Raw History Episodes 5-6

Raw History

Episode #5

February 15th, 1993 – Manhattan Center in Manhattan, New York

We continue the Road to WrestleMania IX with the fifth episode of Monday Night Raw!

Things open with Brutus Beefcake cutting a short promo about his return. It then cuts to Ted Dibiase cutting one back on him while Jimmy Hart is worried. Commentary is once again Vince McMahon, Macho Man and Rob Bartlett. Two jobbers are already in the ring for the opener.

Bobby Who and Glen Ruth vs. The Steiner Brothers
Yup. The dude's name is actually Bobby Who. I'm not sure which jobber is which but one starts with Scott and eats a full nelson suplex. It's actually very pretty. Rick gets the tag, causing the fans to bark and jobber #2 enters. Ah, according to Vince, this is Bobby Who. He doesn't fare much better. Rick decides to apply a rest hold for some strange reason and Who reaches the ropes. Rick hits a clothesline and tags Scott in. Tiger suplex followed by the top rope bulldog ends it.

Winners: The Steiner Brothers in 3:32
Just done to get the Steiner Brothers over. Basic stuff. *

Mean Gene brings us the WrestleMania Report, reminding us for the 100th time that it's going down in Las Vegas. Along with Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna, more matches are announced. First up, The Undertaker will take on the Giant Gonzalez. Also, Crush goes one on one with Doink the Clown.

Ross Greenberg vs. Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji
This is the third Yokozuna match in five episodes of Raw. They keep doing this thing on commentary where Macho Man's headset is messed up so all we hear are weird sound bytes of him complaining. It's strange since we saw Macho Man at ringside at the start of the show. Anyway, Yokozuna hits a big belly to belly suplex and a leg drop before polishing off Ross with the Banzai Drop.

Winner: Yokozuna in 2:01
Another Yokozuna match where he gets all of the offense. SQUASH

Time for a Special Report, hosted by Lord Alfred Hayes. He talks about “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan becoming the first man to knock Yokozuna off of his feet in singles competition on Superstars this week. Like an idiot, Duggan celebrated like he won the match, allowing Yokozuna to throw salt in his eyes. Two Banzai Drops later, Duggan was stretchered out.

Commentary states that the Giant Gonzalez said he wanted in the Battle Royal tonight, causing the rest of the participants to say they would not compete if that's the case. More Superstars clips are shown, this one of the Giant Gonzalez winning a three on one handicap match.

Sixteen Man Battle Royal
There is no mentioning of who is in the Battle Royal as it's just a big cluster. Shawn Michaels stays outside for a bit to let everyone else fight. Kim Chee continually exits under the bottom rope to avoid Kamala. I also see El Matador, Owen Hart, Tatanka, Skinner, Terry Taylor, Koko B. Ware, Damien Damento, Typhoon, Bob Backlund and Razor Ramon. Koko is first out via a Shawn Michaels back body drop. Kim Chee continues to avoid Kamala as we get a lot of near eliminations. Typhoon knocks out Skinner with a SHOCKING clothesline. Kamala dumps out Damento as well. Owen Hart jumps on the Berzerker's back but gets flipped over and out. Kamala is on fire as he kicks Berzerker out before battling with Typhoon. Kim Chee decides to get involved as he helps Typhoon get another SHOCKING elimination on Kamala. The Ugandan Giant gets back in and tosses out Kim Chee, forcing him to flee through the crowd and up in the balcony. We get our final SHOCK of the night as Shawn Michaels rids the ring of Typhoon. The final four are El Matador, Tatanka, Razor and Michaels. The first signs of the Kliq can be seen as Razor and Shawn decide to team up. This battle royal is made better because Bartlett's headset is busted now, so he's silent and Macho Man is calling the action. The match breaks down into tag stuff until Shawn gets dumped out. The Giant Gonzalez shows up from the back and is bored with the match so he eliminates Tatanka and El Matador on his own. Razor slid under the bottom rope when he came out, so once he leaves, Razor gets back in and is announced as the victor.

Winner: Razor Ramon in 15:03
Your typical battle royal. Lots of punches, kicks and stalls. I also don't like battle royals with nothing on the line. At least someone awful didn't win. **

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake vs. Ted Dibiase w/ Jimmy Hart
Commentary really plays up how concerned they are about Beefcake's return. I wouldn't be concerned since every single time Dibiase tries to lock up, Beefcake instead chooses to strut. Jimmy Hart can be heard shouting “he's quick, he's fast, watch out.” This makes no sense as Beefcake is in no way fast. He reels off a few right hands that send Dibiase to the outside. Dibiase gets in and tries to smash Beefcake's face into the corner but it's blocked and Dibiase goes in. A side headlock is applied, because Beefcake's offense sucks as IRS strolls to ringside. As Beefcake gets sent into the ropes, IRS smashes him with his briefcase in the back.

Winner via disqualification: Brutus Beefcake in 4:26
That was boring. Beefcake sucks but at least it was short. *

Money Inc. continue to pound away on Brutus Beefcake as Jimmy Hart pleads with them to stop. IRS shoves Hart to the ground and levels Beefcake in the face. It's funny because Beefcake was held by Dibiase for like four full minutes and didn't counter or move at all. He sells it like his face has been broken again as Hart checks on him. As Beefcake is taken out, some clearly fake looking blood stains are in the ring.

Overall: 4/10; Weak. The Road to WrestleMania IX continues on with a second straight disappointing episode. We got another Yokozuna squash and the battle royal was different in a good way. However, any show that has Brutus Beefcake in the main event is going to suffer. They're building the stories relatively well heading into WrestleMania IX but that's two straight episodes that I was not a fan of.

Raw History

Episode #6

February 22nd, 1993 – Manhattan Center in Manhattan, New York

The show open with Rob Bartlett doing a play on SNL by saying “LIVE FROM NEW YORK IT'S MONDAY NIGHT RAW!” He still sucks. Vince McMahon and Macho Man join him on commentary as they hype the card for tonight. 

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott Taylor
The future Scotty 2 Hotty seems like he's here to do the job to Bam Bam Bigelow. Instantly, Bam Bam shoulder blocks Taylor to the mat hard twice. Bam Bam continues to overpower and work him over as commentary just continues to plug Hulk Hogan's appearance later tonight. Seriously, they mention it like 14 times. A big backbreaker followed by the flying headbutt is enough but Bam Bam drops two more headbutts to finish it.

Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 3:01
Impressive showing for Bam Bam and the final headbutts were impressive. SQUASH

An interview with Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan is shown, discussing the future of Hulkamania. Hogan talks about mistakes that he's made but that he's ready to return. 

Six Man Tag Team Match
The Beverly Brothers and Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka and The Nasty Boys
Commentary discusses how Tatanka defeated Shawn Michaels in a non-title contest. Tatanka attacks at the bell and everyone goes at it until Tatanka back body drops Shawn outside. Bartlett calls it the coolest thing he's ever seen. As things cool down, the Nasty Boys give the Beverly Brothers a double pit stop. Things turn around as Shawn gets the tag and they work basic heel tactics on Brian Knobbs. Knobbs rallies and Tatanka gets the tag, so Shawn tags out. The faces begin to work over Beau, aka Beverly #1. We go to commercial and Bartlett says that they stopped during commercial only to resume as the broadcast came back. The heels have begun to beat up on Knobbs as the Beverly Brothers use the World's Greatest Tag Team's finisher, which is rather embarrassing as I love them and hate the Beverly Brothers. The fans won't stop chanting “nasty” but it's not helping Knobbs much. He finally makes the hot tag to Tatanka who takes out Michaels. He gets a very close near fall as they announce that Michaels defends against Tatanka at WrestleMania. Beau breaks up another pin attempt but the Nasty Boys get involved and knock them outside. This allows Tatanka to score a second straight pin over HBK with a rollup!

Winners: Tatanka and The Nasty Boys in 15:02
Pretty basic tag team match. Nothing of note really happened but I did enjoy Tatanka and Shawn's interactions. Maybe their match at WrestleMania will be really good. **1/4

Sean Mooney is outside to promote more of the Hulk Hogan appearance.

Crush vs. “Terrific” Terry Taylor
They begin with smack talk and Crush shoves Terry Taylor to the mat with force. Taylor fights back with a snap mare on the top rope. Oh goodness, Vince McMahon gets a “phone call” and it's Bartlett doing a sad Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation. I hate these things. Taylor applies a chinlock but Crush uses the power of Hawaii to fight out brudda. Crush hits a few moves and then does the coconut crush or whatever it was called for the win.

Winner: Crush in 3:46
Another nothing match. Crush never really impressed me. *

We get a recap of the brutal assault on Brutus Beefcake last week. Vince McMahon is now in the ring and he brings out Hulk Hogan to a big pop, much better than Beefcake's last week. He rambles until he brings out Beefcake. He's sporting fake bruises and tape on his nose as he rambles. If anyone ever benefited more from being Hogan's friend than Brutus, please point it out to me. They introduce their new manager, Jimmy Hart, who has turned his back on Money Inc! They lay down a challenge for Money Inc and call themselves the Mega Maniacs. 

Skinner vs. The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer
Skinner attacks at the bell and there is like, less than a minute left on the show. Skinner chokes The Undertaker outside the ring as Vince McMahon begins to sign off saying that we will see the conclusion of the match next week along with a WWF Title match.

Overall: 5/10; Mediocre. I thought it was nice to see a fifteen minute match on the card, though I wish it was something better than the six man tag that we got. The Hulk Hogan promo was the typical stuff he'd do but it got the crowd pumped. I strongly dislike ending a show in the middle of the match but what can you do?

NXT Report 8/12/15

We start with a wwe.com interview with William Regal. He is asked about Kevin Owens saying that he doesn’t trust him and wants a ladder match. Regal says that his personal feelings won’t interfere with his decision making. He doesn’t give in to demands but Finn Balor wants it as well and the ladder match will go down.

Solomon Crowe vs. Tye Dillinger

Tye Dillinger is finally debuting his “perfect 10″ gimmick! They go through an exchange that Dillinger wins and then flashes “10” with his hands. He escapes Crowe and does a cartwheel before going back into the “10” stuff. Crowe gets pissed and chops him in the corner before snapping off a hurricanrana. He hits a pretty cool kick but runs into one from Tye. He applies a chinlock while telling everyone that he’s a perfect ten. Tye removes his knee pad but Crowe rallies before he can use it. He hits a cool neckbreaker variation and a running knee in the corner. Crowe catches a kick and tries for the Stretch Muffler but is kicked outside. He runs in and eats a one legged Codebreaker variation for the 1-2-3.

Winner: Tye Dillinger in 4:35

The new gimmick is fun for Tye Dillinger. Solomon Crowe still hasn’t really impressed much in NXT, but this was all around relatively fun from both guys. Solid start here. **

A video from earlier today shows Mojo Rawley meeting up with Zack Ryder outside. Mojo is in his gear, which confuses Ryder. It doesn’t lead anywhere.

Baron Corbin vs. Axel Tischer

Baron Corbin attacks with a big corner splash. He hits the End of Days and that’s a wrap.

Winner: Baron Corbin in 0:32

This was what you’d expect. NO RATING.

After the match, Corbin gets on the mic to say that nobody gets up from the End of Days. Steve Cutler runs out and eats one too. This brings out Samoa Joe who says that he’s impressed with Corbin. He says that Corbin can’t do what he just did to him. Corbin says he can do it to anyone, including Joe. Joe wants him to try right now. Corbin declines to do it now, but gets in some cheap shots. Joe locks in the rear naked choke and Corbin passes out.

Time for another Bull Fit video package. This one is shorter and not as entertaining.

The graphic is shown to hype Tyler Breeze vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. We go to a self shot video posted by Breeze to talk about the match. He says that he’s going to dispose of Liger just like he did to Hideo Itami.

Non-Title Match: NXT Champion Finn Balor vs. Marcus Louis

Marcus Louis is still dressed like a mini Kane. He gets in some early shots but obviously isn’t doing real damage. Oh wait, he does hit a chokeslam of sorts. It’s like they’re having him do Kane like offense on purpose. Finn rallies with some chops and the slingblade. The corner dropkick is followed with the double stomp to win.

Winner: NXT Champion Finn Balor in 2:44

Marcus Louis got in more offense than I expected. Still, this wasn’t much more than a squash. *1/2

As Finn Balor heads up the ramp, Kevin Owens attacks him from behind. he tries the apron powerbomb but Balor gets free and dropkicks him through the guardrail. Unfortunately, when they go into the ring, he runs into a popup powerbomb. A small “Cena beat you” chant breaks out.

The Vaudevillains are interviewed to find out about their plan to even out Alexa Bliss at TakeOver. Alexa interrupts, saying it’s flattering that two big strong men need to find someone to take care of her. She slaps both before leaving.

An Apollo Crews vignette is shown.

They run down the TakeOver card and officially announce Baron Corbin vs. Samoa Joe.

Sasha Banks comes out to join commentary for the main event.

Number One Contender’s Match: Bayley vs. Becky Lynch

The crowd sings Becky’s entrance theme as she instantly targets Bayley’s arm. They continue to go through an exchange of holds until Bayley hits a snapmare and running back elbow. Becky comes back with some Ricky Steamboat like arm drags. Becky continues to hit some moves, mostly focusing on the arm. Bayley tries to rally, but Becky goes back to the arm, trapping it with her feet and kicking it away. Becky’s nose has been busted. She has Bayley’s number at every turn. After a commercial, Bayley comes back with some shots. She hits a shoulder thrust but Becky dodges her next attack and hits a springboard kick. She goes for another suplex but Bayley counters into a rollup for two. She gets two more near falls. Becky hits the pumphandle suplex for a near fall. Bayley escapes another shot and hits her corner back elbow combination this time. She tightens the hairband and nails the second rope elbow for two. Bayley sends Becky to the apron, but is met with a kick when she goes forward. She climbs up but gets crotched. Bayley brings her down with a running powerslam of sorts for yet another near fall. Becky is able to apply the DisArmHer from out of nowhere but Bayley is close to the ropes. Becky goes for another suplex but Bayley counters with one of her own. She tries the Belly to Bayley but Becky blocks and tries another armbar. Bayley counters that into a pinning combination and wins.

Winner: Bayley in 12:45

Really good match here. Becky Lynch’s offense targeting Bayley’s arm is so damn good. Bayley as the underdog, plucky babyface is the perfect spot for her. Both girls came out looking good and this all worked well. ***1/2

No Brock or Taker Raw Review

Raw kicks off this week the same way that it did last week, with WWE Champ Seth Rollins. He brags about keeping the belt last week and what he did to John Cena. He shows a picture of Cena on the screen and they do some comedy stuff with Cena's mouth cut out and Seth dubbing in some stuff. It made me laugh a bit but didn't really build towards SummerSam. Cesaro came out to accept an open challenge but Seth quickly says there is none. Kevin Owens and Randy Orton don't listen though and come to to accept too. Triple H shows up and books a triple threat match for later, with the winner facing Seth for the gold tonight. Your usual opening segment but at least it made the WWE title feel as wanted as the US Title.for once this year. The opening contest was a six women tag pitting Team Bella against Team BAD. The lazily named Team PCB was on commentary and honesty, stunk up the joint there. The match itself was relatively fine but I had one major issue. The Bella Twins played face, specifically Brie. Stop flip flopping them. I get that they were near Daniel Bryan's home, but Brie shouldn't be doing Bryan stuff. Be a fucking heel. They won, leading to a brawl between everyone, even giving us a tease of the Charlotte/Sasha rivalry. I wish that the girls were given more time to develop characters rather than have matches. Why is Alicia Fox a Bella? They explained that Becky joined up with Paige due to their past, but why did Charlotte? What is the reason for any of this?

The entertaining New Day faced Los Matadores next in a decent tag team match. The Prime Time Players watched from the back. New Day won but the story was the post match dance celebration. New Day's gimmick has basically become "obnoxious viners" as my buddy pointed out, and I'm totally okay with that. Backstage, they meet up with Renee Young, who informs them that they get a shot at SummerSlam along with Los Matadores and the Lucha Dragons. So the loss that Los Matadores just suffered means nothing I guess. I wish that they actually took time to build a legit tag team program instead of giving teams wins over each other and throwing them all into the big Pay-Per-View match.

To close hour one, the number one contender's Triple Threat match took place. Cesaro, Kevin Owens and Rusev had an excellent triple threat match last month and while this one was really good, it didn't quite reach that level for me. Everybody got a chance to shine and it nearly went 20 minutes. Orton won with an RKO on Cesaro. The only way this finish makes sense to me is if Seth Rollins cleanly beats Orton later in the night. He needs to look strong heading into SummerSlam. Next, we got a video package to build Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker. This is the biggest issue with booking part timer vs. part timer. Neither guy shows up. I prefer that we don't get rematch after rematch heading into a PPV, but at least show up and give me some reason to care.

Dean Ambrose faced Luke Harper in a preview of upcoming "Diet Shield vs. Wyatts" match at SummerSlam. This was fine as the match was good and Luke Harper was able to pick up the win, which he needs since he never gets to look very good. That was followed by MizTV with Daniel Bryan. Bryan is just as over as ever and I realized here just how much I missed him. Miz was great in this segment, saying that Ryback should give up the title just like the injured Bryan did. This brings out Big Show to bore us before Ryback returned. He took out both Show and Miz and celebrated with Bryan. Having the crowd "Yes" and chant "Feed Me More" at the same time was pretty cool. I'm not a fan of the Intercontinental Title program, but at least this was a good way to build it without just having two of the three guys wrestle.

After a video package to hype up Charlotte, we get a new match made for SummerSlam. Team PCB vs. Team Bella vs. Team BAD in an elimination match. Rusev met Mark Henry next in a rematch from last week. Lana was on commentary and went after Summer Rae. Somehow, this caused a disqualification. Summer ended up getting the better and locked Lana in the Accolade. Then, because Rusev is amazing, a flag came down from the rafters with Rusev's face on it. It was magnificent and continued Rusev's trend of being so ridiculous that it's incredible. Also, Summer Rae's Accolade looked like it was going to break Lana in half. Either she pulled back harder than she should have or Lana can bend in strange ways.

Neville took on King Barrett next following a sweet Neville/Stardust comic book like video package. Neville won in relatively short order but the real story was after as Stardust appeared to attack Neville. He turned his attention to Stephen Amell, who was in the front row. Stardust shoved him and got back in the ring. Amell hopped the guardrail and leaped into the ring in athletic fashion before attacking Stardust. It came off better than I expected. In the back, Triple H was upset with Amell for getting involved. Neville asks for a tag match against Stardust and Barrett. Amell says his lawyers will sign whatever they have to and the match is made. Amell was great here. The combination of being an actor and a big wrestling fan is key as Amell made sure to bring his A game. Barrett's inclusion is random as hell but this should be fun.

Time for the main event as Seth Rollins defends the WWE Title against Randy Orton. They worked a solid match that wasn't as good as their WrestleMania one but better than their Extreme Rules cage match. Orton hit a massive RKO and covered but Sheamus came out to cause the DQ. Seriously? If they were going to go for the DQ finish, why not have Cesaro win the triple threat? Then he can have a great showing against the champion and win via DQ after Kevin Owens interfered or something. This made no sense and only furthered to make Seth look like a chump and build towards another Sheamus/Orton match that nobody wants to see. Sheamus teased cashing in but Orton stopped him. Overall, this was another middle of the pack Raw. There was some good and some bad. I give it a slight thumbs up because it was cool to see Daniel Bryan, Stephen Amell, New Day and the triple threat was good. 6.5/10

Fave Five 8/3/15-8/10/15

1) Mil Muertes: The biggest show this past week was Lucha Underground's two hour Ultima Lucha finale. At the tip top of that card was Prince Puma defending the Lucha Underground Championship against Mil Muertes. They went on to have one of my favorite matches in LU history and it was more than worthy of a season finale. Puma has been the only champion in history, but lost it here to Muertes after a hard fought battle. When you think about the fact that Mil Muertes is actually Judas Mesias/Ricky Banderas, you realize just how far he's come. Throughout the entire season of LU, he was one of the top performers and putting the belt on him was a great move in my eyes.

2) Pentagon Jr./Vampiro: I went with both guys here because they deserve equal praise. People were pretty split on the Pentagon Jr./Vampiro match. Some loved it, some hated it. I was closer to loving it for sure. The match was brutal, the storytelling was spot on and most importantly, it was fun. I had a blast watching all of Lucha Underground but this match had me on the edge of my seat. Let me get this out of the way, I've never been a Vampiro fan. I thought he was cool in WCW when I was 10, but looking back, he was never very good. So the fact that fifteen years later, he could have a really good match impressed the hell out of me. Pentagon Jr. delivered in every possible way during this war and, if we get a second season, their pairing is something I'm really looking forward to.

3) Bayley: My favorite WWE match of the week was easily the encounter between Bayley and Charlotte. With the recent callups of Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, that kind of leaves Bayley as the top NXT girl left. This week, she did what only one other girl has been able to do in the past and that was pin Charlotte cleanly in singles competition. The match was really good and full of emotion. Bayley's win was a big deal and there was even a sweet shot of a huge Bayley fan in tears after receiving a post match hug. Bayley's character development has been one of the best things that NXT has done in history and I see it coming full circle very soon.

              4) Kazuchika Okada: Early on in the G1, I was enjoying the A Block a lot more than the B Block. That has actually been changing lately as the B Block has been delivering. The guy to go undefeated during the week was the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada. I obviously don't want to see the champion win the whole thing and his match against Yujiro Takahashi wasn't anything to write home about but I liked the matches against Anderson and Ishii. The performances have been good but not great. Regardless, he is racking up the wins. Not only that but he is leading the entire G1 in points right now, suffering only one loss and of course, none of those came this week.

5) Alberto El Patron: Originally, I was going to rank Johnny Mundo here since he did beat Alberto El Patron at Ultima Lucha this week. Then I remembered that TripleMania took place. So first things first, despite losing to Mundo, El Patron took part in a really good match and got the better of Mundo. After losing due to interference from Melina, he threw Mundo headfirst into a window and then spanked Melina, which ain't too bad. At TripleMania, he defeated Brian Cage in a solid affair, forcing Cage to shave his head. Since leaving WWE, El Patron has done very well for himself and this was another good week for him.

Bash and Kevstaaa Wrestling Podcast: Unforgiven 2008

Ultima Lucha Night Two Review

The big second act of Ultima Lucha began with two of the biggest names in the company. Alberto El Patron took on Johnny Mundo in a match that has been well built up. I really enjoyed it as it was a good mix of wrestling and brawling. They used the unique environment that is the Temple well. Mundo threw dirt from under the ring at El Patron and they threw into the wall by the window that actually made this feud so personal. In a fun twist, Melina made her debut by hitting El Patron with his AAA Title. That allowed Mundo to win in about 13 and a half minutes. After the bell, Melina and Mundo made out until El Patron got back up. He attacked and sent Mundo threw the window in a bit of revenge. He also spanked Melina before she checked on the very bloody Mundo. It ended with a trademark El Patron wink. While I was never a big fan of them, having Melina and Mundo together could be fun. I'm also intrigued by what will happen with Mundo's face since they were saying he's scarred. Really good start here. ***3/4

In a change of pace from what we just saw, we move to  Vampiro taking on Pentagon Jr. I'm no Vampiro mark, but it was cool to see him come out in the old facepaint. Pentagon Jr. attacks early and seems to injure Vampiro. They do the fake stretcher job which turns this into a sick war. It involvesd a ripped mask, tables, thumbtacks and light tubes. At times, Vampiro looked like he couldn't walk, but would then do something impressive like a top rope dive onto tacks. This was an absolute war that told a masterful story and made Pentagon Jr. look great. He won after putting Vampiro through a flaming table, which is a great callback to the rivalry. After the 14 minute bout, Vampiro shouts for Pentagon to break his arm, which he does. Pentagon shouts into the microphone for his master, only for Vampiro to reveal that he was the master the whole time. Fantastic storytelling and an absolute war. I may be giving it a higher rating than most, but I really enjoyed everything about this. ***1/4

It was time for another change of pace during Ultima Lucha as we go from a barbaric war to a high flying spotfest. The Gift of the Gods match came next as Aerostar, Sexy Star, Big Ryck, Fenix, King Cuerno, Jack Evans and Bengala did battle for the Aztec Medallions and a future shot at the Lucha Underground Championship. This was, like Cage vs. Mack last week, an absolute blast. The action never stopped and featured big spots like Aerostar's huge dive and fun moments like Marty Martinez appearing and creeping on Sexy Star. Fenix pulled out the win after about 12 minutes. This was what it needed to be. A bunch of spots at a breakneck pace that was enjoyable. ***1/2

Next, we got the only bad thing on Ultima Lucha as Blue Demon Jr. took on Texano. The match was made into a No DQ contest so the Crew could interfere on Demon's behalf. Chavo Guerrero appeared and sided with Demon, allowing him to win. This was kind of just there and, while it advanced an angle, it's not one I'm interested in. At least it was kept short. 1/2*

The main event came next as Prince Puma defended the LU Title against Mil Muertes. This ended up being tied with the Mundo/Puma All Night Long match as my favorite Lucha Underground Title match in history. I liked everything about this. The use of weapons like a chair and stairs were used sparingly, but correctly. Puma looked magnificent as he showed off that famous high flying ability and mixed it in with impressive feats of strengths by lifting Mil. Both guys kick out of each other's finishers until Mil wins with a massive super Flatliner. Cartina posed to end things with her four champions. The match was great and a fitting end to a great season of television. ****1/4

To actually end the show, a video package is shown that lets us see everyone going their separate ways, but giving the illusion that they may be back. It's really well done and ends with a "to be continued". I hope we a second season, especially knowing that a future Fenix/Muertes match should be coming and they had my LU match of the year back in March. Combined with Ultima Lucha night one, this was one of my three favorite shows of the year. This two hour block was the best part of it and deserves all of the praise if gets. 9/10.

Rowdy Raw Review

After the tragic passing of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Raw opens with a ten bell salute. Following a beautiful video package, out comes Seth Rollins. He has a new John Cena parody shirt which is great. He brags about breaking Cena's nose and plays it on the screen numerous times. The WWE would show and discuss it about 38 times throughout the night. He challenges Cena to a title for title match at SummerSlam. The crowd is pro Seth as he issues an open challenge for his belt. After a commercial, he reveals that he has qualifications for it. The challenger has to be under 6 feet and less than 200 pounds. Jojo, interviewing him, says that leaves El Torito. Instead, Neville answers because he's basically a hobbit. The match they have is better than the one right after Neville debuted. Despite his booking as of late, the crowd and myself bit hard on a Red Arrow near fall. He tries it again, but misses and eats a Pedigree. Well done segment here. This did more for Neville than the past three or so months and Seth looks great as he won without help. Bravo.

Next, we get an eight man tag team match teaming the Ascension with the New Day against Los Matadores and Lucha Dragons. Sound familiar? That's because it just happened on Smackdown. See why Smackdown doesn't matter? Even when you get a fun match, it'll just get repeated on Raw. The Prime Time Players were on commentary again and did well. Kofi Kingston pinned Kalisto to win another fun outing but it's clearly leading to a multi team match at SummerSlam, which just feels like such lazy booking. Can a legit tag team division not be booked? To close out hour one, the girls get the slot again. Charlotte and Becky Lynch faced the Bella Twins. They, along with Paige are now known as the Submission Sorority. The match itself was solid but unspectacular. It again suffered from one of my biggest issues with Raw and that's the fact that we have to go commercial during pretty much every match. It's annoying and takes me out of things. It went about twelve minutes and Charlotte made Nikki tap out. It does seem like they're building Charlotte to be the one to dethrone Nikki, which is fine. Jojo interviews Team BAD backstage and it's not one of their better promos. Naomi handles most, which may explain it. She also calls out Ronda Rousey, which is not a wise move.

                  The Miz came out to host MizTV next, and gave credit to Piper for wrestling talk shows. His guests were Cesaro and Kevin Owens, which is interesting since one guy is great on the mic and one isn't. However, Cesaro did a good job here. He didn't trip over his words and kept things short and sweet. Everyone played their role here. Owens was the dick heel, Cesaro was the badass babyface and Miz's facial expressions throughout everything was priceless. Cesaro wanted to fight but Owens didn't, only to attack him and bail when Cesaro got the upper hand. This has been a fun feud, but does anyone else think it would have been better if the US Title was involved?

They showed Ronda Rousey's tribute to Roddy Piper from UFC 190 before moving into Rusev vs. Mark Henry. Rusev has been incredibly entertaining as of late, but not when he only is allowed to work a dull match with someone like Henry. In the department of "Rusev can still CRUSH" it worked fine as he beat a big guy with no nonsense. Moving on, Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper cut a promo in what looked like Eric Foreman's smoky basement. For some reason, Sheamus is there too. I mean, yea they're teaming up tonight but it kind of takes away from the aura of the Wyatts. Next, King Barrett faced Zack Ryder and I don't know why. I understand wanting to get Barrett a win but did this really accomplish anything? Everyone beats Ryder and Barrett is still a joke. Also, his work on the mic has gone downhill fast in this role. To close hour two, Paul Heyman came out to hype SummerSlam. Of course, he had to show us recaps of Battleground and the night after because we all apparently have short term memory loss. He brought Brock, who grabbed steel steps and stood on them while Heyman talked for some reason. Heyman claims that last time, Undertaker needed an ambulance and a year off after facing Brock, but this time, he'll need last rites. Heyman can sell a PPV like no one else, but I still don't see the appeal in this match. It's certainly not the reason I'll be watching SummerSlam. Still, the segment did what it needed to.

The "Divas Revolution" that we hear Michael Cole plug so often continues next. We get Paige taking on Naomi next. I didn't like this idea. We've seen these two wrestle a fair amount of times and most haven't been very good. They mention on commentary that Naomi is upset because everyone says that Charlotte is the most athletic Diva now and not her. Why not do Becky Lynch and Paige vs. the Bella Twins earlier and a fresh match like Charlotte vs. Naomi here? Instead, Paige and Naomi have a dull match that seemed to go on forever. Paige wins with the PTO before going off and doing a rather fun interview on the Steve Austin podcast. We go to the Piper tribute video again before Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton cut a promo about the main event. That main event comes on and turns out to be better than I expected. All six men (Orton, Ambrose, Reigns, Wyatt, Harper and Sheamus) worked hard and had a fun, chaotic brawl. Reigns speared Sheamus for the win and that's how the show ended. It seemed like a lackluster way to end the show though. I would have opened with this match and closed with Seth/Neville. The six man tag came off as a dark match segment where the faces stand tall. All in all, Raw was a mixed bag this week. There was good (Neville/Rollins, the fun main event and MizTV) and bad (the lackluster close, Paige/Naomi & Barrett/Ryder). Honestly though, a middle of the pack show is better than some nights. 6/10.

Fave Five 7/27/15 - 8/2/15

1) Katsuyori Shibata: Before getting NJPW World earlier this year, I had only heard about Katsuyori Shibata but never got to see him wrestle. I first did when I watched Dominion and he was awesome. However, he's been possibly my favorite performer in the G1 Climax. After losing his first match against AJ Styles, he has reeled off win after win and currently leads A Block and the entire G1 in points with eight. This week, he beat Bad Luck Fale and Kota Ibushi, who are both also having good tournaments. He managed to pull off a good match with Fale but before that, his match with Ibushi was the best of the G1 so far. You need to see that outing as it is the best under 15 minute match that I have ever witnessed.

2) Kota Ibushi: The man who topped this list last week,Kota Ibushi, comes in second here. He split his two matches this week while some guys went undefeated but I couldn't leave him off of this list. He has been pretty damn great throughout the entire G1. He lost to the number one guy this week, Katsuyori Shibata, in a match of the year candidate to start the week. No shame in that, especially considering the performance by Ibushi. Then he pinned the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Hiroyoshi Tenzan in another solid match to earn more points. I don't believe he's going to win the G1, but it has been full of great showings from him as he continues his great 2015.

3) John Cena: I disagree one million percent with the decision to have Seth Rollins tap out to John Cena this past Monday night on Raw. It was a horrible booking decision, especially heading into SummerSlam. Despite that, Cena did once again successfully defend the United States Championship and did so against the WWE Champion. It was another good match on his resume for a very good 2015 run with the belt. Not only that, but he broke his nose in ugly fashion during the match and finished it. I've seen guys finish matches with worse injuries in the past, but it is still a badass thing for Cena to do. I may not be a big fan, but the man tends to deliver in the ring.

4) The Disciples of Death: I couldn't find a good picture of them so you get this instead. The Disciples of Death were able to dethrones the entertaining team of Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc at Ultima Lucha night one. While it wasn't up to par with some of the other Trios Title matches I've seen this year, it was still fun and incorporated Catrina into the match well. This wasn't one of the best performances of the week, but the Disciples of Death won a pretty important Championship during a week without any other title changes. Due to their win, Catrina is one step closer to controlling pretty much all of Lucha Underground. For now it's big, though I don't see them holding the belts for long in season two.

5) Becky Lynch: A rather surprising choice for the fifth spot here. Becky Lynch came up with Charlotte and Sasha Banks as part of the "Divas Revolution" but was a bit of an afterthought for the first week. While Charlotte and Sasha Banks racked up wins, Becky was in the background. That changed on Raw, when she made Alicia Fox tap out to the newly named Dis-Arm-Her in a tag team match. She was scheduled to face Nikki Bella on Smackdown, but that changed when Nikki stayed with John Cena due to his injury. Instead, she made Brie Bella tap out in a very good match on Main Event. She was also the recipient of a very well done vignette on Smackdown. When it comes to women's wrestling, this week belonged to Becky Lynch.

My Thoughts on Hot Rod

I’m writing this and I don’t know exactly where to stay or go with it.

I think I’m just going to talk about Roddy Piper. No real direction

behind it or anything like that. Just simply Roddy. Now I have to get

something off my chest before this goes any further. I have never

considered myself a big Roddy Piper fan. Growing up, I only saw most

of Roddy’s WCW run, which honestly wasn’t very good. However, as I’ve

gotten older, I’ve gone back and educated myself on the man and in

doing so, I discovered some of his greatness.

Despite seeing him mostly in WCW, my oldest memory of him was in the

WWF. You see, as a kid, I used to rent Royal Rumble 1992 all the time.

It just so happens to be a historic show in the career of Piper. For

someone who played a pivotal role in the wrestling boom of the 1980’s,

it wasn’t until 1992 that Piper won gold. He defeated the Mountie to

win the Intercontinental Championship after one of my favorite promos

of his. In response to Mountie saying he was going to take his

manhood, “I come here to fight, I don't know what you come here to do.

I came here to win two titles, I can't do that til I win the first

one. I think you've been dreaming, I think it's been all wet, too.”

Classic. I’ve seen this title win too many times to count, but it’s

always fun. My favorite memory of Piper also comes from 1992. At

WrestleMania VIII, Piper defended that Intercontinental Title against

Bret Hart. Bret was my favorite growing up and this is my favorite

Piper match. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest that you do. I won’t go

into detail, since that’s not what this is about, but it’s a classic.

A lot of people get called legends and don’t really deserve the

accolade, but Roddy Piper certainly does. Hot Rod has no qualms with

playing the villain, relishing in it even. He loved being the bad guy

because he was so damn good at it. Part of the reason that Hulkamania

and WrestleMania were the successes that they were was because Piper

was the perfect foil. He wasn’t some campy cartoon like character. He

was real. There was something about him that was different. He was

intense, he was in your face and he seemed like he was legitimately

out of his mind. He set the tone for a lot of future heels in the

business. Piper was a major star and trailblazer. He set an incredibly

high bar that honestly, hasn’t been reached often.

Even when he returned in his later years, Roddy Piper was

entertaining. Whether it was winning the Tag Team Titles with Ric

Flair for a short while in 2006, competing at WrestleMania 25 or

helping Cyndi Lauper on the road to Raw 1000, Piper was must see TV. I

mean, he was even one of the most entertaining guys I saw on TV all of

last year on Legends House. Watching his friendship with Jim Duggan

blossom was an absolute joy. It’s the only thing my girlfriend

remembers from catching bits of Legends House in the background while

I watched it. He had a charisma that made you stop and see what he was

doing. No matter how you slice it, this is one of the biggest losses

in an industry full of them. I don’t know exactly what to say here or

if this even makes for a good read. I just know that I’ll miss Roddy

Piper.

Smackdown 7/31/15 Review

The WWE Champion opens things by talking about how he doesn't like the "you tapped out" chants and how he broke John Cena's nose, even showing footage of it. This brings out Cesaro, who basically talks about how Seth never shuts up. They end up having their scheduled match now and Kevin Owens casually strolls out. He joins commentary, making Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Jimmy Uso look like amateur hour. Just as Cesaro starts to gain momentum, Owens interferes and teams with Seth to beat down on the Swiss Superman. It was all fine, but it's similar to what we see on Smackdown a lot. It's like there's a set format that they can't stray far from.

Since it's Smackdown, we have to have multiple variations of tag team matches. Teddy Long would be proud as we get an eight man tag. The Ascension teams with New Day against Los Matadores and the Lucha Dragons. The Prime Time Players are out on commentary to scout. New Day cuts a fun promo beforehand, as always. The match was a fun ten or so minutes and Viktor eats a pin, leading to a post match argument between them and New Day. Keeping with the tag team theme, backstage, Kevin Owens tells Cesaro to find a partner to face him and Seth. A special vignette airs to profile Becky Lynch. She was supposed to face Nikki Bella tonight but Nikki missed the taping. Instead, Becky had a good outing with Brie on Main Event that you should go check out.

Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper cut a promo in their weird smoke filled room about Bray giving Luke's life a purpose. It's relatively fine stuff but I think less is more for Wyatt promos. They'd be more special and feel less repetitive if he didn't have to do one on nearly every show. Rusev and Summer Rae are out next. Rusev has easily been one of the most entertaining things about the WWE lately. He cuts a promo on "fish Lana", mentions "hot Summer" and "Dog Ziggler." The dude has been great. He faces home state boy Jack Swagger for the billionth time. They go about twelve minutes with Rusev winning again. He attacks after, but Swagger turns it around and stands tall. I don't get why. I mean, I know it's his hometown but he's literally going nowhere and Rusev has been great lately. Moving on, R-Truth takes on Stardust. Stardust wins in relatively short time. After, he cuts a short promo, even saying "YOU HAVE FAILED THIS CITY" and tries to put a Stardust mas on Truth, but Neville runs out. They brawl and when he goes for the Red Arrow, Stardust makes a quick exit. You know, I could get really into a Stardust/Neville feud but it needs more depth. It's basically been a series of weird villain promos from Stardust and Neville standing around looking confused. It's like they only put Neville in this spot because he does the Red Arrow and they're leading to something with the Green Arrow.

Main event time as Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins await the reveal of Cesaro's partner. It turns out to be Dean Ambrose, which would be random, but his feud with Seth is pretty much never ending. The eleven minute match is the usual fare that you would expect from Smackdown. Fun match but nothing spectacular. Cesaro and Ambrose had good chemistry and got the win. Overall, this was a decent episode of Smackdown. The main event was fine and the eight man tag was good, but nothing really stood out. You could have missed this episode and not missed anything of importance. 5.5/10.