NJPW Dominion Predictions

NJPW Dominion | 6.19.16 | Osaka Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan

Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. David Finlay, Juice Robinson and Jay White

Jay White has been fantastic as one of NJPW's Young Lions, as has David Finlay, especially after his run in the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament. White is headed out of NJPW for a while, on an excursion to Ring of Honor. This will be his final match before leaving. They team with Juice Robinson, the former CJ Parker, to take on the legendary team of Manabu Nakanishi and Tenkoji. Even though it's White's last match, I fully expect the legends team to win and the crowd to love it. White has a lot of talent and should kill it in ROH.

Winners: Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Captain New Japan, Togi Makabe and Yoshitatsu

Along with adding Adam Cole last month, the Bullet Club added Adam Page. He makes his official NJPW debut at Dominion as Hangman Page and teams with Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi. Honestly, the only guys in this match that are actually ever interesting to me are Fale and Makabe and that's only sometimes. Yoshitatsu is stuck doing a shitty Triple H cosplay, while Captain New Japan is the "eater of pins". Expect that here. The Captain will take the fall to either Fale or Page.

Winners: The Bullet Club

YOSHI-HASHI and Tomohiro Ishii vs. BUSHI and SANADA

One of the best things going in all of NJPW over the past month has been the multi-man tags pitting Chaos against Los Ingobernables de Japon. While they have happened a ton, they're always interesting and among the best matches on whatever show they happen on. During those matches, a rivalry has been born between SANADA and YOSHI-HASHI. That will continue at Dominion with their teammates BUSHI and Tomohiro Ishii involved. I could see BUSHI taking the loss as the junior heavyweight and allowing some build for YOSHI-HASHI and SANADA in a singles match somewhere down the line.

Winners: Chaos

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Matt Sydal & Ricochet (c) vs. reDRagon vs. Roppongi Vice vs. The Young Bucks

Oh god. Not this again. This division is just the same shit over and over and over again. This is the same match that I gave **1/2 to at Wrestle Kingdom to start the year. I love reDRagon, I like Roppongi Vice and I don't mind Matt Sydal and Ricochet. It's just incredibly sickening how many times some variation of this gets put on a show. It'll be the same thing we've seen a ton of times, only with elimination. I'm gonna pick a winner but in the end, does it really matter? Whoever wins the belt here will drop it soon to one of the other teams and the cycle will just go on and on. I pick the Bucks since a win gives them a record number of reigns.

Winners: The Young Bucks

EVIL vs. Hirooki Goto

Oh yes. This should be fun again. Their first match at Power Struggle last year wasn't anything special, but I've really enjoyed their interactions in tags and their match at Wrestling Dontaku was really good. EVIL is a gimmick that probably shouldn't work but he's given it his all and it has really helped things along. Goto has fallen hard since his great first eight months of 2015. Since EVIL won at Wrestling Dontaku, I suspect Goto gets his win back and it possibly leads to a tiebreaker or something during the G1 Climax.

Winner: Hirooki Goto

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA (c) vs. Will Ospreay

There is no match on the show that I'm looking forward to more than this one. KUSHIDA has been the star of the juniors division for over a year now. Nobody has been able to touch him in terms of consistent performances (except maybe Kyle O'Reilly). He has great matches no matter who his opponent is for the most part. Will Ospreay is ready to challenge the throne. He came from behind to win the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament and earned a second shot at the title after coming up just short in an amazing match at Invasion Attack back in April. This is the toughest call of the show. Ospreay could win because Gedo loves title switches or KUSHIDA wins to solidify his spot and set up a rematch with O'Reilly. I think KUSHIDA wins. Ospreay finally wins the belt soon, maybe at WK 11.

Winner: KUSHIDA

IWGP Tag Team Championship: The Guerillas of Destiny (c) vs. The Briscoes

Man, New Japan's heavyweight tag division is pretty shitty. I mean, it's the Guerillas of Destiny, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma sometimes and...that's about it. The Briscoes are a far better, far more established team visiting from ROH. With the recent reports that ROH talents are unhappy that Delirious books them as far inferior to NJPW stars, I could see this being a small way to fix that. The Briscoes go over here, despite no real build, in a "shocker". It'll give some ROH guys some cred before the Guerillas take back the belts sometime down the line.

Winners: The Briscoes

NEVER Openweight Championship: Yuji Nagata (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Yuji Nagata is pretty much the man. Katsuyori Shibata just happens to also be the man. Their match at Wrestling Dontaku was just shy of being great and I believe that could top it here. The Osaka crowd is always tremendous and they should add a lot to the match. I thought that Shibata's war with the old guard would just be a way to rack up title defenses, so Nagata winning it was surprising. I could see Nagata retaining here to give the illusion that without a title, Shibata has a legitimate shot in the G1. However, I say Shibata regains the belt here.

Winner: Katsuyori Shibata

IWGP Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Michael Elgin

This was originally scheduled to be Kenny Omega defending the title against Hiroshi Tanahashi in NJPW's first ever ladder match. Tanahashi is out with injury, opening the door for his buddy Michael Elgin to get the biggest opportunity of his NJPW career. Sure he had a title shot already (which was great), but that was on a "Road to" show. This is basically NJPW's second biggest show of the year and the pressure is on for their first ladder match. This should be really good, though I don't think it will quite reach the levels of their first match, and Omega retains.

Winner: Kenny Omega

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada

Like their match at Invasion Attack, this should be really good. Their battles as part of the Chaos vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon matches have been entertaining. I get that Kazuchika Okada was the new "ace" after finally beating Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom (no matter how disappointing that match was), but it has been Tetsuya Naito that has been THE man of 2016. Since turning heel in 2015, nobody has nailed their character more than him. He's must see television. Gedo loves him some Okada, but making a title switch here would be monumentally stupid. Naito should hold the gold until Wrestle Kingdom, he's that over. Even if it means Okada has to win the G1 again and be the one to beat him in the Tokyo Dome.

Winner: Tetsuya Naito

Lucha Underground 6/15/16 Review

We start with clips reminding us of the angle going with the investigation into Dario Cueto, followed by a recap of Pentagon Jr. being broken by Vampiro so he could return stronger. We also see Catrina raising Mil Muertes again. Finally, we see Pentagon taking out Chavo Guerrero and being on the winning team for tonight's "Six to Survive" match.

Six to Survive Match: Pentagon Jr. def. Fenix, Ivelisse, Johnny Mundo, King Cuerno and Taya in 52:49
We got right into the action tonight. All of the participants were in the ring at the start. This is fought under elimination rules. Taya and Mundo targeted Ivelisse and worked together to attack her from the bell. Fenix and Pentagon, real life brothers, hit Mundo with the Dudleys' "wassup" move, minus the "wassup". While Cuerno set for his finisher on Fenix, Mil Muertes returned and the look on Cuerno's face was priceless. Muertes attacked but there's no disqualifications. Muertes powerbombed him, so Mundo took advantage with the End of the World to eliminate him at 4:19. Mil's eyes are now bloodshot red. I got jealous of Fenix as he copped a serious feel on Ivelisse when shoving her at one point. Then we almost got the Ivelisse/Taya confrontation but Mundo kicked Ivelisse before anything could happen. Taya eventually eliminated Ivelisse at around 12:40 with a Northern lights suplex into a big double stomp. After a break, Pentagon did his best Goldust and hit the Golden Globes on Taya, which was interesting to say the least. Mundo called for a fight with Pentagon, which was fun until Taya got involved. It kind of became a tag match of sorts, culminating with Pentagon sending Taya home at 22:28 with a Package Piledriver. Mundo checked on Taya a bit before getting back in the action. He tried to form a team with Fenix, but Fenix isn't stupid. Some really fun spots from all three men at this point, despite being exhausted. Mundo's cockiness cost him as he spent too much time in between moves pandering to the crowd. Pentagon and Fenix did a weird spot where they both ended up on top of Johnny and got the three on him at around the 35 minute mark. It was down to Penty and Fenix. It was here that the match got taken to the next level. I won't go into too much detail about their back and forth because it was very fast paced and deserves to be watched. Pentagon finally won it after a Mexican Destoryer right into a Package Piledriver. One of the better matches in a season completely full of them. ****1/4

Overall: 9/10. A tremendous episode. Similar to the great Aztec Warfare II episode, this was dominated by one sole match, but they pace everything so well that it never feels like it goes long. This was all sorts of great and deserves to be watched.

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

Top 5 TLC Matches

5) WWE Championship: Edge (c) vs. John Cena (Unforgiven 2006): The hottest feud in 2006 had to be the one between Edge and John Cena. Edge cashed in Money in the Bank on Cena at the start of the year before they would go on to wrestle at the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and finally, Unforgiven. On this night, Edge had the clear hometown advantage as Toronto was on fire for him. There were even tears in his eyes during the intros because of the reception that he got. As usual, John Cena proved to be at his best when in hostile territory as he and Edge put on a great match with big spots. The biggest spot came at the end, when Edge took an FU off the ladder and through two tables, allowing Cena to bring down the belt after 25 grueling minutes.

4) World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. CM Punk (SummerSlam 2009): I really loved this. Much like Edge and John Cena, CM Punk and Jeff Hardy had the best rivalry in 2009. It also began with a Money in the Bank cash in as Punk did so on Hardy at Extreme Rules. Punk would then begin a slow heel turn and Jeff would win back the belt at Night of Champions. The Smackdown Title rarely got to main event, especially on the Big Four shows, but this went on last, even after DX and a Randy Orton/John Cena match. They made the most of it putting on a classic. It doesn't feature many memorable spots, but it's a well worked match where both guys looked strong. Punk pulled out the win here after 21 minutes, as Jeff was on his way out of the company.

3) Team Hell No and Ryback vs. The Shield (TLC 2012): In November 2012, The Shield made an immediate impact when they debuted and assaulted Ryback during a WWE Title match. The Shield would not make their in-ring debut though until the following month when Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns met Ryback and the WWE Tag Team Champions, Team Hell No in a six man TLC, the first of its kind. All six men went to war with Seth taking a HUGE bump through a bunch of tables. The Shield would go on to win in 22 minutes, solidifying them as legit threats in the WWE; something that still holds true to this day. All three members have found great success. Seth Rollins held the Money in the Bank briefcase and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Dean Ambrose won the Intercontinental Title and Roman Reigns is already a three time World Champion and two time WrestleMania main eventer. It all started here.

2) WWF Tag Team Championship: TLC 1 (SummerSlam 2000): This happened on one of my favorite PPVs. I bought it on DVD and used to watch it all the time so I've seen this match more than twenty times. It's still amazing. After stealing the show at WrestleMania 2000 in a Triangle Ladder Match, Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz would up the ante here. This is an absolute thrill ride and there are more memorable spots than I can name here. It was shorter than most TLC matches, clocking in at just under 15 minutes, but it doesn't slow down one bit the entire time. Fantastic stuff and Edge and Christian pull off the rare feat of retaining the gold in this match type.

1) WWF Tag Team Championship: TLC II (WrestleMania X-Seven): I may have seen TLC 1 more times than I've seen TLC II, but I know which one is superior. If the ante was up after SummerSlam 2000, these three teams set the bar so high that nobody has come close to reaching it. Not only does this have the awesome high spots of previous incarnations, it also has the most memorable moment of all. Edge spearing Jeff Hardy while he dangles from the titles is still shown all of the time in tons of video packages. The six men in the match are incredible but so are Spike Dudley, Rhyno and Lita, who come out to help each team and add something to the match. Edge and Christian would prevail again, thanks to a big assist from Rhyno in about 16 minutes, stealing the show in arguably the greatest WrestleMania of all time.

Fave Five 6/6/16-6/12/16

1) Will Ospreay: Over the past number of weeks, NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors Tournament has taken up most of my wrestling viewing. After starting 0-2 and 1-3, Will Ospreay reeled of a bunch of wins in a row to make it to the Finals. On Monday June 6th, he defeated Volador Jr. to officially win his block. Then, on the 7th, he faced Ryusuke Taguchi in the finals. I wasn't expecting anything special since Taguchi is normally a drag to watch. However, they went out and had a match that far exceeded expectations. Ospreay won to become the first English wrestler to won the BOTSJ and he earned a second shot at KUSHIDA and the Jr. Heavyweight Title at Dominion.

2) The Revival: To be totally honest, I have a tough time picking a favorite or even best match for this week. It was either Ospreay/Taguchi or the NXT Tag Team Title match at TakeOver: The End. Much like in Dallas, the Revival and American Alpha put on one of the best tag team matches I've seen all year long. American Alpha entered as champions and I was almost 100% sure they would retain the straps. Instead, we got a surprising finish as the Revival regained the gold to become the first two time Tag Team Champions in NXT history. I didn't expect it and don't agree with it but it happened and the Revival deserve some love.

3) Bobby Lashley: I don't watch TNA much anymore. Actually, I pretty much don't at all. However, from all of the reviews I've heard about their Slammiversary PPV, Bobby Lashley won a very good main event. He bested Drew Galloway to become TNA Champion for the second time I believe. There were certainly some other rather big matches this week and big wins, but becoming the top champion of a company, even if it's one in the state of turmoil that TNA is in, is still definitely worth a spot on the list for the week. Congrats to Bobby Lashley.

4) Timothy Thatcher: So far, 2016 has been a very rough year for Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher. Injuries and disappointing matches have plagued it. This weekend though, he seemed to turn it around. His title defense against Chris Hero at Evolve 62 was great and easily his best showing of the year. I've heard good things about his match with Tracy Williams at Evolve 63 as well, though I haven't seen it yet. Hopefully, this means things turn around for a man who was so, so good in 2015.

5) Tony Nese: Qualified for the WWE Cruiserweight Cassic.

Evolve 62 Review

Evolve 62
June 10th, 2016 | The Orpheum in Ybor City, Florida

Lenny Leonard and Rob Naylor were in the ring to open the show. They ran down some of the big matches for the Ybor City crowd.

Fred Yehi def. Anthony Nese in 16:04
I just love that Yehi is introduced as “angry, pissed off and short”. He came just shy of making the Cruiserweight Classic at Evolve 61. Since the split of the Premiere Athlete Brand, Nese has turned over a new leaf somewhat. They went back and forth early on, showing they had scouted each other well. Yehi wasn’t just content working the leg or the knee, he even worked the feet at times. That was certainly interesting. It was smart to take out the leg, since Nese uses high flying stuff to his advantage. Nese wasn’t as interested in selling the work as Yehi was in doing it though. Yehi used his trademark stomps to really put the pressure on the ankles of Nese. Nese had Yehi’s Koji Clutch scouted expertly, avoiding or countering it at every turn. However, he missed the 450 splash and Yehi locked it in to pick up his first singles win. Good stuff from both men. I was more impressed by Yehi, but Nese did pretty good too. ***¼

Anthony Nese asked for a microphone and said he had been in a rut for about a year. He claimed that he wanted the Premiere Athlete Brand to be about the best athletes, but it became a group of assholes. He said that Valifornia was dead and he wanted to revitalize his career with the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. Nese entered himself into the Cruiserweight Classic Flashpoint the next night and, after this show, it was announced that he was in the Classic.

Ethan Page def. Darby Allen in 9:20
This was a rematch from Evolve 59. Ethan Page had some new theme music. Allen was much different this time around, as getting mostly squashed in his debut seemed to have made him a little nuts. It really felt like Allen was resilient and determined to make up for Evolve 59. He started with some hot, fast paced offense, before Page press slammed him outside, where he took a rough landing. They sold it as if it could have ended things, but Allen got up and back inside. The match mostly slowed after that spot. Page hit the RK-Ego but Allen kicked out. Allen came close on a small package, but lost to a package piledriver as Page predicted. Fine little match here. Allen still has character work to do to nail it, but his ring work was mostly solid. **¾

Matt Riddle def. Cedric Alexander in 10:36
With him recently leaving ROH, Cedric Alexander made his Evolve debut here. Matt Riddle continued to be super over everywhere Evolve goes. They went to the mat, where Riddle had a clear upper hand, so Alexander went to using his speed for an advantage. Riddle came back with, as Naylor said on commentary, a German suplex that even Rick Steiner would be impressed with. Riddle locked in a Bromission only a few minutes in and I thought it could have ended there. That’s how well that move and Riddle in general, has been handled. Cedric came very close on a sick backbreaker but Riddle got his foot on the bottom rope. Alexander made a mistake on a high risk move, leading to another Bromission where he tapped out. Really good stuff. Riddle bumped and sold well for Alexander in his debut, Riddle continued to look like a star and Cedric had a good debut. All you could ask for. ***¾

Evolve Tag Team Championship: Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams (c) w/ Fred Yehi and TJP def. The Bravado Brothers in 27:27
The Bravados are fresh off of a heel turn. There was a rather long back and forth to open things. Neither team gained a real advantage for a while and though it wasn’t bad, it seemed to be taking a while to really get going. They weren’t doing anything bad, it just wasn’t anything too great either. There was an assisted back suplex spot that spawned a “better than Gable” chant. Thankfully, it didn’t catch on. They didn’t abide by typical tag formula, which was appreciated. The final few minutes were frantic, but I feel like they overdid it on the near fall barrage. The Bravados hit all of their fancy double team moves, though some didn’t come off as crisply as they probably wanted, but it was never enough. Finally, after almost a half hour, Williams used a top rope DDT to retain. There was certainly some good here, but it was rather uneven and definitely dragged at times. Cut it down and tighten it up and you’ve got a much better match. ***

Drew Gulak got on the microphone after the match and put over Catch Point. He then brought up the fact that he has the Evolve Title in the back and said that Timothy Thatcher, if he was a real champion, wouldn’t have let him physically take it. Drew wanted Thatcher to man up and give the Catch Point members the title shots they deserve. Thatcher showed up and knocked over the cardboard Evolve sign in the entrance. They seriously need to upgrade that. He said that he told them they would all get their shots eventually but tonight he faces Chris Hero and he tells them to leave his ring. Hero came out and called Catch Point the “kids” that will go to bed while the “men” fight.

Evolve Championship: Timothy Thatcher (c) def. Chris Hero in 22:50
Hero has been his usual great self in 2016 so far, while Thatcher has been a massive disappointment. Right off the bat, commentary sold it well that while Thatcher is champion, Hero might just be the best in the world. They also talked about his departure from WWE and what it would mean if he won the Evolve Title while partnered with the WWE. There was a methodical pace to this and it worked. Hero went after the elbow and used his vicious strikes, while Thatcher targeted the ankle. The shots delivered throughout this were almost all vicious. Hero abused Thatcher, including shots to his previously injured ear, but Thatcher manned up and wouldn’t go down. Hero stopped a headbutt with a sick elbow before nailing his own headbutt to the back of the head for a near fall. Thatcher finally struck with a big headbutt and applied the Fujiwara armbar. He perfectly transitioned it to the other arm to prevent Hero from grabbing the ropes and then into a different armbar variation to make him submit. Not quite as good as their BOLA match last year, but easily the best Thatcher showing of 2016. Physical, smart and all around great stuff. ****

Catch Point came back out. Tracy Williams said that they aren’t thieves and he likes to take things from people face to face. He requested a title shot at Evolve 63 the next night. Thatcher agreed and promised to hurt everyone who touched and disrespected his title while he was away. That includes Stokely Hathaway, who had the referee put it on him in front of Thatcher. He heard that and quickly got rid of it. Matt Riddle, who rubbed his junk on the title a while back, called Thatcher “trash” and they should be heading towards a third match.

Non-Sanctioned Street Fight: Drew Galloway and Ethan Carter III def. Johnny Gargano and TJP w/ Stokely Hathaway in 20:38
This is pretty much the coolest story going in wrestling right now. Galloway and Carter represent the people who have a disdain for the WWE and their partnership with Evolve, while Gargano and TJP represent the other side. Seconds after the bell, EC3 knocked out the referee, really giving this an unsanctioned feel. The fight spilled through the crowd like a street fight should. EC3 was sure to take a beer and do his best Yoshitatsu, spitting it like Triple H. Then, it spilled outside where Gargano and EC3 fought on a damn pedicab. It was great to watch them battle and throw each other into lamp posts and such in front of confused pedestrians. Back inside, Gargano and TJP did the Pee Wee Herman “Tequila” dance on the bar after taking out EC3. After TJP got powerbombed through a table, Drew Gulak showed up to check on him. Chris Hero then ran out and laid him out. He also attacked Gargano and TJP, which led to TJP taking a Tombstone and losing. This felt like a non-sanctioned match, which a lot of them don’t always accomplish. It was wacky in the best possible way and the addition of Hero was cool. ***½

Galloway grabbed the microphone after the bell and announced that Chris Hero was officially with them. He also stated that Cody Rhodes, who will be making his Evolve debut on August 19th, was on their side and will face Gargano in his debut. EC3 finished things off by plugging TNA Slammiversary, causing commentary to shout for the show to be shut down. Awesome stuff all around.

Overall: 7.5/10. 2016 seems to be a year full of good, but not great shows. This was another. Nothing on the card is bad at all. Page/Allen is passable and the Tag Title match drags but everything else is really enjoyable. You get a solid opener, great debut for Alexander, excellent Evolve Title match and a really fun main event punctuated by a great angle.

Raw History: Episodes #40-42

Raw History
Episode #40
November 15th, 1993 | Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania

The show opens with a recap of Macho Man going nuts on Crush last Monday night. Vince McMahon informs us that Shawn Michaels has been reinstated and will replace Jerry Lawler at Survivor Series due to some “legal issues.” For those unaware, Jerry was accused of raping a teenage girl.

Non-Title Match
WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs. The Brooklyn Brawler
For being such a famous jobber, I haven’t seen much of the Brooklyn Brawler. He attacks before the bell and puts a hurting on Razor. That obviously doesn’t last long as Razor hits a fallaway slam and gets in the driver’s seat. Surprisingly, Brawler gets in more offense but makes a crucial mistake by setting early and it leads to the Razor’s Edge.

Winner: Razor Ramon in 2:49
A surprisingly solid squash. It was fun to see the Brooklyn Brawler get in more offense than most guys and Razor still was able to win in short order while looking strong. *½ 

Crush cuts a promo backstage on Randy Savage, saying that he’s going to run into trouble for what he did last week. 

An ad runs to promote the “Survivor Series Showdown”, which is not on the WWE Network. Bret Hart gets a rematch at Yokozuna and the WWF Title.

The Headshrinkers w/ Afa vs. Mike Bucci and Mike Maraldo
The jobbers actually get a near fall when they dogpile on top of Fatu. He puts an end to that with a big savant kick. They can win the match fairly quickly but Fatu picks up his opponent before the three. The Headshrinkers put an end to this with a double leg sweep and big splash.

Winners: The Headshrinkers in 4:16
I feel like this lasted a bit too long to be considered an enjoyable squash. They weren’t in their usual jobber killing mode, so this doesn’t score high. ½*

We now get a clip from Superstars, where the “All-Americans” announced their replacement for Tatanka. Lex Luger and the Steiner Brothers reveal that it will be the Undertaker. That is a clear upgrade. Undertaker opening his trench coat to reveal the American flag was cool. Bobby Heenan steals the show with a line of “YOU CAN’T HAVE A PARTNER THAT’S DEAD! THAT’S UNFAIR!” Classic.

Lex Luger vs. Pierre w/ Johnny Polo
Lux Luger attacks at the bell, because he’s far more comfortable as a heel. He’s in charge for a bit with some of his signature SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES! They try a Polo distraction but it backfires when Luger backdrops Pierre on the outside. After a commercial break, it is a successful Polo distraction that turns the tide. Pierre gets two on a diet Vader splash. He moves into a rest hold for a bit since they’re giving them two commercial breaks to work through. Pierre gets two on a piledriver. They’re trying to build up how resilient Lex Luger is, since he continues to kick out. Luger begins to rally, slamming Pierre from the top and tossing Polo from the apron. He hits the LOADED FOREARM and wins.

Winner: Lex Luger in 13:24
Not the worst match but I think it was a bit too long for the quality of these two guys. They did the best I would expect these two to do with this amount of time. **

Pierre is basically dead and is now going to be out of Survivor Series.

Diesel vs. Sid Garrison
Hey, a Sid vs. Diesel match would end up headlining a few Pay-Per-Views in about a year and a half. As expected, Diesel just beats the stuffing out of Garrison. He runs through the few moves that he knows, like a side slam and big boot. Sid Garrison isn’t even worth the Jackknife as he finishes him with an elbow.

Winner: Diesel in 3:23
Your basic squash match. It was absolutely all Diesel and at the very least, it wasn’t really boring. ¾*

Todd Pettengil brings us the Survivor Series Report with no real news.

To close the show, another Jeff Jarrett vignette airs, featuring a cameo from Jacqueline.

Overall: 3/10; Poor. Another lackluster effort for Raw. The squash matches were not of the more entertaining variety and the marquee matchup was decent at best. Also, I feel like the marquee match should either open or close the show. At least the build for Survivor Series was somewhat good.

---

Raw History
Episode #41
November 29th, 1993 | Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York

Survivor Series has come and gone with Raw being off the air for a week. Side note, I’ve always liked the look of this venue. Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are on commentary since Macho Man has been suspended from commentary for the attack on Crush. They run down the show, which sounds pretty good actually.

The Steiner Brothers vs. Mike Khoury and Reno Riggins
Scott Steiner takes down Khoury a few times before pulling out a dragon suplex. Reno gets tagged but wants no part of the Steiners. Scott dropkicks him and then does the damn screwdriver again. Seriously dude, you are killing these guys. He drags Riggins and makes Khoury tag in just so he can suplex him. He ends it with the Frankensteiner.

Winners: The Steiner Brothers in 3:44
I always love me a good Steiner jobber killing. Using a dragon suplex, screwdriver and Frankensteiner made this fun. *¾

Commentary discusses how Yokozuna was scared of the Undertaker during the main event of Survivor Series, building towards our next big WWF Title program.

Another Jeff Jarrett vignette is shown. He gets kicked out of a talent agency because he’s annoying.

Non-Title Match
WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs. Diesel
Who would have thought in 1993 that these two guys would change the course of wrestling history just two and a half years later? As far as I know, this is their first one on one meeting. Razor tries to go after the arm for some reason but Diesel overpowers him a few times. Diesel goes into his offense like snake eyes, the side slam and a bearhug to wear down Razor. I’m surprised at how one sided this has been, showing that Vince was already into the idea of pushing Diesel. Razor rallies, hitting a bulldog that looks pretty bad. As he calls for the Razor’s Edge, the returning Shawn Michaels attacks him.

Winner via disqualification: Razor Ramon in 5:16
Nowhere near the level they were capable of as shown by their SummerSlam 1994 match. It was a good way of showing how tough Razor was, while showing how dominant Diesel could be.*½ 

Shawn Michaels calls for a piledriver on the Intercontinental Title but the 1-2-3 Kid makes the save. THE KLIQ IS EVERYWHERE! Diesel and Shawn Michaels retreat. These four would have a tag team match on WWF Action Zone in 1994 that was fantastic.

Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon vs. John Crystal
Bigelow dominates this from start to finish. He uses the neck vice, which I never liked. There is definitely some stalling from Bigelow since he doesn’t seem to know what to do to make this last the allotted time they were given. He finally wins with a kick to the skull.

Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 3:14
Another relatively dull Bigelow squash. ½*

We go to footage from Wrestling Challenge, where Santa Clause has a gift for Doink. He pulls Dink out of his bag. Hooray, now I get to see the Doink/Dink pairing for the next few months. That was sarcasm if you couldn’t tell.

Vince McMahon is in the ring to announce the 1993 Superstar of the Year. He brings out the runner-up, Lex Luger. This seems like another shining example of Lex Luger being a loser. He can’t win big matches or even an award like this. He thanks the fans and brings out the actual winner, Bret Hart. Bobby Heenan tries to play it off like he thought he’d win, which was odd. His speech is kind of just there and then Luger raises Bret’s arm in victory like the bitch he is.

A clip is shown from Survivor Series where Owen Hart accidentally knocked Bret Hart into the guardrail and it led to him getting pinned. He would be the only Hart eliminated in the match. He was pissed off and then got in Bret’s face after the bell. This would begin the excellent rivalry between him and Bret. Helen Hart sells this very well.

Owen Hart vs. Chris Duffy
Owen Hart is wearing his brother’s trademark glasses, showing off his cocky attitude. While Owen gets in some offense, we are told that Shawn Michaels has challenged the 1-2-3 Kid for next week. Some “we want Bret” chants start. Owen wins with the Sharpshooter in great fashion.

Winner: Owen Hart in 2:40
A fine squash match here. Owen Hart is always entertaining, especially now that he’s turned heel. *¾

Bobby Heenan tries to interview Owen hart about Bret winning Superstar of the Year and what happened at Survivor Series but Owen just walks off.

Ludvig Borga vs. Scott Taylor
Hey, Scotty 2 Hotty is back! Ludvig Borga misses an elbow but everything that Taylor tries is no sold. Borga then turns him inside out on a clothesline and wins with the torture rack.

Winner: Ludvig Borga in 2:21
Typical stuff from Ludvig Borga. He dominated and at least he didn’t kill time. ¾*

We then get 1-2-3 Kid accepting the challenge of Shawn Michaels. It’s hilarious that he calls him Mr. Michaels.

Overall: 4/10. Weak. While this wasn’t the best of episodes from an in-ring standpoint, I appreciated some of the Survivor Series fallout. The Steiners were fun and we got all of that Kliq action. Owen Hart was a fun addition too as his new heel character was about to become my favorite thing in the company.

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Raw History
Episode #42
December 6th, 1993 | Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York

We start with a recap of Shawn Michaels’ attack on Razor Ramon last week before the 1-2-3 Kid made the save, setting the stage for tonight’s match. Bobby Heenan and Vince McMahon then argue about whether or not Shawn Michaels is actually the Intercontinental Champion. Also, Heenan has bene badmouthing Gorilla Monsoon for a few weeks and Monsoon may retaliate tonight.

1-2-3 Kid vs. Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels is carrying the Intercontinental Title as he never relinquished it when he was suspended. I’ll never understand why Michaels wore his tights so damn high. The action starts very fast with them only messing up on one awkward spot. Kid springboards out onto Shawn and Vince says he’s never seen that move before, even though I’ve seen Kid do it on Raw already this year. Kid slows things inside and Shawn has trouble breaking free of a headlock. He finally does and uses a head scissors to send Kid outside. Kid tries to dive off the apron but Shawn catches him with a powerslam on the outside. Shawn hits a backbreaker and Kid counters a superplex into a cross body for two. Shawn continue to play the stronger man, which is a nice change of pace for him. Kid hits a big moonsault for two, which is how he beat Razor back in May. He climbs up top and misses a big somersault as they go to another commercial. When we return, Shawn hits a superkick but I guess it still wasn’t his finisher. He signals for the end like Razor Ramon would and hits the Razor’s Edge. He could win, but Shawn instead picks him Kid up. For some reason, Vince thinks that could result in a DQ. He hits a second and out comes Razor in a ridiculous outfit. Shawn runs from Razor and both guys are outside, leading to a double countout.

Double countout in 11:02
Really good stuff here. Their chemistry probably stemmed from their close friendship and Shawn looked determined now that he’s back from suspension. A really fun match here. ***¼

Shawn Michaels runs from Razor Ramon until Diesel lays out Razor. This allows Shawn to hit a Razor’s Edge on the floor to Razor himself. Surprisingly, he even hits a second as officials try to stop him.

Non-Title Match
WWF Tag Team Champions The Quebecers vs. Bert Centano and Mike Walsh
Since Survivor Series has passed, Pierre is now ready to wrestle. I honestly don’t know how replaced him at Survivor Series. A quick look and it was Crush. Anyway I don’t know which jobber is which, but one of them actually hits a nice monkey flip on Pierre. The Quebecers obviously get right back in control and win with their cannonball finisher.

Winners: The Quebecers in 4:21
Not much to write about here. A standard squash with nothing special. It wasn’t dull, so that helped. *

Owen Hart cuts a promo about how everything is about Bret Hart, but he’s coming with a surprise that will make everything be about him.

Doink w/ Dink vs. Tony DeVito
I feel like Tony DeVito has set the jobber record for appearances this year. This is no longer Matt Borne playing Doink, instantly disappointing me. Basically, Doink is going through the motions of boring offense while Dink walks around pulling shenanigans out of his ass. Seriously, it’s dull as hell. He wins with the Whoopee Cushion.

Winner: Doink in 5:51
Who thought this should go nearly six minutes? It was an awful squash, made worse by Dink’s dumb ringside antics. DUD.

Time for yet another Jeff Jarrett vignette. That’s J-E-DOUBLE F. J-A-DOUBLE R-E-DOUBLE T.

A commercial informs us that next week, the Macho Man returns to the ring!

Crush w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Tony Roy
Bobby Heenan says that Mr. Fuji celebrates the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Damn. Macho Man calls in and it’s more interesting than anything Crush is doing. Vince says that Crush looks awesome, which is the opposite of how I’d say he looks. He seems to have fused his new heel attire with his neon face attire. The phone call connection sucks and it breaks up to the point where we can’t understand anything Savage says. Crush wins and nobody cares.

Winner: Crush in 3:53
As usual with Crush, this is not good. He was never any good. ½*

They get ready to go off the air but Gorilla Monsoon makes his way out to ringside. He gets his revenge on Heenan, dragging him by the collar and physically kicking him out of the arena. This would be the end of Heenan’s WWF run. He and Gorilla came up with this and, according to Heenan, spent an hour or so reminiscing in their hotel after.

Overall: 6/10; Average. Everything after the opener is pretty dreadful in the ring, as the three matches barely manage *½. However, it is memorable for Bobby Heenan’s exit and the marquee matchup delivers as Shawn Michaels and the 1-2-3 Kid have a really good encounter. Worth checking out for the opener and the closing segment.