PWG Battle of Los Angeles Stage Three
September 4th, 2016 | Reseda, California
After a solid night one and a great second night, we’ve reached the final stage of the Battle of Los Angeles. I wasn’t a big fan of this layout for night three last year, so I’m hoping for something more fun this time around. The tournament matches sound interesting, the Young Bucks are facing a team that I actually really like and there’s a big ass wacky sounding tag match.
Quarterfinals
Trevor Lee def. Dalton Castle w/ The Boys in 13:37
Lee was still in “use TNA to get heat” mode. It feels a bit lazy to me but at least it does work in Reseda. Castle is a good choice for a guy to open shows since he’s always really fun. After Lee stole a Castle taunt, he turned his back and got leveled. Chuck Taylor recited the lyrics to the Wolfpack theme in another commentary highlight from him. They had some really good back and forth, with Castle starring as he showed off his really deceptive strength. Just as he seemed to be on the verge on a win, Lee busted out the most TNA possible move, a Canadian Destroyer, to advance. Good fun from the opening contest without overdoing it. I think the right guy went over, while Castle got to strut his stuff. ***
Quarterfinals
Ricochet def. John Hennigan in 11:51
Hennigan beat Sydal in a lackluster match on night one, while Ricochet bested Jeff Cobb. This is another Lucha Underground match as these two play Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo. They set a high bar in LU with their match on the show’s debut episode and again with an “All Night Long” match a few months later. Lots of fancy flips and acrobats to start. They know each other well and it showed with lots of fast paced counters. Hennigan looked way more motivated than he did in the first round. Ricochet avoided Starship Pain, leading to a battle of strikes. Hennigan tried to steal it with a “dong kick” and Moonlight Drive, but Ricochet kicked out. A third failed Starship Pain led to an awkward spot off of a missed Benadryller. Ricochet hit the 630 for the win. These two seem incapable of having bad matches together, though this was probably my least favorite. It had good action but I thought some of the final stuff looks too choreographed. Hennigan going to the well one too many times and it costing him was a good idea. ***¼
Quarterfinals
Marty Scurll def. Cody Rhodes w/ Brandi Rhodes in 11:39
Brandi was back with another special intro for her husband. Marty was in full villain mode, attacking Cody and then getting in Brandi’s face. I love how much of a handle Scurll has on his character. Scurll went for shattered dreams, complete with Goldust taunt, leading to a “she wants kids” chant directed towards Brandi. Scurll even stole a kiss from Brandi. His reaction after was priceless. Eden responded with a slap and Cody nailed a gorgeous moonsault. Cody got two on Cross Rhodes before blocking the crossface chicken wing. Unfortunately, there was a ref bump and a low blow by Marty to steal it. Like his match with Sabre in Evolve, Cody let the other guy shine. This was the Scurll show featuring Cody Rhodes. They worked a match that fit Scurll’s character and it worked. The finish was weak though. ***¼
The crowd chanted for Cody Rhodes to come back and he promised that he would.
Quarterfinals
Mark Andrews def. Chris Hero in 6:30
I came in expected Hero to murder Andrews. He obliged with a running kick, powerbomb and elbow in the first few seconds. Hero continued to kill Andrews with the smaller guy showing his resiliency. After kicking out of three tombstones a night before (too many), he also kicked out of Hero’s sick arm capture piledriver. Andrews got in a flurry of shots but it didn’t matter. In an upset, Andrews rolled up Hero and advanced. This was really well done. The story of Andrews being resilient and fighting from behind was much better told here than it was against Dunne. Hero is a beast, Andrews is tiny and they ran with it without overdoing anything. I probably liked this more than most. ***½
After the match, Hero knocked out Andrews with an elbow. He then completely took out Andrews with an avalanche piledriver.
Quarterfinals
Mark Haskins def. Kyle O’Reilly in 15:09
Both men took things to the mat early. Excalibur pointed out that O’Reilly has put on muscle to move up to heavyweight status in NJPW recently and that could affect his stamina. Once done with the mat stuff, they moved more into strikes, where I felt that they were again about even. The match moved along at a very methodical pace. It was a big change from the rest of the card so far. Kyle did the triangle choke, Mark did a stretch muffler and neither gave up. Haskins continued his string of upsets with another interesting sharpshooter. I wanted more from this. I appreciated that they went a different route from the rest of the card but it just came off as dull at points. **¾
Quarterfinals
Will Ospreay def. PWG Champion Zack Sabre Jr. in 10:56
These two had a killer match at Evolve 58 back in April. It may end up in my top ten matches of the year. Right from the opening bell, this was straight action. Ospreay nailed a dive outside and a red arrow for two but continued the assault with a kick and a second dive outside. Sabre avoided a 450 and got serious, twisting Will’s neck and even kicking the rope into it. That allowed Sabre to slow things to a pace that he’s more comfortable with. Sabre spent time folding and bending Ospreay in uncomfortable ways. We got some great exchanges down the stretch like Sabre catching a standing SSP into a submission and Ospreay finding new ways to break free of those submissions. Ospreay went nuts with aerial attacks until Sabre caught a middle rope Phoenix splash into a triangle choke! Sabre went for one of his tight pinning combinations but Ospreay bested him with one of his own and advanced. The best tournament match so far. Ospreay had a game plan to come out hot and Sabre did what he does best to make it his style of match. Ospreay had to dig deep to counter and survive Sabre’s best submissions before winning. These two just mesh so well together. Not quite on the level of their Evolve match but still great. ****
PWG Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (c) def. Fenix and Pentagon Jr. in 14:34
The pop the crowd gave when they heard this was for the titles was great. However, the PWG tag division is pretty much just the Young Bucks going over random teams from around the world (Ricochet & Sydal, Gargano & Ciampa, reDRagon, etc.) It’s hard to measure how much more like the challengers than the champions. I don’t know if there’s a measurement for a gap that wide. They don’t team together often, but Fenix and Pentagon worked seamlessly together. Everything they did just came off so well. These guys just threw the idea of a traditional tag out of the window and had an insane tornado style tag match. I couldn’t list all of the spots in this, but there were a ton of superkicks. The spots got bigger and bigger, capping out with a tope con hilo Meltzer Driver outside to Fenix. Pentagon survived one on the inside before the Bucks reeled off a ton of superkicks to retain the titles. The best Young Bucks match I’ve seen all year and possibly my favorite ever. Granted, I don’t like a lot of their stuff but still. Fenix and Pentagon were awesome and this match being a nutty balls to the walls brawl was the best way to go. Pentagon is the MVP of the weekend. ****
After the match, Pentagon and Fenix thanked the fans. The Bucks returned and attacked them.
Semi-Finals
Trevor Lee def. Mark Andrews in 8:18
In a lot of tournaments with multiple rounds in one night, there’s usually a guy that takes a beating and is hurt entering later stages. That was Andrews. Lee took advantage and controlled most of this match. Andrews was sure to get in his hope spots and though he got in several, you could feel that he was overmatched. He nearly won with another rollup in a cool callback to earlier. Lee got his knees up on an SSP and rolled through into a small package driver to make the finals. Good story that we get in tournaments because it makes sense and works. I liked it. ***
Semi-Finals
Marty Scurll def. Mark Haskins in 16:44
Scurll attacked right from the start. His plan of using the umbrella to get a quick upper hand has worked so far, so why not continue? Not wanting to get in too much trouble, Haskins took to the air, which he hasn’t done in the tournament so far. I liked this because it gave him a chance to showcase all of his skills. To combat that, Scurll went after the leg which was smart but took away some of the fun of Haskins’ offense. Near the end of the match, the two men traded awesome submission transitions. Scurll tapped to an armbar but his foot was on the ropes. Haskins thought he won but a lot of the fans didn’t grasp the spot. Scurll eventually won a counter battle to win with the chicken wing. I enjoyed a lot of this. It was different than a lot of these matches since the beginning was so damn good instead of the back half. The middle left some to be desired, but I liked the final stretch. ***½
Semi-Finals
Will Ospreay def. Ricochet in 10:08
This is the third match between these two in 2016. The first, at Evolve 59, was awesome while the second, at the Best of the Super Juniors, was on par and sparked a lot of controversy. As expected from these two, it just goes at a crazy pace. Tons of aerial spots in a compact match. We got a pretty good series of strikes before Ricochet blocked the Oscutter. He nailed a reverse rana but Ospreay got right up and responded with one of his own. A great final series ended when Ospreay countered the Benadryller into a cutter before hitting the Oscutter to round out the finals. Not their best work but I liked how they worked so quickly and did a lot with the short time allotted. It gave them no time for any BS. ***¾
Team Liger (Cedric Alexander, Chuck Taylor, Jeff Cobb, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tommy End) def. Team Bro-Cat Psycho Kitties (The Brian Kendrick, Matthew Riddle, Pete Dunne, Sami Callihan and Tommaso Ciampa) in 17:39
Well this was all kinds of absurd. The multi-man tag at last year’s BOLA was the bad kind of comedy match. This was far more enjoyable. Shout out to the random Kendrick appearance. He didn’t want to participate but the team held him down and painted his face like a cat to join his partners. Callihan had the entire cat mask on. The comedy stuff was too much to fully write down here. There was talk of thumbs in asses, cat based offense and the typical slow motion stuff featuring a slowed “Jushin Liger” chant. The fans even sung “I Believe I Can Fly” at one point. This isn’t for wrestling purists. If you accept it for the wackiness it is meant to be, it’s fine. An offensive buffet ended when Liger pinned Dunne with the brainbuster. Mindless fun and that’s okay sometimes. **¾
Finals
Marty Scurll def. Trevor Lee and Will Ospreay in 19:19
So, these are three of the hottest names on the indies in 2016, so not a bad choice for the finals. The crowd started hot for this but died down a bit as it went on. It’s a similar problem that the 2015 BOLA suffered from. The final night is just so long and it hurts. Anyway, the first portion of this match moved along nicely. The guys were amped up and Ospreay really brought it. I see why he came out firing though, since he was the first man eliminated. About halfway through, he got sent packing following a stomp/chicken wing combination. The final exchanges between Lee and Scurll weren’t bad, they just felt less inspired than when Ospreay was in. After a ref bump, Scurll used his umbrella on Lee but couldn’t put him down. Marty eventually won with the chicken wing in an anticlimactic finish. Disappointing finals. It started off pretty good but I think it just never clicked the way I hoped it would. I think that they shouldn’t have done two heels in the end. Ospreay having to overcome one of the other guys doing heel stuff would have worked better. **¾
Marty Scurll cut a passionate promo after the victory. Zack Sabre Jr. came out to get in his face and set up the future title match that Scurll gets for winning this. Unfortunately, I’ve never been a huge fan of their matches together, so I’m not too stoked about it.
Overall: 7/10. Probably the weakest of the three shows. I don’t think I’d consider anything on this show to be bad but some stuff underwhelmed (O’Reilly/Haskins and the main event come to mind). There is a lot of good, like Ospreay/Ricochet, Scurll/Haskins and Hero/Andrews for example. There are also two great matches in Ospreay/Sabre and the Tag Team Title match. I think the final night just runs too long, so it drags at times. A good, but not great capper to the tournament.
NJPW Road to Power Struggle
October 21st, 2016 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
The last major show for NJPW in 2016 is right around the corner (the World Tag League is a series of lesser shows mostly) and this is the first “Road to” event. It features the beginning of the Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament, which was won last year by Matt Sydal and Ricochet, a team that isn’t even in this year thanks to Sydal being a dummy and Ricochet’s VISA issues. reDRagon and Kenny Omega have moved up to heavyweights, and there is no Chase Owens or Alex Shelley this year. Instead, we have some teams from other promotions in Japan, which is greatly appreciated.
TenKoji and Yuji Nagata def. Hirai Kawato, Teruaki Kanemitsu and Tomoaki Honma in 9:02
THE NEW JAPAN DADS! They took on Tomoaki Honma and two of the young lions. As expected, the crowd was red hot for the veterans, while the young guys brought a lot of fire. This was about the young guys since Honma kept getting knocked off of the apron. They took a beating that the dads were more than happy to give out. After some back and forth, Nagata survived a Boston crab and things broke down. Honma ate a Koji Cutter before Kawato tapped to Nagata’s own Boston crab. Fun, predictable opener. The crowd was hot and the young lions worked hard. I can’t ask for much more.**½
Manabu Nakanishi and YOSHITATSU def. Bone Soldier and Yujiro Takahashi via disqualification in 8:26
With Captain New Japan now playing Bone Solider I have to wonder who will eat the pins in Tanahashi multi-man tags from now on? Poor Juice Robinson. This stems from YOSHITATSU, a scrub in his own right, being upset with CNJ being the bigger scrub of their team. This just dragged on for far too long and nothing seemed to happen at all. After an eternity, Bone Soldier began to choke YOSHITATSU with his belt and shoved the referee, resulting in the rare NJPW disqualification. Oh go to hell. If they were just gonna do a DQ, why the hell did I have to sit through so much of this? Pure garbage. DUD
Hirooki Goto, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI def. Chase Owens, Kenny Omega and IWGP Tag Team Champions The Guerillas of Destiny in 9:38
Take a look at Omega’s partners here. You see them? Now you know why I say such negative things about this stable. This worked as a Tokyo Dome preview for Omega and Okada, though people suspect Ishii and Goto are going to win the World Tag League and earn a Tag Title shot at WK 11, where GOD could still be champions. Also, Ishii and YOSHI get a title shot at Power Struggle. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it as we near Wrestle Kingdom but the Chaos vs. Bullet Club feud is beyond played out, even if some of the parts change around. The story of this was Omega playing cat and mouse to avoid Okada, only getting in cheap shots. Owens and Goto barely did anything and this entire match mostly previewed the upcoming Tag Title defense, which was fine. YOSHI pinned Owens after hitting Karma. Like I said, this was fine and nothing more. **¾
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata and Togi Makabe in 10:44
This helped build towards EVIL vs. Shibata at Power Struggle, while also giving us an early look at the expected Tokyo Dome IC Title match between Naito and Tanahashi. LIDJ did some of their classic dirty heel stuff and we got some brawling around the ring. Shout out to Makabe who actually worked hard and took bumps in this one. This was a lot of the stuff you’ve come to expect in NJPW multi-man tags, but with more energy and enjoyment than the previous one. After the signature move barrage in the end, Naito put down Juice with Destino. Good energy, big efforts from Juice and Togi and LIDJ continue to shine in every aspect. ***¼
Will Ospreay def. David Finlay in 10:22
The guy who won the Best of the Super Juniors against one of the MVPs of that tournament. This was originally going to be Finlay and Ricochet against Ospreay and Gedo but that has been pushed back due to the VISA issues for Ricochet. I’m interested in this singles match for sure though. Will’s new hair is just not a good look. Once this started, it was a really solid bout. Finlay had the advantage in the power department, which was a nice change of pace for him. It forced Ospreay to adapt, which I liked. They had a really good back and forth match. It was nice because I expected Ospreay to be in control but Finlay got to shine. After some good near falls, Ospreay won with the Oscutter. Right up there with the previous tag for the match of the night to this point. Ospreay was good as usual and I love that Finlay gets openings (the injuries that put in the BOTJ and Sydal’s issue that now has him as one third of the NEVER Tag Champions) and delivers. ***¼
Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament First Round
Roppongi Vice def. Angel de Oro and Titan in 13:02
So glad we get some non-NJPW talent in this tournament this year. Roppongi Vice have been teasing some tension and issues over the past few months. Romero spent time in Mexico and looked comfortable with the CMLL guys. While on offense, Romero seemed to be talking to Beretta and asking if he was impressed. Titan and Oro just flew around the ring and really impressed. I’d be cool with an extended run in NJPW for one of these guys. De Oro avoided a Beretta knee strike in a cool way before he got on Titan’s shoulders on the top. They both then jumped off onto Roppongi Vice on the outside. Shortly after though, Beretta hit the knee and won with the Dudebuster. Titan and Oro were great here and this was the best thing on the show so far. RPG Vice looked motivated and this was really fun. I would have put the exciting fresh team over to continue Roppongi Vice’s issues. ***½
Their issues did continue a bit as Rocky celebrated really hard despite Beretta doing all of the work down the stretch.
Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament First Round
Fuego and Ryusuke Taguchi def. Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask IV in 9:56
The team of Fuego and Taguchi seem like they’re all about having fun. They came out in matching entrance gear and danced for the crowd. I wouldn’t say that there was anything special about this match but it was mostly good fun. Taguchi and Fuego are here to entertain and they did just that, while Liger was his usual awesome self. Tiger Mask was kind of just there. Taguchi and his ass based offense ran wild for a while. In a surprising move, Taguchi made Liger tap to the ankle lock. I fully expected Tiger Mask to take the fall because he’s Tiger Mask. Interesting decision. The match itself was highlighted by Liger and Fuego. **¾
Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament First Round
ACH and Taiji Ishimori def. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks in 17:40
If you read my stuff on a regular basis, then you know my feelings on the Young Bucks. They won this tournament in 2013. Ishimori is all kinds of awesome though and ACH is really good. They won NOAH’s Jr. Tag League earlier this year but failed to dethrone Kotoge and Harada at the Super J-Cup Finals all so Momo No Seishun could drop the titles to Gedo and Jado. Good move NOAH. Anyway, onto the match. There was a fun battle of one upping each other between Nick and ACH in the early goings. Ishimori was the face in peril for a bit, with Matt not only cutting off a hot tag, but going to the apron and taunting him by asking for the tag. ACH’s hot tag run was pretty great. He impressed the crowd, though they still rooted for the more familiar Bucks. The Bucks kept ACH out of it for a while and really put a hurting on Ishimori. Ishimori survived it all until ACH got back involved. The NOAH guys missed stereo 450 splashes before ACH kicked out of one from Nick. ACH cut off the IndyTaker, leading to successful stereo 450 splashes and the upset win. The champions are out in the first round. This was my favorite Young Bucks tag match all year long. ACH and Ishimori have really good chemistry and could become my new favorite junior team now that reDRagon moved up. ACH could be poised for a breakout as he looks motivated in Japan in a way that he didn’t in ROH for most of the year. ***¾
Overall: 7/10. A fun “Road to” show. Everything outside of the horrible Bullet Club/YOSHITATSU tag was at least somewhat enjoyable. It was an enjoyable show that flew by, built towards Power Struggle well and even helped set up the Tokyo Dome show in January in some parts. The Super Jr. Tag Tournament delivered and the main event was damn good.
PWG Battle of Los Angeles Stage Two
September 3rd, 2016 | Reseda, California
Night one of this tournament was a good, solid show. Night two last year was the one that was widely considered to be an all-time great show and it seems like that is the case this time around too. This show also features the PWG debut of Cody Rhodes, which is something I’m really looking forward to.
First Round Match
Dalton Castle w/ The Boys def. Tommaso Ciampa in 13:27
This is certainly an interesting clash of styles. Jack Gallagher got scratched from the show and Ciampa was his replacement. Castle had his usual boys with him this time. We got some comedy stuff early as Ciampa just wanted a hug. He made quick work of the boys shortly after and they moved into the actual match. Even then though, there were still a lot of comedy moments. It worked within the PWG confines, but doesn’t always make for the best match. Ciampa did some WWE spots, like a superman punch and Pedigree. In a continuing trend on these shows, the back half of the match picked up. Castle came close after dead lifting Ciampa from the apron into a German suplex. Ciampa bled from the mouth, spit in his hand and chopped Castle, making for a great visual. From out of nowhere, Castle hit Bang-a-Rang and won. Good opener but nowhere near the level of the night one opener. Like I said, it fit for the PWG crowd so it worked in that sense. ***
Tommaso Ciampa got “thank you Ciampa” chants before leaving.
First Round Match
Mark Andrews def. Pete Dunne in 18:14
Pete Dunn is making his PWG debut. He is known as the “bruiserweight” which is an awesome idea for a cruiserweight gimmick. Behind Cody Rhodes, he’s the second most intriguing BOLA debut this year. Andrews was a good choice for an opponent because he is a prototypical cruiserweight and it allowed new audiences to see how different Dunne is. While he flew around, Dunne just bullied him. I enjoyed when Dunne did a Go to Europe, which is a GTS into a European uppercut. Andrews did a moonsault into a tornado DDT that didn’t come off quite as well as I’d hoped. His second attempt saw Dunne block and hit a tombstone on the floor. He beat the count and inside, he took another tombstone that Dunne held on to, got up and nailed a jumping tombstone yet that only got two. Undertaker is pissed somewhere. Dunne continued to toss him around but Andrews just kicked out of everything. Andrews eventually won with an SSP. I think this was good but it could have been so much more. You had the perfect story of bruiserweight vs. cruiserweight and instead, this turned into one of those kick out fests. Like, he took a beating but it never really felt like Andrews was battling from underneath. Too many kick outs, not enough drama and too long of a match to be truly great. ***¼
First Round Match
Cody Rhodes def. Sami Callihan in 11:34
I was so excited for Cody Rhodes to be in this tournament and then he got booked against Callihan, who has been so unbelievably uninteresting and mostly lackluster since returning after his Solomon Crowe run. Cody’s ring introduction was done by his wife, Brandi Rhodes and featured lines like “grandson of a plumber” and “the star that left them in the dust.” He looked genuinely happy to be there. They worked at a physical, fast pace, which is when Callihan is at his best. Callihan beat him up around the ring until Cody hit an enziguri off the apron. Once inside, Sami hit a DVD into the corner and it looked bad for Cody. We got some PWG goofiness when Sami got a cat mask from outside. It was bested when Cody got his old “undashing” mask to combat it. I loved that gimmick so I enjoyed this. Like Andrews, Cody kicked out of a tombstone and won with Cross Rhodes. I thought this was harmless fun that didn’t overstay its welcome. ***
Fenix and Pentagon Jr. def. Heroes Eventually Die (Chris Hero and Tommy End) in 18:22
In real life, Fenix and Pentagon Jr. are brothers. Teaming up here, they wore masks that fused the Pentagon and Fenix looks together. It was awesome. Things began with some even back and forth between Fenix and End. Pentagon called Hero a “puto” and demanded he come in. Their AAW match was really good. Pentagon did a spot here he launched Fenix up onto his shoulders and then Fenix moonsaulted off onto End and Hero outside. It was insane. After that though, HED took over as the bigger, brute tag team. Fenix took most of the heat and just got his ass handed to him. Pentagon got the hot tag but Hero and End quickly stopped his momentum. Fenix and Pentagon started in with their double team moves to the crowd’s liking. There were just some insane moments throughout this. Too many to list in fact. It came down to Fenix and End, who just went at it. Fenix snapped off a big super rana and won with a springboard 450 splash. This was the second best tag team match I’ve seen this year. The entire match is pure insanity, with all four men going balls to the wall. Honestly, you have to go out of your way to see this. Heroes Eventually Die played great brutes, while Penty and Fenix were awesome as the team with fire doing some incredible things. ****½
First Round Match
Trevor Lee def. Kamaitachi in 11:28
To get heat, Lee gets introduced as a “TNA superstar”. He instantly started with a huge double stomp on Kamaitachi. Lee just abused Kamaitachi, including a sickening backdrop driver onto the ring apron. I legitimately though Kamaitachi was hurt. Sticking with the TNA stuff, Lee hit a Twist of Fate after yelling “DELETE”, getting “broken Trevor” chants. Kamaitachi made his comeback and the match evened out. HE DID THE DEAL but only got two. Kamaitachi seemed to go all out and busted out several dangerous spots. When he got close to winning they did the lame dive off the top into your opponent’s foot spot. That led to Lee winning with a small package driver. The second best match of the night so far. Both guys held nothing back and fit a lot into the time given without seemingly overdoing it. It was compact, hard hitting, crazy and fun. ***¾
First Round Match
Mark Haskins def. Cedric Alexander in 14:37
Props to commentary for putting over Cedric’s breakout match with Kota Ibushi in the CWC. This was one of the more serious matches in the tournament. No dancing, comedy or BS. They just went out and wrestled, like the last match, which I liked. Though that was more action packed and this was more methodical at places. Haskins targeted Alexander’s left arm and sprinkled in some hard strikes. He wore down Cedric, who came back with some hope spots. Included in there was the best Michinoku Driver I’ve ever seen. At one point, Haskins transitioned from a body scissors into a sharpshooter, which I’ve never seen before. The final stretch was great and saw Haskins put Cedric away with an armbar. Another really good match on a show full of them. Their offense was crisp, the match made sense and had some really cool moments throughout. ***½
First Round Match
Kyle O’Reilly def. Matt Riddle in 16:14
It’s crazy how good Riddle is considering how short his time in the business has been. I was more interested in this matchup than any other in the tournament. Early on, we were treated to a very even battle of mat work and striking. Neither man could gain an advantage, showcasing how even they are. Riddle was first to go outside of the box with a baseball slide and springboard. Kyle started to get in the driver’s seat with some vicious kicks. There was a “broly shit” chant after Riddle hit a fisherman buster for two. They battled through submissions in the final stretch with both guys still struggling for an advantage. Kyle did the brainbuster near fall into the armbar spot but Riddle countered into a submission. Kyle leaned back on him to steal the three count. This was going very well and had match of the tournament potential until the finish. I understood what they were going for but it wasn’t the best of finishes. Just shy of being great. ***¾
Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Will Ospreay def. Adam Cole and the PWG Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks in 20:04
So here it is. The first ever Dave Meltzer approved five star match in PWG history. I’m sure it has nothing to do with him being in attendance or the fact that he’s become a Bucks mark ever since they named a move after him. I want to preface this by saying that I only like two of the guys in this match (Ospreay and Ricochet. Sometimes Cole), but I’m gonna give it a fair chance to impress. Everyone involved outside of Sydal has at least one four star rating given out by me in history.
The match is almost instantly full of big spots. Sydal slips on the top rope trying a dive to the outside before Ricochet and Ospreay follow with actual dives that connect. The Bullet Club did triple apron powerbombs before doing the Kenny Omega Terminator build up into suicide dives. Honestly, they all did the stuff you’d expect from them. Lots of flips, superkicks and marking out by the fans. The Bucks accidentally kissed each other at one point and Ospreay hit a handspring moonsault onto them that didn’t come off that well. Everyone went into a big spot barrage in the final few minutes. Ricochet kicked out of an assisted Indytaker to the surprise of many. The babyfaces turned things around, including Sydal and Ricochet doing a shooting star Meltzer Driver, before the three of them won with simultaneous shooting star presses. I understood why this match worked and it made sense for the crowd it was done in front of. However, in no way did this ever come across as a five star match to me. Even as someone who dislikes most things Young Bucks, they and everyone else in this have had far better matches than this. It’s a fun match with some slipups but some impressive athletic moves. No matter how many times Matt and Nick put Dave’s face on their tights, this isn’t even close to sniffing MOTY level. It’s good, it works and everyone did what they do best, making for a fitting main event in front of the Reseda faithful. ***
Overall: 8.5/10. I’m sure people will be displeased with the score I gave the main event. Regardless, this was such a consistently strong show. The lowest ratings for me throughout this went to the opener, Sami/Cody and main event and both clocked in at three stars. The entire show moves along briskly with some really fun matches. A few matches nearly reached four star territory, while the Heroes Eventually Die/Pentagon and Fenix tag was the best thing I’ve seen on these shows by a fair margin.
PWG Battle of Los Angeles Stage One
September 2nd, 2016 | Reseda, California
Last year, I checked out PWG’s annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament for the first ever time. I thought that tournament was good but not great and nowhere near the level of the best tournaments I’ve ever seen (like the G1 Climax 24 for example). However, PWG always brings in some big names and it makes for some interesting matches throughout.
First Round Match
Marty Scurll def. Pentagon Jr. in 13:06
I really like both of these guys, so this is off to a good start. The crowd was molten hot for both men before it even began. Both guys did their trademark heel stuff but the only thing to actually get boos was Scurll going after Pentagon’s mask. Scurll hit two superkicks from the apron, followed by a suicide tornado DDT. Screw the fans though as Scurll flipped them off. Pentagon took advantage of that opening with a tope con hilo. There were more superkicks exchanged inside. The Young Bucks would be proud. Scurll came close to winning with a second, bigger tornado DDT. Pentagon hit a corner exploder that broke the bottom turnbuckle so the rest of the match had a loose bottom rope. Pentagon no sold some clotheslines and insinuated that Scurll wasn’t man enough to knock him down by pointing to his huevos. Somehow, Scurll kicked out of pumphandle driver and the Package Piledriver for an insane near fall. In one of my favorite moments in recent memory, Marty did his finger snap spot but Pentagon just pops them back into place like a badass. Marty countered the Package Piledriver into the cross for the win. Awesome opener featuring two guys that I really like going at it. Pentagon was on another level of badass, but Scurll was just a bit smarter. ***¾
First Round Match
Ricochet def. Jeff Cobb in 13:57
PRINCE PUMA VS. MATANZA CUETO! Chuck Taylor saying that “Mr. Athletic” Jeff Cobb sounds like an 80’s jobber was a highlight. Ricochet was his athletic self and Cobb was a monster. Early on, he shoulder blocked him into oblivion. Cobb blocked the People’s Moonsault by just picking Ricochet up for a powerslam. After getting tossed around for a while, Ricochet showed off his power by picking up Cobb for an impressive exploder. He followed that with a pretty dive to the outside. Still, no matter what Ricochet did, Cobb was almost unfazed and would continue to toss him around. Ricochet finally managed to pull Cobb into a small package and steal it. This was good but not great. I think they had the right idea with the finish but it would have worked better for me if Ricochet played the match a bit less even. Cobb could have done more so that Ricochet’s rollup win would have felt like desperation. I think that would have been a better plan. Still, we got some really good stuff between two very talented individuals.***½
First Round Match
John Hennigan def. Matt Sydal in 14:14
Two guys that hung around the WWE mid-card during a pretty down era for the company. Both have gone on to do well for themselves since then though. Hennigan being billed from Slamtown USA is a top five thing he’s ever done. There was an early ECW chant that made me laugh. This was a strange match. They did some odd comedy stuff that never really caught on with me. Considering the guys involved, this was far slower than I expected it to be. It’s like, they did some cool things but a lot of it seemed to have no point. The crowd was less into this than the previous matches, Hennigan didn’t deliver and Sydal didn’t seem to care. Hennigan won with the Starship Pain. Moving on. **¼
First Round Match
Will Ospreay def. Fenix in 10:28
Two of the best high-fliers on the planet in this one. Ospreay can be really good when he’s on, while Fenix is almost always awesome. They began at a really quick pace, which was expected. Ospreay hit the first big dive to the outside. Fenix did one better with a sick corkscrew plancha right after. Surprisingly, Ospreay took things to the mat and slowed it down a bit. Fenix nailed a sweet springboard rana before he tried a second variation only for Ospreay to land on his feet. They went up top and did the spot everyone talked about from the trailers. Fenix’s Spanish fly off the top saw both men land on their feet and I’ll admit, it was really impressive. Ospreay got his knees up on a springboard 450 before winning with the Oscutter. A really good match that had a bit of a lull in the middle but really picked up near the end. Maybe my expectations were a bit high since I expected more. Really enjoyable and certainly worth a watch. I would have had this go 14 and given the 10 minutes to Sydal and Hennigan.***½
First Round Match
PWG Champion Zack Sabre Jr. def. Tommy End in 16:40
Zack Sabre Jr. won the PWG Championship with the title shot that he earned by winning this tournament in 2015. Tommy End was wrapping up some indy dates before starting with the WWE. In 2015, all of the buzz was positive about Sabre. 2016 has been less kind to him. He got booed in both Evolve and RevPro, while his run through the Cruiserweight Classic left a lot to be desired. The issue a lot of people have with him was evident here. He’s like, a spot monkey of technical moves. Sometimes he does them for the sake of doing them instead of with any purpose to the match. The early portions of this match were kind of just there. The second half of the match picked up and I loved watching End lay in the strikes. Sabre was good at returning the favor and I liked his focus on the arm. After some excellent strike exchanges, Sabre won with an octopus hold variation. Like I said, this was really weak early on, but got really awesome near the end. Cut out some of that opening stuff and this could have been really strong. ***¼
First Round Match
Chris Hero def. Jushin Thunder Liger in 14:59
Yea, this was one of, if not the most exciting matchup on the card. Liger is 51 and still rules. Hero is fat and still rules. Excalibur noted that Liger made his wrestling debut before 8 of the guys competing in the tournament tonight were even born. We were treated to the disrespectful Hero, which was fun. This had a different pace than most of the matches on this show. It felt like both men knew the other was someone legitimate enough to not take any chances with. Hero just continued to talk smack throughout, calling Liger the oldest young boy as he kicked him. He dared Liger to show him something, so he got slapped up and ate a rolling kick. Liger managed to pull out a brainbuster and the Liger Bomb, but Hero was too tough. Hero did his own Liger Bomb but the 51-year-old kicked out at one! He fired up only to fall to a ripcord elbow. Really good match that felt like a special one. Hero as the asshole who disrespects the legend worked well to add something to this. I would have liked to see Liger go on a bit of a run in the tourney. ***½
Adam Cole and the PWG Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks def. Dalton Castle and reDRagon in 19:13
Dalton Castle’s “boys” were played by reDRagon tonight. The Bucks wore gear with Dave Meltzer’s face all over them, getting a “five star gear” chant. Credit to reDRagon for being up for EVERYTHING that the boys do. Dalton used them as steps, they fanned him and did his trademark pose. Taylor calling Cole a fat piece of shit in trunks and mentioning that the “old” boy couldn’t fully arch his back were two hilarious moments. They did a lot of comedy stuff, including the unmasking of Bobby Fish, who promptly put it back on like nothing happened. The teams worked a very even match. Cole and Castle had fun chemistry, while the Bucks and reDRagon have wrestled a million times. reDRagon revealed themselves and put in mouth guards, causing the Bucks to run and leave Cole alone with them. The closing stretch is where this match moved from comedy into more of a frenzy. Eventually, the match ended with a double Meltzer Driver. This was a fine way to send the fans home. It isn’t my exact cup of tea, but some of the comedy moments were fun and the final stretch was enjoyable. **¾
Overall: 7/10. A good way to start the tournament. Nothing on the show was blow away great or a match of the year contender, but nothing was really bad either. The only match that I’d say is worth a skip is Sydal/Hennigan. Ricochet/Cobb, Liger/Hero and Ospreay/Fenix are all fun, while Scurll/Pentagon was the MOTN. Add in the compact two hour runtime and this is a breeze to watch.
The episode starts with Prince Puma in the back. Vampiro comes up to him, continuing something that started on the premiere. He seems to offer help but Puma wants nothing to do with Vampiro, even if Mil Muertes is beating him lifeless. He'd rather die by Mil's hand than live by Vampiro's. Vampiro says that he predicts Mil will die by Puma's hands instead.
Matanza is in the ring for another edition of Dario's Dial of Doom. This week's lucky winner of a title shot is Killshot!
Lucha Underground Championship: Matanza Cueto (c) w/ Dario Cueto def. Killshot in 3:58
I love that Killshot is getting a title shot. He's one of my favorite guys in LU. He still showed effects from the awesome match with Marty Martinez a few weeks ago. Matanza came out quickly and tossed him around the ring. Killshot used the ropes to survive an early pinfall attempt. Matanza went for a top rope Tombstone but Killshot got free and started getting in offense to huge reactions from the crowd. He ripped his bandage off but ran into a big uppercut from the champion. Matanza hit the Wrath of the Gods to retain. Spirited run for Killshot but it was too short and he didn't get in enough hope spots for this to be really good. **3/4
After the match, AR Fox walks to the ring with dog tags around his neck. Killshot says something along the liens of "I thought you were dead." He hugs him bug Fox shoves him off and nails a big kick. He follows up with right hands and stomps. He plans him with a fisherman buster. For those unaware, Fox is playing a partner that Killshot had who he believed died in war. Fox drops the tags on him and says "you left me for dead."
Returning, another white rabbit teaser aired.
The Trios Champions, Fenix, Aerostar and Drago come out. Dario Cueto shows up to announce that in four weeks, we will be treated to Aztec Warfare III! He claims that Matanza has been unstoppable, so to give him a real challenge, he will enter at #1. The three men in the ring are about to get a unique opportunity. They will face each other and the winner earns #20 in Aztec Warfare. However, the two losers won't even be in the match!
Unique Opportunity Match: Drago def. Aerostar and Fenix in 8:33
Surprisingly, one man stays on the apron, which is odd, especially for the chaotic Lucha Underground. Even with that, things got out of hand quickly and they worked at a very quick pace. A lot of what was going on was hard to keep up with. Fenix got busted open shortly before nailing a superkick. Drago hit Aerostar with a nice powerbomb but Fenix broke up the pin. They all ended up in the corner, where Aerostar got on Fenix's shoulder. Drago climbed up and arm dragged him off, which looked disappointing since it seemed like they were gonna go for something more. They did a cool spot where Fenix had Drago in a submission as Aerostar put one on Fenix. Drago took out Fenix with a rewind rana before beating Aerostar with a blockbuster DDT. Good fun here though it had some sloppy moments. The finish came out of nowhere, which I liked since Fenix seemed like the obvious winner but the move itself that ended it felt lackluster. ***1/4
In the back, Drago is looking in the mirror when Kobra Moon arrives. She tells him that she expects him to win the Lucha Underground Title and bring it back to the tribe. He says that he left the tribe a long time ago and isn't going back. Vinnie, who randomly appeared a few weeks ago, awkwardly shows up eating pizza, saying he thought it was the men's room.
Johnny Mundo is back to see Dario Cueto again. Desperate for a title shot and not wanting to wait until Aztec Warfare, Mundo has the briefcase that he won from Dario back in season one. Of the $100,000, $93,000 are left since Mundo had to pay off someone for something related to internet photos. Dario grants him a shot at Sexy Star and the Gift of the Gods Title next week.
Prince Puma def. Mil Muertes w/ Cartina in 8:44
It's a rematch of the first Ultima Lucha main event. Puma came out firing but Mil Muertes is a beast and turned it around. Puma hit a suicide dive, followed by a dive outside. The crowd was way into this. Muertes came back with a big spear on the outside. They brawled throughout the crowd and Puma leapt off of the bleachers onto Mil in a cool moment. Once back in the ring, we got some good back and forth from these two. Puma hit a kick that sent Mil's head into the ring post before scoring with the 630 and earning a rare win over Muertes. This was just shy of being great. They have good chemistry and worked a really fun match that had some enjoyable spots sprinkled in. They're tied at one now and I sense a bigger match for the tiebreaker. ***3/4
Rey Mysterio Jr. talks to someone in the back about Chavo. It is revealed that he's talking to CHAVO CLASSIC! Chavo Classic wanted to be sure that fighting with Chavo was the only way for Rey to handle this. Rey said that it's CHavo or him, one of them has to go. I'm not excited for a Rey/Chavo feud in 2016.
Overall: 8/10. Possibly the best episode of the season. The opener was a fun little sprint and the AR Fox debut was a nice addition to the Killshot story. The Aztec Warfare announcement was cool and I enjoyed the triple threat. The main event was damn good and I really liked how each match brought something different to the table.
If you do want to check out Lucha Underground, which you absolutely should, 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 right here with Fubo.tv!
No Mercy 2001
October 21st, 2001 | Savvis Center in St. Louis, Missouri | Attendance: 15,647
This is in the midst of the invasion angle. Steve Austin was running power hungry as the heel leader of the group, feuding with Kurt Angle. They had just met on two straight PPVs, so here, the incredibly popular Rob Van Dam is thrown into the mix, making for on interesting triple threat WWF Championship match. This is the third No Mercy in history (not counting the one in the UK in 1999).
The opening video packages considers Steve Austin as the paranoid man, Kurt Angle as the vengeful man and RVD as the confident man. It even shows RVD holding the WWF Title. Saliva’s “Click Click Boom” is the theme song, and it’s a song that I really like. Our commentary team is the always awesome Jim Ross and Paul Heyman.
WCW Tag Team Championship
The Hardy Boyz (c) w/ Lita vs. The Hurricane and Lane Storm w/ Ivory and Mighty Molly
When the hell did Ivory and Lance Storm become a thing? Hurricane holds the European Championship here. Hurricane starts with Jeff Hardy and it is clear that he completely is in character. That’s why the Hurricane worked so well, Shane Helms threw himself totally into the role. He and Storm hit a nice double team that I didn’t know they had in them. Storm holds Jeff as Hurricane goes to fly but Matt lays him out. Mighty Molly, ever the trusty sidekick, helps Hurricane up and gives him his cape so he can leap out onto them. Paul Heyman adding a “woosh” on commentary is golden. They work over Jeff until Matt gets the tag and comes in hot. The challengers pick up a close near fall after the champs miss Poetry in Motion. They hit a double superkick on Matt but Jeff breaks the pin and sends Storm outside. Molly tries to get involved so Lita spears her. Ivory gets involved too, throwing Lita outside. Jeff takes out Ivory because chivalry is apparently dead. Lita hits her rana on Storm, followed by the Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combo from Jeff to retain.
Winners and Still WCW Tag Team Champions: The Hardy Boyz in 7:42
Wow, that was much more fun than I thought it would be. The Hurricane is so good in his role and the oddball tag team with Lance Storm could have gone far. They were entertaining and had a fun, energetic opening contest. ***¼
Backstage, Rob Van Dam arrives and William Regal expects him to apologize for hitting Steve Austin with a Five Star Frog Splash on Smackdown. RVD isn’t going to do that. He promises that he isn’t on Vince’s side, but is on his own side.
Kane vs. Test
I feel like Test had potential to be pretty big in 1999, but not so much at this point. On the other hand, Kane was an absolute beast at this time. JR calls both guys “young studs”, which is kind of funny. In an impressive spot for two guys of this size, Kane gorilla press slams Test to the outside. Right in front of WCW referee Nick Patrick, Test hits Kane with the ring bell. Obviously, there is no DQ called. Inside, Test is in control, nailing a nice stalling vertical suplex. They continue to trade big blows in the ring. Kane gets multiple near falls, but can’t seem to put Test down for good. Test hits the pump handle slam and a diving elbow but that also isn’t enough. Kane gets upset at the referee, and that distraction allows Test to hit a low blow and big boot for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Test in 10:08
This was better than I remember it being, but still nothing to write home about. It was a decent big hoss battle and was kind of a rare win for an Alliance member. Maybe I was more pissed about it before because I thought Kane in 2001 should have dominated. **¼
Backstage, Stone Col and Debra have a rather funny segment before Stacy Keibler stops Matt Hardy to ask about her lingerie. He says it’s good before Lita comes up and he manages to avoid an awkward moment.
Lingerie Match
Stacy Keibler vs. Torrie Wilson
Torrie Wilson just wearing a shirt over her lingerie is the hottest thing about this match. Stacy doesn’t remove her robe to start and busts out some cartwheels. She knocks Torrie down and finally does the big reveal. Stacy pulls out a whip and uses it on both Torrie and referee Jack Doane. Torrie wins after using her boyfriend Tajiri’s handspring elbow.
Winner: Torrie Wilson in 3:07
A for effort for these girls. Yea neither one could really wrestle and they were doing it here in lingerie, but dammit they tried their best to make this as good as their skillsets allowed. They accomplished that. *
WWF Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
Christian (c) vs. Edge
During this feud, Christian joined the Alliance which I never liked. He didn’t need to that and the feud was personal enough without it. The fight begins during Christian’s entrance and they brawl around ringside, hammering home how serious the match is. They haven’t even really been in the ring yet. They do a spot where the ladder is bridged between the steps and the guardrail and Christian gets crotched on it. Ouch. We see our first callback to an old ladder match of theirs when it is catapulted into Edge’s face. Jim Ross has to get in his line of “HOW DO YOU LEARN HOW TO FALL OFF A 20 FOOT LADDER?” He ran that into the ground during this time period. The ladder bumps come faster now, with Edge taking the brunt of a fair amount of them. Christian brings in a second ladder because why the hell not? They climb both and Edge pulls him down with a massive Edge-o-matic. Christian hits the next big move with a reverse DDT off a ladder, calling back to an old match again. Not satisfied, Christian brings chairs into the ring. Edge counters his attempt to use them and splashes him onto a ladder. To try and one up himself, he then calls back to WrestleMania from this year with a big diving Spear, though it is nowhere near the level of that original one. The very cool finish comes as Edge lays Christian across the tops of two ladders and nearly kills him with a one man con-chair-to before retrieving the belt.
Winner and New WWF Intercontinental Champion: Edge in 22:15
While I think the match could have been a big shorter to be better, this was still really good to me. I’ve seen a fair amount of people down on it and I admit the pacing isn’t great, but overall, I think it worked. They built towards the bigger spots, had good callbacks to their past matches and the finish worked beautifully considering their feud and how Christian turned on him originally. ***¾
WWF Tag Team Championship
The Dudley Boyz (c) vs. Big Show and Tajiri
Yes, the WWF team holds the WCW belts and the Alliance team holds the WWF belts. Honestly, throughout his career, I’ve always felt that Big Show worked well in tag teams, but this one with Tajiri is certainly an odd one. Show runs through his opponents but the champions eventually isolate Tajiri. They wisely do the false hot tag spot. Tajiri ends up spitting the mist but catching the official. Show hits a Chokeslam on Bubba Ray but the referee is blind. A wild Rhyno appears and GORES Big Show. Tajiri does his best to fight off the Dudleys but falls victim to a 3D.
Winners and Still WWF Tag Team Champions: The Dudley Boyz in 9:20
Not a bad match here, but it was lacking something. I think the fans, despite being rather loud, never really bought the odd team of Big Show and Tajiri as a legitimate threat. Regardless, they tried but the execution was off. **½
Booker T vs. The Undertaker
As Undertaker is getting off of his motorcycle, Booker T attacks him. He’s going to need to considering how poorly the Alliance had been booked to this point. They brawl around the ring for a while. During the invasion, Undertaker was in pretty much no mood to sell for anyone. Hell, he was in no mood to sell during his early American Badass days period. With that being said, Undertaker is quickly back in control once the match goes inside. They continue to trade the advantage until Booker does the “LEAP FROM THE TOP RIGHT INTO YOUR BOOT” spot, which I detest. Booker actually hits the Scissors Kick but Undertaker gets a foot on the bottom rope. Hey, they’re actually protecting Booker’s finish somewhat. He hits the Last Ride to win.
Winner: The Undertaker in 13:12
WCW’s top guy, Booker T, has now jobbed to Rock on two straight PPVs and loses to the Undertaker here. That tells you how the booking of the Alliance was going. Undertaker sold more for Booker than he did for most others in this era, but that still didn’t make the match very good. *¾
WCW Championship
The Rock (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Look, we have two WWF guys wrestling for the WCW Title. Jim Ross throws a jab at WCW booking as he questions why Jericho never got a shot at the WCW Title while he was there. This is the first in a trilogy of matches between the two that ended at the 2002 Royal Rumble. They tart with some back and forth mat work until Jericho slaps the Rock, kicking up the intensity. Jericho nails his springboard dropkick, looking to pull out all the stops tonight. Jericho is in total control here, dominating in a fashion that I never expected. Rock gets tired of that, hitting a clothesline and belly to belly suplex. Rock starts using his size advantage to swing the momentum. It takes a missile dropkick for Jericho to stop his rally. In an excellent moment, Jericho hits his own Rock Bottom and a Lionsault only for Rock to get the shoulder up. Heyman and Ross argue over whether or not Jericho is a choke artist. Entering this match, Jericho was kind of a tweener, but gets real personal by removing the elbow pad and going for the People’s Elbow. Rock avoid it and puts on his ugly Sharpshooter. Jericho survives but, since the match has progressed to something more physical, the Spanish announce table comes into play. Rock puts Jericho through it with a huge Rock Bottom. Inside, Jericho blocks a Rock Bottom but runs into a spinebuster. However, the crowd comes unglued when Jericho grabs Rock’s leg during the People’s Elbow and locks in the Walls of Jericho! Stephanie McMahon shows up, sliding a chair into the ring. Even though she doesn’t like the Rock, she cheers for him because she hates Jericho. Rock doesn’t care and plants her with a Rock Bottom. While the official looks at Stephanie, Jericho nails the Break Down onto the chair and wins the big one.
Winner and New WCW Champion: Chris Jericho in 23:43
Excellent stuff from both guys here. I loved how Jericho started the match as a guy feuding with a face, but wasn’t a direct heel yet. As the match progresses, he gets more heel like out of desperation, including mocking Rock’s moves and using the steel chair. Seriously, I just really liked how they built to the physical stuff. My only major gripe with the match is the involvement of Stephanie McMahon. Other than that, this is phenomenal. ****¼
Rock seems like he’s going to hit Chris Jericho after the match, but instead just shakes his hand.
WWF Championship
Steve Austin (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam
The angle between Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam was very well done, even if the role isn’t ideal for Austin. There was the added drama of whether or not RVD was working with Vince McMahon. The match gets off to a hot start as Angle just delivers an array of suplexes on both guys. Paul Heyman makes a solid point that this match has the best wrestler, brawler and high flyer in the world. Austin and RVD tease coming to blows but it doesn’t happen as Angle gets involved again. The match breaks down to the usual triple threat style of one guy being down while the other two duke it out. Angle hits a sweet head and leg suplex before that gorgeous moonsault of his on RVD. Austin tries to steal the pin but it is broken up. With both guys down, RVD misses a big Five Star Frog Splash. The Angle Slam and a split legged moonsault hit, but those pins are broken up protecting those moves. Vince McMahon strolls out to ringside to add drama. Angle leaps to the top and takes out RVD with a super belly to belly suplex. Austin is in and hits Angle with a Stunner but he falls outside. He looks to RVD but Vince levels him with a chair. RVD hits the frog splash but again, Angle is there to break things up. Angle Slam hits but here’s Shane McMahon to pull a Vince and interfere. Vince and Shane now come to blows outside. In the midst of all of this, Austin hits RVD with a Stunner and retains.
Winner and Still WWF Champion: Steve Austin in 15:14
As a main event match, this delivered. The crowd was hot for it and there was just about the right amount of drama. I wasn’t a big fan of all of the McMahon interaction, similar to the WCW Title match. I do like that the match wasn’t filled with a bunch of kickouts as having the pins broken up protected each guy’s finisher, which was well done. ***¾
Overall: 7.5/10; Very good. I liked this show more this time around than I did when I first watched it on the Network. The main event, opener and Intercontinental Title ladder matches are all good, but it’s the WCW Championship match that steals the show here. There’s some good T&A in the lingerie match but everything else is pretty easy to skip. Still, the show never drags and delivers in spades at times. My randomizer has chosen my next “Random Network Review” as Slamboree 1993!
