Random Network Reviews: Hog Wild '96

WCW Hog Wild
8/10/1996 – Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota – Attendance: 5,000

I'm just going to get this out the way. I expect this to be bad. Like really bad. Yes, this was right after the formation of the nWo so that was still fresh in our minds but shows in Sturgis are usually bad and part of it is because the crowd is bad. The fans don't really even care for wrestling, it's free and they just rev their motorcycles non-stop. This is the only Hog Wild Pay-Per-View ever as it was changed to Road Wild the following year. Last note, I believe that this is a 16 match card. Yes, 16. Eight of them aired on WCW Saturday Night because this was a Saturday night Pay-Per-View. I have to review sixteen WCW matches, someone help me.

The intro video package talks about how great Sturgis is and shows some WCW guys riding around on motorcycles. This had to stem from Eric Bischoff's obsession with motorcycles. Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Dusty Rhodes are on commentary and Schiavone is showing off his arm tattoo. Also, it looks like the WWE Network only shows the eight matches that aired on Pay-Per-View for this show and not the eight that aired on TBS' Saturday Night program. I'm happy about that.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio Jr. (c) vs. The Ultimo Dragon w/ Sonny Ono
Mike Tenay joins the commentary booth simply because the existing team has NO CLUE how to call a match like this. They even basically admit it. The crowd surprisingly react to an early exchange between the two. Heenan brings up the fact that Rey isn't 100% because he got thrown into a trailer like a dart by Kevin Nash recently. The fans chant “USA” at Ultimo Dragon which is dumb when both competitors are foreign. We get an impressive array of athleticism as they try to one up each other but the crowd is silent. Dragon kicks Rey all over and ends the flurry with a dropkick. He hits a running powerbomb but doesn't go for the cover and instead applies a figure four variation. Mysterio escapes and takes a breather outside but once he comes in, Dragon locks on a torture rack/airplane spin and drops down with it. He goes for the surfboard but Rey gets out and hits a springboard dropkick. A baseball slides follows and then a plancha that the camera misses. Now, the ring is on a pedestal and Dragon was on the floor so this was a bigger plancha than you'd normally see. Back inside, he leaps off the top into a hurricanrana but Dragon fights back with a big dropkick. He hits a baseball slide variation, skins the cat back in and nails a plancha back out. When they get inside, Dragon hits a bridging German for two and an Asai moonsault. He decides not to cover and connects with a top rope moonsault but Rey kicks out! He counters Dragon's running powerbomb and hits a top rope hurricanrana to keep the gold.

Winner and Still WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Rey Mysterio Jr. in 11:35
Good opener despite the crowd not being very big on it. They did their best to overcome the fans and I thought it was good. ***3/4

Mean “BAH GAWD” Gene discusses the WCW Hotline while wearing a dumb hat and sleeveless jean jacket. 1-900-909-9900! Tony Schiavone tries to discuss how cool Sturgis is but actually calls the people there odd. Good going.

The Ice Train vs. Scott Norton
The epic breakup and rivalry of the decorated tag team known as Fire and Ice comes to a head tonight! Ice Train has his shoulder HEAVILY taped. Seriously, it's more tape than I've ever seen for an injury. Norton wisely targets that and things spill to the outside. Norton rams Train's shoulder into the post and they go right back inside. Train powers up for a slam but it obviously pains him greatly. Norton targets the shoulder some more until Train chops him a few times. Norton shrugs that off and goes back to the shoulder. Train busts out a powerslam as Norton comes off the ropes but Norton hits a single arm DDT and applies an ARMBAR forcing Train to submit.

Winner: Scott Norton in 5:05
Rather boring but the focus on the shoulder made a lot of sense and I appreciate that. *1/2

A clip is shown of a Ric Flair interview where he discusses how upset he is that Arn Anderson was injured at the hands of the nWo. Mind you, Double A wrestled on the Saturday Night portion of this show before the Pay-Per-View aired. So yea. More shots of Sturgis are shown before we get a plug of the WCW Hog Wild merchandise. $89.95 for a jean jacket that says Hog Wild on the back. Who would spend $90 on this?

Battle of the Bikes
Bull Nakano w/ Sonny Ono vs. Madusa
First of all, I saw this in 1994 in the WWF. Second, what the hell is a “Battle of the Bikes”? This is what Madusa left the WWF for. Nakano attacks before the match begins with a nunchuck. Seriously, Dusty Rhodes says “nunchuck” like five times and it's hilarious each time. More “USA” chants though it makes more sense now since Madusa is in stars and stripes. Madusa bridges out of a pin nicely and gets a big pop for some clotheslines. Nakano ends up putting Madusa in the Scorpion Cross lock, which is awesome, and it's so cool that Paige does this 18 years later. She doesn't do it well though as it's only for like three seconds. Madusa ends up hitting a hurricanrana, which gets another pop and a spinning heel kick. She goes for another but eats a big clothesline. Madusa hits a German for two but then Nakano hits one and Madusa gets counted down for three it seems. The referee doesn't call for the bell but Ono grabs a sledgehammer and starts to destroy Madusa's motorcycle. 

Winner: Bull Nakano in 5:25
I guess Bull won. They tried and the crowd was actually into it. **

Oh, the official raised Madusa's hand after the match. So she won somehow? Classic WCW.

Chris Benoit w/ Miss Elizabeth and Woman vs. Dean Malenko
Miss Elizabeth's WCW run featured some of her hottest looks. Heenan seriously states that the current Four Horsemen, which includes Mongo, is the best Horsemen ever. I'm done with WCW commentary. The early portions here have a feeling out process highlighted by a Malenko stalling suplex. Benoit viciously attacks Dean's neck for a bit before lighting his chest up with some chops. They trade near falls and Benoit impressively bridges up before more quick near falls and Malenko bridges out. They do some very solid wrestling holds but the crowd is not feeling it. Benoit always had one of the best snap suplexes in wrestling and he uses it here. Heenan continues to make fun of the people that you'd find at Sturgis. Malenko connects with a tombstone as The Undertaker gets furious watching this. Who am I kidding? He's not watching. He hits a cross body on Benoit that sends both men to the mat outside. After about an eight count, they get in and Benoit hits a big superplex. Malenko fires back with an absolutely gorgeous release German suplex for two. Shortly after, Benoit hits a German of his own for two as the announcers informs us that there's five minutes remaining in the time limit. He locks on the LionTamer basically before he gets a near fall with a very impressive roll up. Malenko gets a near fall with another roll up and I've seen like ten of those in the past few minutes. A powerbomb from Benoit couldn't put him away either as one minute remains. Benoit goes up top but Malenko meets him and hits a release second rope suplex but again Benoit kicks out. Time expires so they decide to do a five minute overtime and the crowd doesn't seem too excited for it. Benoit gets yet another close call with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER in the corner and both guys are down. Benoit applies a figure four type move as the five minute extension also runs out of time! This crowd boos another five minutes because they don't care about wrestling. Heenan tries to play off the boos but we know what's going on. Malenko with a dragon screw but Benoit comes back with a nice dragon suplex. Benoit misses a dropkick so Malenko locks on the Texas Cloverleaf! Woman intervenes to distract Malenko which allows Benoit to win with a rollup.

Winner: Chris Benoit in 26:55
I can't believe there was a time where WCW would allow Benoit and Malenko to go to double overtime and get nearly thirty minutes. However, the cheap finish hurt it as it's classic WCW.****

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Harlem Heat (c) w/ Sherri and Colonel Parker vs. The Steiner Brothers
The STEINERLINE song is just absolute trash. While I was never a big fan of either team, they're both amongst the best of the 90's and Scott and Booker went on to become top players for WCW. For some reason, the fans decide to rev up their bikes and be very loud, which upsets Harlem Heat. Scott and Booker start and Scott nearly immediately plants him with a tiger suplex before he tosses Stevie Ray, causing the Champions to regroup. Back inside, Scott ducks an axe kick and hits a gorilla press slam. The crowd is totally into the Steiners more than anyone else on the card so far. Stevie Ray tries his hand but fails and once Scott tags in Rick, I lose some interest. Rick hits a suplex despite Booker's attempt to block it. So it looks like it's time for Rick to become the face in peril as Stevie Ray applies a dreaded rest hold. It starts as a nerve hold but turns into a headlock. Scott gets the hot tag and hits some dropkicks before putting on an STF. I've never seen him do that. Heenan won't shut up about how into the show the crowd is, which besides this match, is untrue. While another rest hold is applied, Schiavone continues the lying by calling WCW the worldwide leader in pay-per-views. SPINAROONIE! Shortly after, with Stevie and Rick outside, Parker tries to throw powder in the eyes of Scott but misses and hits Booker. ITS OKAY because he hits Scott with his cane and the champions retain.

Winners and Still WCW World Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat in 17:53
Decent tag team match but could've been better. Both teams disappointed me. **1/2

The fans throw garbage because they hated Harlem Heat once they saw them and I can only assume it's because their black. I could be wrong though. We get a recap of the Sturgis rally so far. It's lame.

WCW United States Championship
Ric Flair (c) w/ Miss Elizabeth and Woman vs. Eddie Guerrero
Two of the greatest of all time? I'm all for this. Bobby Heenan says that Guerrero has no chance because he's not in Flair's league. As the bell rings, Flair tells a girl in the front row that after this, it will be him and her. Flair and Eddie get into a shoving match and every Eddie push sends Ric to the mat. He gets mad and shoves the referee instead. The same thing happens when slap each other, causing Flair to take a breather outside. Eddie applies a headlock in the ring but Flair counters it into multiple near falls. He slams Eddie down by the hair, but Eddie pops right back up. It gets extremely dark for a moment as Flair chops Eddie down. Flair takes his signature bump in the corner and Eddie dropkicks him off the apron. Eddie has looked like a million bucks so far. Flair begs Eddie to stop, because he's Flair and that's what he does but Eddie chops him until he walks out and falls. Being the dirtiest player in the game, Flair pokes Eddie in the eyes and hits a low blow. WOO! He blocks a sunset flip but ends up taking a drop toe hold. Eddie has the balls to apply a Figure Four which surprised me. Flair gets out but because Eddie is in control, he struts a bit. Flair goes up top, which never works, and gets slammed to the mat for a near fall. As Eddie tries to bring Flair down for a pin, Flair ends up mooning the crowd with his white ass. Eddie pokes Flair in the eyes because HE LIES, HE CHEATS, HE STEALS. He actually hits the Frog Splash but hurts his knee and can't make the cover. The Nature Boy is like a shark smelling blood as he instantly applies the Figure Four with extra leverage from Woman. Eddie's shoulders get pinned to the mat for three.

Winner and Still WCW United States Champion: Ric Flair in 14:14
Very good match. Flair let Eddie get in all of the offense and a rookie mistake of the high risk move ended up costing him. ***3/4

We got to Mean “BAH GAWD” Gene who is with the WCW Champion, The Giant and his manager Jimmy Hart. They talk about how The Giant was a huge Hogan fan who will avenge all Hulkamaniacs tonight. Wasn't he the one that came with the Dungeon of Doom to destroy Hogan?

Lex Luger and Sting vs. The Outsiders
This match stemmed from the infamous six man tag at Bash at the Beach where the nWo formed officially. Because the Outsiders are cool, they decided that Hall will start with a game of rock, paper, scissors. Hall holds serve early on until Luger hits a hip toss and scoop slam. I feel like Luger has the most basic moveset in wrestling. Like, he learned the basics and was just like “I'm good” and stopped there. Big Sexy gets the tag as Luger does about a hundred titty flexes. Nash wants Sting, who obliges. Sting fails to slam Nash so he decides to just fire away with punches and gets the slam after a thumb to the eyes. Despite this, the heels end up working over Sting in the corner for a while. Hall hits a fallaway slam and gets a near fall. The Outsiders are not only beating on Sting, but they're slapping him around and trying to humiliate him. It's actually rather boring to be honest. Sting finally makes the hot tag to Luger who hits a clothesline with THAT DAMN LOADED FOREARM! He fires away on Hall in the corner while Sting hits Nash with the Stinger Splash. Luger tries the Torture Rack and Nick Patrick gets hit. Hall ends up covering Luger and Patrick gives a bit of a fast count.

Winner: The Outsiders in 14:36
Kind of boring. It followed the tag formula like you'd expect, but something about it just didn't click. All four guys seemed to be going through the motions. *3/4

WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The Giant (c) w/ Jimmy Hart vs. “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan
Bobby Heenan says that he always knew Hogan was scum, which is pretty accurate since he hated him during their WWF run kayfabe wise. The bell rings and Hogan is stalling by walking around the ring and up the aisle. I feel like a good majority of this match will be stalling. He gets in the ring and can't overpower the Giant so he stalls some more. We get a VERY long test of strength, with both guys getting the advantage at different times until Giant wins. Hogan ends up working the arm in another boring sequence. I swear this is a never ending wristlock. Giant finally fights out and knocks Hogan outside. They fight outside but it's not much better and when get get inside Giant whips Hogan into opposite corners and he hits so soft you wouldn't believe it. Hogan ends up with the upper hand but the Giant hulks up on him! We're talking big boot and everything. He signals for the Chokeslam but here comes Scott Hall. He climbs to the top like an idiot and gets slammed down before eating a Chokeslam. Nash is out but also gets stopped by Giant. Hogan lays out the Giant with the World Title and wins it.

Winner and New WCW World Heavyweight Champion: “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan in 14:56
Whoever laid this match out isn't very good at his job. This was boring and did the Giant no favors. Worst match of the show. *

Nobody from WCW shows up to assist as two guys brings out a cake and the Booty Man, also known as Brutus Beefcake is with them. He has an nWo shirt and the Booty Man is a stupid name. The announcers sell Booty Man's betrayal like this is the end of WCW because he's gone. Hogan cuts a promo and says Booty Man without cracking a smile so that's the best acting he's ever done. The cake is for Hogan's birthday and Booty Man congratulates him. Mind you, the dominant Giant character is laid out from ONE SINGLE BELT SHOT still. I've seen mid carders get up from that quicker. Hogan says that he loves the Booty Man, which still makes me laugh, but he's not nWo, so they beat him up. If Giant is still down from the belt shot then Booty Man might be dead after he gets one too. In an iconic moment, Hogan spray paints nWo on the title. They exit to close the show and yes, The Giant is STILL KNOCKED OUT. 

Overall: 7/10; Good. I always split WCW into two time frames. Before and after the nWo and this show was a precursor of things to come. Most Pay-Per-Views after the nWo featured a good undercard and a poor main event scene. Here you had three really good to great matches in Mysterio/Dragon, Benoit/Malenko and Flair/Guerrero. There was some crap like the WCW Title match but this was still actually an enjoyable show and I did not expect that. My next “Random Network Review” looks like it will be Halloween Havoc '94!

Tuesday Night Network Report 9-23-14

Oh my goodness, SLATERGATOR has a mashed up theme song now! They came out for tag team wrestling after Adam Rose and his bunny were on commentary. Also, one of his rosebuds totally looked like Alicia Fox. SLATERGATOR's entrance video features their floating heads spinning and it's glorious. They would meet Los Matadores in a quick little opener. Primo and Epico won after Rose and Bunny distracted Slater and the Gator. Could've used a better opener.

Mark Henry came out to cut a promo about how sad he is that he lost to Rusev. He's even more upset, and has a written statement, saying that because he lost, all of a sudden he isn't the fan's boy anymore. Big Show comes out and says "you're still my boy", they hug and they leave as huge brothers. I guess this is leading to Show/Rusev next? We get a recap of John Cena/Brock Lesnar from Night of Champions before AJ Lee joins us for commentary. Paige meets Naomi next and Paige's new gear is a thing of beauty. The glove, the attire, the colors, everything. Paige wins a good Divas match and, after the match, AJ Lee strikes her with the Divas Title. 

The beautiful Renee Young interviews the Usos because they will get a Tag Team Title rematch on Smackdown, which should be fun. Kofi Kingston was out next to face Bo Dallas. Again, we only got about two minutes and Kingston wins for some reason. I honestly don't understand why Kofi won here as he's going nowhere fast, while Bo is in an angle. The show closes with an episode of MizTV featuring Dean Ambrose as a guest. Two things stuck about this. One was Dean's answer for how he escaped the room on Raw, which was "there was a back door." Hilariously simple. The second thing was how incredible Damien Mizdow is. He's perfect and words can't express how much I enjoy him. Ambrose lays out both guys to close the show. Entertaining segment for sure.

Wrestling wise, this was a weak episode of Main Event. There were three matches for a total of about less than ten minutes. The Mark Henry segment could've been saved for Smackdown, I'm sure instead, we'll have to sit through 40 minutes of Raw recaps. Still, the MizTV segment was fantastic fun. 5/10. The Monday Night War episode tonight was about ECW being a huge part of the Wars with their style and talent heavily influencing WCW and WWE. It was another entertaining episode, but this series continues to give me no new information and be more about profiling things that happened during the Wars, while throwing in ratings talking and such last minute.

Lastly, the Tuesday Night Network run ended with another episode of Countdown. This one was focused on High Flyers. Number ten was Seth Rollins, which I liked. Nine would be Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and it's fun to see Chris Jericho mark out over him. Sabu comes in at eight, which I didn't expect. If we had a top botchers list, he's a shoe in for top three. At seven comes Eddie Guerrero and the highlight of this is CM Punk's extremely bold statement that Eddie is the best wrestler of all time. Better than himself, Ric Flair and everyone else. Six is Jimmy Snuka which you'd expect. Five is Rob Van Dam, and it's pretty funny how they say he gets "higher" than everyone else. Also, Joey Styles' talk about RVD's shrugs is classic. At four, John Morrison comes in and I think this is WAY too high for him. We get an honorable mention for Shane McMahon which I absolutely love. I miss Shane. Three is Lita, and I totally respect this. She was one of a kind. At two is Jeff Hardy and I would've put him number one on this list. I never thought I'd think this, but I miss Jeff Hardy. One is Rey Mysterio, which was true until like, 2005. Then he started to do less high flying. 

All in all though, a fun list that wasn't far off from the truth and an enjoyable night on the Network.

Raw Report 9-22-14

Raw opens in the best way possible, as Dean Ambrose comes down and recaps getting his stomped on through cinder blocks. He decides to try and takeover the show, like he's NXT or something, by staging a sit down strike until the Authority shows up. John Cena's music hits so he's either the wrong person to show up or he's joined the Authority. He wants his hands on Seth and Dean is all, "That's my man!" Seriously though, Dean gets snippy with him which was interesting for sure. The Corporation comes out saying Seth isn't going to fight either of them so Cena and Ambrose run out and brawl with the Authority. Things even go backstage and Seth Rollins uses his Grand Theft Auto skills and steals a car to escape. Chaotic start to say the least.

Triple H tells Kane that he'll be facing Dean Ambrose tonight and announces everyone's favorite match, John Cena vs. Randy Orton. Yay! Orton says that Seth Rollins needs to stop starting fire that they have to put out for him. The opening contest is an Intercontinental Title rematch from Night of Champions. Damien Mizdow continues to be amazing with a replica Intercontinental Title. This match was a vast improvement on the one from Night of Champions. As Miz tried to win with a handful of tights again, Dolph countered with his own tights pulling rollup to win back the belt. I didn't expect that and I'm surprised at this result. I don't know why they're flip flopping the belt so much.

Match three in the series between Bo Dallas and Jack Swagger is next, but I prefer this to the normal series of nonsense rematches because there is actually a feud here. Regardless, their chemistry isn't great and this was another ho hum contest between them. Swagger wins to take a 2-1 series lead. Total Divas showcase follows as Summer Rae meets Natalya, and if you watch Total Divas, you know that Natalya is incredibly catty and dislikes Summer Rae for literally, no reason. They try to paint Summer as the heel but it doesn't look that way and Natalya seems like a pretty terribly person. She wins here though. After a fun start, this show has gone a bit downhill.

We get our usual recaps of things that have recently happened before moving into Kane vs. Dean Ambrose. I know that Randy Orton has been booked poorly since his heel turn but at least he's not the corporate whipping boy that Kane is. It's understandable with Kane as he's over 40 years old and has slowed down considerably. This wasn't awful and Ambrose was on the verge of victory until Seth Rollins returned to cause the disqualification. Ambrose retaliates and takes down Seth until Kane gets involved. The Authority do their thing, but Ambrose is back up by the end and daring them to return.

Triple H tells Seth Rollins the same thing Randy Orton said earlier, about not starting fires. They are cut off by Dean Ambrose attacking Seth in the office. JAMIE NOBLE BOY is part of the crew who stops him and they go to eject him but Stephanie McMahon, being the observant one, notices that the people they kick out never stay out so they lock him in a room with security. It worked on Paul Heyman last week. And, just like last week, we get a six man tag pitting the new Tag Team Champions and Cesaro against Sheamus and the Usos. Just like last week too, it's a fun match and the faces win. #RematchCity

Seth Rollins thanks Randy Orton for facing John Cena tonight and, as a token of his appreciation, promises a gift for Orton tonight. This won't go well. Sad Mark Henry comes out to apologize to America for losing to Rusev. Just ask Bo Dallas, you let down like 300 million people or something. Lana and her legs, oh and Rusev, come out and mock Mark Henry and America. I'll give you three guesses as to what happens next. If you guessed rematch, then you are correct. Rusev locks on the accolade and this ends via ref stoppage, which is probably how it should've ended at the Pay-Per-View instead of having Henry tap out. Swagger didn't even submit.

So Adam Rose teams with the Bunny here. Yes, I said that. They face the awesome team of SLATERGATOR! Unfortunately, this goes as you'd expect because the Bunny's team wins and JBL constantly plugs #bunnymania by saying it won't trend. Reverse psychology eh WWE? Sadly, it probably worked. Nikki Bella shows up to talk, which means this won't be a good segment. She blames Brie Bella's pre-match interview for her loss in the Divas Title match at Night of Champions. It would've been better if, you know, Brie actually cost her the match. She calls Brie and her awful music which leads to a Bella brawl. Brie tries to apply the Yes Lock even. AJ Lee, with her Divas Title, comes out for a match with Nikki. Paige is on commentary and AJ wins with the Black Widow.

I have no clue what the above move is supposed to be. During the break, a giant black box is brought to ringside. Anyone who doesn't expect Dean Ambrose to be under it is lost. John Cena and Randy Orton meet for the 4,522,120th time and they pretty much just go through the motions for the entire contest. Of course we get a DQ finish as Seth Rollins and Kane cut things off during the STF. The Authority beat down on Cena and go to reveal the gift, and guess what? It's Dean Ambrose! He beats up Seth Rollins and stands tall, along with Cena, to close this edition of Raw.

This was better than recent Raws, and having Dean Ambrose back is probably a big part of that. It still wasn't great as the only really good match was Dolph Ziggler/Miz. Everything else was relatively basic. I'd give it a 6.5/10 and say that it at least intrigued me.

Night of Champions Review

As I stated yesterday, I had to start this show about an hour and fifteen minutes late, so I actually got an alert on my phone spoiling the outcome of the opener. I decided to not look at my phone until after the show. The WWE Tag Team Title match opened the show and this was a good, fun choice. These are the two best tag teams in the WWE and they showed why. They've performed better, but the leg work went with the prior story and both teams worked hard. After about 13 minutes, Stardust rolled up an Uso to end their near seven month reign. My only real gripe is that the change should've been more definitive. The Usos did a fantastic job of selling how much it hurt to lose the straps. ***1/4

The United States Championship match came up next. Sheamus showed up with a longer beard, which is a look that suits him. Much like their match at Payback, I expected this to be a hard hitting battle and that's exactly what it was. The build up to this was lacking but they went out and decided to just beat the crap out of each other, which is exactly what these two should do. Seeing Cesaro be the first man to counter the ten Beats of whatever and pull out a variation of the Alpamare Waterslide to reverse the Brogue Kick was awesome. Sheamus would win in just over 13 minutes in what would turn out to be the match of the night. I hope we get a dominant Cesaro over the new few weeks and he earns a badass rematch. ***3/4

Stunt Doubles galore as The Miz and Dolph Ziggler competed for the Intercontinental Championship next. For some reason, Florida Georgia Line was out on commentary and hearing JBL just reel off their accomplishments, which he had to repeat since there aren't that many, was annoying and took away from the match. Speaking of the match, it wasn't the greatest. While these guys have chemistry, this didn't work as well as their SummerSlam match and the Miz won with a cheap rollup in 9 minutes. I didn't like that we got another rollup win and I hate that the title is a hot potato. I need Bad News Barrett back. **1/4

We get a recap of the Roman Reigns injury story before Seth Rollins comes out and gives Reigns until the count of 10 to face him. Of course, he doesn't show up so Seth is given the forfeit or countout victory. He then issues an open challenge, which never goes well. A taxicab is shown pulling up to the arena and out steps Dean f'n Ambrose. The Tennessee crowd doesn't give the man the pop he deserves, but it's still a good one. Ambrose and Rollins have another exciting brawl around the arena. Ambrose plays the lunatic role to absolute perfection and this was as fun as it could be. Ambrose/Rollins at Hell in a Cell, in the cell please.

Sporting new patriotic gear, Mark Henry came out for his match with Rusev. The national anthem played, Henry had tears in his eyes and everything is incredibly overdone. Even more overdone considering the fact that nobody cares about this angle. Seriously, can't anyone just wrestle Rusev? Why does it have to be about America? It's so forced. Also, Rusev has yet to really have a good match so I don't get the continued push. He makes Henry submit in eight minutes. **

In the ultimate match that nobody cares about, Chris Jericho stepped into the ring with Randy Orton. I've already stated how much I dislike the idea of having a match because of an attack that occurred due to it being the "season premiere" of Raw. This was the definition of a filler match as, even though it got 15 minutes, it didn't matter. Orton won a solid match by catching Jericho in an RKO, but it did nothing. The crowd didn't care either. **3/4

The pre match promo for the Divas Title match was excellent. Paige really shined during it and I just felt that she needed to retain here. Let me get this out of the way first, Nikki Bella impressed me. She wasn't amazing, but she held her own with two of the better Diva workers and took a nasty bump to the outside that I have to give her props for. However, it just seemed like Nikki was just there, while the real story was Paige/AJ. They continued their sexual tension and frenemy angle before AJ made her tap out to the Black Widow in nearly nine minutes. Solid Divas match, but again, why does AJ need the title? Paige should've kept it to continue to establish her. This title swapping is killing me. **1/2

Main event time as Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Title against John Cena. This was a more competitive match than SummerSlam, but I enjoyed it less. Maybe because I'm not a big Cena fan. Oh well, Cena pulled out everything including an STF for like three minutes and FOUR Attitude Adjustments! As he made the cover after the fourth AA, Seth Rollins rushed out and nailed him with the briefcase, resulting in the disqualification. Seth then laid out Cena and planted Brock with the Blackout. He was cashing in! I was losing my mind in my house but then Cena cock blocked and stopped the cash in. Brock, always doing what the fans want, nails Cena with the F5 to close the show. ***1/2

Overall, this was a solid show. Nothing was terrible and everything was between two and four stars. It was mostly an enjoyable three hours and featured some exciting moments. I'd give it a 7/10.

Night of Champions Predictions

Thanks to my new job, this will be the first Pay-Per-View on the WWE Network that I am unable to watch live. I'll have to start it at 9:15 when I get off but that's fine, I'm still here to dish out my predictions. The card looks underwhelming to say the least, although the news of Roman Reigns' hernia injury opens up the intrigue. Now, we have another top face down, which brings the count in 2014 up to four, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns.

This is one of the two matches that I'm looking forward to least. Rusev's feud with Mark Henry has been a lot less entertaining than his feud with Jack Swagger, mainly because we get less Lana vs. Zeb Colter. Having these two close the go home show on Raw was terrible because not many people care for this. Anyway, Rusev is going to stay undefeated until someone important can stop him and Mark Henry isn't that guy.

Winner: Rusev

I know people got their panties in a bunch when The Usos retained the WWE Tag Team Titles against Erick Rowan and Luke Harper at Money in the Bank and Battleground, but I was fine with it. I love the Usos and they've been the best tag team in 2014, while Cody Rhodes and Goldust were arguably the best team in 2013. Nobody could top them for a few months but then they got pushed aside. I wish it was still the regular Brotherhood but I enjoy the Dust Brothers and this could steal the show. Usos retain, sending the Dust Brothers further off the deep end.

Winners: The Usos

One of the matches with the worst builds on the card tonight. Cesaro has done nothing of note since WrestleMania XXX and that will more than likely continue tonight. However, this is a match that I think could be affected by the Roman Reigns injury. With Reigns out, the WWE is in dire need of top faces and Sheamus has filled that role and filled it well. Two days ago, this would've been an easy choice of Sheamus, but I can see Cesaro stealing one and Sheamus moving back up in the card.

Winner: Cesaro

The Intercontinental Championship getting shine is always fun, even though I don't see either of these guys moving up in the card following this feud. The stuff with the stunt doubles has been original and different, which I appreciate and I'm sure this will at least be a solid match. These two Ohioans are really good friends in real life, so their chemistry is pretty good. With the title changing hands on the last two Pay-Per-Views, I don't see that happening again here.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

I can see this going one of two ways. There's the good way, in which Brie Bella ruins Nikki's chance to become Divas Champion and Paige gets to keep the title. Or the bad way, where Nikki wins the belt to that her program with Brie can have the Divas Title. I don't think their stuff needs the Title since they have Total Divas and a built in sibling rivalry, plus I don't think they should cut the legs off of another Paige title run. I'm going with my heart here.

Winner: Paige

Here is the match with the least build and the one that I care the least about besides Henry/Rusev. This has, literally no point. Randy Orton attacked Chris Jericho because, and these are his words, "What can I say? It's the Season Premiere." I don't even want to write more about this. I expect a good match because it's these two, but with little to no heat.

Winner: Randy Orton

As stated earlier, Roman Reigns is going to miss six or more weeks following his hernia surgery. After seeing him beat Seth Rollins on free television, I expected Seth to win here thanks to shenanigans from Kane. However, with Reigns out, I sense Seth comes out and calls for a forfeit victory before Dean Ambrose returns to a massive pop. I doubt they'll actually have a match as I can see that being saved for Hell in a Cell, but it should be fun.

Winner: N/A

Man, the WWE better not screw this up. Having Brock Lesnar obliterate John Cena at SummerSlam was the correct move and having Cena win back the belt here would be terrible booking. Brock needs to remain the dominant Champion that he is. Cena can put up a better fight this time around, but he doesn't need that 16th title here.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

WWE Network Reviews: Night of Champions 2010

Night of Champions 2010
September 19th, 2010 – Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois – Attendance: 13,851

So, after airing in June in 2008 and in July in 2009, Night of Champions moves to September in 2010. That's where it has stayed since then and this just so happens to take place in Chicago, a hotbed for wrestling. This show was the first after Nexus got destroyed by John Cena at SummerSlam. Both Cena and the Nexus leader, Wade Barrett would compete in a Six Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship on this card. I also remember this card featuring Kane vs. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship and it features Daniel Bryan's first title match as he faces the Miz for the United States Title. Should be at least decent fun.

As is the case for the past two years of this show, the Champions are showcased in the intro video. There are seven titles on the line and eight matches tonight. The commentary team is Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker. I'm so happy Striker is there to save this team.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Dolph Ziggler (c) w/ Vickie Guerrero and Kaitlyn vs. Kofi Kingston
Dolph and Kaitlyn was something that just completely worked. I loved their NXT Season 3 stuff. Also, if Dolph is disqualified or counted out, Kofi Kingston becomes the Champion. An athletic sequence to start as Striker talks about Vickie looking hot in her Lane Bryant outfit. Kofi knocks Dolph outside and Kaitlyn checks on him, so Vickie sends her to the back. Well, there goes my eye candy. Kofi misses a splash in the corner and crashes there. Michael Cole wants Vickie to do a book on tape so he can listen to her voice more. Kofi runs into a big boot from Dolph for two. Dolph wears down Kofi with a sleeper hold and when Kofi rallies, he eats a Fameasser for two. Dolph goes to another sleeper of sorts and hits a very high jumping elbow for a near fall. Kofi goes up and hits a cross body that Dolph jumped into to make it look better. SELLING. A series of reversals ends with a Lou Thez Press, RIGHT HANDS RIGHT HANDS THE RATTLESNAKE STRIKES. Boom Drop from Kofi and he signals for Trouble in Paradise. Dolph ducks and gets the Sleeper Hold, but Kofi counters into the SOS! He covers but Dolph gets his foot on the bottom rope. When he rolls outside, Kofi meets him with a lame looking splash. Inside, the Sleeper Hold is on again and Kofi fades but rallies. He breaks it and puts one of his own on! Dolph breaks it and Vickie goes to slap Kofi but Dolph shouts at her not to do it. Kofi tries to hit Trouble in Paradise while his back is turned but Dolph ducks and connects with the Zig Zag.

Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Dolph Ziggler in 12:42
Good opener. Dolph continued to try and use his sleeper hold but Kofi had an answer for nearly everything. These two always had good chemistry. ***

ESPN's Todd Grisham interviews Edge about the Six Pack Challenge and his worries, but he's very confident. Basic stuff.

Big Show vs. CM Punk
CM Punk gets a positive reaction but nothing compared to what he'd get at every Chicago show following Money in the Bank 2011. I'm pretty sure this is around when Punk started getting frustrated with the company. He was the best heel in the company but was in a useless match here. He cuts a promo on how much he loves Chicago but hates the people. Punk starts with kicks to the legs wisely, but Show headbutts him and stops that. Show chops Punk so hard that he falls over the top. Punk hits a knee to the face and then does an impressive front flip to the outside. I've never seen that to the outside. He rolls inside and is hoping for the countout win but Show is in at nine. Punk continues to be in the driver's seat until he jumps off the top and is met with a huge Spear. Show knocks out Punk and it's over. 

Winner: Big Show in 4:43
Not much here. Punk impressed with a few things but this wasn't very important or memorable. **

Josh Matthews now interviews Chris Jericho about the Six Pack Challenge. Similar to Edge's promo, he's confident and brings up beating The Rock and Stone Cold in the same night, winning a Scramble Match and winning an Elimination Chamber. 

WWE United States Championship
The Miz (c) w/ Alex Riley vs. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan is rocking some super generic music. In the first wrestling sequence, Miz overpowers Bryan but his hip toss is blocked and Bryan attempts to lock on the LeBelle Lock but Miz escapes. Bryan hits a huge dropkick and goes back to working on the arm. Michael Cole is incredibly annoying with “Miz Boner” going for the whole match. Miz actually uses some submissions early on that target Bryan's arm to hopefully negate the LeBelle Lock. Bryan counters a hammerlock in a very cool way with a backflip, but he still gets a shoulderbreaker from Miz. Striker is on point tonight as he says Miz channeled Arn Anderson and that he should be in the Hall of Fame. Miz continues to focus on the arm with a sick looking move on the ropes. Bryan uses Miz's momentum to send him outside and follows with a suicide dive that wakes the crowd up. Inside, Bryan hits a dropkick for two while Alex Riley looks like a worried douche. They trade punches until Bryan is like, “I'll just kick you a bunch.” His last kick is one right to the head but Miz kicks out. Bryan sets Miz up on top but gets pushed onto the rope where he is crotched. Miz follows from the second rope with a big clothesline, which is a spot that Bryan used to do with Nigel McGuinness albeit much more violently then. Miz goes right back to the left arm and pulls back on it hard. Bryan counters the Skull Crushing Finale into a pin but Miz kicks out. Bryan goes for the LeBelle Lock but Riley gets on the apron. Miz accidentally knocks him off and Bryan gets a two count with a rollup. Miz uses a small package to get two of his own. He snaps and fires away with lefts on the challenger and gets pulls away by the referee. He goes in again but Bryan catches him in the LeBelle Lock and Miz taps out!

Winner and New WWE United States Champion: Daniel Bryan in 12:29
Along with his Falls Count Anywhere match against John Morrison, this is my favorite Miz match ever. Daniel sold the shoulder work extremely well and everything about this match was enjoyable. Really good stuff and historic as it's Bryan's first title victory. ***3/4

Josh Matthews is conducting another interview with a Six Pack Challenge competitor, this time John Cena. Cena talks about all of the percentages in a very Rock like promo. Not as funny, but along the same lines. It wasn't bad.

WWE Divas and Women's Championship Unification Lumberjill Match
Melina (c) vs. Michelle McCool (c)
When Matt Striker sees the Lumberjills, he remarks “Jillian Hall is still here?”. They do a callback to their match last year as Michelle McCool goes to dropkick Melina during her split entrance again but Melina dodges. Melina goes for a move in the corner but McCool knocks her outside. The Divas don't do anything to her though as it's clear that they're only really pissed at McCool. Michelle hits the Moonlight Drive for two, showing how weak John Morrison's finisher was. Faithbreaker is countered into a facebuster as Melina must have watched some Billy Kidman before this. Michelle comes back with a belly to belly suplex though. Melina gets a rollup but the referee is distracted by Natalya, so McCool kicks out. She runs out to beef with Natalya and gets attacked by every Diva. Rosa Mendes, in her awfulness, decides to try and hit Jillian and it's a laughably bad botch. Melina dodges a McCool bit boot with a Matrix type move, but McCool slams her to the mat. Both girls fall outside and the Lumberjills just stand around watching them until it's just McCool and things break out again. Layla and Melina go at it in the ring and Layla is tossed out. McCool sneaks in and hits a big boot to end it.

Winner and New Divas and Women's Champion: Michelle McCool in 6:34
Not as good as their match the previous year, but still a solid women's contest. It's crazy how most of the girls around the ring and in the match are no longer with the company. **

Layla and Michelle McCool each leave with a championship. Todd Grisham finds Wade Barrett and asks for thoughts on the Six Pack Challenge.

World Heavyweight Championship No Holds Barred
Kane (c) vs. The Undertaker
The promo package for this goes all the way back to the beginning of their history in 1997, which is cool. I really want to know who decided to change Kane's theme from “Slow Chemical” because they should be fired. Undertaker is pissed about this too as he attacks Kane during his entrance. They fight up there for a few minutes and gradually make their way to ringside where Kane tosses his brother into the steel steps. Nothing of real note happens as it's pretty basic and boring. When they finally get in the ring, Kane hits a flying clothesline. They go back outside and Kane throws Taker on the announce table and hits him with the top piece. Taker sends him into the steps to get a bit of an opening. Guillotine leg drop from the Phenom and he's starting to get in his offense. He clotheslines Kane into the time keeper's area and leaps over onto him in a cool spot. The fight now spills into the crowd for a while. They make it back to the ring and Kane is back in the driver's seat. He channels the Undertaker with jabs in the corner. Undertaker rallies with his clothesline, snake eyes, big boot and leg drop but only gets a near fall. Undertaker goes for the Tombstone but Kane counters with his own and covers to earn a clean victory over his brother.

Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Kane in 18:29
Well that was boring. They brawled for most of the match but it wasn't anything worth watching. Seeing The Undertaker get beat cleanly was surprising though. *3/4

Randy Orton is interviewed about the Six Pack Challenge. It's nothing special.

WWE Tag Team Championship Turmoil Match
The Hart Dynasty (c) w/ Natalya vs. Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre vs. Evan Bourne and Mark Henry vs. Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Usos w/ Tamina
The first two teams are the Hart Dynasty and The Usos, and it's crazy to see how far the Usos have come. Striker mentions that he likes to play “Six Degrees of the Hart Dungeon” and I totally want to play this in my free time now. Some solid action to start and Smith hits a sweet belly to belly. When the Usos retreat outside, Kidd nails a gorgeous top rope Asai moonsault onto them. Tamina tries to intervene so Natalya stops her, but an Uso kicks Kidd in the head, allowing the other to pin him and we're guaranteed new Tag Team Champions. It was a weak elimination. Santino and Kozlov are out next to a huge pop. They are in control as Santino tries the Cobra. Tamina gets on the apron to do the Cobra too, which allows The Usos to his a Samoan Drop and eliminate them quickly. Mark Henry and Evan Bourne are next in. Bourne hits some kicks, knees and a hurricanrana to get the crowd excited. Henry eventually hits the World's Strongest Slam and Bourne follows with AirBourne as the Usos are gone. The final team to enter are Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre, who would go on to be called The Dashing Ones. McIntyre starts with his mean streak as he works over Bourne. He and Cody do this for a bit because Bourne makes sense as the face in peril on his team. McIntyre hits an interesting backbreaker before applying a chin lock. Bourne counters a suplex and hits a big knee as he makes the hot tag to the Kool-Aid man. He wails away on both of his opponents for a bit. Bourne gets tagged and climbs onto Mark's shoulders. McIntyre cuts that off and Cody is able to beat Bourne.

Winners and New WWE Tag Team Champions: Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre in 11:29
Rapid fire match here. Quick eliminations allowed for nothing to be a down point. When it got to the end, it was your basic tag team match which was fine. **1/2

We get a vignette for big deal, fairly quick himself, Alberto Del Rio. He shows off how rich he is and calls the fans mentally constipated, which is a new one. The video package for the main event is shown and then Sheamus is interviewed. Again, it's nothing special.

WWE Championship Six Pack Challenge
Sheamus (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Edge vs. John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett
We get in ring introductions for each guy and Michael Cole mentions that the guys in the ring have a combined 32 World Title reigns. Once the bell hits, everyone brawls and some of it spills outside. Cena and Jericho get into a fist fight and if I'm Jericho, I avoided the one guy that I've never beaten in the WWE. And just as I type that, Jericho gets a bulldog and then eats an RKO to be eliminated at 1:25. Everyone stops working and just looks in disbelief at Jericho getting knocked off. He would leave after this show until the start of 2012. When the shock is over and Jericho's gone, Wade Barrett finds himself surrounded by the other four guys. They all owe him for the Nexus attacks to they beat him up. Orton and Cena end up together and they try to act like the crowd is excited, but they're not. It's happened way too often to be special. It gets interrupted so the WWE's poster children throw everyone out again and it's just them. They go for their finishers instantly but continue to counter each other for a bit. Sheamus starts to beat on Cena in the ring while everyone else is down. He sets up for the Celtic Cross but Cena fights out. Sheamus pretty much owned Cena in their early feud. Edge and Sheamus hit Cena with a double second rope suplex. On the outside, the unit of Edgemus toss Barrett into the barricade and continue to work well together. Edge eventually sees a chance and goes to Spear Sheamus but misses. He eventually hits the Spear and then hits one on Orton before eating an AA from Cena, which eliminates him at 15:00.

Wade Barrett targets John Cena and gives a precursor to his bare knuckle character by punching Cena a few times. He goes for Wasteland but of course, it's reversed to the AA, which gets reversed into a DDT. Cena comes back and hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle but Wade avoids the AA. Sheamus gets in and is put in the STF but manages to reach the ropes. The Nexus runs down but John Cena fights them off until he gets caught with Wasteland. Wade pins him and the crowd pops hard at 18:58. Nexus rolls Randy Orton into the ring and then get on the apron but Cena attacks with a chair. The members who get in are all met with RKOs and Orton hits Wade with a backbreaker. He follows with an RKO and eliminates Wade at 20:32.Well, the fall of Wade Barrett continues. Sheamus connects with the Brogue Kick but Orton gets his shoulder up. High Cross is reversed into an RKO and Orton wins his seventh World Title.

Winner and New WWE Champion: Randy Orton 21:28
As with most Six Pack Challenges, this was fun. The early Jericho elimination was a shock and the time until the next elimination featured a cool team up of Sheamus and Edge. Everything after that was fast paced, but I feel that Wade could've won here to save the Nexus angle. ***3/4

Overall: 6/10. Average. Of the Night of Champions series, this was the worst so far. It was still not a bad show though. The opener was good and the only other matches that are worth checking out are the main event and the United States Title match. The World Title match was boring and the other matches are just passable.