Raw History: Episodes 23-24

Raw History

Episode #23

June 28th, 1993 – Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York – Attendance: 3,000

This episode was taped after last week’s live edition. Last week’s show was the best so far, so hopefully this one continues the trend.

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Shawn Michaels (c) w/ Diesel vs. Kamala

What in god’s name has Kamala done to earn a title shot? He doesn’t even know how to pin people correctly. Shawn Michaels is reluctant to lock up but the fans are still hot. Shawn is bumping for the Ugandan Giant but is caught in the bearhug, or the “move big guys who can’t work rely on”. Maybe it’s because he’s against a guy that he doesn’t enjoy working, but Shawn doesn’t seem too motivated here. Shawn works the knee, which Kamala sells pretty poorly. Kamala begins his version of an offensive comeback and still doesn’t know how to pin Shawn correctly. Diesel gets on the apron, which distracts Kamala. Shawn Superkicks him in the back of the head and retains. He should have done more to the back of the head in the future.

Winner and Still WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels in 8:51

Shawn Michaels can be pretty amazing, but even he can’t carry Kamala to something enjoyable. *

Kamala is up and goes after Shawn Michaels, so Diesel does his job and takes him out. Shawn hilariously plays the “Let me at him!”

Vince McMahon is in the ring to interview the reigning WWF Champion, Yokozuna. This should be riveting. The Yokozuna character is one of my least favorite because it runs the tired “evil foreigner” gimmick. The patriotism thing always sucks since A) its lazy booking and B) the WWF is a global company, so why condition your fans to cheer for someone because he loves America? Anyway, this segment blows because it’s so hard to understand Mr. Fuji. This is why Yokozuna segments got better when Jim Cornette was added. This is just promotion for the 4th of the July Body Slam Challenge. Also, Yokozuna speaks and sounds 100% Samoan.

We get a series of sports stars saying how they’re going to be the one to slam Yokozuna. Tatanka speaks last, because he just HAS to be on every single Raw.

The Smoking Guns vs. “Iron” Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz

Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz are two of the best jobbers in company history. Sharpe is so hilariously loud in the ring. Whether it’s selling, on offense or even just running the ropes. I can’t help but laugh. The Guns get in some basic stuff like arm drags and such. Horowitz actually gets in some offense after Bart misses a cross body and Barry does his back pat taunt. He gets two with a Northern lights suplex. The Guns have the balls to work a hot tag in an enhancement match. Billy comes in and they win with the Sidewinder.

Winners: The Smoking Guns in 4:30

I was shocked to see tag formula worked in an enhancement match. Teams like the Steiner Brothers don’t play that game and just murder jobbers. Extra points for Sharpe’s sound effects and Horowitz’s impressive suplex. *¼

Back to Vince McMahon in the ring, as he introduces Money Inc. Good lord, I have to hear IRS talk don’t I? IRS tries to play up how wise they are for getting a rematch clause in their contracts. The problem is, you aren’t that smart because everyone gets that. For some reason, they bring up Razor Ramon, or Razor Jabroni as IRS calls him. Ted Dibiase calls him stupid for losing his money. The fans chant “Razor” and this would lead to the Razor Ramon face turn that went over tremendously. I think that could work for anyone. Put him against IRS because nobody likes him.

Adam Bomb w/ Johnny Polo vs. BJ Walker

If you’ve been following this, then you know that PJ Walker is the future Justin Credible and Aldo Montoya. However, the Fink introduces him as BJ Walker and even his graphic says it. In another era, maybe the name BJ Walker would have gotten over. Bomb manhandles Walker, which still makes me question why Bomb wasn’t used better. He had a great look in an era full of fat slobs, could work better than other guys pushed ahead of him, like Crush and Yokozuna, and even had a mouthpiece in Polo. Bomb wins with his impressive slingshot clothesline and a powerbomb.

Winner: Adam Bomb in 2:10

A relatively fun squash. I enjoy watching Adam Bomb work and got a kick out of the BJ Walker name. *½

Bastion Booger vs. Crush

Remember the Friar Ferguson debacle? Well they dropped that and the best they could come up with was Bastion Booger. Google him if you don’t remember what he looked like. Macho Man believes that Crush will be the guy to slam Yokozuna. Crush tries a back body drop and it is the WORST I have ever seen. Seriously. Things go outside and Booger gets the upper hand with his entire offense, meaning clubs and punches. Because his offense is pitiful, commentary just discusses how bad he smells. Crush comes back with a suplex that looks like crap but is better than the back body drop earlier. He connects on three straight body slams to win as commentary goes nuts saying that could be Yokozuna on the 4th. It wasn’t.

Winner: Crush in 5:39

This sucked so hard. Bastion Booger is one of the worst ever and Crush wasn’t much better. Awful. DUD

Macho Man and NFL Player Joe Morris cut a promo in Giants Stadium about the 4th of July. Macho Man is incredible at promotion. His energy is unmatched. Next week, the 1-2-3 Kid will be in action as will Mr. Perfect.

Overall: 2.5/10; Bad. The poor fans in attendance went from last week’s awesome show to this albatross being recorded after. It did build towards the USS Intrepid stuff well, but the matches all sucked. Kamala had no business in the ring with HBK and the main event was one of the worst of all-time. The best thing was Adam Bomb and Mike Sharpe’s loud selling, so you know it was a rough show.

Raw History

Episode #24

July 5th, 1993 – Manhattan Center in Manhattan, New York – Attendance: 1,000

We open to footage aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid yesterday morning as multiple Superstars and athletes attempted to slam Yokozuna, only to fail. Seeing Rick Steiner fail was funny, since I’ve seen him German suplex Vader with ease before. Commentary welcomes us to the show before sending it back to the USS Intrepid. 

This looked to be incredibly boring as it was just a series of guys hugging Yokozuna. Crush comes close, fresh off of slamming Bastion Booger multiple times. Scott Steiner, Macho Man and tons of others all fail. When it seems all hope it lost, a helicopter arrives and it’s a now suddenly patriotic Lex Luger. What happened to the Narcissist? He comes in and slams Yokozuna, becoming our American hero. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy it. Also, before the slam, he uses the illegal steel plated forearm to his advantage. That damn heel.

The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Blake Beverly

Is this the start of a singles Blake Beverly run that I had no clue about? This would probably be the first time that I can see Kid as the favorite to win. Kid starts out lightning quick but works best as the resilient underdog and Blake powerslams him. Bobby Heenan calls Luger’s slam a hip toss, which is more accurate. Blake draws solid heat by slapping the Kid around outside. He hits a GREAT looking headbutt in the ring before press slamming Kid to the outside. He covers but lifts Kid, which is a bad move given Kid’s history. The crowd is totally buying a Kid comeback until he misses a cross body. Heenan claims that Kid looks like Todd Pettengill. Blake goes for an ugly dive outside but misses. Kid shows him hoes it’s done with a corkscrew plancha outside. This has been much better than expected as Blake hits a nice back suplex inside. He keeps mistaking himself for a high flyer and misses a splash. This allows Kid to hit a diving leg drop and score the 1-2-3.

Winner: The 1-2-3 Kid in 8:01

Well that far exceeded my expectations. Blake Beverly tossed him around and Kid’s bumps were excellent. The crowd was hot and bought every bit of it, which made this even better. ***¼

We go to our first ever vignette for Men on a Mission. Kill me now. Mabel sucked, Oscar was an awful rapper, but did the rapping and Mo is one of the worst wrestlers in history.

Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon vs. Joey Maggs

Luna Vachon is so terrifying. This is Bigelow’s first appearance since making the Finals of the King of the Ring Tournament. Bigelow is all over the jobber, splashing him multiple times and winning quickly.

Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 0:40

I know I said I would start rating squash matches, but this was far too short to give a score to. NO RATING

Samu w/ Afa vs. The Undertaker

Since having the urn stolen by Mr. Hughes, this is the first Undertaker sighting. Even then, Undertaker was such a spectacle. Undertaker actually attempts to leap frog over Samu but I guess Samu had no clue it was happening as he doesn’t get under and they botch it. Undertaker then does a drop toe hold. Hey, it’s the first shots of Undertaker being an actual wrestler. He even does a dropkick. It’s like he’s motivated to show that he can work since he’s embroiled in feuds with awful people like Giant Gonzalez and Mr. Hughes. Samu knocks Undertaker outside and he sits up before a commercial break. Returning, Samu is still throwing him around outside. He hits a sweet powerslam inside but Undertaker sits up out of the pin. The Deadman whips Samu into the corner twice and both times are hard. They play the “no urn” angle well as Samu hits a diving headbutt and Undertaker struggles to sit up. Samu goes to the well one too many times and he misses the second because Undertaker sits up. A Chokeslam and Tombstone finishes this off.

Winner: The Undertaker in 9:03

Way more competitive than I expected. The Undertaker gave Samu a fair amount, while still looking impressive. I also commend him for trying some new offense. **½

Vince McMahon interviews Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji at ringside. Why do they keep insisting on giving interview time to two people who you can barely understand? Why is he even champion in the first place? Vince is more pissed at the foreigners than the fans. Mr. Fuji offers an open contract for a title shot which brings out Crush. Good lord this promo is getting worse by the minute. He failed at the slam, screw his title shot, brudda. The match is made for next week. Hooray, brudda.

Mr. Perfect vs. Brian Costello

Brian Costello has a blonde mullet and a shamrock on the back of his trunks. He gets in nothing as Perfect dropkicks him outside quickly. He then lights him up with chops and wins with the Perfect Plex.

Winner: Mr. Perfect in 0:45

Perfect and Bigelow weren’t getting paid by the minute I guess. Too short to rate again. NO RATING

Overall: 7/10; Good. A bounce back episode for Raw. Yes, a lot of the time was given to the Lex Luger stuff but that’s fine. Blake Beverly and 1-2-3 Kid surprised me with a really good match, and the Undertaker and Samu impressed. Even the squash matches were kept incredibly short. The only real issue this week was the Yokozuna/Crush interview. And now I have to watch them actually work a match. Oh, brudda.

Top Ten Thursday: NXT TakeOver Matches

Pretty simple list this week. With NXT TakeOver: London coming up and there being almost a year and a half of TakeOver events so far, I figured now would be a good time to do this. I rank what I consider to be the ten best matches at TakeOver events. I am not including NXT ArRival because, while being a WWE Network Special, wasn't under the TakeOver name. Also, Beast in the East's NXT Title match will not be included either.

10. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze – TakeOver 5/29/14 

The only match on this list to take place at the first NXT TakeOver event. I honestly think the original plan was for Corey Graves to face Sami Zayn at this event. They had built up their feud for a while until Graves got another concussion. Tyler Breeze was thrust into this spot and I remember thinking that he wasn’t ready. It was on this night that Breeze became a legitimate player in NXT. He kept up with Sami, who is widely considered one of the best in the world. The finishing stretch in this match was one of the best that I saw outside of New Japan in the past few years. Breeze won to become the number one contender for the NXT Title, while Sami got to continue the chase that he’s so good at. Win/win situation.

9. NXT Championship Ladder Match: Finn Balor (c) vs. Kevin Owens – TakeOver: Brooklyn 8/22/15

 Coming into this match, there was only one previous ladder match in NXT history. Adrian Neville beat Bo Dallas in a pretty good match at ArRival. This had to be better. This was the main event at the biggest NXT event in history. They had already competed for the title twice before. Once on NXT TV, where Kevin Owens retained and once at Beast in the East, where Finn Balor captured the title in Japan. This was the tiebreaker and it delivered. They had to follow a spectacular match and because of that, the early portions of this didn’t have the crowd engaged like they hoped. However, they brought the crowd around with some really good work. Similar to the Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins ladder match from earlier in the year, this wasn’t your typical spotfest. It was a physical war that didn’t need to rely on things like that while they still managed to wow the crowd at times. Finn retained in what proved to be Owens’ final NXT match.

8. NXT Women’s Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks – Takeover: Rival 2/11/15 

Since May of the previous year, Charlotte reigned as the second Women’s Champion in NXT history. Natalya, Bayley, Sasha Banks and anyone else who tried, fell to Ric Flair’s daughter. Here, Bayley and Sasha got another chance, with the addition of the sometimes overlooked Becky Lynch. These are four of the best female wrestlers on the planet and they showed exactly why in this match. It only goes on for about twelve minutes but it never stops. The action is just insane as they do things that women in the WWE never dared try until this point. The false finishes, the underlying story of the Becky/Sasha friendship ending and finally, the crowning moment of Sasha Banks in the end. They didn’t use the fatal four way to get the title off Charlotte without her getting pinned. Instead, Sasha pinned Charlotte to become champion and start the best women’s title reign in NXT, no wait…WWE history. At the time, this was the best women’s match I had ever witnessed.

7. Number One Contender’s Tournament Finals: Adrian Neville vs. Finn Balor – TakeOver: Rival 2/11/15 

In the case of a lot of other big NXT matchups, we’ve seen then multiple times. From Zayn/Owens to Zayn/Neville to Owens/Balor to Hideo/Breeze, they all got to meet more than once. This match, in the finals of a tournament to determine a number one contender for the NXT Championship, only happened once. Adrian Neville, two months shy of the best NXT Title run in history in my mind, facing Finn Balor, who just oozed the feel of the guy who would take over, pun intended. Balor rocked his trademark paint but Neville was not at all intimidated by it. That added something to this because the only previous time we saw the paint, it certainly affected the Ascension. Finn did some little things throughout that really showed how different he was when wearing the paint. I’d like more of that from him to really separate the demon from regular Finn. After some great back and forth action, including some heart stopping near falls, Balor won with the Coup de Grace, solidifying himself as the future of NXT.

6. NXT Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Kevin Owens – TakeOver: Rival 2/11/15 

The Brooklyn show was fantastic and bigger, but Rival gives it a serious run as the best TakeOver special. When your main event pits two former best friends in a war for the top title, and the two guys are as talented as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, you know you’ve got something special on your hands. This rivalry should honestly be one of THE decade defining rivalries by the time 2020 rolls around. They are that good. Like a good personal match should be, this was physical. It saw the badass, give zero fucks challenger do everything possible to hurt the champion. Owens didn’t care if he ended the career of his friend because the title was all that mattered. We don’t see things like this enough anymore. Zayn was at his best as the resilient babyface, kicking out of a lot but Owens just continued the beating until the referee stopped the match and awarded him the belt. A perfect way to set up the eventual rematches and keep both guys very over.

5. NXT Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Becky Lynch – TakeOver: Unstoppable 5/20/15 

The first major TakeOver title defense for Sasha Banks came against her former Team BAE partner, Becky Lynch. I wrote an entire article about this match shortly after it happened and will be writing about it again in another list in the coming months so I won’t go into too much detail here. To those that didn’t know about her time as Rebecca Knox, you would think Becky was unproven and by WWE standards, she was. At the end of this match though, Becky was made. Sasha improved so much so quickly that she was able to already make another star just a few months into her reign. Both girls went after the arm with some vicious tactics and when Sasha finally made Becky submit, Becky didn’t seem like a loser. The fans even sung Becky’s theme as she sat in the ring crying. It’s a damn shame that Becky didn’t get a run with the NXT Women’s Title and that she is wasting away on the main roster as nothing more than Charlotte’s buddy. Now, up to this point, this was the greatest women’s match I had ever seen.

4. NXT Women’s Championship Ironman Match: Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks – TakeOver: Respect 10/7/15 

After a classic in Brooklyn, fans clamored for a rematch between Bayley and Sasha Banks. They got it but the stakes were raised. Not only would this be the first female main event in TakeOver history, but it would be the first ever women’s Ironman match. Going into it, I was a tad skeptical. Not because I doubted the skills of the women involved, but because Ironman matches can be hit or miss. While I loved some (Rock/HHH and Angle/Lesnar), I didn’t care for others (HBK/Bret, Orton/Cena), despite the talented individuals. Well, outside of Angle/Lesnar, this was my favorite Ironman match ever. For thirty minutes, these two competed in probably the most brutal women’s match in company history. From Sasha throwing Bayley into the stage to the usage of steel steps, this was certainly violent. They didn’t overuse finisher kickouts and didn’t have too many or too few falls. It came down to the wire, with Bayley utilizing a submission, something she didn’t known for. Sasha wouldn’t tap so Bayley stomped on her head until she did. Sasha was given an emotional sendoff to the main roster, leaving the division in the capable hands of Bayley.

3. NXT Championship: Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd – TakeOver: Fatal-4-Way 9/11/14

The second of three matches from 2014 to make the cut.  The main event of the first TakeOver show to have a subtitle saw the four top guy in NXT at the time go at it in a loaded main event. So much talent in one match might be why this was the weakest TakeOver event. Each guy got a pre-taped promo before the match, which really told you something about each of them, with Tyson Kidd’s being the best. The main event itself had me on the edge on my seat. Everybody played their part and played it very well. After some heart stopping moments, it came down to a moment that continued the well told story of Sami Zayn chasing the title. He was so close, only for Adrian Neville to basically steal the pin and retain. Sami couldn’t believe this and it led beautifully to their big match three months later.

2. NXT Championship: Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn – TakeOver: R-Evolution 12/11/14

 Easily the best story NXT has ever told. Since his arrival in NXT, Sami Zayn was pegged as a future champion but came up short several times. In a number one contender’s match against Adrian Neville in late 2013 would be the earliest I can recall. A match that led to Neville dethroning Bo Dallas at ArRival, a show where Sami lost in the opener in a match of the year candidate. Zayn would lose another number one contender’s match to Tyler Breeze and then come very close again in the Fatal Four Way match in September. Even in November, he got a one on one shot and lost because he was too nice and Neville was willing to do what it took to keep the belt. That all led to this main event match, which was damn near perfect. They called back to previous encounters in the best way. Zayn nearly used the NXT Title as a weapon, feeling he may need to do that to finally win. Instead, he stuck to his guns and ended Neville’s reign on his terms. Just spectacular storytelling, athleticism, wrestling, drama and everything else you could think of.

NXT Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bayley – TakeOver: Brooklyn 8/22/15

As you can probably tell from the list, NXT is absolutely THE place to find quality women’s wrestling on television. They’ve made the TakeOver specials their ultimate place to shine and no two women did it better than Sasha Banks and Bayley on this night in Brooklyn. In front of the largest crowd to ever witness an NXT event, these two stole the show. Actually, they stole the entire weekend in Brooklyn, outdoing the likes of Seth Rollins, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Shinsuke Nakamura, Jay Lethal, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens and tons more. I kept thinking the girls couldn’t top themselves and then they would do it. From the entrances that saw Sasha coming out in an Escalade with security and Bayley wearing Dusty Rhodes’ inspired gear to the slow build to the big finish, this was tremendous. The storytelling, the atmosphere, the emotion, the selling, the psychology and everything in between. Bayley hit a goddamn super reverse rana that nearly broke Sasha’s neck. I’ve gone back and watched this match several times and my love for it hasn’t wavered. It’s the single best women’s match I’ve ever seen.

Random Network Reviews: In Your House Rage in the Cage

In Your House: Rage in the Cage
February 18th, 1996 | Louisville Gardens in Louisville, Kentucky | Attendance: 5,500

Here we have the sixth In Your House show in history and the first of 1996. The main event of this show was probably the biggest in the history of In Your House to this point. It is the fourth match in the Bret Hart/Diesel series and they’ve had great matches at King of the Ring, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series in recent years. Before the actual show began there were four matches. The only one that looked even slightly interesting was Undertaker defeating Goldust.

We start with a clip of Sunny in a bikini telling us that viewer discretion is advised. Yup, that’s how you should start things. The video package hypes the big main event Steel Cage match before we go to Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary.

Crybaby Match
1-2-3 Kid w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Razor Ramon
What’s a crybaby match you ask? The loser has to be fitted with a diaper. The build even included Kid attacking Razor with a stroller. Kid slaps Razor, so he just wails on him because he’s much bigger. Kid wisely goes to those “educated feet” to turn the tide a bit. He even busts out a crotch chop before it was cool. When Razor tosses Kid outside, Ted Dibiase, being the old school heel that he is, throws baby powder in Razor’s eyes. The referee sees it clearly but does nothing. I don’t believe this is no DQ. Kid moves to a sleeper hold after a missile dropkick. Razor gets out and they have an awkward exchange so Kid goes back to the sleeper. It makes sense to wear down the larger individual. Razor fights out and catches Kid for the fallaway slam. Instead though, he takes him to the second rope and hits a super version of it. Dibiase distracts so Kid tries powder again but Razor kicks it into his face. He follows with two Razor’s Edges and that’s a wrap.

Winner: Razor Ramon in 12:01
Solid match between two guys with good chemistry. The heel gets his comeuppance which is especially good given the odd stipulation. The right guy won a relatively good bout. **¾

Of course after the match, Razor Ramon powders Kid’s bottom and puts him in a diaper. After Razor leaves, Kid gets up and realizes that he’s in a diaper so he starts crying and throwing a tantrum.

Duke “The Dumpster” Droese vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
On the Free-for-All before the Royal Rumble a month earlier, Droese beat Helmsley to earn the 30th spot in the Rumble. Droese starts hot, tossing Helmsley around by his hair. Hunter’s random valet doesn’t really know how to react to a match as she’s smiling while Hunter gets pummeled. Jerry Lawler actually tries to interview her. Hunter takes over, and at this point, he worked very simple matches. He hit basic spots and used generic heel tactics. Droese was unused for a while before getting the mini-push that led here. It seemed like Vince wanted snobby Hunter to face smelly gimmicks as he had just finished working Henry Godwin. Droese hits a nice powerslam and gets a pop by screaming it was time to take out the trash. He hits the Trash Compactor and could win but goes for his trash can. Mike Chioda gets rid of the trash can, but Hunter takes the lid and lays out Duke for the 1-2-3.

Winner: Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 9:37
I kind of expected that to totally suck but it was not bad. Despite Hunter’s tendency to work dull at the time, this was never really boring and Droese showed surprising fire. The ending was a bit botched since the official could kind of see the trash can lid though. **¼

After some merchandise is plugged, we see Jim Cornette kick Yokozuna out of Camp Cornette but Yokozuna freaks out on them. It’s so odd that Yokozuna got bigger but worked better as a face. Dok Hendrix interviews Yokozuna, who magically has learned to speak English. He sounds oddly like a Samoan.

British Bulldog w/ Jim Cornette vs. Yokozuna
This should be interesting because British Bulldog is someone who is at his best against good workers but that’s not really Yokozuna. Bulldog wears down Yoko, allowing Cornette to get in some cheap shots. Yoko squashes him in the corner and sets up for the Banzai Drop. Cornette, being the great manager that he is, pulls Bulldog out of the ring. They spill outside where Yoko runs into the ring post. Yoko rallies despite this and when he sets up for the Banzai Drop again, Cornette whacks him with the racket, resulting in the DQ.

Winner via disqualification: Yokozuna in 5:02
Fine for what it was. It was kept short because of Yokozuna’s size and while the work wasn’t great, it got the point across. *¾

Yokozuna is unfazed by Jim Cornette’s attack and goes after him. This brings out Vader, who was red hot at the time after debuting in the Royal Rumble and taking out President Gorilla Monsoon. They handcuff Yokozuna to the ropes and beat him down. Officials come out to stop this but Vader is all like “I DON’T GIVE A FUCK”. Things are finally broken up. Backstage, Goldust creeps out the dude running the AOL chat room.

Owen Hart w/ Jim Cornette vs. Shawn Michaels
You see, Shawn Michaels had just won the Royal Rumble after making a valiant comeback. He was coming back from a masterfully done “concussion” angle that occurred after taking an enziguri from Owen Hart. Wanting revenge, Shawn go his match but his WrestleMania title shot is on the line. Shawn is arrogant as ever to start, escaping a hold and high fiving fans outside. I’m not a fan of this because of how personal this match is. He dives out onto Owen, nearly causing Vince McMahon to orgasm on commentary. Owen barely gets in anything early, as Shawn is running through his stuff. Owen shuts me up with a beautiful snap belly-to-belly suplex. That allows Owen to hold serve, wearing down and working over Shawn. Shawn suplexes Owen to the outside but it doesn’t stop the King of Hart’s offense. We get the trademark HBK corner bump for good measure. Sharpshooter is applied right after, to target the back which is wise. Shawn gets the ropes and gets a near fall on a rollup. When Owen kicks out, he follows with the CONCUSSION ENZIGURI and Shawn brilliantly sells it like he’s dead, falling out of the ring. Instead of taking the countout, Owen brings him in to cover him but Shawn gets the shoulder up. Momentum shifts in Michaels’ favor so he does the kip up and fires away on Owen. Harts take corner bumps better than anyone, I swear. He hits the elbow and knocks Cornette off the apron. Owen ducks Sweet Chin Music and tries the enziguri again, but Shawn ducks that and connects on the kick to keep his title show.

Winner: Shawn Michaels in 15:55
A really good match featuring solid wrestling, crisp work and the added drama of the enziguri angle. It was one of the best angles the WWE did in the mid 90’s. Owen and Shawn always had great chemistry and this was up there as one of their best matches ever. ****

Since it’s 1996 and the WWF still uses the old school blue Steel Cage, they have to set it up so we get Roddy Piper promo time. He guarantees there will be a winner in the WWF Title match at WrestleMania.

WWF Championship Steel Cage Match
Bret Hart (c) vs. Diesel
This is the fourth and final PPV meeting between these two and the first three were all great. Vince McMahon mentions that Bret Hart has never lost a cage match. Diesel can grab the top of the cage while standing flat footed. Diesel whips Bret into the corner, giving us the “Harts take the best corner bumps” spot. It seems more vicious with the cage rattling. Bret continues to bump for Diesel though he gets a few near exits. It’s funny to see Diesel try and crawl out when he’s so huge. Bret nearly goes over but Diesel stops him with a big slam from the top. He comes back with a Rick Steiner bulldog. A staple of their matches has been Bret targeting the knee, which he now does. It seems like Diesel is kind of going through the motions here. Sternum buckle bump from Bret. Those amaze me. Diesel gets more cocky and aggressive as the match advances, sending Bret in for another sternum bump and not taking the opportunity to win. His arrogance costs him as Bret goes to the FIVE MOVES OF DOOM. Diesel survives and gets extremely close to winning but the Undertaker cuts his way through the mat and pulls Diesel under with him! Bret wisely climbs over and retains.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: Bret Hart in 19:11
Not a patch on their best work. The psychology was fine as Diesel wore down Bret before trying to escape, Bret worked the leg and Diesel let his heel character shine through, it was just kind of dull at times. **¾ 

Overall: 6.5/10; Above Average. The only match that you should really go out of your way to see is the Owen Hart/Shawn Michaels bout. Despite this, the two hour runtime and the fact that nothing is really bad on the card makes this a relatively easy watch. The main event drags at times, but besides that, everything else flows smoothly. Nothing out of this world, but a solid show that set up the build for the upcoming WrestleMania XII show well. Next time on “Random Network Reviews”, I take a long look at Night of Champions 2014!

Top Five 11/23/15-11/29/15

1) Roderick Strong: This was an easy choice for number one. Roderick Strong has been in a rivalry with ROH World and Television Champion Jay Lethal for most of the second half of the year. They first had an hour draw at Death Before Dishonor, which I didn't love. They bested it in a World Title match in September where Lethal retained. They had the final match of their trilogy this week on ROH TV, for the Television Title. I honestly feel like this was the best match of their series this year and Strong was able to capture the gold. Doing so not only makes him the second two time TV Champion (with Lethal), but he ended Lethal's record 567 day reign as champion. I don't imagine Roderick's reign will be anything like that, but I hope for one full of great matches, which seems to be all that Roderick Strong can have these days.

2) Dean Ambrose: He came up just short in the WWE World Heavyweight Title Tournament at Survivor Series. Not deterred, Dean Ambrose set his sights elsewhere. He competed in a tag team match on Raw where he pinned Tyler Breeze following Dirty Deeds. His main reason for coming in second this week happened on Smackdown, so maybe a lot of people missed it. In a really good main event, he defeated Breeze and Dolph Ziggler to become the number one contender to Kevin Owens' WWE Intercontinental Title. Their match at Survivor Series was good and I'm betting there is something better coming down the line.

3) Santana Garrett: So, 2015 has been quite the year for Santana Garrett. Coming into this week, she not only held the NWA Women's Championship, but she was also the reigning SHINE Champion. Those are the two biggest that I know of but she actually holds many more. To reel them off, along with the NWA and SHINE Titles, she is the current CWE Vixen's Champion, JCW Women's Champion, NPW Women's Champion, OPW Women's Champion, Ring Warrior's Battling Bombshell's Champion, SCW Florida Cruiserweight Champion, USPW Women's Champion, USWA Women's Champion, one half of the WOW Tag Team Champions and one half of the BPW Tag Team Champions. That's insane. This week, she beat Shirai to win the Wonder of Stardom Title, adding to the ridiculous amount of gold that she already holds. That's the top title for Stardom and continues the big 2015 for her. Honestly, along with girls like Cheerleader Melissa and Nicole Matthews, she is one of my biggest current wants to WWE. She could be a very valuable asset to the NXT and WWE women's/divas divisions. While I haven't been able to see as much of her in 2015 as I'd like, she's definitely in the top five performers that I will be going out of my way of to make sure I see a bunch in 2016. With all of those accomplishments under her belt right now (not including titles she's held previously), she has to be doing something very right all around the world.

                                      4) Bayley: We stick with one of the best female wrestlers heading into the number four spot for this week's list. Bayley had the unenviable task of wrestling the god awful Eva Marie for the NXT Women's Championship. I have to commend whoever laid out the match because they provided a TON of smoke and mirrors to work around Eva being dreadful. They had a conspiracy angle where it seemed like the WWE wanted their cookie cutter girl Eva as champion, Nia Jax got involved and it featured a few ref bumps. Bayley would succeed in retaining the belt despite all of this with a second rope Bayley to Belly. It wasn't a match I'd consider good like some people are, but it was indeed expertly booked. Bayley keeps the title again, did her best to make Eva look halfway competent in the ring and she moves into what looks like a program with Nia Jax.

5) Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson: Similar to the NXT Tag Team Title win of Blake and Murphy earlier this year, the one by Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson kind of came from out of nowhere. They dethroned the Vaudevillains a few weeks ago and this week on NXT, the Vaudevillains used their rematch clause. The match itself wasn't anything special, but it was another win for Dash and Dawson. Their old school heel tag team mentality is pretty refreshing and they look to be moving into a title defense against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. I've said Enzo and Cass should have won the titles a while back but with Dash and Dawson just winning them, I see the champions retaining when they match does happen.

NJPW World Tag League Days Four and Five Review

NJPW World Tag League 2015
Nights Four and Five | Ishikawa, Japan and Hiroshima, Japan

Block A
The Addiction [2] def. Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga [0] in 11:40
I ended up liking this more than I thought I would. The Addiction seem to be getting more comfortable with each of their appearances, which is good. Tama Tonga once again showed me that he can do pretty well for himself and I’d still like to see him graduate from his current role in the near future. Similar to my note about the Kingdom a few shows ago, it’s interesting to see the Addiction work as faces, but they did well with it. Fale would accidentally hit Tonga, leading to Celebrity Rehab and two points for the Addiction in a solid bout. ***

Block B
Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson [2] def. The Kingdom [2] w/ Maria Kanellis [0] in 9:22
For those that haven’t seen much NJPW this year, these two teams had a rivalry where they traded the IWGP Tag Team Titles. It was also notable that Karl Anderson is pretty obsessed with Maria Kanellis, though I can’t blame the guy. I wouldn’t consider any of those matches to be very good and the same goes for this one. I did like how they worked the match like two teams that didn’t like each other, with some outside brawling and they even through the guardrails into play. They brought back Maria distracting Anderson but it wasn’t enough as Taven ate the Magic Killer. A fine match here that I liked more than their Title matches earlier in the year. ***

Block A
Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI [4] def. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata [2] in 12:04
On paper, this reminded me that Kazuchika Okada and Yuji Nagata had an awesome match in the G1 Climax. This wasn’t anything like that however. There was too much Manabu Nakanishi in this, meaning that the fun Okada/Nagata exchanges were kept to a minimum. YOSHI-HASHI also isn’t really good enough to pull something great out when he was in there, meaning this match left a lot to be desired. Okada would hit Nakanishi with the Rainmaker to score the win and end this to my enjoyment. **

Now, the entire fifth night is available on NJPW World, but again, I was too pressed for time to see the entire thing, so I just chose to watch the Tag League matches.

Block B
EVIL and Tetsuya Naito [6] def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima [2] in 11:08
I’m not sure what to call Tenzan and Kojima. Some call them Tencozy and some use Tenkoji. BUSHI no longer comes out dressed exactly like Naito. He still wears the blazer and stuff, but he now has a sweet new skull mask. There is a bit of history here as EVIL once teamed with Tenzan as a replacement for an injured Kojima. This was a solidly worked match. Kojima and Tenzan did some double teams and, as always, showed great chemistry. Naito is just so incredible to watch in this character. I can’t praise him enough. Tencozy or Tenkoji hit a damn 3D at one point. The finish came when Kojima went for the lariat but Naito grabbed the referee. BUSHI ran in and spit the mist at Kojima, which Naito followed with a low blow and Destino. The biggest issue was that with the camera set up, we could clearly see Tenzan watching and not doing anything about it so the fall could take place. Still, this wasn’t bad. **¾

Block A
Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma [2] def. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin [4] in 14:59
After the first few shows, I was starting to question my choice of picking Makabe and Honma to win this thing. Honma doesn’t exactly have the best track record in tournaments. They righted the ship here. Michael Elgin continues to be a breath of fresh air in Japan. When I see him in ROH, it’s like he’s a completely different wrestler. Both teams are faces, but they still worked the hot tag to Togi. That was fine since Honma is a great babyface in peril. After a relatively slow start, this really picked up and concluded when Elgin fell to the King Kong Knee Drop. Side note, I’d like to see Elgin vs. Makabe down the line. This was one of the better matches of the tournament. ***½

Block A
The Addiction [4] def. Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI [4] in 12:06
Okada and YOSHI-HASHI are working their fourth match of the tournament while the teams in the next match are about to be on their second. Outside of their excellent match on day one, this was their best match and the best one from the Addition so far. I found it really cool to see Okada work with a guy I’ve liked for about a decade, Christopher Danielson. It’s weird to see Daniels hit the Best Moonsault Ever but have no reaction for it. He nearly got hit with a Rainmaker but Kazarian broke it up. That led to Celebrity Rehab being hit on YOSHI-HASHI for the win. Solid stuff here. ***¼

Block B
AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi [2] def. Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii [0] in 14:56
Of the entire World Tag League, this was easily the match I looked forward to most. Granted, there are some that look better on paper but this is the first interaction between Nakamura and Styles. Not only that, but I also get a taste of Styles and Ishii, which is another match I’d love to see. Styles and Nakamura started and if their interaction is any indication of what we’re getting at Wrestle Kingdom, then we are in for a treat. It was a good teaser for the big match. It was also cool to see Ishii and AJ go at it. The heat was mostly worked on Ishii with Nakamura getting a relatively hot tag. There were some close calls, especially one after AJ got hit with Boma Ye and a lariat but Yujiro made the save. Ishii would take the pin after getting hit with the Styles Clash in a match that had me on the edge of my seat. Maybe I rated it higher than some because of my love for AJ and Shinsuke, but I really enjoyed this. ***¾

Overall: 7/10. These seven matches combined to make for a good time. The second batch of matches, from November 27th, were definitely a cut above, producing three strong matches, including two of the best four or five so far. If you can only find your way to see one thing from these shows, watch the last match.