Raw History
Episode #46
January 3rd, 1994 | Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York
Technically, we aren’t in 1994 just yet. This show was taped in Poughkeepsie nearly a month ago.
The show begins with multiple clips to hype the Yokozuna/Undertaker match at the Royal Rumble. It focuses on how Yokozuna is scared of caskets. I honestly believe there were much better ways to promote the match than to say that the “monster” champion was afraid.
My goodness, the commentary team is Vince McMahon and Johnny Polo. This should be the best pairing yet.
Non-Title Match
WWF Champion Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Dan Dubiel
Johnny Polo is already stealing the show by saying that Yokozuna is “dope”, then hitting us with the “Dubiel or not Dubiel, that is the question” line. As expected, this is completely one-sided with the only entertaining thing being Johnny Polo on commentary.
Winner: Yokozuna in 3:49
Yokozuna dominating is how this needed to be, but it shouldn’t have taken him nearly four minutes. Who is planning out these squashes? ¼*
Time for a pre-taped interview with Lex Luger. We see footage from this past weekend first where Lex Luger faced Jacques Rougeau on Superstars. Pierre pulled twin magic that somehow fooled the referee, only for the referee to notice afterwards. Then Luger used his forearm of doom to win. Now, Vince interviews him in the arena before the show about potentially being in the Royal Rumble.
A vignette airs for Thurman “Sparky” Plugg.
Bastion Booger and Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon v. The Smoking Guns
Why does Bastion Booger keep getting booked? I’m guessing this is our “marquee” match this week. Polo is just murdering the Guns on commentary and it’s glorious. To be fair, he’s also pretty crude to Bastion too. The heels go into working a heat on Bart Gunn, but it is not entertaining in the least. When Billy gets the hot tag, Polo quips “HE’S LIKE A MAN REPOSSESSED.” It’s a glorious oversell. Luna checks on Bastion outside while Bigelow gets worked over inside. Booger likes this and hugs and kisses Luna, as the Guns just beat on Bigelow. He avoids a move from the Guns and then gets distracted when he sees Booger basically trying to rape Luna. He brawls with his partner, leading to a countout.
Winners via countout: The Smoking Guns in 8:08
Wait, why did this happen? The Smoking Guns should have just gone over, pinning Booger. Instead, we get a double countout and I don’t believe this Booger/Bigelow feud ever went anywhere. The match was dull as well. ½*
The show is thrown to Todd Pettengill for the Royal Rumble Report. 27 names have been announced. The new ones, I think, are Billy and Bart Gunn, Rick Martel, Marty Jannetty, Mo, Jeff Jarrett, Ludvig Borga and Tatanka. This weekend on Superstars, the final three spots will be filled. I wish the WWE Network had those old Superstars episodes up. Also, Tatanka and Borga will meet in a singles match on the show as well.
Next week, the one year anniversary of Raw!
Jeff Jarrett vs. John Crystal
Once again, Jeff Jarrett is sporting some ridiculous attire. Crystal actually uses a small package for two. It tells you how good the 1-2-3 Kid angle was because people tend to pop for jobbers nearly beating heels now. Jarrett then goes into some offense and wins with a DDT.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett in 3:01
Typical heel squash. Jeff Jarrett jawed with the fans and got in some basic stuff. Inoffensive, but not worth it. ¾*
After a recap of Johnny Polo’s win over Marty Jannetty last week, out come Jannetty and the 1-2-3 Kid. They challenge the Quebecers and next week, Jannetty and Kid get a Tag Team Title shot!
Shawn Michaels w/ Diesel vs. Brian Walsh
During the match, the Quebecers call in and seem okay with defending the belts next week. As for the match, it’s one of those occasions where Shawn Michaels relishes in being the bigger guy, busting out powerslams and such. Walsh does get a near fall, but Shawn eventually puts him down with a piledriver.
Winner: Shawn Michaels in 5:07
Too long for my taste. Shawn Michaels looked bored throughout, which hurt things. ¾*
They hype the Tag Team Title match for next week and the Bastion Booger vs. Bam Bam Bigelow match. Yikes.
Overall: 2/10. When it comes to action, this was not the best episode. None of the matches are any good and the marquee one might have been the worst. Still, at least the dull squash matches featured guys that actually needed to look strong and weren’t irrelevant like I’ve seen in the past. Those poor souls in Poughkeepsie ended their massive taping with this trash.
Raw History
Episode #47
January 10th, 1993 | Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia
After weeks of a giant taping block, we are finally live! Macho Man comes out to star the show, in a Monday Night Raw themed jacket that looks pretty sweet. He is back on commentary!
WWF Tag Team Championship
The Quebecers (c) w/ Johnny Polo vs. 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty
The action starts fast as Marty Jannetty scores a quick victory roll for a near fall. Pierre and Kid are next in and Pierre knocks him down using size. Kid scores with a spinning heel kick and gets two. The crowd is biting for each near fall from the challengers. Honestly, if I were the Quebecers, I’d want every math to be under Province of Quebec Rules. They get sent outside and regroup with Polo. Kid and Jannetty work some double teams and I have to give props to this red hot crowd. Polo calls for a timeout and the Quebecers are ready to leave but decide against it. During a commercial, it looks like the belts change hands but Jacques got his foot on the bottom rope. Kid gets the tag and goes nuts, hitting all sorts of high impact stuff. Some good old fashioned heel tactics stop his momentum. Kid takes the heat, showing how resilient he is. The Quebecers hit their finish but don’t cover, which is dumb. They try it again but Jannetty breaks it up. This leads to the hot tag for Marty and they capture the belts following a double team finish.
Winners and New WWF Tag Team Champions: 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty in 14:01
Really solid tag team match, helped by the extremely hot crowd. I liked the majority of this match as it started hot, slowed in the middle with a purpose before picking back up in the end. Lots of fun and gave us a memorable moment for Raw’s first anniversary. ***¼
Jim Ross brings us the Royal Rumble Report because Todd Pettengill is snowed in. The final three names for the Royal Rumble match have been announced and they are Tenryu, the Great Kabuki and Lex Luger.
Ludvig Borga vs. Brad Anderson
This match is joined in progress after we see one of Raw’s “top moments”. It’s the dreadfully bad Tiny Tim segment from last year. After the opener, we saw highlights for an actual great Raw moment, when 1-2-3 Kid upset Razor Ramon. Borga dominates this, winning with the torture rack.
Winner: Ludvig Borga in 2:28
At least this was kept short. Ludvig Borga isn’t the most interesting guy to watch. ½*
We go to a clip from Superstars where Undertaker scared the fuck out of Yokozuna after he beat some jobbers.
The Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer vs. Mike Hudson
Macho Man predicts that Undertaker will win the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble and Vince predicts Savage will win the Rumble itself, setting up Undertaker/Savage at Mania, which would have been interesting. Undertaker throws the jobber around, hitting snake eyes, a Chokeslam and busts out the JUMPING TOMBSTONE!
Winner: The Undertaker in 2:33
Better than the earlier squash since Undertaker is better than Ludvig Borga. Still, standard stuff that gets bumped up in rating because of that tombstone. *¼
Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon vs. Bastion Booger
This whole thing is so odd. Booger actually tries a splash but misses. He knocks down Bigelow and goes to flirt with Luna, allowing Bigelow to nail him. He hits the headbutt inside and wins.
Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 2:31
Not as bad as I thought it would be, but still not good at all. ½*
Bastion Booger doesn’t’ care about selling, standing up once the match ends and flirting with Luna again. Bigelow is all like “DID I NOT JUST SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HIT ON MY WOMAN?” and dropkicks him.
The Quebecers are interviewed backstage and they announce that their rematch is set for a house show in Madison Square Garden next Monday.
IRS shows up to cut off the cake cutting ceremony for Raw’s birthday. Since IRS is a total fun magnet, Macho Man smashes the cake into his face and they’ll have a match next week.
Overall: 5.5/10. As I’ve said before, if the marquee match is good, the overall score of Raw won’t usually be bad since they take up a good chunk of the episode. That was the case here as our opener was really good. The show takes a nosedive after though, culminating in a bad main event. However, we did get a jumping tombstone.
Raw History
Episode #48
January 17th, 1994 | Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia
The episode starts with clips from the Tag Team Title match last week. Since Macho Man will be in action, Vince McMahon’s commentary partner will be Crush. Good god, why? Crush is awful at everything, especially talking. He aggressively speaks in his Hawaiian accent which kills me.
Owen Hart w/ Bret Hart vs. Terry Austin
Owen Hart is acting like a face again now that he has Bret at his side. He even gives his shades to a young fan. Owen hits an ugly monkey flip since the tubby Terry Austin can’t really make it over. Stan Lane calls in to give us an update from MSG where the Quebecers have their Tag Team Title rematch. Owen wins with the Sharpshooter.
Winner: Owen Hart in 4:27
Owen Hart usually has entertaining squashes, but this wasn’t one of my favorite ones. I do like how he had slight twists on Bret’s offense like how his second rope elbow was a variation of Bret’s but not identical. ¾*
Vince McMahon tries to get a word with Owen Hart about the match in MSG. The surreal thing is that this is pre-recorded but they’re asking about a match that wouldn’t happen for another week. Taping multiple shows at once is odd. Owen wants the Quebecers to win so they can get their shot but Bret, ever the face, roots for the champions.
Tatanka vs. George South
George South has a distinct look. Commentary is hyping Ludvig Borga vs. Tatanka which would never actually happen. On this night, the actual January 17th and not the pre-recorded stuff, Borga would injure his ankle and miss the Rumble. He would leave the WWF shortly after. Tatanka starts his rally as Stan Lane calls in to say that the Tag Team Title match has begun. Tatanka wins following the flying chop.
Winner: Tatanka in 2:50
Standard dull Tatanka squash. He was never really good in my eyes. ¼*
We are now taken to a special look at Alundra Blayze. It features shots of her working out and ends with her standing in a bikini top.
Yokozuna and Mr. Fuji come out for an interview with Vince McMahon. There’s no Jim Cornette, making this painful as he is the mouthpiece for the group. The talking is kept short though as Paul Bearer wheels out a big ass casket. Vince McMahon is oddly excited at how freaked out this makes Yokozuna. They convince Yokozuna to take a closer look, which of course leads to Undertaker popping out and chasing him away. Well, Yokozuna went from monster champion to punk bitch quickly didn’t he?
A hype video airs to promote the Headshrinkers taking on Bret and Owen Hart next week. That actually sounds like it could be damn good.
Diesel w/ Shawn Michaels vs. Scott Powers
For being a guy named Powers, Scott is not very strong. He looks like Lucky Bob from that old cartoon Histeria. As Diesel beats up the jobber, Stan Lane calls in to tell us that the Quebecers have won back the WWF Tag Team Titles! Diesel wins handily.
Winner: Diesel in 3:29
It’s hard to continually give analysis on squash matches. Standard stuff as usual and just barely lasted short enough to not get on my nerves. ¾*
Time for the Royal Rumble Report with Todd Pettengill again. He gives us no new news.
IRS vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage
While Randy Savage is arguing with Crush, IRS attacks. This first ten seconds is more exciting than any other IRS match ever. IRS continues to hold serve through a commercial break, back to his typical dull offense. He does do a suplex from the apron though, which is the equivalent of a phoenix splash for him. He plods through his stuff until he jumps into Savage’s boot, turning things around. Savage gets ready for his finisher but Crush gets up and shoves him from the top.
Winner via disqualification: Randy Savage in 8:07
This would have been better if it involved more Randy Savage on offense. IRS is just too damn boring at everything he does. *½
Crush and IRS attack Randy Savage, only for Tatanka to try and make the save. Yokozuna takes out Tatanka, who was already doing a poor job. Lex Luger evens things up before the lock room empties to give us a preview of the Royal Rumble.
Overall: 2.5/10. The in-ring stuff this week was pretty horrid with even the marquee matchup not producing. However, the show did succeed in building towards the Royal Rumble. They gave us the news of the Tag Title change, had the Undertaker/Yokozuna segment and then the closing brawl.
1) AJ Styles: I'd say my favorite match of the week was a toss up between the ones won by my first and second choice. I went with AJ Styles because of what his win meant. Styles has been great all year but his biggest moment so far came at SummerSlam when he defeated John Cena, cleanly, in a great match. To follow it up on Smackdown, Styles bragged and got into it with Dolph Ziggler. It led to a main event match where, if Ziggler won, he'd face Styles and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match at Backlash for the WWE Championship. Styles won an awesome match and got right in Dean's face, setting the stage for what should be a top notch PPV main event for Smackdown.
2) TJ Perkins: The second round of the Cruiserweight Classic wrapped this week with possibly the best episode. They saved the best for last as TJ Perkins and Johnny Gargano had a great match that saw a bit of an upset. A lot of people figured Gargano would make it far since he's been heavily featured on NXT in recent months. Instead, TJ Perkins got the win with a knee bar. I loved the result because Perkins has a load of potential and honestly, probably should win since Kota Ibushi has yet to sign a deal. Make Perkins the cocky heel to lead the division on Raw. The dude is immensely talented and I'm sure we'll see it again when he faces Rich Swann in the quarterfinals. Anyway, as of right now, expect this match to find its way, along with Ziggler/Styles, into my big year end match rankings.
3) Bayley: It finally happened. After waiting for months and months and getting teased at Battleground, Bayley officially got called up to the main roster. With Sasha Banks on the shelf and the Raw women's divisions severely lacking, she showed up and looks to be in line as Charlotte's next challenger for the Women's Title. She challenged Charlotte but got Dana Brooke instead, winning a ho hum match. Bayley herself has said that she wants a slow build to the title, but considering we had to sit through a boring 309 day reign for Charlotte already, get the title on Bayley as soon as humanely possible.
4) The Miz: Though he didn't wrestle on television this week, The Miz made more headlines than anyone. On WWE Network's "Talking Smack", the Miz interrupted Daniel Bryan and Renee Young to question why he wasn't on TV. Bryan was a dick and said he believes Miz wrestles like a coward and that he was more impressed with Apollo Crews than him at SummerSlam. Miz snapped and verbally ripped into Bryan about the fact that his style of wrestling makes it so he can do it for nearly ten years without injury. He mocked Bryan for promising to return for the fans and then never doing so, prompting Bryan to walk off set. Miz wrapped the promo by passionately putting over the Intercontinental Title. It was an emotional promo that left everyone talking and, if we can get more of this Miz, I'm all for it. Hell, outside of AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose, he'd be my third pick for WWE Champion on Tuesdays.
5) American Alpha: Advanced in the Smackdown Tag Team Title Tournament with a win over Breezango in a really good match.
TLC 2011
December 18th, 2011 | 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland | Attendance: 9,000
During the summer of 2011, CM Punk was the hottest thing in the wrestling world. He won the WWE Championship but that was then ruined by a terrible angle with Kevin Nash and Triple H. The month before this event, they fixed that situation somewhat by putting the belt back on him. Of note here, this is the only Pay-Per-View I can think of that didn’t feature John Cena when he was completely healthy. This would be the third TLC event in history.
The opening video package focuses on the big matches on the show, set to a Christmas themed rhyme.
WWE United States Championship
Dolph Ziggler (c) w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Zack Ryder
Here we are at the peak of the “Ryder Revolution.” A month earlier, there were “We Want Ryder” chants in MSG while the Rock of all people was talking. That’s being over. The crowd is into it as Ryder sends Dolph outside rather early and then somersaults onto him. Dolph comes back with a DDT on the apron that looks pretty lame. The heart stopper elbows follow for two. Dolph is so good at the Showoff role, but he doesn’t draw enough heat. He busts out an Angle slam for two. Ryder starts to rally with a second rope dropkick and the Broski Boot. It was one of those corny moves that was over like crazy. Vickie puts Dolph’s foot on the bottom rope and gets ejected. After trading rollups, Dolph hits the Fameasser for two. Ryder is pulling out all of the stops, using a top rope rana for a near fall. The Rough Ryder is countered into a rollup. Dolph goes for the Stinger Splash but Ryder blocks it with knees and hits the Rough Ryder. He gets the 1-2-3 and the place explodes.
Winner and New WWE United States Champion: Zack Ryder in 10:24
Here is an example of the perfect storm. Zack Ryder was incredibly over and it came at a time where Dolph Ziggler could afford the loss. This is kind of what you want from an opener. The crowd was FULLY invested and they had a good match, while not overdoing anything. The match gets elevated a bit by the molten hot crowd. ***¼
Zack Ryder celebrates with the fans, including his father, who is front row in full Ryder gear. Cutting backstage, Booker T is getting hyped up with Alicia Fox. Cody Rhodes appears to attack him before their match.
WWE Tag Team Championship
AirBoom (c) vs. Primo and Epico w/ Rosa Mendes
These are two really solid tag teams, so this should be good. Primo is an underrated favorite of mine. He tries to monkey flip Kofi Kingston, but he lands on his feet and does one to Primo. AirBoom does a double team which reminds me of how good they were. Primo and Epico star to work a heat on Evan Bourne, while Rosa Mendes shouts her terrible Spanish at ringside. Epico does a cool series of suplexes for two. Kofi gets the hot tag and does his thing, taking out both of his challengers. He hits the Boom Drop, but not Trouble in Paradise. Bourne runs in and leaps out onto Epico on the outside. Primo charges but Kofi dodges, sending him into the ropes and he rebounds into Trouble in Paradise. To end this.
Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: AirBoom in 7:32
Disappointing. I feel like AirBoom had potential to be a staple of the tag team division if they would have stayed together. You would barely guess that here. It was technically fine, but the fact that Primo and Epico weren’t really over hurt the heat of the match. Add in that it didn’t get enough time to fully build to that heat, and you have a match that lacked. **
We get told that Booker vs. Cody may now be off. Cut to Teddy Long dressed as Santa and Hornswoggle dressed as an elf. It wasn’t really good.
Tables Match
Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett
It’s our first specialty match of the evening. I find it weird seeing Wade Barrett with relatively long hair. They trade shots until the first table comes into play. Orton kind of see-saws it into his face before they fight towards the entrance. Wade tries a pumphandle slam through a table but it’s too early so Orton counters. Wade instantly throws the table over, which is a little touch that I like. He wants to make sure he doesn’t lose this thing. Back towards the ring and Barrett is in control. He big boots Orton off the apron but Orton wisely grabs the ropes so he doesn’t fall through the table. They now battle on the apron, which builds tension but it just ends with Orton hitting his signature DDT. Wade connects on the Bossman slam to get back in the driver’s seat. Wade just slams a table onto Orton. They put like 100 of them around the ring but breaking one would end this. Wade lays Orton on a table and climbs to the second rope. He leaps off, only for Orton to catch him with an RKOOUTTANOWHERE through the table.
Winner: Randy Orton in 10:16
I honestly expected this to be pretty bad but I actually liked it. Most tables matches are dull and don’t really involve attempts to win. This managed to keep my interest and they did some smart little things to show that they didn’t want to go through a table and build some tension with it. ***
The Bella Twins are sitting on Teddy Long’s lap arguing. When Teddy tries to HOLLA, they get peeved and slap him. The acting is poor. Jack Swagger comes in to complain and then Sheamus shows up. They get in each other’s face and Teddy books an impromptu match as an early Christmas gift. That’s not what I wanted dude.
WWE Divas Championship
Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Kelly Kelly
The previous Monday, Kelly slapped Beth at the Slammy’s, so Beth dares her to do it again. Kelly does and then bulldogs her off the ring apron. Interesting start. Inside, she does the flying head scissors that all Divas are taught. Beth gets pissed and decides to quit playing around. Beth uses her power and Kelly escapes to score some flash pin near falls. Stop me if you’ve heard this match layout before. Beth actually tries to change things up a bit with a leg drop off the top and misses. Kelly botches her next move and Beth just catches her for the Glam Slam. Kelly counters it with a rollup, which she does so much but it isn’t enough. She tries a rana but Beth catches her with an alley-oop to retain.
Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: Beth Phoenix in 5:14
2011 featured a fair amount of Kelly in Divas Title matches and most of them were bad. This may have been the worst. They faced off a bunch of times and each time, they ran the same story with the same moves for the most part. ¾*
Alberto Del Rio and Miz trade insults backstage since their partnership to take out CM Punk is over now that the match is tonight. It ends with Ricardo Rodriguez getting knocked down with food in his face.
Booker T comes out for his match, trying to be a trooper. Cody Rhodes attacks again and lays out Booker in the aisle until officials help the Booker man.
Sledgehammer Ladder Match
Kevin Nash vs. Triple H
Kevin Nash and Ladder Match don’t really go hand in hand. He pounds on Triple H to start and they spill outside. The brawl continues out there, with Nash using the ladder as a weapon. Nash is targeting Triple H’s neck, while Hunter goes after Nash’s legs. Every shot looks rough since I know that Nash’s legs are basically made of glass. He applies a figure four in the ladder, which is rather creative actually though I don’t think it really adds to the move. Shortly after, Nash hits a side slam onto the ladder. He looks for the Jackknife though the announce table but Triple H counters. He goes for the sledgehammer but is stopped and Nash busts out a Chokeslam. After a table is set up, both guys climb the ladder and slug it out. Trips hits him with the sledgehammer, sending him through the table. Nash actually took a middle of the ladder table bump! Triple H retrieves the sledgehammer, but that’s not all it takes to win. He goes after the leg again for some reason before trying the Pedigree. Nash botches it so Triple H has to try again. He hits it and wants another. Nash tries the Kliq signal, but Triple H just ends him with a sledgehammer shot.
Winner: Triple H in 18:14
First of all, I want to give Kevin Nash props for taking the table bump, but other than that, this wasn’t anything special. It was better than I expected it to be, but it was really just two guys that got way too much time and just seemed to be cashing a paycheck. *½
Backstage, CM Punk gets interviewed before getting into it with John Laurinaitis. Their rivalry would reach it’s peak over the next few months.
Jack Swagger w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Sheamus
Michael Cole is sure to note how Sheamus won the WWE Title at TLC two years earlier. Now he’s in a throwaway match against Jack Swagger. Granted, Sheamus would win the Royal Rumble next month and Swagger would win the US Title but still. Sheamus beats on Swagger until a Vickie distraction allows the former World Champion to turn the tide. That doesn’t last long and Sheamus rallies. He goes into his offense and survives an Ankle Lock attempt before winning with the Brogue Kick.
Winner: Sheamus in 4:57
Did they not have enough matches to fill the card? This honestly served no purpose and belonged on Raw or Smackdown. Filler. *¾
World Heavyweight Championship Chairs Match
Mark Henry (c) vs. Big Show
I never would have thought it, but Mark Henry’s “Hall of Pain” run made him enjoyable. Easily the best work in his career. I still don’t get the concept of a Chairs match. Like, if you use a different weapon, would you get disqualified? Is it just a no DQ match with an emphasis on chairs? Anyway, Show instantly goes outside and starts tossing chairs in the ring. Henry tries to leave but Show just wails on him with a chair. Big Show is dealing with an injured hand, which Henry goes after. He does manage to hit the WMD as Henry tries a chair shot. Show sells the hurt hand and gets the three to end a nine year drought without the World Title.
Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Big Show in 5:30
I’ve never seen a good Chairs match and that trend continues here. It was kept short, so it has that going for it. It wasn’t bad or terrible or anything like that, it was just very “blah”. *
Mark Henry is furious and beats up Big Show during his emotional celebration, planting him with a DDT on a chair. Some fans chant “Daniel Bryan” leading to him coming out to cash in Money in the Bank!
World Heavyweight Championship
Big Show (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan literally just pins Big Show and wins.
Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Daniel Bryan in 0:04
NO RATING
Daniel Bryan celebrates the win and talks a bunch of smack to Michael Cole. The fans are pumped for this, even if it was a heelish move that started a turn for him. It was good storytelling considering how supportive how had been of Bryan in recent months.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Booker T
Booker T decides to compete because he doesn’t want to go out like a sucka. No theatrics from Booker during his entrance, which is good since he’s pissed off. He is aggressive to start, but Cody knocks him off the apron with a right hand. He demands the official counts. I love seeing a heel trying to retain by any means necessary. Cody takes control for a bit leading into the double clothesline spot. There’s an old school feel to this match. Booker goes into a short burst of offense, stamped by a spinebuster. SPRINAROONIE! He looks very dazed coming out of it, selling the earlier attacks. He misses the Scissors Kick and eats the Disaster Kick but kicks out. A second Disaster Kick ends it.
Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes in 7:16
I really like both guys in this match, but this didn’t deliver the way I wanted it to. They did a good job in selling Booker’s anger and injury, but I’ve seen better from both guys. **
WWE Championship TLC Match
CM Punk (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez vs. The Miz
The crowd is very much behind CM Punk. He walks under the ladders during his entrance and it proves to be some bad luck early as Del Rio and Miz double team him. When it becomes time to get a ladder, their alliance quickly ends. Del Rio grabs a small ladder but Punk suicide dives into it. Inside, Miz tries to use the chair to assist in the Awesome clotheslines, but Punk moves and tries a bulldog onto it. Miz counters and hits a back suplex into it. That was a fun series of reversals. Everyone ends up brawling outside, highlighted by Punk doing his knee strike and sending Miz into the crowd. Punk tries to climb but Ricardo Rodriguez runs in and handcuffs him to the ladder. Del Rio pounds on him, but when he climbs, Punk kicks the spreader part of the ladder, which is what he was cuffed to, breaking free. Creative stuff so far. As Miz and Punk fight atop the corner, Del Rio hits an enziguri that sends Punk through a table outside. The heels fight in the aisle, where Del Rio applies the Cross Armbreaker in a ladder. It’s better than Triple H’s figure four. We continue to see the vicious side of Del Rio as he wails on Punk with a chair and then does the Cross Armbreaker INSIDE THE CHAIR! However, his climb fails as both opponents crawl over to shove the ladder over. With everyone down, Ricardo now tries to climb but Miz and Punk tilt the ladder back and he takes a massive bump through a table. Kudos to him. Since Punk only broke free from the ladder and not the cuffs, Miz cuffs him to the corner. Miz taunting Punk is great and it costs him because Punk reaches him with a big kick to the head. After some time, both heels climb with Punk looking on helplessly. He manages to unscrew the second buckle and again get free. He knocks both guys off the top before trading near grabs with Miz. He ends that with a GTS before climbing again to retrieve the gold.
Winner and Still WWE Champion: CM Punk in 18:24
That was a great way to close the show. The match was brutal at times and very smart at others. The handcuffs idea was original, creative and masterfully done. Punk’s acts of desperation to free himself were so good. Alberto Del Rio looked especially vicious throughout, Ricardo took a major bump, Miz was a great cocky heel and everything worked the way they wanted. ****
Overall: 5/10; Mediocre. I’ve seen a lot of people hold this event in high esteem due to who left the show with the titles, but it is very middle of the pack. I liked the opener and the Tables match, but everything else before the main event is either bad or just painfully average. The Daniel Bryan cash in and Zack Ryder US Title win were both feel good moments and the main event is awesome.
Super J-Cup Finals
August 21st, 2016 | Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan
Last month, NJPW held the first round of the Super J-Cup, binging it back for the first time in years. Here, a lengthy card featured the next three rounds and talent from around Japan was on hand to compete. I wish we got more shine from other promotions (Dragon Gate, AJPW, etc.) but the rest of the tournament itself is NJPW and NOAH.
BUSHI, Gurukun Mask and Kaji Tomato def. David Finlay, Eita and Yuma Aoyagi in 7:59
Five of the six men involved here got eliminated from the tournament on night one. I want to be as happy as Kaji Tomato one day. He’s just so much fun. As expected, this was very fast paced. BUSHI didn’t seem too pleased with his teammates, even tripping Tomato to tag himself in at one point. Gurukun Mask returned the favor by throwing him outside after a tag. BUSHI and Tomato got into a shoving match, leading to Eita taking Tomato out with a tope con hilo. BUSHI took Finlay inside and beat him with the leaping Codebreaker. I dug the story of BUSHI not wanting anything to do with his partners. Eita and Finlay looked really good and Tomato is just a blast. ***¼
Post-match, BUSHI spit mist at Tomato and ripped Gurukun Mask’s mask off.
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Taichi def. Jushin Thunder Liger via countout in 3:01
Taichi got his absurdly long entrance. Look, if you’re gonna take forever in your entrance, at least have it be entertaining. Desperado came out and attacked Liger beforehand, giving Taichi the advantage. Even after the bell rings, Desperado gets involved and the referee kind of just watches. All three men ended up fighting in the crowd and Desperado literally held Liger down so Taichi could beat the count. Bad match, worse finish and shit booking. The referee looked like an incompetent fool. Also, this ruined any chance at Liger and KUSHIDA rematching their Wrestling Dontaku outing in the next round. Good going. DUD
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: KUSHIDA def. Kenoh in 10:30
Maybe it was because of the previous match, but the crowd didn’t really seem to get into this one. Lots of empty seats too. I don’t think they ran the entire building since it holds about 12,000 and they drew just over 3,000. KUSHIDA didn’t work the arm too much, which seemed unlike him. Kenoh fired off some kicks and even countered a cross armbreaker attempt into an ankle lock. KUSHIDA kicked out of a dragon suplex and diving double stomp at one but the crowd barely registered it. He survived some kicks and won after turning the Hoverboard Lock into an armbar. Pretty good but I wanted a bit more. The crowd hurt this way more than it helped. ***
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Ryusuke Taguchi in 9:27
I’m still questioning why Taguchi not only made the BOTSJ finals but why he advanced in this tournament too. Taguchi is rough on a normal basis and, while I haven’t seen a ton of Kanemaru, he did not look motivated at all here. He did a DDT on the exposed floor outside and got little to no reaction. That was honestly the high point of this match. The rest of the way saw Kanemaru hold serve in boring fashion, while Taguchi used ass based offense to try and rally. After a low and spinning Brainbuster, Kanemaru advanced. Boring match that didn’t interest me at all. *¼
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Matt Sydal def. Will Ospreay in 12:45
Look Gedo and Jado, we’re not stupid. You can say these guys represent ROH and Chaos, but they’re just NJPW guys. Lots of flips and counters in a fast paced start in this one. It was interesting to see Sydal try and ground Ospreay. It’s not usually a strong part of his game but he tried several submissions to keep him down. That didn’t stop Will from flying around and hitting a sweet dive to the outside. They both busted out some big, impressive kicks at different points. Sydal scored on a reverse rana and won with the Shooting Sydal Press in what has to be considered a bit of an upset. This was good and the best thing so far, but they’re capable of better. So far, the second half of Ospreay’s 2016 hasn’t been anywhere near as quality as the first. ***½
Caristico, Titan and Volador Jr. def. Euforia, Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero in 15:21
Titan went out in the first round, while Volador Jr. had a good showing in the BOTSJ earlier this year. The pace in this one was pretty fast for the most part. They were looking to get all of their shit in. Lots of triple team moves from the Guerrero team. They did one where they all picked up their opponents in one seemingly giant submission, which was interesting. The opposing team came back with dives outside that Volador capped with a big rana. They continued to have a spot heavy match, which was fine since it is what you expect from them. It went a little long for what they were doing to me though. Volador got the win for his guys with a super Spanish Fly. Good match. Volador felt like the star here. ***
Super J-Cup Semi-Finals: KUSHIDA def. Taichi in 9:56
Taichi chose to take a while for entrance again and then attack KUSHIDA during his. Even with that upper hand, Taichi spent a good chunk of the match bullshitting. He’d hide behind his lady friend, distract the referee and allow Desperado to get in a ton of work on KUSHIDA. He choked KUSHIDA with weapons and it was typical Suzuki-Gun stuff. KUSHIDA eventually turned the tide and somersaulted onto both Suzuki-Gun members. Taichi tapped to the Hoverboard Lock but Desperado was back up and distracting the referee. After all of that, it was a small package that got KUSHIDA the win, which is disappointing since he should have had a more definitive win. Too much bullshit for my taste. It’s just like when the Bullet Club interferes a ton and ruins stuff. I get that they’re heels but there’s a limit. The worst KUSHIDA match I’ve seen in quite some time. They beat him up after the bell too. *½
Super J-Cup Semi-Finals: Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Matt Sydal in 9:52
Continuing a trend of the night, something about this didn’t fully click with me. Kanemaru again didn’t seem to care much and came off as unmotivated once again. I’m not a big Sydal fan but bless him, he tried here. He did his best to put some spirit into the match and rally against Kanemaru’s dull offense. Sydal’s spark was fun and he went up for the Shooting Sydal Press, but Kanemaru got his knees up. Shortly after, Kanemaru hit a DDT and spinning Brainbuster to make it to the finals. Not a bad match, but nothing to write home about. **½
GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada (c) def. ACH and Taiji Ishimori in 12:32
ACH and Taiji Ishimori recently won the Jr. Tag tournament in NOAH to earn this shot. More than anything else on the card, this was the match I was most excited about. Right off the bat, ACH and Ishimori were in control and hit dives outside. The fans seemed to appreciate the athleticism of ACH. The challengers busted out a sweet ace crusher tandem move but the pin was broken up. The teams traded stuff with neither gaining a clear advantage throughout. ACH may have been the star, wowing the fans several times. He was one of the few things they reacted to all night. I was surprised to see how well the challengers worked together since I don’t think they’ve teamed up often. They went for stereo 450 splashes but the champs got their knees up. There were several close calls until ACH ran into a brutal knee. With him out, the champions hit a flurry of offense on Ishimori, capped by tiger and German suplexes to retain. The best thing on the show. The NOAH juniors division is really good at times and this was one of them. ACH looked great, Ishimori was his usual impressive self and the champions are, hands down, the best Jr. tag not named reDRagon (or maybe even MCMG). A hotter crowd would have put this over the hump. ***¾
After the match, the Booking Disasters, Gedo and Jado, challenged Momo No Seishun to a GHC Jr. Tag Title match, which seemed to be accepted.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) def. The Motor City Machine Guns in 16:01
Stop me if you’ve seen this match before. I love the Machine Guns and I hate the Young Bucks. It was great to see Alex Shelley back in Japan. The Bucks wore tights that had tons of photos of Dave Meltzer’s face on them. Ever since they named a move after him, he’s had a non-stop wrestle boner for them. Expect this match to get at least 4.25 stars from him. Anyway, this was standard fare for these teams. They both went through the spots they’re known for. I’m not going to put too much effort into recapping this because it was exactly what you’d expect from them. It’s fine stuff but I’ve seen it too many times. They both had close calls, but an Indytaker on the outside and Meltzer Driver inside ended things. Others will rate this higher but I didn’t love it. It was good but not their best work together, which I don’t even that great. **¾
Post-match, the Young Bucks stated that they were coming for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles. I’d normally be more upset, but the heavyweight titles mean as little as the junior ones at this point, so I don’t give a shit either way.
Super J-Cup Finals: KUSHIDA def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 19:55
The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion against the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion. NOAH vs. NJPW continues. Kanemaru had Suzuki-Gun with him, so KUSHIDA brought Taguchi and Liger. This got off to a good start, with Kanemaru actually looking interested in putting forth some effort. He worked over KUSHIDA and wore him down, playing off of the Suzuki-Gun beatdown earlier in the night. KUSHIDA began the comeback and nailed a somersault to the outside. He even busted out what I believe was a stardust press but TAKA pulled the referee out. It was time for Suzuki-Gun bullshit. The referee ejected everyone and as he was doing that, Taichi showed up through the crowd to attack KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA still rallied and eventually applied the Hoverboard Lock. Taichi tried to intervene again but Taguchi showed up to hit an ass attack. Seeing he had no more hope, Kanemaru tapped. Though I understood the idea behind all of the interference, I would have rather had a straight up finals in a tournament this prestigious. I didn’t watch the G1 Finals this year, but I’m pretty sure Omega didn’t win thanks to a ton of interference. Anyway, other than that, the match was good and the right guy went over. KUSHIDA is the ace of the juniors and this helps to solidify it, even though he didn’t have a great night of matches. ***¼
In a nice moment, Alex Shelley came out to congratulate his buddy and former partner as KUSHIDA celebrated.
Overall: 5/10. This show was long and it felt even longer. The tournament matches ranged from shitty to pretty good and nothing stood out. The multi-man tags were both pretty good, while the two Jr. Tag Title matches were split. The Bucks/MCMG was more of the same, but the NOAH one ruled and was the match of the night. The Super J-Cup was not only strangely booked but it was a severe disappointment and was extremely underwhelming.
WWE Cruiserweight Classic
August 24th, 2016 | Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida
The show began by showing the reveal of the CWC trophy that we saw during TakeOve this past weekend.
That was followed by recaps of Akira Tozawa, Noam Dar and The Brian Kendrick advancing to the second round.
Rich Swann def. Lince Dorado in 8:12
Super fast paced start with both guys showcasing their athleticism. Lince stopped Swann from dancing to bust his own move, doing a little Alex Wright. Things got more serious as the match progressed and they began throwing harder shots. The crowd was firmly behind Swann. He went for his very impressive standing 450 splash but Dorado got his knees up. Commentary hammered home these guys knowing each other well and having to pull out something new to win. Dorado missed a shooting star press and Swann won with a fantastic phoenix splash. Really fun, high impact opener. Considering Gulak/Sabre is on this card, something fast paced like this is a great idea. This was a ton of fun. ***1/2
Footage from Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa losing at TakeOver airs. Gargano is interviewed and knows that he's a favorite to win it all and doesn't want to let anyone down. He's going to pour his heart out tonight and do whatever it takes to come one step closer to winning. Ciampa was there with him.
Zack Sabre Jr. def. Drew Gulak in 8:26
No handshake from Gulak who chose to slap Zack's hand instead. These two guys just chose to torture each other with various vicious submissions that bent the arms and body in ways they shouldn't. Gulak started to target the leg with an ankle lock and body slam into the ropes that particularly hurt Sabre's ankle. Sabre went after the arm with his signature submissions.They graduated up to some very hard slaps and strikes. In the end, counter after counter led to Sabre applying a fancy pinning combination that got him the win. He meets Noam Dar in the quarter finals. A really good battle of two guys doing great mat work. ***3/4
TJ Perkins def. Johnny Gargano in 12:19
This is easily the match I'm most excited for in this tournament outside of Ibushi/Alexander. This ruled. The crowd was into both guys despite Gargano being more established. Commentary talked about Gargano's knee being banged up from TakeOver even though this was recorded way earlier. Cool points for that though. Gargano had the knee taped up and banged it in a spot here to make it not only play off of the Brooklyn match but make sense with this as a stand alone match. Gargano sold the hell out of the leg, failing on the lawn dart on his first try before connecting on his second, in brutal fashion. Perkins went for his knee bar a few times and finally got it latched in. Gargano nearly reached the ropes but Perkins fully locked it in to advance. I dug the surprise result and Gargano continues to play one of the best resilient babyfaces in all of wrestling. I might rate this higher than some but I'm a big fan of both guys and really enjoyed this, so screw it. ****
The quarterfinals are set. Akira Tozawa vs. Gran Metalik, Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Noam Dar and TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann.
Overall: 9/10. Another standout episode. Three good to great matches and the hour of wrestling just completely flew by. You get a good, fun spot fest opener, a technical battle in the middle and then a great mixture of both to close things out. This tournament continues to be awesome.
