Top Ten Thursday: Worst WrestleMania Matches

Last week, I made the bold choice to rank my picks for the top ten WrestleMania matches. While that was fun, this week we go on the opposite spectrum, looking at the worst of the worst. There have been plenty of bad matches at WrestleMania and it was tough to narrow it down. Right off the bat, I'm not including any matches that were too short to really be matches, so that leaves out Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan, Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero, etc. Also, the history of women's matches in WrestleMania has mostly been bad and could probably take up an entire list so I tried to mix it up but the Playboy tags from WM20 and 24 nearly made it along with Melina vs. Ashley from 23 and a few others. This isn't a definitive list, just my picks for the worst.

10. Street Fight: Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon – WrestleMania XXVI

Four year earlier, Vince McMahon was involved in a really fun Street Fight against Shawn Michaels. Going back further, he also had enjoyable Street Fights against his son, Shane McMahon, and Hulk Hogan. However, by the time WrestleMania XXVI rolled around in 2010, Vince was really starting to get up there in age. Add in that he was facing Bret Hart, who was in pretty terrible shape at the time and couldn’t carry Vince, and that should have led to a simple concept. Make the match short and overbook it. They brought the Hart Family in, siding with Vince before quickly revealing they were still with Bret, and if that had to be done, they should have all helped beat up Vince. Once that was done, Bret could do one or two things, avenge the Montreal screwjob and beat Vince. Instead, they drew this out for about eleven boring minutes and gave Vince way more offense than he should have gotten. Whoever thought it should go that long and not just be a complete squash should have been canned on the spot. At least Bret did win.

9. Catfight: The Kat vs. Terri Runnels – WrestleMania 2000 

There have been worse WrestleManias, but WrestleMania 2000 may be the strangest. In an effort to get everyone on the card, without the benefit of a battle royal, there were no traditional singles matches. Literally every match was either a tag team, six man tag, Fatal Four Way or Triple Threat. The closest thing to a traditional singles match was this “Catfight” between the Kat and Terri Runnels. The rules were basically that of a Sumo Wrestling match (Akebono vs. Big Show nearly made this list by the way), where the loser would be the woman tossed out of the ring. Terri had Mae Young at ringside, while Kat had the Fabulous Moolah. Val Venis, seemingly the only healthy guy on the roster not booked, was the special referee. The match was pretty painful since neither girl was ever any good, but it was made all the worse by the overbooking finish. Thanks to distractions, Val Venis missed Kat win it twice and only saw when Terri threw her out of the ring, giving her the win. Nobody cared and the fans only popped when Kat stripped Terri after the bell.

8. Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice – WrestleMania VIII

Speaking of Sid, his WrestleMania 13 WWF Title match against Undertaker was very close to making this list. Instead, I went with his only other Mania appearance, and yes, this one inexplicably also main evented. Originally, the plan was for Hulk Hogan to headline this WrestleMania against Ric Flair. Apparently, the matches didn’t draw much on house shows, Hogan wanted to leave to act and the WWE was dealing with the infamous steroid scandal. Plans changed and Hogan was booked against Sid. They were given the main event slot and proceeded to have the worst main event in WrestleMania history. Hogan and Sid did a whole lot of nothing for about ten minutes before leading to a non-finish. Papa Shango was supposed to run in and break up the pin after Hogan hit the Leg Drop. He missed his cue so Sid kicked out, joining rare company. Shango still ran out and gave us a very anti-climactic finish, which set up the return of the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior would be gone again before the end of the year and Hogan was done outside of a lackluster first half of 1993 run until 2002.

7. Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal – WrestleMania XXV 

Originally, I wasn’t going to include any Battle Royals. Outside of a select few (WrestleMania XXX or WrestleMania 2), they’re usually unmemorable and feature a lot of standing around. I just had to include this for the sheer awfulness of it all. The WWE hyped this as a return for many Divas of the past. While it still probably wouldn’t have been very good, it could have been fun. What we got was far from fun. Greats like Lita and Trish Stratus turned down offers to return and the ladies who did return, were completely ignored. While ladies like Victoria, Gail Kim and others made their entrances, they weren’t even announced because we had to be subjected to a lengthy Kid Rock concert during this time. Yes, Kid Rock was more important than the Divas division. The eliminations were treated like they pretty much didn’t even happen and to make matters even worse, a man won. Santino Marella, a great comedy character, dressed in drag as his “sister” Santina Marella (in a rare totally unfunny gimmick for him) won the whole thing, rendering all of it pointless and making the Divas division a total joke.

6. WWF Championship: Yokozuna (c) vs. Lex Luger – WrestleMania X 

Interestingly enough, this is the only WWF/WWE Championship match to crack this list. In the summer of 1993, Lex Luger dropped his Narcissist gimmick and became a patriotic goof. He didn’t get over the way the company wanted him to. He got a title shot at SummerSlam but only beat Yokozuna by countout (and still celebrated like he won the belt, making himself look like an idiot). He and Bret Hart would co-win the Royal Rumble and both got title shots at WrestleMania. Luger went up first and their match had a special referee in Mr. Perfect. Their SummerSlam match wasn’t anything I would consider good, but it was far better than the rematch. This lacked drama, intrigue and by this point, Luger was, at best, the number two babyface on the roster. Much like the SummerSlam match though, Luger came out looking like a clown. He got himself disqualified by provoking Mr. Perfect and cost himself another big match. The match and Luger in general, were complete failures. Anytime someone gets pushed and comes up short often, you can kind of call it “Lugering”.

5. WWF Women’s Championship: Sable (c) vs. Tori – WrestleMania XV

The history of Divas matches at WrestleMania is not a good one. From Melina vs. Ashley to the Playboy pillow fights, Lumberjill and evening gown matches to the aforementioned Battle Royal, a lot of them have absolutely stunk. Some of those, like the pillow fights, really had no chance of being a good match. Considering the women involved in this one, it didn’t stand a chance either but at least it was an actual one on one wrestling match. They were given an actual storyline to work with that wasn’t too bad. Sable became a self-obsessed Diva while Tori debuted as her stalker. The WWE would this feud much better a few years later between Trish Stratus and Mickie James, who would go on to have the best women’s match in WrestleMania history. Still, it was fresh and alright here. Sable took advantage of Tori and it led to this match. The girls went out and had a rather horrible match that is only remembered, if at all, for the debut of Nicole Bass as Sable’s enforcer. Even with all of the bad women’s matches in Mania history, this was the worst.

4. Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg – WrestleMania XX

Honestly, this was probably better than the Sable/Tori match. However, it ranks higher (or lower considering this list) because it was the most disappointing ever. Between the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Brock Lesnar and Goldberg were two of the best booked monsters in history. With both guys officially on the WWE roster during 2003, there was hope that they would meet. However, Goldberg was on Raw, while Lesnar spent his time on Smackdown. Starting at the 2004 Royal Rumble, the men began to interact, with Goldberg even costing Brock the WWE Championship. Their match was set and it could have been a glorious hoss battle. Instead, both men were set to part ways with the company and that information leaked to the masses. With WrestleMania XX taking place in New York City, in front of a smark crowd that knew all of this beforehand, the match got eaten alive. Both guys got mercifully booed out of the building and nobody cared about the result of the match since both men were on their way out. Even guest referee Steve Austin couldn’t save things. Goldberg won but both men ate Stunners after the bell.

3. Hell in a Cell: Big Bossman vs. The Undertaker – WrestleMania XV

I know that the WWF was in the midst of one of, in not their absolute hottest periods in 1999, but man, WrestleMania XV sucked ass. Most of the show was extremely lackluster but this match proved to be the worst of the worst. The Undertaker had just formed the Ministry of Darkness and was involved in an incredibly confusing angle with the Corporation and Vince McMahon. Right off the bat, the idea of a heel vs. heel angle didn’t come off as intriguing. Then, the Big Bossman was chosen as Undertaker’s opponent and that also didn’t interest most people. Bossman was really good in his prime, but he was way past it here. As if they knew this would be bad, especially given Undertaker’s string of garbage matches in 1999, they decided to have it take place inside Hell in a Cell. At this point, we’d only seen two Cell matches and both were classics. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had the best Cell ever and then Undertaker pretty much killed Mick Foley almost a year later. This was not only a far cry from that, it would also go down as the worst Cell match of all time. There was no flow to the match, nobody bought Bossman as a threat and it totally sucked. The only memorable thing was Bossman being hung from the top of the cell after the match.

2. Giant Gonzalez vs. The Undertaker – WrestleMania IX

In the early 90’s, the WWE liked to book the Undertaker against seemingly larger than life characters who didn’t bring much to the ring. Giant Gonzalez totally epitomized that. He was nearly eight feet tall and legitimately towered over the Undertaker. It was a sight for fans to see. It would have been better if Gonzalez wasn’t in the ridiculous outfit that he was given, with airbrushed muscles and strategically placed body hair. If you could think of a weakness in a performer, Gonzalez had all of them. Those were completely exposed during the actual match, which was one of the worst I’ve ever witnessed. Undertaker had his fair share of duds during the streak but none topped this. Not only was it terrible but the finish was beyond awful. Of all of the Undertaker’s WrestleMania wins, this was the only one to not come via pinfall or submission as he scored a meager disqualification victory over the worst performer he ever faced. The fact that this was the worst match on one of the worst Manias and featured the one asterisk of Undertaker’s streak is nearly enough to top the list.

1. Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole – WrestleMania XXVII

Oh my goodness, this is atrocious. It honestly might have been the single worst wrestling match I’ve ever seen. I’ve admittedly never been a fan of Jerry Lawler but understand that he’s had a Hall of Fame career and deserved at least one WrestleMania moment. That’s fine. The problem was everything else about this idea. Michael Cole wasn’t a good heel. He was just incredibly annoying and had go away heat, rather than heel heat. Their rivalry took over shows, ruining plenty of matches with their squabbling. However, if they absolutely HAD to do Cole/Lawler as the one Lawler WrestleMania match, then it should have been Lawler squashing Cole to shut him up after months of him being a giant pain in the ass. Of course, we didn’t get that. Cole and Lawler inexplicably went on for more than ten minutes and featured a LOT of offense from Michael Cole for some piss poor reason. To make matters even worse somehow, after Lawler got his win, the anonymous General Manager chimed in and reversed the decision, giving Cole the win and allowing this horseshit feud to continue for a few more months. Words can’t describe how terrible this truly was.

Lucha Underground "Life After Death" Review

The episode is dedicated to the memory of Hayabusa. The show opens with Fenix looking at his Gift of the God's Championship in the back. Catrina appears and says that she desires his power since she has tried everything to destroy him. She says it can give her life again and she wonders if she made the wrong choice going back to Mil Muertes instead of staying with Fenix. They get a bit intimate and make out. She calls it their final kiss because Mil will destroy the Fenix once and for all.

Trios Championship: Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc def. The Disciples of Death (c) w/ Catrina in 4:53
The former champions get their rematch after losing the straps at Ultima Lucha. The fans got their first knowledge of the stipulation that if the challengers failed, they'd leave the Temple. We saw some great teamwork from the challengers, which is a beautiful contrast from season one. Ivelisse was the face in peril for a bit until Son of Havoc came in hot and Angelico did the same shortly after. Catrina got involved and the Discples tried pulling the old Killer Bees trick but Angelico kicked out. He hit the Fall of the Angel and SOH scored on a shooting star press to win back the belts. Solid enough little match. The Disciples were never meant to be major threats as they were just minions for Mil and Catrina, so the title change coming now was good. **3/4

Prince Puma is warming up when Johnny Mundo comes up to him, bringing up their past. He wants Puma to make the Aztec Warfare finals with him again but he won't take it easy this time around. He says that it's his time to be champion.

Cut to Rey Mysterio, who is still working with Dragon Azteca. Mysterio says that Azteca's training is complete and hands him an invitation to come compete in Aztec Warfare next week. Rey also got an invitation and they're heading to the Temple next week!

Bullrope Match: Texano def. Chavo Guerrero w/ the Crew in 6:02
Usually, matches involving Texano or Chavo Guerrero tend to disappoint in Lucha Underground. Putting them together didn't excite me. Chavo wanted the Crew to do his bidding but they backed off the apron and left him alone.They worked the match as a personal affair which was good considering the program they've built. I also rather liked the use of the bullrope as they made sure it was used in different ways and this wasn't just a singles match with the rope randomly there. This wasn't bad, I just wasn't fully interested or invested. Texno won with a powerbomb. **1/2

A pissed off Mil Muertes abuses the Disciples of Death in the locker room. It's pretty great.

375 miles away, Dario Cueto is standing outside of a building while we hear Matanza destroying/eating people. Black Lotus is there too. Dario smiles at the sounds before saying that Matanza is ready and it's time to take back the Temple. For the first time ever, we actually get to see Matanza. Man, they did a great job of making him look imposing as he steps out of the shadows covered in blood.

Lucha Underground Championship: Fenix def. Mil Muertes (c) w/ Catrina in 13:38
In season one, the Grave Consequences match between these two was and still is my pick for the best Lucha Underground match in history. Despite the size difference, Fenix was able to trade blows with Muertes. It made sense since their "life" vs. "death" story has built then as equals in a way. Both guys hit impressive cutters in the early stages. In a callback to the match last season, Muertes ripped away at Fenix's mask. Muertes brought a chair into play, busting Fenix open and he even bit away at the gash. They fought through the crowd where Fenix continued to take a beating until he jumped off the railing and splashed Mil. Again they called back to prior matches when Mil powerbombed Fenix on the announce table. Fenix still rallied and then even rippe Mil's mask in a beautiful twist of fate. He used Mil's own power against him, blocking a punch with a chair. Fenix nailed a gorgeous double jump springboard 450 splash for a near fall. I know this is more play by play than normal, but this match was too good not to do it. Muertes got two on a spinning chokeslam and Fenix got two on a sick German suplex. As Muertes went for the Flatliner, Fenix countered into a clutch rollup and captured the gold! Just an amazing match. It's great on its own but when you add the history, story between them and the moment of the title change, you get my new match of the year. ****3/4

Fenix celebrates in the crowd but Catrina gets on the microphone. She announces that next week, instead of a number one contender's match, Fenix will defend his new title in Aztec Warfare. Just like last year, Fenix will enter at #1 and Muertes comes in last at #20. They did the "One vs. All" Royal Rumble angle before the Rumble and will probably pull it off better.

If you do want to check out Lucha Underground and don't get El Rey Network (like me), you can sign up for the streaming service Fubo.TV. It's a great way to support the company and channel while streaming the show online. You can sign up and get Lucha Underground here at Fubo.tv!

Raw History: Episodes #29-30

Raw History

Episode #29

August 9th, 1993 | Castle Recreation Center | Attendance: 1000

Another show taped back in July here as Macho Man returns to commentary. Also, tonight will feature the contract signing for the Lex Luger/Yokozuna WWF Title match at SummerSlam.

Mr. Hughes w/ Harvey Wippleman vs. Tatanka

This is the big match that Vince McMahon hyped last week. If this is the best we get tonight, then this is going to be a dire Raw. Tatanka has gotten more TV time than anyone in 1993. Hughes immediately doesn’t do his part of a leap frog spot right. Mind you, his part was simply to duck under Tatanka, but he can’t even do that right and he headbutts the Naïve American. Tatanka gets two on a cross body before Hughes goes back on the offensive. After a commercial break, Hughes has a nice vice applied because his offense blows. Tatanka starts to “Hulk Up” and fires away with chops, knocking off Hughes’ shades. I don’t think I’ve ever seen his eyes. His rally ends when Hughes sends him outside and he is sweating like Shaq at the foul line. They fight outside and Tatanka hits a back body drop to win via countout.

Winner via countout: Tatanka in 4:57

I expected this to be beyond awful but it was actually watchable. Granted it wasn’t good but it exceeded my very low expectations. *

After the match, Harvey Wippleman gets in Tatanka’s face, allowing Mr. Hughes to nail him with the urn.

ICOPRO. YOU’VE GOTTA WANT IT!

We go to yet another video package of the interview with Lex Luger about his life before wrestling. Again, the problem is that his life was dull and he’s a dull interview. Vince McMahon needed to understand that his top babyface had to be likable and Luger has a face you just want to punch.

Blake Beverly, The Brooklyn Brawler and Little Louie vs. The Bushwackers and the Macho Midget

Okay, why the hell were the Bushwackers still employed at this point? The Macho Midget spends the first few seconds breakdancing. They do the expected stuff in midget matches, with the Macho Midget doing fun stuff. He and Little Louie do the crisscross spot, with Macho outsmarting him. This continues down a basic path until the Macho Midget splashes Brawler and pins him. Yes, Brawler did the job here and not Little Louie.

Winners: The Bushwackers and the Macho Midget in 6:28

This went a bit too long, but at least the midgets were entertaining. The crowd was hot too. *

The ring is set up for the contract signing for the WWF Championship match at SummerSlam. Vince McMahon is hosting and is appalled to see that Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji hired Jim Cornette to be their official spokesperson. This was a stroke of brilliance because Yokozuna wasn’t good on the microphone and you couldn’t understand anything Fuji said. For some reason, there are a ton of nonsense men in suits in the ring, along with President Jack Tunney, Macho Man and Bobby Heenan. Lex Luger arrives as Heenan is back on commentary. Both men sign the contract. Cornette mentions the clause which states that Luger only gets this one shot. Umm, I’m pretty sure this wasn’t Luger’s only title shot. Luger says that’s fine and cuts a sickening patriotic promo. It’s seriously too much. This was before the time of contract signings always ending in a brawl.

Razor Ramon vs. Dan Dubiel

Razor Ramon is one of the first examples of a cool heel being so popular that he was turned face. The fans are already big on the guy. Bobby Heenan informs us that Razor will face Ted Dibiase at SummerSlam. Razor has strange red, white and blue wristbands on. Maybe he got them from the Lex Express. After a sick looking top rope back suplex, the Razor’s Edge finishes this.

Winner: Razor Ramon in 2:12

Entertaining for a squash. Razor nearly killed Dan with the back suplex and kept this short. *¼

SummerSlam Report: It’s so strange to know that SummerSlam was set for a Monday instead of a Sunday. He doesn’t give us any real news that we didn’t already know.

The Heavenly Bodies vs. Bobby Who and Mike Bucci

Mike Bucci, for those unaware, would go on to become Nova in ECW and Simon Dean in the WWE. Considering Jim Cornette laid down a challenge to the Steiner Brothers last week, the Heavenly Bodies need to impress. They do just that with some nice double team moves including a superkick into a DDT. Their nice flurry ends with a moonsault from Jimmy Del Rey to win.

Winners: The Heavenly Bodies in 2:37

The best part of the show so far. The Heavenly Bodies were a pretty good team and got to showcase their stuff here. **¼

Next week is a special interview with the Giant Gonzalez. I can hardly wait. Plus, Ludvig Borga will be around, while IRS and Men on a Mission are both in separate action. Man this sounds putrid.

Overall: 4/10; Weak. Nothing on this show was offensive, which helped but it still wasn’t great. The marquee match between Tatanka and Mr. Hughes was better than expected, but still not very good. The contract signing was fine but a bit overdone on the patriotism, while the Heavenly Bodies stole the show.

Raw History

Episode #30

August 23rd, 1993 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York | Attendance: 3000

Even though SummerSlam is two weeks away, this is the go home show as the following Monday, there was no Raw due to the “SummerSlam Special” or whatever. Then, the Monday after that was the actual SummerSlam so there’s not another Raw until September. We are live tonight.

The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Ted Dibiase

Two weeks prior, on Superstars, the 1-2-3 Kid bested Ted Dibiase due to a distraction from Razor Ramon. Side note, this is Dibiase’s last ever match on Raw. The Poughkeepsie crowd is hot as always. According to Bobby Heenan, the Kid’s bedtime is 9:30 so he has to finish this match quickly. Razor Ramon calls in mid-match. I wonder if he had to pay those ridiculous hotline fees like fans did. Dibiase beats down on the Kid and he ends up staying outside for too long. Kid comes back with a sloppy head scissors before some dropkicks get him a near fall. He gets another with a cross body and attempts another but the always boring IRS shoves him off to cause the disqualification.

Winner via disqualification: The 1-2-3 Kid in 4:46

Decent enough, but disappointing overall. The Kid can be more entertaining but this was rather lackluster. ** 

As Money Inc. continue the beating, the Steiner Brothers appear to make the save. Now, they’re feuding with the Heavenly Bodies and set to face them at SummerSlam. Instead, we are building to the Steiners/Money Inc. match for the SummerSlam Spectacular next week. I feel like you should promote the show that people pay for over the free one.

The Headshrinkers w/ Afa vs. Mike Khoury and Dave Moraldo

One of these jobbers is sporting the pornstar mustache. Along with the Steiner Brothers, the Headshrinkers are very enjoyable when it comes to jobber killing. I think PJ Walker is still dead from a few weeks ago. Samu hits a savat kick on the pornstar and kills him. He’s literally out on the apron like Walker the other night. He brings the other guy in the hard way and they do a double flapjack on him. They follow with an assisted EDDIT GILBERT hot shot. Afa screams into the camera and tells Demolition that they are coming for the titles. What year is he in? A splash ends this as our resident pornstar hasn’t moved in minutes. He may really be dead.

Winner: The Headshrinkers in 3:08

I love me a good old fashioned jobber mauling. This was just that, which kept it entertaining enough. **

SummerSlam Report: Our newest updates to the card feature the Steiner Brothers defending the Tag Team Titles against the Heavenly Bodies and Ludvig Borga vs. Marty Jannetty. The fact that Jannetty and Doink had the match of the year a few months back and are not booked heavily at SummerSlam. Also, the Undertaker still hasn’t announced the rules of the Rest in Peace match. Sounds like he has an advantage doesn’t it?

Bastion Booger vs. Marty Jannetty

At the bell, we are told that the Lex Express is in Denver, Colorado. I have no clue why though since the rest of the company is in New York and the PPV is in Detroit. Marty has trouble with the size of his opponent though he does nail a hip toss. As he dropkicks Booger, the fatass can’t even sell right as he blatantly tries to leap over the top and it’s so slow. He gets stuck in the ropes even. Marty follows with a cross body to a pop. This lasts through a commercial break for some godforsaken reason. Booger gets in his basic offense now. He sits on Marty, who reverses into a sunset flip and earn the three. It’s a gross spot.

Winner: Marty Jannetty in 4:46

I don’t understand why this nearly got five minutes. That being said, it was about as good as one could expect from a Bastion Booger match. *

Vince McMahon is in the ring to interview Money Inc. Good lord, do I have to see IRS again? He calls the fans tax cheats. Surprised? It’s literally all he’s got. They promote the SummerSlam Spectacular. That’s it. IRS even stumbles over his words.

Men on a Mission vs. Barry Horowitz and Iron Mike Sharpe

Vince McMahon asks “WHOA WHERE AM I?” simply because the camera goes upside down during MOM’s entrance. So, how rare is it that the jobber tag team is FAR superior to the team squashing them? That’s the case here. Mo is quite possibly the worst wrestler in history. Sharpe’s incredibly loud selling is the best part of the match.

Winners: Men on a Mission in 2:08

Men on a Mission sucked. I have to watch these clowns for a while. One of the worst tag teams in history. ¼* 

Who is Lex Luger? The interview continues. He denies using steroids now but admits to using them in the past, before it was illegal. While these Luger segments suck, this was the best. It’s kind of crazy to hear steroid talk in the WWE.

Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon vs. Rich Myers

The fact that Luna was introduced as Bigelow’s “main squeeze” was kind of cool. This is, rightfully so, all Bigelow. He hits a splash in the corner. Commentary spends the entire match debating Luna being attractive. Bobby Heenan loves her while Vince seems repulsed. Also, Macho Man continues to promote this “surprise” that he has set. He mentioned it multiple times on the show so far. This ends with a headbutt.

Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 3:12

Completely one sided, but Bigelow falls into the category of people I don’t mind watching in squashes. *¼

Macho Man’s big surprise turns out to be the Macho Midget appearing with the Raw girls. Talk about a letdown.

Overall: 4/10; Weak. So, last week we had a bunch of stuff advertised that didn’t happen. Granted, I’m okay with no Ludvig Borga, Giant Gonzalez and an IRS match but still. What we did get was inoffensive for the most part. Nothing was terrible and the near murder by the Headshrinkers stole the show.

Fave Five 3/7/16-3/13/16

1) The New Day: This week, despite being jam packed, New Day absolutely deserves this spot. On Raw, New Day not only entertained us with a fun pre-match promo but they went out and had the best match on free WWE television this year. They had a really fun back and forth match against AJ Styles and Chris Jericho, retaining their Tag Team Titles. That would be enough to put them high on the list but then they opened Roadblock up. After cutting another highly entertaining promo, complete with Booty-O's cereal, they bested the League of Nations in another successful Tag Team Title defense. The match also proved to be better than expected. New Day rocks, indeed.

2) Trevor Lee: Normally, in a week as crowded as this one, such a small promotion wouldn't end up making it. However, CWF Mid-Atlantic's YouTube channel uploaded this week's episode and it featured a 105 minute match for the CWF Mid-Atlantic Championship. Champion Roy Wilkins is someone I'd never heard of but he impressed me here. Trevor Lee is the real story though. I usually don't really enjoy his brand of wrestling but he was spectacular here. From twisting his opponent's arm in odd ways to making the huge babyface comeback to the sheer incredible accomplishment of wrestling for nearly two hours (Wilkins gets obvious props for this too), Lee was outstanding. Not only is working such a long match a challenge, but having one that kept my interest for so long is amazing. Lee won the marathon to capture the CWF Mid-Atlantic Championship. Seriously, make time to watch this match.

3) Mil Muertes: Lucha Underground continues to be the best wrestling program on a weekly basis. Mil Muertes made his second defense of the Lucha Underground Championship against arguably the two biggest stars in LU, Pentagon Jr. and Prince Puma. This proved to be a fantastic sprint of a title match, filled with great spots galore. It was one of three matches that I watched this year to make my top ten. Muertes bested Pentagon and Puma with two spears and a double Flatliner to remain the champion. He was then challenged by Fenix for next week, setting up an intriguing match. I don't know if he'll retain again, but for now, Muertes belongs on this list.

4) Tetsuya Naito: Over the past two or so weeks, NJPW has held their annual New Japan Cup Tournament. A heavy favorite going in was Tetsuya Naito and he made good on those predictions. Naito gave Toru Yano a dose of his own medicine in the Semi-Finals, scoring on a low blow and rollup to eliminate him. Then, later that night in the Finals, Naito defeated three time New Japan Cup winner Hirooki Goto in a very solid match. Naito then issued the challenge to IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, setting up the big title match for Invasion Attack on April 10th.

5) Samoa Joe: In almost any other week, Samoa Joe would have ranked higher. This week on NXT, he met Sami Zayn in a Two out of Three Falls match to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship. What followed was a match that took up the entire episode of NXT. For 42 minutes, Joe and Zayn went to war. Zayn was an incredible resilient babyface and Joe was a tremendous monster heel who just beat the shit out of Sami. Joe prevailed 2-1 and earned the right to once again face Finn Balor for the NXT Title at TakeOver: Dallas. Hopefully, their second match is much better than their TakeOver: London outing.

WWE Roadblock Review

This WWE Network special, from Toronto, began with the New Day defending their Titles. Since they're New Day, they were given the time to cut a promo and introduced an actual box of Booty-O's. It was pretty hilarious. They faced King Barrett and Sheamus. It was interesting to see New Day keep the same gimmick but work as faces. It came off perfectly and the teams managed to put on a very solid match. Well, they were faces outside of the distraction that Xavier Woods caused in the end. I liked that the crowd was excited for this, even though most of the build was done off of television. Big E hit Barrett with the Big Ending to retain their Tag Team Titles. Fine opening contest. ***1/4

After a video package recapping the Chris Jericho/AJ Styles rivalry, Jericho came out and badmouthed Styles, Canada and Toronto. He called Styles a "flash in the pan", which reminded him of Jack Swagger, who beat him for the World Title in 2010. It led into a match between Jericho and Swagger. Unless you watch Main Event and Superstars weekly, you haven't seen Swagger in a long time. They worked a solid match that featured some close calls and counter wrestling.To survive the ankle lock. Jericho grabbed the referee's leg and pulled himself to the ropes. He does those little things to help solidify himself as a heel and it's great. Jericho then made Swagger tap out to the Walls. This was a pretty good match where the right guy won and Swagger looked better than he has in months. **3/4

A video package aired to help promote the current NXT Tag Team Champions, the Revival. That was smart since they aren't the most known tandem. However, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, the challengers, were insanely over. So much for only being popular with the NXT audience. These two teams faced off at TakeOver: London in a match that was much better than expected. We got more of the same here. Though I expected the Revival to win, I bought into the false finishes for Enzo and Cass. Alas, the Revival retained as Enzo and Cass continued to come up short in title matches. Still, this was possibly even better than their TakeOver match and worked as a great showcase for NXT on this big show. The tag division in NXT continue to shine and be vastly improved. ***1/2

Charlotte was supposed to face Natalya in a non-title match. A promo from earlier in the day though, saw Natalya goad Charlotte into putting the title on the line. Both girls are good in the ring but their characters are basically "our dads used to be wrestlers". Literally. Find me another aspect to their gimmicks. Anyway, the match turned out to be very good but not quite on the level of their TakeOver match two years ago. They were given the most time outside of the main event and mostly made it work. The finish was dumb though. Natalya had Charlotte in the Sharpshooter and Charlotte reached to grab Ric. Nattie pulled her to the middle of the ring but let go to argue with Ric. Charlotte rolled her up and retained with her feet on the ropes. Fine match, but really stupid ending that made Natalya look like a buffoon. ***1/4

Originally, we were set to see Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt but it became a handicap match. They never explained why it was changed but we ended up basically getting Brock vs. Luke Harper. Bray Wyatt stayed outside of the ring and watched as Brock suplexed Harper around the ring. It was a fun little interaction between Harper and Lesnar but I'm not sure where it's going. Are they saving Bray/Brock for something? It can't be for WrestleMania can it? Anyway, Brock won in just over four minutes. I wish Harper got a lengthier outing against Brock since he's the best member of the Wyatt Family but what we got was alright. **1/2

Next up, home country boy Sami Zayn made his WWE live special debut. He took on Stardust in a match featuring two of my five favorite wrestlers on the planet right now. Unfortunately, something happened to this crowd that killed a lot of this match. They chanted for "CM Punk" among other things. It was a damn shame considering the talent involved. The contest itself was pretty good but man, that crowd sucked. Zayn won with the Helluva Kick. I'd like to see them have a better match somewhere down the line. **1/2

The main event was next and the crowd was back to being alright during the course of it. They were surprisingly split in the early goings but Dean Ambrose turned him pretty much fully towards him as the match went on. While I thought their early back and forth was good, it didn't quite fit in with the brawling nature of this program. Ambrose targeted the leg and commentary even brought up his quad injury. Bravo. Dean hit Dirty Deeds and seemed to win but his foot was under the bottom rope. The fans ate this entire thing up. He then made a crucial mistake because he's a madman. He missed an elbow through the announce table and, though he beat the countout, ate a Pedigree and lost. It was a great battle that played the fans like a fiddle. Poor Dean Ambrose has quickly become the Hirooki Goto of the WWE. ****

The first thing I want to commend is the look and feel of the show. Too many WWE shows feel like a copy of a copy but this was different, like the other live Network specials and that's great. The show itself was good too. Nothing on it was what I would consider bad at all. We got two really strong tag team matches, a really good Divas Title match and a great main event. 7/10

New Japan Cup Finals Review

New Japan Cup 2016 Finals
March 12th, 2016 | Aomiori, Japan

Today was the finals of the 2016 New Japan Cup. It also featured the Semi-Finals and many other matches. Right off the bat, I’d like to point out that I thought the arena setup was pretty cool.

Jay White def. David Finlay Jr. in 7:53
The never-ending rivalry lives on. Sometimes it’s really good and sometimes it’s missing something. With the other Young Lions off in CMLL, it does kind of leave them alone to face each other for the foreseeable future. Considering the amount of times they’ve wrestled, their chemistry has become very easy going and they can do things seamlessly. Both men brought a little extra tonight and it showed. There were some hard hitting strikes and multiple close calls on things like a Finlay roll and the Boston Crab. That move seems to end all of their matches and did here as well. After surviving one from Finlay, Jay White applied a half crab that he turned into a full crab. He then put the knee in the back like it was a Lion Tamer and made Finlay submit. Solid start to the show. I enjoyed this more than some of their other matches. ***

Juice Robinson and Jushin Thunder Liger def. Captain New Japan and NWA Jr. Heavyweight Champion Tiger in 8:15
Coming into this, I fully expected Captain New Japan to take the loss because, duh. He chose to start the match and went at it with Liger for a while. Side note, I don’t understand why Robinson wears a belt with his trunks. Are they not tight enough already? Anyway, Captain New Japan surprisingly handled most of the load for his team. Of course, that meant that he took a pretty good beating. He nearly rolled up Robinson for a rare win but it wasn’t to be. My obvious prediction came true when the Captain submitted to a modified camel clutch/cobra clutch from Robinson. It was certainly an interesting hold. Outside of some shine for Juice and build for another potential Liger/Tiger Mask match, this felt like filler. **

BUSHI and EVIL def. ROH Television Champion Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI in 8:31
So many capital letters in this match. Ishii and EVIL had a damn good match in the first round of the tournament for those that don’t remember. This continued the blossoming rivalry between Los Ingobernables and Chaos. EVIL and BUSHI attacked before the bell as usual. Their strategy was to isolate YOSHI-HASHI and keep Ishii out of the ring as much as possible. When Ishii finally did get involved, he went toe to toe with EVIL once again. After some great back and forth by them, EVIL took the referee away from the action. That allowed BUSHI to slide in and spit the mist at Ishii. He dove out onto YOSHI-HAHSI and EVIL nailed Ishii with the STO, pinning the ROH TV Champion. After the match, he took the title and posed with it while doing the throat cut signal on Ishii. It look like EVIL is coming for the title he failed to take from Jay Lethal when he was Watanabe. This was a fun tag match, made better by the EVIL/Ishii stuff. Give them a match at Invasion Attack please. ***

New Japan Cup Semi-Finals: Tetsuya Naito def. Toru Yano in 2:33
Naito has been a favorite throughout the tournament, while Yano has stolen wins in the first two rounds. In an effort to steal a third straight, Yano ran to the ring and attacked Naito with a chair before the bell. The early rollup attempts while Naito still has most of his dress clothes on are completely eaten up by the crowd. They buy Yano winning with rollups more than when he hits actual moves. The referee got hit during a rollup, opening the door for Naito to give Yano a taste of his own medicine. He kicked Yano low and rolled him up to advance. It’s hard to rate something so short fairly but I’ll at least give it more than a star because it made perfect sense considering Yano’s history and it allows Naito to play the rested heel in the finals. **

New Japan Cup Semi-Finals: Hirooki Goto def. Michael Elgin in 9:29
Michael Elgin is likely to be the next major gaijin, while Goto is in the midst of an angle where he struggles in big matches. He beat Naito at WK10, won at the ROH PPV and has won his first two matches in the tournament but you always feel like he could lose his next match as these get more important. These guys are no strangers to each other, having really good matches last year in the G1 and at ROH’s Field of Honor. This was their usual hard hitting affair. Elgin was again given ample opportunity to showcase his insane power. Seeing him dead lift superplex Goto from the apron was sick. From out of nowhere, Goto scored on a rollup, making the finals. While I don’t know if I agree with another rollup finish, it kept Elgin strong. He sold the disappointment perfectly. Hopefully, they have one more match in the G1, where Elgin can finally beat Goto. Like their other matches, this was good but never reached great territory. ***¼

Tencozy def. NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata and Ryusuke Taguchi in 10:18
Oh look, NJPW paired up one of my favorites (Shibata) with one of my least favorites (Taguchi). Taguchi seems to have officially adopted Nakamura’s ring announcement taunt, doing it again here. Shibata started with Kojima and it was a pretty heated exchange. Tencozy took turns beating on Taguchi for a bit, which I appreciated. Shortly after, it went back to Kojima and Shibata going at it. In classic Shibata fashion, they were hitting each other hard and holding nothing back. Taguchi hit his ass attack and paid tribute to Nakamura again before running into a lariat from Kojima that put him down for the count. Post-match, Kojima got on the microphone and called out Shibata. Instead of waiting to hear what he had to say, Shibata just kicked him in the mouth. Kojima laid him out and seemed to challenge him for the NEVER Title. I guess we won’t be seeing Nagata/Shibata after all. The match was fine. **¾

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Kazushi Sakuraba w/ Gedo def. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata in 12:00
I certainly didn’t expect this match on the card. Nobody here is really feuding or anything like that so it was kind of just here. I was glad to see Okada and Nagata start as they had an awesome match during the G1 Climax last year. They played the angry old man against the cocky youngster angle again. When it was Sakuraba and Nagata, it was just two guys going to war on each other. Everyone got to do their signature stuff but something about this never clicked for me. Okada pinned Nakanishi after the Rainmaker in a match that just never really got going.**¼

Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi def. Hiroshi Tanahashi and IWGP Tag Team Champions Great Bash Heel in 13:22
Like pretty much all New Japan heels, the Bullet Club attacked before the bell during introductions. As Tama Tonga beat up Togi Makabe outside, he took a cameraman’s camera and starting taking photos. It was a cool little thing to add to the match. As is the case with most multi-man tags in New Japan, this furthered ongoing angles and gave guys a chance to get their stuff in. Tanahashi nearly got revenge on Fale for eliminating him from the New Japan Cup but Takahashi prevented him from hitting High Fly Flow. A string of Kokeshi headbutts looked like it would lead to victory but in typical Honma fashion, the top rope Kokeshi failed. Tonga jumped and caught him with a big Gun Stun before finishing him off with Veleno. The Bullet Club laid out their opponents after the match. Tonga also announced that his brother, former WWE performer Camacho, would be his tag team partner against Great Bash Heel down the line. Solid tag match here. **¾

New Japan Cup Finals: Tetsuya Naito w/ BUSHI def. Hirooki Goto in 20:19
It’s a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 10. No suit for Naito this time around. Goto has mostly owned this tournament in history, being a three time winner. BUSHI was sure to make his presence felt, interfering early and often. When he wasn’t getting involved, Goto and Naito had some really great back and forth. Goto seemed a step ahead but every now and then, Naito would pull out something that put him back in the driver’s seat. He tried Destino a few times but Goto always had a counter ready. Things really picked up in the final few minutes, with Goto even hitting Shouten Kai only for Naito to kick out. He tried a second but EVIL interfered. Just like at WK10, Goto took EVIL and BUSHI out but Naito countered Shouten Kai into Destino. He couldn’t pin instantly there as he was hurt, but a few minutes later he hit a second Destino and won the Cup. This was much better than their forgettable disappointment at WK10. ***¾

After the bell, it seemed like Naito challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Los Ingobernables put the boots to Goto until Okada made the save. Okada and Goto shook hands, as it seems like Goto accepted his offer to join Chaos.

Overall: 6.5/10. Similar to the rest of the tournament, I’d consider this a good show, but not a great one. Outside of one or two multi-man tags, everything moves swiftly and the show doesn’t feel like it takes three hours. They did a good job of advancing some angles. Shibata’s war with the veterans continued, Naito moved into the title picture and the Goto stuff is certainly intriguing. One thing about NJPW in 2016 is that I’m interested in the booking decisions since Gedo was forced to do something differently with key guys leaving. This show was an example of that.