Monday Night Raw 10-2-06 Review

Monday, October 2nd, 2006
Kansas Expo Center
Topeka, Kansas

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DX is out to start the show and they do they spiel. Out comes Jonathan Coachman and he tells them they have to compete right now in a Texas Tornado Match. 

Texas Tornado Match
D-Generation X vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch vs. Viscera & Charlie Haas vs. Highlanders

Cade and Murdoch go right after DX and we're underway. Triple H is able to move out of the way of a Viscera squash in the corner and then they hit a double clothesline to knock Vis down. Murdoch gets hit by a knee to the face and an inverted atomic drop before throwing him out of the ring. Haas eats a spinebuster and a Michaels top rope elbow drop. They hit the Sweet Chin Music/Pedigree combo on Haas and that's it. There is no better way to build your struggling tag division than to squash them like they're jobbers on Superstars. It was cute those 30 seconds they cared about Cade and Murdoch. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

After the match, Coach is unhappy and says that he still runs this show. DX threatens to throw him out of the building and that they'll run this show. 

Intercontinental Championship Match
Johnny Nitro vs. Jeff Hardy

We get a little bit of action leading to Hardy leaping off the apron on Nitro right before the commercial break. During the break, Hardy got kicked in the face by Nitro when he went for the swinging mule kick in the corner. When we come back, Nitro has the camel clutch in. Hardy breaks free, but misses with Whisper In The Wind. Nitro hits a sliding dropkick, sending Hardy into the ring post. Sensing Hardy gaining momentum, Melina pulls Nitro out of the ring. It backfires and they both end up getting hit with the running dive off the guardrail. Back in the ring, Nitro climbs to the top rope, but Hardy meets him there. Hardy hits a back body drop off the top and he hits the Swanton to become the new Intercontinental Champion. Looking back 16 years, I wasn't expecting that to happen here. Both guys put in a good effort here. 

Match Rating: ***

DX is knocking on Coach's door. Hilarity ensues. 

Next week it's a 3 hour Raw Family Reunion. One of the many tune ups to get me ready for reviewing modern Raw episodes in like 15 years. 

Maria is backstage with Jeff Hardy and he says winning this title was the reason that he came back to Raw. Maria says that she's going to ECW to be involved in the Extreme Strip Poker. Melina interrupts and starts screaming. Hardy covers her mouth and then leaves. 

Coach is on the phone with Vince and he's telling him that he can't run Raw like he does. He tells Coach to go out to the ring and of course Coach listens. He reluctantly leaves his office and checks every way before heading out. If anything, we're getting a little bit more behind the scenes than we typically do. Eventually, Triple H is standing in the hallway and when Coach turns around, Michaels is at the end of the other hallway. It turns into a western and we have a tumbleweed on the ground. Coach runs into the closest room and it's the women's locker room. DX decides to walk in and Triple H flirts with the ladies before Michaels grabs him. Coach runs into another room and this time it's Big Dick Johnson and he shoves him to the ground. He then slips on a floor being mopped and DX is there to find him. He runs into a production truck and DX throws him in a rolling dumpster and tells one of the employees to dump the cart. 

I should note that earlier they showed highlights of Cena/Edge at New Year's Revolution and now they are showing highlights from their match at Royal Rumble. 

When we come back that DX is shown with the Spirit Squad and they let them know they are in charge. They tell them they have a new dress code and threaten him with the sledgehammer.

Next week it's going to be Umaga vs. Kane in a Loser Leaves Raw match. Too bad it wasn't a Loser Really Loses WWE Forever match with Kane losing.

Umaga vs. Snitsky

Hey, Snitsky is still alive. Snitsky sidesteps Umaga and gets in some of his trademark punches and kicks. He knocks Umaga down with a shoulder tackle, but Umaga hits him with the pop up Samoan drop. That was awesome. Umaga hits the running butt in the face and the Samoan Spike for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Randy Orton is backstage with Todd Grisham. He is sick and tired of Carlito running his mouth. He knows what cool is and that's RKO. 

Randy Orton vs. Carlito

Well, 2 weeks ago this was a featured match on a pay-per-view and tonight it's an unadvertised middle of the show match. Orton is aggressive to start and throws him into the ring post. He does it again, but this time it's not as convincing. Orton keeps grabbing Carlito's arm and twisting it as well. Carlito tries to fight back with some chops and then hits a springboard reverse elbow. He hits a springboard somersault and then a springboard moonsault for a 2 count. We get a back and forth segment that leads to Carlito hitting a springboard crossbody and Orton rolls through and steals the victory. All of this feels kind of odd. 

Match Rating: *3/4

They show the highlights of Edge interfering in the Rob Van Dam/John Cena match at One Night Stand.

DX is telling the Spirit Squad that they have to come out and they are refusing. They say that they will be stripped of their Tag Team Championships if they don't and then make an unfortunate "joke". 

Cryme Tyme knocks a coffee into the face of a police officer and show off their speed and agility by getting away. 

Nicky vs. Sgt. Slaughter

The Spirit Squad come out dressed as female cheerleaders. Slaughter slaps on the Cobra Clutch right away, but Nicky gets to the ropes. Sarge spanks him as punishment. Nicky's able to dump Slaughter out of the ring and the other Spirit Squad members attack him. Nicky puts on a submission hold and then DX shows up on the screen, holding up a thong and telling him he forgot something. Slaughter rolls him up and picks up the win. I'm sure Vince loved all of this.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We see highlights of Edge winning the WWE Championship from RVD in a triple threat. 

WWE Women's Championship Tournament First Round Match
Mickie James vs. Victoria

DX has ordered that both competitors have to wear lingerie, so that of course leads to some great jokes from Lawler. Unfortunately these two talented ladies are off to a little bit of a rough start. Nothing they are hitting really looks smooth. Mickie gets dumped out of the ring, but she jumps up to the top rope and then misses the sunset flip. They try to recover and it leads to Victoria try to cheat and then Mickie rolls her up from there. This was about as bad as this match could have been. After the match, Victoria snaps and throws a chair. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the Eric Bischoff book promo. Chris Masters is talking to Eric Bischoff and then DX comes in. He tells them they were a blatant ripoff of the nWo. They ask Masters when he's going to write a book and he said that he wants to write one on nutrition. He asks him if it will be called How To Lose 50 Pounds In 4 Weeks? Classy.

They show Cena winning the title from Edge. They for some reason skipped over SummerSlam?

Steel Cage Match For The WWE Championship
Edge vs. John Cena

Cena starts off on a mission and hits a big vertical suplex. Cena has his left arm wrapped up from his attacks the last week. Edge gets an opening and goes right to work on it. Edge tries to escape through the door, but Cena grabs him by the trunks and hits a back suplex. Edge tries to escape the top of the cage, but Cena catches him and throws him off the top rope. After a failed pin attempt, Edge is able to throw Cena into the cage to slow him down. Edge hits Edgecution, but Cena is able to kick out. I would say that this crowd seems a little more pro-Cena than normal during this era. Cena tries to climb out the cage, but Edge grabs him by the arm and snaps it on the top rope. He follows that up with a Spear into the cage. They're both up on the top rope and Cena is able to drive Edge's face into the mat and we head into a commercial break. Edge is able to climb up to the very top of the cage, but Cena grabs his leg. Both men are fighting on the top in a seated position. Edge rakes Cena's eyes and he falls in towards the ring, but is standing on the ropes. He gets Edge down, but Edge hits a back suplex off the top rope and they both are down. Edge gets crotched on the top rope and then thrown into the cage. He hits his spinning powerbomb and it's Five Knuckle Shuffle time. He gets Edge up for the FU, but Edge grabs the cage and he slams him into the cage. Edge tries climbing again, but Cena gets him up on his shoulders. Edge slips out and he goes for an electric chair. Cena again gets him up for a FU, but Edge counters and starts crawling to the door. Cena leaps to grab his leg and then Lita hands Edge a chair. The referee kicks her out, but the chair is in the ring. Edge misses off the second rope and accidentally hits the referee. Edge grabs the chair, but misses wildly. Cena then nails Edge with the chair and slaps on the STFU. The referee is still down and the other ref is trying to get in, but then in comes Cade and Murdoch. They hit their finisher, kind of. They try to drag Edge out of the ring as the crowd chants for DX. Out comes DX to make the save and Cena hits the FU on Edge for the victory. This was a freaking great main event. It was all action and even though I could have done without the interference, it all just added to the chaos. Well done to both competitors here. 

Match Rating: ****

This was quite the surprise here. They let Edge and Cena have a pay-per-view type match and they more than delivered. We also got the somewhat surprising title change earlier in the show, making this one of the stronger Raw episodes of the year. I still could have done without just about all of the DX stuff, but you have to take the good with the bad.

Overall Rating: 70%

Off The Grid, Volume 27: Halloween Havoc 1991 Review

Sunday, October 27th, 1991
UTC Arena
Chattanooga, Tennessee

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Off The Grid, Volume 27:

Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross welcome us before sending us off to Eric Bischoff. We see some of the superstars arriving. Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes arrive and they are attacked, with Windham getting his arm slammed into the door by Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson. They drive off to the hospital.

Chamber Of Horrors Match
Abdullah The Butcher, Big Van Vader, Diamond Studd & Cactus Jack vs. El Gigante, Steiner Brothers & Sting

So this is basically a cage match except they have chainsaws and electric chairs, making this as cheesy as possible. There is just way too much star power in this match for what it is. Sting hits a dive over the top rope on Vader. Now the electric chair is coming down in a small cage. The amount of money that was wasted on this is just hysterical. Also hysterical is the "Refer-eye Camera". The referee is wearing a hockey helmet with a camera on it so we can see what he sees. Sting throws a coffin lid on the head of Cactus Jack. Now a bunch of dudes with white painted faces walk down with a stretcher. I'm pretty positive that if I saw this in 1991, I would have been able to figure out that wrestling wasn't 100% real a lot quicker. Cactus is busted open on his forehead. Sting then throws Jack over the top rope and into the cage. This match is one of those matches where there's just a bunch of chaos while still not really having anything much going on. After a bunch of nothing, Rick Steiner hits a belly-to-belly suplex on Abdullah into the chair and for some reason Cactus Jack thinks it is Rick in there and he pulls the lever. We get a bunch of pyro and parts of the ring catch on fire. I feel like this entire thing wasn't thought out. I would not expect that from WCW... This match was goofy enough fun, but it was hindered by the stipulation. 

Match Rating: **

 After the match, Cactus Jack checks on Abdullah and he pushes Jack down and attacks all the dudes with white face paint. The crowd is dead silent for this. He grabs Jack and they walk to the back a bloody mess. 

JR and Schiavone send us back with Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt, who are dressed in costumes. In come the Young Pistols and they make fun of the Patriots in one of the lamer promos you'll ever see. 

The Creatures vs. PN News & Big Josh

Who in the world approved this to be on a major card? You would think this would be 90 seconds long, but nope, it's WCW, so it will be treated like a match that is competitive. PN News is a gigantic man and his ring attire looks like it was designed by a 4 year old. It's interesting that Josh is only about 12 months away or so as debuting as Doink. I guess I'll talk about the match. Josh hits a powerbomb and some chops on one of the Creatures. Josh hits Northern Exposure and News hits the Rapmaster Splash for the victory. This was a Superstars match that they charged you to watch. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Bobby Eaton vs. Terrence Taylor

This is during the era where they ranked everyone. Eaton is #7 and Taylor is #10 if you care. Taylor is with Taylor and he is the computerized man of the 90s. Wikipedia has it spelled as Terrance, but the entrance logo shows Terrence. I went with what was on the video. Eaton is a guy that I have talked about before, but he is someone that I have really come to enjoy as a result of the WWE Network. I don't dislike Taylor as much as a lot of folks do. I think he's a solid wrestler, just not one that should have been considered a future main eventer. He's a good middle of the card heel when in WCW. Nothing more, nothing less. They kind of feel each other out to begin until the action spills out to the elevated ramp. Eaton then hits a knee from the top rope on Taylor. Taylor is able to recover and knocks Eaton off the apron into the guardrail. Back to the ramp we go and Taylor hits a gutwrench powerbomb, as he continues to work on the back of Eaton. Taylor continues to work on the back, but Eaton gets a burst of offense with a sunset flip off the top rope for a nearfall. Taylor goes back to working on the back of Eaton. Taylor goes for a splash off the second rope, but Eaton gets his knees up. Eaton's able to hit a neckbreaker and heads up to the top, but Taylor knocks the ropes and crotches Eaton. Taylor tries for a superplex, but Eaton knocks him off. Eaton hits the Alabama Jam and that is all. That was a solid, competitive match with both guys looking pretty good here. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

JR and Schiavone inform us that Michael Hayes is injured, so Jimmy Garvin is wrestling for him instead. 

Jimmy Garvin vs. Johnny B. Badd

Garvin hits a hip toss on Badd over the top rope to a nice pop from the crowd. They're dressed in Braves gear and doing the tomahawk chop, which fits Michael Hayes. Badd comes back and hits a top rope sunset flip for a 2 count. Badd never really was able to nail that move for as often as he used it. Both men hit heads and now both are down. Garvin nails the DDT, but Teddy Long has the referee distracted. Garvin goes to check on him and Badd hits him with a sucker punch for the victory. Garvin had his leg on the bottom rope, but Long knocked it off. The match wasn't bad for what it was. Badd was still pretty inexperienced here. 

Match Rating: **

We go back to Missy Hyatt, who is as obnoxious as ever and is trying to find out who the WCW Phantom is. She asks Bobby Eaton, but he just won a match and he doesn't care. 

WCW TV Championship Match
Steve Austin vs. Dustin Rhodes

Rhodes gets in some offense and tries for the bulldog pretty early, but Austin is able to counter it. Dustin goes for a crossbody, but Austin ducks and Dustin goes sliding under the bottom rope and to the floor. Austin gets caught using the ropes for leverage and Dustin makes his comeback. For some reason, Dustin is busted open and we are at 4 minutes remaining. This is usually about the time where they decide to start making the match entertaining. Dustin misses a dropkick and Austin gets a 2 count. Dustin is going hard for the last minute win and shoves the referee when he tries to stop him with his right hands. He hits an elbow and gets another 2 count. We're down to 1 minute. Dustin is hitting elbows in the corner and Austin falls on his face with 30 seconds left. Dustin goes up top and hits a clothesline and the bell rings before he counts 3. I watched it again and it looks like he could have counted 3, but WCW loved to do this finish and it was so easy to screw up. Why would the referee stand nowhere near the move before counting if he was going to win? The match was pretty good between 2 guys that were linked together for years in WCW and would go on to have much bigger success in WWF. 

Match Rating: **3/4

Oz vs. Bill Kazmaier

Kazmaier comes down to the ring carrying a giant Earth, since he's the strongest man on Earth. Oz has dropped the fake beard. This is what I imagine is like watching two guys work their first match looks like. Pretty much out of nowhere, Kazmaier puts Oz up in the Torture Rack and that's all. This was absolutely terrible. 

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Van Hammer vs. Doug Somers

They actually have people out on the stage with jackhammers. Hammer comes down with a guitar, but doesn't play it. Hammer is probably one of my least favorite wrestlers of the era. We get a mess up in the first 15 seconds of the match if you're wondering why. Hammer hits a back body drop and an elbow drop. He hits a slingshot suplex for the victory. It sure looked like he almost was going to drop him on his head. In case the non-entrance for Somers wasn't enough of a giveaway, this was a squash. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We hear from Brian Pillman and Richard Morton ahead of their Light Heavyweight Championship match. 

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship Match
Brian Pillman vs. Richard Morton

Morton was not meant to be a heel. It was like having Joey and Rachel hook up on Friends. This is the tournament final to crown the first ever Light Heavyweight Championship. Luckily for us, we get the Refer-eye Camera for this one. After a little bit of offense from Morton, Pillman is able to hit a spin kick and knocks him out of the ring. Morton slows things down with a headscissor. Pillman comes back with a arm drag takedown and goes to a side headlock. As I listen to JR rundown Pillman's football achievements and what he overcame, it is really is easy to see what was so amazing about Pillman. His lifestyle got the best of him, but there was so much more left to give as a character. Considering these are two of the more exciting wrestlers of this era, it's really surprising that they aren't going pedal to the metal here. The action spills outside and Morton rams Pillman's shoulder into the ring post. Pillman bounces back though and hits a top rope crossbody for the victory. That was a pretty terrible finish. The match itself was a pretty big disappointment unfortunately. 

Match Rating: **

Tom Zenk vs. Halloween Phantom

It's pretty obvious who the Phantom is once the robe is off. He goes right after the Z man while JR and Schiavone still speculate. He hits the Rude Awakening and picks up the victory. They couldn't even get him a good mask. Detective Schiavone notices that it was the Rude Awakening, but JR no sells it. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

WCW Tag Team Championship Match
The Patriots vs. The Enforcers

So the Patriots are the United States Tag Team Champions and the Enforcers are the World Tag Team Champions. So stupid. The Patriots are also stupid. Thankfully we at least have Arn Anderson in this match. If a guy as big and strong as Champion is nothing more than a footnote, it's probably because he wasn't very good. The dude is huge. Firebreaker Chip gets a hot tag and hits some body slams and dropkicks. Zbyszko breaks up the pin attempt and Champion knocks him down. We get a little bit of chaos, but Anderson hits the spinebuster and picks up the victory. Arn had enough of that crap and was ready to call it a night. The match wasn't terrible, but it's a waste of Anderson. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Paul E. Dangerously is out here to scream about the Halloween Phantom and unmasks him to be Rick Rude. I didn't see it coming! In all seriousness though, this was a huge get for the after losing Flair. The roster was garbage at this point and they needed someone who was a big name. You're welcome for this groundbreaking analysis.

They show a video of Ron Simmons going back to Florida State and we get an interview with Bobby Bowden. 

Two-Out-Of-Three Falls Match For The WCW Championship
Ron Simmons vs. Lex Luger

Simmons is accompanied by Dusty Rhodes, while Luger is with Mr. Hughes and Harley Race. After a slow start, Simmons hits a big powerslam and follows it up for a spinebuster to get the first pin. That was quick. There is now a one minute rest period before the next fall starts. Simmons' momentum continues into the next fall until Luger hits him with a thumb to the eye. Even then, Simmons is able to get a 2 count out of an inside cradle. Simmons hits a sunset flip for another 2 and then goes flying over the top rope after missing Luger while charging off the ropes. Luger hits a powerslam and hits a clothesline after a boot to the face. I'm surprised at how much offense Simmons is getting here. Luger connects with a vertical suplex before slowing it down with a headlock. We now have a little bit of action going on the outside with Dusty and Harley. Luger hits a crossbody on Simmons, but Harley holds onto Simmons tights and Luger gets sent outside, causing a DQ. Luger is extremely aggressive to start off the third fall and is bleeding from his right eye. Simmons no sells it and fires back some right hands. He blocks an inverted atomic drop and hits a clothesline for a close call. Simmons props Luger up on the top rope and hits a superplex for yet another 2 count. I give them credit, both guys are putting in some good effort here. We go outside and Simmons charges towards Luger, but misses and hits his shoulder on the ring post. Luger hits the piledriver and picks up the final fall for the victory. I have to say, this was a lot better than I ever would have thought. The pace was quicker than I expected and the crowd was buying most of the nearfalls. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

This was a weird show. There was so much crap on it and the whole Phantom angle was poorly done as well. There was no standout, but it will forever be remembered as the show with the Chamber Of Horrors match. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to have Sting and the Steiners both in that match along with Vader, where there removal would have helped boost the rest of the card. There were a couple of pretty good matches, but the rest is skippable. 

Overall Rating: 42%

NXT 10-30-14 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, October 30th, 2014
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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We open with a backstage interview asking Sami Zayn about Adrian Neville's comment about not being able to win the big one. He says he has lost some big ones, but the road to redemption ends when he beats Neville. In walks Titus O'Neil and he challenges Zayn to a match. Zayn says that it's another roadblock on his road to redemption, but he's going to run right through it.

NXT Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Battle Royal

Only one team member has to be eliminated here to eliminate the team. This thing starts off with all of your normal battle royal spots, which is to say it's pretty boring. After a few minutes, we finally get a double elimination. The Ascension push out all four members of Blake & Murphy and Dillinger & Jordan. It's now the Ascension and Big Cass and Enzo going at it. The Ascension takes care of them and as soon as that happens, Hideo Itami's music hits and he's out. The Vaudevillains come from behind and knock them off to win the match. This felt like this was everyone's first battle royal, as there was no excitement throughout the entire match outside of Itami. After the match, Itami comes down and attacks, but of course the two-on-one leads to the inevitable Ascension beatdown. They grab the mic and tell Itami to go back home to Japan where he belongs. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Emma vs. Carmella

Carmella slaps on an unconvincing body scissor that Emma struggles in before hitting her with a right hand to break the hold. It's time for an Emma sandwich and that gets a 2 count. It's kind of crazy how little of a reaction that Emma is getting after being so over before. Carmella puts on the Code Of Silence for the victory. This one had no intensity to it at all. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show the Muscle & Fitness editor working out at the Performance Center. 

Justin Gabriel vs. Bull Dempsey

I kind of forgot Bull Dempsey existed. I'm kind of disappointed that there's no Halloween theming for this episode. Bull dominates the majority of the match until Gabriel is able to counter with an inverted DDT. He follows up with some kicks to the back. He goes off the second rope, but he gets caught and he dumps him over his back. Bull steamrolls him and then goes up to the top rope. Dempsey hits the headbutt off the top and picks up the victory. Gabriel tried.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Bayley talks about what happened with Becky Lynch last week. Bayley says that if they want to come next week, she'll bring her friend Charlotte.

Baron Corbin vs. Tony Briggs

The crowd counts as Corbin hits End Of Days to win the match. I like these Corbin matches better than modern Corbin. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Sylvester Lefort vs. Marcus Louis

I'm not sure why we are supposed to care about this feud when it's pretty clear that they don't. Louis is enraged and is way over the top in an indie wrestler kind of way. He hits a standing Rock Bottom for the victory. Again, this was so short and meant nothing.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Hideo Itami says that if the Ascension wants a fight, then he'll bring a friend next week. 

Sami Zayn vs. Titus O'Neil

It's up to Sami to save this turd of an episode. It is too bad that they were never really able to get anything out of Titus because he is a huge human being. Zayn tries to bring some intensity, but O'Neil just body slams him instead. He mocks him and then dumps him out of the ring. Titus hits a nice backbreaker on his shoulder, but Zayn kicks out. Zayn slows down a charging Titus and hits the exploder suplex into the turnbuckle. I didn't see that coming. Zayn hits the Helluva Kick and that is all. The match itself was just decent, but it accomplished the goal they set out to achieve.

Match Rating: **

After the match, Tyler Breeze is out and says that if he wants to actually be the #1 contender, he has to beat him. He says that he talked to William Regal and that they will square off next week. 

This was the definition of a filler episode. It was nice to see Zayn get a victory over a bigger opponent, but the rest of the show was filled with mostly stuff that no one cared about. On the bright side, next week is looking like a stacked show. 

Overall Rating: 38%

Monday Night Raw 11-7-94 Review

Monday, November 7th, 1994
Fernwood Resort
Bushkill, Pennsylvania

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Bret Hart & British Bulldog vs. Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart

We're live from one of our favorite early Raw locations, Bushkill. All 4 men start brawling as soon as Owen and Neidhart hit the ring and it leads to Bulldog throwing Owen on top of Neidhart. Bulldog gets a 2 count after a vertical suplex on Owen. Owen comes back with a spin kick and then he and Neidhart make a wish on Bulldog. They continue to single out Bulldog as we go into a commercial break. The beatdown continues up until another commercial break, but Bulldog is starting to show some signs of life. He finally gets the tag into Bret and he hits a series of right hands on both relatives. Bret gets kicked in the back by Owen as he's running the ropes, which leads to Bulldog dropkicking Bret as he's being held up by Neidhart. Owen then leaps off the top ropes onto Bret and that's almost enough for victory. Bulldog pulls Owen out of the ring and tripped up Neidhart. Bret slaps on the Sharpshooter on Neidhart and that's enough for the victory. This wasn't as crisp of a match as I would expect with the competitors involved. It certainly wasn't bad, but just not as good as I had hoped. 

Match Rating: **3/4

It's time for the Survivor Series Report and it just isn't as fun when they've already announced all the matches. 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Tyron Knox

Knox shows a little fire with some right hands, but he gets hit with a rear elbow in the jaw. They show a sign that says "Vince For Senate". Yeah, I think we're good. I'm not sure why this match is still on, as Bigelow should be squashing a guy like Knox. Bam Bam hits a dropkick before hitting a roundhouse kick for the victory. This was about 3 minutes too long.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We now get the famous Raw moment where Vince McMahon announces that the WWF was not able to come to agreement with Randy Savage. Vince actually thanks him and wishes him the best of luck going forward. This is one of those rare sincere moments that broke kayfabe a little bit. 

It's time for the King's Court and his guest is the 1-2-3 Kid, who will take on Bob Backlund next week. Lawler makes fun of the Kid a little bit and then out comes Backlund. Kid is able to fight him off and out comes Bret for backup. Owen adn Neidhart come out and tell Backlund to calm down. 

We get a promo for Bob Holly vs. Jerry Lawler on the Action Zone. 

Doink vs. Pat Tanaka

It's always good to see Tanaka back on my TV, even if it's as a jobber. Tanaka blocks a sunset flip attempt with a right hand. Doink hits a back suplex and a knee drop, which sets up for the Whoopee Cushion and the victory. Poor Pat. After the match, Vince allows Doink to grab Lawler's crown and puts it on all of their heads. Oh, the hilarity. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Hey, want to waste a few bucks? You can tell the WWF which submission hold you think is more effective. I'm not sure what the difference is between this and petty theft. 

Next week, we're going to see Aldo Montoya's debut, Jeff Jarrett and British Bulldog will be a guest on King's Court. Don't forget about 1-2-3 Kid vs. Bob Backlund. We then get a little preview of the Survivor Series between the little people. We now have Bret Hart ready for an interview and he says that he will be watching Kid's back. He fumbles over his words a little bit as he tries to backpedal for calling Backlund basically old. 

This was another fine episode of Raw, but not as good as it looked on paper. With that being said, as lame as 1994 WWF has been here in the fall months, Raw has been pretty steady as an entertaining show. 

Overall Rating: 48%

Superstars 11-5-94 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, November 5th, 1994
Burlington Memorial Auditorium
Burlington, Vermont

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Billy Gunn vs. Tatanka

Bart is not out here with Billy. Billy shakes Vince's hand on his way down, but blows off Lawler. That's probably the closest we have gotten to New Age Outlaw Billy so far. Tatanka is sporting the Sid Justice Body Glove elbow pad today. Billy gets the early advantage until Ted DiBiase pulls down the top rope as he's running the ropes. Tatanka slows things down before hitting a gutwrench suplex for a 2 count. Tatanka goes off the top rope, but Billy hits him in the midsection on the way down. Gunn hits a spinning body slam and goes up to the top rope. DiBiase gets on the apron and out comes Bam Bam Bigelow to push him off the top. Tatanka covers him and picks up the victory. I'm not sure why in kayfabe Billy wouldn't have wanted Bart to come down with him to the ring. Out comes Bart to make the save after the post-match beatdown. As far as 1994 Superstars feature matches go, this one was pretty good. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Todd says he'll run down the Survivor Series later on, but he's got breaking news. Bret Hart has accepted Bob Backlund's challenge for his match to be a Submission Match. Owen Hart and British Bulldog will be in their corners and they will be holding the towel that will need to be thrown in for the submission. We hear from Backlund and Owen and they know that Bret will submit. Bulldog and Bret then talk about confidence. 

Barry Hardy vs. Duke Droese

Droese bullies old favorite Hardy around. He hits a big powerslam and then hits a side suplex for the victory. Talk about a guy going nowhere. After the match, Backlund slaps on the Cross-Face Chickenwing on Hardy. Droese comes in and Backlund slaps it on him. Like I said, he's going nowhere.

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's Live Event News time and Randy Savage celebrates Columbus Day, which was always the biggest joke of a holiday. 

Diesel vs. Tim McNeany

No Shawn Michaels here today. They must have really been watching the budget on this big trip to Vermont. Diesel hits a couple of power moves before hitting the Jackknife and staning on him for the pinfall victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Chuck Norris is coming.

Doink vs. Phil Apollo

Doink and his team play Ring Around The Rosie before spraying Lawler with silly string. Doink jokes around a little bit but it all just leads to Doink hitting the Whoopee Cushion for the victory. No fart noise this week. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time for the official Survivor Series Report here now. Captain Lou Albano gets some airtime this week. We hear from both competitors in the biggest match in history, Undertaker and Yokozuna (well, Jim Cornette). 

IRS vs. Aaron Ferguson

We're forced to watch the John Dough cemetery bit with IRS again. IRS hits a double underhook suplex and a running clothesline for the easy victory. Vince makes note that IRS is not part of the Million Dollar Team at the Survivor Series. No one really cares. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's back to Live Event News and everyone is talking about the Razor Ramon/Yokozuna match from Raw, so we see a highlight package of the entire match. 

Back to Vince and Lawler and they show us the finish of the Tatanka/Billy Gunn match earlier. We're now with the Smoking Gunns and Bart stumbles over his words before saying they will face Tatanka and Bam Bam next week. 

Superstars is always going to be what it is, a forgettable show that once in awhile has something memorable on it. This was a better show than last week, but it would be hard to call it anything better than mediocre. 

Overall Rating: 38%

SmackDown 9-29-06 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, September 29th, 2006
Tulsa Convention Center
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

John Cena is here to kick off the show. He does the whole "I'm so glad to be back on SmackDown", as if there's really any difference. He then says that he's here to take care of Finlay, William Regal and King Booker tonight. 

Rey Mysterio vs. Sylvester Terkay Elijah Burke

I don't really get the switching with these two. Burke is able to shift the momentum early on by hitting a powerbomb into the turnbuckle and hitting a side suplex. Burke goes for a top rope elbow drop, but Mysterio is able to move out of the way. Mysterio quickly is able to trip up Burke into the middle rope and then hits the 619 for the victory. I expected this to last a little bit longer. Terkay comes in and attacks Mysterio, hitting a Musclebuster. This was a spirited squash, but not much more than that. 

Match Rating: *

Ashley introduces a highlight package of London and Kendrick. 

#1 Contender Match
KC James & Idol Stevens vs. Pitbulls

The Pitbulls are a legit good team, but since there is no tag team division, they are just a footnote in history. They are stuck with a pretty dead crowd due to them both being heels, but the Pitbulls are mostly dominating the match. Kash hits a moonsault that gets a reaction, but then gets hit with a DDT for a 2 count. All 4 men are in the ring now and it provides a distraction for Michelle McCool to reverse the inside cradle and pick up the victory for her team. This was short and had little interest, but it was fine. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Matt Hardy vs. Chavo Guerrero

Michael Cole announces that Hardy will face Gregory Helms at No Mercy. JBL accuses Michael Cole of working for CNN because of his biased reporting, just in case you weren't sure where JBL stood. Meanwhile, Hardy hits a back body drop and a clothesline in the corner into the bulldog. The problem with this Chavo push is that he was such a jobber for so long, that it's hard to really buy in. Hardy hits a second rope leg drop despite the distraction from Vickie Guerrero. Out comes Gregory Helms and Hardy knocks him off the apron. Vickie hits a low blow and Chavo hits the Frog Splash for the victory. Lots of short matches here tonight, but they all have been spirited, so I'll take it. After the match, Helms hits the Shining Wizard on Hardy. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Mr. Kennedy is out dressed in black and is here to pay tribute to the Undertaker. He shows a highlight package and talks about how Undertaker has accomplished everything there is to accomplish. He decides that he shouldn't be the one to end it all and decides to not face him at No Mercy. Undertaker's music hits and he is out to tell him that he will rest in peace. Kennedy goes to grab his microphone and it starts sparking. 

William Regal, Finlay, King Booker and Queen Sharmell are backstage and say they will make Cena bow tonight.

Tatanka vs. Miz

Miz comes down with a mic trying to be as annoying as possible. It's the odd heel where the heel announcer hates him and the face announcer likes him. Miz mocks Tatanka's heritage, which of course would and should never happen today. Tatanka goes for a backslide, but Miz's head is under the ropes, so the referee doesn't count. It distracts Tatanka and Miz takes advantage. Miz goes for a chop, but Tatanka beats him to it. He hits a side Russian leg sweep, but Miz kicks out at 1. He starts hitting the chops to the head, but it leads to Miz rolling him up off of the ropes and picking up the sneaky victory. Miz was still extremely inexperienced here and Tatanka isn't the guy to carry him to a good match. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Teddy Long is here to tout SmackDown's success on CW. He then announces that next week where Lashley and King Booker will pick each other's opponents. 

Jimmy Wang Yang lets us know that he's glad to be in Oklahoma for his first match on SmackDown. 

Sylvan vs. Jimmy Wang Yang

I truthfully forgot that Sylvan was around this long, but I guess that just proves how little of an impact he had in his time here. They show his crowning achievement from last week where he was the most over guy on the show. I definitely did not recall Yang's jacket having the confederate flag on it. Michael Cole bragging about having Miz and Yang is classic. Yang is definitely a fun competitor, but his high risk style backfires when he misses a dive to the outside. Sylvan hits an interesting variation of the spinebuster for a 2 count. Yang comes back with a big clothesline and hits a reverse corkscrew off the top rope. Yang runs into the corner, but Sylvan catches him and slams him down, puts his feet on the ropes and picks up the victory? They really had him job to Sylvan on his debut? Whatever. Yang looked good here. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Vito is backstage to tell us that it's the man that makes the dress. 

Michael Cole announces that MVP has finally signed a contract with SmackDown and they show the WWE.com exclusive footage. He will debut at No Mercy.

Bobby Lashley, Batista & John Cena vs. King Booker, Finlay & William Regal

Cena runs down the ramp and attacks the heels on their way down, which explains why the faces were announced first. We go to commercial break and when we come back the match has started and it's Batista and Regal. The faces dominate the early going and it's a little hard to believe that Booker's team has a chance here. Lashley catches Booker off the ropes and hits a nice powerslam. He caught him kind of funny and the move was even more impressive as a result. Cena now gets his turn and hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Regal. He slaps the STFU on Finlay, but Booker breaks it up. Hornswoggle hands the shillelagh to Finlay and he hits Cena with it behind the referee's back. They now go to work on the injured arm of Cena, as the announcers remind us of his cage match with Edge coming up on Monday. Cena finally makes the tag and it's to Lashley, who gets to clean house. He hits the running powerslam on Booker, but the pin attempt is broken up. In comes Batista and it clears out to just him and Booker. Finlay trips Batista up when running the ropes and then goes for the Scissor Kick. Lashley must have been a second late, because he stops short of it and then gets hit with a Lashley Spear and that's enough for the victory. Out comes Edge and he hits Cena with the Spear before running back through the crowd. Like I said, I'm not sure anyone was buying the heels winning here, but this was a good main event and Lashley in particular looked really good. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

This was one of those shows where the locker room for the most part was all feeling it. They all didn't get a lot to work with, but they made the most of their opportunities tonight. The roster is pretty thin on the blue brand, but the top stars are firing on all cylinders enough to make you forget about guys like Tatanka, Vito and Sylvan. 

Overall Rating: 62%

ECW 9-26-06 Review

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
Tulsa Convention Center
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

They announce that our main event is an ECW Championship match between Big Show and Sandman. Justin Roberts then announces that JR is our special guest here tonight. He talks about how ECW's smash mouth style reminds him of Mid-South Wrestling. Out comes Matt Striker to interrupt. He insults JR, the crowd and Sandman. Wouldn't you know it, Sandman is now in the ring. He tries to convince JR to save him, but it leads to Sandman hitting Striker in the midsection and then JR joins in and hits him over the back with it. JR and Sandman share a beer to close out the segment. 

Hardcore Holly tells RVD that he's not going to tell him what he's going to do to him, he's going to show him. 

Extreme Rules Match
Hardcore Holly vs. Rob Van Dam

They quickly go outside the ring and it leads to RVD hitting the spinning guillotine leg drop on Holly as he's draped on the barricade. RVD gets out a table, but he takes too long and Holly attacks him. Holly slows it down and takes it to Van Dam. Holly is on the apron and tries to suplex RVD through the table that was set up earlier. They tease it back and forth and Holly eventually hits it as we go into commercial break. This, of course, is one of the more famous moments in WWE ECW history. When we come back, we're made aware of the huge gash on the back of Holly. As far as cuts that happened during a wrestling match go, it's definitely one of the most severe looking ones I have seen. He's still on offense and he drops RVD on a chair. He then sets a chair on RVD's face and hits a leg drop from the second rope. RVD fights back and hits a suplex onto the chair. Van Dam hits the monkey flip and the the top rope kick. Holly for some reason decides to sit in the corner, so RVD hits the skateboard kick with the chair. He then decides to lay down in the ring and RVD then hits him with Rolling Thunder with the chair, but Holly kicks out. Holly catches RVD and powerbombs him onto a chair and a gets a 2 count. RVD goes for the 5 Star Frog Splash, but Holly throws the chair into the face of Van Dam. That looked like it hurt. RVD escapes out of the Alabama Slam attempt, so Holly goes and grabs a chair. RVD dropkicks it in his face and then hits the 5 Star Frog Splash. He crawls over to Holly and picks up the victory. This will always be known for the gash on Holly, but the match was pretty good for what it was as well. Doctors immediately are out and wrapping him up. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

CM Punk is addicted to competition. In walks Kelly Kelly and she wants his help playing Extreme Strip Poker. Mike Knox of course isn't happy about it and they share some words. He tells him that after he's done straightening Kelly out, he'll be looking for Punk. 

Ariel vs. Francine

Ariel cuts a promo that seems to be way out of character and it leads to Francine jumping her. Francine throws Ariel around until Kevin Thorn comes in holds Francine for Ariel. Out comes Balls Mahoney and hits Thorn with a chair and that's it. Normally I'd complain, but this was insulting to everyone's intelligence.

Match Rating: No Rating

After a lame Sandman hype video, we go back to Big Show and Paul Heyman. Show tells Heyman to stay in the back and watch him do his thing. Oh, and the Singapore cane is legal. 

ECW Championship Match
Big Show vs. Sandman

We get a commercial break after their introductions and when we come back Show is getting attacked by the Singapore cane. They announce that it took 24 stitches to sew up Holly tonight. Sandman counters a chokeslam with a slow motion DDT and goes back to hitting Show in the head with the cain. Out comes Matt Striker and he steals Sandman's cain. Show hits his backbreaker into a chokehold before hitting the Show Stopper leg drop. This was pretty terrible. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

The good news is that the best part of the show got about half of the airtime. Unfortunately, everything else on the show was horrible. I'll take a good TV match on here any day, but it wasn't enough to save this from being anything more than just halfway decent.

Overall Rating: 48%