Random Network Reviews: Survivor Series 1996

Survivor Series 1996
11/17/96 – Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York – Attendance: 18,647

Okay, so this will be my first review here of a show from Madison Square Garden. The Garden is where I saw my first ten or so live events, including the 2000 Royal Rumble, so events there have a special place in my heart. 1996 was a very important year in the history of WWE. Actually, it might be THE most important. With WCW starting to take over due to the nWo and their edgier product, the WWE would slowly gravitate away from their cartoon like characters and move towards a more real and edgier product of their own. Survivor Series would turn out to be a pretty historic night. This show not only features the debut of The Rock but also the first ever meeting between Bret Hart and Steve Austin. The card looks pretty good so I'm excited to dive into this.

The opening video package shows how the WWF was all over New York City over the week leading up to this event. The commentary team is Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross.

Survivor Series Elimination Match
The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Marty Jannetty & Leif Cassidy w/ Clarence Mason vs. Doug Furnas, Phil Lafon & The Godwins w/ Hillbilly Jim
Marty Jannetty as a heel? Furnas and Lafon get no pop as they're very new to the WWF. Maybe Jannetty isn't a heel as he's trying to rally the crowd but Cassidy is talking smack to them. Jannetty also needs knee pads. He starts with Lafon who outshines him in their encounter. Cassidy gets the tag and also loses a wrestling sequence to Lafon. Lafon gets a dragon screw and tags Phineas Godwin, so I'm sure the workrate is about to decline dramatically. Leif continues to heel it up by slapping and spitting at Phineas. Jannetty hits Phineas with a knee as he comes off the ropes and seems to hurt himself. See what I mean about him needing knee pads? Owen and the Bulldog finally get some work in as they beat on Phineas. Once Jannetty gets the tag, things go sour for his team although JR calls Phineas stupid for trying a superplex. Henry gets tagged and Jannetty's knees go out on him again. If only there was some kind of pad he could wear to protect his knees. He gets planted with the Slop Drop at 8:12 and his knees thank him. Owen runs in and spinning heel kicks Henry instantly to bump him at8:18.

Phineas throws a fit and has a Festus like rampage. Bulldog shows off his power by slamming Phineas and eliminating him after 9:04. Doug Furnas comes in now and has an impressive sequence with Bulldog until he messes up a dropkick. Cassidy gets the tag and continues to enjoy heeling it up with his partners. He hits a nice suplex but Furnas powers out of the pin. He plants him with a spinebuster but Owen blind tags in and nearly takes off Furnas' head with a gorgeous dropkick. Owen pulls out a fisherman suplex for a near fall. Bulldog tags in, does his awesome stalling suplex and shows off. Furnas finally makes the much needed tag to Lafon who wows the crowd with a reverse suplex from the second rope to eliminate Cassidy at13:43. 

We're down to Owen and Bulldog against Furnas and Lafon, four guys who would have a great tag match at Final Four three months later. Bulldog hits a flapjack on Lafon before tagging Owen. He's always had a nice belly to belly suplex and he uses it here for two. Owen connects with the ENZIGURI THAT KILLED SHAWN MICHAELS but Lafon kicks out. Bulldog goes low in front of the referee, who decides not to disqualify him. Things break down and Lafon gets a pin on Bulldog with a rollup at 17:22 which shocks a lot of people. Bulldog is pissed so he chop blocks Lafon. Owen wisely targets that leg after Bulldog leaves. Owen slaps on the Sharpshooter and raises his arm in the air to celebrate. Furnas runs in and Owen breaks the hold. Lafon hits a reverse enziguri and makes the hot tag to Furnas. He runs over Owen with a shoulder block, followed by a sweet dropkick for two. He bests Owen's belly to belly from earlier and gets two again. Furnas hits a release German suplex and pins Owen as well!

Winners: Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon in 20:41
Talk about establishing a new tag team. Furnas and Lafon came into this match with nearly no reaction but won over the crowd with their work and pinned the tag team champions. A really fun opener. ****

Mankind is in the boiler room or something with Uncle Paul, who is not happy about being suspended above the ring inside of a cage. He's hilarious shouting in his voice “I AM NOT AN ANIMAL! I'M NOT GOING IN NO CAGE BECAUSE I'M PAUL BEARER AND YOU'RE NOT!” Mankind ends it with a riveting promo as he's known for.

Mankind w/ Paul Bearer vs. The Undertaker
Coming into this match, Mankind was 3-0 against The Undertaker. Here's another example of correctly establishing a new star. Undertaker descends from the rafters with bat like wings and this was the debut of his new attire as he rid himself of the gloves and got a mole on his face somehow. He goes right for Paul Bearer which allows Mankind to get in a sneak attack. Inside Undertaker tosses Mankind around and uses a drop toe hold which shocks Jim Ross. This was the catalyst for a new Undertaker style, which led to his underrated 1997 title run. I loved a lot of Undertaker's stuff after WrestleMania 12 and disliked nearly every match before it. Different dynamic here as Undertaker focuses on Mankind's hand but it makes sense to prevent the Mandible Claw. They go outside and Mankind hits a somersault off the apron. The fight ends up back inside and Mankind wails away on The Undertaker but Undertaker bites his fingers when he tries the Mandible Claw. Undertaker sells the hell out of a piledriver. He tries the Claw again but gets a big boot. Taker goes for the Tombstone but Mankind manages to get on the Claw, only to have Taker toss him outside. Taker sits up after Mankind trips him up and kicks him into the rail. He continues to focus solely on the hand and nails Old School. This is the first instance I get of the “best striker in the game” that JR always calls Undertaker. Mankind gets the Claw on again but Undertaker fights out with a Chokeslam. JR rightfully points out that we're getting an Undertaker who wrestles more. Mankind has a weird weapon that he hits Taker with and he gets on Taker's back trying to do more damage. Taker counters into the Tombstone and earns the pinfall.

Winner: The Undertaker in 14:52
Really good stuff here. The psychology of focusing on Mankind's hand was introduced by Shawn Michaels two months prior, but it made even more sense here since it worked so well on Undertaker previously. ***1/2

The cage lowers and Undertaker is about to get his hands on Paul Bearer, when the Executioner, or Terry Gordy I believe it was, shows up. Bearer escapes and Taker clotheslines the Executioner before the heels retreat. 

Even in 1996, the WWF was trying to be ahead of the times as they have Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon chatting with fans using AOL. Sunny comes out to highlight the show because not much is hotter than 1996 Sunny. She joins commentary and does a little dance that Vince McMahon joins in on for about three seconds and it's glorious. Dok Hendrix is standing by with the upcoming Survivor Series team who are confident because Mark Henry is hurt and will not be able to compete, making it 4 on 3.

Survivor Series Elimination Match
Crush, Goldust, Hunter Hearst-Hemsley & Jerry Lawler w/ Marlena vs. Marc Mero, Jake Roberts, Rocky Maivia & The Stalker w/ Sable
Jim Ross and Sunny are oddly hostile towards each other. Marc Mero introduces the replacement for Mark Henry as Jake Roberts. Unlike the rest of his '96 run, he's topless tonight so there's that. For those who don't know, The Stalker is Barry Windham and I have no clue how that character is a face. Goldust and Mero start things off and we get some solid back and forth. Stalker and Hunter go at it for a bit but once Mero gets tagged back in, HHH exits and Crush comes in. Rocky comes in and impresses because he's a BLUE CHIPPER! HHH comes in against him and here is chapter one in a storied rivalry. When Jake gets the tag, he comes in and hits his offense to a big pop. He hits the DDT on Lawler and eliminates him at 10:41.Goldust and the Stalker do battle in the ring until he eats a Curtain Call and is bumped after 12:44.

Mero comes in and hits a high knee lift. He's in control until HHH finally enters with him and hits a backbreaker. Sunny rags on Sable throughout this match. Crush enters and bores me to tears sometimes. HHH puts Mero in the abdominal stretch which leads JR to mention the guy who invented the move. Impressive. Goldust gets the tag and the heels have isolated the Wildman. He recovers and hits a twisting moonsault off the top to eliminate the future 13 time World Champion at 19:44. Crush comes in and gets dropkicked outside. Mero goes to fly on him but misses and hits hard. A heart punch later bumps him at 20:33. Jake Roberts comes in and goes for the short arm clothesline but also eats a Heart Punch and he's gone at 20:54.

The BLUE CHIPPER rookie is left alone against Goldust and Crush. His hair just looks absurd right now as Crush calls for a test of strength and the rookie falls for it. Crush gets in a cheap shot but Rocky recovers and hits him with a slam before Samoan punching Goldust. A flying cross body on both men keeps his rally going but the numbers game hurts him. Crush goes for the one move he seems to know and accidentally hits Goldust with a Heart Punch. Rocky nails another cross body and gets rid of Crush at 23:12. A shoulder breaker on Goldust right after makes Rocky the sole survivor in his debut.

Winners: Rocky Maivia in 23:44
Not the greatest Survivor Series match, but entertaining for the most part. It was clear from the start that this was the Rocky Maivia showcase. **3/4

The promo for the upcoming match is good, but Austin's pre-match interview is just badass. 

Number One Contender's Match
Bret Hart vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Bret is sporting an orange outline on his attire, which is one of my favorite looks for him. Staredown to begin and Austin gives Bret the double bird. They trade some wrestling holds early on, with Austin being the aggressor but Bret having a counter for pretty much everything. EDDIE GILBERT hot shot from Austin is followed by elbows to the back of the beck. Austin wisely targets the neck of Bret now and wears him down for a while. Bret gets a rollup for two and hits a Canadian leg sweep. Austin counters a bulldog so we get the signature Bret sternum bump in the corner. They go up top and Bret counters a second rope suplex and follows it with his trademark elbow, but from the top! That only gets him a near fall though. Thing spill outside when Bret crashes out there, so Austin drives him back first into the post. Bret sends him over the rail and into the crowd, where he stomps on him. Austin manages to slingshot Bret onto the Spanish announce table in a pretty sweet spot. He places Bret on the table and drives his elbow onto him from the apron. This went from a wrestling match to a brawl nicely. Austin suplexes him back in the ring and hits Bret's elbow from the second rope for two. It turns into a fist fight and Bret now hits the EDDIE GILBERT hot shot, I don't care what you say JR, it's not a stun gun to me. Bret does an awkward rollup for two. Austin responds with a superplex and both men are down until Bret pulls him into a pin for two. Austin hits the Stunner from out of nowhere but takes a bit to cover so Bret kicks out. Austin is pissed as he fires away with PISTON LIKE RIGHT HANDS! Texas Cloverleaf from Austin, and I always hoped he would've done this move more often being from Texas. Bret reaches the ropes to break the hold though. He whips Bret into the corner, but he goes down and hits the post kidney first. Great spot. Bret goes for the Sharpshooter but Austin blocks it and Bret gets in some right hands. Sleeper hold from Bret, but Austin counters with a jawbreaker. Austin applies the Million Dollar Dream, reaching deep into his bag of tricks, but Bret walks up the turnbuckle and pushes off, resulting in a pinning combination that earns him the three.

Winner: Bret Hart in 28:36
Wow. That started slow but really picked up. Austin looked like a million bucks and only lost because of a minor error that he made. They would best this match the following year, but this was a great first chapter. ****1/2

Dok Hendrix interviews Sid, who is wearing a backwards baseball cap. I can't take anything that he says here seriously. 

Survivor Series Elimination Match
“Diesel”, Faarooq, “Razor Ramon” & Vader w/ Clarence Mason vs. Flash Funk, Jimmy Snuka, Savio Vega & Yokozuna
Oh god. The fake Razor and Diesel debacle. Snuka was a mystery partner who got a decent pop. I would've enjoyed Vader vs. 2 Cold Scorpio but as Flash Funk, it doesn't have the same appeal to me. Funk does do some impressive stuff like a moonsault to the floor. Vader slams Funk and Yokozuna thinks this is a Mexican style match because he comes in with no tag and takes out Vader. Faarooq is debuting his Nation attire as Savio Vega takes him down. Savio chops away at “Razor” He delivers ten punches in the corner and I wish we got the count in Spanish like ECW fans would do a few years down the line. Kane comes in with Funk and misses a big boot but hits a big clothesline. Isaac Yankem throws him to the mat and tags in Faarooq. Snuka ends up coming in and gets in offense on Vader, who should not be selling for him. However, Snuka actually slams him which impressed and surprised me. Savio ends up eating a Jacknife and is the first one eliminated at 8:39. Shortly after, Snuka hits the Superfly Splash on “Razor” and he's gone after 9:28. “Diesel” enters and clocks him with a chair and all hell breaks loose between everyone, resulting in a disqualification.

Match ends in a double disqualification at 9:48
Was on the card to give the crowd a break after the Austin/Hart classic. The ending was dumb too and this has been the only match worth skipping so far. *

WWF Championship
Shawn Michaels (c) w/ Jose Lothario vs. Sycho Sid
Did you know that Sid was the MASTER...AND THE RULER...OF THE WORLD? Sid and Vlad the SuperFan go back and forth with “WHOS THE MAN?” “YOU THE MAN” as Sid's incredibly fitting theme music plays. As the story goes, this was supposed to be Vader's shot and win but Shawn wanted his boy Sid instead. The crowd is behind Sid as Shawn gets boos. Sid starts off by hammering HBK and gets a pop for it. Shawn's high octane offense puts him in the driver's seat and he applies a headlock. Shawn counters a gorilla press and Sid goes for the Powerbomb but Shawn escapes and heads outside. Sid gives chase to Shawn outside, and once back in, Shawn takes out the knee. Shawn is getting a Cena like reaction with the guys booing and the high pitched fans cheering. A “let's go Sid” chant starts. Shawn applies the figure four and continues to focus on the knee. Sid gets back on the offensive for a bit but misses a big boot, allowing Shawn to dropkick the knee. Shawn gets knocked over the top but skins the cat, only leading to a clothesline over anyway. Sid has now slowed the pace and is dominating, which the crowd loves. Sid catches Shawn as he leaps off the top and delivers a big backbreaker. Shawn hits the corner hard as a girl in the crowd screams like it's the end of the world. He fights back and actually slams Sid with ease. We get the awful spot where Shawn goes for a double axe handle even though Sid's on his back, which allows Sid to get his boot up. Shawn oversells this. As he rallies, the crowd boos and Sid catches Sweet Chin Music and follows with a one arm chokeslam. The place is going nuts for Sid. Powerbomb gets countered into a small package for two. Despite staying in control, he steals the camera from a cameraman. Jose Lothario stupidly gets on the apron, so Sid levels him with it. Sweet Chin Music connects but Shawn sees that his mentor is basically having a heart attack and goes outside. Sid brings him in and Shawn hits the referee by mistake before going back out to Jose. Sid strikes him with the camera and hits the Powerbomb inside to become the champion.

Winner and New WWF Champion: Sycho Sid in 20:01
Probably the best match of Sid's career and it ends with his first WWF Title win. Good stuff that was even more interesting because of the crowd reaction. ***1/2

Overall: 8.5/10; Excellent. With the exception of the one Survivor Series match, everything here is good to great. The opener was surprising, Undertaker/Mankind was really good as was the main event, you get to see Rock's debut and Austin/Hart is must see. A very good show that helped cement what would be a badass 1997. Go see this for sure. Up next on “Random Network Reviews” is ECW Heatwave 1998!

Smackdown Report 8/9/14

I've yet to mention this, but I like the Smackdown opening theme song. Main Event and NXT also have good ones. Anyway, Dean Ambrose opened Smackdown because it's time to announce the stipulation that he chooses for SummerSlam. He says that he had the entire week to think about the stipulation and suggests JBL's Cowboy Hat on a Pole and a good housekeeping match. He gets interrupted by Seth Rollins. How great is it that The Shield produced three main event superstars? Ambrose picks a damn Lumberjack match. Seriously? Not a steel cage? Not something, oh I don't know, interesting? An f'n Lumberjack match. Stupid and it actually hurts my excitement for this match. Anyway, Seth makes a better choice when he's allowed to pick Dean's opponent for tonight as he chooses Randy Orton.

Big Show makes his return to the WWE next as he teams with another guy who just returned, Mark Henry. They take on Rybaxel, meaning that the "Big Guy" Ryback, is the second smallest guy in the match. JBl gets the line of the night when he says that while Henry and Show are a big tag team, the Truth Commission was bigger but they were five guys. As one would expect, this didn't last too long and Show and Henry picked up the victory. Cutting backstage, Dolph Ziggler is watching Seth Rollins lose to Heath Slater and telling jokes to the Divas, Adam Rose and Rosebuds. Rollins challenges him for tonight and we've got another fun match booked.

Sin Cara is in the ring when the show returns. Oh joy. They actually change the hashtag from #Smackdown to #999. Seriously. Damien Sandow comes out as a border patrol agent because apparently Sin Cara is an illegal immigrant. The match itself was average and of course, Sandow was unable to win so that damn Sin Cara gets to stay in this country illegally. JBL should step in next, he did throw Mexicans off the border hilariously in the past.

Time for two of my favorite guys on the roster to go at it. Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins! They've met a few times before and it's always a treat. Of course, it was once again a really good back and forth match. I feel like it's nearly impossible for either of these guys to ever have a bad match. Seth targeted the shoulder once Dolph crashed into the turnbuckle and it ended up leading to his victory. After nearly 13 minutes of fine action and some near falls from Dolph, Seth puts him away with the Blackout. I still refuse to call it the Curb Stomp. I know what the Curb Stomp is. 

Renee Young and her perfect self interviews Randy Orton, who mentions that both he and Dean Ambrose are unstable but he's going to show that he's also unstoppable. I would love a feud down the line between Ambrose and Orton. Divas action time, as Paige takes on Natalya. Side note, Natalya is going to be debuting new attire soon, she showed it off on Twitter last night. I'm glad we get a Divas match here. Raw didn't have one so I missed out. I mean, yea we got Summer Rae/AJ on Main Event and Cameron/Emma on Superstars, but still. Solid Divas match that Paige won with the PTO. Also, Paige is totally adorable.

So, did the WWE drop the Xavier Woods/Kofi Kingston/Big E stable? I mean, I understood Woods coming out with his old gimmick on NXT because it's pre-recorded from weeks ago, but to have Big E come out as his old self on Smackdown and be a face is weird. Then, he got squashed by Rusev in less than two minutes. Didn't they have competitive matches on Pay-Per-Views? Where were Kofi and Woods? Couldn't they find another face to get squashed. Then we get a recap of the build for Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt, with the focus on how Bray will be alone. Jericho then says that he will follow the buzzards and shove them down Bray's throat. Ouch. 

Main event time as we get Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton, one on one. Ambrose is his usual crazy self, launching himself outside onto Orton, but Randy is his vicious self as he targets Dean's messed up shoulder. They make it a point to say that the Lumberjacks at SummerSlam don't like Rollins or Ambrose, which makes the stipulation an even dumber choice. Ambrose trash talks Orton while in a submission, which is just perfect. After about 12 minutes, Rollins pulls Ambrose out of the ring to cause the disqualification. They brawl after the match but Orton being there puts Rollins in control. Orton leaves them and Seth pours soda over Dean in a bit of revenge for him doing the same thing to the briefcase on Raw.

In the end, every match on this show except for the main event and Ziggler/Rollins was very short. When I watch Smackdown, I expect longer matches, but the WWE continues to waste valuable television time with an absurd amount of recap videos. The two long matches were solid though, the Big Show return tag was not bad and the divas match was short but sweet so it wasn't all bad. 5/10.

NXT and Superstars Report 8/8/14

NXT time! The number one contender's Tag Team Tournament kicked off last night with Tye Dillinger and Jason Jordan taking on Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. I could have sworn that Jason Jordan got released. Maybe I was wrong. This was a pretty good opener as the crowd at Full Sail University was red hot for Amore and Big Cass. I don't think the outcome was ever in doubt and Big Cass was creative when he sacrificed himself for Enzo. A big boot later allowed Enzo to pin Jordan and they advanced in the tournament.

Sami Zayn gets interviewed backstage by Renee Young. They're both Canadian, so they're extremely polite to each other. Sami has no partner tonight, causing Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel to come up to him and talk some smack. FACT. I was hoping to see Adrian Neville show up as Sami's partner but instead we get Adam Rose. Sigh. I'm being a lemon. FACT. He gives Sami his lollipop oddly and they are going to team up later. I guess it could be worse.

CJ Parker squared off with Xavier Woods again in the second match. Parker has really gotten into his character. Woods meanwhile, is in between characters. I understand that NXT is pre-recorded, but it's strange to see him as fun loving Xavier Woods here, when on all other WWE television, he's the straight man in the white suit talking about "we're not going to kiss babies and such" anymore. This was not terrible, but I couldn't really get into it. CJ Parker did have a fun "STOP FRILKIN FRACKING" sign and he scored another win over Woods here.

I remember reading that Eva Marie would be appearing on NXT for the first time and that was last night. She went one on one with Bayley. Her entrance involved her sitting on some square. I honestly have no clue what it meant. The crowd destroyed her with "you can't wrestle" and "worse than Batista" chants, while chanting "Bayley's gonna hug you" and, after Bayley won, chanting "Thank you Bayley." I strongly dislike Eva, but I feel like this is more the WWE's fault for putting her in the ring when she is clearly not ready. However, she could have value as a valet. She draws insane amounts of heat. 

Tyler Breeze announced that he was going to use his number one contender's spot to knock the uggo off of Adrian Neville or something like that. Anyway, it was main event time as Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel took on Adam Rose and Sami Zayn. This was a good main event, as even though Rose isn't the greatest worker, he held his own with guys of this caliber. They got a little over ten minutes to perform this Tag Team Tournament match and yet again, Kidd and his team suffered a loss. I don't see why Zayn and Rose had to advance. Kidd should have pinned Rose to even the score from last week and actually get a win under his belt. Good match, not a fan of the result.

We now move into Superstars, which of course, features the perfect Renee Young. Divas action kicked off the show as Cameron came down to the ring in her unflattering school girl outfit. Her theme music now says "girl bye" in it. I hate it. She faced Emma, who I would love to see get more time to show off how damn good she is. Cameron would win though unfortunately, though it makes more sense in the grand scheme of things. Superstars of course had a BUNCH of the same recaps they waste time with on Raw, Main Event and Smackdown. The best thing about Superstars, besides Renee Young of course, was the backstage SLATER GATOR segment! They're hilarious together. Titus would lose to Sheamus in a hard hitting main event. Pretty solid. 

In the end, NXT was fun this week but nothing spectacular. I'd give it a 7/10. Superstars was decent and when I rate it, I only rate for the two matches and not the crazy amount of recaps. 4/10. Not a bad night of wrestling though, I had fun and I hope you did too. Until next time, follow me on Twitter @the_kevstaaa.

Top Ten Thursday: Top Ten NXT Performers

I've made it pretty clear that I'm a HUGE fan of NXT. With it being NXT Thursday tonight and the upcoming NXT WWE Network Special around the corner, I figured this week's top ten could focus on the top ten acts in NXT. This includes both Superstars and Divas, so the list is pretty diverse. 

10. Corey Graves

Let me first point out that Corey would probably be higher if it wasn't for his concussion issues. He's gone on record, which in today's terms means he's gone on Twitter, and mentioned that he's unsure if he'll be able to compete again. I would love to see him back in the ring. Not only is he a very good worker but he also has developed a cool character and is different than most of what you see in a current WWE ring. Different is usually best for business. I miss his tag team with Jake Carter, but his singles run was just picking up steam as he was feuding with Sami Zayn before his latest injury.

9. Becky Lynch

I'll admit that Becky hasn't done much on NXT just yet. They debuted her with a ridiculous Irish dancing gimmick and thank goodness that was scrapped. She appeared on NXT recently to face Charlotte, who she outclassed and had a new gimmick. I've seen this girl go during the early days of SHIMMER and I love her. With the rumors of Charlotte getting called up, it should allow for more talented Divas to get shine on NXT and Becky is near the top of that list. Not only is she beautiful, but she's extremely talented and just wait until she gets her chance to shine. Definitely one to watch down in Full Sail.

8. Kalisto

A guy who hasn't been able to get much shine on NXT just yet, but has impressed so far, is Kalisto. His tag team with Sin Cara is alright, but is weighed down by Sin Cara. No surprise. His singles bout with Tyler Breeze a few weeks back was really good and he has potential to be Rey Mysterio like. He's already much more entertaining than Sin Cara, who was supposed to take Rey's spot, but his ability to high fly and take risks instantly makes him someone to cheer. Even if you don't know him coming into a match, by the end of it, you're cheering for him. I hear he might get called up soon, but wherever he goes, he should impress.

7. Enzo Amore

So, I haven't seen that much from Enzo Amore when it comes to in ring work but this man has the gift of gab. Anytime he grabs a microphone, he captivates the crowd at Full Sail University. He is hilarious and always comes up with quirky rhymes and has potential to be one of the better trash talkers in a long time. His return to NXT a while back had the building on their feet and his team with Colin Cassady will be a welcome addition to the tag team division on NXT, which does need help. I look forward to more from this team, but mainly more from Enzo Amore and his silver tongue. AND YOU CAN'T TEACH THAT.

6. Bayley

Bayley didn't choose the hug life, the hug life chose her. Seriously, if you're not intoxicated by how adorable Bayley is, then I don't understand it at all. Not only is Bayley's happy go lucky, excited to be here character one of the most fun in NXT, but the girl can flat out go. She's one of the better NXT girls when it comes to in-ring work and she is consistently getting some of the best pops in Full Sail. Her entrance with the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men is unique and really cool and she's not bad to look at either. I hope she sticks around in NXT for a while and I'd really enjoy a Women's Title run for her down the line. 

5. The Vaudevillains

Remember how I spoke of the floundering tag team division on NXT? Well, these guys are at the top of the list of teams that I want to see dethrone the Ascension. Remember how I said Bayley has a cool and unique entrance? Well, the Vaudevillains have the best entrance on NXT. The music, the camera work and just everything about it is fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the Aiden English character when he began to sing his way to the ring, but he wasn't having much success. Bring in Simon Gotch and you have a great extension of English's character and a new, interesting and fun tag team.

4. Adrian Neville

Since NXT ArRival, Adrian Neville has been the NXT Champion. He beat Bo Dallas in a very good ladder match and I've seen Neville's pre-WWE work as Pac. "The Man That Gravity Forgot" is one of the better workers on NXT and easily the top high flier. His ability to perform things like the Red Arrow is amazing and leaves a viewer's jaw dropped more often than not. I don't know if he'll be as successful on the main roster due to his look and promo skills, but I would enjoy it. He's a good guy to have as Champion for now, but I sense that his reign is coming to an end soon. Regardless, he's something I look forward to.

3. Tyler Breeze

Prince Pretty. The King of Cuteville. Even the man's Twitter handle is @MmmGorgeous. Mike Dalton was given the Tyler Breeze character and he has completely run with it. He seems to live and breath the character and makes it work way more than it probably should. I've questioned his ability to be great in the ring but then at NXT TakeOver, he and Sami Zayn put on an awesome number one contender's match and he showed me just what he can do. With in-ring ability, a great character and the little things like his fantastic music video and singing his own theme song, Tyler Breeze can go very far.

2. Sasha Banks

The Boss. Ever since I first got into NXT, one Diva has caught my eye more than any other and it's Sasha Banks. Whether teaming with Summer Rae, Charlotte or both as part of the BFFs, she's been the one to stand out, even if she wasn't being pushed as the "star" of the team. She's consistently in the best divas matches on NXT, besides the Network Specials, and her submission finisher is probably the best Diva finisher in the entire WWE. She's gorgeous, talented and is a surefire future NXT Women's Champion. The fact that she hasn't been featured on any of the WWE Network Specials is a travesty.

1. Sami Zayn

It couldn't be anyone else. Since his days as El Generico on the indies, I've loved Sami Zayn. When he got signed, I was worried how the El Generico character would work with a WWE audience. Instead, he ditched the mask and has been outstanding. From his must see classics with Cesaro, to his bout with Tyler Breeze, to basically every single match that he has, Sami Zayn is television that you can't miss. The slow build to his eventual NXT Title win has been great and the crowd is 100% behind him. He's a guy who can make anything work and put on great matches with anybody on the roster. Sami Zayn should be a major player for years to come.

Tuesday Night Network Report 8/5/14

Main Event opened with a strange segment. It was odd for multiple reasons. Alberto Del Rio came to the ring and that wasn't weird. But then he cut a promo...in Spanish. I get that being in Laredo, Texas means that there were a lot of Spanish people in the crowd but most fans at home probably didn't understand that. It was getting a positive reaction from the crowd though, which made it odd since he's a heel. He gets cut off by Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter, who cut him down for carrying the Mexican flag and speaking Spanish. Um, wasn't Jack Swagger a face like 5 minutes ago? Del Rio plays up to the crowd, who are behind him, and challenges Del Rio to a match later tonight. Strange segment for sure.

I'll give you three guesses as to what the number one worldwide trend on Twitter was last night. #WWE? No. #MainEvent? Try again. #SummerSlam? You wish. The correct answer it #SlaterGator. That's right. Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil's oddball pairing was the number one trend and it's mostly because of how eager Heath is about everything. They would face the Dust Brothers who returned to the ring on Raw. We got treated to a fun little opener but I was honestly pretty surprised to see Heath pin Goldust with a rollup. Heath Slater is on fire! Less than 24 hours after scoring a win over Seth Rollins, SLATER GATOR gain even more momentum.

The promotion for Main Event was centered around the "return" of AJ Lee. The girl missed an episode of Raw and that's it. And she only fell about five feet off the Smackdown stage. But whatever, she returned and squared off with Summer Rae. These are two of my favorite Divas and this was an alright Divas match. AJ hurt her whiplashed neck in the match, but acted like her neck with fine after. Given more time, these two could probably do very good stuff. AJ gets interviewed about her SummerSlam match with Paige and told a fairy tale about it, which was pretty entertaining. Paige interrupts and they go back and forth. For a Divas match, this is getting quite the build and I have to commend that. AJ tells Paige that she can think it's her house all she wants, but it's her kingdom. Fun stuff.

Time for the main event of Main Event as Alberto Del Rio takes on Jack Swagger. For those with short term memory loss, this was actually a World Heavyweight Title match WrestleMania 29. Yes, somehow it was. Anyway, with both guys being accomplished in the ring, and Main Event being a place to find good wrestling, they were given over ten minutes. Again, as expected, it's a very good contest that Jack Swagger is able to win with the Patriot Lock on his way to the Flag Match against Rusev at SummerSlam. All in all, this wasn't the best episode of Main Event. While the wrestling was good, the first two matches were rather short and it featured too many recaps. Building a feud is not replaying the same recap on every single show multiple times. 6/10.

Usually, Tuesday nights on the WWE Network mean that WrestleMania Rewind and the Countdown follow Main Event for three hours of fun. However, for the second straight week, we get a rerun on Countdown. WrestleMania Rewind was a good one though as it featured Triple H vs. The Undertaker from WrestleMania XXVII. It's good stuff but my least favorite of their three Mania matches. I did like the documentary part and it's always a treat to see The Undertaker when he's out of character.

Another fun Tuesday night is in the books, so until next time, follow me on Twitter @the_kevstaaa

Raw Report 8/4/14

Hey, did you know that you can get the WWE Network for just $9.99 a month? That's how Triple H and the Authority kicked off last night's Raw. He smugly and shamelessly promoted it and it got extremely annoying over time. It led to Triple H promoting the fact that Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns is now official for SummerSlam. Also, with Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins finally being set again, they would compete in a Beat the Clock competition to determine who would get to choose the stipulation for that match. Stephanie McMahon is wearing shorts and has a contract signing with Brie Bella and her awful voice tonight, so you know that's going to turn into a fight. I assume we're going to hear the word "bitch" about 75 times tonight.

Roman Reigns interrupts them and says the exact same thing that he says in every single promo since the Shield split. He's a one man army and to believe in him and all of that nonsense. Triple H decides that the fans want to see a Last Man Standing between Kane and Roman Reigns. So we got that and it lasted about 15 minutes. It had some alright spots but it just spot after spot and wasn't that impressive. Of course, the "Demon" Kane once again couldn't get the job done and fell to Roman. After the match, Reigns needed six or so staples and it looks nasty.

With Brock Lesnar, John Cena and even Paul Heyman getting the night off, the build to the WWE World Heavyweight Title match at SummerSlam is done through video packages. It's a good video package but it gets weird when Brock discusses urine, vomit and blood. Good stuff and honestly, I prefer if we don't get much face to face between Brock and Cena. It will make it feel more special. Damien Sandow showed up to Jim Ross' Oklahoma theme and spoke to the Austin crowd about the Red Rivalry to garner heat. He was cut off by the returning Mark Henry, sporting a Texas shirt. As one would expect, Henry wins relatively quickly.

Next, we got a strange backstage segment from Adam Rose where he looks in a mirror and sees a lemon. Whatever. The part I was looking forward to was Dean Ambrose's Beat the Clock match because he went one on one with Alberto Del Rio. Their match on Main Event was very good and I hope to see more of the same here because Del Rio seems to always deliver in the ring. They got over 15 minutes, which is just great, and did good with it. I prefer the Main Event match but Ambrose was able to win at 15:42, which is not an impressive time and should not be too hard to beat. They announce Seth Rollins' match will be against Rob Van Dam, who I haven't seen since Battleground.

Lana sings Happy Birthday to Barack Obama in an interesting segment. Rusev beat Sin Cara on the WWE App. Yes, the entire match happened on the app. I guess it's a way to try and help sell downloading the app and getting the WWE Network. Although it's not a match I was particularly looking forward to anyway. The Swagger/Rusev feud is pretty unoriginal but Lana is drawing so much heat that it's working. Look at that, Jack Swagger is the Real American with a match at SummerSlam while Cesaro is going nowhere fast. Even if Swagger goes nowhere after this feud, it's interesting because people even predicted Brock/Cesaro at SummerSlam months ago.

Next up, Dolph Ziggler and Cesaro met in a match that might have caused the entire IWC to cream themselves. That is, until the match went two minutes. I don't get it. You have Cesaro take Cena to the limit in a near 20 minute battle last week, but then he loses in like two minutes to Dolph? Nothing against Dolph but that doesn't make sense does it? The Miz was on commentary and enters the ring after the match but nearly eats a big kick. They announce Miz and Ziggler will meet for the Intercontinental Title at SummerSlam and I'm all for it. Anything to get the IC Title some build and on the SummerSlam card.

On the Raw Pre-Show, another SummerSlam match was announced, this one pitting Paige against AJ Lee in a Battleground rematch for the Divas Championship. Paige says that she misses her friend AJ and that she's excited to face her at SummerSlam. It's much better than the stuff she did as a face. Goldust and Stardust FINALLY wrestle again and it's against the team they've faced more than anyone, Rybaxel. Stardust wins it for them. Meh stuff. In the back, Kane gives his mask back to the Authority after suffering yet another loss. Does this mean the return of Corporate Kane? Yawn.

Chris Jericho vs. Luke Harper was next and, just like the rules from his Smackdown match with Erick Rowan, if Jericho wins Harper would be barred from ringside at SummerSlam. After a decent but underwhelming match, Bray Wyatt entered and caused the disqualification so he can attack Jericho. Harper is now barred from ringside. This would've made sense during the Bray/Cena feud because Harper and Rowan got involved, but Jericho won at Battleground after Harper and Rowan were ejected. So this is kind of pointless. I guess Bray will look better if he beats Jericho cleanly and by himself, but still. 

Tonight on Main Event, AJ Lee returns after a five foot fall from the stage on Smackdown. Yes, they oversold it like she died. A mixed tag of sorts followed as Diego and El Torito faced Fandango and his new dance partner, Hornswoggle. This lasts less than a minute and of course, Fandango loses. Summer Rae and Layla were there which made it at least partiall worth it. That was so fast that I'll move onto what's next, which is the third battle in the series between Bo Dallas and R-Truth. Truth ended Bo's streak last week and then Dallas attacked him until a DQ on Smackdown. Last night, Bo picked up the win with a handful of tights. He then hits Truth with the Bo-Dog outside and I'm liking where his character is going.

The announce team decides to hold up a sign that says $9.99. I prefer this to hearing it every few minutes. Another Brock/Cena package is shown before it's main event time. RVD comes out and gets replaced...by Heath Slater. The Authority figures Seth Rollins will have an easy time but they forget that Heath is one half of the hottest tag team in the WWE, SLATER GATOR! Some hilarious and entertaining distractions from Dean Ambrose made this even better. He walked around with JBL's hat and poured popcorn into Seth's briefcase. The distractions allowed Slater to roll up Seth and pick up one of the most shocking wins on Raw in recent memory! It was a cool moment and Dean will announce his choice stipulation on Smackdown.

With no John Cena or Brock Lesnar, the show closes with Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella again. Stephanie is with Triple H, while Brie brings out Nikki. I swear that Daniel Bryan would be more useful here. This was your typical contract signing, with Stephanie owning Brie on the microphone. Brie should never talk. Like, ever again. Her voice is grating and everything sounds awkward and weird. The fans started to chant CM Punk for some reason. Triple H traps Brie in the corner with the table, allowing Stephanie to plant Nikki with a Pedigree! It looks better than any move that either Bella has ever done. Brie slaps Hunter, escapes and also gets Pedigreed. Stephanie and Triple H celebrate to close Raw and I'm just here totally hoping that Stephanie wins at SummerSlam.

Well there you have it folks. A Raw without the World Title participants caused a lot of filler and short matches to be on the show. It did build towards SummerSlam pretty well, so it gets some points for that. Overall, I'd give tonight's show a 4/10.