Monday Night Raw 6-6-05 Review

Monday, June 6th, 2005
Savvis Center
St. Louis, Missouri

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The show starts with Eric Bischoff saying he got to pick the first person in the Draft Lottery and he says it is the biggest acquisition in Raw history. Coach walks in and tells him that Paul Heyman may show up tonight. Bischoff doesn't care and calls this his defining moment.

Chris Jericho is out now for the Highlight Reel to interview the first draft pick for Raw. The first pick of the Draft Lottery is none other than...John Cena, who comes out to a gigantic pop. I remember watching this moment live and being shocked. It's amazing how much more effective the draft concept was in this era, as it was clear that the fans were invested in this. Jericho and Cena go back and forth a little bit and out comes Christian and Tomko. He compares Cena to Mark McGuire, which is fun. Cena cuts a rap on him and tells him that he's not on his level or the level below me. Cena and Christian go at it, but Cena takes care of him and Tomko.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Handicap Match
Muhammad Hassan & Daivari vs. Shelton Benjamin

I have to say that they have given Shelton more chances to get himself over than I remember at the time. It probably goes to show how things change with perspective. Hassan gets a pinfall victory, but Shelton got his leg on the ropes and the ref decides to restart the match. Hassan and Daivari continue to take advantage of Shelton after the commercial break. Things started off a little sloppy, but everyone seems to have settled down now here. Shelton makes the comeback and throws Hassan over the top rope. He hits the T-Bone Suplex on Daivari and gets the somewhat surprising victory. Remember that at the last Raw pay-per-view it took Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels to defeat the same two wrestlers. Not a bad little TV match.

Match Rating: **(out of 5)

Tajiri and William Regal are backstage. Regal doesn't want Tajiri taking part at One Night Stand. In walks Chris Benoit and he tells him Tajiri is a huge part of ECW's history. Regal says that he already told Eric Bischoff he would be with his anti-ECW crew. Tajiri starts chanting "ECW".

They cut over to Bischoff and Coach. Coach says that Heyman is coming and he hears he isn't coming alone. Hassan is now complaining about being screwed in his match by one of Bischoff's refs. Bischoff announces that Steve Austin will hear Hassan's grievances.

Chris Masters vs. Val Venis

Val attacks Masters from behind as he is walking down the ramp. Val continues the attack and hits a fisherman suplex for a 2 count. Masters is bleeding from the mouth. It's kind of fun to see Val get a shot here. He was always a solid hand that was overshadowed by the crazy gimmick. Masters makes a quick comeback and almost instantly puts him in the Master Lock. Val tries briefly to get out, but the ref stops the match and that is all. They have done a nice job of building his finisher and Val was highly motivated here.

Match Rating: *3/4

Triple H and Ric Flair are backstage. Flair says to just make sure to get Batista to sign the contract.

After the commercial break, Bischoff is in the ring with a large amount of security guards. He dares Heyman to show up tonight. Triple H is out first and Bischoff lets him know that no matter what happens in the Draft Lottery, Hell In A Cell will happen. He introduces a highlight package of his three Cell matches. Out comes Batista, who tells Triple H that he doesn't fear the Cell and he doesn't fear Triple H. Both men then sign the contract and Triple H tells him that he signed his own death warrant. Batista says that he'll have to kill him to take his championship. Triple H then says you'll have to kill him to stop him. So we're going with the live death on TV angle here. They go face to face and Triple H then backs away. That was a surprisingly tame contract signing.

The Heart Throbs & Victoria vs. Rosey, The Hurricane & Christy Hemme

So they did a big segment to help get Victoria over and then they stick her with the Heart Throbs? The Heart Throbs couldn't me much less over, as the crowd is silent for the first time tonight when they are on offense. Christy gets a hot tag and goes nuts on Victoria. Mike Chioda tries to stop her, but she won't, so he calls for the bell. Christy continues to attack Victoria out on the ramp until Rosey and Hurricane finally pull her off. So obviously this wasn't much of a match, but it did show a side of Christy we haven't seen yet.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Eric Bischoff is backstage and he walks in to John Cena. Cena denies his handshake attempt. Bischoff says next week will be Cena's first match on Raw when he teams with Jericho to take on Christian and Tomko. Bischoff then offers to join the anti-ECW crusade. Cena tells him he doesn't do politics and then makes a joke about turning off Nitro at 9:00 to watch Raw.

Kane vs. 

Edge comes out before Kane's opponent comes out and tells Kane that he will face him at Vengeance. Edge teases fighting him tonight, but thinks better of it and then brings out Lita. Lita says Vengeance will be in Vegas and that they will get married there. They make out and walk to the back.

Out comes Coach to join the announcers booth.

ECW Rules Match
Chris Benoit vs. Snitsky

Benoit quickly nails Snitsky with a garbage can lid. It would only be a few years until Snitsky was a featured member of the ECW roster. JR promotes the show by repeatedly saying how violent the show is going to be. Benoit brings out a table after Snitsky gets hung up on the top rope. Benoit hits three German suplexes and then sets Benoit on the table. Benoit goes up top, but Snitsky blocks the attempt. As Snitsky is waiting for Benoit to get back in the ring, out come the Dudley Boyz from out of the crowd and they hit the 3D on Snitksy through the table. They show highlights of the rest of the match, which happened during the commercial break? Benoit hits a diving headbutt and gets the win. This was a match just to add to the story of One Night Stand.

Match Rating: *1/4

They show Coach backstage and he finds Paul Heyman and the Dudleyz and has them arrested. Heyman then talks his way out of it.

Bischoff comes out to the ring with a Edge, Christian and Tomko. He talks some trash and then out come Heyman and the Dudleyz. Paul gives his speech and the Dudleyz step up to Bischoff's crew. Bischoff then brings out his crew. Heyman then brings out his crew including Tommy Dreamer, Rhyno, Sandman, Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney. A huge brawl breaks loose and naturally the ECW guys dominate.

Well, that was a good example of a show that started hot and ended hot. Not much happened in the middle, but they delivered at the most crucial times of the shows. Cena jumping to Raw felt like a big deal and he would become a mainstay of the show for the next decade. The ECW angle felt fresh for a recycled storyline and definitely added interest to the upcoming show. It would have been nice if the middle of the show would have added more, but some of that is due to lack of depth at the time.

Overall Rating: 62%

TLC 2019 Review

Sunday, December 15th, 2019
Target Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Ladder Match For The SmackDown Tag Team Championship
New Day vs. The Revival

This should be fun. New Day hits some tandem offense, but is attacked as they go to grab the ladders. I love how they still seem to almost pretend that Kofi was never the champion. Kofi shows off some of his athleticism and uses a springboard onto the ladder to hurt both members of the Revival. Big E goes for a splash on the ladder, but Dawson pulls Wilder off and Big E is in pain. Kofi launches over the top rope, but the Revival are able to counter it. The Revival seem a little bit off here. Perhaps this style of match is a little out of their comfort zone. Dawson uses a missile dropkick off the top to knock Big E off the ladder. They do a double baseball slide into a ladder that hits Big E south of the border. There it is. Michael Cole reminds us Kofi was the champion earlier this year. Kofi gets knocked off the ladder, but catches himself on the top rope and leaps off onto Dawson and hits a semi-DDT. Regardless, Kofi's skills are awesome. The Revival hits the Shatter Machine from the ladder on Kofi and are now climbing. Big E comes in and takes them both. He then hits his spear through the ropes to the floor onto Wilder. Big E now is setting up some ladders in the ring. Kudos to Dawson for trying to interfere since it was taking him a long time to get it done. He sets up Dawson on the horizontal ladder and Big E is heading up top. Wilder makes the save and Dawson superplexes Big E onto the ladder. He missed it a little, so it only bent. Wilder goes up top and hits a frog splash, which cracks it in half. The Revival and Kofi are now up on the two ladders. They have Kofi stuck in the ladder and are banging his head into the top of the ladder. Big E comes up to make the save and hits the Big Ending off the ladder onto Wilder. Dawson has his hands on the titles, but Kofi hits him with the belts and down goes Dawson. Kofi grabs the titles and that is all. That was a good opener, but it was a little disappointing. Kofi was bouncing all over the place, but this didn't play off of the Revival's strengths as much as a normal tag match would have.

Match Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)

Baron Corbin is here for an interview. Corbin is a flea market version of a king.

They show highlights of the pre-show match between Andrade and Humberto Carillo. After the loss, Andrade and Zelina argue. Not that WWE hasn't been wasting most of their characters, but they really blew it with those two.

Buddy Murphy vs. Aleister Black

They both sit in the middle of the ring doing Black's signature face to face. This match could tear the house down. Black drills Murphy with some big leg strikes. Black should be main eventing by now and Murphy should be much higher up on the card than he is. Murphy counters a kick off the apron and slams Black into the steps. Black is bleeding from the nose. Murphy grabs Black's jacket and Black is firing back. Murphy leaps off the second rope and eats a big boot. Black hits a flurry of offense including a moonsault that leads to a 2 count. They're fighting on the apron again and Black pushes Murphy into the post. Black hits a moonsault off the second rope to the floor. Black hits a huge knee to the chin and gets a 2 count again. This reminds me a lot of a Samoa Joe match, who is calling the matches for the Raw team tonight. Murphy goes for a top rope powerbomb, but Black blocks it so Murphy hits multiple kicks to the face. Murphy hits the powerbomb and only gets a 2 count. Murphy hits some more stiff strikes and into a brainbuster and it's still not enough to finish off Black. They go back and forth until Black hits Black Mass and that's all. If anything, they have done a nice job of making that move the end for whoever Black faces. That was an incredibly intense match. Nice work by both guys taking advantage of this opportunity and I'm glad they were given the time to do what they do.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Rusev says that he is elated to take on Lashley tonight. Rusev says that Lana is going to be picking splinters out of Lashley's back and that every day is Rusev Day. I'm not sure I dig the haircut.

Raw Tag Team Championship Match
The Viking Raiders vs. The OC

The Minneapolis crowd is doing the Vikings' "Skol" chant. This is an open challenge and Gallows and Anderson bring out their trophy and make fun of their open challenge. There also are fans eating KFC at ringside because 2019. The Raiders get the early advantage until an illegal double team behind the ref's back occurs. Ivar gets the hot tag, but it doesn't last long as the OC uses their teamwork once again to their advantage. They hit the Viking Experience, but Gallows barely breaks up the pin attempt. Both teams are outside the ring and we get a double countout, which is always a crowd pleaser. Anderson continues to attack the Vikings and now takes away the KFC table. The Vikings stop it and hit a double powerbomb on Anderson through the table. Yeah, that ending was super flat.

Match Rating: *3/4

The Miz is backstage and says that he has moved his family to an undisclosed location. Miz calls this the most important and personal match of his life. Solid promo by Miz there.

TLC Match
Baron Corbin vs. Roman Reigns

Roman instantly attacks one of Corbin's lackeys and throws him through a table. It didn't look like a great landing. Cole tells us that the TLC match is 20 years old next year. Mark your calendars, folks. I'm still amazed at how long it took for Corbin to get rid of his Red Lobster waiter gear. Roman beats him down the ramp and around the ring. Once they get into the ring, Corbin instantly hits Deep Six. Cole then goes down the list of reasons that I should care about Corbin and it doesn't work for about the 1,367th time. Corbin is now using ladders and chairs on Roman's back. Reigns finally fights back and slams Corbin into the chair set up in the corner. Reigns could really use a reboot as a character, but he still is solid in the ring. Reigns grabs a table, but Corbin hits him with a can of dog food. Corbin then chokeslams him through the table for a 2 count. Roman hits a Samoan Drop through the announcers table. Dolph Ziggler comes from under the ring and hits Reigns with a superkick. Corbin then launches one of the time keepers and Ziggler continues attacking him. That bump was the highlight of the match. While they are still for some reason focused on the time keeper, Reigns hits the Drive-By. Reigns is now using the kendo stick on Corbin's crew. The Revival are now out to take out Reigns. Reigns then hits them both with Superman Punches. Reigns then does the Undertaker dive over the top rope onto all of them, which is fitting since this is starting to feel like Undertaker/Yokozuna at Royal Rumble 1994. Ziggler then kicks Reigns with a kick to a chair on his face and then a Zig Zag for good measure. It's good to see that Reigns has so many friends in the back. The Revival hit the Shatter Machine and then Corbin hits End Of Days on a chair and that is all. All I hear is that Corbin is a true heel and that he is over. There was basically no reaction to him winning that match. His character is stupid and his in ring ability is not in the same league as the opponents they keep putting him with. This was way too long to get to that ending.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Universal Championship Match
The Miz vs. Bray Wyatt

Wyatt is wrestling in a sweater. Miz comes out swinging, but thanks to Wyatt's character he has to stop so Wyatt can continue to be a goof. The Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale pretty quickly, but he doesn't go for the cover. Wyatt is laughing as Miz is slamming him face first into the mat. God, I don't know how many more matches of Wyatt I can sit through with this character. And seriously, whose idea was it to put this on after that 20+ minute Baron Corbin debacle? Wyatt then hits Sister Abigail and that's it? This was insulting to everyone's intelligence. Get this crap off of my television and out of my life forever.

Match Rating: 0 stars

The Fiend is now on the big screen and Wyatt grabs a goofy hammer straight out of the old Batman TV show. The lights go down a little and out comes Daniel Bryan and hits him with the running knee, who is now sporting short hair and a shorter beard. Bryan completely destroys Wyatt. He picks up the hammer and as he is about to hit him the lights go out. The lights come back in and Wyatt is gone. You know if Daniel Bryan can't save a segment, it is beyond awful. Also, how dumb does Miz look?

Tables Match
Bobby Lashley vs. Rusev

You've got to be kidding me. Who came up with the match order for this show? Corbin then Wyatt then Lashley? Rusev tries bringing a table in early, but Lana pulls it out and allows Lashley to take advantage of the situation. They do a bunch of moves that mean nothing. They set up some tables and now they're going to tease the end of the match. In somewhat of a clever spot, they put a table on both sides of them as they fight over doing a suplex. Rusev hits Lashley off the apron, but Lashley is able to leap over the table. Rusev grabs a steel rail from way back towards the top of the ramp and uses it on Lashley. He leans it up against the ring and Lashley chokeslams him through it. I miss the old Rusev. I did not miss Lashley. Lashley now has a kendo stick because we didn't see enough of that earlier tonight. Rusev now hits his breaking point and destroys Lashley with the kendo stick and a Machka Kick. Lana jumps on the back of Lashley, which allows Lashley to spear him into a table, but it doesn't break. Lashley then hits a suplex through the table in the other corner and that is all. This was much more a TV match than it was a pay-per-view feature match. However, compared to the last two matches, it was at least a slight step up.

Match Rating: *1/2

The Street Profits are backstage and in come Reigns and Corbin brawling. A bunch of other guys join in. I don't know man, but this show is just sucking the life out of me.

TLC Match For The Women's Tag Team Championship Match
Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. The Kabuki Warriors

Lynch and Flair are trying to sell their tension. Sane hits a dropkick into a chair that Asuka is holding in front of Flair's face. Lynch helps get the advantage back and they throw Asuka into the post face-first. Sane starts trying to throw chairs into the ring, but some don't make it in. Charlotte starts throwing them back in and she then trips. She goes under the ring and sprays them with a fire extinguisher. Asuka has a rope and is now using it as a weapon. Charlotte attacks them with the kendo stick as they are climbing the ladder. Lynch is tied to the ladder and Charlotte tries to untie her, but Asuka hits her in the back with a chair. Sane goes for the elbow off the announcers table, but Lynch gets her boot up and she is able to wiggle her way out of the rope. Lynch hits a second rope leg drop on Asuka through the table. Sane counters a double suplex into a double DDT. Sane goes for a splash onto both Flair and Lynch, but Flair moves out and Sane doesn't hit Lynch well and the table doesn't break. Charlotte then hits a spear and Sane no sells it or something. Charlott then hits a powerbomb through the table. Asuka then hits a German suplex on Charlotte. The Kabuki Warriors finally try to climb the ladder and Charlotte and Becky hit them with chairs. Charlotte is going up top for a moonsault, but Asuka blocks it and powerbombs her through a table. This is 100% speculation on my part, but it feels like Sane is maybe hurt. There have been a few awkward spots. Becky was climbing the ladder, but Asuka pulled on the rope that was tied to it and knocks her off. Asuka climbs the top and grabs the belts. That was a huge disappointment. It felt as if things broke down and they didn't have a plan B or something. Before the Kabuki Warriors can't even celebrate, the brawl from backstage is continuing into the crowd. Reigns then hits a spear off the lower level into a huge crowd of people. It's interesting to have a main event that long and then get completely cut off by some more nonsense. Regardless, these women are capable of better matches and they had a poor outing tonight.

Match Rating: **1/4

Man, did this show suck. It got off to a good start and then it drove off a cliff more than any show that I can think of off the top of my head. They need to retire this pay-per-view theme and just save them for when the ladder matches and TLC matches actually make sense. I can't stress enough how terrible the Wyatt character is and that it will never attract any new viewers. Last time I checked, they were in desperately need right now and he is not the answer. Neither is Baron Corbin, but we've known that for years. If you didn't watch this, you don't need to.

Overall Rating: 35%

NXT 1-30-13 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, January 30th, 2013
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
Alex Riley & Derrick Bateman vs. Kassius Ohno & Leo Kruger

This is a group of guys that never hit their potential in WWE for a variety of different reasons. Ohno is the one that still doesn't make sense to me. Riley surprisingly gets the advantage on Ohno early on.. Bateman then clears out both men headed into the commercial break. The heels go after Bateman's knee and work on it with multiple tags in and out. Bateman finally gets the tag and Riley hits a big spinebuster on Ohno. Ohno is able to hold him off and knocks him silly with a kick to the face and finishes him off with a submission. That was pretty standard tag team wrestling.

Match Rating: *3/4 (out of 5)

Out comes Corey Graves and he puts Alex Riley in the 13th Step.

They show an interview from earlier today with Big E. He says he can't wait for Konnor to find out about the 5 count.

Sakamoto vs. Mason Ryan

Sakamoto has a pretty decent entrance for a jobber. Ah, the Mason Ryan era. I'm still shocked this guy didn't get a Roman Reigns-esque push. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about his talent. Regal talks about Ryan's beautiful muscles. His finisher was the Jackhammer? Sakamoto did his best here, while the announcers cover up the lack of reaction being due to the fact that they are in awe of Ryan.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Aksana vs. Paige

Aksana pushes Paige over the top rope to the floor. Aksana looks very green here, but she gets to dominate pretty much the entire match. Paige pulls her off the turnbuckle and puts her in a submission for the victory. Summer Rae and Paige bump into each other and Summer Rae then attacks her from behind and storms off. Not a good match.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Renee Young is with Sasha Banks. Sasha says her first win last week was one of her biggest accomplishments. She is then handed a note that's a cheesy "Roses are red, violets are blue" secret admirer letter. Ugh.

Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
Bo Dallas & Michael McGillicutty vs. Primo & Epico

The most notable thing about this match so far is that Epico doesn't have corn rows. I would have never guessed that Dallas and McGillicutty would still be a team here in 2019. At least I think they are. The action has actually been pretty good to start. McGillicutty slingshots Epico over the top rope as we go to commercial break. Epico and Primo regain control and work on McGillicutty. I have to say, this match feels like it's on fast forward compared to a lot of NXT matches of this era. Both teams are working a quick pace and it is benefiting this match greatly. Epico and McGillicutty collide and both men are down. Dallas gets the better of Primo and they have a somewhat awkward segment. Primo almost gets the win with a roll up. He hits a cool variation of the DDT and again can only get the 2 count on Bo. Bo hits a belly to belly suplex/body slam and picks up the victory. That was a much better match than I was expecting. All four men looked to be on a mission to have a good match here and they did.

Match Rating: ***

Well, the show ended on a surprising high note despite the rest of the show being pretty dull. Aksana and Mason Ryan aren't exactly two stars I would want to build around, but that's me. Paige continues to be popular with the crowd and Ohno continues to succeed in his role. All in all, this was just okay.

Overall Rating: 55%

Superstars 11-21-92 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, November 21st, 1992
Hullman Center
Terre Haute, Indiana

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WWF Championship Match
Virgil vs. Bret Hart

We are getting a rare WWF Championship match here on Superstars. In typical Hitman fashion, he gives Virgil a fair amount of offense, including one of the weaker monkey flips I have seen. Virgil misses a crossbody off the second rope and Hart immediately puts him in the Sharpshooter for the victory. If they were going to let Virgil get that much offense, it would have probably been better had it been a little bit longer. They shake after the match.

Match Rating: * (out of 5)

Mean Gene is here with the biggest update in recent history. Ultimate Warrior is out of the main event of the Survivor Series. They show a clip from Prime Time of Randy Savage saying Mr. Perfect is going to be his partner, as Bobby Heenan and Perfect laugh it off. We then get another interview of Savage saying he doesn't like Perfect, but he is the best partner. This turn really makes no sense, but I guess we're going for it.

Back to the arena and Heenan is furious about the news.

Todd Becker vs. Yokozuna

Vince and Heenan continue to talk about the Perfect news. Meanwhile, Yokozuna continues to impress at his much lighter weight here. The dude was incredibly agile for this era at that size. Another impressive squash here. The rocket would be strapped soon.

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time to go to the Event Center with Sean Mooney. Yokozuna has signed an open contract for Survivor Series. The Natural Disasters and Nasty Boys do a lot of yelling while Typhoon just bobs his head like the Red Rooster. Kamala and his crew talk about the big casket match.

Now we get an Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. They show highlights of the Intercontinental match from Saturday Night's Main Event. They then show Bret Hart vs. Papa Shango. Then they show the interview of Bret and Shawn from SNME. Alfred was not good at this job at all.

Steve Walker & Mike Kramer vs. Natural Disasters

I can't even imagine wrestling Twitter during this era. The amount that has changed in the past few weeks is pretty crazy. Vince makes mention of the Survivor Series Showdown for the first time. The big guys destroy the poor jobbers, who are a bit bigger than your run of the mill jobbers.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We are in full hype mode today and it's now Survivor Series Report time. He talks about the big tag team match. Razor says nothing has changed, but Flair is furious and is a total maniac here. Nailz says it is his turn for revenge and Boss Man tells Nailz he will serve hard time. A new match is announce between High Energy and the Headshrinkers. We get a second Harvey Wippleman interview for some reason and he says this will be Undertakers last coffin match.

Bam Bam Bigelow says he will make his debut next week.

Barry Horowitz vs. Lance Cassidy

Cassidy's cup of coffee continues here. Doink is out again with a hammer. Cassidy never had a chance to make it here. He gets pretty aggressive with a series of kicks to the chest and then hits a clothesline off the top rope. Doink is shown again in the crowd and that's it.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Back to Sean Mooney and we are talking about Survivor Series again. High Energy says that the Headshrinkers have never seen anything like them before. Martel says that Tatanka will get his first loss Wednesday night. Tatanka says he will take back his eagle feathers back.

Heenan says that this will be the Perfect pay-per-view here Wednesday as Perfect will be gone. Vince says we may see the Perfect funeral, which sounds like a good selling point for parents on the fence about ordering it for their children. We go back to Undertaker's workshop to unveil Kamala's casket, which Undertaker comes out of and basically says that he is going to murder Kamala on live TV.

This was basically Superstars last gasp hype show before Wednesday night. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more impressive match in the opener, as that could have been fun. Other than that, they were in scramble mode trying to figure out what to do about old reliable Ultimate Warrior. The Mr. Perfect turn made no sense and didn't ultimately lead to much after this for him. This wasn't a horrible show, but there were a few too many interviews.

Overall Rating: 41%

SmackDown 6-2-05 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, June 2nd, 2005
Rexall Place
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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Carlito's Cabana kicks off the show this week. He makes fun of the crowd and then introduces John Cena. Of course Cena makes fun of Matt Morgan's stutter and then compares him to Michael Cole. An almost 15 minute segment for Cena to announce that he and Big Show will take on Carltio and Morgan tonight.

Teddy Long is on the phone when Booker walks in with Sharmell. He does not want Sharmell taking on Kurt Angle tonight. Teddy says there is nothing he can do about it. Teddy tells him that it will now be Angle vs. Sharmell and Booker.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
15 Minute Iron Man Match
MNM vs. Charlie Haas & Hardcore Holly

After getting to watch the MNM entrance a few times now for the first time in years, it really was kind of lame with the exception of the paparazzi. It felt very unnatural for both Morrison and Mercury with their mannerisms. Regardless, I'm looking forward to this one, as I enjoyed both of their other matches so far. Calling a 15 minute match an Iron Man Match is kind of silly though. Holly took great pride in making sure he could chop Mercury as hard as he could. Holly has Mercury up for the Alabama Slam, but Morrison superkicks him and Mercury reverses it into a pinfall for the early 1-0 lead. Creative spot there. They do a commercial break and it takes 3 minutes out of the match and we miss a pinfall. IT IS A TAPED SHOW. Haas hits a nice dive over the top rope to the floor during the break, but then he got thrown into the ring post and they barely even mention how they got the second fall. Haas gets a pinfall and now it's 2-1 around the 5 minute mark. Down to about 2 minutes and Holly gets a hot tag. He slingshots Morrison over the top rope and a dropkick to Mercury gets a nearfall. Holly goes up top, but is knocked down by Nitro. MNM goes for the Snapshot, but Haas spears Morrison and then Holly hits the Alabama Slam on Mercury. Melina runs in and gets on top of Mercury to block the pin by Holly and time has expired. It's really a shame that they chose to eliminate about 3 minutes of the match, let alone the pinfall. With the exception of that, this was another good match in their series.

Match Rating: ***1/4 (out of 5)

We get a recap of the Eddie Guerrero/Rey Mysterio saga.

Kurt Angle is out and confronts Tazz about not doing commentary during his match last week. They show a clip of Angle's appearance in ECW with Tazz. He offers Tazz a chance to join him and end ECW.

Kurt Angle vs. Booker T & Sharmell

Booker T is obviously fired up, but Angle quickly counters it and knocks Booker T out. He goes right for Sharmell and sets her up for a powerbomb, which leads to some gyrations. Booker attacks him from behind and hits the Book End. Booker hits some chops and right hands, but Angle goes right into three German suplexes and gets a 2 count. Sharmell jumps on Angle's back, but he counters and puts her in a hold and this angle is just absolute garbage. Angle hits an Angle Slam on Booker and gets a 2 count. Sharmell starts slapping angle and attempts to kick him, but Kurt puts him in an Ankle Lock. Booker makes the save with a kick to the face. Booker misses with the Scissor Kick and Angle pushes Booker into Sharmell and she is out. Booker hits a superkick on Angle and goes and checks on Sharmell. Angle drills Booker with a chair twice and then pins Sharmell for the victory. He lays on top of her after the victory, but Booker chases him away with a chair. I still can't believe that these guys agreed to this.The match was actually pretty entertaining for the type of match, but the angle just leaves the most awful taste in your mouth.

Match Rating: **1/4

They show a John Cena hype video.

Heidenreich vs. Devon Nicholson

Heidenreich picks a young girl out of the crowd to be his friend. Nicholson isn't your usual looking jobber, but Heidenreich still destroys him anyways. I don't know how, but this is more over than I ever remember it being. This is such a strange time.

Match Rating: 1/4*

The Divas are in the back talking and in walks Mark Jindrak. They talk about the draft and then he makes fun of them and they throw stuff at him. Awesome television.

Nunzio vs. JBL

JBL says that he is not wearing a cowboy hat is because of the stitches and injuries he suffered and blames it on ECW for making wrestling no longer a pure sport. He then calls Paul Heyman a liar and makes fun of him for living in his mom's basement. He then says that this match will last about as long as ECW and says he will make it an ECW Rules match. Nunzio agrees and is immediately is hit with a boot to the face. Nunzio goes under the ring and comes out the other side with a kendo stick and nails JBL in the head with it. Nunzio takes out the Cabinet with it, but JBL hits him with a Clothesline From Hell and then takes a kendo stick to the skull and that is all. It was a spirited squash.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Booker is backstage with Teddy Long. He wants a match with Angle and Long tells him that as long as they are both still on SmackDown, they will have a match next week.

John Cena & Big Show vs. Carlito & Matt Morgan

Big Show tosses Carlito over the top rope and on to Morgan as we head into the commercial break. Back from commercial and we have missed nothing. We miss a pinfall on the tag match, but nothing in this inconsequential match, okey dokey. Cena is in and body slams Morgan. Big Show hits a side slam on Morgan and begins to sell the injured ribs. The heels take the advantage as the result and Morgan goes to work on the ribs. Morgan puts him in the Bear Hug, my favorite move. Show battles out and tries to put Carlito in the Chokeslam, but Morgan pushes him away, right into Cena for the tag. Cena comes in and takes control. Five Knuckle Shuffle and the FU finishes off Carlito. Pretty standard TV main event there.

Match Rating: **

Well, the Angle/Booker storyline continues to be a complete embarrassment and it appears it is going to continue next week. However, it was nice to see a 15 minute segment for the tag titles and the squashes were kept short. Not a great show, but far from a bad one.

Match Rating: 58%

Monday Night Raw 5-30-05 Review

Monday, May 30th, 2005
Pengrowth Saddledome
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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They dedicate this edition of Raw to the veterans.

They kick off the show with Jerry Lawler in the ring saying there will be a Raw swimsuit competition. Christy Hemme, Candice Michelle, Maria, Victoria and Lilian Garcia are the competitors. Lilian is up first and out comes Viscera in a suit. He picks up Lilian and takes her to the back. The other four show off their bikinis and Jerry Lawler picks Christy to win. What an honor. Candice and Maria celebrate with her, while Victoria decides to attack them and absolutely drills Maria with a kick to the face. She finishes it off with a low blow to Lawler and a Widow's Peak to Christy. We are 14 minutes into the show and this is all we have to show for it.

After the break, we get an interview with Victoria. She is sick of Christy and she says that everything she's achieved should have been hers.

World Tag Team Championship Match
Rosey & The Hurricane vs. The Heart Throbs

Stacy is out with the champions in her superhero gear. The Heart Throbs take the early advantage and the crowd shows their interest by chanting "Stacy's hot". Hot tag to Rosey, he quickly destroys the Throbs and Hurricane hits the splash off of Rosey's shoulders and gets the victory. The Raw tag division was not treated seriously, so this match felt like nothing.

Match Rating: * (out of 5)

We get a recap of Batista's troubles from last week's show. Bischoff then informs Batista that Triple H is not here tonight. Batista accepts the challenge of a Hell In A Cell match and that he wants Triple H here next week. In walk Muhammad Hassan and Daivari, who point out that Triple H has lost to Batista twice and that he is undefeated. Batista gets in his face and Bischoff makes the match for tonight.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Shelton Benjamin vs. Robert Conway vs. Sylvain Grenier

The La Resistance members quickly begin to disagree and fight over who gets to do what to Benjamin. Shelton is able to fight back until Grenier sets Shelton up for a double team move and they fight over who gets to pin Shelton. This leads to them getting physical with each other. Shelton knocks Grenier to the outside and hits a crossbody from the top, but Grenier breaks up the pin attempt. La Resistance again starts to go at it with one another. Shelton is able to slip in and hit the T-Bone suplex and get the victory. I have to say I was surprised the crowd was in this one as much as they were, but a good win for Shelton.

Match Rating: **

Highlight Reel time and Chris Jericho's guests tonight are Kane and Lita. Jericho announces that next week he will be interviewing the first draft pick from SmackDown. Jericho is pretty much full blown heel now here, asking what it was like to be cheated on and how he has never been dumped by a woman before. Jericho then makes a Blockbuster Video reference, making me feel even older now for watching this. Edge pops up on the Titan Tron. He says that he won't put his woman in harms way, like Kane would. Lita comes on and says that she is filing for divorce and makes fun of him for being sweaty and lacking skills. She takes her ring and flushes it down a toilet. They make out while Kane looks depressed.

Eric Bischoff is out by JR and Lawler. He talks about his crusade against ECW and that the reason he is allowing the tables match tonight, he is just trying to prove that he can out-ECW ECW. Benoit will take on one of the people against ECW, Edge.

Tables Match
Edge vs. Chris Benoit

Benoit is obviously over here, being that it's in Calgary. The "You screwed Matt" chants continue. Edge attempts to pull a table out from under the ring, but Benoit hits him with a suicide dive. Edge tries to bring a table in again and this time is greeted with a baseball slide into the table. They duel on the apron in front of the table, but Benoit ends up suplexing Edge inside the ring. Benoit brings out another table and puts this one in the ring. Benoit superplexes him, but Lita moves the table out of the way to save the match for Edge. Edge grabs the briefcase from Lita, but Benoit hits him with three German suplexes. Edge sets Benoit up on the table and goes up top, but Lita pushes him off. Bischoff leaves the booth and out come Tomko and Maven to attack Benoit. Bischoff now calls out Snitsky and he hits Benoit with a big boot to the face. Lawler claims that there's nothing more extreme than Snitsky. Edge then powerbombs Benoit through a table and wins the match. Edge is bleeding from the mouth and you can see Lita shoot him down. The match was to continue the Bischoff against ECW angle and to continue to get Edge over as a top heel. It did both of that and the action was solid.

Match Rating: **3/4

They show a recap of last week between Triple H, Batista and Ric Flair. We get Triple H via satellite at the WWE TV Studios. He puts over Hell In A Cell as the most violent match in this industry and says that he has made a career of ending people in Hell In A Cell. He names Kevin Nash and Mick Foley.

Chris Masters is out for the Master Lock Challenge and offers $10,000 to anyone who can break it tonight. Instead of challenging the fans, he is challenging anyone in the locker room. Out comes Val Venis in 2005. A lucky man in the crowd catches his towel. Val surprisingly isn't really that much smaller than Masters. Masters takes a cheap shot on Venis and then slaps on the Master Lock. Val is doing everything he can to break the lock, including pushing off the turnbuckles, but eventually it's just too much. That was easily the most entertaining Master Lock Challenge.

Out comes Christian to a solid pop. He talks about the SmackDown roster, including ripping on Cena. He says that they are lacking a Canadian, which I think is actually accurate. He says that if is drafted to SmackDown, they will get an injection of the 3 C's. Charisma, Canada and Christian. That was a solid little promo there by Christian, even if it sort of telegraphed what would happen.

Next week we are getting a contract signing between Triple H and Batista and the Highlight Reel with the first draft pick.

Muhammad Hassan vs. Batista

Hassan tries to surprise Batista, but he gets nailed with an elbow. Batista is wearing a bandage on his head to sell the attack from last week. Hassan hits a DDT after a distraction from Daivari. This is an interesting test for these two, as they usually have a ring general in there with them to bring out the best of them. The result so far is a match that feels heavily scripted. Daivari gets involved again and is busted open. I have to say, I wasn't expecting a blade job in this match. Batista is repeatedly stomping Hassan in the face. He continues to stick his knee in his face and won't back off and is disqualified as a result. That felt really flat. Batista continues his attack and starts slamming Hassan's face into the concrete outside of the ring. He then hits Hassan with a chair shot to the head. Hassan is now busted open and Skinner is out to try and stop him. Batista hits Batista Bombs on both of them. Batista celebrates as we go off the air. Not a great match there and I'm not sure the ending was quite as effective as they were hoping.

Match Rating: 1/2*

That was a middle of the road episode. The main event was evidence that Batista wasn't quite ready to carry a lesser opponent yet (he'd get there) and the Victoria heel turn segment was way longer than it needed to be. The tables match was solid, even if they were capable of better and Christian shined in his short segment. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful as we continue to (kind of) promote One Night Stand.

Overall Rating: 49%

NXT 1-23-13 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Shawn Michaels is in the ring to start things off. He announces a tournament to crown the first NXT Tag Team Championships.

Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
The Wyatt Family vs. Yoshi Tatsu & Percy Watson

Yoshi's music is always good for a laugh. They get a little bit of offense on Rowan until he catches Yoshi and hits a backbreaker. Bray Wyatt is watching in the rocking chair from the ramp. The Wyatt's cut the ring in half, but Yoshi makes the hot tag to Watson. It doesn't last long, as Harper hits a clothesline and gets the pin. This is about as uninspired tag team match as you will ever see.

Match Rating: 1/4* (out of 5)

Dusty Rhodes tells Alex Riley and Derrick Bateman that they will be fighting Leo Kruger and Kassius Ohno in the tournament next week. Corey Graves comes in complaining that he won't be in the tournament and then Riley steps up to him and calls him a circus boy. Dusty tells Graves that no one wanted to be his partner, including Jake Carter. He then says they should have a match tonight.

Alicia Fox vs. Sasha Banks

Sasha is in full smile and wave babyface mode here. Fox has the rare ability to make every match look like it's her first match. It's funny that in 2013 they had to say without any irony that Alicia Fox was one of the best women on the roster. Sasha hits some of her now signature moves. Sasha counters the body slam and gets the quick victory. The announcers telegraphed this finish and then didn't even really sell it afterwards. Sasha looked good though.

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show a Paige promo.

Renee Young alert! Her first ever interview is Aksana, who says 2013 is going to be her year. I bet it won't be.

Jake Carter vs. Corey Graves

One of the worst quirks that WWE has is acknowledging when someone is the son or daughter of a famous wrestler, but still pretending that they have a different last name for some reason. Back and forth they go. Graves out of nowhere hits a shoulder to the knee of Carter and puts him in the 13th Step for the submission victory. This was another match with no heat at all. After the match, Graves grabs the mic and says that he was screwed out of a rematch for the NXT Championship and then he's not allowed in the tag team tournament. Since he can't be in the tournament, he's declaring anarchy on NXT.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty are backstage and Bo asks him why he helped him. McGillicutty says it's a new year and a new him. They shake hands. Absolutely fabulous TV here.

Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
3MB vs. Adrian Neville & Oliver Grey

McIntyre and Slater are representing 3MB. It's amazing how much more intimidating McIntyre is in 2019 than he is here. It only takes about 30 seconds for Neville to show how talented he is. Neville does a somersault dive over the top rope which is kind of ruined because McIntyre just stood there and watched him do it. It really never made sense that McIntyre was in 3MB. Slater hits a big kick and gets a 2 count. The ref is getting out the gloves, so we must have a little bit of blood. Hot tag to Neville. Neville goes up top hits the Red Arrow and that's enough to win the match and bring the crowd to their feet. That was about as good of a match as we get on NXT in this time period.

Match Rating: **1/2

Axl Keegan vs. Big E Langston

Not that it matters, but this is a non-title match. Keegan is a big guy, so it doesn't look like your typical squash. But don't worry, it still is. Within 30 seconds he hits the Big Ending and gets the 3 count. Of course, Big E wants 5. He puts him up for the Big Ending again, but the lights go out and Konnor goes on the big screen and says that in two weeks he'll show Big E about the 5 count. Big E still hits the Big Ending and counts to 5. The crowd wants more and he gives it to him

Match Rating: 1/4*

Much like Superstars, all I ask for is one good match on each episode and this one did that. However, the rest of the show was pretty ho hum. There just isn't enough star power to the show yet and just too few wrestlers that show any real promise. The good thing is Sasha and Neville are both about to become mainstays and that can only improve the overall quality.

Overall Rating: 49%