Over the past few days the "Hall of Fame Forum" has been hyped up to open Raw. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels would kick things off by discussing the upcoming match between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. I wonder if Hogan has any hard feeling towards Shawn overselling the hell out of his offense at SummerSlam 2005. That's still one of the funniest matches I can remember. Anyway, Hogan continues to say that John Cena is the greatest thing since him, while HBK and Flair are realists who think that Brock is going to kill Cena. Cena comes out and says he's going to get his revenge because HES FEARS NOTHING AND REGRETS LESS! He didn't actually say that but it was the usual Cena stuff. This was only alright, not the big promo that it probably should have been. The best thing was Shawn Michaels being sassy.
SummerSlam rematch time as Jack Swagger, sans Zeb Colter since he's recovering from Rusev's kick at SummerSlam, faced Rusev. With their constant back and forth and matches on Main Event, Battle ground and SummerSlam, these two have developed some good chemistry. We got another solid outing between them that ended via ref stoppage again. I like this idea because it makes Rusev look like a beast while Swagger never gives up. Bo Dallas makes sure to inform Swagger that he once again let his country down.
The United States Champion came out next to do some color commentary. Similar to how Cesaro did commentary for his match on Main Event last week. Can I just point out that while I like the new WWE logo, it's so strange that it's on the right side of the screen. It belongs on the left side dammit. Anyway, Rob Van Dam went one on one with Cesaro and the winner would become the number one contender to the United States Title. So, it doesn't matter that neither guy has the best win/loss record huh? This wasn't as good as their SummerSlam kickoff match and Cesaro picked up the win. Oh well, their match at Payback was really good so I look forward to more Sheamus/Cesaro. They will have some badass hard hitting matches.
Time for the rematch of the rematch. Natalya vs. Paige III. Despite beating Paige twice last week, Natalya doesn't earn a Divas Title match. Seriously? This couldn't be a title match? Whatever. Their stuff is good and Paige wins before skipping around the ring. Of course, AJ Lee comes out and the distraction allows Natalya to clothesline Paige. AJ calls Paige an english muffin and says she's more sincere about loving her. She kisses Paige's hand and leaves and I am LOVING the mind games between the two.
Seth Rollins held a eulogy for his fallen former brother in arms, Dean Ambrose. We all know that Ambrose is off filming a movie so I wonder what's next for Rollins until then. He cuts a good promo and puts himself over for creating the Shield. Seriously, Seth can go on the microphone and it was the one thing I was worried about when he first got hired by the WWE. Roman Reigns decides to remember that he was part of the Shield finally and comes out. It's honestly bugged me badly that he just gave up on having an issue with Seth. He brawls with Kane and crashes the eulogy. Decent stuff and I wonder if we're getting Rollins/Reigns at Night of Champions. Where would that leave Randy Orton?
The Tag Team Titles were up for grabs next as The Usos defended against the team that beat them last week, the Dust Brothers. The fans weren't really into it but it was a good little match. Cody continues to nail the Stardust character even if he's honestly above it. One of the Usos messed up their knee and got counted out. Goldust demanded a rematch right now as he seemed to think that a countout win for the titles wouldn't earn them another rematch next week. I guess if Natalya didn't get a title shot, they probably wouldn't get another. Cody and Goldust attack the Usos and the heel turn is on! I'm quite surprised by this but I really like it. I'm sure Cody and Goldie can do good things with this and it sets up what should be a good one at Night of Champions.
I guess the Authority is off tonight, so Kane decides to book himself and Seth Rollins against Roman Reigns for later tonight. Then we get another vignette from Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman to build towards Night of Champions. It was really good as this is when Brock's promos are at their best. He can say little badass things while Heyman sells everything. Anyway, up next we were supposed to get Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz again but we got Miz's stunt double, Damien Mizdow instead. Miz was on commentary and this didn't click. The whole segment was pretty poor.
So, Jerry "The King" Lawler was now going to be psychiatrist with the Bella Twins. This sounds like it will be dreadful. Brie Bella was sincere and apologized for whatever she did to upset Nikki. Nikki wants no part of it and says that Brie acts like the victim. They talk about ultrasounds for some reason and Nikki berates Brie's looks and Daniel Bryan. This whole thing has been cringeworthy so far. This should just be about Brie abandoning Nikki and that's it. I can't believe that Brie is an attention seeker when Nikki went out and got huge fake boobs. Seriously, when looking at the Bella Twins together, Nikki's rack is the first thing a guy notices. Nikki slaps Lawler, which the camera misses, and she beats up Brie. Besides this being terrible, why the hell can Brie ruin Daniel Bryan segments but John Cena and Nikki Bella never interact on screen?
Handicap match time as Seth Rollins and Kane faced Roman Reigns. This wasn't a long match and Seth attacked Reigns with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Rollins and Kane bust out the cinder blocks again, but Roman Reigns is no Dean Ambrose and he saves himself. Rollins escapes but Reigns ends up laying out Kane with the Superman Punch. This all did not get anywhere near the level of crowd reaction that Ambrose doing this would. It was actually a pretty lukewarm reception. I still wonder what role Randy Orton will play in all of this or at Night of Champions period.
Los Matadores met SLATER GATOR in a match that the crowd cared nothing about. It was a total filler segment. For some reason Los Matadores get the win here before we cut to the FOURTH recap of the Hall of Fame forum. I fucking hate all of these damn recaps. WRITE A FULL THREE HOUR SHOW AND THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN. Bo Dallas beat Kofi Kingston next in another short match and he badmouthed Jack Swagger, which caused the Real American to come out and slam Bo. Also, Big Show and Mark Henry vs. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper is announced for Smackdown, while Main Event gets RVD/Seth Rollins.
When the WWE announced that John Cena and Bray Wyatt would main event Raw my first reaction was, well, Bray's going to lose to him yet again. John Cena runs to the ring and it's like the savage beating that Brock gave him never happened. Yay. No bandages or taped up ribs or anything. Harper and Rowan get involved, so out come Big Show and Mark Henry. In a move that Theodore Long would love, this is turned into a six man tag team match playa. Even with the six man tag though, John Cena cleans house, makes Harper submit and hits all three Wyatt Family member with AAs. So, this was so stupid. First of all, can John Cena look vulnerable? How bad would it have been if Bray was able to beat him with a bit of cheating because of the beating that he took from Brock? Whatever. The Wyatts are pointless and it's all thanks to the Cena feud.
Another mediocre episode of Raw. It seems like it's either hit or miss with this show. There was some good like the eulogy for Ambrose, the Cesaro/Sheamus stuff, the AJ/Paige stuff and the Dust Brothers heel turn. There was some terrible with the Wyatt Family death, the Bella segments and the absurd amount of recaps. This episode screamed "meh". 4/10
Unforgiven 2002 September 22, 2002 – Staples Center in Los Angeles, California – Attendance: 16,000
Obviously, I consider SummerSlam to be the peak of 2002, at least Pay-Per-View wise. It was the first show that I've fully reviewed to earn the coveted 10 out 10 perfect rating. So it would be hard for the WWE to best that the following month, but they could build on how positive it was. Brock Lesnar was set for his first Pay-Per-View WWE Title defense and it would be against the former Champion, The Undertaker, in a first time ever match! Also, Eric Bischoff was engaged in a feud with his rival General Manager Stephanie McMahon, that could result in some HLA! HLA! HLA! Lastly of note before we begin, Bischoff handed Triple H Big Gold and dubbed it the World Heavyweight Championship and he would have his first defense on this very show.
The opening video package is pretty cool and highlights how we now have two World Titles. The Undertaker's heel turn lasted about seven months only and both title matches sound like they'll be pretty good.
Eight Man Tag Team Match Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, Goldust and Kane vs. The Un-Americans (Christian, Lance Storm, Test and William Regal) I have no idea where Kane was form WrestleMania until now, but he has badass attire and the great “Slow Chemical” theme. He will NEVER have a better theme. Goldust and Bubba do identical punch sequences together on the Tag Team Champions in a fun spot. The Un-Americans isolate Goldust and he gets a mudhole stomped in him by Test. Goldust manages to tag in Booker, and the crowd pops pretty big for him. Booker whiffs on a kick that gets him a near fall. He then replaces D-Von as the black guy who does the diving headbutt in the WASSUP sequence. He continues to be the token black guy as Bubba Ray is all like “BOOKER...GET THE TABLES!” The table gets baseball slid into Booker's face by the Champions. The heels work over Booker, but he rallies out of it and plants Christian with a spinebuster. I assume the hot tag is coming to the returning Kane. I was right. Kane comes in and beats up the entire Un-Americans. The pier six brawl breaks out as everyone goes to war outside. Test hits Kane with the pump handle slam but eats a Scissors Kick from Booker. SPINAROONIE! Christian ruins the fans' fun with a reverse DDT though. Kane nearly hits Storm with a Chokeslam but Christian low blows him. He eats a Bubba Bomb before Regal knocks him outside. Goldust sets up Christian in the corner and it's time to SHATTER SOME DREAMS! Test hits Goldust with a big boot but gets a flying clothesline from Kane. He Chokeslams Storm and it's over!
Winners: Booker T, Bubba Ray Dudley, Goldust and Kane in 9:51 Really fun opening contest. The crowd was hot and frantic finish with everyone getting some shine was entertaining as hell. ***
Stephanie McMahon is giving Billy and Chuck a pep talk because if they lose to 3 Minute Warning tonight, Stephanie has to engage in some Hot Lesbian Action.
Intercontinental Championship Chris Jericho (c) vs. Ric Flair Their feud from SummerSlam carries over into Unforgiven, but with the Intercontinental Title on the line this time around. Jericho shoulder blocks Flair down, but fails when trying to come off the top rope. Flair lights up Jericho's chest with chops and goes for the Figure Four, but Jericho blocks it. He hits a springboard dropkick and is very proud of himself. A missile dropkick follows and I find it odd that Jericho would do the same move twice in a row. Jericho applies the dreaded abdominal stretch but Flair counters with a hip lock takeover. Flair goes his corner bump but is right back on the offensive and sends Jericho over the turnbuckle and outside. Flair targets the leg and goes for the Figure Four but Jericho counters with a small package. Lionsault misses and Jericho seems to hurt his leg more. He sells it like his leg is about to fall off and a medic comes down. When Flair turns his back, Jericho gets to his feet and attacks. ITS A BY GAWD MIRACLE! He locks on the Walls of Jericho and Flair submits.
Winner and Still Intercontinental Champion: Chris Jericho in 6:16 Nothing special, but it had the good story of Jericho outsmarting the dirtiest player in the game. **
Eric Bischoff now gives a pep talk to 3 Minute Warning. For those who don't know, this team consists of the future Superhero in Training, Rosey, and Umaga! He announces that Rico will be in their corner tonight.
Ah, this is the first ever Pay-Per-View in the Staples Center. That's cool. Shaq and his son are in the front row and its' highlighted. MAD TV's Will Sasso is actually behind the announce table but they don't focus on him.
Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge Edge comes out aggressively so Eddie uses that against him to start. Edge hits a very nice looking suplex for two. I'm so glad that the WWE realized that Eddie should be a face. He cheats well, obviously, but I don't think he did enough to draw good heat. He hits a tornado DDT and stomps away. He works the neck for a while. A huge right hand from out of nowhere helps Edge to turn the tide. Edge is playing the desperate face here and it works pretty well. He hits a few big moves in a row but is unable to put him away. THE SMACKDOWN SIX! I just had to throw that in there. Eddie hits a jawbreaker and goes for a hurricanrana but Edge counters into a big powerbomb that only gets a near fall. Edge goes for a Spear, Eddie dodges and Edge nearly hits the corner but stops himself. He hits the Edgecution, but, not yet being a veteran, Edge covers too close to the ropes and Eddie gets his foot on the ropes. Crowd chants for Eddie as Edge misses a missile dropkick. Eddie exposes the turnbuckle but it backfires when he gets whipped into it and Speared into it. Edge puts Eddie on the top but Eddie counters and slams Edge's face into the exposed buckle! He follows with a big sunset flip bomb and pulls the tights for good measure to win.
Winner: Eddie Guerrero in 11:55 Really good stuff from these two again. They told a good story and Edge's desperation coupled with Eddie's need to cheat was fun. ***1/2
Triple H is walking around with big gold and he enters the Raw locker room. He finds RVD, who is all “whatever and cool” instead of being nervous, so HHH calls him out. He points out Ric Flair in the locker room and says that he doesn't have things like “desire” or “determination” now. Flair gets upset but RVD backs him up and HHH leaves.
Billy and Chuck vs. 3 Minute Warning w/ Rico The stipulation here is that if 3 Minute Warning win, Stephanie McMahon has to perform HLA. If Billy and Chuck win, Eric Bischoff has to kiss Stephanie's ass. So, it's a win-win for us guys. 3 Minute Warning don't have their awesome theme just yet. They do get the advantage early because they're much tougher than the former Tag Team Champions. They double headbutt Chuck and because they're Samoan, he might be dead. But he kicks out. A “Rico's gay” chant starts which has to be like, politically incorrect or something. Rosey misses a second rope moonsault, which impressed me and a lot of people. Billy gets the hot tag and he wails away on both opponents, hitting a dropkick and big clothesline. DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER, but they're Samoans you idiot! That's like, wrestling rule #3. They no sell it and take down Billy. Chuck hits Rosey with a superkick but then eats one from Jamal. Jamal sends Billy up for a flapjack but he counters into the Fameasser! Rico enters but gets tossed out, allowing Rosey to send him into Jamal for a pop up Samoan drop to end it.
Winners: 3 Minute Warning in 6:38 So it took twice as long as three minutes. A decent little tag team match that I enjoyed, but nothing special. **
Jonathan Coachman interviews Eric Bischoff, who like every other straight male, is excited about Stephanie and lesbians. He makes three lesbians in his office chant “HLA” and, cutting to the announce table, so is Jerry Lawler.
World Heavyweight Championship Triple H (c) vs. Rob Van Dam I hate when Triple H has no facial hair. In the early goings it's a battle of RVD's athleticism and care free attitude against Triple H's power and serious demeanor. RVD out wrestles Triple H at one point, causing him to regroup, so RVD takes his water bottle and totally steals HHH's taunt. You just wasted a finisher dude! We get a bit of sloppy wrestling for a moment as RVD does an impressive bridge before sweeping the leg like it's Karate Kid or something. Triple H starts to get more aggressive as he sends RVD's outside and nearly gets a countout win but RVD makes it back in. Triple H is picking apart RVD because he's the CEREBRAL ASSASSAIN! HHH gets two with the high knee. He goes to mock RVD on the top, allowing the challenger to slam him off. His rally is cut short by a sleeper hold though. He breaks out of it and both guys are down. RVD uses his educated feet to mount a comeback and hits the cartwheel moonsault for a near fall. He picks up another near fall with a kick to the mouth and seems to get frustrated. Triple H absolutely tramples the referee so of course it's time for RVD to attempt a pin. He's all like, screw it and hits a Five Star before going for the pin again like an idiot. HHH uses this time to nail a low blow. He goes to use his sledgehammer but it backfires until Ric Flair runs out. He threatens to take out HHH with it but instead levels RVD! Triple H follows with the Pedigree as Flair wakes up Earl Hebner to count the three.
Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H in 18:17 Good match. Everything made sense from HHH being methodical to RVD surprising everyone and even the referee bump made sense to lead to Flair and Hunter joining forces. The first seeds of Evolution are planted here. ***1/4
D-Lo Brown and Billy Kidman are talking about Ric Flair's heel turn when a soap opera star appears. It's an odd segment.
Women's Championship Molly Holly (c) vs. Trish Stratus Molly starts the match in control and Trish misses an elbow to keep her in control. Molly gets a near fall with a clothesline and slams Trish's face into the mat before tossing her outside. We continue to see a mean streak from the Champion as she throws Trish into the steel steps and guardrail. Trish gets a counter in the ring, but it again goes nowhere when Molly dropkicks her. Trish pulls her into a small package for two. Trish busts out a bulldog but Molly is able to kick out. The challenger also nails the Chick Kick but again can't win the gold. Molly goes up for the Molly Go Round, but Trish attempts her handstand hurricanrana. Molly catches her leg and gets her in the tree of woe. She goes all Chyna and does some gymnastics before bumping Trish in the corner. Trish hits another bulldog from out of nowhere and wins the belt!
Winner and New Women's Champion: Trish Stratus in 5:46 Decent stuff. Very fast paced though and didn't have much direction but we got a lot of near falls. *3/4
Jonathan Coachman interviews Trish Stratus, who is emotional about the win and clearly loves what she is doing for a living. Cutting backstage, 3 Minute Warning and Rico are enjoying the ladies, which is kind of pointless since they're all lesbians. Bischoff picks his two girls for Stephanie's HLA.
Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle I had no idea that this was on the card. DIS GUN B GUD! This honestly stemmed from these two laughing at each other over getting Stinkfaces. Yup. Feeling out process early on as they try to out wrestle each other. A series of pinfall attempts ends in multiple near falls before Benoit tries to apply the Crossface. Angle wriggles free and catches his breath outside. Angle gets angry, sends Benoit outside and throws him into the guardrail. He applies a seated bear hug of sorts but Benoit eventually gets out. He turns the tide when Angle misses and goes shoulder first into the corner. Benoit is like a shark smelling blood as he focuses on the shoulder because PSYCHOLOGY! Angle doesn't care about that and hits a belly to belly suplex. Both men are down but when they get to their feet, Benoit hits two Germans, only to have Kurt block the third. He then hits two Germans but Benoit blocks a third and hits another German of his own. Angle counters and finally hits three straight. My goodness, eight Germans. STRAPS ARE DOWN!Benoit ducks a shot and hits a release German! Benoit goes up for the headbutt, but Angle scurries up and hits a top rope belly to belly. Angle slaps on the Ankle Lock but Benoit kicks him off. They do some tombstone reversals and Benoit wins with a shoulder breaker. He goes back to the top and hits the headbutt but can't cover in time. He gets a near fall but goes right into the Crossface! Angle puts on the Ankle Lock WHILE IN THE CROSSFACE! He ends up countering it into just the Ankle Lock, but Benoit rolls through and gets on the Crossface. Kurt reverses it back and I don't even know what to do with myself anymore. Benoit reaches the ropes so Angle pulls him back and puts him in the Crossface! Benoit gets close to the ropes, so Angle uses his foot to push the bottom rope away like a genius. Benoit counters and pins Angle for three with his feet on the ropes.
Winner: Chris Benoit in 13:55 I just witnessed a classic. Once they got their reversals going the crowd ate this up and two of the very best of all time, put on an excellent match. Their best match together up to this point. ****1/2
Brock Lesnar gets interviewed backstage, which means that Paul Heyman gets interviewed. Time for the HLA segment. If you don't remember it, Bischoff teases that the two lesbians are going to get down and dirty with Stephanie. He cuts them off and brings out a huge, ugly lesbian for Stephanie. This turns out to be Rikishi and Bischoff gets a stinkface. Stupid segment, and I didn't get my damn HLA. Like, wouldn't Bischoff know the lesbian that he hired to make out with Stephanie? So he should know that it was Rikishi.
WWE Championship Brock Lesnar (c) w/ Paul Heyman vs. The Undertaker The build up video for this match is pretty great and the Undisputed Title looks perfect on Brock. At the bell, they go so face to face that they basically kiss. Taker overpowers Brock and send shim flipping outside. Brock rushes in and tries to wrestle, but Taker knocks him outside again so he kicks the steps. Back inside, Brock jumps with Taker's jumping clothesline, making it look cooler. OLD SCHOOL! A Heyman distraction allows Brock to take control with some shoulder thrusts. Brock targets the ribs, but Taker fires away on him with SOUP BONES. Following a powerslam, Brock puts Undertaker in a bear hug for like five minutes. Taker fights out and they brawl outside. Heyman distracts Brian Hebner, allowing Brock to nail Taker with the title. Undertaker is busted open but isn't going down without a fight. He hits two big clotheslines and a big boot for two. Snake eyes and a second big boot gets him another near fall. The referee ends up getting bumped just before Undertaker hits a Chokeslam. Matt Hardy of all people runs out to attack The Undertaker but he just eats a Last Ride. That allows Brock to hit a stiff spinebuster for two. Undertaker fights back and goes for the Last Ride, but Brock blocks it and the referee gets knocked out again. Heyman brings a chair into play. Lesnar goes to use it but takes a big boot to the face. Taker picks up the chair and clocks Brock with it. The chair is completely bent as he absolutely nailed him. Undertaker nails a leg drop but can only get a near fall. Brock reverses the Last Ride and Undertaker counters the F5! They brawl in the corner and Hebner continues to try and stop them so Brock throws him into the corner and they continue to brawl until they call for the bell.
Winner via disqualification: The Undertaker in 20:27 Solid brawl. Could have been better but it was still entertaining. I would've liked it more if it was shorter. I didn't mind the DQ ending. **1/2
Overall: 7.5/10; Very good. I enjoyed this more than I expected to. Angle and Benoit had one of the best matches of 2002, while the main event was a decent brawl. The opener, World Title and Eddie/Edge matches were all very good and nothing on this card was bad at all. Solid follow up to an outstanding SummerSlam.
Clash of the Champions XIV: Dixie Dynamite 1/30/91 – Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, Georgia – Attendance: 2,200
So it's time for my first review of a show that's not a Pay-Per-View. Clash of the Champions were big deals back in the WCW days and I look forward to seeing these. Now this particular edition was the first to be booked by Dusty Rhodes after he returned to the company to take over for Ole Anderson. Ole did a pretty poor job and WCW needed to right the ship. Enter Dusty and he set up an interesting main event as Ric Flair puts the World Title on the line against Scott Steiner. I'm definitely intrigued for that, so let's get started.
The intro video is cool for it's time. It hypes up Scott Steiner as one of the awesome talents in wrestling before promoting the WCW Tag Team Title match. The national anthem follows, which gives it more a big event/Pay-Per-View feel. I can dig it. Your commentary team for tonight is Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes.
WCW World Tag Team Championship Doom (c) vs. Lex Luger and Sting For those who don't know, Doom consists of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed. Reed and Sting start and the crowd pops once Sting gets some offense. Luger is the United States Champion, here as he comes in and works the arm. After all, he is AMERICAN MADE! Luger and Simmons continues to try and see who's stronger and Simmons wins by knocking him down twice. Luger finally gets him down, and surprisingly, he doesn't use his loaded forearm. Simmons connects with the EDDIE GILBERT hot shot before it goes to commercial. As it returns, Luger plays the face in peril while he gets worked over by Doom. Butch Reed is not “The Natural” here, he's “Hacksaw”. So not only does he have a worse nickname, but he stole it from Jim Duggan. Luger finally tags the Stinger after he gets shoulder blocked into his corner. Bad move Butch. Danny Spivey runs in through the crowd and beats up Luger, who he will face for the US Title soon. Meanwhile, Sting is dominating inside until the referee takes a bump. Spivey and his ass-less chaps are gone. However, the referee gets up to see Sting get backdropped over the top rope and because it's WCW, that's a DQ.
Winners via disqualification: Lex Luger and Sting in 7:45 Decent opener that got the crowd hot because they could see Sting and Luger. Mainly built Spivey/Luger but the Champions got to retain and look strong. **
Doom tries to attack the faces after the match but end up getting cleared from the ring by the dominant forces that are Sting and Luger. Cut to Missy Hyatt who announces the “Sexiest WCW Wrestler” award and it's the Television Champion the Z-Man.
WCW Television Championship The Z-Man (c) vs. “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton I have no idea why, but Eaton is introduced as from the “darkside” which is so stupid. So, I honestly have no clue who this Z-Man is. We get some mat work to begin as Z-Man seems to have the upper hand. Eaton works the arm as they plug the hotline. The Z-Man dropkicks Eaton off the top and to the outside. Now the arm work comes from Z-Man My goodness Nick Patrick looks young. This match is boring as they do a test of strength, but neither guy is a powerhouse. Z-Man gets a near fall with a back body drop but Eaton hits a top rope knee drop to turn the tide. Z-Man counters a suplex and rolls up Eaton for two. He gets a backslide and retains the gold.
Winner and Still WCW Television Champion: The Z-Man in 7:11 Boring ass match. Neither guy really did anything impressive and they really seemed to be going through the motions. *
The replay shows that Bobby Eaton's shoulder was up. Did people have to sit through a rematch? Backstage, Alexandra York, also known as Marlena also known as Terri Runnels talks about a new acquisition. Interesting.
Allen Iron Eagle and “Wildfire” Tommy Rich vs. The Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes is starting to develop a bit of a gut. The Freebirds show off some smarts early on with a blind tag, but Tommy Rich takes them down anyway. He tags in the 20 year old Iron Eagle, but he looks more like 35. Another blind tag is made by the Freebirds as the Eagle botches a bump. I wonder if he went on to become the Swagger Soaring Eagle. Hayes applies a headlock that the future Soaring Eagle counters with an arm drag. Hayes quickly gets up and punches Eagle but he doesn't react to it. AT ALL. Maybe he is 20, he's pretty sloppy. They continue to work him over as we're getting another boring contest. Tag to Rich but the referee did not see it so he kicks him out. While he's doing that, a double DDT is hit on the Eagle to end it.
Winners: The Fabulous Freebirds in 5:53 Worse than the previous match. Multiple botches and the only guy who looked good was Tommy Rich, who barely got any action. 1/2*
An ad for WrestleWar '91 is shown. Picture in picture is shown of Tony Schiavone and Paul E. Dangerously commentating somewhere, while Dusty Rhodes gets under his skin.
Jumpin' Joey Maggs vs. Sid Vicious First of all, how did Maggs get an entrance? Two, Sid has terrible face music and three, Sid is announced as from “anywhere he pleases.” Maggs tries some offense but it obviously fails. Sid clubs him in the back and plants him with the Powerbomb.
Winner: Sid Vicious in 1:10 Well, this was what it should have been. Maggs gets no offense and Sid dominates. *
Sid signals for his personal EMTs to come out and take Maggs out on a stretcher. That's a pretty cool gimmick idea for a monster. We then get a promo for the WCW Hotline, which had a different person each day. Also, the 1-900-909-9900 number is the best ever. Tony Schiavone promotes the upcoming big match at WrestleWar and interviews Sid about it.
Ricky Morton vs. Terry Taylor So the Red Rooster is introduced as the “computerized man of the 90's.” Seriously, WCW? Mat wrestling kicks this off, with neither guy getting the advantage. Morton counters an arm drag with an arm drag which was interesting. High cross body by Morton gets him two, and Terry goes outside to catch his breath. Morton is looking like a really poor man's Ricky Steamboat but only because he's done like six arm drags. Alexandra York comes out to scout the match, so we get a picture in picture promo of her saying that Terry Taylor is her newest client. He drops a knee on Morton for two. Taylor catches him with a bulldog but again only gets two. Taylor goes for a splash but Morton gets his knees up to block. Taylor starts to go heel but eye rakes and then he wins by attacking Morton from behind and letting Morton crash and burn.
Winner: Terry Taylor in 5:34 Nothing special but told a good story of Taylor getting more angry and heel like throughout. **1/2
Sting gets interviewed about being attacked by the Four Horsemen and coming back to win the PWI “Wrestler of the Year” Award.
El Cubano vs. Ranger Ross My goodness, what is this doing on television. Ross cuts a promo that's picture in picture at the start of the match and he dropkicks the fat Cubano outside. Cubano gets back in but doesn't get much offense. Ross shoulder blocks him down and applies a wristlock. Jim Ross really puts over how much of a role model Ranger Ross is. Ross wins shortly after with a sloppy sunset flip.
Winner: Ranger Ross in 3:54 This was pretty piss poor. Not much happened and what did occur was sloppy. 1/2*
Another promo airs for WrestleWar '91, which will feature War Games!
Arn Anderson and Barry Windham vs. The Renegade Warriors Besides Sting and Lex Luger, the Four Horsemen get the biggest pop of the show. The Renegade Warriors attack before the match begins and get in a surprising amount of offense in the early stages. They even cut the ring in half and work over Double A for a bit. The crowd actually reacts to the possibility of an upset, but Double A hits a spinebuster and things change. Windham gets the tag and hits a suplex. The Horsemen now cut the ring in half but Anderson and one of the Warriors get a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. Anderson stops a tag with an atomic drop and hits a poor looking splash. The Warriors make a tag and are on fire. All four guys are in the ring until Windham knocks Mark outside. He hits the other with a lariat and after a second rope suplex, the Horsemen win.
Winners: Arn Anderson and Barry Windham in 7:28 This was more competitive than I expected, but it still was rather boring. The Renegade Warriors do nothing for me. *1/2
Highlights of a match from Japan between Big Van Vader and Stan Hansen is shown because WCW has signed the rematch to happen.
Brian Pillman vs. Buddy Lee Parker I expect this to be another in a line of squashes tonight. Pillman is gearing up for War Games so there would be no need for Parker to win. Pillman gets in his signature offense as the ladies love it and he flies around the ring a bit. Not much to note as Parker gets in nearly no offense and Pillman wins with a cross body.
Winner: Brian Pillman in 3:20 Another squash match. Not much to say but Pillman did impress. *1/2
Inter Gender Arm Wrestling Contest Paul E. Dangerously is taking on Missy Hyatt in this one, and Paul hilariously has on knee pads and wrist tape. I would think Missy would need the knee pads. Oh yeah, I went there. Missy shows off cleavage which distracts Dangerously and allows her to win easily.
Winner: Missy Hyatt Not really anything to rate. At least it was fast unlike a lot of other arm wrestling contests.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Ric Flair (c) vs. Scott Steiner w/ Rick Steiner The Steiners gets a cool entrance complete with Michigan cheerleaders. They announce that El Gigante is in the crowd and for those who don't know, he's the future Giant Gonzalez. Once the bell rings, Flair lets out a “woo” and trash talks his challenger. Flair stupidly decides to flex and Scott outshines him there, even back in 1991. Steiner shows off his power advantage early on, which gets pops from the fans. Flair goes to regroup but runs into Rick who taunts him. Steiner hits a sidewalk slam for two and Flair, being the super heel that he is, pulls hair to kick out. Flair decides that mat wrestling is the next tactic to try, but Scott holds his own and Flair has to take another breather. I always thought it was funny how a clothesline performed by a Steiner becomes the STEINERLINE! Flair gets an advantage and tries a dirty pin but Rick knocks his feet off the ropes. Scott slaps on the Figure Four when the show returns from commercial. Flair gets out and actually tries a cross body, which I've never seen him do. They both go over and out, though Scott has to throw himself over. Flair now works the leg with various kneebreakers and such. He applies the Figure Four and uses the ropes for leverage. Scott turns it over, putting the pressure on the Champion, who gets the ropes. Scott sends Flair into the corner and he does his trademark bump there. Scott comes really close to winning with a small package. With three minutes of TV time remaining, Flair is trying to stall. He goes for a pin with his feet on the ropes and Rick stops it again. Scott hits a nice tiger bomb, but doesn't pin, allowing Flair to roll outside and stall. Scott waits in the ring like an idiot as Rick takes forever to roll the champion in with a minute left. STEINERLINE! Scott does too much pandering to the crowd and hits a belly to belly as time expires.
The match ends in a TV time limit draw at 21:40 This told a good story of the wily veteran out smarting and surviving the young upstart. Scott did look dumb near the end but I guess it works with the rookie mistakes thing. ***1/4
Overall: 3/10; Poor. Far too many squash matches hurt this card. They tried to cram too much into two hours. That being said, the main event was good, the arm wrestling match was short but entertaining and the Sid squash was at least fun. Everything else was useless and tough to get through. The next “Random Network Review” is scheduled to be In Your House: D-Generation X!
Smackdown opened with "The Viper" Randy Orton and hopefully this is a better promo than his usual stuff. He says that he's focused on tonight and he will put down Rob Van Dam to make up for his loss to Roman Reigns. He wants to take the fans' respect because he's the greatest Superstar of this generation. Somebody forgot to tell him that John Cena exists. This was very short and then we are joined by Seth Rollins. Orton shakes his hand on the ramp and it looks like Seth vs. Jack Swagger will be the opening contest. This got a good amount of time and both guys put on a good showing. There was pretty much non stop action and Seth hit the Blackout leading to the countout victory. The inspirational Bo Dallas is out to call Jack an American zero and promises to be the new American sweetheart. I'm all for it.
The Miz is backstage being as douchey as possible and he's rather rude to Kane so gets booked against Roman Reigns again tonight. Oh joy. Anyway, Rusev is out to face Sin Cara. I guess he doesn't just go against straight Americans. He doesn't like Mexicans either. Equal opportunity hatred and I appreciate that. Of course, he wins and Lana has to speak after the match. Mark Henry comes out and is all like "THATS WHAT I DO". Lana has Rusev leave and Henry questions his manhood for allowing a woman to hold him back. Renee Young, in all of her perfection, interviews Rob Van Dam about his upcoming match with Randy Orton but he's chill about it. Whatever dude.
Time for the bout between Rob Van Dam and Randy Orton. When I think of these two together, I always remember that ridiculous sell job that RVD did on the RKO where he nearly broke his neck back in like 2007. This had potential to be much better as they seemed to go through the motions. Randy Orton got to vicious and the official called for the disqualification. Orton wasn't done as he hit RVD with an RKO on an open steel chair. I guess this sort of gets him back his momentum after losing to Roman Reigns but he never really had an momentum. Renee Young interviews Reigns who claims that he's fine with continuing the fight with Orton. Oh no. I don't want more of this feud.
After beating the Divas Champion on Raw, Natalya gets another match with Paige here on Smackdown. This one lasted longer and was better, but once again, AJ came down to the ring. She takes the Divas Title and starts to leave with it, but leaves it on the ramp. Paige goes to get it and makes it back in the ring at the count of eight, only to be put in the Sharpshooter. AJ comes back down, grabs the belt and holds it as Paige stares at her and taps out. I get the storyline, but couldn't Paige have just lost by countout? This is like when Eva Marie beat AJ heading into SummerSlam. Stupid booking to protect the Total Divas girls with the show returning. Sigh. Let's all enjoy Paige/AJ while we can before the Total Divas get all the title shots again.
Tag team action followed when the two strangest tag teams in the WWE met. The Dust Brothers faced the Wyatt Family and their stupid "WHOLE WORLD" intro to their theme. The Usos cut a promo on a split screen that was pretty funny. Talking about which team has the better face paint and such. Anyway, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan were pegged to be the next Tag Team Champions...then everything went sour. They lost to Big Show and Mark Henry and they lost here tonight. I'm not too mad because I love Cody and Goldust though. They do redeem themselves a bit by beating the hell out of Cody and Goldust after the match though.
I know that Smackdown has a lot of Raw recaps and I do complain often about the amount of recaps we get but this is absurd. Nearly the ENTIRE promo of Brock Lesnar receiving the new WWE Title on Raw is shown. It's like 25 minutes long. No lie. Ridiculous to see it all. Anyway, Randy Orton slowly walks to the ring during the main event, which is essentially Roman Reigns squashing The Miz. This guy was Intercontinental Champion less than a week ago. Randy Orton is shocked at the result for some reason and the fight is on! The brawl is actually pretty good, but again, I just can't get into this feud. It has two of the top guys in the company but it just doesn't feel special or like it's must see.
Not the best episode of Smackdown. Again, too many recaps and this time, the matches weren't anything special. The only good match was the opener and the Dust Brothers tag match was decent. You honestly don't have to go out and see anything else. 3/10.
HIS NAME IS ENZO AMORE. HE'S A CERTIFIED G AND A BONAFIDE STUD...AND YOU CAN'T TEACH THAT! Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. NXT opens with a semi-final match in the Tag Team Tournament and it's features Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady going up against The Vaudevillains. So, those are far and away my two favorite teams in the tournament, making this a bit disheartening. It was shorter than I expected and The Vaudevillains were able to pick up a clean victory. After the match, the Legionaries arrived and attacked Enzo before shaving half of his beard! That's something you just don't do to a man's beard.
Next, Triple H came out to make a huge announcement to the NXT Universe. He informed everyone that the third NXT Special will air on the WWE Network on September 11th! I'm not a fan of it being called NXT TakeOver again but whatever. Triple H says that the NXT Championship will be defended along with the Women's Championship and the winners of the Tag Team Tournament will face the Ascension on that night too. Should be a good time and the last two Specials were outstanding. His last announcement is that there will be a new General Manager for NXT and he will be there next week. Excited for that for sure. I do want to make a side note that I absolutely love the fact that Triple H treats NXT like his baby. Good sign for the future.
Tyler Breeze is not happy that his NXT Championship match was interrupted by Tyson Kidd last week and he tells Devin Taylor about it. It looks like he'll be facing Kidd right now. Two heels huh? Interesting. The match does not go for long and Breeze escapes the Sharpshooter only to grab his phone and head up the ramp to be counted out. Kidd would put on Tyler's vest after the match and pose on the top turnbuckle in a funny little moment.
The NXT Women's Champion makes her way to the ring next as Charlotte will be in non-title action before her upcoming title defense against Bayley. And she's facing the awesome Becky Lynch. Man, I love Becky Lynch so much. This was a good match. They met a few weeks ago and it was good, this was about on par with that and it was better than Charlotte's defense against Summer Rae. Again, Charlotte hasn't impressed me much since TakeOver, so I really hope to see Bayley take the belt from her. Anyway, Charlotte picked up the win here and it wasn't surprising.
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady come out again after the commercial and Enzo is pissed. He tells Sylvester Lefort to fall back like his hairline. Ouch. Enzo issues a challenge to the Legionaires and he'll put his mohawk on the line against Lefort's hair at TakeOver. I assume it will be a tag team match. Mojo Rawley comes out next to bore me to tears and he wins a squash match over Steve Cutler. He then cuts a promo about how serious he is when it comes to Bull Dempsey. Oh god, they're going to wrestle at TakeOver most likely. Sheesh. Oh well, I only had one word in mind when Enzo made the hairline crack.
The last match of the night would be the other semi-final match in the Tag Team Tournament. Sami Zayn and his disappointing partner Adam Rose faced Kalisto and Sin Cara. So, two guys in this match really impressed me and that was obviously Kalisto and Zayn. They had a spot where Kalisto wowed me. Don't get me wrong, Sin Cara works better in a tag team style and Rose is better in when he gets the chance to work on NXT, but still nothing special. He would get pinned by Kalisto and the finals of the Tournament are set to be Kalisto and Sin Cara against the Vaudevillains, which should be very fun.
NXT was awesome this week, with the exception of the Mojo Rawley appearance. Breeze and Kidd was short but did it's job, the two tag matches were fun and the women's match was good. It earns a very good score of 8/10. Superstars was on next and the opener was Los Matadores taking on SLATER GATOR! That tag team is so fun but they would lose here. Hornswoggle was with Los Matadores, dressed as a cow for some reason. The main event was a rematch of last week's Divas bout between Emma and Alicia Fox. They got a lot of time and I enjoyed this, but it's weird that Fox seems to be back on her "crazed" gimmick on Superstars. Emma was able to win for the second straight week, this time with a cross body. Two entertaining matches here but nothing out of this world. 5.5/10
Until next time, follow me on Twitter @the_kevstaaa
