Superstars 3-4-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, March 4th, 1995
West Palm Beach Auditorium
West Palm Beach, Florida

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1-2-3 Kid vs. Bob Cook

Ah, yes. A Superstars with no feature match. Perfect. Cook misses with an elbow drop, but counters out of a headlock into a back suplex. Kid hits him with a spin kick and then rolls him up for the victory. It's going to be that kind of show today.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Live Event News with Stephanie Wiand. She talks about WrestleMania just being 4 weeks away and the Fan Festival that goes along with it. Undertaker tells us to come and talk with him. Really?

We get a WrestleMania moment (with the awesome WrestleMania music) and it's Reba McEntire singing the national anthem from WrestleMania VIII.

Chris Nelson vs. Kama

Kama kicks out Nelson's legs and then hits him with a series of kicks. He puts on the STF and that's all. That was short and how his squashes should be. He still wants more competition. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show highlights of the battle royal last week. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Leroy Howard

Vince introduces him in a southern accent. Godwinn hits a headbutt to the midsection and the Slop Drop for the easy victory here. They show some dorky guy making a pig nose in the crowd. This episode probably should just quit while it's ahead.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Shawn Michaels in the Heartbreak Hotel. Shawn gives us his top 10 reasons as to why he'll be the next WWF Champion. He actually lists all of them without being interrupted. He then brings out the man that you can call Justice, Vicious or Psycho. It's Sid. He yells and that's about it.

Men On A Mission vs. Dennis Knight & Black Phantom

Well, we have Phineas Godwinn and Gangrel in here. Mabel hits a spin kick, but misses with an elbow. Mabel comes from behind and out of the ring. In comes Mo and Phantom and he hits a spin kick. He throws Mabel into Phantom in the corner. They then hit their bulldog splash finisher and that's all. This was fine. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get another WrestleMania Moment and it's the battle royal from WrestleMania 2. 

Todd Pettengill is here for a WrestleMania XI Report and he takes another shot at the baseball strike. He goes right into all the celebrities that will be there and then goes over Diesel/Shawn Michaels and Bam Bam Bigelow/Lawrence Taylor. They say that LT is going to bring his all pro team to watch his back and it's Reggie White, Ricky Jackson, Ken Norton Jr., Steve McMichael, Carl Banks and Chris Spielman. Honestly, this portion doesn't get enough credit. That is a legit group of football players, featuring one of the greatest of all time in White. 

King Kong Bundy vs. Butch Long

Bundy has had the same match about 15 times on Superstars since he came back. I mean, I know there isn't much else to him, but he has been anything but interesting since his return. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get the weird Paul Bearer in drag/Mr. Fuji skit again.

Lex Luger vs. Sonny Pruitt

Vince gets all creepy talking about Luger's "mane of fire" or something. Luger hits a few moves and puts Pruitt in the Rebel Rack for the submission. It's just so easy to lose interest in these episodes of Superstars with no big matches. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go back to Stephanie Wiand and they do the whole fake interview thing with Razor Ramon. Apparently he's wrestling Mantaur and wonders which half of him is man and beast. 

Mantaur vs. Bill Weaver

I mean, this is just the icing on the cake for this dumpster fire. I know the gimmick is beyond stupid, but Mantaur the wrestler is just so poor. Weaver hits a missile dropkick, but it doesn't knock Mantaur off his feet. He hits a belly to belly suplex and a clothesline. The clothesline is about as unimpressive as you'll see from a big man. He hits a bodyslam and a splash, but pulls off on the cover. Jim Cornette tells him to hit one more and Weaver moves out of the way. Mantaur catches Weaver and hits a powerslam for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show Lawler's injured foot to close out the show. Thank god.

This stunk. That's all I got.

Overall Rating: 28%

Monday Night Raw 12-25-06 (Tribute To The Troops) Review

Original Airdate: Monday, December 25th, 2006
Camp Victory
Baghdad, Iraq

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John Cena vs. Edge

It looks like we're going with a big match to kick things off here on Christmas. There are many bad things that the WWE does, this is not one of them. We get some good action to start, as you would expect from these two. The crowd is also just so into this and who can blame them. They zoom out and the ring is in front of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. Edge is dominating and when Cena tries to make a comeback, Edge hits a spinning heel kick. Edge puts on the Camel Clutch and JR and Jerry Lawler refer to Iron Sheik, which gives me a good opportunity to say rest in peace to a true legend of a personality. What an entertainer Sheik was and he will be missed. Cena battles out of it and makes his comeback. He hits the 5 Knuckle Shuffle and then catches Edge up for the FU. Edge battles out and hits a DDT. Edge goes up top, but Cena goes there to try to hit a FU on the ropes. Edge battles out and hits an electric chair. Edge misses with the Spear and Cena hits the FU and picks up the pinfall victory. These guys have another good match with a different type of circumstances here. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We get a montage of soldiers and then the WWE Superstars with them. Then CM Punk wishes us a happy holidays and Shelton Benjamin does the same, then asks the producers if that was good enough. They're facing off next. 

CM Punk vs. Shelton Benjamin

After Punk gets the best of him, Shelton attempts to leave and Punk goes after him and throws him back in the ring. Shelton is able to throw Punk into the ring post shoulder first. After some shoulder work, Punk hits a dropkick and some forearms. He hits the high knee/bulldog combo and gets a 2 count. Punk goes up top, but Shelton leaps up and hits a superplex from the top. Punk kicks out at 2 and Shelton argues with the ref about it. Shelton misses the splash in the corner and Punk rolls him up for the victory. This was a pretty standard TV match. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Johnny Nitro vs. Undertaker

We get a rare Raw appearance here for Undertaker. I'm not really sure why they picked Nitro for this spot when there are other guys not really getting a push that can get squashed. Yes, I know this aired on Christmas and it basically doesn't count. Taker throws him around a little bit and goes for the Last Ride. Nitro is able to escape and then snaps his neck on the top rope. That offense lasts all of about 30 seconds before Taker levels him with a clothesline. Taker hits Snake Eyes, a chokeslam and the Tombstone for the win. Your usual Taker squash mixed in with some Nitro bumping.

Match Rating: 3/4*

They show Lilian Garcia singing the national anthem earlier today.

They show footage of an attack that happened when they were setting up the ring. 14 soldiers were wounded from the attack. 

Bobby Lashley vs. Hardcore Holly

We're getting a lot of ECW flavor here tonight. JR and Lawler's announcing tonight reminds me as if we are listening to a video game tonight. Lashley hits a delayed vertical suplex. The action spills outside and Holly throws Lashley into the steps. Holly gets in his little bit of offense before Lashley suplexes him to make his comeback. Lashley wraps this one up with a running powerslam.

Match Rating: 3/4*

We get a couple more videos of the troops. I'm not trying to shortchange the videos because they are actually pretty well done. They show the full range of emotion that goes along with visiting our brave troops. 

Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy

Just going off the top of my head, I believe my favorite match of Umaga's to date was against Hardy on Raw. Umaga blocks a sunset flip, but misses with the splash and Hardy hits him with a dropkick. Hardy hits a baseball dropkick and attempts a dive, but is caught and driven into the ring post. Umaga goes up top, but misses with the splash. Hardy hits Whisper In The Wind and gets a 2 count. Hardy blocks the Samoan Spike and hits the Twist Of Fate. He now goes for the Swanton, but Umaga gets his knees up. He hits the butt to the face in the corner and follows it up with the Samoan Spike for the win. These two just have good chemistry. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Art Myers, the director of entertainment, presents a troop with the 2.6 millionth letter sent to the troops. 

Randy Orton vs. Carlito

Remember that classic feud these two had in September? Orton hits a spinning side suplex. I'm not sure I've ever seen him use that before. Carlito comes back and hits a knee lift and a clothesline. He hits his springboard reverse elbow and gets a 2 count. Both guys go for their finishers, but are able to counter it. Orton turns it into a pin attempt, but gets caught by the referee for putting his feet on the ropes. He argues with the referee and Carlito rolls him up, holds the trunks and gets the win. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

The Divas are shown with Santa Claus. 

They show all of the work that went into building the makeshift arena. 

Santa Claus makes his way out to the ring. He brings out Torrie Wilson, Maria and Kristal. They go around handing out gifts to the troops. Out comes Chris Masters to ruin the mood. He tells Santa that he hates Christmas. He is going to test out how tough the troops are, but first he's going to do a Master Lock Challenge on Santa. He slaps it on and Santa is down for the count. He then calls in a troop and it's a guy who is about a foot shorter than he is. He slaps on the hold and in comes Santa from behind. It's everyone's favorite babyface, JBL. He comes in and kicks him from behind and he breaks the hold, so the troop wins the challenge. He hits the Clothesline From Hell on Masters and celebrates with the diva. Ummmm...okay? 

We get one last highlight video of the trip before we end it. 

Up until the kind of bizarre finish, this was actually more entertaining than I expected. The highlight packages were all pretty interesting and the matches themselves were mostly better than a lot of the matches we normally get. This is truly one of the cooler things that WWE did and for a show on Christmas, this was a decent episode.

Overall Rating: 60%

NXT 2-18-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, February 18th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

After a TakeOver recap, we go to William Regal and he talks about the shocking title win by Kevin Owens. He says that he makes the rules around here and Owens will fight Adrian Neville in a non-title match tonight. A new era begins now.

Kevin Owens is now out in the ring and he says that what matters now is that Sami Zayn is the past. He now has to look towards the future and that is Finn Balor. He tells him to go to William Regal, pick a date and he will be there. 

Rhyno vs. Elias Sampson

The fans give Rhyno a better reaction than you would expect. He destroys poor Elias and hits the Gore for the quick squash. He is 39 years old at this point. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go back to Finn Balor and while he's giving a response to Owens's comments, Rhyno walks by and gives him a look. 

Vaudevillains vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass

The Vaudevillains get a short heat segment to start the match before Enzo makes the hot tag. Cass hits a side suplex and then a splash in the corner. He throws Enzo into English and then hits a big boot for the very quick victory. Well, they certainly squashed them. Blake and Murphy show up on the screen to say that it was good, but not good enough. They call Carmella to leave those two sewer rats. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Adrian Neville is interviewed backstage. He talks about failing to get his title shot and that he's embracing the role of being the hunter instead of the hunted. 

Bayley says that she put her heart out there, but it wasn't enough. She says there will be a night where she wins the NXT Women's Championship. Becky Lynch blames her loss on Bayley and is glad that if someone else had to win it was Sasha. 

CJ Parker says that it's bull crap that he wasn't on TakeOver. He's now going to end this show and take it hostage. He starts putting caution tape in the ring and we start getting the lights glitching. He is attacked and it's Solomon Crowe. Yay?

Sasha Banks vs. Blue Pants

Blue Pants is over. She makes Sasha mad, so Sasha destroys her. She hits the Backstabber into the Bank Statement and Blue Pants quickly taps. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Sasha is interviewed after the match and says that she is the baddest diva in NXT. 

They show clips of Sami Zayn leaving TakeOver. They speak to a physician and he expects Sami to make a full comeback. 

Kevin Owens vs. Adrian Neville

Owens tries to sneak out of the ring, but Neville studied the film and quickly meets him out there to attack. Owens hits a gutbuster back in the ring and slows down the match. Neville gets dumped out of the ring and we go into a commercial break. When we come back, Owens is still working on Neville. Neville is finally able to counter and hit a DDT. He builds up some momentum and hits a moonsault from the top rope to the floor. Neville then hits a 450 splash from the apron onto Owens on the floor. Neville hits a German suplex into a bridge for a 2 count. Neville hits a reverse rana and that's still not enough to put him away. Neville goes up top and misses, Owens hits the Pop Up Powerbomb and earns the victory. The second half of the match was good, but it was just a taste of what they could do.

Match Rating: ***1/4

This was your usual post-TakeOver episode where they kind of reset a little bit as they start to build for the next one. The main event was good and Rhyno's return seemed to make the crowd happy. 

Overall Rating: 58%

Monday Night Raw 2-27-95 Review

Monday, February 27th, 1995
Macon Coliseum
Macon, Georgia

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Is this the debut of the "For over 50 years..." intro? We're getting closer to my sweet spot of fandom. Vince hypes up that we will hear from Lawrence Taylor. We're also getting some technical difficulties for whatever reason. 

We get pre-recorded comments from Lex Luger about his match with Tatanka. He says that it all started at SummerSlam and how Tatanka sold out and shoved money down his throat. He talks about the attack from Tatanka on Raw and then Tatanka attacking Chief Jay Strongbow on Action Zone. Luger says Chief Jay will be in his corner to keep an eye on DiBiase. 

Tatanka vs. Lex Luger

Luger chases after Tatanka to start and although Tatanka suckers him back into the ring, Luger hits him with a clothesline. We get some big stalling by Tatanka, before he comes back in and chops Luger down. Luger quickly fights back and unleashes on Tatanka. It's so weird that I like Luger the wrestler as much as I do during this period. After the commercial, Tatanka is stomping away on Luger in the corner. Tatanka slaps on my favorite hold, the bear hug. Luger battles out and hits a back suplex. Tatanka ends up outside and rips the headress off of Strongbow. Strongbow hits him with some chops and Luger is in control. Luger hits a knee lift and we got to another commercial. After coming back, Luger hits a big clothesline when we come back and Tatanka walks to the back. Luger goes after him and brings him back in the ring. Luger hits a slam ang Tatanka again ends up outside the ring. Luger suplexes him back into the ring. DiBiase distracts Luger while Tatanka rolls out of the ring and again leaves for the back. This time he's counted out and Luger gets the empty win. Luger decides to spring to the back before we go to promotional consideration paid for by the following. The match was solid enough, but they should have just given Luger the clean victory.

Match Rating: **

Lawrence Taylor is shown waiting in the WWF studio. 

They show clips of that prestigious battle royal from Superstars. 

Owen Hart vs. Larry Santo

They talk about Owen looking for a tag partner to challenge the Smoking Gunns. Jim Cornette then claims that Larry Santo is the son of El Santo. Owen has some fans in the front rows here. Owen hits his beautiful missile dropkick and slaps on the Sharpshooter to put Santo away. Classic Owen with him pretending to not be able to hear the referee tell him to break the hold.

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show Bam Bam Bigelow in another studio getting ready. 

Vince and Cornette address the rumors about LT fighting Bam Bam before showing us the highlights from their Royal Rumble altercation. LT says that he didn't show any disrespect. He said that Bam Bam disrespected himself by losing to a 13 year old. Did they really need to bury 1-2-3 Kid here? Taylor says that he didn't go after him because he decided they could get back at him in other ways. They ask if he is scared and he says that if he was scared, he would call the police. They pull in Bam Bam and he sticks up for 1-2-3 Kid. They start arguing and Taylor leaves. This was pretty good, although Taylor struggled here and there. I would have liked to have had more interaction between the two. They will be at the Harley Davison Cafe for the WrestleMania press conference.

Doink vs. Bob Cook

Doink puts on a half crab and Dink comes in and shakes his but in Cook's face. We are getting so close to no more dorky Doink. I mean if there's anything people want to see, it's a clown doing basic submission holds. Doink hits the Whoopee Cushion and puts us all out of our misery.

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a fairly lengthy hype video for next week's main event in Shawn Michaels vs. British Bulldog. I'm game.

Kama vs. Ken Raper

The crowd is still not reacting to Kama so far. They honestly should have just had him mimic Vader matches. He just keeps hitting moves and saying there is no competition. Well, I assure you there are better competitors than Ken Raper. He slaps on the STF and makes Raper submit. Why in the world do they keep letting there be a guy named Raper? 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Vince and Cornette interview Bulldog about his match against Michaels. He wants revenge and he's going to take a bite out of the Heartbreak Kid. They then shift to the press conference and pass it off to Todd Pettengill. He lets us know that he's hosting and all of the media outlets covering the event. Don't forget to waste $1.49 a minute on hourly updates from JR.

This was a fine enough episode of Raw for the era. I can't wait until they get rid of some of the squashes, but I still love the one hour format. The LT stuff is being built nicely, but the rest of WrestleMania is kind of just off to the side for now.

Overall Rating: 42%

Superstars 2-25-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, February 25th, 1995
West Palm Beach Auditorium
West Palm Beach, Florida

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Gorilla Monsoon is here with Vince McMahon this week. No complaints here, even if 1995 Gorilla is a lot different. 

20 Man Battle Royal

Your competitors are British Bulldog, King Kong Bundy, 1-2-3 Kid, Mantaur, Duke Droese, Jerry Lawler, Adam Bomb, Headshrinkers, Kwang, Jacob Blu, Eli Blu, Mabel, Henry Godwinn, Bob Holly, Heavenly Bodies, Aldo Montoya, Mo and Shawn Michaels. For some reason Mabel is introduced, but not Mo. Also, Kwang got a televised entrance but not the Headshrinkers or Henry Godwinn. Shawn Michaels eliminates himself to protect himself headed into his WWF Championship match at WrestleMania. This episode was taped 2 days after he won the Royal Rumble and airing a month later. This is every meaningless battle royal you have ever seen. We come back from a commercial break and it's still a bunch of guys standing around. Droese is eliminated pretty early, which is a little surprising considering who is all still left in here. Mabel eliminates Godwinn in another surprise. I guess if I were booking this, I would have had Godwinn be one of the final people left. Mantaur eliminates Adam Bomb, which is something to put on your resume. This match is already at 1/3rd of the runtime of this episode. Bundy and Mantaur team up and eliminate Mabel after a lengthy struggle. Then Mantaur and Bulldog team up and eliminate Bundy as he is arguing with Mabel. Lots of Mantaur. Bob Holly gets eliminated and then Lawler does a Kofi Kingston and hops on one foot when he gets thrown over. Out comes Bret Hart and for whatever reason, Lawler hops around the ring instead of just into it. Bret attacks him and both feet hit and he is gone. For some reason Kwang is still in there, so Bulldog eliminates him. 1-2-3 Kid is tossed over and then Bulldog eliminates Mantuar. We're down to Bulldog and one of the Blu brothers. Bulldog has him up and about to be thrown over, but Michaels comes back out and hits Bulldog in the midsection to break it up. We stay with Michaels walking back to the locker room and we see Bulldog duck Blu and he goes flying over the top rope. Bulldog is the winner of this prestigious battle royal where you get nothing for winning. Leave it to Vince to call it prestigious 10 times. This was about as dull as you can get and if I'm booking it, I'd have Godwinn win it or at least be in the finals. I get that they had nothing for Bulldog, so this was their way of trying to prove he still mattered.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Next, we get more talk about Diesel being cool and hanging out with Cal Ripken Jr. We're only 5 weeks now from WrestleMania.

Ben Jordan vs. Jeff Jarrett

We get the original Miz to be ring announcer and that's Steve Mizerak. Apparently, he played pool. Talk about sucking up airtime, Jarrett is doing all sorts of stalling before and during the match. Jarrett's ringwork during this era has been very solid, but the gimmick is just so lame. The Roadie makes it work better than it has any right to, but Jarrett's mic work is terrible. Jarrett hits a superplex and then slaps on the Figure Four for the victory. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Man Mountain Rock vs. Bob Cook

Rock misses in the corner and then Cook punches his own hand a couple of times. Rock shoves him down with a shoulder block in his tie dye pajamas. He hits a face-first suplex for the victory and that's all. Rock continues to stink.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Owen says that he's coming up next and he's wondering why he can't get a title match with the Smoking Gunns. 

We then go to John Turturro interrogating Paul Bearer in a dress about Yokozuna. The lights go out and when they come back on, Mr. Fuji has the dress on. What?

Owen Hart vs. Gary Scott

It's good to see Michael Scott's brother getting some TV time. So obviously Jim Neidhart is gone because Owen is teaming with Bob Backlund on Action Zone and then Owen still wants a partner for the titles. I can't wait for him to return as Who. Scott is a house of fire, but then Owen hits him with a belly to belly suplex. Owen slaps on the Sharpshooter and picks up the win. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They talk about Lawrence Taylor's announcement as Owen celebrates and we go off the air. 

The battle royal took up about half of the show and while it was better than your typical squash match, it wasn't particularly interesting either. There have been many worse episodes than this one though, so it's about the usual score for me here.

Overall Rating: 38%

SmackDown 12-22-06 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, December 22nd, 2006
Hampton Coliseum
Hampton, Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

King Booker, Finlay and Queen Sharmell are with Teddy Long and they want a rematch with Batista and John Cena. Teddy tells them that they had their chance, so it's not going to happen. Booker wants the best competition that they have to offer, so Teddy tells them they can face Undertaker and Kane tonight. Teddy, he said the best. 

Batista wants to wish all of us happy holidays. He says 2006 has been an up and down month, but he's finishing strong. Out comes Santa Claus and he gives Batista candy canes. As Batista is throwing them out to the crowd, Santa attacks him. I would have never guessed. Teddy Long comes out and says that he has a match with Batista right now.

Batista vs. Santa Claus Sylvan

Santa goes back in the ring and attacks Batista. It doesn't last long and before you know it, Batista unmasks Santa and it is Sylvan. Batista hits the Batista Bomb and that is all. This was just a holiday present to the live crowd.

Match Rating: 1/4*

United States Championship Match
Chris Benoit vs. Chavo Guerrero

I never really have understood why they do a rematch of a pay-per-view match on the show right after. Based on the crowd reaction at Armageddon, I'm not sure this was something people were hungry for 5 days later. We have some pretty good action to start and then Benoit hits a suplex that ends up sending both of them over the top rope to send us to commercial break. When we come back, Chavo is working on the neck of Benoit. Benoit attempts a Sharpshooter, but Chavo is able to kick out. Benoit comes back and hits the top rope headbutt for a 2 count. Chavo gets a chance at a Frog Splash, but Benoit gets his knees up. Benoit goes for the Crossface, but in comes Vickie and she hits him with the title belt to cause the disqualification. Benoit stares her down and walks out of the ring. Chavo tells Vickie that he can't be the new champ if she keeps getting him disqualified. He does some enthusiastic points while he says that and Vickie falls on her back. In comes Benoit to check on her and Chavo attacks him, hitting him in the face with the belt. The match was well executed and the finish seemed a little obvious.

Match Rating: **1/4

King Booker and Finlay are talking about how they can take Undertaker and Kane out. 

Gregory Helms is in the ring and is complaining that he has no competition. He says maybe that it's time for him to pig out and join the heavyweight division. Out comes the Boogeyman and he beats up Helms. Then Tony Chimel announces "He's the Boogeyman and he's coming to get yaaaaa". Boogey then grabs him and shoves worms in his mouth. I'm not really sure what they are even going for with this guy any more. 

Out comes Joey Mercury and he looks awful from his match at Armageddon. He shows footage of the move that did the damage and the crowd gives him a round of applause. He says that he holds two people accountable for what happened to him and that's Matt and Jeff Hardy. He said he's lost 50% of the vision in his left eye, a shattered nose and 33 stitches. Matt's music hits and says that no one meant for this to happen. He says that no one meant to hurt him intentionally, but they were competing in a dangerous match. Mercury tries to push Matt into fighting him right now. Matt declines and tries to walk away, but then tells him maybe he should fight his tag team partner. Out come Johnny Nitro and Melina. 

Matt Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro

We get a little bit of action before Nitro grabs a ladder and we go to commercial break. When we come back, no ladder is being used, but Nitro is in control. Matt comes back and hits a clothesline to send both men to the mat. Matt hits a Side Effect for a 2 count. He hits the second rope leg drop and that's not enough. Matt goes for a neckbreaker, but Nitro counters it into a backslide, puts his feet on the rope and steals the victory. This was pretty good action overall.

Match Rating: **1/4

JBL is out and he wants Teddy Long out to apologize to him and to MVP for forcing him to be in an Inferno Match. He isn't wrong there. Teddy doesn't come out and JBL keeps going and insulting the crowd for allowing this to happen and cheering it. 

Ashley & Layla vs. Kristal & Jillian

This has all the makings of a classic, including Ashley wearing a backwards hat while wrestling. I mean Layla and Ashley have about 10 matches of experience up to this point. Jillian goes for the handspring elbow, but Layla gets her feet up. Ashley hits a hurricanrana. Ashley goes for a monkey flip, but Kristal holds onto Jillian, allowing her to try for a pin attempt. It gets broken up and Ashley hits a second rope elbow for the victory. This was as bad as you would expect.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Michael Cole is in the crowd with Vladimir Kozlov. He does the whole quirky Russian gimmick some more. 

King Booker & Finlay vs. Kane & Undertaker

No one gets more excited to watch Kane and Undertaker team up than I do. Booker hits a random superplex on Undertaker early on. It seems like that should have been saved for later in the match. Taker fights back and hits a DDT on Finlay and tags in his less interesting fake brother. They hit stereo boots and we have a commercial break. Taker hits a leg drop on the King when he's draped over the apron. Kane follows it up with a suplex, but Finlay breaks up the pin attempt. Kane goes up top, but Booker hits him with a kick on the way down. On the outside, Booker hits Taker with a chair to the face and somehow the referee doesn't see or hear it. Taker eventually gets a hot tag and both he and Kane hit stereo chokeslams. Taker hits the Tombstone on Finlay and that's all. I mean, was there ever a doubt? The action was pretty good and for whatever reason, Finlay and Booker looked like more of a threat here than they did at Armageddon. You know, when people actually had to pay to watch it. 

Match Rating: **1/2

This was a solid show where I was expecting a complete throwaway episode. I will be skipping next week's recap show and picking back up in 2007.

Overall Rating: 59%

ECW 12-19-06 Review

Tuesday, December 19th, 2006
Hampton Coliseum
Hampton, Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

Bobby Lashley is here to kick off the show and gives a cheesy babyface promo. He announces that you can go on WWE.com to vote who his next opponent will be in 2 weeks. The options are Sabu, Test and Rob Van Dam. He talks about how he was part of Tribute To The Troops and Rene Dupree interrupts him and insults America. So now we have a match.

Bobby Lashley vs. Rene Dupree

So apparently Dupree still works here. Lashley tosses Dupree all over the ring. Dupree is able to snap the back of Lashley's neck on the top rope to slow down his momentum. It doesn't last long and Lashley hits a couple of clotheslines before hitting the delayed vertical suplex. Lashley hits the Dominator and that's all. That was all it needed to be. Too bad they had him do the interview spot because he wasn't ready for that yet.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Joey Styles and Tazz introduce Brad Armstrong, who will be helping announce this next match.

Matt Striker vs. Balls Mahoney

Balls charges right to the ring and starts the attack. He runs into a boot and now Striker is on offense, hitting a running kick to a seated Balls. Striker wants to choke Balls with his sweater, but the referee takes it away, so Striker uses the tape around his wrist instead. Striker works on Balls' arm while shoving his butt in his face. We get the Balls punch chant thing and then he hits a spinebuster. Balls goes up top, but misses with a leg drop and Striker hits the Golden Rule for the victory. He needs that a lot quicker in order for that to be a finisher. This was the usual from these two.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Test reluctantly explains why he should get our vote to be the #1 contender. Rob Van Dam then goes over his reasoning.

Hardcore Holly is out here to talk about tapping out to CM Punk. He says that he didn't and he challenges Punk to come out and try to make him tap. Punk comes out and Holly informs him that he only has 3 minutes to get him to tap out.

Hardcore Holly vs. CM Punk

With about 1:45 left, Punk tries to go for the Anaconda Vice, but Holly is still too fresh. Holly puts Punk in a headlock and we are down to 30 seconds. Punk hits a suplex, but then Holly blocks the submission attempt. The crowd starts counting down and gets the Anaconda Vice on as time runs out for the extremely flat finish. Holly then attacks Punk from behind and hits the Alabama Slam. I'm not sure what the finish was supposed to be, but whatever it was, it didn't work out. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Shannon Moore was on the phone with someone and then he gets confronted by Daivari and Great Khali. Daivari tells him that he's going to teach him a lesson in the ring. 

Shannon Moore vs. Great Khali

So we don't get Daivari, we get Khali. While Khali is destroying Moore, Dreamer runs out and attacks Daivari. I guess Khali wins the match by pinfall, but we don't see it because they swapped over to Dreamer. Khali then comes out and attacks Dreamer, slamming him on the steel steps. That seemed like an unnecessary bump for a feud that no one cares about on a show that no one cares about. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

They show the Mike Knox/Kelly saga and then go to Mike Knox, who tells us that he was the victim here. 

Triple Threat Match
Sabu vs. Test vs. Rob Van Dam

After an early commercial break, RVD gets Test in the ring after all three men were on the mat outside the ring. Test goes for the pump handle slam, but RVD escapes. He attempts to fly off the top rope and Test shoves him outside the ring. Sabu hits Test with a springboard reverse elbow. Sabu goes up top, but Test hits the ropes and crotches him. Test goes for a superplex, but RVD comes in and powerbombs Test with the him still holding onto Sabu for the superplex. RVD and Sabu hit some double team moves on Test. RVD follows up with Rolling Thunder and then they double clothesline Test to the floor. RVD and Sabu go at it now and RVD is able to set up Sabu on the top rope and hits him with a single legged kick. RVD hits the 5 Star Frog Splash, but Test throws him out of the ring and steals the victory. The match was decent enough for ECW. 

Match Rating: **1/2

After the match, Tazz gets in the ring to announce who won the WWE.com poll. RVD shockingly wins the poll with 45% of the vote. After the announcement, Test nails RVD with a boot and heads to the back. 

This wasn't the most intriguing episode of ECW, but it's less than a week to Christmas, so they usually don't care at this time. There have been worse episodes, but this was extremely mediocre.

Overall Rating: 40%