Raw Review 2/23/15

With Fast Lane in the rear view mirror, we're officially on the Road to WrestleMania. Fresh off his return at Fast Lane last night, Randy Orton opened things up. He called out Seth Rollins right off the bat, but was greeted by the other members of the Authority. Stephanie McMahon is the main one doing the talking as she tries to convince Randy to come back to the Authority. Big Show does some convincing too. Stephanie brings up the stuff Orton even did to her years ago (DDT and kiss), as a reason to not hold grudges. They want to hold a business conference with him, and he agrees. This was a strange move. The crowd was hot for Orton because they want him to get his hands on the Authority so why go this route? I get that he has heel tendencies but that is actually what makes Orton a solid face. He can work the anti-hero angle very well.

Bad News Barrett is here for a non-title match with Dolph Ziggler. Not only does BNB not have his Intercontinental Title, but he has no character anymore. He no longer gives out "bad news" or anything. R-Truth is out on commentary because he beat Barrett on Smackdown last week. Oh my god. Are we seriously gonna have Truth involved in WrestleMania somehow? Fuck. The match was very solid and Ziggler won. Barrett continues to be booked completely horribly since winning the Intercontinental Title. Dean Ambrose came out to have a stare down with Barrett before he bumped Dolph and head off. I guess we'll get some sort of multi-man match for the IC Title. I prefer Ambrose/Barrett/Ziggler and leave Truth out of it. We waste time highlighting Sting and Triple H from last night. The Authority have their big meeting backstage, and all it does is lead to Seth Rollins and Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan for our main event. Moving on, Sheamus is returning. Soon, we still don't know when. Unless the plan is for him to be in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, he's running out of time to start an actual angle leading into WrestleMania.

The randomly reunited Prime Time Players get the jobber entrance. They square off against the undefeated Ascension. And guess what? They won. Now, I think that the PTP are the better tag team, but if they were serious about building the Ascension, this was not the time for them to lose.The match wasn't very good either. We are now joined by Roman Reigns. He doesn't speak for long because Daniel Bryan cuts him off. Bryan steals the show with his promo. It seemed like he spoke from the heart about how he didn't believe in Roman because he felt he was just the next big guy with the "look." He says that he has more heart than every chosen one in the WWE before he gives him respect and puts him over. Two straight nights, Bryan has done everything in his power to put the man over. Paul Heyman comes out and now it gets sickening. It's one thing for Heyman to put over Roman, but it's another to flat out lie. He had the balls to say that Roman would be the smart against Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Steve Austin, John Cena, Triple H and the Rock in their primes. Seriously Paul? This Roman Reigns cock sucking segment got way out of hand. Reigns came off looking better than normal during a promo but it was a bit nauseating.

After winning the WWE Tag Team Titles at Fast Lane 24 hours earlier, Tyson Kidd and Cesaro had to defend them as the Usos used their rematch clause. Just like last night, this was a fun match. They got a bit more time than they did last night, but this one didn't have a clean finish. Kidd tried to cheat so Naomi knocked his feet off the apron. This led to Natalya shoving her and then getting very pissed as she knocked an Uso off the top rope, resulting in the disqualification. I'm loving how Nattie is slowing moving towards going full on heel with her champions. She also seemed to hurt her ankle, but I'm not sure if it was legit. Backstage, Damien Mizdow thanks Miz because he's getting commercial offers. Miz will be in the Andre the Giant battle royal. Bray Wyatt cuts a promo with a casket to continue the build for his match with the Undertaker. It was fine but this needs to have some sort of Undertaker appearance. Stardust faces Jack Swagger next, and after a short time, Goldust distracted his brother and Swagger won. This was a shit finish for a match that didn't help either guy.

Top of the third hour and here comes John Cena, fresh off his loss to Rusev. He calls Rusev's finisher the Acolyte in the midst of "Generic John Cena Promo #6". This is the one where he admits defeat, hypes the crowd, talks seriously and yells some. He ruins everything when he says that he didn't mind losing but has a problem with losing. Oh gee, well I guess not winning that United States Title is totally fine. Why should anyone root for someone to win that belt again? Lana and Rusev appear to run him down. Cena wants to win the US Title at WrestleMania, but Rusev is all like "the fuck did you do to deserve another shot?". He's not wrong. I guess Cena has to prove himself over the next few weeks. Paige come sout before we go to a long video about Sting's career. This video was way longer than the actual Divas match that followed. Paige and Emma lost to the Bella Twins in less than a minute. Earlier, R-Truth tried to get #GiveTruthAChance trending. Instead, the number two trend worldwide was #GiveDivasAChance. It's true. Why is it that on a three hour show, you can't find ten minutes to give these girls? I would surely take that over wasting that time recapping the shit that we've seen already earlier in the nigh. It's absolutely criminal that people with the talent that Paige, Emma and even the Bella Twins have, get pigeonholed into three minutes at the most. They are given time on Main Event, NXT and Superstars and those are one hour programs. This pisses me off to not end since Paige is one of the main reasons that I watch Raw on a weekly basis. Next, we get the video for the Bushwackers going into the Hall of Fame. Hooray.

Curtis Axel shows up, with a #AxelMania shirt. He says that he's been in the Royal Rumble match for 29 days now. He enters himself into the Andre the Giant battle royal and wrestles another guy who will be in it, Ryback. RYBAXEL EXPLODES! BUT THEY'RE FRIENDS! THIS ISN'T COOL! Ryback wins quickly, but this was at least somewhat fun. The main event comes up and is probably the match of the night. I was pretty surprised to see Roman Reigns make the hot tag to Daniel Bryan instead of the other way around. Bryan comes in with the big knee and pins Rollins for the victory. Randy Orton was not happy and hit Jamie Noble with an RKO. He seemed to be gearing up to do the same to Seth, but instead just exited and left the rest of the Authority confused. This was a really lame way to end the show. Orton should be salivating to get his hands on Seth, not doing this tease nonsense.

Talk about a soft way to begin our trek to WrestleMania. There's only 34 days left and we know a few things but nothing tonight really made me want to watch the big show. From a match perspective, this wasn't an awful show. The main event, opener and Tag Team Title matches were all good stuff but as a WrestleMania build show, this sucked. 3/10.

Fast Lane Review

Unlike most prior months, we didn't get a match on the Kickoff Show. We had MizTV, which won't be reviewed. Moving into the main broadcast, things started with the six man tag. Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan took on Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show. I think this was a pretty good choice to open. The crowd is hot for Ziggler and Ryback, but they make the mistake of having Rowan play the face in peril. The problem is that nobody cares about Rowan. They should have worked over Ziggler and gave Ryback the hot tag. This was decent but the finish sucked. Kane pinned Ziggler after a WMD from Show in about 13 minutes. If the Authority had to win, Rollins should have gotten the pin on Rowan. The big story though, was the return of Randy Orton. He came out, cleaned house of the Authority and is leading to what I assume is a WrestleMania match against Seth Rollins. **1/4

Our second contest took us to the Dust Brothers exploding. Stardust went one on one with Goldust. A lot of people are divided on this. You have some people who considered this to be awful and some who loved the storytelling aspect of it. I find myself somewhere in the middle. These two have wanted a WrestleMania match for so long, but couldn't really deliver a Mania caliber match tonight. Stardust is fantastic at playing his character though and it shined brightly here. They got a little over nine minutes and unfortunately, they totally botched the finish. The referee didn't even count to three but called for the bell. Goldust wins with a crucifix. It was strange to say the least. Backstage, Stardust attacked Goldust in front of their father and continued to say that Cody Rhodes, "the breakout of Legacy, Intercontinental Champion, Dashing, the Prince", is dead. **1/2

If there was one match on the card, besides the obvious Daniel Bryan main event, that I was looking forward to, it was the Tag Team Title match. It also just happened to have the most satisfying conclusion of any match for me at least. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro wisely worked the knee of Jimmy Uso. I got that this was done to set up for Kidd's Sharpshooter and that did come into play. However, it was a kick to that injured knee that helped set up Kidd hitting his finisher and giving this team the belts. I was honestly totally shocked as I saw the Usos retaining and carrying the belts into WresleMania. This was a good surprise and the match was fun. It got just under ten minutes and seeing them win the titles was a mark out moment for me. I love these guys and am glad to see them get some shine. ***1/4

You could tell that Triple H meant business tonight and you want to know how I know? He wore a leather jacket, jeans and taped fists. In other words, this wasn't the COO. It was the Cerebral Assassin. Or at least that was how we were supposed to look at it. He called out Sting, who appeared for the third time on WWE television. It's still surreal. Basically, Triple H ran down WCW and called Sting a failure for sticking with them. Sting didn't say a word again. HHH said he could keep his legacy alive with merchandise and such. How is that a valid offer when WWEshop.com already has a TON of Sting merch and he has his own DVD. Things get physical, HHH takes him down and tries for the sledgehammer. Sting busts out the bat, backs him off and points to the WrestleMania sign. The match is made official later in the night.

The Divas Championship match was up next. Nikki Bella and Paige had a damn fine match on Main Event a while back, but that was given twelve minutes and this only got about six. I enjoyed it though. I figured Nikki would retain, but after meeting Paige at Comic-Con the night before, I was totally 100% behind her and think I will be from here on out. Yes, I somehow love her even more. Both girls did good except for a botched school girl into the turnbuckle. NIkki even busted out the Alabama Slam. She retained with a rollup and a handful of tights, making me think the feud continues. Maybe AJ Lee returns soon and we get Paige and AJ vs. the Bella Twins. I also want to commend Paige for selling the anguish of losing better than most people do. **1/2

Here's another match that I was kind of looking forward to. The Intercontinental Championship is my favorite title in the company and I love the work of both Bad News Barrett and Dean Ambrose. Ambrose hasn't won a singles match on Pay-Per-View since sometime in 2013. Unfortunately, that didn't change here as he lost via disqualification. Something about this match just screamed that it belonged on Raw or Smackdown. I feel they are capable of something more, and I assume we get that leading into WresleMania. After Ambrose lost, he picked up the IC Title and left with it. I think it says a lot about Dean that he can be booked to lose so often and still be as over as he is. The stolen belt angle has never been done by a face that I can recall, so this should be interesting. The bout went nearly eight minutes. **1/4

After weeks of cryptic promos from Bray Wyatt, seemingly alluding to the Undertaker, we get the arrival of the Deadman himself. Or so people thought. The druids, the gong, the music and the casket. It was all very well orchestrated. I had a feeling it wasn't him though and I was correct. Out of the casket comes Bray Wyatt. He cuts a promo about how he will take the Undertaker's soul at WrestleMania and that he's the new face of fear. I want to be excited for Wyatt/Taker but I don't know. With the aura of the Streak gone, I just can't. Also, anyone else think it's weird that Undertaker was obsessed with HHH after having to be carted off at WM27 and winning, but he's just perfectly accepted that Brock actually ended the streak? Strange and inconsistent if you ask me.

If there is one guy that has improved more than anyone in the past year, it's Rusev. When he debuted on the main roster, I claimed that he was far from ready and that was true. However, he has managed to turn me into a believer. This was another of those moments. He does all of the little things to make himself even better. John Cena was his usual self, which was fine. This followed a similar pattern to a fair amount of Cena matches. It started rather slowly but really got going near the end. Rusev joined the now very long list of people that have kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment. I wish that Cena would have just passed out in the Accolade, instead of having to be kicked in the groin and the face before being put back in it. Still though, this was a big win for Rusev in 18 or so minutes. ***

Ah, another match that totally divided people. Unlike the Dust Brothers bout though, this was more about the result than the match itself. Tons of people, like myself, wanted Daniel Bryan to win. Tons wanted Roman Reigns to win. The most important thing though, is that they delivered. In Reigns' first shot at a singles PPV main event, he had a great showing. Yes, part of it was because he was in there with Bryan, but he more than held his own. The match was great and they got 20 minutes. Reigns' hernia injury came into play, which was brilliant. Reigns became the first person to kick out of the running knee besides Randy Orton at WrestleMania. He wouldn't get hit a second time though as he met Bryan with a huge Spear to win. Great stuff. I still don't think that Reigns is anywhere near ready enough to main event the biggest show of the year, but this was a step in the right direction, which I believe was the whole point. ****

Overall, I thought the show was really enjoyable. It never dragged and moved along briskly. I can see what some people mean when they say that this felt like a special episode of Raw, rather than a PPV. However, no match was bad though some disappointed slightly. The main event delivered in spades and the promos from Triple H and Bray Wyatt were solid and built towards WrestleMania well. I liked this a hell of a lot more than the Royal Rumble. 6.5/10.

WWE FastLane Predictions

How crazy is it that the hottest heel in the company for 2014 wasn’t officially booked until the last minute? Seth Rollins has been the best thing about the WWE since the Shield split. However, he hasn’t won on PPV since Hell in a Cell. I don’t see that changing here. Erick Rowan, Ryback and Dolph Ziggler have all faced a ton of hardships from the Authority and haven’t really been able to get them back since Survivor Series. I fully expect the faces to get some revenge but they won’t pin Rollins. Or, at least they shouldn’t. Knowing the booking as of late, Seth will eat a pin while Show and Kane get protected.

Winners: Erick Rowan, Dolph Ziggler and Ryback

I wish that the Rhodes Brothers split was handled better. It was far too obvious but Cody Rhodes killed it in his post match promo with Dusty and again on Smackdown. Whatever you give Cody, he will turn it into gold. I know that they badly want a WrestleMania match, but I’m not sure if I see them fitting into the card, especially with Miz and Mizdow get a match. I’ll accept this match for now, and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun. They may go all out in case they don’t get the Mania match.

Winner: Stardust

I wasn’t very into this program early on but Naked Paige and her post match promo on Raw helped me out. Nikki Bella has improved and is a fun heel champion but she needs to drop Brie from her side because she’s awful as a promo. Anyway, my heart really wants me to choose Paige because she’s my favorite but I see Nikki carrying the belt into WrestleMania. If they are given time and can have a match similar to the one they had on Main Event a month or so ago, this can be a sleeper.

Winner and still champion: Nikki Bella

I won’t lie, the Fast Lane card surprisingly shaped up to be one of the stronger ones in recent months. This is one of the reasons why. Dean Ambrose has suffered with his booking as of late but hopefully a spirited Intercontinental Title program can help. I feel that he and Bad News Barrett can have a fun, hard hitting series of matches. Part of me sees BNB retaining via disqualification or something, but part of me sees this is as a bit of a reward for Ambrose for staying super over despite his losses. I feel that he wins the belt here.

Winner and new champion: Dean Ambrose

There may not be another match on the card that I’m more pumped for. I have been a huge fan of the Tyson Kidd and Cesaro pairing, and love that they are getting TV time. Their promos, especially Kidd’s, have become damn good. FACT. This will be a fun and fast paced match. FACT. I hope to see this get a fair amount of time and give all four guys the chance to shine. I see Naomi and Natalya getting involved in some shape or form, but I hope it doesn’t play into the finish. The Usos will retain because they are the franchise of the tag team division and need to carry the straps into Mania. FACT.

Winners and still champions: The Usos

Color me surprised, but I’ve enjoyed the build for John Cena vs. Rusev. I feel like the gimmick is horribly outdated, but I think highly of Rusev’s work and I definitely like Lana. That being said, with all of the work they’ve done on Rusev, I don’t see him getting fed to Cena instantly. I suspect he’ll win and retain here for the huge win before Cena gets his even bigger win back at WrestleMania. I get that the face has to win out and that’s fine, but they shouldn’t pull another Bray Wyatt this time around.

Winner and still champion: Rusev

I said it before, but I see this being a situation where Daniel Bryan is going to be used to get Roman Reigns over. If fans are looking at this as if Roman is getting this spot over guys that have paid way more dues than him, the WWE could see it being a situation where Roman beats him to earn some of that respect. Bryan shakes his hand post match after what is hopefully a very good match. I still don’t really care for Reigns/Lesnar and much prefer Bryan/Lesnar; I just don’t see it happening.

Winner: Roman Reigns

Bash and Kevstaaa Wrestling Podcast: SummerSlam 1991 Review

Smackdown Report 2/19/15

Smackdown opens with a match and not an Authority promo, meaning I have no idea what to do with that. It's so rare. Daniel Bryan takes on The Miz here and I appreciate that they showed pictures of NXT season one, as Miz tried to take credit for Bryan's success. My only issue with this was Michael Cole taking Bryan's side, when during that whole run, he wouldn't shut up about Miz. After kicking Damien Mizdow to the back, Miz lost to Bryan in just three minutes. It took Roman Reigns nearly ten to beat Miz a few weeks back, yet he's the bigger threat to Brock Lesnar? Sure. We aren't playing games tonight as we go right into the next match. Ryback goes one on one with Kane. This sucked at TLC and it wasn't very good here either. At least this is rather short too, going just about four minutes before Ryback Shellshocks Kane and picks up the win. So Roman couldn't get a clean pin on Kane on Raw, but Ryback can? Who is booking this?

Dean Ambrose is out next for commentary. He runs down Bad News Barrett for not being a fighting Champion as BNB wrestles R-Truth in a non-title match. I don't understand the TV time that Truth has been randomly getting. Maybe Vince thinks his new "Womp, there it is" line is topical. Of course a distraction here allows Truth to beat BNB. Seriously, who is booking this week? Ambrose killed on commentary at least. We move into the recap of the John Cena/Rusev stuff from Raw because Cena doesn't work Smackdowns. After three quick matches, it's time to continue the string of promos as Bray Wyatt cuts another odd one on the Undertaker. Again, he's doing well here but it won't really stand out until they actually do something together.

It's kind of cringevworthy to watch the New Day come out to no reaction. They meet the Ascension, who cut a pre-recorded promo on Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair for appearing on Raw. Since they aren't here now, New Day gets it instead. Again, this is kept rather short, as the Ascension win in about three minutes. Luke Harper is in the ring as we return, for a match against Roman Reigns. Anyone else think the product would be slightly better if Harper and maybe BNB were in Kane and Big Show's position in the Authority? I enjoyed this match and wish that Harper had more to do. He is too damn good to be stuck in midcard hell. His Intercontinental Title reign is pretty forgotten already. Of course he loses here, after eating a Spear. Again, I have to question things. I'm totally okay with Reigns pinning Harper but he should pin Kane too. Why are we protecting Kane instead of a Harper? Moving right along, we get a rundown of the Triple H/Ric Flair segment from Raw. Triple H is pulling a Cena tonight and not working Thursdays.

It's a night for TLC rematches as Erick Rowan meets Big Show. It's like they wanted to take the two worst matches from that show and randomly shove them into tonight's show. I guess Show wasn't in the mood to do this again and he attacks Rowan during his entrance. This leads to a Chokeslam win in less than two minutes.The Bella Twins appear for commentary during the match pitting Cameron against Paige. Cameron didn't give Paige clothes to wear on Monday after the Bellas stole her attire. Hey, some continuity! That combined with the Bryan/Miz stuff earlier is cool. Again, Nikki Bella is fine on commentary but Brie is BEYOND awful. She should stick to in-ring work. We get a recap of Stardust turning on Goldust before Renee Young interviews him. It seems like we're getting Stardust vs. Goldust at Fast Lane. Stardust interrupts on the screen and cuts another damn good promo. Cody Rhodes never fails to deliver.

After a quick pre-recorded promo from Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, we get a match between Kidd and Jimmy Uso. Tyson says that teaming with Cesaro was the best decision of his life and Natalya's reaction is golden. Less than a minute into the match, Rusev appears. He takes out both Usos and Tyson. The heels wisely leave but the beatdown continues on the Usos. John Cena once again proves to be the worst friend in history as he doesn't help a team that has helped him a million times. He then rambles on about Cena. Main event time, and it's an odd choice. Not because Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler isn't main event material, I just assumed it would be either Reigns or Bryan. For some reason, J&J Security is barred from ringside. Isn't the Authority in power? Really good ten or so minute mach that Rollins wins. Ryback, Erick Rowan, J&J, Big Show and Kane all get involved, leading to a brawl between everyone. The Authority stands tall, and I believe a six man tag was announced for the PPV. Not sure though.

All in all, this was a pretty fun episode of Smackdown. None of the matches, except for the main event, was really long but it flowed well and moved along rather nicely. It did a decent job of building towards Fast Lane on Sunday, though the Bryan/Reigns match didn't get much shine. They did have a lot on Raw so that's fine. An enjoyable two hours here. 6.5/10.

Bash and Kevstaaa Wrestling Podcast: Final Four 1997 Review

Random Network Reviews: Backlash 1999

Backlash 1999
April 25th, 1999 – Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island – Attendance: 10,939

During the Attitude Era, the WWF produced must see television every single week. However, the WrestleManias from that era left a lot to be desired. Take WrestleMania XV for example. The only thing fondly remembered is Austin/Rock, so the WWF decided to give it to us again as the main event the following month. I don’t remember much about the rest of the show, but the WWF was in its peak year from a profitability standpoint I believe so hopefully it’s damn good.

Overdramatic is the word for the opening video package. Don’t get me wrong, Austin/Rock is huge but the way it’s presented, you would think it’s the biggest match ever. Commentary tonight is, as always during this time, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. They inform us that the main event is now No Holds Barred and if Austin hits Shane McMahon, he will lose the title.

Six Man Tag Team Match
The Brood vs. The Acolytes and Mideon
This stems from Christian giving up the whereabouts of Stephanie McMahon to Ken Shamrock while in the Ankle Lock, so The Undertaker wanted to sacrifice him. Edge and Gangrel wanted none of that and attacked, breaking away from the group. Mideon and Christian start but it moves to Bradshaw beating the stuffing out of Gangrel for a bit. Edge comes in and they nail a double suplex. Faarooq gets the tag and hits a stiff spinebuster on Edge. Mideon actually hits a really good looking vertical suplex which surprises me. Teddy Long is the referee here and must be rock hard because this is a six man tag match PLAYA. A “Mideon Sucks” chant breaks out, because I guess the crowd thinks the Acolytes are at least okay. Edge continues to play the face in peril until he hits a Spear from the second rope and he hot tags Christian. He comes in hot and hits Poetry in Motion type moves before getting a near fall with a tornado DDT. Bradshaw connects with a vicious powerbomb but Gangrel makes the save. Edge hits a missile dropkick for two and Christian leaps onto Faarooq. He’s caught but Edge baseball slides into them. Viscera arrives and squishes Christian, which allowed a Clothesline from Hell to end this.

Winners: The Acolytes and Mideon in 11:38
Decent tag match. Edge was the face in trouble and the heels were their powerful selves as everyone played their roles correctly. Christian being the one to get the hot tag was great but the wrong team went over. **1/2

WWF Hardcore Championship
Hardcore Holly (c) vs. Al Snow
Just before the bell, these two already go at it and Hardcore Holly gets taken outside. Weapons quickly come into play when Holly gets a gallon of water and hits Snow with it. Somehow, even before the jug, Snow is busted open. They spill into the crowd for a bit before bringing it back to ringside. Snow gets a hockey stick, which is in this arena for no reason since there is no Rhode Island hockey team. Maybe AHL or something. Snow goes to set up the CHEAPEST looking table but Holly strikes him with the hockey stick instead. They go up the aisle where Holly hits a suplex for two. As they get backstage, Holly actually tries to use the kitchen sink but gest sprayed with water. We CLEARLY see Faarooq and Sgt. Slaughter watching in the back so there goes the Ministry illusion. The match moves to the parking lot and they just keep beating each other with various weapons. They actually fight into a dumpster full of trash and Holly gets the dirtiest near fall of all time. We go to the production truck and Snow gets a near fall after an elbow onto a car. Slowly, but surely we are moving back towards the ring. Snow places Holly on the cheap table but wastes time and is hit with a frying pan. Holly nails a superplex through the cheap table but both guys are down so no pin. Snow gets head and knocks out Holly with it to earn the three.

Winner and New WWF Hardcore Champion: Al Snow in 15:35
Serious points for creativity. It’s easy to stay entertained when they’re moving around and going to fun, new places. There wasn’t much for psychology but that isn’t needed here. This was fun and that’s all a Hardcore Title match should be. ***

The Ministry are backstage and The Undertaker is talking in circles about the Higher Power. I guess Faarooq was pulled away from the end of that match for this. I’m sure he’s very upset.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
The Godfather (c) vs. Goldust w/ The Blue Meanie
Man, the Blue Meanie is a weird dude. He parodies Sable’s catchphrase and grind before the match. “PUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO BED”. Classic JR. After some basic Godfather antics, Goldust hits him with some shots but gets sent outside. It continues to amaze how much better Goldust looks 15 years later. Meanie trips up Godfather, allowing Goldust to capitalize. Trademark Goldust throat thrust is followed by Meanie giving him a bad of powder. Godfather counters and blinds him. Goldust hits Meanie, thinking it was his opponent. He sets him up for the Shattered Dreams and I’m pretty sure he would’ve been able to tell the difference in body type, not to mention Meanie screaming. He hits it and then gets kicked by Godfather. He then gives Meanie and Goldie rides on the Ho Train and ends it with the Pimp Drop.

Winner and Still WWF Intercontinental Champion: The Godfather in 5:12
This sucked. Neither guy, nor Meanie for that matter, really put in much effort. Pure shenanigans and not in a good way. *

Al Snow gets interviewed backstage with Head. It’s weird.

Number One Contender’s Match
Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart w/ Debra vs. The New Age Outlaws
Good lord, Debra is basically wearing nothing. She was always super overrated looks wise, but sheesh. Road Dogg tries to get Debra to show the puppies so Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett attack. Billy wins the back and forth with Owen and promptly motions for Owen to “suck it”. Dogg comes in and Owen shows of his athleticism before tagging Jarrett. The future “Chosen One” struts and does the crotch chop before eating some juke and jive from that D-O-DOUBLE G. Owen blind tags in but Dogg confuses them and makes them run into each other. The Outlaws were good for antics like that. Owen is tired of that and nails the enziguri THAT KILLED HBK for two. The heels work over Dogg for a bit although he gets a backslide behind the referee’s back. Owen connects with another pretty spinning heel kick that, I swear, got a three because Billy Gunn was too late to break the count. We get Vince Russo’s favorite spot, the sleeper with the arm drops and Road Dogg rallies before his arm falls a third time. We end up with Russo’s second favorite spot when they both go down to double clotheslines. Gunn gets the hot tag and hits a big powerslam on Jarrett. Dueling ten corner punches from the faces work until Debra uses her distractions to distract Road Dogg. He recovers and hits the Pump Handle Slam on Owen but Jarrett breaks the pin. Owen slaps on the Sharpshooter and Jarrett goes for the Figure Four but Billy kicks him off. He then breaks the Sharpshooter with a Fameasser and wins.

Winners: The New Age Outlaws in 10:27
I’ve never been the biggest New Age Outlaws fan but that was an enjoyable match. I really like the team of Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart and this just clicked. ***1/4

After the match, Billy Gunn pulls down his pants and shows the fans his ass. Man, I hated the Mr. Ass character. Side note, this would be the final Pay-Per-View match of Owen Hart’s career.

Michael Cole, looking like he hasn’t hit puberty yet, interviews Shane McMahon. Shane gives his word that he will count 1-2-3 if Austin is able to pin Rock’s shoulders to the mat. He also continues to disown his dad, calling him Vince. WWF’s resident hermaphrodite, Kevin Kelly, now interviews Vince and Stephanie. It’s strange to see how innocent Stephanie could be here before she would turn into an AMAZING heel.

Boiler Room Brawl
Big Show vs. Mankind
This is a rematch from a forgetful bout at WrestleMania XV. Both guys are faces, making this odd. Show searches for Mankind and is hit with a SNEAK ATTACK! They continue to brawl by hitting each other with tables, sheetrock and everything they could find. In a precursor to Jackass, Show sits Mankind in a shopping cart and runs him into a wall. A shot of Teddy Long is shown as he’s standing outside of the boiler room, ready to call a winner. Show heads in that direction but Mankind breaks glass over his head! HES HARDCORE! HES HARDCORE! Mankind goes to climb a ladder but is Chokeslammed off of it through two tales and glass. His arm is cut, as is Show’s head. Mankind has to be in the top five of guys who take the best beatings and he’s is taking one now. He hits a pipe that bursts and “steam” hits Show in the eyes. Lawler corrects Ross that it is not steam and Mankind goes low with a pipe. He then throws Show into a table that causes a bunch of pipes to fall and bury him. Mankind crawls to the exit, with his blood making handprints all over, earning the win.

Winner: Mankind in 7:50
While shorter than I expected, another fun brawl. Similar to the Hardcore Title match, but still different. Both guys worked hard and took bumps. ***1/4

Mankind’s celebration is cut short when he is attacked by Big Bossman and Test. Big Show rises from the dead like its Halloween Havoc ’95 and helps Mankind take out the Corporation members. Adolescent Michael Cole interviews Triple H and Chyna about the upcoming match with X-Pac. There’s something about them being Eskimo Brothers mentioned, or maybe not.

The WWE Network has the extended DVD version which is awesome. We see Big Show getting stitched up and then Mankind saying “I don’t want to wrestle Big Show anymore. I got kids.”

Triple H w/ Chyna vs. X-Pac
Triple H is sporting some of that good old generic heel music. The stuff you get when you first turn and they have nothing permanent for you yet. A fist fight opens things because THIS IS PERSONAL! Triple H totally launches X-Pac outside and he lands hard. Chyna goes to strike but X-Pac sees it coming and stops it. Back inside, he gets a near fall with a spinning heel kick before using his educated feet to an advantage. He goes for the Bronco Buster so Chyna distracts him and X-Pac signals for her to “suck it”. FORESHADOWING! He misses the move and seems to hurt his neck so HHH goes right for it. Because of this, the match slows to a crawl. This is a nice look into the “Cerebral Assassin” role that Triple H would play very well for the next few years. X-Pac tries to rally but Trips hits the facebuster and tosses him outside so Chyna can gorilla press him. Pac gets a near fall with a small package so Triple H takes him down with a clothesline. Commentary is doing a great job telling the story of HHH’s plan to go after the neck and how resilient X-Pac is. I understand the psychology but HHH might be using too many rest holds. Again, X-Pac tries to get on the offensive but eats a back suplex. Some heel kicks allow X-Pack to gain some momentum. Chyna gets on the apron to distract the referee and X-Pac counters a Pedigree with a headbutt to the groin. That distraction came at a bad time and had the reverse effect. HHH knocks X-Pac outside and we get a ref bump. Inside, X-Pac hits the X-Factor and Chyna enters to give him a low blow and reverse DDT. She’s done more moves in this match than I saw in the entire IC Title match. She puts Triple H over X-Pac when the lights go out and Kane comes out. THAT’S GOTTA BE…THAT’S GOTTA BE KANE! Chyna doesn’t back down but Triple H saves her, only to get a Chokeslam. Chokeslam to Chyna as well and the crowd is on fire now. The referee and X-Pac get up at the same time and its Bronco Buster time for both HHH and Chyna! Triple H gets up and plants X-Pac with the Pedigree to put this one in the bag.

Winner: Triple H in 19:19
The psychology of the match was great but it was boring at points. I had high hopes for this and while it didn’t quite deliver, it was still pretty good. ***1/4

Ken Shamrock vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer
Ken Shamrock was so ahead of his time, it’s crazy. If he would have come along when MMA was at the height of its popularity, he could have been huge. Undertaker starts on the offensive and hits Old School early on. Shamrock leaps into Undertaker’s big clothesline, as he is bringing out the big guns early. Shamrock must have watched some Bret Hart matches before this as he brilliantly goes for the big man’s legs. Undertaker brings out a nice looking back suplex and goes to a choke behind the referee’s back. Right back to the legs goes Shamrock and Undertaker is selling surprisingly well. Shamrock blocks a hip toss and rolls into a great leg lock. On the outside, Shamrock places Undertaker’s leg on the steel steps and stomps on it. Undertaker resorts to a drop toe hold and then wails away on Shamrock, only to have it reversed and end up in an armbar. Back outside, we get more leg work until Shamrock makes a miscue and leaps at Taker from the apron. He is caught and driven into the ring post. Undertaker wants us to know that he too can target a body part and works the lower back even using a bow and arrow. Undertaker limps into a leg drop but Shamrock rolls through into a leg lock, which was badass. It is countered into a half Boston crab though and this is the real first glimpse that I can remember of Undertaker being a guy who can work a submission style match. A big boot gets a near fall but Shamrock didn’t kick out so it looked awkward as hell. The Tombstone gets reversed and Shamrock gets the Ankle Lock on! Bradshaw runs out with a bat so Shamrock goes for him. Undertaker goes for the Chokeslam and Shamrock counters into another rolling submission. Now a Paul Bearer distraction stops him but he still snaps off a belly to belly suplex. Shamrock then makes the mistake that others have and tries to Tombstone Undertaker. It gets reversed into Undertaker’s own and that is enough to win.

Winner: The Undertaker in 18:53
I’ve heard mixed reviews about this match but I liked it more than I expected to. Yes there were a lot of submissions but they all made sense. Ken Shamrock came off looking smart and tough while Undertaker impressed more than he usually did during his Ministry run. ***1/4

The Undertaker leaves Bradshaw in the ring with Ken Shamrock and he proceeds to beat him up with it. Nothing else happens, just Bradshaw hitting three or so moves.

WWF Championship No Holds Barred Match
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin (c) vs. The Rock
Austin charges the ring to start and levels Rock with piston like right hands. Shane McMahon tries to stop Austin, which allows Rock to take control but Austin comes back with a LOU THEZ PRESS! RIGHT HAND RIGHT HANDS! THE RATTLESNAKE STRIKES! The momentum swings after a Rock swinging neckbreaker. See what I did there? It’s not a good old fashioned Attitude Era brawl unless we fight up the aisle. Rock whips Austin into the entrance set and part of it comes tumbling down. Austin hits a suplex on the concrete and the crowd is red hot. They continue to trade stuff and Austin actually hits a clothesline off of a speaker. Rock throws him into a camera and chokes the champion with cables. As they make it back to the ring, you can clearly see Austin tell Rock something in his ear before throwing him into the steps. Finally back to the ring and Shane stops Austin from stomping a mudhole and shoves him. Austin can’t retaliate or he loses the belt. He goes outside and to the Spanish announce table with Rock. A low blow is followed by a Rock Bottom through the table! In classic Rock form, he steals a headset and provide color commentary. Shane steals a steel chair from Austin and hands it to Rock but it backfires. The fight moves to the crowd now for a bit. Shane and Rock seem to be disagreeing and arguing about Rock’s need to showboat. He takes a camera and films himself talking trash to a downed Austin. We get the awesome visual of receiving a Stunner first person from Rock’s camera. In the ring, Austin goes for the Stunner but Rock shoves him off and Shane goes down. Rock Bottom hits and Shane drapes Rock’s arm over Austin but only gets two. Shane gets the belt and goes to hit Austin but nails Rock instead. Austin covers and Shane stops his count before three. He runs away but Vince McMahon comes out with a new referee and the Smoking Skull Belt. Shane puts a STUPID look on his face and Vince lays him out. Rock picks up the belt but walks into a Stunner. He doesn't fall so he has to be hit with the WWF Title. Earl Hebner counts the three for the finish.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: Stone Cold Steve Austin in 17:10
While we had two straight psychological bouts, this was a straight up classic Attitude Era brawl. They fought around the arena, it had the right amount of interference and was very fun. Great close to the show. ****

Cutting outside, Stephanie McMahon is shown in the limo when the Ministry comes out to hassle her. Security sends the limo away and Stephanie is all like “wait for my dad!” The driver reveals himself to be The Undertaker in a comically acted scene.

Overall: 8.5/10; Excellent. That was a blast. It exceeded my expectations by a fair amount. As I said, I’ve known Attitude Era Pay-Per-Views to sometimes lack but this one did not. The only match that was bad was the IC Title. The opener was decent but everything else was at least three stars. You get psychological battles in HHH/X-Pac and Taker/Shamrock, an impressive tag match and three really fun brawls. One of the best In Your House Pay-Per-Views and one of the better shows I’ve reviewed. Our next “Random Network Review” is going to be Clash of the Champions XX!

Raw Report 2/16/15

We open to John Cena coming out and cutting the same promo as always. Literally he just talks about how he's ready to fight, how he likes the mixed reaction he gets from the fans and says that he will win the United States Championship. Well that's different. It's about time the belt became a factor in the feud. Rusev and Lana interrupt with Lana stealing the show by calling out Cena for saying the same old thing. Cena threatens Rusev so he's all like "you can't see me". Ha. Cena charges and they go at it. I love that Rusev didn't run. I know that it's okay for heels to run, but being a monster heel, him standing his ground worked well. Cena wins the fight here, throwing Rusev into the LED stage a few times. Good opening as it is preferred to the usual 30 minute Authority promo, was short and sold the match well. In honor of the 40th Anniversary of Saturday Night Live, Dean Ambrose did a Weekend Update type skit about Bad News Barrett. It was short and entertaining, since everything Ambrose touches turns to gold. He's here to open the wrestling portion of the show against Luke Harper. I liked the mention of how he beat a former IC Champion last week, Curtis Axel and is going to try and do that again now. I'd like to see him go over a bunch of former IC Champions on the road to a title shot. He has a contract for a title shot that he's trying to get Barrett to sign. The opener was damn good, as both guys are awesome and Ambrose won in about 11 minutes. I just wish there was something more for Harper to do because he's fantastic. Backstage, Kane and Big Show get into a tiff over their issues from Smackdown, while Triple H tries to play peacemaker. Show brings up May 13th, even though he meant May 19th. I really hope we don't get a Kane/Show program down the line. Next, Bray Wyatt cuts a promo about the Undertaker. He doesn't say the name, but it seems pretty clear. He's doing a good job of building this without his opponent around.

Stardust and Goldust are backstage when Dusty Rhodes come up and calls Stardust "Cody." He wants Stardust to focus on family and not the "cosmic" crap. He seems to agree. They head to the ring for a match against the New Day. Poor New Day still gets no reaction from the fans. New Day wins in just under three minutes, pinning Goldust. Post match, Stardust lays out his brother. Nobody is surprised at this turn of events as it was way too telegraphed. On the WWE App, he cut a great promo about Cody Rhodes being dead and how what he just did was a "beautiful disaster", which is an excellent play on his old move.

Roman Reigns is interviewed backstage about the Daniel Bryan situation.

He says that he gave Bryan the chance at Fast Lane and he'll take it away. He also calls out Bryan for not taking his Royal Rumble loss like a man. Bryan came out to do commentary during Reigns' match against Kane. He battles Lane for line of the night when asked about being stripped of the title. He responded with "I had one less defense than Brock Lesnar so they didn't have to strip me." SHOTS FIRED! The match is pretty dull and goes about six minutes before Roman wins via DQ. WHY? Seriously, the guy who I'm supposed to believe is a threat to Bryan and Brock Fucking Lesnar can't pin Kane? What's he gonna do, beat Brock via countout at WrestleMania? Awful booking. It's the opposite of making Roman look strong. Kane and Big Show are the trash that he should be annihilating.

We get another Bray Wyatt promo about the Undertaker before cutting backstage. The Bella Twins steal Paige's gear, causing her to exit the Divas locker room in just a towel. HOT DAMN! I should have just used Paige gifs for this entire report. She needs clothes and, after Cameron refuses to lend her some, steals a Rosebud's fairy outfit. When she came out for the match, she looked like an emo Katy Perry. It worked for me. She beat Summer Rae in pretty much the same match from Smackdown. It was a childish angle but whatever. Paige saves it by looking great and interrupting the Bellas post match promo. She says she doesn't need an outfit to look good and the only thing she'll be wearing on Sunday, is the Divas Title. Good promo from Paige. Also, the fairy she stripped was NXT's Blue Pants also known as Leva Bates. We are now taken to the Sheamus Returns promo because he's coming back. Soon. One day.

Seth Rollins, along with J&J Security, come out and cut a promo. He talks about being the future but he's annoyed by Ryback, Erick Rowan and Dolph Ziggler. Dolph interrupts and they trade barbs leading to a match. As usual, these two have a good contest and just as it was getting really good, J&J jump in for the DQ. Ryback and Rowan make the save and run them off. Maybe we get a six man tag at Fast Lane, so they can at least have something to do. Triple H comes out to respond to Sting responding to him last week so they can have a face off at Fast Lane so they have a potential match at WrestleMania. Got all that? After he talks for a bit, Ric Flair cuts him off. The fans are happy to see him. Flair warns Triple H about Sting. He should give him advice on befriending Sting, only to turn on him. HHH commends Sting for being loyal to WCW, but he says that if Sting came to WWE back then, he would have ran him out because he hates that Sting's legacy is built on Flair's reputation. Flair mentions that HHH lost to Daniel Bryan last year because he's not a wrestler anymore. HHH shoves him on his ass and screams that the WWE is the most important thing to him. This was solid. Better than the usual useless Flair appearance.

On the Raw Pre-Show, Darren Young was interviewed about his return when the Ascension interrupted and challenged him to find a partner. Young has a totally generic CAW as his partner. The Ascension beat them down until Titus O'Neill makes the save, reuniting the Prime Time Players. I liked them as a team, so I'm glad they're back, but it's random and the crowd didn't care. You know why? Because they jobbed as a team, they jobbed separately and they'll probably job again. I hope not though. Backstage, Miz tells Bad News Barrett to knock Damien Sandow down a few pegs in their match, while Miz will watch out for Ambrose. We don't get the catchphrase again, so is he just Wade Barrett tonight? Mizdow gets the advantage, so Miz rings a bell fo rhim to stop and makes him shine his shoes. Good lord Miz is a phenomenal heel. Barrett wins and out comes Ambrose. Miz does nothing to stop him. Dean ties Barrett to the post and uses his hand to sign the contract. This was pretty fun but if someone like Clarence Mason was still around, this would never hold up.

More cryptic words from Bray Wyatt, who is going all 1994 Undertaker by building a casket it seems. Time for mixed tag action as Naomi and Jimmy Uso take on Tyson Kidd and Natalya. It's announced that Kidd and Cesaro get a Tag Title shot at Fast Lane. Kidd didn't want the tag, but berates Nattie because he's such a good dick heel. Wise to have Nattie take the fall and I appreciate that to build this we haven't had tons of singles matches between the teams. Roman Reigns came out to wach the main event and was a complete ass but in a good way. He took photos with fans, chuckled when Bryan was in pain and dismissed his offense. By the way, it was Bryan vs. Big Show. We get a bullshit DQ finish as Reigns Superman punches Show. Seriously? The need to protect Show and Kane is sickening. This led to Bryan and Reigns brawling all around the ring which was the most entertaining thing of the night. Their dynamic has been fantastic. Both guys have looked like the heel and face at different times. This was a red hot way to close show, that even featured an appearance from NORMAN SMILEY! THE BIG WIGGLE! Even when officials hld them back and they shake hands, they go right back to rumbling. That worked as an exceptional close for a go home show.

I have to seriously commend that closing. We all know that the go home show is supposed to make us want to watch the Pay-Per-View and this did exactly that. I am more pumped for Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan than ever before. They also built towards the Tag Title, IC Title, US Title and Diva Title matches well, plus the Sting/HHH stuff. My only real issue with the show was the booking of Kane and Show. They don't need to be protected and because of that, it led to a countout and two DQ finishes tonight. 7.5/10.