Random Network Reviews: Clash of the Champions XIV Dixie Dynamite

Clash of the Champions XIV: Dixie Dynamite
1/30/91 – Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, Georgia – Attendance: 2,200

So it's time for my first review of a show that's not a Pay-Per-View. Clash of the Champions were big deals back in the WCW days and I look forward to seeing these. Now this particular edition was the first to be booked by Dusty Rhodes after he returned to the company to take over for Ole Anderson. Ole did a pretty poor job and WCW needed to right the ship. Enter Dusty and he set up an interesting main event as Ric Flair puts the World Title on the line against Scott Steiner. I'm definitely intrigued for that, so let's get started.

The intro video is cool for it's time. It hypes up Scott Steiner as one of the awesome talents in wrestling before promoting the WCW Tag Team Title match. The national anthem follows, which gives it more a big event/Pay-Per-View feel. I can dig it. Your commentary team for tonight is Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
Doom (c) vs. Lex Luger and Sting
For those who don't know, Doom consists of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed. Reed and Sting start and the crowd pops once Sting gets some offense. Luger is the United States Champion, here as he comes in and works the arm. After all, he is AMERICAN MADE! Luger and Simmons continues to try and see who's stronger and Simmons wins by knocking him down twice. Luger finally gets him down, and surprisingly, he doesn't use his loaded forearm. Simmons connects with the EDDIE GILBERT hot shot before it goes to commercial. As it returns, Luger plays the face in peril while he gets worked over by Doom. Butch Reed is not “The Natural” here, he's “Hacksaw”. So not only does he have a worse nickname, but he stole it from Jim Duggan. Luger finally tags the Stinger after he gets shoulder blocked into his corner. Bad move Butch. Danny Spivey runs in through the crowd and beats up Luger, who he will face for the US Title soon. Meanwhile, Sting is dominating inside until the referee takes a bump. Spivey and his ass-less chaps are gone. However, the referee gets up to see Sting get backdropped over the top rope and because it's WCW, that's a DQ.

Winners via disqualification: Lex Luger and Sting in 7:45
Decent opener that got the crowd hot because they could see Sting and Luger. Mainly built Spivey/Luger but the Champions got to retain and look strong. **

Doom tries to attack the faces after the match but end up getting cleared from the ring by the dominant forces that are Sting and Luger. Cut to Missy Hyatt who announces the “Sexiest WCW Wrestler” award and it's the Television Champion the Z-Man.

WCW Television Championship
The Z-Man (c) vs. “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton
I have no idea why, but Eaton is introduced as from the “darkside” which is so stupid. So, I honestly have no clue who this Z-Man is. We get some mat work to begin as Z-Man seems to have the upper hand. Eaton works the arm as they plug the hotline. The Z-Man dropkicks Eaton off the top and to the outside. Now the arm work comes from Z-Man My goodness Nick Patrick looks young. This match is boring as they do a test of strength, but neither guy is a powerhouse. Z-Man gets a near fall with a back body drop but Eaton hits a top rope knee drop to turn the tide. Z-Man counters a suplex and rolls up Eaton for two. He gets a backslide and retains the gold.

Winner and Still WCW Television Champion: The Z-Man in 7:11
Boring ass match. Neither guy really did anything impressive and they really seemed to be going through the motions. *

The replay shows that Bobby Eaton's shoulder was up. Did people have to sit through a rematch? Backstage, Alexandra York, also known as Marlena also known as Terri Runnels talks about a new acquisition. Interesting. 

Allen Iron Eagle and “Wildfire” Tommy Rich vs. The Fabulous Freebirds
Michael Hayes is starting to develop a bit of a gut. The Freebirds show off some smarts early on with a blind tag, but Tommy Rich takes them down anyway. He tags in the 20 year old Iron Eagle, but he looks more like 35. Another blind tag is made by the Freebirds as the Eagle botches a bump. I wonder if he went on to become the Swagger Soaring Eagle. Hayes applies a headlock that the future Soaring Eagle counters with an arm drag. Hayes quickly gets up and punches Eagle but he doesn't react to it. AT ALL. Maybe he is 20, he's pretty sloppy. They continue to work him over as we're getting another boring contest. Tag to Rich but the referee did not see it so he kicks him out. While he's doing that, a double DDT is hit on the Eagle to end it.

Winners: The Fabulous Freebirds in 5:53
Worse than the previous match. Multiple botches and the only guy who looked good was Tommy Rich, who barely got any action. 1/2*

An ad for WrestleWar '91 is shown. Picture in picture is shown of Tony Schiavone and Paul E. Dangerously commentating somewhere, while Dusty Rhodes gets under his skin. 

Jumpin' Joey Maggs vs. Sid Vicious
First of all, how did Maggs get an entrance? Two, Sid has terrible face music and three, Sid is announced as from “anywhere he pleases.” Maggs tries some offense but it obviously fails. Sid clubs him in the back and plants him with the Powerbomb.

Winner: Sid Vicious in 1:10
Well, this was what it should have been. Maggs gets no offense and Sid dominates. *

Sid signals for his personal EMTs to come out and take Maggs out on a stretcher. That's a pretty cool gimmick idea for a monster. We then get a promo for the WCW Hotline, which had a different person each day. Also, the 1-900-909-9900 number is the best ever. Tony Schiavone promotes the upcoming big match at WrestleWar and interviews Sid about it.

Ricky Morton vs. Terry Taylor
So the Red Rooster is introduced as the “computerized man of the 90's.” Seriously, WCW? Mat wrestling kicks this off, with neither guy getting the advantage. Morton counters an arm drag with an arm drag which was interesting. High cross body by Morton gets him two, and Terry goes outside to catch his breath. Morton is looking like a really poor man's Ricky Steamboat but only because he's done like six arm drags. Alexandra York comes out to scout the match, so we get a picture in picture promo of her saying that Terry Taylor is her newest client. He drops a knee on Morton for two. Taylor catches him with a bulldog but again only gets two. Taylor goes for a splash but Morton gets his knees up to block. Taylor starts to go heel but eye rakes and then he wins by attacking Morton from behind and letting Morton crash and burn.

Winner: Terry Taylor in 5:34
Nothing special but told a good story of Taylor getting more angry and heel like throughout. **1/2

Sting gets interviewed about being attacked by the Four Horsemen and coming back to win the PWI “Wrestler of the Year” Award. 

El Cubano vs. Ranger Ross
My goodness, what is this doing on television. Ross cuts a promo that's picture in picture at the start of the match and he dropkicks the fat Cubano outside. Cubano gets back in but doesn't get much offense. Ross shoulder blocks him down and applies a wristlock. Jim Ross really puts over how much of a role model Ranger Ross is. Ross wins shortly after with a sloppy sunset flip.

Winner: Ranger Ross in 3:54
This was pretty piss poor. Not much happened and what did occur was sloppy. 1/2*

Another promo airs for WrestleWar '91, which will feature War Games!

Arn Anderson and Barry Windham vs. The Renegade Warriors
Besides Sting and Lex Luger, the Four Horsemen get the biggest pop of the show. The Renegade Warriors attack before the match begins and get in a surprising amount of offense in the early stages. They even cut the ring in half and work over Double A for a bit. The crowd actually reacts to the possibility of an upset, but Double A hits a spinebuster and things change. Windham gets the tag and hits a suplex. The Horsemen now cut the ring in half but Anderson and one of the Warriors get a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER. Anderson stops a tag with an atomic drop and hits a poor looking splash. The Warriors make a tag and are on fire. All four guys are in the ring until Windham knocks Mark outside. He hits the other with a lariat and after a second rope suplex, the Horsemen win.

Winners: Arn Anderson and Barry Windham in 7:28
This was more competitive than I expected, but it still was rather boring. The Renegade Warriors do nothing for me. *1/2

Highlights of a match from Japan between Big Van Vader and Stan Hansen is shown because WCW has signed the rematch to happen.

Brian Pillman vs. Buddy Lee Parker
I expect this to be another in a line of squashes tonight. Pillman is gearing up for War Games so there would be no need for Parker to win. Pillman gets in his signature offense as the ladies love it and he flies around the ring a bit. Not much to note as Parker gets in nearly no offense and Pillman wins with a cross body.

Winner: Brian Pillman in 3:20
Another squash match. Not much to say but Pillman did impress. *1/2

Inter Gender Arm Wrestling Contest
Paul E. Dangerously is taking on Missy Hyatt in this one, and Paul hilariously has on knee pads and wrist tape. I would think Missy would need the knee pads. Oh yeah, I went there. Missy shows off cleavage which distracts Dangerously and allows her to win easily. 

Winner: Missy Hyatt
Not really anything to rate. At least it was fast unlike a lot of other arm wrestling contests.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Ric Flair (c) vs. Scott Steiner w/ Rick Steiner
The Steiners gets a cool entrance complete with Michigan cheerleaders. They announce that El Gigante is in the crowd and for those who don't know, he's the future Giant Gonzalez. Once the bell rings, Flair lets out a “woo” and trash talks his challenger. Flair stupidly decides to flex and Scott outshines him there, even back in 1991. Steiner shows off his power advantage early on, which gets pops from the fans. Flair goes to regroup but runs into Rick who taunts him. Steiner hits a sidewalk slam for two and Flair, being the super heel that he is, pulls hair to kick out. Flair decides that mat wrestling is the next tactic to try, but Scott holds his own and Flair has to take another breather. I always thought it was funny how a clothesline performed by a Steiner becomes the STEINERLINE! Flair gets an advantage and tries a dirty pin but Rick knocks his feet off the ropes. Scott slaps on the Figure Four when the show returns from commercial. Flair gets out and actually tries a cross body, which I've never seen him do. They both go over and out, though Scott has to throw himself over. Flair now works the leg with various kneebreakers and such. He applies the Figure Four and uses the ropes for leverage. Scott turns it over, putting the pressure on the Champion, who gets the ropes. Scott sends Flair into the corner and he does his trademark bump there. Scott comes really close to winning with a small package. With three minutes of TV time remaining, Flair is trying to stall. He goes for a pin with his feet on the ropes and Rick stops it again. Scott hits a nice tiger bomb, but doesn't pin, allowing Flair to roll outside and stall. Scott waits in the ring like an idiot as Rick takes forever to roll the champion in with a minute left. STEINERLINE! Scott does too much pandering to the crowd and hits a belly to belly as time expires.

The match ends in a TV time limit draw at 21:40
This told a good story of the wily veteran out smarting and surviving the young upstart. Scott did look dumb near the end but I guess it works with the rookie mistakes thing. ***1/4

Overall: 3/10; Poor. Far too many squash matches hurt this card. They tried to cram too much into two hours. That being said, the main event was good, the arm wrestling match was short but entertaining and the Sid squash was at least fun. Everything else was useless and tough to get through. The next “Random Network Review” is scheduled to be In Your House: D-Generation X!

Smackdown Report 8-22-14

Smackdown opened with "The Viper" Randy Orton and hopefully this is a better promo than his usual stuff. He says that he's focused on tonight and he will put down Rob Van Dam to make up for his loss to Roman Reigns. He wants to take the fans' respect because he's the greatest Superstar of this generation. Somebody forgot to tell him that John Cena exists. This was very short and then we are joined by Seth Rollins. Orton shakes his hand on the ramp and it looks like Seth vs. Jack Swagger will be the opening contest. This got a good amount of time and both guys put on a good showing. There was pretty much non stop action and Seth hit the Blackout leading to the countout victory. The inspirational Bo Dallas is out to call Jack an American zero and promises to be the new American sweetheart. I'm all for it.

The Miz is backstage being as douchey as possible and he's rather rude to Kane so gets booked against Roman Reigns again tonight. Oh joy. Anyway, Rusev is out to face Sin Cara. I guess he doesn't just go against straight Americans. He doesn't like Mexicans either. Equal opportunity hatred and I appreciate that. Of course, he wins and Lana has to speak after the match. Mark Henry comes out and is all like "THATS WHAT I DO". Lana has Rusev leave and Henry questions his manhood for allowing a woman to hold him back. Renee Young, in all of her perfection, interviews Rob Van Dam about his upcoming match with Randy Orton but he's chill about it. Whatever dude.

Time for the bout between Rob Van Dam and Randy Orton. When I think of these two together, I always remember that ridiculous sell job that RVD did on the RKO where he nearly broke his neck back in like 2007. This had potential to be much better as they seemed to go through the motions. Randy Orton got to vicious and the official called for the disqualification. Orton wasn't done as he hit RVD with an RKO on an open steel chair. I guess this sort of gets him back his momentum after losing to Roman Reigns but he never really had an momentum. Renee Young interviews Reigns who claims that he's fine with continuing the fight with Orton. Oh no. I don't want more of this feud.

After beating the Divas Champion on Raw, Natalya gets another match with Paige here on Smackdown. This one lasted longer and was better, but once again, AJ came down to the ring. She takes the Divas Title and starts to leave with it, but leaves it on the ramp. Paige goes to get it and makes it back in the ring at the count of eight, only to be put in the Sharpshooter. AJ comes back down, grabs the belt and holds it as Paige stares at her and taps out. I get the storyline, but couldn't Paige have just lost by countout? This is like when Eva Marie beat AJ heading into SummerSlam. Stupid booking to protect the Total Divas girls with the show returning. Sigh. Let's all enjoy Paige/AJ while we can before the Total Divas get all the title shots again.

Tag team action followed when the two strangest tag teams in the WWE met. The Dust Brothers faced the Wyatt Family and their stupid "WHOLE WORLD" intro to their theme. The Usos cut a promo on a split screen that was pretty funny. Talking about which team has the better face paint and such. Anyway, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan were pegged to be the next Tag Team Champions...then everything went sour. They lost to Big Show and Mark Henry and they lost here tonight. I'm not too mad because I love Cody and Goldust though. They do redeem themselves a bit by beating the hell out of Cody and Goldust after the match though.

I know that Smackdown has a lot of Raw recaps and I do complain often about the amount of recaps we get but this is absurd. Nearly the ENTIRE promo of Brock Lesnar receiving the new WWE Title on Raw is shown. It's like 25 minutes long. No lie. Ridiculous to see it all. Anyway, Randy Orton slowly walks to the ring during the main event, which is essentially Roman Reigns squashing The Miz. This guy was Intercontinental Champion less than a week ago. Randy Orton is shocked at the result for some reason and the fight is on! The brawl is actually pretty good, but again, I just can't get into this feud. It has two of the top guys in the company but it just doesn't feel special or like it's must see.

Not the best episode of Smackdown. Again, too many recaps and this time, the matches weren't anything special. The only good match was the opener and the Dust Brothers tag match was decent. You honestly don't have to go out and see anything else. 3/10.

NXT and Superstars Report 8-21-14

HIS NAME IS ENZO AMORE. HE'S A CERTIFIED G AND A BONAFIDE STUD...AND YOU CAN'T TEACH THAT! Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. NXT opens with a semi-final match in the Tag Team Tournament and it's features Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady going up against The Vaudevillains. So, those are far and away my two favorite teams in the tournament, making this a bit disheartening. It was shorter than I expected and The Vaudevillains were able to pick up a clean victory. After the match, the Legionaries arrived and attacked Enzo before shaving half of his beard! That's something you just don't do to a man's beard.

Next, Triple H came out to make a huge announcement to the NXT Universe. He informed everyone that the third NXT Special will air on the WWE Network on September 11th! I'm not a fan of it being called NXT TakeOver again but whatever. Triple H says that the NXT Championship will be defended along with the Women's Championship and the winners of the Tag Team Tournament will face the Ascension on that night too. Should be a good time and the last two Specials were outstanding. His last announcement is that there will be a new General Manager for NXT and he will be there next week. Excited for that for sure. I do want to make a side note that I absolutely love the fact that Triple H treats NXT like his baby. Good sign for the future.

Tyler Breeze is not happy that his NXT Championship match was interrupted by Tyson Kidd last week and he tells Devin Taylor about it. It looks like he'll be facing Kidd right now. Two heels huh? Interesting. The match does not go for long and Breeze escapes the Sharpshooter only to grab his phone and head up the ramp to be counted out. Kidd would put on Tyler's vest after the match and pose on the top turnbuckle in a funny little moment.

The NXT Women's Champion makes her way to the ring next as Charlotte will be in non-title action before her upcoming title defense against Bayley. And she's facing the awesome Becky Lynch. Man, I love Becky Lynch so much. This was a good match. They met a few weeks ago and it was good, this was about on par with that and it was better than Charlotte's defense against Summer Rae. Again, Charlotte hasn't impressed me much since TakeOver, so I really hope to see Bayley take the belt from her. Anyway, Charlotte picked up the win here and it wasn't surprising. 

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady come out again after the commercial and Enzo is pissed. He tells Sylvester Lefort to fall back like his hairline. Ouch. Enzo issues a challenge to the Legionaires and he'll put his mohawk on the line against Lefort's hair at TakeOver. I assume it will be a tag team match. Mojo Rawley comes out next to bore me to tears and he wins a squash match over Steve Cutler. He then cuts a promo about how serious he is when it comes to Bull Dempsey. Oh god, they're going to wrestle at TakeOver most likely. Sheesh. Oh well, I only had one word in mind when Enzo made the hairline crack.

The last match of the night would be the other semi-final match in the Tag Team Tournament. Sami Zayn and his disappointing partner Adam Rose faced Kalisto and Sin Cara. So, two guys in this match really impressed me and that was obviously Kalisto and Zayn. They had a spot where Kalisto wowed me. Don't get me wrong, Sin Cara works better in a tag team style and Rose is better in when he gets the chance to work on NXT, but still nothing special. He would get pinned by Kalisto and the finals of the Tournament are set to be Kalisto and Sin Cara against the Vaudevillains, which should be very fun.

NXT was awesome this week, with the exception of the Mojo Rawley appearance. Breeze and Kidd was short but did it's job, the two tag matches were fun and the women's match was good. It earns a very good score of 8/10. Superstars was on next and the opener was Los Matadores taking on SLATER GATOR! That tag team is so fun but they would lose here. Hornswoggle was with Los Matadores, dressed as a cow for some reason. The main event was a rematch of last week's Divas bout between Emma and Alicia Fox. They got a lot of time and I enjoyed this, but it's weird that Fox seems to be back on her "crazed" gimmick on Superstars. Emma was able to win for the second straight week, this time with a cross body. Two entertaining matches here but nothing out of this world. 5.5/10

Until next time, follow me on Twitter @the_kevstaaa

Through the Years: SummerSlam 2002

SummerSlam 2002
August 25th, 2002 – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York – Attendance: 14,797

I've always considered the 2002 SummerSlam to be the very best in the history of that annual blockbuster. Granted, I haven't seen it in a long time but it's the show that I was most excited to get to in this year. Brock Lesnar gets his first shot at the Undisputed Championship, while Shawn Michaels makes his historic return to the ring after a four year retirement. The rest of the card is stacked with Kurt Angle, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam and a LOT more. This was the peak of 2002 in my opinion, but let's see if the show is as good as I remember.

Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio appears behind Kurt and is all like “WHOS THAT JUMPING OUT THE SKY” as he springboard hurricanranas Angle to start. A dropkick and monkey flip follows as things are off to a quick start. Kurt wisely goes for the ankle early on. Rey misses the 619 and Angle pulls him out of the ring hard. Back inside, Kurt hits a ridiculous German suplex but Rey counters a second attempt with a rollup. The story here seems to be that Angle is doing his best to ground Rey, which makes perfect sense. Kurt has a counter for every high risk move that Rey tries including a big sidewalk slam. Single leg Lion Tamer of sorts gets locked on and looks painful as hell. Rey reverses with a pin but gets clotheslined down instantly. Again, as soon as Rey seems to get momentum, Kurt hits a big belly to belly and the STRAPS ARE DOWN! Angle Slam is countered into an arm drag though. With Kurt outside, Rey goes to fly but the referee stops him. As the ref bends through the second rope to talk to Angle, Rey leaps over him in a cool spot. A springboard leg drop earns Rey a near fall as the crowd is totally into this. Rey leaps onto Kurt's shoulders, but gets slammed down into the Ankle Lock. He breaks free and hits the 619, followed by the West Coast Pop but gets one of the closest two counts ever. He nails a springboard dropkick with Kurt up top and goes for a top rope hurricanrana but Kurt counters into an Ankle Lock somehow! That was badass. Rey has no choice but to tap.

Winner: Kurt Angle in 9:20
Excellent opener. Rey Mysterio looked like a million bucks and Kurt Angle looked like the best wrestler in the world. The crowd was hot and the action was great. ****

In the back, Stephanie McMahon finds Eric Bischoff in her office after she brags about her awesome Smackdown match. They will share the General Manager's office for the evening. 

Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair
Surprisingly, this is the first ever SummerSlam match for the Nature Boy. He was at the 1992 show, but didn't wrestle. We start with mat wrestling and Flair struts after getting the upper hand. Flair sends Jericho over but he skins the cat, only to get chops and short punches. The match goes outside with Jericho being the aggressor. In the ring, Jericho badmouths Flair with each shot and does his awesome little dance. Second rope dropkick from Jericho gets a two count. I feel like any Flair match with Charles Robinson as the referee could be a conspiracy. Jericho chokes Flair with his wrist tape but Flair just comes back with chops. “IM THE KING OF THE WORLD”. Showboating on the top does Jericho in when Flair slams him off. Flair hits another back body drop because his offense was a bit limited at this time and it continues with more short punches. Jericho attempts the Walls but gets pull into an inside cradle for two. He misses the Lionsault and eats more chops before Flair tries the Walls. Jericho reverses and puts on the figure four. Flair taps but only after he grabs the ropes. Jericho is pissed as he thought he won which causes him to make a mistake. Once Robinson gets hit, Flair goes low and makes Jericho tap to the Figure Four.

Winner: Ric Flair in 10:22
Not the best match from either guy. Chris Jericho continues to fall after being Undisputed Champion just a few months before. **1/4

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are backstage bragging about what Brock did to Hulk Hogan. In case you didn't know, he beat the crap out of Hogan and left him bloodied on Smackdown.

Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero
So three matches and six sure fire Hall of Famers. Impressive start. Edge opens things with a flapjack while Michael Cole informs us that Eddie is jealous that Edge is a sex symbol. Eddie sells the monkey flip like a man as usual before Edge gets a near fall. Eddie gets tied up in the ropes and Edge hits a Spear but crashes outside when he tries another. Edge seems to have a hurt arm, so Eddie goes right after it by throwing him into the steps. The next few minutes involve Eddie targeting Edge's shoulder/arm. Edge's shoulder ends up bleeding and he rallies with some right handed offense. A facebuster gets him two so he decides to suplex Eddie to the outside. Instead of resting, he flies off the top and takes out Eddie. They go to the second rope and Edge hits a sitout front suplex for two. He starts to call for the Spear but Eddie dropkicks him right in the injured shoulder. PSYCHOLOGY. Eddie's Frog Splash gets blocked by Edge getting the knees up and he plants Latino Heat with the Edgecution for two. Northern lights suplex and neckbreaker from Eddie who goes back to the top. Edge stops him but Eddie headbutts him like 15 times and Frog Splashes the injured arm! Edge somehow kicks out! Edge manages to hit a Spear from out of nowhere and win.

Winner: Edge in 11:47
Good match with really good psychology. Not keen on Edge winning with a Spear since that shoulder was worked on the entire time, but still good stuff. ***1/4

Jonathan Coachman interviews the Un-Americans backstage about their upcoming Tag Team Title defense. They continue to make a lot of good points about Americans to heat because the truth hurts.

WWE Tag Team Championship
The Un-Americans (c) vs. Booker T and Goldust
I loved the odd Booker and Goldust pairing as it worked to perfection. Of all the guys who returned at the 2002 Royal Rumble, Goldust stuck around in relevance for the longest. All four guys get shine in the early goings. Booker drops a knee on Storm for a one before Goldust hits a big elbow. Storm ends up sending Goldust over the turnbuckle and outside which is different. The Un-Americans heel it up for a while as it looks like Goldust will be tonight's face in trouble. That good old tag formula. Goldust manages to pick up a near fall but when he makes the tag, blind Nick Patrick didn't see so tag formula continues. Goldust fights out and slingshots Christian into Storm before a rollup gets him two. Storm and Christian go for a con-chair-to but Goldust ducks and hits them with a double clothesline. He finally makes the hot tag and Booker lights up the Un-Americans. Missile dropkick from Booker gets a near fall, as Goldust takes on Storm outside. Booker misses the Scissors Kick and Christian gets the Unprettier blocked. Storm accidentally kicks Nick Patrick just before Booker hits both Champions with a double Scissors Kick. SPINAROONIE! No referee is there to count for Booker though. Test runs in and bit boots Booker hard to finish it.

Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: The Un-Americans in 9:36
Solid tag team match. It followed tag formula nicely, though it can get old. Still, all four guys had their working boots on tonight and put on a good show. ***

Cut to The World where Nidia picks a dude to make out with in front of her boyfriend Jamie Noble. Weird segment. Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon are now shown watching in the locker room and they talk about the upcoming Intercontinental Title match.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Chris Benoit (c) vs. Rob Van Dam
The belt logo is blurred for some reason. It couldn't still have said WWF could it? Early feeling out process as this is the first every Pay-Per-View meeting between the two. Benoit, along with Eddie had just jumped to Smackdown. According to Paul Heyman, he lost someone to Raw for star power, I forget who, and when asked for Benoit and Eddie in return, he kind of got laughed at. This would allow for the creation of the Smackdown Six. Benoit ducks a kick and he folds RVD with a huge release German. Benoit hits a Bret Hart like backbreaker for two. The Crippler is focusing on the shoulder/back/neck for the Crossface later. RVD this a monkey flip, but Benoit is quickly up and takes him back down. RVD gets a kick and goes for the split legged moonsault but Benoit gets his knees up. Benoit goes up top and misses the flying headbutt before RVD misses the Five Star. Crossface is applied but RVD uses his foot to reach the ropes. RVD gets launched to the outside and so far, this is just all Benoit. He rams the shoulder into the post and things go back inside. The fans turn their attention to something happening in the crowd, so Benoit puts on a REST HOLD. The challenger rolls out but again gets slammed to the mat. Crossface gets locked on again but RVD manages to get out of it. Three Northern lights suplexes, a move that I love, gets Benoit a near fall. He locks on the Crossface again and this is totally one sided. He gets close to the ropes so Benoit pulls his arm out and turns it into a different submission move. RVD finally gets something going by putting Benoit in a Crossface of his own, only to have Benoit get out and dropkick him. RVD's ponytail is out, which I've never seen. He starts to rally with an enziguri and rolling thunder. After RVD counters a super back drop, he hits a turning Five Star to win abruptly.

Winner and New Intercontinental Champion: Rob Van Dam in 16:31
Really good match, but very one sided. RVD barely got any offense until the end. That being said, Benoit dominating makes for a good match and even though the ending was abrupt, I enjoyed this. ***3/4

Eric Bischoff taunts Stephanie McMahon backstage and she is very pouty. As he continues to brag, Stephanie just laughs in his face. Strange. 

Test vs. The Undertaker
So after his heel run with the WWE Undisputed Title, The Undertaker turned face and there was no better way for the American Badass to do that, than to face anti-Americans. Early on, Undertaker actually leap frogs over Test which shocked the hell out of me. He goes for Old School but gets crotched on the rope and falls outside. Test whips Undertaker into steel steps but nobody believes that he will win. He runs the offense in the ring for a while and decides to put on a wristlock of sorts. The Deadman rallies and hits a belly to back suplex. Taker hits a big DDT for a near fall and connects with Old School this time. Booger Red hits snake eyes but misses a big boot. He counters the pump handle slam and Test blocks a Chokeslam. Taker ducks a big boot and hits the Chokeslam this time. Test kicks out and they try to sell it as a big deal but it isn't. The rest of the Un-Americans run out but take beatings from Taker. Test comes in and hits the big boot this time, but Taker gets the shoulder up. He grabs a chair but gets it kicked in his face behind the official's back. A Tombstone later and Test is resting in peace.

Winner: The Undertaker in 8:18
Not bad, but still rather slow. It a decent big man match though and Test didn't look bad. **1/4

Unsanctioned Street Fight
Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H
When he has his face shaved, Triple H kinda looks like a wuss. Shawn starts with early right hands as the crowd pops. After knocking Triple H outside, Shawn follows with a plancha and shows everyone that he's still the same HBK. All we need is Vince McMahon creaming himself of commentary and it'll be 1996 all over again. He gets a trash can lid and it backfires, though when HHH tries to bring him in the ring, HBK levels him and skins the cat back in. HES LIVE...AND IN YO FACE. He warms up the band but HHH ducks Sweet Chin Music and we get a vicious backbreaker. HHH continues to work on Shawn's broken back with hard whips into the corner and more backbreakers. HHH gets a chair and wails away on Shawn's back. Shawn fights back but takes a chair shot that busts him open. HHH takes Shawn's belt and whips him like this is a “Hollywood” Hogan match or something. HHH goes under the ring and grabs his trusty sledgehammer but Shawn stops him. However, HHH takes control again with the abdominal stretch. Not often can you see an abdominal stretch in a Street Fight and have it make sense. Hebner and HHH get into a shoving match even though he shouldn't be trying to stop him. The distraction gives Shawn time to rally and try to come off the top, until Triple H pushes Hebner into the ropes, crotching Shawn. He hangs upside down in the corner so HHH can hit him in the back with a chair yet again! A backbreaker on an open chair is hit and Shawn must be dead. Shawn kicks out though. The Game sets up for a Pedigree on a chair, but HBK counters with a low blow. Both men are down but when they get up, Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music into a chair! Both guys are down again. Trips is bleeding like a stuffed pig as Shawn fires away and hits his flying forearm. He nips up to a massive pop. He catches him with a chair shot and sends HHH to the outside. Shawn now takes Hunter to the woodshed, whipping him with the belt. He bulldogs HHH onto the steel steps and pulls out a ladder. He whacks Hunter with the ladder for two. Hunter nabs a near fall with the high knee. HHH tries to attack with steel steps but eats a drop toe hold and lands face first on the steps. Shawn pulls a D-Von and GETS THE TABLE! He sets it up outside and nails HHH with a fire extinguisher. Shawn climbs up top and hits a splash through the table outside! Back inside, the ladder gets set up and Shawn hits an elbow off of it after telling the fans that he loves them. He gets right up and tunes up for Sweet Chin Music but HHH blocks it. He goes for the Pedigree but Shawn counters with a rollup and wins his return match.

Winner: Shawn Michaels in 27:20
Wow. Shawn Michaels was gone for over four years and came back better than ever. His ability to tell a story is nearly unmatched and this was damn near perfect. ****3/4

Triple H attacks Shawn after the match with the sledgehammer and hits him in the back, which is just a brutal post match thing to do. Howard Finkel comes out to brag about being committed to his job and he's interrupted by Trish Stratus. She has had a feud with him recently and she fake flirts with him. Lillian Garcia shows up and slaps him before kicking him low.

WWE Undisputed Championship
The Rock (c) vs. Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman
Rock does Brock's signature jumping during his entrance and IT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN. I've always loved that. Rock sprints to the ring and fires away but Brock tires of that quickly and hits a belly to belly. He goes for a quick cover but obviously that's not enough. “Rocky sucks” chants are hear as Brock crushes the Champion with rib breakers. When Rock gets thrown outside, Heyman kicks him and Brock continues to beat him down. Heyman continues to get in cheap shots and every Rock rally is cut short by a Lesnar power move. After a Rock back suplex, both men are down until they nip up at THE SAME TIME! That was great. Rock hits a DDT and gains a near fall. Rock goes for the sharpshooter but Heyman gets on the apron so he nails him. He gets the sharpshooter on but the crowd boos. “Let's go Lesnar” rings out through the arena. Heyman is back on the apron with a chair and gets brought in the hard way. As he distracts the referee, Brock hits Rock in the gut with the chair. BEARHUG time and this was actually built as a credible threatening move when he nearly killed Hogan with it. Rock fights out of it and a Heyman distraction actually allows Rock to hit a low blow. Rock explodes with a clothesline and right hands that send Brock outside. Rock slingshots Brock into the post and he puts Heyman through the announce table with a Rock Bottom. Back inside, Rock hits the Rock Bottom on Brock but only gets a two! Brock actually hits a Rock Bottom now as the crowd pops but Rock kicks out! Spinebuster from the Rock and it's THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MOVE IN SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT, but wait! Brock pops up and nails him. He goes for the F5, but it's blocked, and he then he blocks the Rock Bottom. Another counter later and Brock hits the F5 to become the youngest WWE Champion in history!

Winner and New WWE Undisputed Champion: Brock Lesnar in 16:01
Great main event. The changing of the guard was here as Brock wins the belt and the fans wanted it for sure. Awesome back and forth and each guy played to their strengths. ****1/4

Overall: 10/10; Perfect. The best SummerSlam of all-time and a top 10 Pay-Per-View in the history of the WWE. Nothing is under two stars and everything is entertaining. Shawn's comeback is glorious, the main event is awesome and that's just scratching the surface. I love this show.

Top Ten Main Roster Divas

I consider myself to be a big advocate of women's wrestling. I've watched many SHIMMER volumes and do not consider the WWE Divas matches to be "piss breaks." I have a lot of respect for what they do, so I decided to do a top ten list of the main roster divas. I had to specify main roster because there are some NXT girls who I would put ahead of some of the main roster girls, including Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley. We will be looking at each girl's full body of work, in ring ability, character work, promo ability and more. Also, I want to point out that there's no honorable mentions. The girls who didn't make the list are relatively useless like Cameron, Eva Marie and especially Rosa Mendes.

10. Summer Rae

We start off with a woman who entered the main roster as a valet for Fandango. He had numerous random dancers early on until one stuck and that was Summer Rae. She didn't impress me much in the ring, especially at Survivor Series 2013 where she just basically entered the ring and danced. However, She has shown some improvement in the ring and is able to play her character well. Her role on Total Divas has been fun as well. While they seemed unsure of what to do with her after the Fandango split, her stuff with Layla has been entertaining though it needs to go somewhere soon.

9. The Bella Twins

The two most marketable Divas are easily the Bella Twins. That is their strongest suit. The WWE uses them to promote the WWE Network, sends them out for appearances and they're the focal point of Total Divas. Back during their first run, I hated seeing them on my television. They were terrible workers and didn't care, but in their second run they've grown to care. Maybe it's dating John Cena and Daniel Bryan or maybe it's how high on the card they are. They still aren't great in the ring, but they're serviceable. Their biggest flaw is their terrible acting. Neither girl can cut a promo or act to save their lives. Also, I know it may be a cop out putting them together on this list, but they're pretty interchangeable.

8. Alicia Fox

One of the more under appreciated Divas on the roster is Alicia Fox. Back in 2009 or so when she got her Divas Championship run, I don't think that she was ready. She had some poor matches and looked like she could kill someone with her Scissors Kick. Over time, she's grown to be less relevant in the division but rose to a title shot earlier this year with her crazed gimmick. She played it well and we got some entertaining moments. She's become one of the better workers in the division and, while her Scissors Kick still looks bad, she doesn't seem to be much of a danger in there anymore.

7. Layla

So Layla is hot. I'm just going to get that out of the way. Now, Layla is the most successful Diva Search winner by far. She went from appearing in bikini contests to dancing with Extreme Expose and it seemed like she would not go far. Then came LayCool. By far the most entertaining Divas act in the post Lita/Trish era. They were in sync, they had comedic timing, they could go in the ring and they were must see Divas television. Layla is the only woman on this list to win both the Women's and Divas Championship, which is an impressive feat. The only reason she's not higher is that she is currently not really used for in ring work.

6. Naomi

I would like to point out that NXT Season 3 is one of the greatest things the WWE has ever produced. It's non-stop entertaining, cringe worthy at times and absolutely hilarious. The one girl that stood out from the first episode was Naomi. Easily the most athletic Diva on the roster, it's only a matter of time before she becomes a Divas Champion. When it comes to Total Divas, Naomi is by far the most likable girl. She's level headed and not bratty like the rest of the girls and her relationship with Jimmy Uso is pretty funny to watch at times. There was talk that she was scheduled to face AJ Lee at WrestleMania XXX, which would've been huge, but she suffered a vicious eye injury and the match was changed. She's currently in a feud with her former teammate Cameron and I'm glad she's done dancing and getting to compete.

5. Emma

Trained by the great Lance Storm, Emma is the most underutilized Diva on the roster in my opinion. I watched her under her real name in SHIMMER before hearing that she was signed by the WWE. She went to NXT and became one of my favorite performers there. She was saddled with a ridiculous dancing gimmick and made it into an extremely popular thing there. Her goofy awkwardness made her endearing but it hasn't translated to the main roster. I think she should have had video packages/vignettes about the dance before her debut to help get it over with the crowd. The biggest reason that she's this high though is her in ring ability. The girl can flat out go. Check out her NXT ArRival match or her NXT Women's Championship Finals against Paige for proof.

4. Natalya

If this list was based purely on in ring ability, Natalya could make a STRONG case to be number one. Due to being a member of the legendary Hart family, she's been very well trained and can put on really good matches. Her match with an unproven Charlotte at NXT TakeOver is the best Divas match that I've seen in recent memory. She took longer to get to the WWE than I expected and lost a chance to be the first Divas Champion at the 2008 Great American Bash. She moved into a managerial role for the Hart Dynasty before going back to competing and winning the Divas Title. Her tag team with Beth Phoenix was pretty good too. The only thing keeping her from moving up is that she is very bland as a character.

3. Stephanie McMahon

Let me ask you a question. Who is the best heel in the WWE? If your answer was not Stephanie McMahon then you are dead wrong. The woman got Vickie Guerrero to be a sympathetic face. Really think about that. Stephanie was good during her original run as a heel in the company, but after having three kids and returning as a member of the Authority, Stephanie has been on fire. She is outstanding in her role. Then came SummerSlam. She had to step into the ring with Brie Bella in a match that a lot of people didn't have faith in. Stephanie went out and absolutely controlled things and dominated. She looked better in the ring than 90% of the Divas roster and this is a 37 year old mom who hadn't worked a match in over a decade. The woman is amazing and would be higher if she laced the boots up more often but seriously, give Stephanie credit.

2. Paige

Down in NXT, the "Anti-Diva" was dynamite. She was a badass chick that didn't take shit from anyone and it was awesome to see. She got called up to the main roster the night after WrestleMania XXX and instantly produced a huge moment in Divas history by ending AJ Lee's record 295 day reign as Champion and becoming the youngest Divas Champion in history. What followed was a disappointing run as Champion because the role of the cheesy babyface wasn't working. AJ Lee returned and won the belt back, leading to the new "psycho/obsessive" Paige that has been fantastic. Her ability to do something heinous to AJ and then hug her and tell her that she loves her is great and their match at SummerSlam was very good. She is going to be a focal point of the Divas division for a long time considering she's only 22, so get used to this.

1. AJ Lee

Paige fans seem to hate AJ, while AJ fans seem to hate Paige. I love them both. There really could be no other choice for number one. During the awesome NXT Season 3, AJ Lee instantly became a favorite of mine. The girl loves wrestling, is adorable and could go. Check out her match with Naomi from that season because it's great. She formed a cool tag team with her best friend Kaitlyn, known as the Chickbusters before moving into a relationship with Daniel Bryan. From there, she was a focal point. She helped cost him the World Title at WrestleMania 28, so he dumped her and she was THE biggest part of Bryan's feud with CM Punk over the WWE Title. She was ending Raws by sitting in the ring Punk style or by pushing both Punk and Bryan through a table. She moved onto having a wedding at Raw 1000 before becoming the General Manager. She continued to be a big part by managing John Cena and Dolph Ziggler. Then she finally got her chance in the ring and defeated Kaitlyn in the best Divas match of 2013 at Payback. She reigned atop the division for nearly 300 days and beat every Diva put in front of her, including the entire roster at WrestleMania XXX. Even though she lost to Paige, she won it back the first night of her return and is engaged in a really good feud with her. She is the best on the current roster. 

Main Event Report 8-19-14

The United States Champion Sheamus opens episode 99 of Main Event. It looks like he'll be facing Curtis Axel, who I know has no chance but I feel at least will be able to put on a good match. Michael Cole is on Main Event now? What the hell? I'm so tired of his stupid voice and now I have to hear it on three different shows? Good lord. Cesaro surprises everyone by coming out in a suit to join commentary. He calls himself Mr. International and it looks like they have no clue what his character should be. Cesaro did a good job on commentary and made sure to put over both guys. I love when Main Event starts with a good match and we got that here. After about ten minutes, Sheamus wins with the Brogue Kick. Cesaro tossed the title into Sheamus and walked off with a smirk.

Triple H has a huge announcement that John Cena has chosen to submit his request for a rematch with Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions. John Cena winning the belt back would be absolutely pointless but I don't see Brock destroying him again. Time for HEELNikki Bella who is still rocking the same theme song and pandering to the crowd. Of course we're forced to watch the stupid recap of Nikki's heel turn again. Nikki will be facing Emma and these two Divas got a solid five minutes to work with. They made sure to do the best with it and we got one of Nikki's best matches ever. She got "you sold out" chants but still managed to overcome it and win with her finisher that I don't know the name of. 

Big Show and Mark Henry get interviewed by the lovely Renee Young about Show's match with Erick Rowan later. It's nothing special. We get a recap of the Triple H announcement that we just heard like eight minutes ago. John Cena returns to Raw this Monday as well so I'm sure we'll hear that even though he took a huge beating, HE FEARS NOTHING AND REGRETS LESS! It's fine though because things just stepped up on Main Event as I see SLATER GATOR! They'll be in action against Los Matadores as one of the members is back from injury. I'm not sure. Hornswoggle has decided that if you can't beat them, join them as he accompanies Los Matadores to the ring in a cow outfit. The match is fun, Hornswoggle gets involved, there's some comedy and some high flying before Slater Gator wins it! THE STREAK LIVES! However, the best is the interview that Slater and Titus cut on the WWE App. Go find it.

Renee Young goes to interview Seth Rollins and it goes a lot better than it did on Raw. No ice bucket challenge because Dean Ambrose is dead. Seth blames the fans for choosing the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation but I mean, they had to choose between that, No DQ and No Holds Barred. Seth says that Dean is like other heroes including John Cena, Chris Jericho and Jack Swagger because he lost. Swagger interrupts and they will face for the first time I believe on Smackdown. I'm looking forward to that. Much more than the scheduled RVD vs. Randy Orton match. Big Show and Erick Rowan did main event and we got a decent little match. Show was in control for the most part but it was two brutes beating each other up and that was alright. 

So, I really enjoyed Main Event tonight. Four good matches that kept me entertained throughout, plus a major announcement from Triple H. This is how I like my Main Event. 8/10. Both Countdown and WrestleMania Rewind were reruns so I won't recap them tonight.