Impact Wrestling 3/20/15 Review

Following last week's excellent episode, I'm hoping for another good Impact. A good way to start is with Ultimate X. This was the first thing to catch my eye in TNA and I'm glad to see it back. The Tag Team Titles were on the line as the Wolves took on the BroMans and the Revolution. DJ Z took Robbie E's spot as he's still not in a good place mentally after losing to Brooke last week. It featured the usual cool spots, especially since the Revolution wisely sent out Manik and Sanda since they are former X Division Champions. A total breakneck pace contest, that you should check out if you want to have a fun ten minutes. The Wolves retain, which was the right booking decision too.

Austin Aries was out next to talk about the Beat Down Clan stealing his briefcase and he wants it right now. Low Ki and Samoa Joe come out to combat him. Aries says that they stole his briefcase and Ki stole his X Division Championship, so he wants a match with both things on the line now. Ki declines unless Aries can go through Samoe Joe. In what is one of Joe's final matches in TNA, he has a pretty good outing against Aries. I remember a time when Aries took the ROH Title from Joe. Time flies. Aries wins via disqualification because Low Ki gets involved. Aries is able to dodge a briefcase shot before knocking out Low Ki with it. Not only does he get his briefcase back but here comes ROCKSTAR SPUD! After last week's star making main event performance, he's here to cash in his X Division title shot! He hits the Underdog and wins his first title. I don't get to say this often about TNA but this was magnificent booking and timing. Hot off the heels of last week's performance, Spud cashes in so Ki stays strong and does it in his home country. Excellent all around.

The feud between Bram and Magnus continued as Magnus attacked him backstage. It was a brawl that spilled to the ring area so the fans can enjoy. They conveyed Magnus' fire at the personal attacks on his family well. Mickie James appeared as well, not pleased with Bram to add to it. Good segment. Magnus puts the stamp on this by powerbombing Bram onto the ramp. One thing I always give TNA props for is that their titles are pretty consistently defended on TV. That was clear as our second of three title matches came up. Taryn Terrell defended her Knockouts Championship against Gail Kim and Awesome Kong. I think this was a wise booking move since you're not giving away Taryn/Kong, while continuing the Kim/Kong rivalry and Kim always adds to a Knockouts match. This was very well done and an enjoyable contest. Taryn retained after rolling up Kim, keeping Kong strong for her eventual singles shot. Great match.

The big episode continues with a No Disqualification match between James Storm and Matt Hardy. TNA should probably stop taping so many shows at once. I get that it's a money saver, but it's been forever since we've seen Jeff Hardy. Storm wins and lays out Matt with the cowbell. Solid stuff. We move to the highly touted and hyped main event. Kurt Angle vs. Bobby Lashley for the first time ever. It is indeed a big time match and I enjoyed the match. Angle wins the gold with the Ankle Lock. Now, I dig the match but I hate the outcome. I'm so tired of TNA's constant need to always put the title on Angle. He's their go to and I need something new. It was a nice little moment though.

For the second straight week, TNA puts on a really good show. I didn't like the outcome of the main event but I digress. TNA has been quietly putting out consistently good shows since the Destination America move and this was another in that string. 8/10.

Smackdown 3/19/15 Review

We kick things off on Smackdown with the excellent pre-recorded Brock Lesnar promo from Raw. Roman Reigns joins things to cut a promo. He pulls a Mick Foley/John Cena and mentions the city name for a cheap pop. His stuff is wisely kept short, as Mark Henry comes out. He shows Roman destroying him last week before saying that now, he BELEES in Roman Reigns. So they brought Henry back and turned him face again purely so he can say nice things about Roman. Seth Rollins, Kane and J&J Security interrupt. They run down both men and go out of their way to state that Randy Orton has been barred from the arena tonight, meaning I'm almost 100% sure he will show up. To prepare for Mania, Seth wants a tune up, so we gonna have ourselves a tag team match playa.

For the second show this week, the Divas get to perform in the opening contest. On Monday, AJ Lee lost to Nikki Bella and tonight their WrestleMania partners would do battle. Paige and Brie were given much less time than Monday (they only went about three minutes) but I rather enjoyed it. Nikki and AJ were both solid on commentary. Brie shouted "BRIE MODE" but her voice is so terrible that it hurt. Paige used an inside cradle to beat Brie, which was fine since none of these girls have looked weak heading into WrestleMania. Hell, even AJ only lost on Raw due to a distraction. Also, part of me just loves seeing Paige and AJ team up.

Here is where the show gets stolen. The six challengers for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania competed in a Gauntlet Match. Much like Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns' Turmoil match last month, this took up a huge chunk of Smackdown and should have gone on last. We start with Dean Ambrose and Stardust. This was kept short, as Ambrose went SummerSlam 1992 British Bulldog with a sunset flip counter to win in just under two minutes. Stardust attacked post match, so the next participant, R-Truth appeared to stop this. It would cost him though as Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds and eliminated him. Luke Harper was next, in nearly identical attire to Dean. This was where the match went to the next level. These two did great together, and a nice powerbomb got Harper the win. The Kansas City crowd popped as Daniel Bryan joined the fray. Harper tossed him around and this was even better than the last. Bryan showed that he's phenomenal against bigger opponents. I wish we could get Brock/Bryan. Bryan worked the legs throughout and used an interesting submission to make Harper tap out. Dolph Ziggler is the last guy in, giving us the match that he actually wanted at WrestleMania. Dolph and Bryan was awesome as one would expect. They traded tons of near falls and counters, leading me to REALLY want to see an IC Title program between them this year. Mainly since I know there won't be a World Title program. Ziggler cleanly wins and they shake hands post match. Bad News Barrett appeared, actually gave some bad news and laid out both men with Bull Hammers. Things like this would have made Barrett actually look good coming into this Ladder match. This was the best thing about the show.

Once again, we are shown the video that says Sheamus is returning but we don't know when. We had too much wrestling in a row so it's time for a recap of the awful John Cena/Rusev segment from Raw and a pretty cool video package for the Divas tag at WrestleMania. It uses the WrestleMania theme and actually shows the AJ/Paige and Bella/Bella feud highlights. Now we go to a "Six Being Interspecies Match" as Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Natalya took on Los Matadores and El Torito. This was rather short, at about four minutes. Natalya and Kidd still showed some issues, but it was Nattie who won by powerbombing Torito. It wasn't bad and was kind of fun, but strange.

After Roman Reigns arrives for the main event, we find out that Mark Henry was taken out backstage. I feel like a handicap match can make Roman look really strong. Even with some interference from J&J Security, Reigns is able to defeat both Kane and Seth Rollins in about five minutes. At least Kane took the pin. After Reigns leaves, Randy Orton's music hits! He comes out and beats up everyone, though Seth manages to escape a potential RKO. I hate how they've managed to botch such an easy feud to book. Also, it always irks me when a guy who "isn't supposed to be there" comes out in his ring gear. You mean to tell me Orton was driving around in his trunks and pads?

It's hard to give a show a bad score when the majority of it is focused on one match and the one match is good. The gauntlet was a lot of fun and you should go out of your way to at least give it a view. I enjoyed the Divas stuff and even the six being tag. The main event was nothing much, which was expected. A rather enjoyable show that flew by. 6.5/10

Random Network Reviews: Survivor Series 2012

Survivor Series 2012
November 18th, 2012 – Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana – Attendance: 8,500

2012 is a year that I rather enjoyed. While it did have some bad, as every year does, it had a lot of good. My favorite thing would be CM Punk’s title reign and it was put to a huge test at Survivor Series here against Ryback and John Cena. Also, I love Survivor Series Pay-Per-Views because I love traditional Survivor Series matches. I also feel like I’ve reviewed a bunch of these already. Let’s see, 1989, 1995, 1996 and 2002 have all already been covered by me and that’s just off the top of my head. They’ve all been damn good shows so I hope this continues that trend.

The opening promo starts with basic Survivor Series history stuff. Then it moves to focusing on Big Show vs. Sheamus, which should be good since they stole the show at Hell in a Cell the month before. It then moved into promoting the WWE Championship match and Punk’s quest to survive for day 365. Commentary is Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL and this is the first time the three work together. I would grow to hate them as a unit.

Traditional Survivor Series Match
Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel, Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara and Tyson Kidd w/ Cameron & Naomi vs. Darren Young, Epico, Primo, Tensai and Titus O’Neil w/ Rosa Mendes
This is considered a bonus because it was unadvertised. I watched the go home Raw before this show and the four tag teams involved put on one hell of an eight man tag. Tyson and Epico begin, doing some fun back and forth until Epico takes a breather. Tyson tries to kick him from the apron, but Epico catches his foot and slams him down. Kidd gets an arm bar in and tags Gabriel. Kidd comes back in quickly as they work some double teams. Rey and Young become the legal men as Rey baseball slides him in the groin area. I miss the Prime Time Players, I just wanted to point that out. It seems like everyone is going to get some shine early on as even Sin Cara works over Primo. He impresses with a double springboard cross body that he shockingly DOESN’T BOTCH. Tensai is tired of this high flying shit so he and Titus beat up Cara. He plays the face in peril, making the tag to Clay. Clay cleans house and we get stereo suicide dives from International Airstrike, before Rey and Cara hit moonsaults. The future Tons of Funk are left in the ring and Brodus gets shoulder blocked down. Tensai nails a senton and Clay is down and out at 8:25.

Justin Gabriel runs in as the new legal man but also gets run over by Prince Albert. Titus and A-Train work together to just pick apart the much smaller South African. Tensai misses a senton, allowing Gabriel to roll him up and eliminate him at 10:23. After the Prime Time Players work over Gabriel, Epico gets the tag and allows a hot tag to Kidd. The last graduate of the Hart Dungeon doesn’t fare too well as he ends up grounded. Kidd rallies and rolls up Titus to get rid of him at 13:51. So the faces have two roll up eliminations which isn’t the strongest look for them. Epico tries three back suplexes but Kidd slips free and slaps on the Sharpshooter, forcing Epico to tap at 15:02. I’m surprised to see this strong run from International Airstrike. Primo is in and leaps from the top right into a dropkick from Tyson Kidd. Kidd is the MVP so far. He makes the tag to Rey and he does his usual tricks. He ends up in a bad spot as Primo tries a superplex, but Rey headbutts him to the ground and gets him in 619 position. Primo blocks and goes for the Backstabber but Rey blocks and rolls him up to knock him off at 19:00. Darren Young is alone and he eats a 619 followed by a swanton from Cara, moonsault from Gabriel, springboard elbow from Kidd and diving splash by Rey to end this.

Winners: Justin Gabriel, Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara and Tyson Kidd in 20:10
Damn good opener that was a ton of fun. They let the big guys get in their stuff early before bowing out and allowing the exciting guys to do their thing. Getting to see International Airstrike survive and Tyson Kidd shine was tremendous. I wish this was advertised because it’s going to be hard to top that. ****

Kaitlyn is shown walking to the ring when she is attacked by a blonde woman in a hoodie. Kaitlyn bests her and pulls off a wig, revealing the woman to be Aksana! CONTROVERSY! Eve Torres comes up and acts concerned, but it’s clearly not genuine so Kaitlyn shoves her.

WWE Divas Championship
Eve Torres (c) vs. Kaitlyn
So it’s only been two matches and this is just two years ago, but neither of these girls are still around and none of the teams in the opener are still together. (I know Primo and Epico are technically Los Matadores, but still.) Kaitlyn attacks at the bell and the blonde wig is involved. Eve crawls to safety on the outside because Kaitlyn is just kicking her ass. She even tries to escape through the crowd but is stopped in her tracks. Some kicks allow Eve to turn things in her favor before choking Kaitlyn in the corner. She wears down the challenger until Kaitlyn knocks her outside again. Eve is back to playing the cowardly heel and is crying and begging for mercy. Kaitlyn responds with a slap and goes into a rally. She nails her Go to Sleep variation but only gets two. Eve is even pulling on the apron to avoid Kaitlyn. She suckers Kaitlyn in and hits her finisher to retain.

Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: Eve Torres in 7:01
Kind of an odd match. Kaitlyn looked better than she usually does, but Eve was the star. She played both cowardly and cunning perfectly. I just think that the way this was built, Kaitlyn should have gone over. Oh well, Eve was a damn fine champion at this time. **

Clips are shown from the Pre-Show because Cody Rhodes is injured and has to miss the show, so Dolph Ziggler needed to find a replacement. He chose David Otunga, so there’s a swing and a miss. Cut to Team Foley’s locker room, which features Team Hell No arguing as always, Miz and Kofi arguing and Randy Orton sitting calmly. Foley gives them a pep talk to rally them. After the talk, Orton tells Foley “I hate you.” Continuity is appreciate by me.

WWE United States Championship
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs. R-Truth
I enjoyed Antonio Cesaro as United States Champion, but he was a product of a poor mid-card pool of faces and this is a prime example. Basic start until Cesaro strikes with a vicious looking headbutt. He starts to work a submission on Truth, who rallies behind a “USA” chant. The rally is short lived though as he ends up back in a rest hold. Commentary is discussing Cesaro’s potential as a rugby player, which I totally forgot was his character. He gets two with a gutwrench suplex. Truth gets a rollup for two but runs right into an uppercut. Truth starts getting in his offense with splits and spins but it’s not enough to garner the three. Suplex stunner like maneuver gets a near fall again ad then he misses the Scissors Kick. Huge uppercut from the Champion is followed up by the Neutralizer and that’s all she wrote.

Winner and Still WWE United States Champion: Antonio Cesaro in 6:56
Wasn’t that bad when it picked up near the end, but it was way too much downtime. Cesaro spent about half of the match with Truth in rest holds. *

A recap is shown of the SCANDALOUS angle between AJ Lee, John Cena and Vickie Guerrero. AJ Lee tweeted that she has evidence of her own to share tonight. And right on cue, here comes AJ Lee skipping to the ring. She badmouths Vickie and claims that Vickie is pointing the finger at her because she has a secret of her own. This brings out Vickie to the most heat of the night BY FAR. AJ shows some clearly fake photos of Vickie and Ricardo Rodriguez eating burritos together. I can’t tell if it’s a fat or racist joke. The next photo is of her eating BBQ with Jim Ross. I guess it’s a fat joke. While AJ and Vickie get in each other’s faces, Tamina Snuka runs in and takes out AJ. Interesting as they would be on the same side within the next year. I’m not a fan of promos on Pay-Per-Views so yea.

Josh Matthews interviews Paul Heyman about what tricks CM Punk will pull tonight. Heyman says there are no tricks, Punk is just that good.

World Heavyweight Championship
Big Show (c) vs. Sheamus
Both guys get right to it and just slug it out, but Sheamus is wisely using his speed advantage to avoid some big shots. Show gets some momentum until Sheamus comes off the ropes and clips his leg. Show gets tied up in the ropes like he’s Andre the Giant or something and Sheamus hits the ten beats of the chest or whatever it’s called. Brogue Kick is avoided when Show rolls outside but Sheamus doesn’t let up and takes it to him there. He tries to leap from the top but Show catches him with a spear! Show now methodically dominates Sheamus with his slow offense. Show gets GREAT height on a running elbow drop for two. Sheamus starts to rally and gets the sleeper hold locked in but Show is able to break it and gets two with the Final Cut. He looks surprised at this, but that doesn’t make sense since Sheamus kicked out of the WMD at Hell in a Cell. Show goes to the second rope and Sheamus is up. He goes under Show and hits a FUCKING ELECTRIC CHAIR DROP! Are you kidding me? A slugfest ensues that Sheamus wins. He takes Show down three times but the Brogue Kick is blocked. Chokeslam is reversed and White Noise connects but only for two! BROGUE! BROGUE! BROGUE! Scott Armstrong, who I call Finlay ref, ends up eating the kick by mistake. Medics and other officials come to check on him and while Sheamus is concerned, he turns right into a WMD. One of the other referees counts the three to close this but then the referees converge and decide to disqualify Show for pulling the referee into harm’s way.

Winner via disqualification: Sheamus in 14:42
Not quite on the level of their Hell in a Cell classic but I still liked it. Big Show had some slow offense that dragged things down, but when Sheamus was up, this was a badass brawl. The ending was kind of dumb though. ***

Sheamus is up and he gets a chair that he uses to wear out Big Show. I guess they’re moving onto a Chairs match at TLC. Show still manages to get to one knee so Sheamus Brogue Kicks him. Commentary sounded like morons as they question why the second referee could count the three, like that hasn’t happened a million times in wrestling history.

Team Foley (Randy Orton, Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston, The Miz and WWE Tag Team Champions Hell No) vs. Team Ziggler (Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga, Alberto Del Rio, Wade Barrett and Damien Sandow)
Alberto Del Rio is introduced as the “Real Deal”, which I always liked. The two black guys start as David Otunga takes on Kofi Kingston. Kofi gets a quick near fall and then dives outside onto the Harvard graduate. Daniel Bryan gets the tag and eats a powerslam before Otunga tags Damien Sandow. Sandow connects with a Russian leg sweep and the Elbow of Disdain. Bryan fires away with kicks so Sandow takes a breather and says “good luck” as he tries to walk out. Kane grabs him and rolls him inside for a big kick. Kane tags in and nails a Chokeslam to get rid of Sandow at 4:49. Team Hell No argues and Kane knocks Bryan outside. The distraction allows Dolph Ziggler to sneak in and strike Kane with a Zig Zag, eliminating him at 5:47! We get some in and out stuff as multiple guys get to do their stuff. Bryan misses a big dropkick in the corner and Wade Barrett hits him with some big knee strikes. Barrett makes the grave mistake of tagging in the awful Otunga, who taps instantly to Bryan at 10:11.

I can’t believe that David Otunga wasn’t first out. Alberto Del Rio enters and starts to work over Bryan. JBL is all like “ITS MEXICO’S GREATEST EXPORT MAGGLE!” They do a weird spot in the corner where it seems like Del Rio lands awkwardly and falls outside. Kofi becomes the legal man and gets a near fall with a springboard cross body. Barrett is in and hits the Winds of Change before connecting with the Bull Hammer to knock off the Intercontinental Champion at 15:04. Barrett and Miz would trade the IC Title a few months after this. Randy Orton comes in and it’s been nearly a year since they had a big rivalry on Smackdown. Orton tags Bryan who gets in his offense and a two count with a missile dropkick. He goes in with the kicks but gets clotheslined over and out. Del Rio gets the tag and, with Bryan’s injured elbow, is forced to submit to the Cross Armbreaker at 19:02. Miz is in for the first time and shows that he can work well with Orton despite their differences. After some tags, Miz is trying to rally the crowd but he is DREADFUL as a face. He gets a hot tag and takes out Barrett with some left hands. Awesome Clothesline connects and then Miz goes 1980’s with a double axe handle. Barrett blocks a Skull Crushing Finale with a big kick but his pump handle slam is countered into the Skull Crushing Finale and he’s out at 24:03.

I’d like to note that Michael Cole had the nerve to call the pump handle slam attempt the Wasteland. VINTAGE COLE! Miz gets a quick near fall on Del Rio and goes for another Awesome Clothesline. He misses and Del Rio strikes with an enziguri to the back of the head to knock off Miz at 25:08. Orton is down 2 on 1 against his two biggest rivals over the past few months. JBL states that Orton has been the sole survivor three years in a row, which is odd since he lost the previous two years. Maybe he meant that he was the last remaining guy. Del Rio hits one of the weakest double stomps ever and goes up top. This is a clear mistake as Orton dropkicks him in mid-air. He is coiled and hits some clotheslines before snapping off his beautiful powerslam. Ricardo gets on the apron so Foley evens the odds and gives him some of Socko. Dolph dropkicks Del Rio by mistake and gets taken out. Del Rio is quickly up though and tries the Cross Armbreaker but it’s countered into an RKO, eliminating Del Rio at 28:23. Ziggler is in trouble as he’s stuck in the corner, so Orton prepares to strike. He goes for the RKO but Dolph holds the ropes to block. He nails the Zig Zag but Orton gets his shoulder up! He tries a Fameasser but Orton dodges and hits the rope hung DDT. He seems to prepare for the RKO but stops and instead wants to try the Punt. THAT MAN HAS A FAMILY! Ziggler greets him with a sick superkick and wins!

Winners: Team Ziggler (Sole Survivor: Dolph Ziggler) in 30:51
It’s hard to mess up one of these big Survivor Series matches, especially one with as much talent as this. Really good stuff, everything made sense and the right guy went over in the end.***3/4

We get stupid TOUT video clips of ridiculous fans, some of who actually wanted to see Ryback win the main event and take on The Rock at Royal Rumble. Clowns.

WWE Championship
CM Punk (c) w/ Paul Heyman vs. John Cena vs. Ryback
Entering this show, John Cena was 7-0 at Survivor Series and I had no idea. Oddly, Ryback comes out last and CM Punk comes out second. Punk wisely exits the ring and is chased by both guys separately until they catch him and pound away. The challengers don’t want to share Punk so they end up coming to blows. Punk is knocked outside so Cena and Ryback have their big face off in the ring. After some stalling, they finally do battle, with Ryback gaining the early advantage. After Cena is taken out, Punk gets Ryback down and taunts but it costs him as he eats a fallaway slam. Cena enters and goes straight for Ryback. After hearing CM Punk on Colt Cabana’s podcast, every single time I see Ryback hit Punk, I wonder if it hurt more than it should have. After Ryback is taken out, Punk and Cena have their usual tremendous exchange. Punk locks in a submission, so Ryback just lifts him from that position and slams him. Cena tries for the Five Knuckle Shuffle but his set up for it is no sold by Ryback. The two powerhouses trade shots in the middle of the ring until Punk pulls out Cena and sends him into the steel steps. Punk and Ryback go at it, and Ryback hits the Meat Hook clothesline. FINISH HIM! Shellshock is stopped by Cena tripping him up and locking in the STF. Punk breaks this with a top rope elbow. Punk signals for the GTS but Cena slips out and they trade shots, with the fans behind Punk. Ryback ends that with a double clothesline. Like a moron, Ryback throws both guys out of the ring and yells FINISH IT! Uh, this isn’t Falls Count Anywhere dude. Cena and Punk team up to take down Ryback and agree to clear off the announce table. They manage to double suplex Ryback through the table. They get in the ring and Cena connects with the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Punk slips out of the AA and hits the GTS but Cena kicks out. As they get up, Cena hits the AA but now Punk kicks out! HOLY FALSE FINISH BATMAN. Punk’s bulldog is countered into a knee breaker and then the STF but Ryback pulls Cena out. He enters and hits the Meat Hook Clothesline. Shellshock works this time but the cover is broken up by Cena. Shellshock is now hit on Cena but before a cover can be made, three men jump in and attack Ryback. IT’S SETH ROLLINS, DEAN AMBROSE AND ROMAN REIGNS! They take Ryback outside and hit their first Triple Powerbomb on him through a table. In the ring, Punk crawls over Cena and earns the three.

Winner and Still WWE Champion: CM Punk in 17:59
Pretty good main event. CM Punk and John Cena helped Ryback along to a good main event, and their interactions were the best. The ending was interesting, there were false finishes and everyone looked good. ***1/4

Obviously Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns would go on to be The Shield and have a year and a half run of amazing matches and just overall greatness. CM Punk has successfully reached day 365 as WWE Champion.

Overall: 8/10; Great. That was better than I expected. The only trash of the night was the United States Title match. Other than that you got two good title matches, a really good Survivor Series match, a standout/show stealing opener and even a not so bad Divas match. Plus, this gets extra history points for featuring the official debut of one of the greatest stables of all-time in the Shield. According to my randomizer the next “Random Network Review” is set to be Saturday Night’s Main Event from 2/23/90!

Raw3/16/15 Review

You know it's an episode of Raw when we get an Authority opening talking segment. Instead of Triple H and Stephanie though, it's Seth Rolling leading things with Big Show, Kane and J&J Security. He complains about what Randy Orton did last week, and the other guys say sorry. We nearly get Big Show in tears again! Hell, Joey Mercury even cried in Show's arms. It was very sweet. Rollins accepted Orton's challenge for WrestleMania, but only if Orton faces him tonight. Why? What's the point? Can we not give away WrestleMania matches please? Orton comes out to accept and we have our main event. Look, I know we've seen a trillion handicap and tag matches, but to just give away a PPV match, let alone a WrestleMania match is stupid even though there won't be a clean finish. Anyway, the opening contest is AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella in a non-title match. I appreciate the girls not only getting the first match but they got a good amount of time. Not only did they work through a commercial break, but it was about eleven minutes. While I enjoyed the match, I had to note something about Nikki. She tends to work the arm in matches and does a good job with it, but her finisher is a backbreaker. She should work the back or get an arm related finisher. They also abandoned the arm work so that sucked. Nikki won after Brie took out Paige outside and she hit the forearm/Rack Attack combination. Easily their best match together and barely any CM Punk chants!

After a ton of recaps, Big Show and Kane get into an argument during a Renee Young interview. Seth interrupts, just leading to Kane and Show yelling at him for being spoiled. Then, one of our weekly Smackdown rematches happens as Ryback beats The Miz. Ryback wins because he's probably the favorite in the battle royal. Post match, Miz lays out Damien Mizdow with a Skull Crushing Finale. Fine build for the battle royal. We move to a contract signing for John Cena vs. Rusev. Cena comes out first, cuts a stomach turning patriotic promo and signs. Rusev comes out in a suit and with his lawyer, but no Lana. Big "We Want Lana" chants start. Rusev's lawyer has a terrible fake accent and rightfully brings up the fact that Rusev never accepted the match. However, he will if he can talk without Cena interrupting. Seriously? That's it? Why would he rightfully give Cena the shot? Not only that, but the lawyer was awful. However, to make matters worse, JBL spends the entire time talking over him about how bad he is. Why would the company hire him then? Whatever. Terrible segment. Needed more Lana for sure.

Last week on Raw, New Day defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, so it's rematch time. Despite my love for Kidd and Cesaro this was a largely forgettable match except for the pre-match promo. Los Matadores was out at ringside to see Kidd and Cesaro win. They then got physical with the champs to build towards our eventual multi-team clusterfuck. The fact that Cesaro had to sell for El Torito makes me sad. Backstage, J&J Security get pissy at Seth and quit! You know where this is all going. A Brock Lesnar video package follows and it is the usual fantastic stuff. In front of the live crowd, Brock shouldn't talk. In these things, he's golden. He discussed sending Rock to Hollywood, suplexed Cena out of the title picture and ending the Streak. It's great stuff and he says that Roman Reigns can dream all he wants because this isn't a fairy tale. He ends with a good old fashioned "I'm gonna fuck up Roman Reigns." Goddammit I want Brock to retain.

Big Show comes out to take on Erick Rowan. Show attacks before the bell and just destroys Rowan. Rowan needs Bray Wyatt badly to succeed. Larry Zbyszko is the next Hall of Fame inductee. Ho hum. When we come back, a bunch of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal participants are in the ring. They all go at it and Mark Henry is the last one standing. So...I just got a diet version of what I get at WrestleMania. Paul Heyman is out next to cut one of his fantastic promos. He kills again, until Roman interrupts. That face in the GIF I posted is exactly my face when I have to hear Roman instead of Heyman. They play the "Roman can't beat Brock" thing even though that's not what everybody is saying. They're saying he doesn't deserve to be there. We all know he will. Reigns turns to the camera to address Brock. Why didn't he do that when Brock was there last week? At least it was a straight to the point promo and no comedy nonsense. There was a "Daniel Bryan" chant during his promo. The only real problem with this was the irritating "I can, I will" catchphrase that he now has a shirt of.

In a continuing theme of rematches, we get the Smackdown main event once again. Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler (or the three most popular guys on the roster) took on Bad News Barrett, Stardust and Luke Harper. R-Truth, the seventh man in their Intercontinental Title ladder match, was at ringside. This was the longest and best match of the night. All six guys can flat out go, so this was fun. Truth has the IC Title clipped to his back. The faces win as Ambrose pins Barrett. He couldn't pin Stardust or something? Or have the heels win here since they lost on Smackdown? Post match we get the whole stealing the title bit, with nearly everyone getting a hold of it at different times. While I'm not a big fan of the title stealing stuff, the crowd seems to enjoy it and having three super popular guys means that will be the case. Barrett finally is able to get his belt back after laying out everyone with Bull Hammers. If only he didn't lose so often, he could be in good shape.

Backstage, Seth Rollins complains to Stephanie and Triple H and they get pissed at him too. It was funny to hear Seth call out Triple H for playing "Hide and seek" with Sting. Bray Wyatt cuts a backstage promo on Undertaker. It's good but this feud needs more from Taker. Randy Orton is out for the conclusion of our show. Seth Rollins comes out and says he fooled Orton. His big master plan was that all of the Authority turning on him tonight was a trick. Not really that masterful. They all come out and help him surround Orton, who gets a chair. As things look bleak, the lights go out and STING is in the ring! They take out the Authority in a very cool moment and we even get to see the Stinger Splash and Scoropion Death Drop! Really cool moment to close the broadcast though Michael Cole's commentary hurt this.

I feel like this was a slight below average episode of Raw. The only things I felt were really bad was the Rusev/Cena segment and the Andre the Giant battle royal build. The Divas got good time, the six man tag was fun and the Sting stuff was not only really cool but the pop he got was great. Mediocre Raw highlighted by some cool stuff. MVPs were Sting and whoever put together the Brock Lesnar video package. 5/10.

Fave Five 3/9/15-3/15/15

1) Ethan Carter III: For a long time, I've felt that the WWE missed the boat on Ethan Carter III. This week, he solidified that thought and made me feel that he's a bigger missed opportunity than talented guys like Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, John Morrison and others. On an Impact episode that featured a Last Man Standing match between Eric Young and Bobby Roode, EC3 got to main event with Rockstar Spud. They showed they deserved it by putting on one of my favorite matches this year. EC3 has become one of the best heels in all of pro wrestling. The match was superb, the false change of heart was perfect and 2015 should be the Year of EC3 in TNA.

2) Kota Ibushi: Much like Ethan Carter III, Kota Ibushi is a guy to watch in 2015. After opening the year with an absolutely blistering outing against Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom 9, he went out and captured the New Japan Cup this week. Not only did he win the Cup, but in doing so, he topped two big names in Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto. Now, Kota has earned himself a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against AJ Style on April 5th in a match that I must see. While I don't think he'll be able to win the belt on that night, he has gone out of his way to solidify himself as a top tier player in NJPW.

3) Johnny Mundo: While I did mention that I think Ethan Carter III has more potential earlier, I am in no way claiming that Johnny Mundo is a slouch. His style and inability to cut promos didn't lend itself to the WWE, but he's found a niche in Lucha Underground. He's a big attraction there and manages to consistently deliver in their main events like he did this week in Lucha Underground's first ever Steel Cage match. Not only was the match very good, but he picked up the win over King Cuerno. Mundo continues to do exactly what he needs to in Lucha Underground and is a very valuable player for them.

4) Rockstar Spud: Last year, if you told me I'd put Rockstar Spud here, I'd doubt you. However, since the split from Ethan Carter III, he's been a pretty entertaining part of TNA programming. Still, after capturing a Feast or Fired briefcase, I wondered how I could take him serious in a title match. He showed me just how this week. He should get a ton of credit for his effort against EC3 in the main event of Impact. He played the plucky and resilient underdog perfectly, even bleeding a bunch. While I gushed about how great EC3 was, this can be considered the star making performance for Rockstar. He officially made the transition from comedy side act to legitimate wrestler and I actually hope he can capture the X Division Title with his briefcase.

5) Bobby Roode: I had a tough time picking my final spot here. I gave considering to Daniel Bryan, who won on Raw and Smackdown, as well as AJ Lee. In the end, I chose Bobby Roode. His victory in a Last Man Standing match against Eric Young was a big part of the fantastic episode of Impact that we were treated to this week. Young and Roode have had a pretty good rivalry since the move to Destination America, with EY coming out on top mostly. They opened the show in a badass way and Roode was finally able to get a measure of revenge, beating him in a great match. All in all, this was a VERY good week for TNA wrestling.

Top Ten Favorite WrestleMania Matches

In no way am I saying that this the definitive list of the best matches in WrestleMania history. That would be incredibly hard to officially make. Instead, I chose to rank my favorite WrestleMania matches. Some are among the best matches I've ever seen, and some just hold a special place in my heart.

10) WrestleMania 21; Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels - The buildup to this match is part of what made this so special to me. Kurt Angle was pissed that he won a gold medal and all he kept hearing about was Shawn Michaels and his win in the Ironman match. That made Angle obsessed with proving that he is the best wrestler in the world. Sometimes, that's all a rivalry needs. To find out who the better man is. The match delivered and remains an absolute blast to watch. It was a first time ever bout and saw Michaels do something he rarely does, which is tap out. An all around fantastic match. ****1/2

9) WrestleMania XXX; WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan - Here's a perfect example of why this list isn't the best matches in WrestleMania history. While this is damn good, it's not better than the previous one on my list. However, I've been a massive Daniel Bryan fan since I first saw him on the indies nearly ten years before. Seeing him work his way to the main event of WrestleMania and win the WWE World Title was an incredible experience. He went over Evolution, won two matches, did a false stretcher job and more on his way to this awesome showing. I loved everything about his performance. ***3/4

8) WrestleMania 24; World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. The Undertaker - Back at WrestleMania 21, I honestly thought Randy Orton would end the Undertaker's streak. I didn't feel that way again until WrestleMania 24. Edge was on a fantastic run and faced Undertaker in the main event. They went on last on a show that featured Ric Flair's retirement and John Cena, Triple H and Randy Orton in a Triple Threat match. Edge made believers out of every doubter and came close to winning several times. This may not be the best match on this list, but it's a personal favorite considering my love for Edge. ****1/2

7) WrestleMania XX; World Heavyweight Championship: Triple H (c) vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit - Similar to the Daniel Bryan story ten years later, Chris Benoit was a workhorse technician who scratched and clawed to the top. After winning the Royal Rumble, he got the main event spot at WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden and these three delivered. We already knew that Michaels and HHH had great chemistry, but Benoit just added to it, giving us one of the best main events in history. We don't talk about it anymore for obvious reasons, but Benoit winning and celebrating with friend, then WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero, is a moment in time. *****

6) WrestleMania X; WWF Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Razor Ramon (c) vs. Shawn Michaels - The Kliq explodes! Shawn Michaels makes the list yet again with his first true show stealing performance at WrestleMania. This was the real start of the Mr. WrestleMania nickname. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels worked the first ladder match in WWF history, but Shawn and Razor got to do it on the big stage and put it on the map. This wasn't about who could hit the highest spots, though there certainly were some. It was about telling a story and the ladder was involved. Holds up to this day. *****

5) WrestleMania X-Seven; WWF Tag Team Championship TLC II: The Dudley Boyz (c) vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian - So, that last ladder match on my list wasn't all about the spots. This one however, had a ton of them. This is sixteen or so minutes of non-stop action. All six guys go out of their way to one up their already incredible performances at the previous year's WrestleMania and SummerSlam. The addition of Lita, Spike Dudley and Rhyno added a new intangible to the match. It also features one of the most memorable spots in history when Edge hit Jeff Hardy with the biggest spear in history. Breathtaking stuff. *****

4) WrestleMania X-Seven; WWF Championship: The Rock (c) vs. Steve Austin - Honestly, any of their three WrestleMania matches could have made this list. I love all three, but this was the best. The "Empire Strikes Back" of this trilogy was outstanding. Both guys were arguably at their peak and the crowd in Houston lost their minds at the sight of Steve Austin. This was a perfectly booked WWF style main event. There was brawling, wrestling, false finishes and everything in between. The only thing that I disliked was the fact that Austin turned heel in the end. Other than that it is absolutely perfect. ****3/4

3) WrestleMania X; Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart - The greatest opening match in history. Not just WrestleMania, but literally all of professional wrestling history. The rivalry between brothers was excellently built over the previous four months. Bret knew he was going to have to pull double duty, but did not hold back. These two countered each other throughout and had one of the best actual pure wrestling matches that I've ever seen. I can rewatch it over and over, yet it never gets old. Having Owen win with the rollup was brilliant as it kept Bret strong but gave Owen the win to launch his major 1994 push. *****

2) WrestleMania 25; Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker - I remember when this match was announced. I wasn't even that excited. I understood the historical significance and even though both guys are among the best ever, they were never on my list of absolute favorites. However, Michaels was untouchable at WrestleMania and Undertaker was smack dab in the middle of his best string of matches at Mania. The entire bout, I was on the edge of my seat and I don't know if a bunch of false finishes has ever been done better. They took the fans on an emotional roller coaster that didn't stop until Undertaker got the final three count. *****

1) WrestleMania 13; I Quit Match: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin - It's incredible to think that this match wasn't the original plan. I'm so happy that it did though because Bret and Shawn could not hold a candle to what these two went out and did. After having a classic at Survivor Series a few months earlier, all they did was add to it. The brawling, Ken Shamrock as referee, the drama, the blood, this is literally everything I could ever want in a match. It MADE the Stone Cold character because he refused to submit. It is, to this day, the perfect double turn and the perfect match. *****

Impact Wrestling 3/13/15 Review

I haven't been able to review Impact the past few weeks thanks to being busy, but I have been watching. This is billed as a pretty big episode with a lot of former friendships turned rivalries coming to a head. Things open big with Eric Young and Bobby Roode facing off in a Last Man Standing match. They got about twenty minutes and I much prefer this to any of the weekly Authority opening promos we've had on Raw lately. Good old fashioned grudge matches are something I miss. A Roode Bomb through the table keeps EY down and Roode is able to score the win. It went down exactly how a Last Man Standing match should and, despite their good matches together, hopefully this feud can end and Roode can move onto to bigger and better things. Backstage, Rockstar Spud talks about guys like him standing up to the EC3's of the world. Out comes Drew Galloway to discuss his passion for professional wrestling until MVP and the BDC interrupt. Galloway says he was the chosen one before, so MVP says the BDC have chosen him to get a beatdown. They have a match and I must say, it's refreshing but strange to see a face Drew Galloway. He wins via DQ because the BDC get involved and leave him bloody. While I'm not a big fan of the BDC, this was another solid segment on the show so far.

Backstage stuff with Magnus, EC3, Spud and Mickie James follow. EC3 kills by saying he's been undefeated for 16 months and has gone through Sting, Angle, etc. We get Magnus vs. Bram now. Magnus told Mickie to stay backstage. That plays into things as Mickie comes out to check on Magnus at one point. Magnus wins by DQ after a Bram low blow. He attacks post match and threatens Mickie unless a tied up Magnus kisses his boot. Magnus obliges and gets called pathetic. Again, a solid segment to build a heel. Up next, Booke takes on her real life boyfriend, Robbie E. This was nice to have on a show that has been very serious. While there was a personal feud here, it wasn't going to be as brutal as everything else. This was entertaining and Brooke won.

Next week, we will have a no DQ match between Matt Hardy and James Storm. Also, Bobby Lashley defends the TNA Title against Kurt Angle. I really hope TNA doesn't do their go to move of putting the strap back on Angle. Time for the big main event, as Rockstar Spud takes on Ethan Carter III in a Hair vs. Hair match. I absolutely love that these two were given the chance to go on last. I fully expected Roode/Young to main event but giving these two the shot meant a lot for them. Spud starts fast and furious because he knows he's overmatched, which is kind of the story early on. Spud busts out a nice front flip from the top to the outside before we get some Tyrus involvement. He looks strange bald. The fiery Spud kicks out from a powerbomb on the outside! Mr. Anderson evens the score but EC3 lays him out with his brace. Spud is hit too and is busted open. EC3 uses the Stinger Splash because he collects things from his past victories, which is sweet. Jeremy Borash gets involved with a low blow! The blood is so severe that the screen goes black and white at times and Spud's blood is smeared on EC3's chest. EC3 beats on him and Spud refuses to quit! He comes close to winning numerous times but EC3 finally puts him down in a fantastic match. The best since Impact's move to Destination America. After the match, EC3 seems to have a change of heart. He puts over Spud in a heartfelt promo and says he won't shave his head in front of his hometown fans. He offers his hand, only to lay him out! He puts him in the tree of woe and shaves his head! Tremendous heel work from EC3. He puts the company on notice that the company and the world belongs to him.

Probably my favorite Destination America episode so far. The opener was a damn good Last Man Standing match, the Galloway and Bram segments were solid, Robbie E/Brooke was entertaining and the main event was stellar. TNA needs to take notice because that was a star making performance for both Spud and EC3. The match had everything it needed to. Blood, involvement of JB, Anderson and Tyrus who were part of the feud, fiery Spud and total heel EC3. He has a very young Rock vibe to him and I think he's one of the best guys WWE has ever let go. Great episode. 9/10.

Smackdown Review 3/12/15

Just seventeen nights away from WrestleMania but you couldn't tell by the product. Daniel Bryan opens the show and brings up WrestleMania. He rightly mentions that his favorites growing up would make the Intercontinental Championship more entertaining than the World Heavyweight Championship. He announces that he will be in the Ladder Match at Mania. Bad News Barrett interrupts, leading to Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper, Stardust an dDean Ambrose all coming out. Of course, we get short words from each guy and a lot of pointing to the WrestleMania sign. It still amazes me how over Ambrose is despite what the company has done to him since October. Also, Stardust is so strange that even Harper looks at him confused. R-Truth, the holder of the title comes to the stage. He says he's going to hold onto it for safe keeping until WrestleMania. He stays up top and everyone else brawls in the ring. In classic Teddy Long fashion, this leads us to a six man tag main event. At least the Intercontinental Title is the focal point of Smackdown, which is what I wanted. It's something right?

I guess we are getting some sort of multi-team tag team match at WrestleMania. It hasn't been officially made yet but after New Day beat the champions and Los Matadores beat the Usos on Raw I can only assume. We get an eight man tag here as New Day teams with the Usos against Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Los Matadores. Yes, there is just one heel team. Nattie was looking pretty good. This goes about seven minutes and is rather fun. Los Matadores get the pin for their team. We get the Sting video package from Raw, which is still strange as hell. He says he's been waiting 14 years to do this. I guess his plan to the WWE got delayed in Orlando for a while.

We are now taken to highlights of what went down on Raw between John Cena and Rusev. It sucked. Ryback and his mismatched attire come out to face the Miz in a preview of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. There was an interview with Miz and Mizdow where Mizdow tried to warn him about Ryback's power. Miz didn't care, leading to him losing in less than three minutes. After a recap of Paul Heyman's excellence on Raw, Roman Reigns comes out to address it. Don't you think that would have been a better idea to do on Raw? You know, when Reigns could actually come face to face with Brock Lesnar? Mark Henry, in all his irrelevance, appears to interrupt. He doesn't BELEE DAT and thinks Brock will kill Roman. They get into it, Roman hits the Superman punch and it ends with him spearing Henry through the guardrail. Why was Henry in his ring attire? There was no match. That's a small thing that always annoys me.

It's not Smackdown without recaps, as we see Undertaker's shit response to Bray Wyatt's WrestleMania challenge. Time for Divas action! Cameron and Summer Rae get the jobber entrance, accompanied by Eva Marie. They face AJ Lee and Paige, while the Bella Twins are on commentary. Unfortunately, we're back to really short Divas matches as this only gets two and a half minutes. Michael Cole keeps trying to say that Paige & AJ are known as the "Odd Couple" in the WWE. Nobody calls them that. Also, Nikki says it's odd that Paige & AJ are friends one day and enemies the next. Um, isn't that the case with Nikki and Brie? Anyway, Paige and AJ win and nearly get into a fight with the Bellas post match.

Backstage, Mark Henry says he pushed Roman Reigns to test him and now he believes. Talk about cringeworthy. We get a long interview with Randy Orton but it's nothing special as it is the same one posted earlier in the week. His feud with Seth Rollins has sucked. Main event time as we get the Intercontinental Title competitors in six man tag action. This was excellent as all six guys did their thing in fifteen minutes. Cole goes to interview the winners, who all get jealous of each other. Dolph is kinda peeved that Bryan stole the pin on Harper, while Ambrose thinks that Dolph has an inferiority complex because he doesn't believe he's better than Bryan. Ambrose calls Bryan a turd and so does Dolph. That's it. The show ends like that. Awkward, strange, goofy and ridiculous. I bet Vince McMahon was in stitches backstage. Despite the odd ending and the awful Reigns stuff, the show was decent around it. 5/10.