Superstars 3-25-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, March 25th, 1995
William Bell Auditorium
Augusta, Georgia

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They show Lex Luger slamming King Kong Bundy and then Tatanka attacking him. 

Tatanka vs. British Bulldog

This episode was taped 52 days before it was airing. Can you imagine them doing something like that now? After a slow start, Bulldog knocks Tatanka out of the ring. Bulldog hits a vertical suplex and gets a 2 count. They continue to hype up the individual "feuds" between the Million Dollar Team and the NFL players. Tatanka's guy is Chris Spielman, one of my all time favorite Detroit Lions. We get a commercial break from this disappointing match. Tatanka hits a vertical suplex and then climbs to the top rope. He hits him with a chop to the top of the head, but Bulldog kicks out at 2. Tatanka gets knocked out of the ring and tries to walk to the back. Bulldog throws him back in. Tatanka is out of the ring again and Bulldog chases him around. DiBiase trips Bulldog, Tatanka gets back in the ring and wins by countout. This wasn't a very good match and the finish made Bulldog look dumb.

Match Rating: 3/4*

They show the highlights of the scuffle between Steve McMichael and Kama. That leads us to a WrestleMania XI Report. 

We once again see the Men On A Mission attack of the Smoking Gunns.

Smoking Gunns vs. Chic Donovan & Rip Rogers

You would never expect this, but the Gunns are all over the historic team of Donovan and Rogers. They hit the Sidewinder and that's all ahead of their title match at WrestleMania. They looked sharp as usual.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Aldo Montoya vs. Hakushi

After a cartwheel by Hakushi, he hits a superkick while McMahon can't stop talking about the writing all over his body. Montoya goes for the quick pinfall attempts before hitting a dropkick to knock Hakushi out of the ring. Shinja distracts Montoya and Hakushi slowly walks behind him and kicks him in the back of the legs. Hakushi then hits the handspring elbow in the corner. Hakushi hits a Bronco Buster as we go into a commercial break. When we come back, Hakushi hits a dropkick and then hits a shoulder tackle off the top rope. Montoya fights back and hits a missile dropkick for a 2. He goes for a reverse crossbody, but Hakushi hits him with a fist to the jaw. Hakushi hits a moonsault and that's all. It looks like Montoya got hit pretty hard in the head with Hakushi's knee there. I really like Hakushi, but it did seem like he was still trying to get comfortable to the style here. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Back to Todd to talk about WrestleMania. We're only a week away and he talks some more about LT/Bam Bam Bigelow.

We get our WrestleMania moment and surprisingly it's Hulk Hogan/Andre The Giant at WrestleMania III.

They show clips of Bob Backlund and Jeff Jarrett in their bizarre pre-WrestleMania feud.

Henry Godwinn vs. Mark Starr

Godwinn hits a big clothesline and then rams Starr's head into the turnbuckle. Godwinn hits the slop drop and picks up a quick victory here. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Jim Ross, who introduces Bret Hart to receive his Japanese media award. He is with four members of the Japanese media and reads the award to Bret. Bret says that it's a shame that all it takes is one person these days to ruin someone's character. If you only knew what 2023 was going to be like, Bret. After Bret accepts it, Shinja and Hakushi are out. Shinja says that Bret hates Japan and yells at the media. Hakushi then attacks Bret and kicks him off the platform. He then hits a moonsault off the platform. This is all so weird with WrestleMania just 8 days away. After a commercial break, out comes Bob Backlund and he attacks Bret as we go off the air.

The Bulldog/Tatanka match was about as dull as that could have possibly been. The rest of the show had a good pace to it though and was an easy watch. It was nice to see a new character get some airtime after kind of just showing up here and there with Hakushi.

Overall Rating: 42%

SmackDown 1-12-07 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, January 12th, 2007
Peoria Civic Center
Peoria, Illinois

Beat The Clock Sprint Match
Finlay vs. Matt Hardy

The time to beat is 5:07. Finlay starts off quickly, trying to catch Hardy off guard. Mr. Kennedy is watching backstage and we have a collision between the two men here. Both men are down with 2:30 left until Hardy gets a backslide for 2. Hardy hits a Side Effect and again Finlay kicks out at 2. Hardy goes up to the second rope, but Hornswoggle is out and the distraction allows Finlay to hit a shillelagh to the knee, but Hardy kicks out. We are under a minute and Finlay puts on a leg submission hold. He leaves Hardy in the hold, but he doesn't tap and the match is over. Out comes Joey Mercury with a facemask on and he attacks Hardy. He puts a chair over his face and is going up top, but officials get in the way to block Hardy. The match was limited due to the amount of time they were able to work here, but it was entertaining.

Match Rating: *3/4

Mercury says that he wants to make Hardy's face hurt worse than his does.

Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Tatanka

They really want to do this again, huh? Tatanka pulls out a tree of woe, which I don't think I've ever seen him use before. Yang makes a comeback by working on the left knee of Tatanka. Yang hits a swinging neckbreaker and a standing moonsault for a 2 count. He follows that up with a heel kick that connects. Tatanka catches Yang off the second rope and hits a spinning slam for the victory. JBL declares that Tatanka is a force to be reckoned with. This wasn't terrible or anything, but neither guy is going anywhere.

Match Rating: *1/4

We get Maryse in a towel speaking French.

They show highlights of the tag team ladder match at Armageddon. Paul London and Brian Kendrick are backstage when William Regal and Dave Taylor remind them that their match tonight is not a ladder match, it's a standard match.

Chris Benoit is on his way to the ring backstage. 

They show a WrestleMania 23 Recall and it's Triple H/Chris Jericho from WrestleMania X-8. 

Mr. Kennedy vs. Chris Benoit

Benoit gets off to the quick start, but Kennedy shifts the momentum by throwing Benoit through the ropes. Benoit hits some German suplexes and now Chavo Guerrero is out and we're headed to a commercial break. When we come back, Chavo is at the announce table. Benoit hits a suplex that sends both men over the top and to the floor. Kennedy puts on the abdominal stretch and uses the top rope for leverage. Kennedy hits a superplex and goes to work on the back. Benoit makes a comeback, hitting a top rope headbutt. It doesn't last long, as Kennedy is able to hit a hot shot for a 2 count. Kennedy hits a rare missile dropkick, but Benoit gets his foot on the bottom rope. Benoit hits the series of German suplexes and puts on the Sharpshooter. Up comes Chavo and Benoit gets to him before he can do anything. He goes for the Sharpshooter on him, but Kennedy rolls him up and gets the victory. This kind of felt like a long match just for the sake of having a long match. After the match, Benoit attacks Chavo, but Chavo throws him into the ring post and runs through the crowd.

Match Rating: **1/4

We see part 2 of Batista's story with him attacking Mark Henry. 

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs. William Regal & Dave Taylor

Well. we're finally getting the proper title match between these two. Not that they've had a lot of memorable feuds, it still is surprising to me that London and Kendrick were able to retain the titles for as long as they did. They get the hot start before Regal and Taylor slow things down. Regal tries to block the tag, but the momentum sends him to his back and in comes Kendrick. He hits a big boot to the face and gets a 2 count on Regal. Regal almost steals a victory, but London comes from out of nowhere to save it. Kendrick puts on a backslide and picks up the victory. That one was definitely disappointing. I know these two can do better.

Match Rating: *1/2

They show highlights of MVP getting burned at Armageddon.

We get more Maryse.

Beat The Clock Sprint Match
MVP vs. Vito

Vito. Still a thing. MVP is selling his injuries from Armageddon on his way down to the ring. 5:07 is still the time to beat here. Vito goes after the burned back of MVP and Michael Cole is all excited about it. These guys are having a really weird match, with the selling of the burned back just really being all there is to this one. The fake crowd noise is also very noticeable in this one. We're down to a minute and MVP hits the big running boot in the corner. We don't get too much drama at the end and the match is over. MVP attacks Vito after the match, as is often the case here. Vito gets the best of him though by throwing him into the steps. This wasn't a good match.

Match Rating: 1/2*

We get a lengthy Raw Rebound and find out that next week Chavo Guerrero will face Chris Benoit. 

We then get a Batista backstage interview. He says that he would never look past facing Mr. Kennedy and then says facing Undertaker would be a first. I love that they don't even give Undertaker's "mystery" opponent a chance.

Undertaker vs. Miz

Miz walks out petrified and is dominated early on. Taker hits a big clothesline and gets a 2 count. Out comes Mr. Kennedy to provide a distraction. This allows Miz to get his split second of offense in before getting dominated again. We're down to a minute left and Taker hits Snake Eyes. I'm not sure why he wouldn't have just hit the Tombstone there. Jimmy Korderas gets knocked down and Kennedy gets knocked off the apron. Taker hits a chokeslam, but Korderas is still hurt. Taker grabs him and that allows Kennedy to grab Miz out of the ring. Taker has Miz back in and takes too long to hit the Tombstone and just misses the victory as the buzzer goes off. The storytelling was solid here, even if Miz looked like a complete jobber.

Match Rating: *1/4

This was a big improvement over last week, even if it wasn't anything spectacular. The action was mostly decent and we at least have Kennedy's moment coming up at Royal Rumble. 

Overall Rating: 53%

ECW 1-9-07 Review

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
Peoria Civic Center
Peoria, Illinois

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We get a lengthy recap of the Bobby Lashley/Rob Van Dam match from last week. Tonight, we get the rematch. Brad Armstrong is already with Joey Styles and Tazz here tonight.

CM Punk vs. Hardcore Holly

Punk hits a dropkick to the back of the head of a seated Holly early on after trying to go for the Anaconda Vice early in the match. Punk knocks Holly out of the ring, but Holly moves out of the way of the suicide dive. Holly slows things down and hits a second rope leg drop. Punk gains a little bit of momentum, but it gets cut off by a Holly dropkick. Holly drops Punk on the top rope and then throws his shoulder into the ring post. Holly hits the Alabama Slam and gives Punk his first singles match defeat. CM Punk is just about the only guy not named Rob Van Dam who is over on this show, so of course you would have him lose cleanly to Hardcore Holly. I'm not sure I understand that booking. The match was pretty decent.

Match Rating: **1/4

A referee tells Test that his match is next, so Test whines about not getting a title shot so he's not wrestling next.

Elijah Burke is in the ring to give us the Elijah Experience. He's going to knock someone out. Sandman's music hits and he comes through the audience. They do kind of a dorky standoff and it's Sandman, so I've already lost interest.

Extreme Rules Match
Great Khali vs. Tommy Dreamer

Khali obviously just destroys Dreamer here, while they try to tell us how coordinated Khali is. I guess I need to prepare myself to relive this portion of WWE history where Khali is treated as a main event player once again. Dreamer tried to hit him with a sign, but Khali blocks it with a punch. He hits his finisher and stands on him for the victory. Whatever.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Rob Van Dam says that being the ECW Champion was the highlight of his career. He says he respects Lashley, but the tonight the ECW Championship comes home to RVD.

They show Tommy Dreamer standing up during the commercial break after his beating.

Kevin Thorn vs. Shannon Moore

Oh boy. If a Khali squash wasn't enough goodness for you, here's a Thorn one. He dominates, hits the Dark Kiss and gets the victory. No one cared.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Kelly Kelly returns next week.

ECW Championship Match
Rob Van Dam vs. Bobby Lashley

After a lot of hype from the announcers, we get an early commercial break. We miss quite a bit of action during the break, with Lashley steamrolling RVD a couple of times. Lashley misses with a Spear and RVD is able to capitalize. RVD misses with a leg drop on the table and Lashley is back in control. I'm enjoying this match and not really recapping it much. Just as I am typing that, out comes Test to ruin the match by hitting both guys with a chair. The match was good while it lasted, but it's weird why they were so into Test in this era. 

Match Rating: **1/2

This was a pretty good show overall. The two main matches were enjoyable TV matches, even if the decision to have Punk pinned cleanly was ill advised. I know he has to lose eventually, but I'm not sure end of career Bob Holly was the right choice.

Overall Rating: 59%

Off The Grid, Volume 36: Saturday Night's Main Event XXII Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, July 29th, 1989
Worcester Centrum
Worcester, Massachusetts

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Off The Grid, Volume 36:

We hear from Randy Savage, Sherri, Brutus Beefcake, Brainbusters, Demolition, Honky Tonk Man and Hulk Hogan with the classic SNME intro. Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura rundown tonight's card and then show a highlight package of Honky Tonk Man's greatest hits.

We go to Mean Gene with Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart. Honky says that Hogan will be at the heartbreak hotel.

We go back to Mean Gene with Hulk Hogan. He says his usual crap.

WWF Championship Match
Honky Tonk Man vs. Hulk Hogan

They start brawling pretty quickly and Hogan then carries Jimmy Hart on his back and into the ring. Honky misses Hogan with a guitar shot and Hogan continues to stay on the offense. Hogan drags in both men and gives them a double noggin knocker. Somehow the referee doesn't see Hart hit Hogan in the back. Honky controls the match and nearly puts me to bed. Hogan hulks up and makes his comeback. He hits Hart and Honky with the chair and hits his finisher for the victory. This wasn't good. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

They show Ronnie Garvin celebrating with Hogan and then a recap of him losing to Greg Valentine in a retirement match. They show clips of him being a referee and how he is attacking wrestlers who aren't following the rules. Jack Tunney then says that he is on warning for his behavior.

Greg Valentine vs. Jimmy Snuka

Garvin is the referee here. Valentine attacks Snuka from behind and before the bell rings. Snuka does a leapfrog over a charging Valentine and hits him with a thrust. Snuka goes off the second rope and Valentine gets his knees up. Valentine is wearing his shin guard and he is playing that up. Valentine keeps kicking Snuka as he tries to get back in the ring. Garvin shoves him and they get into an argument, which allows Snuka to go up top. Garvin hits Valentine and Snuka hits a crossbody for the victory. This was all storyline and one that would continue for awhile. 

Match Rating: *

We get a brief clip of Randy Savage and Brutus Beefcake from Brother Love before going to Savage, Sherri and Ventura backstage. He says he has a big surprise for him. While Savage enters, we go to Beefcake and Mean Gene for a pretty lame interview. 

Randy Savage vs. Brutus Beefcake

Beefcake in '89 is such a weird thing. He was so over and it just fell off a cliff after the accident and he never found anything close. Beefcake tosses Savage over the rope and goes after Sherri. Savage of course makes the save and I dig the red trunks for Savage here. We get some nice frantic back and forth action that you would expect from a Savage match from this era. After some Sherri interference, Savage throws Beefcake over the top and hits the top rope double ax handle to the floor. Sherri gets a couple of kicks in and a hit to the head with a heel. Beefcake gets an inside cradle, but the ref was distracted by Sherri. Sherri uses her nylon to choke Beefcake, but Beefcake gets Savage with a shot to the midsection when Savage comes off the top rope. Sherri holds Beefcake, but Beefcake avoids Savage and Sherri is knocked off the apron. Sherri heads off to the back as we go to the commercial break. She brings out Zeus of course. Beefcake slaps on the sleeper hold and in comes Zeus to cause the disqualification finish. Zeus gets Beefcake up in a bearhug and out comes Hogan. He attacks, but it has not effect on Zeus. Zeus absorbs some more shots and picks Zeus up so Savage can hit him in the back off the top rope. Beefcake makes a save and we have a four man brawl. Hogan hits Zeus with a chair to the back and we have a standoff before Zeus and Savage head to the back. That was a really good TV match and the post match shenanigans were really good too. Savage gave a master class on how to have a good match with a lesser opponent. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

We go back to Ventura with Savage, Sherri and Zeus. Lots of loud noises here. Sherri calls out Hogan for beating up women and crying when he loses.

 After showing a clip of the last match between the Brainbusters and Demolition, Demolition tells Mean Gene that it's time for pop goes the weasel. 

Two-Out-Of-Three Falls Match For The WWF Tag Team Championship
Brain Busters vs. Demolition

I've really come to appreciate Demolition over the years. Obviously Anderson and Blanchard are both awesome. Both teams get some offense in, with the closest call coming after an Anderson spinebuster. Smash hits a hot shot on the top rope and gets the first fall. We get lots of heel antics when we come back from commercial and there weren't many better teams at that for my money. Smash gets a hot tag and things get chaotic with all five men getting involved. Heenan is thrown into the ring post and the crowd is going crazy. Out comes Andre The Giant and Demolition hits the Demoltion Decapitation, but they are called for disqualification for not listening to the referee. That's your classic we never call out anyone for this, but we will since we have three falls scenario. Andre thinks it's hilarious and the third fall is underway. Things break down again, which distracts the referee from what's going on. Andre slides a chair to Blanchard and he hits Smash in the back of the head with it. Anderson covers him and we have new champions. Tremendous action. They crammed a 20 minute match into 12 and it worked. Two really good matches on this show.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Ventura is back Haku and Rick Rude right before Heenan, Anderson, Blanchard and Andre join them for the celebration. I always love these heel celebration interviews. Classic stuff.

We come back from commercial and Mean Gene is with Beefcake and Hogan. Hogan rambles on and on about how it was okay for him to do what he did because the Hulkamaniacs gave him the green light. He then starts wondering what will happen if they get their hands on Elizabeth. 

Jesse and Vince wrap it up and we get a quick highlight clip before signing off.

That was a great episode of SNME and a very good example of how compelling characters can make stories happen. I doubt that a better Beefcake match exists than the one we got here and the tag title match was very good too. This one gets a big thumbs up.

Overall Rating: 87%

Monday Night Raw 1-8-07 Review

Monday, January 8th, 2007
Scottrade Center
St. Louis, Missouri

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

We get a lengthy recap of the DX/Rated RKO match from New Year's Revolution. 

John Cena is here to kick off the show. He talks about how Armando Estrada went on WWE.com last night and called Umaga's loss a fluke. Cena says it was no fluke. He's willing to give Umaga another match here tonight. Out comes Jonathan Coachman and he says that he's given Umaga the night off tonight. Cena's not buying it. Coach says it again that he has it off, but Cena does not. Cena's title will not be on the line, but he will be facing Raw's newest acquisition, Great Khali. The hits just keep on coming. He comes down to the ring to have a staredown. One thing of note is that Daivari is not with him here. 

We got to Vince McMahon and he talks about matches that have changed things forever and tonight will be no different with Donald Trump vs. Rosie O'Donnell. 

We come back from commercial and "Rosie" is here. Vince gives her a Fudgie the Whale cake and she eats it. Vince honestly thought that people actually wanted to watch this. Anything Vince has ever done is so rarely funny and it never is when he tries to be funny. The only time it's actually funny is when he doesn't know he's a joke.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Jeff Hardy vs. Kenny Dykstra

No robe for Kenny tonight. Hardy hits one of the better baseball dropkicks I have seen him hit before hitting a dive over the top into the commercial break. When we come back, Kenny has Hardy in a rest hold. Hardy makes a comeback and hits Whisper In The Wind for a 2 count. Hardy runs into a boot, but Kenny goes off the second rope and runs into Hardy's boot. Johnny Nitro is out and grabs Hardy's leg when running the ropes. The distraction allows Ric Flair to come from behind and deliver a low blow on Kenny. Hardy hits the Swanton for the victory. This was basically a squash with a storyline reason. Kenny continues to just exist. 

Match Rating: *1/2

They show "Rosie O'Donnell" eating a donut outside the Diva's locker room and she sneaks in. I can pretty much guarantee this episode gets one of the lowest scores I have ever given. 

They talk about Triple H's injury again from New Year's Revolution. He went down to Alabama and they diagnosed a torn quad and that he will be out 4-6 months after surgery. 

"Rosie" is with Maria and Candice Michelle. She drops her pictures on purpose so that she can watch Maria bend over. 

Todd Grisham is with Great Khali, but first we see the impact he has had on WWE, which is zero. They then have him talk, which you can't understand. 

Melina & Victoria vs. Maria & Mickie James

Maria hits a Bronco Buster because apparently that was the only move they could teach women to do  during this time period. Victoria accidentally hits Melina and all things have kind of broken down. Maria and Melina are in the ring. Melina hits some sort of finisher that is botched and picks up the victory. This was your usual rushed women's match from this era. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a guy who looks absolutely nothing like Donald Trump getting hairspray put on. JR has to put over that it's actually him. Embarrassing. 

Vince McMahon is out to introduce this pathetic excuse for TV. They are treating this as if it is an official match, but I won't be reviewing it as such. The crowd is booing it before it begins. Rosie goes and eats more cake. Rosie almost wins after Trump can't hold her up and she falls on him. The kickout causes the crowd to boo. Rosie gets a cake to the face and Trump hits a diving headbutt for the victory. This was absolutely some of the worst television WWE has ever done, which takes a lot. 

Carlito vs. Chris Masters

You know the show is bad when you are almost happy to see this match again. We get some back and forth action before Masters hits a gorilla press. Out comes Torrie Wilson to check on Carlito. Masters dominates with some boring offense like a bear hug. Carlito hits a dropkick and puts Masters on the apron. Torrie for some reason hits Masters with the ring bell in the butt. Carlito hits the Backstabber and that's all. Next.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Rated RKO are out, with Orton sporting a neck brace. They give some props to DX, but they claim that they ended DX. Next week, they are going to face Shawn Michaels in a handicap match and say that DX is officially on life support. Out comes Shawn Michaels and he says he's out here out of respect for the fans to address if DX is done and he's not sure. He says that he will take care of them next week. 

Cryme Tyme vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

This match lost me instantly. JTG gets a hot tag and hits a few dropkicks. The finish comes when JTG fakes an injury so that Shad can smash Murdoch's face into an exposed turnbuckle behind the referee's back for the victory. That actually is a halfway decent finish that was wasted on a 3 minute match before the main event. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

WWE 24/7 talks about the debut episode of Monday Night Raw. 

We go back to "Rosie" crying and Ron Simmons does his thing. 

Jerry Lawler is with Vladimir Kozlov and he says that he can beat both Great Khali and John Cena. 

Eugene is talking about John Cena beating Umaga and here comes Great Khali, who scares Eugene away.

Great Khali vs. John Cena

Armando Alejandro Estrada is your guest commentator here. They barely have a match here before Estrada goes and grabs a chair. Cena rips it from his hand and hits Khali with it for the DQ ending. Khali basically no sells it and hits his double armed chokeslam on Cena. Estrada gets on the turnbuckle and starts motioning for Umaga. He comes through the crowd and hits the butt splash in the corner. He hits the Samoan Spike and we're finally done.

Match Rating: 1/4*

If you needed a reminder of how garbage Vince McMahon was, I present you exhibit A. This was an absolutely god awful episode of Raw, with really only the RKO/Shawn Michaels segment really accomplishing anything. You don't need to watch this.

Overall Rating: 16%

NXT 3-11-15 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, March 11th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

NXT Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Match
Enzo & Big Cass vs. Lucha Dragons

Enzo and Cass dominate the early portion of the match. A tag into Kalisto and he hits his rolling kick and hurricanrana from Enzo's knees. The crowd is all the way behind Enzo and Cass here. Sin Cara and Kalisto hit a double dive onto Cass. Cass hits a boot on Cara and it knocks Kalisto off the top rope. Cass drags Enzo to the corner so that he can make the tag. He throws Enzo off the top onto Kalisto and they pick up the victory. That was a fun sequence to finish the match and probably their biggest victory so far. 

Match Rating: **1/4

They hype up NXT at the Arnold Classic and then show us an Alex Riley hype video. 

Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss

After a headscissors from Alexa, Carmella trips her into the bottom turnbuckle to shift the momentum. Carmella slows things down until Alexa catches a kick. She trips her up and hits a standing moonsault for a 2 count. Alexa goes up to the top rope and hits the Sparkle Splash for the victory. This was a little longer than my review shows. This was Alexa's first match in a few months after being injured. Both ladies still needed some seasoning at this point, but Bliss showed here that she was unique for the division. 

Match Rating: *

They show an interview with Alex Riley earlier in the day. He says that he feels like he was locked in a cage for the past 2 years. He was only 33 years old here. 

Tyler Breeze makes fun of Hideo Itami for being ugly. 

CJ Parker vs. Alex Riley

It's odd to me that Riley is as over as he is. Let's be honest, he wasn't a good announcer. I'm not really sure why he didn't stick to wrestling, but I don't think announcing was for him. Riley hits a nice dropkick, but Parker clubs him in the back shortly after. Riley comes back and hits a somersault neckbreaker. He goes up top and hits a blockbuster for the victory. Riley looked solid here. When he had his feud with Miz, it seemed like he had some potential and then nothing happened from there.

Match Rating: 3/4*

After the match, Kevin Owens' music hits and he makes fun of Riley's tattoo. He says he's putting an end to Riley's career and then moving onto Finn Balor. 

Tyler Breeze vs. Hideo Itami

Itami dominates the early portion until he goes up top and Breeze knocks into the ropes to crotch him. We get kind of a weird commercial break during a rest hold. We get a little bit of back and forth when we come back and it ends with Itami hitting a huge clothesline. Breeze comes back and hits a Super Model Kick. He tries to use the ring post, but Itami pulls his leg and Breeze hits it face first. Itami hits a knee to the back of the head from the top rope, but Breeze kicks out at 2. Itami misses with the dropkick in the corner and Breeze hits the Beauty Shot for the victory. I have to say I'm a little surprised there. Breeze has been a jobber to the stars lately, so he needed a big victory. I'm just surprised it came at the expense of Itami. They have done a good job of making the Beauty Shot a near sure thing of a finisher. Good main event here.

Match Rating: ***

This was another good episode of NXT wrestling, even if it was a little light on storyline. The matches all had a good flow to them and even if they weren't all great, they were what they were supposed to be.

Overall Rating: 60%

Monday Night Raw 3-20-95

Original Airdate: Monday, March 20th, 1995
Stockton Memorial Auditorium
Stockton, California

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Razor Ramon vs. Henry Godwinn

Godwinn gets the non-televised entrance treatment here. I'm still amazed that Godwinn's solid performance against Undertaker on Superstars has resulted in nothing for him.Godwinn hits his wheelbarrow slam on Razor before sending him back and forth between turnbuckles. Vince brags about how his 1-900 line doesn't start charging you until after you make your selection. Talk about class. Razor's able to sneak in a backslide for a 2 count before we go to commercial break. Razor hits a spinning right hand and a bulldog from the second rope for a nearfall. Out comes Roadie and that allows Godwinn to attack the distracted Razor. 1-2-3 Kid comes out and hits Roadie with a kick to the jaw. Godwinn is now standing on the bottom rope distracted and Razor picks him up for the Razor's Edge and gets the victory. Another solid match from Godwinn against a top star. 

Match Rating: **

Vince interviews Razor after the match and he's not happy about Bob Backlund getting a title shot because that's his belt. It's a borderline heel interview. They show a clip of the Jarrett/Backlund situation.

We get an ad for Sunday Night Slam, which unfortunately is not on Peacock.

They show Bam Bam Bigelow do a football style shoulder tackle on Doink on the Action Zone.

Steve McMichael is introduced to be the guest announcer, which obviously must have impressed WCW enough to hire him a few months later. 

King Kong Bundy vs. Adam Croomes & Raven Clark

Croomes and Clark try for a double body slam, but of course it doesn't work. Bundy just doesn't look like a guy who is motivated enough to get the opportunity to face Undertaker. Throw in the fact that he's involved in the main event as well and you'd think that he'd be working a little harder. McMichael isn't too bad on announcing as a guest, but he definitely doesn't have the confidence he would eventually have. Bundy wins after a splash. Whatever.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Kama comes out to confront McMichael about him running his mouth. McMichael was referring to him as Coma during the match. McMichael shoves Kama, so Kama throws water in his face. They start brawling in a pretty convincing fashion and have to be broken up by a large group of officials. That was probably the best thing that Kama ever does. 

It's time for another WrestleMania Report. We hear from Shawn Michaels with Sid about winning the WWF Championship. Paul Bearer and Undertaker aren't happy about Ted DiBiase having the urn. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Heavenly Bodies vs. Smoking Gunns

They show a clip of Oscar apologizing for Men On A Mission's attack on the Smoking Gunns. Don't forget to tune into the Home Shopping Network next week for some WrestleMania gear. The Gunns look good in the early going and Vince talks about how repulsive Del Ray is. When we come back from commercial break, the Bodies are in control of Bart. Del Ray hits a neckbreaker and gets a 2 count. Del Ray misses with a splash from the top rope, but Prichard prevents Bart from tagging in Billy. They hit a double clothesline and both guys make the tag. Bart recovers quickly enough to lift Prichard above his shoulder and Billy hits the leg drop. Cornette distracts Bart and the ref enough for Del Ray to hit Billy off the top rope. He follows it up with a DDT and Bart has to make the save on the pin attempt. Del Ray goes for a pin attempt, but Billy bridges out of it and reverses it for the victory. This was a good match from two teams that almost always delivered during this era. 

Match Rating: ***

They hype up Sunday Night Slam and give us pre-recorded interviews from Tatanka and Lex Luger about their cage match. The feud that just won't die.

This was a good show for the era and one that felt like it breezed by. Nothing really of importance happened, but that was usually the case in the mid-90s. 

Overall Rating: 63%