NXT 1-1-15 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, January 1st, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Lucha Dragons vs. Tye Dillinger & Jason Jordan

Jordan and Dillinger get some extended offense on Kalisto early on here, which is nice to see. Sin Cara gets the hot tag and hits a couple of springboard moves before botching a headscissors. Kalisto hits a corkscrew over the top rope on Jordan. Cara does come back with a nice variation of a sunset bomb off the top rope for the victory. This was a non-title match by the way. Out come the Vaudevillains and they attack the champions from behind. The match was fairly good for how short it was. It seems like they give Jordan and Tye a little more offense each week.

Match Rating: *1/2

Bull Dempsey and CJ Parker are discussing their feuds with Baron Corbin. This doesn't interest me.

Apparently NXT is moving to Wednesdays in 2 weeks. I guess I'll need to remember that because I can only imagine the outrage on the internet if I screwed up. I'd hate to let my millions of readers down. 

Carmella vs. Blue Pants

We get an extended entrance here for Carmella and then the big introduction for Blue Pants. I'm sorry, I just can't get the guys voices from behind me at a Raw around this time where all they talked about was Blue Pants out of my head. Carmella dominates for a few seconds until Enzo gets up on the apron to dance. This distracts Carmella and Blue Pants pulls off the victory. They try to compare it to 1-2-3 Kid, but it's not even close. After the match, Carmella goes after Enzo, but Big Cass holds her back. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

CJ Parker vs. Baron Corbin

Corbin hits Snake Eyes and the boot before hitting the End Of Days for the victory. He stares down Bull Dempsey before grabbing a mic. He doesn't say much before assaulting Dempsey and they start brawling. Time has not made this any better. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

William Regal lets us know that Sami Zayn will make his return next week to update us on his status. Then Curtis Axel interrupts and says that he never heard back from Regal. He's here to recharge his career. Regal tells him he can face Hideo Itami next week.

Devin Taylor introduces Charlotte to the ring. She asks her what's next for Charlotte and the crowd chants "Blue Pants". Out come Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch to interrupt. They enter in from opposite ends, but before anything happens, out comes Natalya. They hug and that's it. This was kind of pointless. 

Next week we'll get the Vaudevillains against the Lucha Dragons and Curtis Axel vs. Hideo Itami.

We get a really low res video of Sami Zayn from outside his home. He says that he'll be back in no time. This leads to a previously recorded interview with Kevin Owens and Renee Young. Owens doesn't like the question and says that it's time for him to go. 

The Ascension vs. Hideo Itami & Finn Balor

Finn is super over with the live crowd after the debut of the Demon character. We have a pretty standard start here, with not much of note before going into the commercial break. Meanwhile, Alex Riley compares Konnor to Rob Gronkowski. How'd that one work out? The Ascension continue to wear down Balor as the gross referee looks on. This is really dragging on. Balor finally gets in a Pele kick on Konnor and makes the tag. Hideo is in and hits a series of kicks on Viktor, but can only get a 2 count. Hideo hits a top rope clothesline but after knocking Konnor off the apron, Viktor hits a big clothesline on Hideo. Hideo gets Viktor, but Konnor interrupts. Finn comes in and knocks Konnor out and hits a stomp outside the ring. Hideo hits a spin kick and picks up the victory. The heat segment really dragged, but I'm not much of a fan of the Ascension, so your mileage may vary. The last two minutes were good.

Match Rating: **

This was a very ho hum episode of NXT. Next week feels like it will be a bigger show and this one was just treading water.

Overall Rating: 49%

ECW 11-21-06 Review

Tuesday, November 21st, 2006
Nassau Coliseum
Long Island, New York

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Matt Striker is in the ring and he is our teacher. He compares his time in the New York school system to Lashley's military duty and out comes Lashley. Lashley destroys his chalkboard and then chucks his desk at Strike outside the ring. 

Matt Striker vs. Bobby Lashley

Striker finally gets in the ring and we have a match. Lashley tosses him around the ring before hitting a delayed vertical suplex. Lashley hits a Spear and a Dominator for the easy victory. It's clear they plan on pushing him to the top quickly here. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Team Extreme vs. FBI

I guess I never realized that they just went by Team Extreme here. I'll be honest though, why are they wasting their return on the second match of some random episode of ECW? There's nothing better than forcing a wrestler to have another match after a brutal ladder match. The FBI get to put up a little bit of a fight here. The Hardy's hit a pretty cool neckbreaker/powerbomb combo. Matt hits the Twist Of Fate and Jeff finishes him with the Swanton. I mean to say they are on another level compared to the other tag teams in the company at this time is the understatement of the year. 

Match Rating: *

Paul Heyman informs Rob Van Dam that if he loses tonight, Hardcore Holly is taking his spot in the Extreme Elimination Chamber.

Kevin Thorn vs. CM Punk

Punk has really turned it up in the ring as of late. Thorn goes to work on the back of Punk in the early going. Thorn has Punk in a Boston Crab and out comes Kelly Kelly. They try to sell it that her banging on the mat allowed Punk to kick out of the hold. Punk then slaps on the Anaconda Vice and that's all. They really had to rush this one. After the match, Thorn attacks Punk and then they go after Kelly. Punk makes the save and hits a high knee while Kelly takes out Ariel. Kelly gives Punk a hug and Knox is by the entrance shaking his head. I'm not sure how to tell you this, but I don't think she likes you. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Big Show and Paul Heyman are in the ring, with Show hyping up the Extreme Elimination Chamber. He says that no one can beat him, so Lashley comes out. He gets the better of him and throws the title belt at him. This probably would have worked better if he hadn't already been featured on the show like 20 minutes ago. 

Hardcore Holly is getting ready and then Test reminds him that Lashley screwed him out of his spot and that he can get it back by beating the guy who gave him 20 stitches in his back.

Extreme Rules Match
Rob Van Dam vs. Hardcore Holly

It looks like these two will get some time. RVD hits an early Rolling Thunder while Joey Styles claims we haven't had an Extreme Rules match in many weeks. I'm too lazy to look. RVD sets Holly up on the barricade and hits the helicopter guillotine leg drop into the commercial break. RVD gets sent over the top rope when we come back and RVD got his wrist stuck in the top two ropes. I don't think I've ever seen that before, but then again I know I watched this and didn't remember it, so I'm probably not that trustworthy. Holly baits RVD and then throws him into the chair propped in the corner ropes. Holly goes on offense and the crowd seems to be losing interest. Holly dropkicks RVD off the apron and then hits a leg drop off the top rope with a chair on top of RVD. Holly takes out a belt and starts whipping the back of RVD. RVD makes a comeback and hits a monkey flip and the diving single leg kick off the top rope. RVD uses the chair with a skateboard kick in the corner. He follows it up with Rolling Thunder with the chair, but Holly comes back and throws the chair at RVD. Holly goes up top, but RVD gets there first and crotches him. RVD hits a superplex onto a steel chair, which has to be brutal. RVD hits the 5 Star Frog Splash on the chair and picks up the victory to keep his spot in the Extreme Elimination Chamber. This was a pretty good main event, but didn't really have a great flow to it. They definitely were laying it in, which feels a little reckless in hindsight. 

Match Rating: **1/2

After a huge final push for Survivor Series on Raw, this show hardly even mentioned it. That's the problem when you have too much to promote. The main event was pretty good and it's obvious that Lashley is going to be their guy moving forward.

Overall Rating: 47%

Superstars 1-7-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, January 7th, 1995
Bob Carpenter Center
Newark, Delaware

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Vince announces that Bart Gunn has a knee injury after his horse fell on him. Bob Holly and 1-2-3 Kid will be taking their place. His horse fell on him? 

WWF Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly vs. Well Dunn

After a couple of leapfrogs, Kid hits a spin kick on Dunn and Holly hits a blind tag to get in two double dropkicks. Harvey Wippleman distracts the referee and it allows Dunn to pull down the top rope when Kid is running and fall to the floor. Well hits a reverse elbow from the top rope for a 2 count. We get a pre-recorded interview from Billy Gunn wishing 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly good luck. Holly gets the hot tag and hits the big dropkick on Dunn. He hits a weak looking double noggin knocker. Holly throws Well into the steps and then hits a sloppy top rope sunset flip for the victory. The action was mostly good here.

Match Rating: **

It's time for Live Event News with Stephanie Wiand to talk about exactly what Vince McMahon was talking about, which is the next round of the tournament. We get a Headshrinker interview with Captain Lou doing all the talking and lots of zoom ins and outs. We then go to Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka, with Ted DiBiase doing all the talking here. This time they walk side to side for an almost more annoying camera trick. 

Bob Backlund vs. Bob Knight

The Bob's explode. This is nothing and it just leads to him slapping on the Cross-Face Chickenwing. They then show him watching himself on the video board. I think this ship has sailed as a serious contender. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time for the Royal Rumble Report. We get Bret Hart with a 5 o'clock shadow standing in front of some creepy thing hanging on his wall. Bret tells us he'll be back this Monday on Raw. Diesel gets the Royal Rumble background and he becomes increasingly cheesy by playing word association. We also get some new names for the Royal Rumble match with Crush, Mantaur, Jim Neidhart and Owen Hart. 

Mabel vs. Iron Mike Sharpe

Sharpe looks way too old to still be doing this. We still get lots of grunting though. Mabel hits the big splash in the corner and a leg drop for the finish. How are they going to get him over the top rope at the Royal Rumble?

Match Rating: 1/4*

It's time for the Heartbreak Hotel with King Kong Bundy. How are the going to get him over the top rope at the Royal Rumble? Shawn Michaels then reminds him that he's also in the Royal Rumble match. Did you know that there are no friends in the Royal Rumble? Bob Backlund comes to crash the party. He does his usual schtick and then British Bulldog is out to do some yelling. This was your usual interruption before a pay-per-view interview.

British Bulldog vs. Mike Khoury

I'm surprised Bulldog's pyro didn't set this building on fire. Bulldog does one of the longer vertical suplexes I can remember seeing him do. Shortly after, he hits the running powerslam and that's all. This was quick and to the point. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Mantaur vs. Walter Snow

Oh boy, this is the infamous debut of Mantaur with his horrible costume. Who in the world approved this? Oh yeah, Vince McMahon. I don't think you could have less charisma if you tried. I say that as a very uncharismatic person myself. He catches Snow for a powerslam and hits a running clothesline for the win. You couldn't have come up with a worse debut than this if you tried. This is right up there with Friar Ferguson.

Match Rating: 0 Stars

Back to Stephanie Wiand and she has an interview with 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly. Then we go to Jim Cornette and the Heavenly Bodies. Cornette makes fun of Holly's name, which is valid. Peacock is sure testing my patience here with 3 commercials in the last 5 minutes of this show. 

We go back to Vince and Lawler to recap the tag team match that we saw earlier. Next week, it's the Headshrinkers vs. Bam Bam and Tatanka. Plus, we'll also get the Heavenly Bodies vs. 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly. 

This was definitely a noteworthy show, as the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly team up leads to a big WrestleMania storyline and of course the infamous debut of Mantaur. The rest was the usual filler. 

Overall Rating: 46%

SmackDown 11-24-06 Review

Original Airdate: Friday, November 24th, 2006
Nassau Coliseum
Long Island, New York

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Steel Cage Match
Kane vs. MVP

These guys start off having the run of the mill Kane match, which is every Kane match. They eventually use the cage as something other than a way to climb with Kane throwing MVP into the steel. Kane hits a couple of boots while between the ropes and the cage. Kane hits the top rope clothesline that looks more and more like he's falling every week. They start to battle on the top of the ropes and MVP kicks out his ankle. MVP climbs out of the ring and that is all. That was pretty short and at least the guy who is entertaining won the match. This was about as basic of a cage match as you will ever see. 

Match Rating: *1/2

They show clips from the Survivor Series press conference.

Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Gregory Helms

Yang fights off an early Helms advantage and hits a moonsault from the top rope to the floor. Back in the ring, Helms is able to yank Yang back by his head and into the second turnbuckle to shift the momentum. Yang is able to eventually come back with a short arm clothesline and then a nice spin kick in the corner. Yang hits a top rope crossbody, but Helms rolls down and almost picks up the victory. Yang hits a top rope hurricanrana and that almost picks him up the victory. Helms is able to drop Yang on the ring post and Helms then hits a variation of a neckbreaker for the victory. That was a nice little match between these two. Yang has enough good offense to have these compact, entertaining TV matches despite the stupid gimmick.

Match Rating: **1/4

Vickie Guerrero confronts Chris Benoit and tells him to stay out of her life. She attempts to slap him, but Benoit blocks it. 

Backstage, MVP is getting medical attention and Mr. Kennedy comes to apologize for last week. Kennedy says that tonight is all about giving thanks and tonight he's going to give thanks to Undertaker.

King Booker and Queen Sharmell are with Teddy Long. Booker hands him a royal contract that when he beats Batista at Survivor Series, that he will never have to face Batista again. Teddy says he doesn't take orders from Booker, but he says that he makes a good point. He has his word, but Sharmell wants it signed. Booker demands that it will be signed in front of all of his royal subjects and wants him to bring Batista with him. 

Paul London, Brian Kendrick and Ashley are heading to the ring. 

Brian Kendrick vs. William Regal

Here's a match with some potential. I still don't really understand why they couldn't figure out what to do with Regal here. Regal is continuing to show off his more aggressive side with some forearms in the corner and then dropping Kendrick on his head. Kendrick tries to make a comeback, but Regal hits a double underhook powerbomb. Regal somehow is bleeding from his eye. Kendrick is able to hit a monkey flip into the ropes and then a flying forearm. Kendrick sneaks in Sliced Bread #2, but Dave Taylor comes into the ring. Kendrick takes him out, so we have no DQ. Taylor clotheslines London and then Kendrick hits a dive on Taylor. Kendrick goes back into the ring and gets steamrolled by a Regal knee. That was another entertaining TV match. More of this version of Regal, please.

Match Rating: **1/4

We get a lengthy preview of Batista/King Booker for Survivor Series.

Mr. Kennedy is out to the ring and he wants everyone to give thanks to him for defeating Undertaker at No Mercy. He says that he has gotten into the head of both brothers of destruction. He shows some clips and of course shows when he busted Undertaker open with the microphone. Say what you will about Kennedy, but he was actually booked pretty strong against Taker up to this point. Of course, Undertaker's music hits and the lights dim. Taker is behind Kennedy in a pretty predictable move. Kennedy scurries out of the ring. Taker tells him "Survivor Series first blood" with no mic and then red blood falls all over Kennedy. 

Finlay vs. Chris Benoit

We get lots of mat wrestling to start, setting the tone for what should be a lengthy TV match. Finlay is able to throw Benoit into the steel steps before working on the injured leg. Benoit is also bleeding from his waist. This match is the very definition of just put two wrestlers out there and give them 15 minutes and we'll fill up most of our second hour. In storyline, this is obviously softening up Benoit for Chavo Guerrero ahead of their match at Survivor Series in 2 (not really) days. Benoit hits the Three Amigos to get some momentum going. He tries to go up top for the headbutt, but has to hit him in the midsection with a shoulder. He decides to do the three German suplexes instead. He now is able to climb to the top and hits the headbutt. Out comes Chavo and Vickie, which allows Hornswoggle to hand Finlay the shillelagh. Finlay hits Benoit and follows it up with the Celtic Cross for the pinfall victory. This was your usual match between these two, with maybe a little bit more of a slow pace this time around. After the match, Chavo hits the Frog Splash and tells Benoit that he's not a Guerrero and to stay out of his business. Chavo goes up top and hits another Frog Splash.

Match Rating: **1/4

Boogeyman vs. Miz

I mean, this is exactly what you think it's going to be. Miz isn't afraid, but then Boogeyman destroys him. He has some worms in his mouth and Miz backs away. As the referee is counting him out, Boogeyman spits some worms on the referee's shoulder. He then hits his finisher on the referee and spits out the worms on his face. I guess Boogeyman won by countout? Who cares?

Match Rating: 1/4*

King Booker and Queen Sharmell are in the ring with a fancy table and some royal subjects. He brings out Teddy Long to sign the contract and then Batista's music hits. As Booker is convincing Batista to sign the contract, Booker flips the table onto Batista and they start brawling. Batista destroys the royal subjects and it allows Booker to hit Batista in the throat with the scepter. He then cracks the scepter over the back of Batista. Booker celebrates as we go off the air. 

This show featured some good action throughout and didn't follow all of the typical go home show tropes. SmackDown continues to be the most consistent of the 3 shows here as we look to close out 2006. 

Overall Rating: 60%

Elimination Chamber 2023 Review

Saturday, February 18th, 2023
Bell Centre
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Elimination Chamber Match For A Raw Women's Championship At WrestleMania
Asuka vs. Carmella vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Nikki Cross vs. Natalya vs. Liv Morgan

Liv and Nattie start things off here. Nattie dominates by throwing her into the pod in which Nikki stands in. The timer counts down and we have Rodriguez in here. She comes in and hits double splash in the corner before tossing both ladies around. They do a pretty unique spot with Raquel being sunset flipped into the chamber while holding Natalya. It's already time for our next competitor and it's Nikki Cross. Morgan is catapulted into the chamber by Cross before she goes and drives the other two into the chains. Nikki then climbs the pod and hits a dive on all three ladies on the outside. Carmella comes in and tries to get a pinfall with the ladies down, but is unsuccessful. Carmella tries to hide in pods and then Rodriguez drives Nikki through the pod walls. Carmella then finds herself another pod to hide in. Raquel pins Nikki and because of the replay Michael Cole and Corey Graves don't even know what happened. Liv comes in and hits a super Codebreaker off the top rope before scaling the chamber. Rodriguez of course chooses the corner where Liv is standing to try for a superplex. Nattie battles out of it and then Rodriguez stands there like an idiot until Liv hits a really nice sunset flip powerbomb off the top of the pod. Carmella quickly covers her, but Rodriguez kicks out. It's time for Asuka to come in and she goes right after Carmella. Liv is able to hit a missile dropkick on Asuka and gets a 2 count. Liv goes for a monkey flip, but Carmella hits her with a superkick and then Nattie locks in the Sharpshooter. She is trying to battle out, but then comes Asuka and cranks on her arm and Liv has no choice but to submit. Hey, something that makes sense. Nattie is able to slap on the Sharpshooter on Asuka, but then Carmella superkicks Nattie and she is gone. Asuka and Carmella work together to hit a series of kicks on Rodriguez and double pin her and she's gone. Carmella hits a superkick on Asuka, but she's able to kick out. We get a series of pin attempts until Asuka is able to slap on the Asuka Lock on and that's all. That was pretty anticlimatic. The match itself was fast paced and had some good spots in it, it just kind of felt like a TV edition of the match. Asuka was the only call here in my opinion and that match with Bianca should be killer. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar

Lesnar quickly goes after Lashley and immediately suplexes him. As far as 5 match cards go, this one is pretty stacked. Lesnar clotheslines Lashley over the top and to the floor. Lashley hits a big Spear out of nowhere and gets a 2 count. He follows it up with another one and this time goes for the Hurt Lock. Lesnar battles out and then immediately hits a F5 for a 2 count. Lesnar then hits another F5 and again Lashley kicks out. Lashley escapes a third F5 and hits the Spear to boos from the crowd. Lashley this time puts in the Hurt Lock with the fingers locked. After struggling in it, Lesnar kicks Lashley in the crotch and we have a DQ. Well, we knew this one would have some sort of garbage finish, so lets not pretend to be disappointed. Lesnar after the match gives the ref a F5 and then hits one on Lashley. Lesnar clears off the announce table and hits a F5 on Lashley through the table. He pulls the ref out of the ring and hits a F5 on the broken table. I think there were 4 moves in this match. A proper match between these two should end up being a lot better. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Much like WrestleMania 21, we get some WWE movie spoofs with Seth Rollins dressed as the joker and dancing on some steps. Becky Lynch then comes in talking like Batman. 

Mixed Tag Team Match
Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley vs. Edge & Beth Phoenix

This crowd is definitely top tier level so far. The men start things off until Beth gets a tag in and Edge leaps off his wife's back to splash Balor in the corner. Rhea runs into a clothesline, but it doesn't knock her down to her feet. They hit a series of clotheslines to each other and then the always classic test of strength. The action spills outside and Beth throws Rhea into the steps. Beth goes up top and Dominik is early on his cue leaving him to have to try to knock her off twice before running away backstage. He emerges after a minute or so and Beth hits a DDT on Rhea. Meanwhile, Finn sneaks under the ring and pulls Edge off the apron to prevent Beth from making a tag and Rhea hits her with a clothesline in the corner. They battle up on the ropes and it ends poorly for Rhea after a superplex. Edge finally is back up and gets the hot tag. Edge slaps on the Edge-cator on and Beth follows suit. Dominik gets up on the apron to distract the ref and Rhea levels Beth with a headbutt. Dominik hands over brass knuckles to Finn and he hits Edge with them. Beth is able to prevent the 3 count, but they continue to dominate. Beth is able to throw Dominik into the ropes to crotch Finn while he's on the top rope. Edge tries for a side Russian leg sweep, but it leads to both women hitting powerbombs on their opponents. This has turned into an exciting match before the ladies double clothesline each other. Rhea goes for a one woman Con-chair-to, but Beth is able to escape and hits a Glam Slam to the mat. Edge hits Edge-cution in the ring and a dive onto Dominik. He goes for the Spear, but Finn hits the Sling Blade. Edge is able to sneak in a Spear and they hit a Shatter Machine to finally put them away. You kind of book yourself into a corner when you book part time stars against younger stars you are continuing to build, but there really wasn't much else to do here unless it was going to WrestleMania. They really put together a nice little match here. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

We go back to Paul Heyman hyping up Roman Reigns backstage while he drinks C4.

Elimination Chamber Match For The United States Championship
Austin Theory vs. Montez Ford vs. Bronson Reed vs. Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Seth Rollins

Gargano and Rollins kick things off and that's absolutely the right call. They have a good sequence as expected and in comes Austin Theory. I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about Theory. He definitely has a quality that makes people hate him, I'm just not positive if it's in a Baron Corbin type of way. Rollins and Gargano team up against Theory until Priest makes his entrance. Priest ends up hitting a lot of his heavy hitting moves including a somersault dive that looks like it completely squashed Theory on the outside of the ring. Lots of good action in here so far. Rollins hits a superplex on Priest and rolls through into a Falcon Arrow for a 2 count. Bronson Reed is in here now and he gets his time to shine. He stacks up both Gargano and Rollins on his shoulders and hits a Samoan drop. Reed splashes Priest into the pod and I'm not sure if it was supposed to break, but it definitely didn't. Montez Ford finally gets his chance and Reed is waiting for him. Ford doesn't care and fights his way out and looks like a man on a mission here tonight. He goes for a People's Elbow, but Reed has other plans. Gargano ends up on the shoulders of Reed and it ends up with Rollins clotheslining Gargano into a reverse rana that looked a little dangerous. Ford climbs to the roof of the chamber and does a sweet looking leap, but I do hate the part where they all kind of stand there and just look at him. It's time to team up on Reed and he gets hit with a series of finishing moves before Ford eliminates him. I'm a little surprised he was gone first, but it made sense. Gargano and Rollins end up on top of one of the pods and just sort of chill until Seth hits him with a chop. They start fighting and it leads Rollins slamming Gargano's head into the plexiglass and putting him up for a powerbomb, until Gargano counters and hits a hurricanrana onto the other competitors in one of the crazier spots I can remember. Gargano uses the chamber to hit a tornado DDT and then he hits a slingshot spike DDT on Theory. Priest brings his momentum to a hault and hits the Razor's Edge and he is abruptly eliminated. Ford starts to climb up top, but Priest is there to greet him. He grabs him by the throat, but Rollins gets him up for the powerbomb and Ford hits a blockbuster and Priest is gone. Ford and Rollins start trading blows and I have to say that Ford has one of the better right hands in wrestling. Ford then decides to hit two somersault dives onto his two remaining opponents and then hits one on both of them. The dude is a star. Ford hits the Rock Bottom and goes for the Frog Splash, but Theory gets his knees up. Rollins then hits a vicious Stomp and Theory pins him. This brings out the medical staff to check in on Ford, which of course will lead to shenanigans. Rollins goes for the Stomp, but Theory avoids it, but it leads to a Pedigree. Out comes Logan Paul and he clubs Rollins with a clothesline. Paul then comes in and hits Rollins with the Stomp before shutting the chamber door. Theory is up and hits the A Town Down for the victory. Paul/Rollins will probably be a pretty good match, even if Paul is not someone I really care to be on the roster. Theory squeaking out he victory makes sense. This was one of the best chamber matches that I can recall. The 2008 Raw and SmackDown 2011 are always two that come to mind as top ones as well. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match
Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn

It's about 4 minutes before they even lock up, just taking in the awesome atmosphere. Sometimes things just all work out and this is most definitely one of those occurrences. Sami's wife and kids are ringside, which is a nice touch. Sami knocks Roman out of the ring and Sami hits a dive to a massive pop. Roman gains control and dumps Sami out right in front of his family. Roman talks some trash to his wife before hitting him with a headbutt. Sami fires back with a clothesline and then one over the top rope. We're getting a lot of the few moves in the ring and then knocking them outside a lot in this one. He gives his wife a kiss before climbing to the top rope and it leads to him hitting a sunset flip powerbomb for a 2 count. Roman goes for a Superman punch, but Zayn catches him and hits an exploder suplex into the corner. Sami wants the Helluva Kick, but Roman this time fires up a Superman punch that connects. Zayn is able to hit another exploder suplex and then mocks Roman with the fist to the mat and hits a Superman punch of his own. Sami hits the Helluva Kick and 1, 2....no. That was awesome. Zayn goes for the DDT where he leaps through the ropes, but Roman catches him with a right hand. Roman runs around the ring, but Sami sidesteps him and they use their favorite barricade spot. Back in the ring, Sami hits a Blue Thunder Bomb and that's still not enough. Roman drives Sami backwards and it knocks the referee into the corner and he's out. Sami hits the Helluva Kick again, but there's no one there to count. The referee rolls out of the ring and out comes Jimmy Uso and he hits three superkicks. He goes up top and hits the Uso Splash and then rolls Roman on top of him. There's a new ref who apparently is okay with what just happened. Anyway, he gets in the ring and counts, but Sami kicks out at 2. Sami gets distracted by Jimmy and then gets hit with a Spear, but Sami kicks out! Roman grabs a chair and out comes Jey Uso. Roman makes Jey take the chair and Sami accidentally hits a Spear on Jey. Roman hits the Spear and that's all. The crowd is deflated here. Well, at least until Kevin Owens' music hits. He takes everybody out, but why didn't he make the save during the match? This one was all about atmosphere. The match was good, but not quite a 4 star for me. However, it's a match that will stand out as a big deal.

Match Rating: ***3/4

Well, this was certainly one of the better shows in some time. Every match felt important and the two main events delivered. Definitely a thumbs up for this show. 

Overall Rating: 85%

Monday Night Raw 11-20-06 Review

Monday, November 20th, 2006
First Mariner Arena
Baltimore, Maryland

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John Cena is out with his Survivor Series team to kick off the show. They show highlights of him being destroyed by Umaga and Big Show on Raw last week. Well, naturally they are interrupted by Rated RKO's team. Wait, what? They are then interrupted by Ric Flair and his legend friends. Now we get the Spirit Squad. Kenny says that he's going to debut a cheer right now and then is interrupted by DX and friends. You'll never guess it, but Big Show's team is out now. I have to say the randomness of some of these teams are pretty fun, but I do prefer the teams of 4 over 5. Cena challenges everyone to come down to the ring to see who's left standing. As they all start heading to the ring, out comes Vince McMahon. They really should have taken him off the air at this point for a break. Tonight we are going to have an all captains tag team match tonight. I am always down with matches like this. So we'll get DX, John Cena and Ric Flair against Rated RKO, Kenny and Big Show. Kenny gets such a small reaction that Vince repeats his name to try to get a few boos. I haven't really like Kenny as much as I did back in 2006, but even if I did, the booking has been so bad, why would anyone care? 

Sabu vs. Umaga

This actually feels like a good use of Sabu. Umaga attacks right away and dominates the early going. Sabu tries to get something going, but gets hit with a foot to the face. Sabu does come back and hits a springboard DDT. On the next springboard, Umaga hits the Samoan Spike and that is all. That was a total burial of Sabu. Keep in mind that Sabu is in the main event of a pay-per-view in a few weeks. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

We come back to Torrie Wilson and a t-shirt gun. Lawler gets on the table to catch one and out comes Chris Masters. He's not good enough to be on Survivor Series. Masters makes some advances on Torrie and out comes Carlito to the rescue. He also is not good enough to be on Survivor Series. Is Carlito ever not involved with either Chris Masters or Shelton Benjamin? Masters attacks Carlito and slaps on the Master Lock and in comes Jerry Lawler, so Masters breaks the hold. 

After highlights of Johnny Nitro/Jeff Hardy, they hype up Kevin Federline/John Cena, which is weeks away. They are hyping up Survivor Series, December To Dismember, K Fed/Cena and still have Armageddon in December. They interview Nitro and Melina and he's going to win the Intercontinental Championship tonight.

Back to the Spirit Squad and Kenny is continuing to hype that he's the captain. He declares that Nicky will Nicky will be wrestling tonight. He then sees Ric Flair and Candice Michelle getting close. This leads to Ron Simmons being shown as the replacement for Roddy Piper. 

We now go to the referee getting the title belt from Jeff Hardy for the ladder match because it's NEXT!

Ladder Match For The Intercontinental Championship
Johnny Nitro vs. Jeff Hardy

After some basic action to start, Nitro is the first to go get the ladder. Hardy does a baseball slide into the ladder and then a dive on Nitro as we go into a commercial break. When we come back, Hardy is climbing but Nitro knocks him off and he lands on the top rope. We go back and forth with some ladder offense that ends with Hardy dropkicking the ladder into Nitro. They battle up on the ladder again and this time Nitro hits a standing dropkick from the top of the ladder. That was cool. Hardy is able to prop Nitro on top of the ladder and goes up to the top rope. Hardy goes for the Swanton, but Nitro moves and Hardy crashes and burns. The thud there made me hurt. After some ladder offense from Nitro, Hardy is able to throw Nitro into a standing ladder. Hardy brings in a new ladder and they both climb. Hardy gets up top first and he hits a sunset flip powerbomb. Hardy follows that up with a leg drop over one of the ladders and then props one up over Nitro's neck. Hardy climbs it and retains his Intercontinental Championship. That had a few stiff bumps and the crowd was into this. The finish was a little out of nowhere and the pace was a little off. Nothing but respect for both of these guys for the effort though.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Dusty Rhodes is here to cut one of his vintage rhyming promos about taking down Nicky. 

Nicky vs. Dusty Rhodes

I'm sure Dolph considers this one of his career highlights to this day. Dusty is 61 years old here and obviously can't move like he used to. So as a result, we get a slow start with some stalling before Nicky goes to work on his leg. Just like Kenny earlier, no one cares about Nicky. Dusty comes back with some jabs and the bionic elbow. He hits an elbow drop and that's all. This obviously wasn't very good. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We go to Edge and Lita backstage by a spiral staircase. Here comes Randy Orton and Maria for whatever reason. They hear some commotion and see it's Cryme Tyme. This leads to more racial humor and they then talk Maria into staying with them and watching See No Evil. This was absolutely terrible. 

Lita vs. Mickie James

This time Mickie is blindfolded. Thrilling. Lita hits a DDT, but doesn't go for the cover. She climbs up top and hits a moonsault for the victory. They haven't given the audience a reason to root for Mickie, so this really doesn't do much for either performer. After the match, Lita cuts a promo complaining about her mistreatment, which is fair. She then announces that Survivor Series will be her last match. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

The heels are headed to the ring.

Rated RKO, Kenny & Big Show vs. Ric Flair, John Cena & DX

Cena comes out second for his team and runs in there to start brawling, but it backfires. Out comes DX because they are your superheroes. They clear out the ring with the exception of Edge and all take turns with him cornered. Michaels hits a top rope elbow drop and now in comes Big Show. He does a little bit better, but when he's going for a double chokeslam on DX, Flair hits a low blow. Cena follows that up and hits a shoulder tackle to knock him out of the ring. When we come back from commercial, I'm assuming the match has actually started. The heels are working on Michaels until Orton comes in and starts pounding the mat like an idiot. He goes for the RKO and Michaels counters it, allowing him to eventually hit the hot tag to Cena. Cena gets Kenny up for the FU, but Big Show hits him with a boot. They all team up on Big Show and Sweet Chin Music sends him over the top rope. Cena hits a FU on Kenny and that's all. All of the teams come down and we have ourselves a brawl as we go off the air.

Match Rating: **

The first hour or so of this show was a real breath of fresh air after the last month or so of absolute garbage on Raw. However, things took a turn for the worse after the Dusty promo. The main event wasn't terrible, but I'm not sure I really understand the logic of the faces being booked so strong here. This one ended up being an average episode overall.

Overall Rating: 50%

NXT 12-25-14 Review

Original Airdate: Thursday, December 25th, 2014
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2

We go to Corey Graves and Renee Young in an empty NXT Arena. They tell us we'll be getting Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks in an exclusive rematch. So we're getting one match and this episode is still 58 minutes long. 

They show Paige winning the NXT Championship and the Divas Championship. They also talk about Bo Dallas and Rusev. 

They talk about Arrival and show some highlights from the show. 

They talk about Adrian Neville losing the title, but then show him getting to go on the WWE European tour. They show him going back to his home and surprising his mom. He also visits Newcastle United and then talks about dreaming to become a pro wrestler. I do like when they do these types of background videos. 

We go to Tyler Breeze wishing us Wanna-Breeze a Merry Christmas and that he's adding gold to his ensemble this year. 

They show the last few minutes of the Sami Zayn/Adrian Neville match from R Evolution, which I gave ****. They also show the post-match celebration and the Kevin Owens attack. 

We get a WWE.com exclusive with Curtis Axel talking with William Regal. Axel wants to recharge his career and he wants in at NXT. Regal says that he'll have to do some research if he can find a spot for him, but he suggests that he makes an appointment if he wants to talk to him. 

They show the ending of the Lucha Dragons/Vaudevillains from R Evolution. The controversy is around the Dragons pinning the illegal man in the match.

Next week we will get The Ascension vs. Hideo Itami and Finn Balor. We get an interview with Itami and Balor. They cut a generic Superstars style interview. 

We now get a highlight package of new superstars to NXT in 2014 that includes Baron Corbin, Bull Dempsey, Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and Kevin Owens. That leads us to a Kevin Owens interview who says he'll be the last one standing. 

They show some other NXT alumni on the main roster including Emma, Adam Rose, Bo Dallas and Rusev.

We get an interview with Bayley and she's watching the new Triple H DVD. She talks about how he comes back from his knee injury as she's icing her knee. 

NXT Women's Championship
Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte

Ric Flair introduces Charlotte and calls their match at R Evolution one of the greatest matches ever. They go right at it as soon as the bell rings and Charlotte is able to immediately go after Sasha's knee. Charlotte is slamming Sasha's knee on the ring post, but then Sasha is able to pull Charlotte into the post as we go to commercial break. When we come back, Sasha is talking trash to Ric and Charlotte is able to make a comeback. She misses with a knee drop and Sasha hits a backslide for a 2 count. Sasha hits a Backstabber into the Bank Statement, but Charlotte's legs are too close to the ropes. Sasha goes for a dive through the ropes, but Charlotte hits her with a forearm. Back in the ring, Sasha is able to hit a superplex for a 2 count. Charlotte is able to hit a Glam Slam, but as she goes for the Figure Four, Sasha rolls her up for a 2 count. Charlotte still has the leg and puts on the Figure Eight for the victory. This was pretty good, but felt more like the main event on a highlight episode than a major match. 

Match Rating: **3/4

We got a solid main event, but just about everything else on this show could have just been seen if you would just go on the WWE Network and watch R Evolution instead. I get it, it's Christmas, but I would have rather seen another exclusive match or something. 

Overall Rating: 44%