bottom. TT2K does a double leapfrog and then hip toss each other onto Crystal. They hit a double spin kick before hitting a top rope reverse crossbody for the victory. I know I don't have to say this, but they aren't good. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Man Mountain Rock is backstage all upset with his broken guitar. He says it's personal now. 

Next week on Raw, it's Sid and Tatanka against the Headshrinkers. Apparently they are still a team.

King Of The Ring Qualifying Match
Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger

Vince lets us know that Razor Ramon hurt his ribs and his status is in question. Yoko gets a big slam in but Luger avoids the elbow drop. Vince lets us know that Yokozuna was weighed recently at 641 pounds. It's crazy that this match headlined SummerSlam and co-headlined WrestleMania and now it's headlining a high school gym. The crowd to their credit is very into it. We get some stalling so that Yoko can catch his breath. Yoko misses with a leg drop, but a distraction from Fuji allows for Yokozuna to hit a series of right hands. We get a commercial break and when we come back, Luger is battling out of a nerve hold. Yoko knocks him down with a clothesline. He misses with a splash in the corner and Luger is trying to knock the big man down. He hits a couple of second rope ax handles before a second rope clothesline finally does the trick. Mr. Fuji goes after the guy holding the American flag for Lex and slaps him. This causes Lex to go after Fuji. Cornette tries to attack him, but Luger knocks him down. He gives the flag back to Scott and Yoko attacks him successfully here. He throws him into the ring post and rolls back into the ring to win by countout and advance to the King Of The Ring tournament. He will face Razor Ramon in the opening round. They worked pretty hard here and the crowd was in it. The ending wasn't very good, but it is what it is.

Match Rating: *1/2

Next week Undertaker will be in action, as will Shawn Michaels. They then show Jerry Lawler's training footage. He's in his royal stable and he's walking around his stall with his bare feet. They then show the Aldo Montoya incident from Superstars. 

This was a peppy enough episode to make it better than Superstars this weekend. The feature match was decent enough and the squashes were pretty short. There still remains to not be much intrigue around the King Of The Ring.

Overall Rating: 41%

Superstars 6-10-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, June 10th, 1995
O'Neill Center
Danbury, Connecticut

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Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix are here to kick off the show. They hype up the Kiss My Foot Match along with Jerry Lawler vs. Aldo Montoya and a special interview with Diesel.

Tatanka & Sid vs. Cory Student & John Crystal

I feel like it's been awhile since we've seen Tatanka wrestle. We are getting pretty close to the end of his run, which is kind of interesting since he's in a headlining match on a big 5 show. The crowd starts chanting "Diesel" when Sid is tagged in. So obviously revisionist history is that Diesel was a terrible champ and a big part of ratings dropping and allowing WCW to come in and compete. But if you go back and watch the shows, the people that were still interested in wrestling did in fact really like him. Back to the match, this one is going on way too long. Tatanka hits the End Of The Trail after a big boot from Sid and that's all. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the clips of the chokeslam and powerbomb that hurt Diesel's elbow. Vince interviews him while Sid's music is playing and Diesel shows his wounds from the elbow surgery. They talk about how the surgery was supposed to be a scope, but they had to cut him open. He says there's no question that he'll be ready for King Of The Ring. 

They hype up the WWF blimp and give us the schedule.

Hakushi vs. David Haskins

Shinja distracts Haskins and this allows him to attack him from behind. Why wouldn't they have Hakushi in the tournament instead of Roadie? He hits the reverse second rope splash and a dropkick. Haskins rolls out of the ring and Hakushi hits a dive over the top. He rolls in the ring and wins the match by countout. Who does he think he is? The Berzerker?

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show us highlights of the time limit draw between British Bulldog and Owen Hart. 

It's time for the King Of The Ring Report. Todd runs down the tournament brackets and that Lex Luger will face Yokozuna for the last spot. We go to Jim Cornette, Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji. Cornette says Yoko plans to be the King. 

Razor Ramon vs. Bill Payne

Razor gives an interview and says he doesn't care who wins between Luger and Yokozuna. Meanwhile, he hits the fall away slam on Payne. He hits the second rope back suplex and the Razor's Edge to finish off Bill. This was the usual from Razor. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Bob Backlund is going to make everyone listen to classical music.

Kama vs. Buck Quartermain

This one is quick, thankfully. He slaps on the arm bar pretty quickly and that's all. We get introduced to the Creatures Of The Night in the audience. Kama goes over and rips up their black wreath and they just sit there with no reaction. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a Hall Of Fame update with Stephanie Wiand. She talks about The Grand Wizard being inducted. 

Smoking Gunns vs. Duane Gill & Mike Sharpe

We get a great legacy team here with Sharpe and Gill. Sharpe looks to be about 50 pounds heavier than he used to be. He gets dropkicked by Billy and tied up in the top two ropes. Billy takes advantage until he goes for a crossbody. Sharpe ducks it and Billy flies to the floor. Gill and Sharpe attack him until Bart makes the save. They throw Sharpe back in the ring and hit the Sidewinder for the victory. They were actually having a nice match until the abrupt ending.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We go to Waylon Mercy again. He talks about rocks and water.

Next week it will be Bret Hart vs. Henry Godwinn. Yes, please. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Aldo Montoya

Lawler attacks Montoya on the way into the ring and hits a back body drop. He goes for another one and this time Montoya hits him with a right hand. Lawler tries to escape outside the ring and ends up accidentally hitting his right hand on the ring post when Montoya ducks. Back in the ring, Montoya goes for a splash, but Lawler gets the knees up. Lawler's mullet here is really something. Montoya tries to fight back and now he hits a back body drop. He doesn't learn from Lawler though and when he goes for the second one, Lawler hits the piledriver for the win. If they were hoping to make Lawler look like a threat to Bret Hart, they definitely failed here. After the match, Lawler takes off his boot and tells Montoya to kiss his foot. He shoves his face in his foot and then we cut back to Todd.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Todd says we don't have much time, but he'll squeeze as much as he can in here. He hypes up the Kiss My Foot match. Bret says that Stu told him he'd have his good days and his bad days. In Your House was one of his worst days. 

They show Montoya kissing Lawler's foot again and remind us of Godwinn vs. Bret.

The feature match here wasn't very good and the rest of the storylines just aren't that interesting right now. You can just feel that King Of The Ring isn't going to be good as you go through the weekly TV of the time. 

Overall Rating: 32%

SmackDown 3-16-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, March 16th, 2007
Sovereign Bank Arena
Trenton, New Jersey

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World Heavyweight Champion Batista is here to kick off the show. He is the guest on the second episode of MizTV. Miz mocks Batista for calling himself unstoppable and thinks Undertaker could take him. The lights go out and Batista gets ready. Miz starts laughing and said he got him. Batista shakes his hand, kicks him in the gut and gives him the Batista Bomb. 

Mr. Kennedy vs. Matt Hardy

We get a pretty standard TV start here and we head into a commercial break with Hardy tackling Kennedy through the ropes and to the floor. Kennedy is able to capitalize on a Hardy mistake and then uses the ring post on Hardy's knee. Kennedy gets Hardy in the tree of woe and works on the knee some more. Kennedy then hits the back suplex off the second rope for a 2 count. Kennedy goes for the Kenton Bomb and misses, giving Hardy an opening. Hardy hits the Side Effect, but Kennedy kicks out at 2. Kennedy gets Hardy up on his shoulders, but Hardy counters and hits the Twist Of Fate and picks up the surprising victory. Hardy has been jobbing for awhile as a singles outside of his feud with Joey Mercury, so he could use a big victory going into WrestleMania. This was a solid match and a good way to kick off the show. 

Match Rating: ***

Mr. Kennedy is interviewed backstage and he says that he is still going to win the Money In The Bank match and have a title match any time, any place. 

MVP vs. El Grande Latte

MVP announces his opponent, who is making a rare appearance here from Honduras. MVP attacks him right away and then he puts him in the tree of woe. Him and Kennedy apparently are still on the same page there. He hits the Playmaker and that's all for the Honduran champ. This fit his gimmick and at least adds some flavor to his match at WrestleMania. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

MVP gets on the mic after the match and he says that it has been 7 long days since he asked Teddy Long for a title match against Chris Benoit. He thinks it's because Benoit wants nothing to do with him. Teddy is out and tells MVP to be careful for what you wish for. He brings out MVP's WrestleMania opponent and they start brawling. Benoit goes for the Crossface, but MVP is able to block it. He rolls out of the ring and heads to the back. 

Ashley, Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs. Melina & MNM

London and Kendrick have seemingly just become less and less important as their title reign continues to grow. Mercury grabs Nitro by his leg and pulls him out of the ring, which proves to be a stupid idea as the champs both hit dives on them after. MNM does gain control and they get a pretty good amount of time on their heat segment. Ashley gets knocked off the apron and appears to have hurt her knee. London gets the hot tag and he hits a series of moves on both opponents. He hits the dropsault, but Melina breaks up the count. Ashley is up and distracts the ref and that allows Melina to hit a low blow. MNM hits the Snapshot and gains the victory. Ashley immediately starts attacking Melina and the tag teams pull the women apart. The match was the usual entertaining match that you would expect even if the women hardly did anything.

Match Rating: **1/2

They show the Ernie Ladd tribute. 

Maryse welcomes us back to SmackDown.

King Booker and Queen Sharmell aren't happy about having to face Undertaker tonight. Finlay comes in looking for Hornswoggle. Booker asks Finlay for some pointers on facing Taker and he says "Run!". Booker leaves and Sharmell hears some noises. She opens a door and he scares her and wishes her a happy St. Patrick's Day. Sharmell runs away and he drinks some beer.

We get a bunch of battle of the billionaires crap.

Daivari vs. Kane

Kane attacks Daivari quickly and uses moves like punching his own hand. They go outside and Kane uses the steel steps. He goes under the ring and brings out the stupid hook and wraps it around Daivari's neck. He then drags him up the entrance ramp. We go to commercial break and when we come back, they are in the locker room area. He drags him in the boiler room and we go back to Michael Cole and JBL. This was stupid and no one cares.

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the Mr. Fuji Hall Of Fame vignette.

Batista is out here to join the announce team for our main event.

King Booker vs. Undertaker

These two never did much for me as a pairing. Taker dominates the entire beginning of the match and they are pushing me to my limit for bedtime. After a chokeslam attempt, Booker escapes and then misses with the scissor kick. Taker levels him with a clothesline, but then Booker hits a running cake. Taker goes for the Last Ride, but then out comes Finlay and he attacks him with the shillelagh. That obviously makes for a DQ ending. They keep attacking Taker outside the ring, just a few feet from Batista. Taker fights back and tosses Finlay into Batista. Taker hits a chokeslam on Booker and heads to the back. For these two, this was pretty good even if I had to rewind because I fell asleep. As Taker's music is playing, Batista runs in the ring and he's furious. Taker looks back and continues his walk to the back.

Match Rating: **

SmackDown continues to mostly dominate Raw by seemingly always giving us more wrestling and less stupidity. This wasn't perfect, but it was a good show.

Overall Rating: 60%

ECW 3-13-07 Review

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007
Sovereign Bank Arena
Trenton, New Jersey

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

This episode is also dedicated to the memory of Ernie Ladd.

Randy Orton is angry and confronts Edge. Edge assures him that he'll have his back tonight and that he can trust him.

Extreme Battle Royal

It's the New Breed vs. the ECW Originals here. Sandman is quickly eliminated by Matt Striker because of course he is. Rob Van Dam and Sabut eliminate Marcus Cor Von for some reason. He should have been the winner of this in my opinion. Kevin Thorn catches Sabu and then shoves him out of the ring. RVD struggles to get Thorn over, so he launches himself over and they are both eliminated. That leads Tommy Dreamer, Elijah Burke and Matt Striker. I'm not really sure why they saw Striker as a guy with top potential. He charges at Dreamer, but Dreamer sends him over the top. After a near elimination, Dreamer is able to send Burke over the top and the Originals celebrate with him in the ring. This was a battle royal.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Out comes Mick Foley with the Originals still in the ring. I'm not really sure for what he's going for here, but he basically says that he will be at WrestleMania and he will be chanting "E-C-W". This was kind of weird. 

Extreme Exposé is here and then interrupted by Snitsky, They bail and Snitsky's two opponents are in the ring.

Sitsky vs. Danny Jaxx & Michael Deek

He squashes these two ham and eggers as quickly as you'd hope. I'm not really sure how they thought people were going to believe that this guy wasn't a jobber.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Elijah Burke approaches CM Punk again about joining the New Breed. He tells him he has a better chance at WrestleMania in his corner and gives him a New Breed shirt.

We get more celebrities chiming in on whose hair should get shaved. 

We get "highlights" of the god awful contract signing from Raw.

Bobby Lashley vs. Randy Orton

It looks like these two are going to get some time. Orton chop blocks Lashley and goes after the leg. They tease dissention between Orton and Edge as we go into an early commercial break. When we come back, Orton has Lashley in a Boston crab. Edge gets involved and it leads to him getting ejected. Orton isn't happy about it, but Edge smirks on his way back to the locker room. When we come back, Lashley is on the floor. During the commercial, the show Lashley hitting a suplex on the floor and a Spear in the ring. Orton hit a dropkick to knock Lashley off the apron and here we are. There was more action in that break than we have seen in this entire match. Orton starts stomping on Lashley on the steps, which seems like it should be more devastating than it is. Orton then hits a suplex and throws him back in the ring. The crowd starts chanting "Boring" and I can't really argue that. Orton charges at Lashley, but he moves and Orton hits his shoulder on the ring post. Lashley hits a few moves and then the running powerslam for the victory. This was extremely dull. 

Match Rating: *1/4

As soon as the match is over, Vince's music hits. He stares down Lashley and we go off the air. 

This should have been a good episode, but instead we had Orton working at a snail's pace and honestly it did nothing for either guy. The battle royal didn't do much for me either. Thumbs down here.

Overall Rating: 31%

Monday Night Raw 3-12-07 Review

Monday, March 12th, 2007 
Verizon Center
Washington, D.C.

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork22

This episode is in memory of the legendary Ernie Ladd.

After a recap of last week, John Cena is out to kick off the show. He's been asking himself if he trusts Shawn Michaels. He calls out Shawn and he realizes that the only reason that Shawn has his back is because of the WWE Championship. Shawn agrees, but he also says that he has kept his word. Jonathan Coachman is out and says that there are a number of tag teams that want a shot at their gold. They will have to defend their titles three times tonight, that is if they make it that far. If they make it to the third match, it will be in a cage. 

We see a limo arriving and it's human garbage. 

Elimination Triple Threat Money In The Bank Qualifying Match
Ric Flair vs. Carlito vs. Randy Orton

This is for the last spot in the Money In The Bank match. Flair and Carlito team up on Orton to start off. It doesn't last long and eventually Carlito hits the Back Cracker on Flair. Orton hits the RKO and Flair is eliminated from the match. We get a commercial break right after the fall. Remember when Orton and Carlito had that epic feud last fall? Yeah, me either. Carlito hits a hurricanrana and fires up. This is the most intensity I have seen him show in awhile, but it also ends up being a little on the sloppy side. Carlito scores himself a handful of 2 counts and then gets crotched on the top rope. He walks himself off and then Orton hits one of the more anticlimatic RKOs that I can remember for the victory. This was pretty blah action overall.

Match Rating: *1/4

Oh boy, another video package of the Battle Of The Billionaires. 

Just when you thought this show couldn't get any hotter, it's time for a Master Lock Challenge. No one comes out. He says since no one volunteered, how about we try Lilian Garcia. Out comes Super Crazy to no reaction and he hits a dropkick that sends Masters face into the chair. Masters is able to slap on the Master Lock and that's all. I think it's time for them to try something new with Masters. I'm shocked he was even still getting TV time at this point. 

Another limo is rolling in and it's the other idiot. He tells Trump's driver to tell him that his is bigger than Trumps.

We finally get something good here with an Ernie Ladd tribute.

Edge and Orton are arguing over both being in the Money In The Bank match. Edge brags about all the ladder matches he's been in and that he's undefeated at WrestleMania. Orton says the only reason that's true is because he has never had to face him. 

We are told to point our direction to the Titan Tron for a PSA. It's the Rock and he gets a big pop. He says that Umaga is Samoan for shriveled up monkey penis and says that Lashley will win the match at WrestleMania. 

John Cena is heading to the ring. 

World Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match
John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team

Ah, yes. I'm sure the challengers will all come out of this looking really good. They're working at a frenetic pace, so you know this will be short. Michaels is able to hit a DDT on Haas and then clotheslines Shelton over the top. Cena tags himself into the match and puts on the STFU for the win.

Match Rating: 1/2*

World Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match
John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

Remember them? They hit the double team big boot early on and I assure you that there is absolutely a 0% chance that we see a cage match after this. They dominate for 45 seconds or so until Michaels is able to make the tag to Cena. He hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle on Murdoch and then puts him up for the FU. Michaels comes in and hits Sweet Chin Music on Murdoch as he is on Cena's shoulders. Cena drops him to the mat and pins him, while being in shock that he would do that to him just about 3 minutes after him tagging himself into the match. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

World Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Steel Cage Match
John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. MNM

The cage is coming down as we go to commercial break. When we come back, the match is in progress, meaning MNM doesn't even get an entrance. MNM is dominating the match until Nitro misses with a corkscrew moonsault off the second rope. He is able to tag in Mercury, but Michaels hits him with a clothesline. He makes the tag to Cena and he steamrolls both opponents. They start chucking MNM into the cage and Mercury is busted open. Cena goes for the FU, but then Michaels is about to hit Sweet Chin Music, so Cena drops him instead. Michaels tunes up the band and hits Sweet Chin Music. Cena hits the FU and that's all. I'm not going to pretend like I have ever successfully been a wrestling promoter in my lifetime, but the way they job out the tag team division time and time again is probably why no one cares about it. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

After the match, the cage rises back up and the other teams come in and attack him. Cena hits Haas with a steel chair and then heads to the back. They try to tease that Cena was going to hit Michaels, but he didn't really sell it too much. Michaels heads to the back while the others are left for dead.

Jeff Hardy vs. Edge Great Khali

Edge comes out and says that he won't perform in a city that has a team named the Washington Redskins. He says his friend Great Khali will be taking his spot. They wrestle for about 20 seconds and out comes Kane just in case this episode couldn't get any worse. Even better, he has the stupid hook from his stupid movie. Khali and Edge both leave, so Kane uses the hook to flip over the announce table. 

Match Rating: No Rating

Mr. Fuji joins the Hall Of Fame class of 2007. 

Mick Foley is with Todd Grisham to hype up his book. He says he'll be on ECW tomorrow and in comes Ashley. She trades her Playboy for his book. It leads to Ashley forcing Mick to look at the pictures and Ron Simmons to do what he does. 

Vince asks his hairdresser who has the better hair until Coachman comes in and tells him that he does. How are there still 30 minutes left in this show? 

Melina vs. Torrie Wilson

This is a non-title match for those of you who are concerned about that sort of thing. They should just let these two finish out the show here and wrestle a 20+ minute match. Torrie tries a couple of quick falls before Melina snaps her neck on the top rope. Melina blocks a suplex attempt and turns it into a roll up to pick up the win with some tight pulling. After the match, she keeps attacking Torrie and Mickie James comes out. Victoria is then out and we have a mini brawl. Melina is able to come out standing and then Ashley runs out. She throws her in the ring and hits a Spear. She tosses Melina out of the ring and stands tall. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Edge is with Vince and he proposes that Lashley faces Randy Orton on ECW. He says that he'll be in Orton's corner supporting him 100%. He then says that if for some reason Orton doesn't show up, he'll be thrown out of the Money In The Bank match. Vince agrees to all of this.

Next week it will be WrestleMania Reversal Night. JBL will take on Shawn Michaels and John Cena will take on Chris Benoit. JBL wrestled in between his comeback? 

Vince is out and almost wipes out when walking under the ropes. He brings out Umaga and rambles on. Out comes Trump with Candice Michelle and Maria. I don't like to hate watch things, but I feel like I am doing that now. Only a few more weeks of this trash. He brings out Lashley and then they sign the contract. Trump is so terrible in this role, much like everything he does. Out comes Steve Austin to try and save this horrific segment. He goes after Trump verbally and Trump is so terrible that he can't even keep a straight face. He then goes to Vince and asks him what his problem is with bald people. Lashley then stares him down. Austin grabs him by the tie and he tells him that there will be a winner and a loser. Someone is getting a haircut and they will be bald. Austin heads to the back, then Vince says that what Austin was trying to say is that he is going to shave Trump's head bald. He and Umaga are starting to head to the back and then Trump gets on the mic. He brings up the pictures Vince has been doing with his face and now he did one for Vince. Words can't describe how bad Trump is. Trump wants a piece of Vince and sends Lashley to the back. Trump shoves Vince over the table and that's all. 

This was an absolute dumpster fire of an episode of Raw. There wasn't one thing on this show that I thought was good. There are usually a few bright spots, but this one sucked the life out of me.

Overall Rating: 19%