Fave Five 2/22/16-2/28/16

1) Jay Lethal: Ring of Honor's 14th Anniversary Pay-Per-View was severely underwhelming. Most of the show failed to deliver in terms of quality. The best match to me on the show was the main event. Jay Lethal continued his run as ROH World Champion by defeating Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly in a Triple Threat match. Like most of Lethal's reign, which has lasted about eight months now, it was a pretty good, but not great match. He able to retain after hitting both Cole and O'Reilly with a double Lethal Injection. Lethal looks like he could very well reach the one year mark as ROH Champion.

            2) Shane McMahon: The biggest news during the week, by a wide margin, was the shocking return of Shane McMahon. He interrupted the opening ceremony on Raw of the presentation of the Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award. As Vince McMahon was presenting it to Stephanie, Shane showed up to a massive pop, stating that he was back to take his rightful place in the company. He wanted control of Raw, so Vince said he had to earn it in the ring, booking him against the Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania. It's certainly a random match but it is very intriguing and I'm just happy to have Shane O'Mac back on my television.

3) The New Day: Another week has come and gone, and it's another week where the New Day have been great. They've taken an out of nowhere feud with the mostly dull League of Nations and have made it entertaining. While they were unsuccessful in the Smackdown main event, they still did headline the show. It was on Raw where the New Day really shined. Following the massive opening segment with Shane McMahon returning, they took on the Lucha Dragons and Neville in a six man tag that was the best match of the week for WWE television. They've even been in the news on the Japanese scene due to Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks parodying their shirt and challenging them for the NEVER Openweight Titles. It doesn't matter what they do...New Day rocks.

4) Johnny Mundo: Even in a week where the ring action wasn't top notch, Lucha Underground was still a blast. The best match on the show was the main event, featuring Johnny Mundo taking on Cage. They had a really solid match during season one where Cage won. He was the heel and Mundo was face. The roles were reversed in this one as the newly face Cage had the crowd behind him. He was on the verge of victory until Taya Valkyrie made her Lucha Underground debut and handed Mundo a pipe. Mundo used that to defeat the Machine before he and Taya laid into Cage with attacks.

5) AJ Styles and Chris Jericho: Since his debut at the Royal Rumble, I've commended the booking of AJ Styles. He only has one loss under his belt and he ended up winning the rubber match anyway. I'm a bit confused right now though. Styles could be in a high profile match to help the struggling WrestleMania card but seems to now be part of a tag team with Chris Jericho. It's certainly a strange move. Still, the duo makes the list this week. On Raw, they teamed up to defeat the Social Outcasts. On Smackdown, Mark Henry joined them in the main event to best the New Day. More success for AJ Styles in his short WWE career so far.

Random Network Reviews: Survivor Series 1997

Survivor Series 1997
November 9th, 1997 | Molson Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada | Attendance: 20,593

So, here we have one of the most infamous Pay-Per-Views in WWE history. We all know the reason why. The “Montreal Screwjob”. It is arguably the biggest moment in the history of pro wrestling. This changed everything. Bret Hart left the WWE, the Mr. McMahon character was born and the WWF was about to destroy WCW in the Monday Night Wars. This is the end of the Shawn Michaels/Bret Hart rivalry that is widely considered one of the greatest ever, but I’ve never been a big fan. Both guys have had far better rivalries against other people.

To open things, we see clips of the Shawn Michaels/Bret Hart feud. From the WrestleMania XII Ironman match down to the personal jabs they threw at each other. Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross are on commentary and they discuss how tonight’s main event is eighteen months in the making.

The Headbangers and the New Blackjacks vs. Road Dog, Billy Gunn and the Godwins
There may not be two stranger teams in the history of the WWE. At least Road Dog and Billy Gunn wear Southern inspired attire to try and fit in. Also, it’s funny that Road Dog only has one “g” here. Barry Windham and Phineas start. I assume Barry was happy to find someone in worse shape than him. Both guys tag to their usual respective partners. In a surprising move, Bradshaw eliminates Henry Godwin with an abdominal stretch rollup at 3:53. The heels get pissed, leading to Phineas evening the score by getting rid of Windham with a lariat at 5:15. I would have preferred Windham and Phineas out first though. Mosh steps in and there’s some backstory as the Headbangers recently lost the Tag Titles to the Godwins. The Godwins would lose them two nights later. Billy Gunn gets the tag, giving us the first taste of the future Outlaws. Gunn gets some “faggot” chants if I hear correctly. Gunn hits a nice looking front suplex of sorts to eliminate Mosh after 8:46.

Road Dog and Billy Gunn celebrate outside, leaving Phineas to face off against Thrasher. They work some dull wristlocks and such which is not at all their strong suit. What started out as decent fun has turned into a snooze fest. Seriously, who told these guys that they were technicians? A top rope ass splash I guess I would call it, eliminates Phineas at 12:39. Road Dog joins the fray for the first time, but it backfires as Bradshaw enters and manhandles him. He hits a short lariat that is not quite on the level of the Clothesline from Hell. Gunn gets in a cheap shot that allows Dog to roll up Bradshaw and he’s gone after 13:46. Road Dog goes for the Pump Handle Slam but it all goes wrong, so Thrasher awkwardly counters. A blind tag plays the difference as Dog’s next Pump Handle Slam attempt is again counters, but Gunn comes off the top with a leg drop to end this. However, he completely whiffs on the leg drop and it looked terrible.

Winners: Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and the Godwins (Survivors: Dog and Gunn) in 15:26
Perfectly acceptable match for the most part. With the exception of the painfully boring Phineas/Thrasher exchange, this wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t anything I’d recommend going out of your way to see. The right two guys survived as they would be cogs of the tag division for a while after this. **

The Disciples of Apocalypse vs. The Truth Commission
My biggest gripe with the year 1997 was the “Gang Warfare” stuff that we had to sit through. Neither of these teams have anybody that I would consider a good talent. The OA park their bikes by the entrance before running in to brawl. Multiple officials have to calm this down. Chainz, also known as the UnderFaker from 1994, starts with the Interrogator, also known as Kurrgan. Kurrgan puts him down easily at 1:16. Now, Skull and 8-Ball come in to attack the Interrogator. Recon, the future Bull Buchanan, tags in against one half of the Harris Brothers. As Jacob or Eli Blu is taken down, the Jackyl tags in to take advantage. It backfires as one half of Creative Control eliminates him at 2:50. Jackyl joins commentary after getting eliminated. Crush, who somehow kept a job for so long despite sucking, gets tagged and hits some weak leg drops. A clothesline by Ron Harris gets rid of Recon at 5:20. The Interrogator keeps distracting the referee like a clown, allowing the DOA to hit some double teams. He gets in a cheap shot that allows Snipe to pin Skull at 6:28. We’re now down to a basic tag match. Crush goes to a rest hold because that’s all he has in his repertoire. There should never be rest holds in Survivor Series matches because there can always be a fresh man in. Interrogator gets tagged and pins 8-Ball after a sidewalk slam at 8:48. Sniper comes back in, which is dumb since they’ve been playing up how dominant Interrogator is. Why would he ever tag out? Crush pins Sniper at 9:45and is then taken out by Interrogator to finish things.

Winners: The Truth Commission (Sole Survivor: The Interrogator) in 9:56
About as dull as they come. Neither team was ever really any fun and neither team really had any sort of talent on their roster. The best thing I can say about this is that it was kept relatively short. Side note, Crush would leave the company after this. He was 3-17 in PPV matches. *

Fans outside of the arena get polled about who is going to win the big WWF Title match and most of them surprisingly pick Shawn Michaels.

Team Canada (British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon) vs. Team USA (Goldust, Marc Mero, Steve Blackman and Vader)
Steve Blackman had just debuted as a “fan” who helped the Team USA participants. Interesting note is that he was supposed to debut a long time ago but caught a serious case of malaria and was bedridden for years. Before the match, Vader gets stuck cutting a promo. Team USA comes out to Kurt Angle’s theme. As if they weren’t going to get a great pop already, Team Canada enters to Bret Hart’s theme. British Bulldog and Marc Mero begin, as this was Mero’s return match after a big injury. You can already see how much his offense had to change because of it. Bulldog takes him down and plays to the crowd. Mero gets pissed at the crowd chanting “Sable” and is already showing heel tendencies. Vader gets tagged but it’s only so he can be a victim to Bulldog’s incredible feats of power. Each guy gets a chance to strut their stuff, highlighted by Blackman kicking Lafon’s ass. He looks kind of sloppy and awkward at some points though. He makes a mistake by brawling outside and is counted out at 5:47. Surprising result but it protected him as they put over how he doesn’t get the rules of wrestling because he’s a fighter. Jim Neidhart and Vader have a fun little powerhouse exchange that Vader wins because he’s awesome. A splash eliminates the Anvil at 7:32. Phil Lafon comes in, hitting some offense but he’s no match for the “Mastodon”. He is gone after a second rope splash at 9:40.

Doug Furnas is in and seems to have lost some muscle mass. Goldust, in his “Forever Unchained” gimmick, has yet to get involved. Mero enters, doing his boxing stuff. Forget what I said about his offense as he hits a double jump moonsault for two. Furnas tags out to a big pop as Bulldog beats down on Mero. Mero counters the powerslam and uses a jab to knock down the crowd favorite. Furnas comes back in to battle with Mero. He kicks out of a rollup, only to eliminate Mero with one of his own at 11:59. The crowd is sad about Sable leaving, so Vader poses for them which gave me a chuckle. Vader and Bulldog go at it now, which is more fun than it was earlier. Both guys need to tag after it, but Goldust refuses to join in. Vader doesn’t need it though, throwing Furnas around. Again, we get hot tag teases but Goldust steps off the apron. Furnas impresses with a belly to belly and hurricanrana on Vader for near falls. Vader gets pissed at Goldust and slaps him. They consider that a tag and Goldust is counted out as he pouts and exits at 17:01. Vader puts down Furnas with a Vader Bomb just as Bulldog grabs the ring bell at 17:35. Bulldog lays out Vader with the bell and pins him to win it.

Winners: Team Canada (Sole Survivor: British Bulldog) in 17:47
I enjoyed that. They managed to do well and tell a good story with all of the different personalities. You had Mero in the midst of a heel turn, rookie Blackman, Goldust going full on heel, while Vader and Bulldog both looked like beasts. Furnas and Lafon added some of their technical abilities to this, giving nearly everything a different feel which made this fun. ***¼

A video package airs of Kane’s path of destruction since debuting over a month ago at Bad Blood. He wants to face his brother but Undertaker won’t fight his own brother. At least, not until WrestleMania. After Kane attacked Dude Love, Mick Foley realized that Mankind would be needed against someone like Kane.

Kane w/ Paul Bearer vs. Mankind
Mankind was a good first opponent for Kane because he was great at taking a beating, which is what I expect from this. He also had the history with “Uncle Paul.” Mankind attacks before the bell and they fight outside. I’m going to point this out now, but the entire match is fought under Kane’s red lighting. Whoever thought this was a good idea is an idiot. The same goes for whoever put future Sin Cara matches under blue lighting, but that wasn’t as bad. Kane throws steel steps at Mankind and Earl Hebner kind of acts like he doesn’t see it. I’m sure he heard it though. I have no clue if this is no disqualification or not. This entire thing has been Kane dominating. Mankind finds an opening by sending Kane into the steel steps before blasting him with a steel chair. I guess it is no DQ. After a classic Foley piledriver, he applies the Mandible Claw on Paul Bearer. Paul sells it brilliantly. Kane sits up and choke throws Mankind through the announce table. Mankind is alive though, busting out the Cactus elbow. He is slammed to the floor outside before Kane hits a Tombstone to win.

Winner: Kane in 9:29
Not terrible but the lighting really hurt. Booking Mankind in this spot was great since he was over enough to lose and not have it affect him while getting Kane over. He also was known for his high threshold of pain so the idea of this match was in the right place. The execution was a bit off though. **¼ 

Michael Cole interviews Commissioner Slaughter and Vince McMahon. They talk about the heightened security and Vince straight up says he doesn’t know who will win tonight. Knowing what we know, it’s eerie to see everyone right before it all goes down.

The Nation of Domination (Faarooq, the Rock, Kama and D-Lo Brown) vs. Ahmed Johnson, Ken Shamrock and WWE Tag Team Champions Legion of Doom
D-Lo Brown starts with Hawk, who no sells his stuff. I am pretty stunned to see the Rock come in and eliminate him at the 2:15 mark. Stunning honestly. Ahmed Johnson comes in and ends up taking a beating. Brown even brings out a strap and whips him with it. Ahmed shakes it off before sending Faarooq with a Pearl River Plunge at 4:39. This was an early sign that Faarooq was on his way out of the Nation as Rocky would take over the following year. Brown nails a frog splash on Ahmed but taunts instead of pinning. Faarooq doesn’t leave ringside and holds Ahmed’s feet as Rocky pins him at 6:19. This leads to an Ahmed/Faarooq brawl to the back. Their feud has been going on for far too long. Animal and Ken Shamrock now work together for a bit. Kama gets tagged and stalls because he sucks. As Animal hits a shoulder block, the sound in the arena messes up. It’s annoying, though it’s funny to hear Jerry Lawler blame Kevin Dunn. Some showboating by Kama costs him as Animal rolls him up to even things out at 10:53.

Ken Shamrock gets the tag and beats up on D-Lo for a while. His hot run is slowed by a cheap low blow from Rocky. D-Lo was deceptively agile, busting out a second rope moonsault, though he misses. Animal gets a hot tag but is distracted when Billy Gunn and Road Dog come out in his shoulder pads. He is knocked outside, where Dog throws powder or something into his eyes and he gets counted out at 15:26. Being left alone, Shamrock snaps and takes out both guys. He makes D-Lo tap out to the Ankle Lock at 17:10. With the referee helping D-Lo out of the ring, Rocky waffles Shamrock with a chair in the back but only gets a near fall. These two would go on to have a pretty big rivalry in 1998, facing off at the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and King of the Ring. Rocky hits a DDT and the People’s Elbow but Shamrock won’t quit. He fires up, countering a DDT into the Northern lights suplex. That’s one of my favorite moves in wrestling. Shamrock then makes Rocky tap out as well to survive.

Winners: Ahmed Johnson, Ken Shamrock and LOD (Sole Survivor: Ken Shamrock) in 20:33
Another traditional Survivor Series match that was fun. Ken Shamrock was still pretty hot and relatively new, so this was a great way to help get him even more over. An energetic brawl that is easy to watch. ***

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Owen Hart (c) w/ Team Canada vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
We have an obvious backstory here as not only does Steve Austin have issues with the Hart Foundation, but Owen Hart broke Austin’s neck at SummerSlam earlier in the year. Owen is sporting the infamous “Owen 3:16” shirt. Austin was less than two months removed from the first Stunner on Vince McMahon that launched him into another stratosphere. Jim Neidhart runs in before the bell but eats a Stunner. That allows Owen to attack quickly. He teases the piledriver but Austin counters. The crowd is rabid and they actually chant “break his neck”. So much for polite Canadians, eh? Owen chokes Austin with some cables at ringside. Inside, Austin stomps a mudhole before hitting a Stunner to win the gold.

Winner and New WWF Intercontinental Champion: Steve Austin in 4:02
Nowhere near the level of their SummerSlam battle but that is mainly because Austin should not have been wrestling here. He wasn’t fully healed and it caused them to limit what they’d do here. *¼

WWF Championship
Bret Hart (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels is the European Champion at this time. In classic 90’s HBK fashion, he humps the Canadian flag during his entrance. Despite both guys being in factions, they stop them from accompanying them to the ring. It’s interesting that both guys are top heels at this point. Shawn attacks early, leading us to a brawl. It goes through the crowd where some fans even sneak in cheap shots on Shawn. This causes Vince McMahon, Sgt. Slaughter and officials to come to ringside. The ringside scuffle goes on for nearly ten minutes before the bell even rings. The fighting is good, as it even spills up by the entrance. It makes sense because of the documented hatred these two shared for one another. When the match finally officially starts, Bret chokes Shawn with the Montreal flag. Shawn takes over and jaws with some ringside fans. A good old fashioned front face lock slows things down but Bret starts to rally. He wraps Shawn’s leg around the ring post, before moving to one of my favorite moves ever, the ring post figure four. Inside, Bret applies a normal figure four but HBK turns it over. Bret reaches the ropes quickly. Bret goes into the five moves of doom. Shawn counters by pulling the official into Bret and they collide. Shawn locks in the Sharpshooter, Vince calls for the bell and the screwjob is in.

Winner and New WWF Champion: Shawn Michaels in 12:19
Probably the worst of their big three matches. It’s rather surreal to see how this ended, including Bret spitting on Vince and Shawn throwing his fake temper tantrum. The match itself was solid, especially the early brawling but nothing to write home about. **¾

Overall: 6/10; Average. Shortly after the WWE Network launched, I watched this show and disliked it. Looking at it now, it’s pretty good. The Survivor Series matches, except for the DOA one, are all relatively fun. It also gets the score bumped up a bit more due to the historical value here. The main event, while not classic, kind of has to be seen by any and every wrestling fan. Up next on “Random Network Reviews” will be Tribute to the Troops 2006!

Lucha Underground The Machine Review

Things start with a video package recapping the Mundo/Cage and Texano/Chavo feuds.

Pentagon Jr. is shown in some strange setting, talking to his master. We hear a Vampiro voiceover where he says that he was in control and not Ian Hodgkinson. He took Pentagon Jr. under his wing as his apprentice. Vampiro tells him to let nothing stand in his way, not even "her", which is Catrina.

Jack Evans def. PJ Black in 3:57
Evans steals the microphone from Melissa Santos to address the Temple. He calls himself the dragonslayer again and basically spits some bars on him.They worked a fun match with some good laughs in it. Drago showed up atop the Temple with nunchucks to distract Evans. Evans tossed a water bottle at him and PG Black scored with a big near fall. Drago comes down and accidentally sprays mist in PJ's face, allowing Evans to roll him up and steal it. A fun opening contest. Something I'd see in PWG to be honest. I wish it got more time. **1/2

Non-Title Match: King Cuerno def. Killshot in 5:30
I've mentioned before that I like Killshot. His stuff with the hunter, King Cuerno, last season was great and this is a renewal of that short rivalry. They played off of their knowledge of each other and worked a solid enough match. Cuerno was able to win with the Thrill of the Hunt. After the match, he tried to take out Killshot with his tombstone variation, but Fenix came out to make the save. **1/2

Gauntlet Match: Chavo Guerrero, CIsco and Cortez Castro def. Texano in 5:46
While I enjoyed some of what the Crew did in season one, Texano and Chavo are among my least favorite performers in Lucha Underground. Chavo sent Cisco in first. Texano superkicked him instantly and eliminated him. Cortez Castro was next in. Their interaction was obviously longer and Texano got rid of him. Chavo snuck in with an attack from behind. Texano started to make the comeback but they did the cheesy, overdone finish where the face goes for a suplex and the guys outside trip him up and hold his feet, giving Chavo a dirty win. *3/4

Finally, we see more from Dario Cueto and Black Lotus. Lotus is annoyed that they have been away for so long. Dario wants his brother to be ready. He tells a story about how their mother would hurt them. He stood up to her one day but wasn't strong enough, so Matanza stepped in and killed her. It was on that day that Dario learned how much he loves violence.

Catrina is walking backstage when Pentagon Jr. shouts at her. He says that Prince Puma humiliated him and needs to be taught a lesson. Catrina declines because of what he did to Mil Muertes. They get into it, with a very action like fight scene that ends with Pentagon holding her in place to break her arm. The lights flicker and she appears away from him. She gives him the match next week but says it was a mistake to put his hands on her. I love when LU does those cool fight scenes.

Johnny Mundo def. Cage in 7:58
These two had a solid match early on in season one when Cage was the heel and Mundo was the babyface. Things have flip flopped this time around. Mundo was a total dick, even bitch slapping Cage early on. They played the big man/high flyer dynamic but I enjoyed the twist of Mundo being the heel. When it looked like Cage was setting up for the win, Taya Valkyrie made her debut to run out and distract Cage and the official. She slid a pipe into the ring, which Mundo used to defeat Cage.  After the match, Taya and Mundo put the boots to Cage and hit him with a variety of moves, standing tall. ***

After teh credits, we see Catrina in her office again. King Cuerno comes in and is tired of not being able to kill Fenix so he wants to cash in the Gift of the Gods Title and face Muertes next week. Catrina says he is going back on the deal so he'll defend it next week against Fenix. In a ladder match. That should be great.

Overall: 6.5/10. Even when the show doesn't feature a bunch of great wrestling, it's always pretty easy to enjoy Lucha Underground. The opener was a fun, short bout. I enjoyed Killshot/Cuerno and the main event. The gauntlet match wasn't very good though. While the wrestling wasn't at the best LU can put out, they advanced multiple stories.

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

Top Ten Thursday: Shane McMahon Matches

With the news that Shane McMahon has not only returned to the WWE, but will be facing the Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania, I figured now would be a good time to look at the best Shane McMahon matches. The only criteria is that Shane McMahon had to be involved in the match. It could be singles or tags. At the time of this writing, Shane vs. Undertaker is still set but there are rumors that it could change. If it does, oh well, just enjoy Shane McMahon's Top Ten Matches.

10. Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton – No Way Out 2009 

In early 2009, the WWE was in full on Randy Orton push mode. He had just returned from an injury with fresh ink on his arms and a more vicious attitude. Orton would win the Royal Rumble and proceed to punt Vince McMahon in the skull. Never one to let his family get hurt, Shane returned and came after Orton. It led to some odd moments during the build, like the infamous gif of Shane’s phantom punches, but the match itself was pretty good. Shane has never been a technician or a catch as catch can guy. He plays to his strengths, which are brawling and big spots and it works for him. Brawling was key here because the feud called for a match that felt personal. While I love Shane McMahon, a lot of his matches aren’t really great, which is why this one makes the list at pretty good. Orton had his Legacy buddies with him, which only meant that Shane had to overcome some odds, leading him to nail Cody Rhodes with his Van Terminator. After a fair amount of hardcore spots, Shane tried to get revenge for his dad by punting Orton, only to get hit with the RKO. Orton picked up a win on his road to WrestleMania XXV.

9. Shane McMahon vs. Shawn Michaels – Saturday Night’s Main Event

Leading up to WrestleMania 22, the McMahons were embroidered in a feud with Shawn Michaels. Mainly it was Vince targeting Shawn, leading to a match at Mania. Shortly before that clash though, the WWE brought back Saturday Night’s Main Event and gave us Shawn Michaels vs. Shane McMahon. Shane is indeed always at his best in the Street Fight, which is what this was. You believed in the hatred again when Shawn attacked Shane during his entrance. Weapons were quickly brought into play as Shawn brought out a chair and table to take it to the young McMahon. Not to be outdone, Shane got a ladder, which both men fought atop. In one of the craziest bumps I remember seeing, Shawn superplexed Shane from the ladder in the ring, through two tables outside. I know Shane has done some absolutely insane shit in the past, but this had to be ridiculously scary and extra points to Shawn for doing this with his eternally bad back. Somehow, there was still match left after this. The spots slowed down a bit after until Shane’s Van Terminator hit Vince instead of Shawn. Still, the McMahons pulled a screwjob on Shawn, giving Shane one of the rare wins on this list.

8. WWF European Championship: Shane McMahon (c) vs. X-Pac – WrestleMania XV

The earliest match on this list. Thanks to his last name and the Corporation angle, Shane McMahon found himself as the WWF European Champion. Shane was the epitome of unproven in the ring though he would end up getting the fans to love him for his daredevil stunts. This match didn’t feature anything like that but was a well worked match that the crowd was hot for. X-Pac was just about at the peak of his popularity, while Shane was never more hated than he was here. They did very smart things, like having Shane, knowing he’s way out of his depth against X-Pac, look for a countout victory. Shane has the help of Test at ringside, who he would go on to have a great match with down the line, giving him all of the odds in his favor. It was one of those times where you felt like the babyface HAD to win. He would get revenge on Shane and the Corporation. Instead, they pulled off a good old fashioned Russo swerve. Triple H, leader of D-Generation X showed up to seemingly help X-Pac. Instead, he planted him with a Pedigree, allowing Shane to retain his title and move to 1-0 at WrestleMania.

7. Last Man Standing Match: Shane McMahon vs. Kane – Unforgiven 2003 

People are really split on this rivalry. Some thought it made the recently unmasked Kane look rather soft, while others felt like it was a ton of ridiculous fun. I’m with the latter. I love Shane McMahon and really found this to be mostly insane fun. Where else can you get an angle where a dude electrocutes another man’s testicles and have it be a blast? An unstable Kane Tombstoned Linda McMahon, causing perennial “mama’s boy” Shane to return and come to her rescue. Some of what they did could be considered wrestlecrap, but certainly not all of it. Again, it’s a recurring theme, but Shane is at his best in the insane brawl environment. He had to pull out all of the stops against the monster known as Kane. You could feel for Shane and you understood that he was doing this in honor of his mother. By this point, Shane was now well known for his insane stunts. You had to figure that he would need to pull out one of those to have a chance at Kane. You would have figured correctly. The crowd wanted it and Shane obliged, climbing the entrance structure and diving out, falling through the stage. Kane got to his feet, winning the match.

6. Hell in a Cell: The McMahons and the Big Show vs. D-Generation X – Unforgiven 2006 

Unforgiven 2006 is one of those rare shows that had some big time stipulation matches on the card. Besides the TLC main event, there was the first ever handicap Hell in a Cell match. It’s fitting to list this here considering Shane’s upcoming Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker. The McMahons were in the midst of a long rivalry with D-Generation X. Clearly on the losing side, they recruited the ECW Champion Big Show. Show was in rough shape here, reaching his heaviest weight and looking like he could literally die at any point during the match. This was the last Cell match that comes to mind that really went all out. There were multiple weapons, tons of chaos and buckets of blood from nearly everybody involved. It certainly wasn’t Shane on his own like some other matches on this list, as everyone more than did their part, but he was still involved. I wasn’t a big fan of the childish finish where Vince has his face shoved in Big Show’s ass, but other than that, this is a brutal war.

5. WWF Hardcore Championship: Shane McMahon (c) vs. Steve Blackman – SummerSlam 2000 

SummerSlam 2000 is one of my all-time favorite events. I’m not saying it’s one of the greatest, but it holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons. One of them is that it was the first ever PPV that I purchased on DVD. One of them is that I went to my first Raw on the road to this show. One of them is Shane McMahon vs. Steve Blackman. When you think about McMahons holding titles (seriously, all but Linda have done so), the one that would make the most sense to me would be Shane as Hardcore Champion. It just fit him so well. However, his run came at the expense of Steve Blackman, who was billed at the time as one tough son of a bitch. This caused Shane to run at the sight of Blackman, but once the bell rang, he could run no more. Or at least we thought so. He fought to try and survive but Blackman was too much, forcing Shane to run away. He ran all the way to the entrance and when he ran out of places to go, he had nowhere to go but up. Literally. Shane climbed the structure and must have gone up at least fifty feet. Blackman followed and hit him with a kendo stick, causing Shane to take one of the sickest bumps ever, falling back off the stage. Blackman climbed lower and hit a big diving elbow to regain his championship.

4. Street Fight: Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon – WrestleMania X-Seven 

It’s no secret that the Invasion angle was a pretty big debacle. WCW and ECW were booked to be incredibly inferior to the WWF. Hell, even most of the Alliance guys to shine were WWF guys who “defected”. Before any of that though, there was a lot of buzz and hope after Shane showed up on the final WCW Nitro to say that he purchased the company right from under his dad’s nose. It helped add fuel to an already red hot fire between Shane and Vince, culminating in a Street Fight at arguably the greatest WrestleMania of all time. This match was great for two reasons. Violence and storytelling. Vince and Shane held nothing back, proving that even though they aren’t regular wrestlers, they more than deserved the spot on the show. The red hot crowd was invested throughout and everything was laid out so well. From Trish wheeling out Linda to Trish turning face and brawling with Stephanie to Mick Foley as referee and finally to Linda rising and giving Vince his comeuppance, this was all tremendously done. It was here that Shane debuted his Van Terminator and beat his father. Following this and the Invasion PPV, WCW was 1000% inferior to the WWF the rest of the way.

3. Love Her or Leave Her Street Fight: Shane McMahon vs. Test – SummerSlam 1999 

While the match against X-Pac at WrestleMania of this year was good, I’d say this was the first Shane McMahon match to just about hit great status. His sister Stephanie fell in love with Test and Shane didn’t approve like most brothers would. It all came to a head at SummerSlam, where Test put his love on the line. If he would lose, he’d have to leave Stephanie, but if he won, Shane would approve. Shane and Test went out and completely stole the show at SummerSlam 1999. This was the first time I remember Shane busting out his trademark elbow through the announce table. I’d like to point out that I think Shane legitimately has a top three elbow in history, behind only Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels. They used weapons throughout, but added enough story in there that it wasn’t just some typical hardcore match from the era. The Mean Street Posse got involved to even the odds for Shane but Test fought them back. He won the right to love Stephanie after a big flying elbow of his own. The celebration with Stephanie was one of the better feel good moments you could find at the time. Not only would they be together, but Shane would approve, while also earning Test’s respect.

2. Team WCW vs. Team WWF – Survivor Series 2001 

I truly believe this is not only the best match on the list, but if you recall my first Top Ten Thursday, I also consider it to be the greatest Survivor Series elimination match in history. The only reason it isn’t topping it is because it wasn’t purely a Shane McMahon performance. However, Shane, and literally everyone else involved, all more than held their own. From the Big Show’s elimination to the Undertaker and Kane teaming up to Rob Van Dam being the most popular heel on the show to Shane’s sweet elbow drop to Jericho going heel and everything in between. It all just clicked. If Shane shone brightest in Street Fights, I’d say he was at his second best in tandem environments. Matches like this helped to hide the fact that Shane isn’t the best worker. This match was fantastic and Shane was able to score a pinfall over the Big Show. Shortly after, he was eliminated by Chris Jericho before the match continued for another thirty minutes or so.

1. Street Fight: Shane McMahon vs. Kurt Angle – King of the Ring 2001 

Oh look, it’s another Street Fight. This is the absolute pinnacle of Shane McMahon and everything he stands for in the ring. Kurt Angle was lightyears out of Shane’s league and again, Shane entered this match as the underdog. He made sure Angle won an earlier match so he could face a second opponent and be tired heading into their match. Early on, Shane surprised Angle by outworking him on the mat, angering the Olympic Gold Medalist. Angle went nuts and this fight just picked up and never let up. Shane McMahon is absolutely nuts. He took some sick bumps throughout this. The most infamous moments came when Angle tried to belly to belly suplex Shane through some glass in the entrance. Just going through them would have been enough for a great visual but what actually happened made it so much more legendary. The glass didn’t break but Angle kept going at it, so Shane just kept getting dropped on his head. I still cringe at the sound of his head thudding off of the concrete floor. Angle finally put Shane away after over twenty minutes with a top rope Angle Slam. Shane is one of the gutsiest performers in wrestling history and this match proves why.

Fave Five 2/15/16-2/21/16

1) Tomohiro Ishii: The rise of Tomohiro Ishii over the past few years has been pretty remarkable. He rose to become a fan favorite in New Japan Pro Wrestling and was able to become NEVER Openweight Champion a few times. He lost that title at Wrestle Kingdom earlier this year but found himself in another title match this week. At the ROH Honor Rising show in Tokyo, he got a shot at Roderick Strong and the Television Title in the main event. It's a match I've wanted for a long time and they delivered a great, hard hitting performance. Ishii pulled off the upset and won the belt. It looks like he'll be doing more work with ROH throughout the year.

            2) Kevin Owens: This past Monday, Raw opened with Dean Ambrose and it led to Stephanie McMahon making a rare Fatal Five Way match for the Intercontinental Title. Kevin Owens bested Ambrose, Tyler Breeze, Dolph Ziggler and Stardust to win back his championship. His terrible feud with Ziggler continued at Fastlane, where he defend the title against him. It was a pretty good match and Owens managed to retain the gold. Hopefully, with the title back on his shoulder and WrestleMania coming up, we'll get Owens/Styles or Owens/Zayn at the Show of Shows.

3) Roman Reigns: The main event of Fastlane was pretty much the most predictable one in a really long time. Roman Reigns was going to win once the match was announced and it indeed happened this week. The match was good, but didn't reach great levels for me, especially due to the shitty finish. Still, Reigns pinned Dean Ambrose again and Brock Lesnar stayed unpinned in the last two years. Reigns had the "epic" Mania sign staredown with Triple H, though it hardly felt like it. The crowd in Cleveland pretty hated anything he did. Reigns is going to WrestleMania, earning his spot on this week's list.

            4) AJ Styles: Since his arrival in the WWE, AJ Styles has been booked pretty well and it continued this week. On Raw, he picked up a victory over the Miz, in another pretty solid match between the two. On Smackdown, Styles waited for Chris Jericho to defeat the Miz before Jericho accepted his challenge for a rubber match at Fastlane. The rubber match came at Fastlane and was, outside of the main event, my pick for the match of the night. Unfortunately, Jericho kicked out of the Styles Clash, which I feel hurts the move. However, Styles won with the Calf Crusher, cementing a submission victory and establishing that move.

5) Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks: These three Bullet Club members are collectively known as "the Elite". This week, at the ROH/NJPW Honor Rising shows, they faced the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions, the Briscoes and Toru Yano. They were able to dethrone them, making the trio already the fourth champions in history, despite the belt debuting on 1/4/16. It now makes Omega a double champion with his IWGP Intercontinental Title. Hopefully, since the company seems hellbent on pushing him to the moon, it means the titles won't switch hands again anytime soon.

OH MY GOD SHANE O MAC IS BACK Raw Review

Holy shit. We heard there was supposed to be a big start to Raw and we got one. Vince McMahon presented his daughter Stephanie with the Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award. While Stephanie was accepting, "Here Comes the Money" played and Shane fucking McMahon returned for the first time in nearly ten years. The crowd reaction for him was insane. He declined a hug and handshake from his dad before telling Stephanie that he cut a deal with his dad where he didn't lose his spot in line and he wants control of Raw and the company. Vince agreed but only on the condition that Shane earn it in a match at WrestleMania. Against the Undertaker. Inside Hell in a Cell. It's a random match but goddamn it sounds fun and intriguing. Shane is going to potentially die in the Cell to try and save WrestleMania. This is the kind of start I want from Raw more often. Give me something of interest instead of the same old tired format.

That opening segment literally took up 31 minutes of hour one, but it was very well earned. It was followed by a lengthy but fun six man tag, pitting Neville and the Lucha Dragons against the New Day. It was enjoyable but my only issue was that Neville doesn't really feel important as US Champion. Kofi pinned Sin Cara with Trouble in Paradise. Hours before Raw, Dean Ambrose arrived at the arena, only to be assaulted by Brock Lesnar and taken out in an ambulance and neck brace. Brock and Paul Heyman came out and Heyman complained that Brock didn't have a Mania opponent and it's all Dean's fault for costing him the match at Fastlane. Before they could leave, the ambulance returned with Dean driving, complete with the neck brace. He crawled to Brock who just walked over him. Dean got on the microphone, told Brock to kiss his ass and challenged him to a No Holds Barred match at WrestleMania. Brock laid him out with the F5 and accepted. Well, outside of the main event, WrestleMania sounds much better now.

Up to this point, the show was great, firing on all cylinders. The Usos beat the Ascension next in a short match. It was fine and saw the Dudley Boyz cut a promo on the Usos. It was fine and seems to be leading to another multi-team Mania match. Chris Jericho came out to put over AJ Styles after losing to him. He respect him now. Styles comes out and they shake hands until the Social Outcasts show up. They talk smack (while Bo Dallas is amazing in his role, actually being moved by Jericho and AJ's bonding). It led to a tag team match that Styles and Jericho won. I didn't mind this, but I'm not sure what the plan is for Styles at Mania. Jericho again? Backstage, HHH tells Stephanie to give Roman some news. She finds him and the news is that he'll face Sheamus tonight. Oh joy, because we've never seen that before. Also in the back, we get more teases for R-Truth and Goldust. These segments have gotten progressively worse after starting out pretty funny. Truth smashed a cake in Goldust's face, leading the fans to boo. This whole thing is odd.

The low point of the show is next, and it's a rematch of the bad Wyatt Family Fastlane tag. This time, Bray was actually in the tag and they won. However, they only won because Ryback walked out on his team. Afterwards, he said that he needs to start looking out for himself. Next up, Sasha Banks went one on one with Naomi. It was decent at best and Becky Lynch made the save when Tamina got involved. Becky and Sasha stood tall until Charlotte and Ric Flair came out. Charlotte was wearing a top that mocked Brie Bella's. Charlotte says that next week, Becky faces Sasha to determine the number one contender. She tried to build tension between them, shouting that Sasha was attacking Becky and making Becky jump. The match should be good and hopefully leads to a Triple Threat at Mania because that would easily be the best route.

The main event pit Roman Reigns against Sheamus for the 100th time. They worked their normal match until Triple H showed up in his leather jacket. Michael Cole was awful here, flat out saying "YOU KNOW HOW I KNOW TRIPLE H MEANS BUSINESS? HE'S NOT WEARING A SUIT." God, he's the worst. HHH and Reigns brawled and it was pretty glorious. Triple H beat his ass, bloodying Reigns and hitting him with a Pedigree on the steel steps. While he did all of the this, the crowd chanted for him and even chanted "one more time". When the heel destroys the "top" babyface and the crowd loves it, there is something seriously wrong. Triple H was tremendous in this segment though.

This is what I want from my episodes of Raw. I don't need work rate matches that go through two commercial breaks and mean nothing. Most things on this show felt important and moved things forward. We got build for Dean/Brock, Shane's return, HHH's excellent close and more. 8/10.

Fastlane Review

Well, I was at Fastlane live so part of my review will be about the matches themselves and some will be about the live report. The show opened with Kalisto defending the US Title on the Pre-Show against Alberto Del Rio. This was their fourth televised match that I can recall, with Kalisto holding a 2-1 advantage. The fans were into Kalisto but Del Rio got an apathetic response. They worked a really good match actually. It was their best effort besides the title change on Raw last month. Del Rio got DQed early on, weakening Kalisto and scoring a fall to even it. For some reason, he tried to win via countout. You can't win the belt like that so why even tease that? That hurt the match for me. Kalisto scored with a rollup to retain, cementing Del Rio as the highest paid Kickoff Show loser in history. Seriously, they're paying him about a million dollars for this. He has good matches but mostly nobody ends up caring. And this is from someone who really likes him. ***1/4

In a surprising, but very deserving move, the women were given the PPV opening. This is the first time that's happened since a UK only PPV in 2003 if I'm right. Crowd was hugely into Sasha and Becky and they made it work for them. This was EASILY the best match I've ever seen Naomi or Tamina have. Sasha and Becky worked great as a unit and built to the hot tag perfectly. The fans wanted to see Sasha get it and Becky is a fantastic sympathetic babyface. Sasha got the tag and both girls killed it en route to a victory. Strong opener and once again showcased why these two belong in the big Divas match at Mania. ***1/2

            In a match that didn't feel like it should be on a Pay-Per-View, we got Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler for about the 15th time in the past few weeks. Like most of their previous matches, it was good but something was missing. Add in the fact that we've seen it a ton and you have given the fans next to no reason to care about it. Surprisingly, they billed Ziggler from Hollywood, Florida which they usually avoid when he's home in Cleveland. The fans finally got into it thanks to some near falls in the end. Owens scored with the popup powerbomb, I think, I did look away for a minute. Solid enough match with the right guy going over. Just please, for the love of everything, end this feud. **3/4

At this point, we'd had three pretty good matches and I was thinking this show was already better than the last PPV I attended, TLC 2014. Then the guys that sucked the hardest at TLC (Show, Rowan, Ryback and Kane) reared their ugly heads. This was a six man tag not involving Bray Wyatt and it pretty much blew. It was dull, I could not get interested in anything that anybody did. The best thing about this was a sign that someone had saying "Big Show is a Vapegod". Then, to make matter worse, the babyfaces won after Ryback Shellshocked Luke Harper. Why? The Wyatts are just no a viable threat in any conceivable way at this point. *3/4

Playing off the Daniel Bryan sympathy train came the WWE Divas Championship match. Being there live, I wasn't feeling this match at all. It felt like it dragged and I just couldn't get invested. The crowd was pretty hot for Brie. She kept going for the Yes Lock and did some of Bryan's trademark kicks. Charlotte continually looked for the heat she can't get on her own by doing the Yes taunt. Ric Flair got involved but Brie transitioned into a single leg crab when he interrupted her Yes Lock, which was cool. Charlotte survived and made her tap. I've heard people say really good things about this so I may need to give it a second watch. **

After a good first match on Raw and a great second match on Smackdown, we had the rubber match between AJ Styles and Chris Jericho. I was more into this match than any other because I had never seen AJ live. They had a damn fine match that was better than the first one on Raw, but not as good as the Smackdown one. For some reason, Jericho kicked out of the Styles Clash. Why kill that move's credibility for the sake of a near fall? Yoshi Tatsu died for that move. Anyway, Styles won with the poorly renamed Calf Crusher. They shook hands after the bell. ***1/2

                        Edge and Christian came out for the Cutting Edge Peep Show to promote their new show and have New Day as their guests. New Day came out and made some jokes while E&C said they basically ripped off their style to get over. For some reason, they brought up the League of Nations and apparently, New Day has issues with them now. Yes, even though they've hung out with them in the past. There was no setup for this or anything. LON came out to trade barbs, New Day left and E&C cracked one final joke on LON that had the New Day in stitches. It didn't work nearly as good as they wanted and it completely came from out of nowhere. Oddly, the new segment saw the Social Outcasts come out and there was a random match between Curtis Axel and R-Truth. It's like I went to a PPV and Superstars started happening. Goldust showed up but Axel still won. I didn't get it. 1/2*

The extremely predictable main event was next. I knew the crowd would be more into both Brock and Dean but man, it was overwhelming negative towards Reigns. Much more so than I thought it would be. The match itself was a really fun brawl. Brock suplexed the world, while Reigns and Ambrose worked together to neutralize him. They put him through two tables even. The finish came when Ambrose lit up both men with a chair, sending Brock outside. Reigns no sold all of that, hit a Spear and won. The crowd hated that. It was like, the worst kind of Superman finish. It really hurt the overall score of the match. Triple H came out after to do the WrestleMania sign staredown with Reigns. Fans were very positive towards HHH. ***3/4

Overall, I found this show to be very middle of the pack. There were some good things, like most of the main event, the Divas tag and the AJ Styles/Chris Jericho match. There were some bad things like the Superstars thrown together match an the awful Wyatts jobbing situation. At least the crowd was hot. 5.5/10.