NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka Review

The New Beginning in Osaka
February 11th, 2016 | Osaka, Japan

This morning, New Japan Pro Wrestling held the New Beginning in Osaka event, their first major one since the departure Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles. I had to watch it throughout the day in between doing work at my job so it took longer than normal.

Jay White def. David Finlay Jr. in 7:01
By now I’m pretty much beating a dead horse when I say that I enjoy most of the Young Lions. This wasn’t their best stuff but I also wouldn’t call it anywhere near bad either. Both guys continue to show improvement and work hard with every opportunity they are given. This did happen to have one of my favorite finishes I’ve ever seen from then. After surviving a Boston crab, Jay White caught a cannonballing Finlay in mid-cannonball, bringing him down into a Boston crab of his own and forcing him to submit. Solid work from solid performers. **½

Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi and Tiger Mask IV def. Gedo, Kazushi Sakuraba and YOSHI-HASHI in 7:25
I was kind of surprised at this result. Granted, this wasn’t the top dogs of Chaos, but it still came as a bit of a shock. The match itself was about as standard as a New Japan six man tag comes. Each guy got a chance to do a little bit of their stuff, while nobody really shined in a particular way. Ryusuke Taguchi continued his Shinsuke Nakamura tribute by doing his signature taunt towards the end of the match. I still don’t like him though. I do like Kazushi Sakuraba, but he just seems to sleepwalk through matches like this. Anyway, Taguchi made Gedo tap out to the ankle lock to win a ho-hum affair. **

Tencozy def. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata in 11:06
So, I enjoy two of the guys in the match but not really the other two. Nagata and Kojima are great, while Nakanishi moves like a planet and Tenzan has never really clicked with me. We got a preview of this on the final Road to New Beginning show on January 30th in a six man tag. I called that match a bit of an old man war and this was more of the same. Just four old dudes beating the stuffing out of each other. Because of that, I rather enjoyed this. The right team went over in my mind since I’ve really come to like Tencozy. They won and showed respect before and afterwards to their fellow elder statesmen. Solid match here. ***

Los Ingobernables (BUSHI, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito) def. Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA and Michael Elgin in 8:48
Tetsuya Naito was up to his usual antics before the match, antagonizing one of the commentators. When he revealed a Yuji Nagata shirt, Naito ripped it off of him. This was my favorite thing on the show so far. Again, it was the interactions throughout that really allowed this to shine. I’d love to see Naito vs. KUSHIDA in the future and even think Elgin/Naito in the G1 this year would be fun. This was obvious build for KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI in a few nights, which should ultimately deliver. KUSHIDA got the mist again, Elgin showed off his power based offense, Naito was great at playing the dick heel and in the end, it was Juice who took the fall after EVIL hit an STO. Really fun sprint. ***¼

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi def. The Briscoes and Toru Yano (c) in 10:08
The first of our two Wrestle Kingdom 10 rematches. So far, Bullet Club members have been the only people to get shots at these belts. Like most Toru Yano matches, this featured a fair amount of brawling outside of the ring. Of course, we also had the turnbuckle pad removed. Like a lot of things involving the Bullet Club recently, Tonga shined in my eyes. He was actually the one that got the pin on Yano to crown the new champions. While I could do without Takahashi ever holding gold again, it’s nice to see Tonga get something. I kind of expected this result since I assume the Briscoes will go back to the States for a while and they love putting belts on the BC. As for the match itself, it was similar to Wrestle Kingdom, but slightly more entertaining. **½

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Matt Sydal and Ricochet def. the Young Bucks (c) and reDRagon in 14:59
While they added Ricochet and Matt Sydal, things are still relatively the same in the junior tag division. While I don’t mind either guy, they don’t add anything different to a very stale division. Basically, this is my least favorite tag team (Young Bucks) against a team I don’t care about against the best tag team in the world (reDRagon). They worked in some variations on some spots but this was largely the same multi-man junior tag match that we’ve seen countless times. I did like the spot where each team missed a top rope stereo move, one after the other. They unfortunately even repeated the spot where Cody Hall runs off with Kyle O’Reilly. Shortly after, Sydal and Ricochet nailed their dual shooting star presses to win the straps. Look, I’m always happy with a loss for the Young Bucks, but this revolving door of champions in the division continuing is terrible. Why even do the Wrestle Kingdom title change? reDRagon could have just retained there and dropped them here in the same fashion. The Bucks winning the belts again did nothing. I liked this a bit more than the WK10 match but not by much. **¾

NEVER Openweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata (c) def. Tomohiro Ishii in 18:47
The last time I saw these two wrestle in Osaka, I gave them the rare, full five star treatment during the G1 Climax 23. I love it whenever these two square off and this was no different. While their matches are all similar, they do just enough different each time that it feels fresh, unlike the previous contest. As one would expect, they beat the shit out of each other and it was glorious, but this time around, there was a bit more emphasis on submissions leading up to the climax. Shibata hit a spinning back fist that literally made me gasp aloud. Instead of challenging one another to hit each other harder, like they’ve done in the past, this time, they traded Brainbusters. How insane is that? The closing moments saw them slap each other profusely in a manner that is unthinkable. How they are able to stand at the end of these wars is beyond me. Shibata finally laid in a big enough slap to knock Ishii loopy. That gave him the time to apply the sleeper and win with the PK. Just another fantastic battle between two of my favorite wrestlers in the entire world. ****½

The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Kenny Omega) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in 17:11
This was a preview of the Tag Team and Intercontinental Title matches at the New Beginning in Niigata show coming up. The Bullet Club were good old fashioned heels throughout this one. Kenny Omega’s broom and Togi Makabe’s chain were both used to assault the babyfaces. While I’m still not a fan of Omega’s overacting, him sweeping up Tanahashi was pretty great. The heels focused on Tanahashi’s arm, which he sold wonderfully, even struggling to skin the cat at one point. Tanahashi played the face in peril which I expected from Honma since he’s basically born for that role. Things picked up near the end and got pretty fun. Omega picked up his second win over a heavyweight this year by pinning Honma with the One Winged Angel. That was the best outcome as it gives Kenny momentum and Honma is a guy that can still afford losses. The Bullet Club attacked after the match, complete with Omega laying into Tanahashi with a steel chair. They punctuated it by placing Tanahashi’s arm on a garbage can and having Omega hit High Fly Flow onto it. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) def. Hirooki Goto in 25:27
The pre-match video package seemed to focus on Goto being 0-7 in IWGP Heavyweight Title matches, as well as him watching his partner, Katsuyori Shibata, win major singles gold at Wrestle Kingdom. Goto sported a new look. Picture Hakushi and his tattoos and then spill white paint over it. That’s Goto’s new look. Like almost all Okada matches that he leads, the early stages of this were kind of boring and pointless. Once it got going near the end, also like most Okada matches, it really picked up. Goto got a near fall after Shouten Kai that I bit on but Okada got his hand on the bottom rope. Okada finally hit the Rainmaker, then picked Goto back up for two more and earning the win. It kind of felt like Okada was kicking Goto back to the start. Like, you can change your look and attitude, but you still come up short when it matters. Ouch. A good match, but Okada’s second disappointing title match of the year. ***½

Overall: 7/10. A pretty good show from NJPW here. Most of the card is good and gets at least three stars and none earn less than two. Shibata/Ishii stole the show for the second straight time, putting on yet another classic for the NEVER Title. The entire event clocks in at just under four hours but it moves along relatively quickly and delivers a strong show. With the loss of Nakamura and Styles, and Goto out of the title picture presumably, things are certainly looking interesting heading into the New Japan Cup.

Top Ten Thursday: Daniel Bryan Moments

Obviously, the biggest news this week is that Daniel Bryan unfortunately announced his retirement from professional wrestling due to a history of concussions. I've now had to watch two of my all time favorites, Edge and Bryan, hang it up earlier than they were supposed to. The first Ring of Honor show I ever attended live was Final Battle 2006. Bryan Danielson was the ROH World Champion and main evented against Homicide. He lost the title but I was hooked and he instantly became one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. I cheered for him louder than anyone at the ROH shows I attended. I watched him go to war with Austin Aries, Takeshi Morishima and many others. His final ROH match, against Nigel McGuinness, was in New York and I am grateful that I got to see it live. Watching him make it to the top of the WWE was one of the greatest feelings in the world. A guy that I picked and was drawn to from the first time I saw him made it. He made it when many people said he couldn't. Daniel Bryan embodies the notion that anything is possible. Daniel Bryan was and is everything that I love about pro wrestling. To honor him, I'm going to look back at my personal top ten moments from his WWE career.

10. The AJ Lee Pairing 

Starting us off isn’t something that isn’t relegated to one specific moment. For a lot of Daniel Bryan’s early WWE run, he was kind of just there. Yea, he had the United States Title at one point but he just wasn’t clicking the way he should have, even after winning Money in the Bank. From out of nowhere though, he was paired up with AJ Lee and things just starting falling into place. In the early stages, they were just the adorably nerdy couple and it was pretty cute. Once Bryan won the World Title and started showing heel tendencies, this really took off. Bryan became a controlling douchebag who ordered around the sweet, innocent AJ Lee. It really helped get the crowd to boo Bryan, while also managing to do something else. It gave him personality. Even if it was as an asshole boyfriend, it gave us something to care about when it came to Bryan besides his talents inside the squared circle. He was now entertaining in a way that many didn’t think he could pull off. To be fair, both he and AJ deserve a ton of credit for playing their roles so well. It was because of this pairing that both AJ and Bryan had their careers launched to another level. They were involved in a high profile wedding at Raw 1000 and, by 2013, both had won the top titles of their genders.

9. Intercontinental Championship Victory

I’d consider the Intercontinental Title to be a bit above the United States Title in terms of prestige and importance. However, when it comes to the case of Daniel Bryan, the IC Title win meant a bit less. After suffering a heartbreaking injury and forfeiting the WWE World Heavyweight Title, Bryan was forced to miss several months of action and his career was in doubt. He returned in time for the Royal Rumble, ultimately getting eliminated like he was just some random mid-carder. At WrestleMania 31, Bryan would not be in the WWE Title picture, he’d instead be thrown into a randomly thrown together Intercontinental Title match. A lot of people saw it as a major demotion and that’s understandable. It’s hard to disagree since it wasn’t even a well thought out program for the belt. It was seven dudes stealing the title from each other leading up to the biggest show of the year. None of it really made any sense. Still, when it came time for the match, it proved to be a really fun encounter that Bryan won. Not only did it give him his first Intercontinental Title but it completed the Grand Slam for him, putting him in elite company. It also marked the fifth straight Mania that Bryan competed for his fifth different championship.

8. Winning the United States Championship

After getting eliminated first from the first season of NXT, Daniel Bryan’s career was in question. He was constantly berated by his pro, the Miz, and went 0-10. He even cut a promo saying that Daniel Bryan was done, but maybe Bryan Danielson wasn’t. He would resurface during the Nexus debut but get fired for choking Justin Roberts. Fast forward to SummerSlam, where Bryan returned, teaming with many future Hall of Famers against his former stable, the Nexus. He did well in the match, getting the crowd even more behind him, until the Miz cost him and caused him to get eliminated. That set up the NXT pro against the former NXT rookie for Miz’s United States Title at Night of Champions. They went out and had the best match in Miz’s career. Miz looked awesome, pun intended, throughout the entire match, even in defeat. Miz was one of the better US Champions in recent years and held the Money in the Bank briefcase at the time, so Bryan beating him was a pretty big deal. It was also historic since it was the first title win for Bryan in the WWE. Too bad the US Title run itself was largely forgettable outside of two standout matches.

7. Mr. Money in the Bank 

In Daniel Bryan’s “Journey to WrestleMania XXX” documentary on the WWE Network, he calls 2011 the lowest point of his career. That certainly has some merit considering he lost the United States Title, got bumped to the Pre-Show (before it was on the WWE Network) of WrestleMania XXVII and got stuck in a lengthy losing streak. Things started to turn around by the time Money in the Bank happened. Bryan participated in the Smackdown Money in the Bank match against the likes of Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Sheamus, Kane and others. Most people, myself included, pegged either Rhodes or Barrett to win it but Bryan shocked the world by retrieving the briefcase in front of a rabid Chicago crowd. Up to that point, everybody that won the briefcase had successfully cashed in. Despite his struggles, this win kind of said that the WWE had at least some faith in him. The question now was whether he’d become a Jack Swagger or a CM Punk. Bryan started to get more shine as the year came to a close, culminating in one special moment.

6. Winning his first World Title 

That one special moment came at the Tables, Ladders and Chairs Pay-Per-View in December of 2011. Mark Henry was at the tail end of his surprisingly great “Hall of Pain” run. He defended the World Heavyweight Championship against the Big Show and lost it to him. Big Show’s celebration would be short lived however, as Henry attacked him and laid him out. Considering the size of Henry and Show, one wouldn’t expect Daniel Bryan to cash in at this moment, but that’s exactly what he did. Bryan rushed out and pinned the Big Show, ending his World Title reign in just about a few minutes. Bryan had gone on record saying he would cash in and give notice ahead of time. This was clearly him doing just the opposite. People popped for it anyway because it was such a cool moment but it kick started the heel turn that would change Bryan’s career for the better. This win was extremely significant because, no matter what else happened in his career, Bryan would have the “former World Champion” tag. It may not mean as much now as it did years ago, but it’s a level many people didn’t think Bryan would ever attain.

5. Turning on the Wyatt Family

While CM Punk infamously got the Summer of Punk in 2011, 2013 kind of gave us the Sumer of Bryan. After a red hot run with Kane as part of Team Hell No, Bryan was determined to prove that he wasn’t the weak link. This run led to Bryan winning the WWE Title (more on that later) and a feud with Randy Orton. He didn’t win out in that feud and, by the end of year, was sidetracked in an angle with Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family. Bray targeted Bryan, wanting to recruit him. Partially because of their similar beards, but more so because he believed they were cut from the same cloth. It led to an angle where Bryan was beaten down and chose to join the Wyatt Family on the final Raw of 2013. Bryan would emerge in 2014 in full Wyatt Family attire, be involved in the stable’s promos and even team up with them. The man that the crowd so desperately loved, was now part of a faction they despised. He seemingly gave up. Then, one fateful night in January, Bryan teamed with Bray to take on the Usos inside of a Steel Cage. The Usos would win the match but Bryan found himself locked in a cage with Bray. He ripped off the Wyatt suit and showed that it was all a ploy to get back at them. Bryan attacked Bray in the most satisfying way as the crowd chanted “Yes” in unison, giving us one of the very best moments in recent Raw history.

4. 18 Seconds

At first glance, including a moment where someone loses in 18 seconds on the grandest stage of them all in a top ten moments of their career list is strange. This is a special case though. Daniel Bryan was reigning as the World Heavyweight Champion with a defense against Royal Rumble winner Sheamus scheduled for WrestleMania. Bryan’s “Yes” taunt was just starting to get over, but it reached a new high at WrestleMania. They opened the show and, despite being the heel, the crowd loved Bryan. There were tons of “Yes” signs and chants, something not many people expected. With the fans firmly behind him, Bryan got a good luck kiss from AJ, then proceeded to turn around right into a Brogue Kick, dropping the title in less than twenty seconds. This kind of embarrassing moment should not have worked the way it did but life is funny sometimes. This loss, coupled with the chants, worked as a rallying cry. Bryan became the ultimate underdog. He became the guy that the fans clung to because they chose him and it seemed like the WWE had no faith in him. The following night on Raw, Bryan wasn’t even on the show but the crowd chanted “Yes” and “Daniel Bryan” throughout the entire night. Without the 18 second loss, Daniel Bryan may never have found the success that he ended up reaching.

3. Team Hell No

Never in my wildest dreams, could I have seen this working as well as it did. Shortly after Daniel Bryan publicly dumped AJ Lee, she started to lose her mind. Bryan got engaged in a rivalry with CM Punk that also ended up including Kane. AJ, like she did with almost every male on the roster in 2012, flirted and made out with both Punk and Kane. Once Bryan failed at dethroning Punk and AJ became the General Manager of Raw, he was forced to take anger management classes with Kane. Those segments were some of the best things ever done during the era of three hour Raws. It brought Kane and Bryan together in an uneasy alliance, which then turned into a tag team. They would win the Tag Team Titles shortly after and follow up with almost a year of classic segments and moments. Their graduation ceremony, the actual match where they were forced to hug, both men screaming “I AM THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS” and even partnering up with the Undertaker to take on the Shield. All of that, and everything else they did, was golden. It’s the most I’ve enjoyed Kane since his early days. I’d consider Team Hell No to be the best oddball pairing the WWE has ever put together.

2. SummerSlam 2013

As noted earlier, after ten or so months as part of Team Hell No, Daniel Bryan was out to prove that he wasn’t the weak link. They had teamed with Randy Orton a few times and Bryan wanted to show him that he was nowhere near the weak link. They went on to have a series of matches, including a class Street Fight that Bryan would win. With Bryan at his hottest, then WWE Champion John Cena was given the rare opportunity to handpick his next challenger for the gold at SummerSlam. Listening to the crowd’s response, Cena selected Bryan. It set up a similar situation to when CM Punk and Cena had their classics. The indy guy that “didn’t belong” going up against the top dog of the company. The company fed into that by having Vince McMahon try to change Bryan because he didn’t have the look. Bryan was determined to win the WWE Title to prove that he was truly the best. The showdown finally happened, to close out one of the best SummerSlam events ever, and it was spectacular. After a long, hard fought clash, Bryan hit the running knee and pinned Cena cleanly to become the champion. That put Bryan in elite company, joining Shawn Michaels, Triple H, the Great Khali and maybe some others I’m forgetting, as the only me to accomplish that. It was a crowning moment for someone that was never supposed to make it. Granted, he had Money in the Bank cashed in on him right after, but this still was a huge moment.

1. YEStleMania 

WrestleMania XXX should forever be known as YEStleMania and for good reason. Originally, despite him being the most over guy in the company, the WWE planned on putting Daniel Bryan in a throwaway midcard match with Sheamus, which would be their third Mania match in four years. They honestly felt that Randy Orton vs. Batista was somehow the best option for the main event. Plans for CM Punk vs. Triple H had to be scrapped when Punk infamously walked out. The WWE was forced to call an audible and, thanks to the reactions of the WWE Universe forcing their hands, we got the very best possible outcome. Bryan would not only get his hands on Triple H, the man behind him getting held back on screen, but if he could beat him, he’d find himself added to the title picture in the main event. Given the biggest chance of his career, Bryan absolutely delivered. He opened WrestleMania XXX by defeating Triple H in an absolute classic that was among the best openers in Pay-Per-View history. Then, he made a heroic comeback during a great main event, to topple Batista and Randy Orton and become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The historic 30^th WrestleMania was all about Daniel Bryan and he put on the best performance in Mania history. Even though his title reign and career were both cut way too short by injuries, if nothing else, we’ll always have WrestleMania XXX.

Lucha Underground The Hunt Is On Review

We mostly get right to the action this week, except for Vampiro marking out over Pentagon Jr. so far this season.

Kobra Moon def. Bengala in 3:01
Kobra Moon is a female for hose unaware. She got some "Mamacita" chants early on. Considering Bengala's placement in Lucha Underground for the most part, it was clear this was going to be a showcase for Kobra in her debut. She showed off some athletic moves and sweet kicks. Speaking of kicks, Bengala hit one that was among the loudest I've ever heard. She locked him in the Snake Sleeper, which he fought, but ultimately fell to. About as decent a debut for Kobra working with Bengala, who wasn't very good. At leas she seems to have an interesting character. *1/4

Catrina is in her office and Fenix comes in. Apparently, this gives Catrina a tingle. He wants King Cuerno and Catrina. I mean, so do I. 

After a commercial break, a cool little Aerostar video airs. It looks like the Luchador from teh Cosmos is returning to the Temple.

A very ripped King Cuerno is working out when Catrina appears in front of him. She's upset that Fenix has returned, saying Cuerno didn't get the job done. He says that Catrina's "wounded champion" is safe from Fenix. Catrina wants him to kill the phoenix in a Last Luchador Standing match tonight.

Jack Evans def. Drago in 7:19
Our first look at Jack Evans and Drago in season two. This was a battle of two of the better high flyers in the world. Matt Striker basically had an orgasm while calling this thing. Evans oversold a slap with what had to be about a 720 spin. He was, however, solid at playing the dick heel in the middle of his offense. There were certainly some high impact moves throughout this, with both guys getting the time to shine. Drago nearly killed Evans on an inside out blockbuster type move, but Evans came back with a backslide and stole the victory by putting his feet on the ropes. **3/4

Jack Evans is an asshole, stealing the microphone from Melissa Santos and announcing himself as the winner and the "Dragon Slayer".

A Texano video package aired next. He was indeed, the youngest AAA Mega Champion in history. He seems to focus on Chavo Guerrero in his promo, which makes sense since Chavo and Blue Demon Jr. laid him out at Ultima Lucha last year.

Catrina sees Prince Puma in the back and asks him who he prays to. She basically implies that Konnan died when he went into the casket last season. The main point here is that next week, Puma goes one on one with Pentagon Jr.

Last Luchador Standing: Fenix def. King Cuerno in 11:19
The Last Luchaor Standing match last season between Cuerno and Drago was one of the better matches all season long. These two had a great match for the Gift of the Gods Championship two weeks ago. They played this exactly how I wanted. You could feel like these two guys wanted to hurt each other. They made good use of the Temple, fighting all over the place. Fenix continues to amaze and Cuerno remains the best kept secret in Lucha Underground. Shit got real when Cuerno brought a ladder into the mix. He stopped the referee from counting to ten so he could inflict more damage and also get a table. It backfired as Fenix used the ladder to climb atop Catrina's office. Cuerno followed but was kicked back and fell, with the ladder, through the table, which kept him down for the count. Another really good match between the two. They just can't seem to have a bad match. Mil Muertes was also shown to be pissed off on his throne. ***3/4

Before going off the air, we get one final scene. It turns out that Cortez Castro from the Crew, is actually an undercover cop. His captain is not pleased that she doesn't have Dario Cueto. She is sending Cortez back into the Temple with new help...OFFICER JOEY RYAN! Their mission? Bring down Dario Cueto!

Overall: 7.5/10. Yet another strong effort from Lucha Underground. While things got off to a rocky start, the second match was solid and the main event was damn good. Outside of the ring work, the show continues to further their overarching story and keep me interested. 3 for 3 in enjoyable episodes.

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

Random Network Reviews: No Mercy 2007

No Mercy 2007
October 7th, 2007 | Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois | Attendance: 12,500

Pay-Per-Views in Chicago always have a special feel to them. I had no clue this show took place there, but I do remember that it’s rather memorable for at least one reason. John Cena, in the midst of a year-long run with the WWE Championship, had to give up the title after suffering an injury, leaving the title up in limbo heading into this broadcast. He was originally scheduled to face Randy Orton for the third straight Pay-Per-View. I have to assume that the original plan was for Orton to win it here since Cena went over him on the first two PPVs.

The opening video package focuses on John Cena and his WWE Title run. They try to hype that it was Randy Orton who injured him, but in truth I believe it was a hip toss from Mr. Kennedy. Vince McMahon and William Regal come out to discuss the injury, which gets a pop from the crowd. They chant “Y2J”, though he was about two months away from returning. Vince awards the title to Randy Orton, who comes out and celebrates with it to much pomp and circumstance. Orton has to defend the title and he gets to choose his opponent. Orton runs down Cena until Triple H interrupts. He does his best to crap on Orton, saying Orton’s scared to have his second title reign be shorter than his first (which of course was ended by Hunter in a month). Vince grants Triple H the title shot to open the show because Hunter questioned his manhood. For some reason this opening segment went nearly twenty minutes, giving the show a “Raw” feeling rather than a Pay-Per-View.

WWE Championship
Randy Orton (c) vs. Triple H
Triple H is scheduled to face Umaga later tonight. Randy Orton attacks at the bell but it backfires quickly. Orton tries to walk out of the match but Triple H catches him and beats on him. In classic heel Orton fashion, he slows things down with a chinlock to wear down Hunter. A huge clothesline takes down Orton and, as usual with these two, something just isn’t clicking here. Actually, Orton has the same problem with John Cena. Their chemistry just didn’t click. HHH nails a superplex and spinebuster for near falls. After fighting outside for a bit, Orton nails the rope hung DDT to a pretty big pop. He begins to stalk for the RKO but HHH counters. He tries the Pedigree only for Orton to backdrop him. As Orton misses a knee drop, Triple H applies a figure four though Orton reaches the ropes. Orton misses a shoulder block in the corner and Triple H rolls him up to steal the title.

Winner and New WWE Champion: Triple H in 11:06
Was this really necessary? Randy Orton’s first reign got obliterated by a face turn and Triple H and it happens here again. I know what happens on the rest of the show, but this was terrible. After failing so hard against Cena, doing so here against Hunter was all bad. Did Triple H really need to pad his ego with this reign? Whatever. The match itself wasn’t great either so it’s not like that helped any. **

Backstage, Randy Orton is pretty much losing his mind while Triple H gets an overly long celebration. Vince McMahon is extremely disappointed in Randy Orton. I’m more disappointed in the decision to make Orton look so bad.

Six Man Tag Team Match
WWE Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy, Paul London and Brian Kendrick vs. Mr. Kennedy and World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch
That first team is very over and one of the best high flying combinations I can think of. This is considered a “bonus” match as it got guys on the card, but seemed like something you’d see on Raw. Kendrick and London show off some sweet double team moves early on, overwhelming Cade. London plays the Matt Hardy role for Poetry in Motion with Jeff in a cool spot. At this point, Jeff was on the upswing while Kennedy was trying to fix his career after getting hurt following a big Money in the Bank win. After Kendrick is sent outside hard, he plays the face in peril. The heels get a chance to get in some their signature stuff. Cade and Murdoch seem better than I recall. Jeff gets the hot tag, nearly killing Murdoch on an inverted suplex. He hits the Swanton Bomb but Cade breaks the pin. London now gets tagged, springboarding in with a dropkick on Kennedy. Kendrick takes out Murdoch with a cross body, before Kennedy pins London following the Green Bay Plunge.

Winners: Mr. Kennedy, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in 8:03
Fun little addition to the card here. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but everyone seemed game and wanted to make sure the match was action packed which I appreciate. **¾

Triple H and Batista run into each other backstage because they’re the successful members of Evolution and both are World Champions. Triple H wishes him good luck before turning to Vince McMahon, who tells Triple H that he will defend the title against Umaga tonight.

ECW Championship
CM Punk (c) vs. Big Daddy V w/ Matt Striker
To this day, I will never understand Vince McMahon’s obsession with random pushes for Viscera/Mabel/Big Daddy V. Especially here where he isn’t wearing a shirt. CM Punk gets a major pop in his hometown. Now, this is before the historic 2011 Money in the Bank where Punk won the WWE Title in this building. Here, he gets manhandled by Big Daddy V. Punk avoids a splash, climbs up top and takes him off his feet with a missile dropkick. Matt Striker runs in to club Punk, resulting in the DQ.

Winner via disqualification: CM Punk in 1:34
What the hell was this? Matt Striker was booked as a genius, but does something this stupid the second his guy falls to the floor. Why? What sense does this make? That’s two of our three matches involving dumb booking. DUD.

Tazz now hosts a pizza eating contest between MVP and Matt Hardy. I believe that most of these were done because MVP wasn’t fully healthy. Even with that though, most of these were entertaining. The push up contest and basketball were probably my favorite. This segment would not have been bad had we not wasted 20 minutes to open the show on a promo. At least the judges are Divas, so I did not mind that. At this point, MVP and Matt Hardy were Tag Team Champions and MVP was the United States Champion. Matt Hardy wins before throwing up on MVP. Didn’t like the segment, though Maria looked fine.

WWE Championship
Triple H (c) vs. Umaga
To show that he means business, Triple H comes out to a King of Kings/Game theme remix. A brawl erupts before Umaga no sells a DDT, only to be thrown outside. While out there, Umaga pounds Hunter into the steel steps. He takes over inside, just working over Triple H. We get finisher counters leading to a spinebuster and Samoan drop. Umaga decides he wants to kill time so he utilizes the dreaded BEAR HUG! Triple H fights out, dodges a charging Umaga and nails the Pedigree to retain.

Winner and Still WWE Champion: Triple H in 6:33
I expected this to be better. Umaga is usually a safe bet to put on a good match, but something about this never clicked. It was unfortunately dull. **

Save.Us teaser is shown, promoting the return of Chris Jericho. That return started so poorly but became worth it once Jericho moved to his more serious gimmick.

Finlay vs. Rey Mysterio
JBL does a fantastic job on commentary in putting over this match as two guys that want to be World Champion. I miss that in wrestling. Just go out there and wrestle to move up in the ranks. Rey Mysterio uses his speed to gain the upper hand, but when he tries a sunset flip to the outside, Finlay blocks and wraps him up in the ring apron. Little things like that are excellent to show the veteran instincts of Finlay. He slides Rey shoulder first into the ring post which looks brutal. Like a shark smelling blood, Finlay now focuses on the arm. Rey rallies with some springboard offense that has the crowd into this. He goes for the 619 but Finlay levels him to stop it. He exposes the turnbuckle, leading to the referee giving him a stern warning. It’s all a ploy for him to use his shillelagh but Rey stops that. He tries 619 again, but Finlay ducks, only to get kicked in the skull. A springboard leg drop sends Finlay outside from the apron and he hits the back of his skull on the outside hard. It was a sickening thud. They do the knockout finish, though we clearly see Finlay open his eyes and look around.

Winner: Rey Mysterio in 9:30
This was a well worked match until the finish. The arm work, the selling and the story they told were all good. My only issue is that they talked about this being about two guys wanting to get ahead in the World Title ranks, only for Finlay to give away a match here. **¾

As expected, when they stretcher Finlay out, he gets up to attack Rey Mysterio. Again, I don’t get why he faked the injury to attack Rey. He didn’t even beat on Rey good enough to take him out and move ahead of him in the ranks. Dumb.

Backstage, Triple H is being checked on when Vince McMahon comes in. Randy Orton has requested his rematch tonight and it will be the Last Man Standing we were supposed to get between Orton and John Cena.

WWE Women’s Championship
Candice Michelle (c) vs. Beth Phoenix
This was the beginning of the Beth Phoenix push and pretty much the end of the Candice Michelle run. Her theme music was pretty dire. Beth knocks Candice down immediately. Candice fights back with a creative near fall and some kicks. She actually does a damn short arm scissors, but Beth counters. The crowd doesn’t care about this one bit. Beth moves to a sleeper of sorts, so Candice tries the Bret Hart corner reversal. It fails. Candice eventually comes off the top with a cross for two. Beth hits a backbreaker and cradle suplex, which despite her taking a while to cover, is enough to win.

Winner and New WWE Women’s Champion: Beth Phoenix in 4:28
If I had to use one word to describe this, it would be sloppy. It seems like they tried to rush things and this felt extremely disjointed. *¼

Beth Phoenix is in tears as she’s handed the Women’s Title. She asks Jerry Lawler to interview her, where she puts herself over as the perfect combination of beauty and strength. It’s here that she coins the “Glamazon” nickname.

World Heavyweight Championship Punjabi Prison Match
Batista (c) vs. The Great Khali
The structure that this is contested in looks ridiculous. Khali does the Andre the Giant rope tie spot but fights out. He knocks down Batista and goes for the first of the escape doors but Batista stops him. You see, once one of the doors is opened, you get a minute to go through it before it is shut for good. The first one gets shut for good, leaving three. Batista busts out a spear and goes for the second door. Khali stops him with a sleeper, leading to the second door being shut for good. Khali finds a leather strap from somewhere, whipping Batista with it before asking for the third door to open. Batista stops him with an impressive spinebuster. He tries to escape, only for Khali to hold him and that door is now closed. Batista gets tired of this door crap and tries to climb out. Khali meets him up top and sends him to the mat. Batista gets under him and tries a Batista Bomb but Khali holds the prison to block. Time for the Vise Grip! Final door is open as Batista hits a low blow. Khali slams the door on his back before time runs out. Now the only way out is to climb, which is a problem for a guy of Khali’s size. Both guys tease escaping but fail. Khali slams Batista to the mat and is surprisingly able to get over. Now, all he has to do is climb over the second set of structure. Batista is up and SPRINTS up the first cage before jumping to the second! Khali makes it over, but Batista drops first and retains.

Winner and Still World Heavyweight Champion: Batista in 14:46
Well that was much better than it had any right to be. Normally, a Khali match is plodding and dull, but this was masterfully booked. They knew it wasn’t going to be a great wrestling match and just took the focus off of that. It was an easy watch for sure. **¾

WWE Championship Last Man Standing Match
Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
A slugfest opens this but Randy Orton sets his sights on Triple H’s ribs, which were hurt earlier against Umaga. They go outside, where Triple H tries a Pedigree on the ramp, but Orton trips him up and he hits the back of his head hard on the steel. I still say Finlay’s bump was better. Orton continues to work on the ribcage for a bit with the highlight being a back suplex on the guardrail. They move inside where Orton hits his inverted backbreaker, giving us a five count. Orton is rightfully relentless. He strangles HHH with a cable and he seems to pass out, but is somehow up at nine. Orton is pissed and clears off the announce tables. He goes for the RKO through it, which is what “injured John Cena”, but HHH shoves him off and he goes through it on his own. He’s up at nine but eats a spinebuster outside that the camera pretty much misses due to a replay. He again is up, but eats steel steps to the face! Jim Ross’ commentary is adding a ton to this match. Orton is up and they move to the next spot of a DDT on a steel chair. Both guys are down but get up before this ends. They brawl for a bit more until Orton pulls out the RKO on an open chair like he did to Cena before SummerSlam earlier in the year. Triple H is up at nine, but is busted open and tells Orton to “suck it”. He collapses though due to the weight of three matches. Orton goes for the Punt but Triple H blocks it. HHH messes with the Smackdown announce table, which is the only one that had been left alone up to this point. In a sick spot, Orton’s head gets caught in the steel steps and Triple H hits him with a steel chair. Orton now surprises everyone by getting up at nine. HHH takes him on the announce table, but Orton hits an RKO on it. Triple H nearly gets up, but can’t do it before the count of ten.

Winner and New WWE Champion: Randy Orton in 20:24
The best match I’ve ever seen these two guys have together. Their chemistry issues aside, they just used the Last Man Standing stipulation to their advantage and put on a grueling match. Some sick spots throughout this thing gave it that extra something. I also enjoyed the story of the defiant Triple H not giving up. Really good all around. ****

Overall: 6/10; Average. A bit of an up and down show here. The worst things on the card were the ECW Title match and the two long segments. Besides that, there is a surprisingly solid Punjabi Prison match, great Last Man Standing match and solid bout between Finlay and Rey Mysterio. The show is pretty much a breeze to get through though it isn’t a major recommendation. Middle of the pack stuff for sure. Our next “Random Network Review” is going to be Survivor Series 1997!

Daniel Bryan Retirement Raw Review

Early in the day, Daniel Bryan took to Twitter to announce his retirement and would elaborate on Raw. Before we'd get to all of that sadness though, we had to deal with an episode of Raw. Stephanie McMahon hosted a contract signing for the Fastlane main event. She gets quickly cut off by Dean Ambrose before Roman Reigns does the same. They want to get this thing signed, so Stephanie brings out Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. She interrupts Heyman's signature opening line to boos. They all quickly sign and Dean just wants to fight, so he gets in Brock's face. BROCK SMASH! He not only tosses Ambrose but he throws the table into Reigns in hilarious fashion. Brock dominated and laid out Ambrose with the F5. Brock looked like a beast, Ambrose looked crazy and Reigns was kind of just there. Mostly fun stuff since it wasn't drawn out like most contract signings.

Sometimes, it's easy to over exaggerate on things. When I tell you that Dolph Ziggler wrestled Kevin Owens for the SEVENTH time in just under two months, I'm not doing that. None of the matches have ever been particularly interesting. It's not a rivalry because they have a bunch of matches. There needs to be more to it. Anyway, Ziggler won when he put his feet on the ropes for a pi so I guess this continues. We get told that the Usos will face the New Day in a Tables match later even though there is no real reason for it. I mean, the Dudleys/New Day feud didn't even get one. Backstage, the Dudleys talk to the Usos and somehow have the power to make it an eight man tag Tables match, so New Day has to find a partner. In a Smackdown rematch, Charlotte defeated Alicia Fox in a match that nobody really cared about. They did officially announce Charlotte vs. Brie for Fastlane for the Divas Championship though.

Dean Ambrose wants to get his hands on Brock Lesnar but has just been pacing all night. Anyway, we advanced to MizTV, which probably wasn't going to be anywhere near as good as last week's. Chris Jericho was the guest, and he came out to throw some really lame insults at Miz. He is just living that cool dad gimmick. AJ Styles showed up to save the segment. Miz attacked Jericho and AJ made the save. They worked together to dump him out before fighting among themselves. Jericho eventually walked away, but this ended up working and hyped the Styles/Jericho Smackdown match this week. Bray Wyatt beat Ryback in a decent, but rather meaningless match. It's like they started the Wyatt/Lesnar angle and forgot there was a February PPV to build, so they dropped it for now but I'm sure it'll pick up at Fastlane. The New Day got interviewed backstage, where they were shining up a table, and said that they haven't picked a partner just yet.

The random Titus O'Neil singles push looked it would continue as he faced Adam Rose. Rose surprised everyone by stealing a win. The Social Outcasts certainly seem to be booked in strange ways. After that match, Dean Ambrose came back out and egged on Brock Lesnar. He threw plenty of verbal jabs at the "Beast" including some male potency jokes. Brock showed up and completely kicked Dean's ass. As he went to leave though, Dean begged for more. Brock went back in but Roman Reigns showed up. This distraction led to Dean doing his best Undertaker impersonation and hit Brock in the dick. It's his kryptonite. Then the segment awkwardly ended there. Also, I love that Ambrose isn't afraid of Brock and that he's getting shine. However, it has made Reigns kind of the odd man out. Can I just have Brock vs. Dean at Mania since we know we're getting HHH vs. Reigns anyway?

With Sin Cara's recent return at a WWE live event, the Lucha Dragons were back together. They faced Rusev and Alberto Del Rio in a match that had next to no heat. For some reason, the fans just didn't really seem to care. Del Rio hit his finisher, that would be cool if it didn't make the guy taking it look like an idiot, on Kalisto to win. He should have pinned Sin Cara but whatever. We got more fun stuff from R-Truth and Goldust before moving on. Sasha Banks showed up, in some shorts that nearly stopped my heart. She was on commentary for Becky Lynch vs. Tamina. Naomi and her got into it, Becky made a save and it led to Tamina winning. Normally, I'm against Tamina beating Becky but there was a distraction and it should lead to Becky and Sasha beating Team BAD at Fastlane, which was also announced here.

New Day chose Mark Henry, who donned the unicorn horn and everything. They would lose. The Dudleys then attacked the Usos despite the win, turning heel. I would dive deeper into that but more important stuff was coming. Daniel Bryan came out to close Raw and give his retirement speech. Bryan said that he had been fighting it for a while but a recent test really showed him that his brain isn't as healthy as he thought and he wants to start a family. I won't recap the entire speech because I couldn't do it justice. You just need to see it. It's the most emotional and heart warming retirement speech I've ever heard. He talked about being grateful for everything and led the fans in a final "Yes" chant. Brie Bella came out to hug and kiss her husband to close the show. On the WWE Network, things continued with the entire roster coming to the stage to say goodbye and "Yes". Bryan hugged Vince on his way out, closing the book on an amazing career.

It's hard to give a real score for this show since it was more about Bryan than anything else. The episode of Raw leading up to the Bryan stuff was middle of the pack but moved things forward for Fastlane somewhat. This is a must see episode for the Daniel Bryan highlights throughout the show and his speech.

I've now had to watch two of my all time favorites, Edge and Bryan, hang it up earlier than they were supposed to. The first Ring of Honor show I ever attended live was Final Battle 2006. Bryan Danielson was the ROH World Champion and main evented against Homicide. He lost the title but I was hooked and he instantly became one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. I cheered for him louder than anyone at the ROH shows I attended. I watched him go to war with Austin Aries, Takeshi Morishima and many others. His final ROH match, against Nigel McGuinness, was in New York and I am grateful that I got to see it live. Watching him make it to the top of the WWE was one of the greatest feelings in the world. A guy that I picked and was drawn to from the first time I saw him made it. He made it when many people said he couldn't. Daniel Bryan embodies the notion that anything is possible. Daniel Bryan was and is everything that I love about pro wrestling.

Top Five 2/1/16-2/7/16

1) Pentagon Jr.: After making one hell of an impact to close out the first episode of Lucha Underground this season, Pentagon Jr. had the second episoe mostly focused on him. He started the show by confronting Prince Puma in the locker room where they engaged in a movie like fight scene. Then, in the main event, Pentagon teamed with Puma against the Trios Champions, the Disciples of Death. In pretty much the coolest moment of the week, Pentagon came out and turned to see Mil Muertes sitting over the entrance, watching the Temple from his throne. Pentagon again showed no fear (yea I see what I did there) and taunted the Champion. Pentagon was the star of the show, getting the hot tag but not caring when Puma took a beating. They would go on to win the match and then Pentagon and Puma got into it in another fun moment. This wasn't the most exciting week for wrestling, but Pentagon Jr. was still awesome.

2) Trevor Lee: Outside of a handful of independent shows, I haven't been able to see much of Trevor Lee's work. From what I saw though, I think he's a solid addition to TNA's X-Division. This week, Lee bested Tigre Uno to become the new X-Division Champion. Tigre Uno has kind of been a steady hand in the division over the past year or so, being one of the more consistent guys around. Moving the belt to Lee could either mean they see potential in him, or they're just switching the belt for the sake of it. Either way, it's quite the accomplishment for Lee for right now, earning him the second slot this week. Hopefully, TNA makes him a key cog of the division.

3) Kalisto: I'm still unsure if Kalisto is supposed to be where he is right now. John Cena and Sin Cara both got hurt, kind of opening the door for him. Regardless of what the original plan was, Kalisto has been delivering with this opportunity. Each week, he's having 1-2 good matches. This week was more of the same. On Raw, Kalisto beat Rusev in a decent match via countout. The more impressive win came on Smackdown, when Kalisto defeated former Intercontinental and NXT Champion Kevin Owens. Even though Sin Cara returned at a live event this weekend, Kalisto should hold the US Title for a while longer. He's been a breath of fresh air.

4) AJ Styles: Color me rather surprised that the WWE has done a pretty great job in handling AJ Styles so far. After a successful first week, he built upon that with another strong showing. First, AJ Styles participated in MizTV on Raw. At first, I was a bit worried since talking isn't AJ's strong suit, but they did this perfectly. Miz spoke the entire time, being a complete dick to AJ but putting him over at the same time. It was a masterful job by Miz. AJ attacked Miz to a pop, leading to a match on Smackdown between the two. It was a strong showing from both men and Styles picked up another victory. Chris Jericho then got in the ring and they set up a rematch from their Raw encounter for next Thursday on Smackdown.

5) Finn Balor: As noted earlier, this wasn't the biggest week for wrestling, though that should change with a lot of big shows coming up. Anyway, this week's NXT was main evented by Finn Balor taking on Apollo Crews in a non-title match. Like their title match a few months ago, this was a really solid match. This time around, we actually got a clean finish where Balor defeated Crews. They shook hands after the match. I'd say their match was the best of the week, part of why Finn makes the list here. Unfortunately for him, he also suffered an injury at a house show this week and now has a busted ankle. Hopefully it isn't too serious and he can still make TakeOver: Dallas in a few months.