Fave Five 12/5/16-12/11/16

1) The Miz: Unlike the previous week, this wasn't full of major accomplishments. Instead, I'm giving the honor this week to the guy who won the main event of Smackdown, The Miz. Miz scored a pinfall victory over Dean Ambrose, which was big. It's one thing to beat Ambrose by countout or disqualification but getting a pin, even with interference from James Ellsworth, was a big deal. Add in Miz's great work during MizTV where he handed out the hilarious "Miz Participation Award" and you've got another great week for a guy having one of the best runs of anyone since the draft. Miz should hold the Intercontinental Title until WrestleMania.

             2) Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma: I can't wrap my head about the booking decisions that Gedo makes. I think the best option for World Tag League winners was Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii, especially after Ishii got the best matches out of the Guerillas of Destiny a few months ago. Instead, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma won the World Tag League by defeating the IWGP Tag Team Champions, the Guerillas of Destiny. So yes, that means that the two teams who met at Invasion Attack, Wrestling Dontaku and in the World Tag League Finals will face off again at Wrestle Kingdom. I didn't care about this tournament finals, so I didn't watch it but I do hear that it was their best match together. That bodes well for the eventual Tokyo Dome match, but I just can't bring myself to care. I'm sure everyone will give it a high rating though since apparently NJPW can do no wrong in most people's eyes. I mean, I'm seeing people give lots of praise to the Wrestle Kingdom 11 card when it is easily the weakest Tokyo Dome care in years. Whether I agree with the booking or not, Great Bash Heel won the WTL for the second straight year, which is a fine accomplishment.

3) Roman Reigns: Like The Miz, Roman Reigns successfully defended the second most important title on his brand this week. It wasn't exactly the main event, but it was a good match. Reigns defeated Chris Jericho thanks to some botched interference from Kevin Owens. It was yet another win for Reigns who is right back on track after his suspension earlier this year. It seemed like his punishment for the suspension was taking three clean pins at the hands of Seth Rollins (Money in the Bank), Dean Ambrose (Battleground) and Finn Balor (Raw). Since then, the Big Dog has been back to eating.

4) Eddie Edwards: Again, I'll admit over and over that I just really don't follow TNA anymore in this day and age. However, they continually have TNA Title matches on almost a weekly basis. Last week, champion Eddie Edwards may have had his best defense so far when he retained against former champion Ethan Carter III. I'm just going based off what I heard. Edwards was a surprise to become champion but has done rather well with the title during this recent run, even if nobody is watching. Speaking of watching, I'm gonna do my best to check out TNA this week because it's Total Nonstop Deletion and that sounds like a blast.

5) Rich Swann: Successfully retained the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against The Brian Kendrick on 205 Live.

Raw History: Episodes 70-72

Raw History
Episode #70
July 11th, 1994 | Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania

Highlights of the year that 1-2-3 Kid has had are shown, from his debut to winning the Tag Team Titles to becoming the number one contender. Jim Ross and Macho Man are on commentary tonight.

WWF Championship
Bret Hart (c) vs. The 1-2-3 Kid
In the past year they mention that Bret Hart has won the King of the Ring, Royal Rumble, Superstar of the Year and WWF Title. Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart show up to talk smack to Bret but they are sent away. Right out of the first lockup, Kid brings Hart down with an arm drag, causing Bret to give a look that says “okay, I see this won’t be easy.” Bret takes things to the mat, but Kid uses his quickness and a flurry of kicks to send him reeling to the outside. Following a commercial, Kid is wrestling Bret’s game on the mat and is doing well for himself. Bret seems to get in control, but Kid scores some near falls on flash pins. He tries a crucifix but Bret counters and pins him for a three count. Kid gets his foot on the ropes and the referee misses it. Bret explains it to the referee and demands a restart. Instantly from the restart, Kid scores a near fall, showing that Bret may have made a mistake. JR asks Savage if he would have asked for a restart and Savage says “no way, I’d be in the shower getting ready to party.” Kid is in trouble, but busts out some kicks to save himself. The moonsault that he beat Razor Ramon with gets two. He brings out a powerbomb of all things and hits a top rope leg drop for another close near fall. Kid leaps out onto Bret, but kind of gets brushed aside and hits hard. He still tries more high risk and goes to the well too often as he misses a cannonball splash. Bret tries a superplex but Kid lands on top for two. He jumps from the top again but Bret catches his legs and locks in the Sharpshooter for the submission.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: Bret Hart in 17:34
I’d say this was the best match in the history of Raw up to this point. This worked so well since the WWF spent a year building Kid as this underdog who could win at any time, so the fans bit on every near fall. Bret gave Kid a ton and it took Kid making some mistakes for Bret to retain the title. Great match. ****½

Todd Pettengill brings us the first SummerSlam Report. He hypes that it will take place in the brand new United Center in Chicago and will have the largest crowd to see a WWF show this year. He announces the Undertaker vs. Undertaker main event.

Crush w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Matt Hardy
One of these guys would go on to be a big star. The other is Crush. Unfortunately here, this is all about Crush. His attire isn’t as ridiculously awful as it normally is. Macho Man has gone insane on commentary, just shouting “GOAAAALLLL”. Crush wins in short order with a big backbreaker.

Winner: Crush in 1:27
Hey, they kept a Crush squash short and sweet. I appreciate that.

An ad actually discusses how the WWF Title has eluded Lex Luger. He’ll be facing Diesel for the Intercontinental Title though. Will he come up short with this title on the line too? FIND OUT NEXT WEEK!

Razor Ramon vs. Barry Horowitz
Razor is one of those faces that does heel things and is more over for it. He applies a submission on Barry, shrugs and then just smacks him in the back of the head a few times. Commentary spends the match discussing the company looking for a detective to search for the Undertaker. Surprisingly, Razor wins with a small package.

Winner: Razor Ramon in 2:54
Standard stuff here, not much to discuss.

Time for the King’s Court, taking place in one of Ted Dibiase’s offices. King mentions all of the people that Dibiase has bought and mentions that he’s heard Ted was trying to purchase Lex Luger. Dibiase claims that he isn’t trying, but he’s already bought his services.

IRS vs. Ray Hudson
Guess what IRS cuts a promo on when he walks to the ring? He calls the fans a bunch of tax cheats. As commentary discusses more potential detectives, IRS plods through his shitty offense. IRS wins with the Penalty, or STF.

Winner: IRS in 3:47
This was given too much time. Honestly though, more than 90 seconds of IRS is too much for me.

Bret Hart is interviewed and he puts over the 1-2-3 Kid. He is asked about Owen Hart wanting to take the title at SummerSlam. Bret mentions that with Owen having the Anvil in his corner, so Bret is going to bring one of his brothers to back him up.

Overall: 8/10. As noted previously, when the marquee match delivers and takes up about half of the show, the whole broadcast will get a high score. That’s the case here since the WWF Title not only delivered but was excellent. There was also some forward movement towards SummerSlam and only one match (IRS of course) that I didn’t care for,

Raw History
Episode #71
July 18th, 1994 | Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania

The show opens with footage from Superstars, where Tatanka called out Lex Luger for selling out to Ted Dibiase.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Diesel (c) w/ Shawn Michaels vs. Lex Luger
Commentary questions if Lex Luger has sold out or not. Both men are powerful and they play into that early on. They trade stuff early on, with neither man gaining a clear advantage. Luger falls outside, leading to a cheap clothesline from Shawn Michaels. We then see Ted Dibiase watching from the rafters like he’s 1997 Sting or something. Following a commercial, Diesel stays in control, hitting snake eyes for two. I love when Jim Ross asks Macho Man questions because he tends to just respond with “I don’t know”. Diesel slows thing to a crawl with chinlocks and sleeper holds. Things finally pick up as Luger rallies and gets two on a DDT. HBK’s ringside reactions are pretty great. Razor Ramon appears to equalize Shawn and chases him around the ring. Shawn enters the ring and gets into it with Luger, resulting in the DQ.

Double disqualification in 14:05
I appreciate seeing the Intercontinental Title getting a lot of time, but these weren’t the right two guys for it. Neither was very good at working lengthy matches and this dragged on. The finishing stuff was alright, but not enough to save things. *¾

The brawl continues and ends as the faces send the heels packing. Ted Dibiase appears in the aisle, disappointing that Lex Luger didn’t win the title. Get used to it man.

Mabel w/ Oscar  vs. Austin Steele
Mabel completely dominates the Buddy Landel impersonator throughout. The crowd chants “WHOMP THERE IT IS”, which is funny since R-Truth uses the same thing to this day.

Winner: Mabel in 2:15
At least it was short.

SummerSlam Report time! Todd informs us that Bret and Owen will meet for the WWF Championship inside of a fifteen foot high Steel Cage. The cage will be there to prevent the incredibly large Hart family from getting involved.

Owen Hart w/ Jim Neidhart vs. Reno Riggins
As the crowd chants “we want Bret”, Owen shouts back “I want Bret too!” Great stuff from Owen and this entire feud is so well done. Owen owns Reno and puts him away with the Sharpshooter.

Winner: Owen Hart in 2:54
As usual, an Owen Hart squash is relatively entertaining. Owen also doesn’t break the hold instantly, telling the referee that he couldn’t hear him.

Adam Bomb, no longer with Harvey Wippleman, faces Yokozuna next week. Oh joy.

Sparky Plugg vs. George South
We are just going through the motions of squash matches aren’t we? We’ve come to the match of the night where commentary just discusses random pop culture instead of pro wrestling. Hey, it even includes the trademark Randy Savage USA Network plug. Speaking of Plugg, he wins with a cross body.

Winner: Sparky Plugg in 2:41
Moving right along as this was kind of irrelevant.

We get some promotion for the Undertaker/Undertaker match.

Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Gary Sabaugh
Was getting rid of Luna part of the deal that Bigelow signed to join the Million Dollar Corporation? Bigelow goes through his stuff and applies the Million Dollar Dream. He turns it into a bulldog and wins.

Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow in 2:56
Standard Bigelow stuff though I like the change of finisher.

Ted Dibiase is interviewed after the match about the Lex Luger situation. He promises some answers this weekend. Tatanka comes out to say that he knows Luger signed on. Dibiase responds with “calm down Indian”. Whoa. He calls Tatanka jealous and then bets him $10,000 that Tatanka can’t beat Nikolai Volkoff next week. Good lord, I have to sit through that don’t I?

Overall: 3/10. Unlike the previous week, this week’s title match did not deliver. The rest of the show was pretty dull as well outside of Owen Hart being awesome. There seemed to be a ton of emphasis on Ted Dibiase as well and that looks like it will carry over to next week.

Raw History
Episode #72
July 25th, 1994 | Fernwood Resort in Bushkill, Pennsylvania

We are immediately taken to a recap of the Tatanka/Dibiase altercation last week. On Superstars this past weekend, Dibiase made his huge announcement and introduced Lex Luger. Tatanka was there to confront him and Luger still denies selling out.

Nikolai Volkoff w/ Ted Dibiase vs. Tatanka
Don’t forget, but $10,000 is on the line here. I still don’t get why Ted Dibiase’s first new client was Volkoff. I would have looked at his physique and stayed far away. Volkoff starts in control until Tatanka chops him and sends him outside. Despite this, Volkoff gets back inside and takes control again. He goes for a slam and Tatanka pulls him into a small package to earn ten grand.

Winner: Tatanka in 6:13
Pretty dull affair between two dull workers. I liked almost none of this and thought it was pretty bad. ¾*

Macho Man jumps in the ring with a microphone to make sure Ted Dibiase pays him. He does so, but says that Tatanka couldn’t beat “his” Lex Luger. Tatanka says that he can do so on his worst day. Thigs brings out Luger, who accepts the challenge, but doesn’t really acknowledge Dibiase.

The Headshrinkers w/ Afa and Capt. Lou Albano vs. Barry Hardy and Joey Stallings
Afa is back at ringside with the Tag Team Champions. The match starts before a commercial and just sees the Headshrinkers completely kick ass. They dominate to the point where Jim Ross just wants them to put the jobbers out of their misery, which they do after a splash.

Winners: The Headshrinkers in 3:33
One of the more fun Headshrinkers squashes since they murdered their opponents.

Next week, we actually have a match that sounds good. It’s a WrestleMania X rematch when Razor Ramon meets Shawn Michaels.

Jim Neidhart w/ Owen Hart vs. Jim Powers
Owen talks trash to the camera while Neidhart goes through his typical offense. None of it is very impressive though. He wins with a camel clutch like move.

Winner: Jim Neidhart in 2:58
Standard stuff.

Oh snap, we also get Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano next week. That should be good.

Alundra Blayze is now interviewed in the ring by Jim Ross. She says that Bull Nakano is the kind of girl that could even beat the men in the company. Luna Vachon shows up and says that she is responsible for bringing Bull to the United States. Then she leaves. Alundra, as always, stumbles through her promo but says that she’ll always have the belt.

Adam Bomb vs. Yokozuna w/ Mr. Fuji
Hey, we get two non-squash matches tonight and next week. Yokozuna starts hot but Adam Bomb rallies with some clotheslines and uses a shoulder block to knock Yokozuna to the outside. The ropes sound so strange here, making a weird noise as Adam bounces off. After a commercial, Yokozuna goes into his slow offense, including the DREADED NERVE HOLD. Adam slightly rallies and hits a big flying clothesline off the top. Kwang and Harvey Wippleman come down to the ring and Kwang trips Adam. He goes outside and brawls with Kwang, leading to a countout.

Winner via countout: Yokozuna in 5:51
That was actually better than expected and continues my thought process that Adam Bomb could have been a bigger star than he was. Maybe not WWF Champion material, but certainly an upper card player in a time devoid of top stars. He definitely had the look. **

Todd Pettengill brings us the SummerSlam Report. He runs down the double main event that we already knew about, but adds a third match. Razor Ramon gets his rematch and faces Diesel for the WWF Championship.

Duke Droese vs. Duane Gill
Commentary discusses the unfortunate rivalry between Duke Droese and Jerry Lawler. Lawler calls in and badmouths Duke. Duke does his few moves while Lawler announces that his King’s Court guest next week will be Bob Backlund.

Winner: Duke Droese in 2:31
Typical stuff.

Overall: 4.5/10. I was pleasantly surprised that Yokozuna/Adam Bomb didn’t suck, but Tatanka/Volkoff absolutely did. The rest of the show was a mixed bag. The Neidhart and Duke stuff was kind of just there, the Blayze interview was short but dull and the Headshrinkers squash was kind of fun actually. Next week looks pretty good though.

Random Network Reviews: WCW Starrcade 1999

Starrcade 1999
December 19th, 1999 | MCI Center in Washington, D.C. | Attendance: 8,582

At this point, Vince Russo was in charge of WCW and his fingerprints were quickly all over WCW. Of note, this Pay-Per-View, which is WCW’s biggest of the year, ended up with an abysmal 0.32 buyrate. Yikes. WWF was in firm control of the Monday Night Wars, having taken a massive lead and not letting up. It was the 17th Starrcade in history.

The show opens with a video highlighting the entire card as Scott Hudson runs down the 13 match card. It is incredibly fast and kind of annoying.

Big Vito and Johnny the Bull w/ Tony Marinara vs. Disco Inferno and Lash LeRoux
The story here is that Disco Inferno owed money to the Mafia and Tony Marinara sent Vito and Johnny after him. They honestly couldn’t think of a better name for him than Marinara? It starts with a brawl but when it breaks down, the heels take control, working over LeRoux. Disco comes in rather hot but Johnny the Bull stops him in his tracks. The Italians try a big boot into a neckbreaker, but time it all wrong and it comes off looking ugly. They continue to work heat on Disco until LeRoux gets the mild tag. He comes in and does his thing. The heels turn things around and Johnny leaps to the top. He slips, causing the fans to give an actual reaction before missing a spinning leg drop. Disco hits a frog splash off the top and a slow count allowing Vito to break it up. The faces mess up when Disco hits the Chart Buster on LeRoux. He could break the pin up but instead backdrops Johnny the Bull over the top and LOOKS AT HIM. That allows the three count to finish.

Winners: Big Vito and Johnny the Bull in 9:39
This was actually better than I thought it would be. They worked tag formula and did pretty well with it. There were a few botches and the crowd not being very hot hurt things, but they went out and did a relatively fine job. **½

The Marinara Mafia take Disco Inferno out in a body bag. Maybe gimmick infringement was the real reason behind that short Undertaker/FBI feud in WWE a few years later. Anyway, Disco fights out only to end up in the trunk of a car for Heenan to steal the show with a line of “The Disco Inferno was 25”.

Now, commentary informs us of a knee injury that Scott Hall has, so he can’t defend his United States Title against Chris Benoit in a ladder match tonight. He was forced to forfeit the belt and Benoit was just given the belt. Benoit shows up and calls it stupid because you should have to win titles. He issues an open challenge to anyone who wants to replace Hall in the ladder match.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Evan Karagias (c) w/ Spice vs. Madusa
These two were dating on screen but Evan left Madusa for the younger Nitro girl. Man, remember when the Cruiserweight Title was a big deal? Madusa hits a cross boy off the apron during Evan’s entrance. Inside, she dares Evan to hit her and when he does, he absolutely nails her. He misses an Asai moonsault, but then slams her from the top and hits a decent powerbomb. Madusa struggles to bridge up from a pin and nearly MURDERS Evan on a powerbomb attempt. I legitimately gasped out of fear. Fans chant “boring” even after Evan leaps out onto her. Spice gets on the apron, distracting Evan. She then proceeds to hit the WORST low blow I’ve ever seen. Madusa nails a German suplex to capture the belt.

Winner and New WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Madusa in 3:32
The Cruiserweight Title matches used to be the highlight of WCW Pay-Per-Views but it has fallen greatly. This was pretty terrible throughout. ½*

Backstage, Mean BAH GAWD Gene goes to interview Norman Smiley about his match tonight. Smiley says that he isn’t scared of Meng, but then shrieks when a producer nearby makes a sudden move. I love Norman Smiley.

WCW Hardcore Championship
Norman Smiley (c) vs. Meng
Smiley shows up with a cart of weapons, which he throws at Meng. Meng shrugs it off and beats him up to the back. When they get backstage, Normal hits Meng with a trash can but he no sells it, causing Smiley to scream. Schiavone thinks that maybe the screaming is so the opponent will feel sorry for you. As they brawl some more, Brian Knobbs appears to attack Meng but gets beat up because Meng > Knobbs. Fit Finlay shows up to help and Meng continues to just no sell EVERYTHING. He finally goes down after a lead pipe shot. Smiley gets up from under a table and covers Meng with the most cautious one handed pin in history to retain.

Winner and Still WCW Hardcore Champion: Norman Smiley in 4:29
Was it a great match? No, but man I had a good time watching this. Norman Smiley is fun and Meng being a badass was great. **¼

Nick Patrick checks on Meng, who just grabs him in the Tongan Death Grip. Cutting away, someone delivers a gift to David Flair and it’s a golden crowbar. Cutting again, Dr. Death is getting ready with Oklahoma. They cut for a second and suddenly, the Misfits are abducting Oklahoma. Wait, what? How did they happen so quickly?

The Revolution (Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Shane Douglas and Asya) vs. Jim Duggan and the Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda, Kevin Sullivan and Rick Steiner) w/ Leia Meow
Jim Duggan had to pick mystery partners. Reuniting the Varsity Club for a night is cool but the crowd seemed clueless about who or what the Varsity Club was. If Duggan’s team wins, the Revolution must be janitors and if the Revolution win, Duggan must denounce the USA. Shane Douglas shows how much he cares about the match by going on commentary. Duggan plods through his offense on Malenko and Saturn. Malenko and Saturn seem so disinterested and Saturn puts in the minimal effort. When the heels come in, the Varsity Club rush in and a big brawl ensues. Duggan refused to tag them in throughout the match, so the Varsity Club turn on him. Douglas then runs in and covers Duggan for the three.

Winners: The Revolution in 4:53
Yea, this was horrible. Jim Duggan staying in the ring throughout makes for bad wrestling and the other team was so disinterested that it just had zero redeeming qualities. ¼*

Shane Douglas cuts a promo on Jim Duggan having to denounce his American citizenship. He uses the work “stinking” far too often, probably as a replacement for “fucking” since this isn’t ECW anymore.

Steve Williams vs. Vampiro
If Vampiro wins, he gets five minutes alone with Oklahoma. The Misfits wheel out the cage with Oklahoma in it. He has a headset so he can call the match. Oh joy. Vampiro leaps off the cage onto Williams in the aisle. Vampiro pounds on Williams right punches and kicks but Williams won’t go down. He busts out of the corner with a shoulder block. Oklahoma shouts “MISS! MISS!” when Williams misses a splash. They fight up top, where Williams hits a top rope belly to belly suplex, though Vampiro nearly lands on his head. The Misfits run in and Williams takes them all out. Williams throws mounted punches on Vampiro and shoves the official, who tries to pull him off, leading to a DQ.

Winner via disqualification: Vampiro in 5:02
This got the point across, but wasn’t very good. It was just Vampiro kicking Williams until he got into his offense. The belly to belly was nice but having to hear Oklahoma throughout the match sucked. *½

Oklahoma vs. Vampiro
Since Dr. Death beat up Vampiro, Oklahoma is actually excited to get in the ring for his five minutes. Oklahoma hits a DDT and some stomps, calling his offense on his headset throughout. The time was cut short since the timer started before Oklahoma even exited the cage. Vampiro hits a big chop and uranage. The Misfits all get shots in on Oklahoma before the Nail in the Coffin ends it.

Winner: Vampiro in 2:52
It’s hard to really rate this. It wasn’t really a match, but then it kind of was. What I do know, is that it wasn’t entertaining. ½*

Curt Hennig, Creative Control, Vincent and LA PARKA are in the office of the Powers That Be. The Powers That Be kind of ignore Hennig because they are focused on something big happening tonight. Cutting away, Mike Tenay interviews Harlem Heat about their issues and tension in recent months. Stevie Ray blames Midnight and says that he won’t have Booker’s back in their match tonight.

Creative Control and Curt Hennig vs. Harlem Heat and Midnight
Midnight’s entrance involves the lights going out and a bell tolling, and then she appears. So she’s basically a ripped, black, female version of the Undertaker. Booker and Midnight start rather hot but then the heels begin to work a heat on Midnight. Curt Hennig chops her incredibly hard at one point. They do the faux hot tag spot where Nick Patrick misses it. Stevie Ray shows up but Booker shoos him to the back. Booker gets the hot tag and the crowd LOVES him. Hennig stops him with some sort of weapon that he awkwardly hides after pinning Booker.

Winners: Curt Hennig and Creative Control in 7:53
This was flat out bad. The story of the Harlem Heat split was fine, but the match itself wasn’t. I understood working the heat on Midnight, but she wasn’t really capable of selling it well and it just came off wrong. *

Bunkhouse Brawl
Dustin Rhodes vs. Jeff Jarrett
This starts during a backstage Dustin Rhodes interview as Jeff Jarrett attacks. I appreciate them wearing street clothes for this. They kind of just beat on each other all the way to the ring, while commentary talks about Jarrett getting pushed and Dustin being upset about the Seven gimmick. This was during that time where WCW wanted to use all of those insider terms. The referee tries to stop Dustin from using his belt at one point, so Dustin whips him and duct tapes him to the ropes. Curt Hennig casually strolls to the ring to free the official, while Jarrett works over Dustin. After all of the brawling, Jarrett applies a sleeper. The crowd hates it so it’s easier brilliant heel work, plain lazy or a bit of both. Dustin fights out and nearly wins but Hennig pulls the official out. Dustin nails Shattered Dreams in the corner but Hennig again pulls the referee out. Hennig eats Shattered Dreams before the fight goes to the stage. Jarrett leaps off a ladder with a guitar shot to win.

Winner: Jeff Jarrett in 11:21
Decent brawl here. I liked it early on but the Jarrett sleeper and Hennig interference was all stuff that I didn’t like and I feel like it hurt the match. Outside of that, you had a good brawl. **¼

Crowbar on a Pole Match
David Flair vs. Diamond Dallas Page
DDP comes out first and David Flair appears from out of nowhere behind him and lays him out with the gold crowbar. They go to announce that DDP can’t compete but he stops them and decides to fight. They talk about DDP’s weak ribs, which makes me laugh because I remember how long he had them tape up. I mean, his in game character in WCW Revenge even had them. DDP tries to fight but is too hurt. They do a near fall, which confuses me since the crowbar is still on the pole. Flair has a chance to get it but decides to try a figure four. DDP survives and wins with a Diamond Cutter.

Winner: DDP in 3:26
Wait, what was the point of the crowbar on the pole? This was about as good as you’d expect from David Flair, which means it wasn’t good at all. *½

DDP hits a top rope Diamond Cutter for good measure. He goes to use the crowbar but Daffney runs out to protect David. Bobby Heenan steals the show with “Is that the girl from Peoria? I never forget a pretty face, it kind of looks like her.” Classic.

Lex Luger vs. Sting
If Sting wins, Miss Elizabeth’s contract with Luger, who has been treating her badly, is void. Before the match, Sting gives Miss Elizabeth a “super high octane” version of mace. I kid you not. Luger jumps Sting at the bell and beats him up around the ring. He taunts Elizabeth while doing this. Sting no sells a suplex after all of this as he nails right hands and Elizabeth gets in slaps. There isn’t a DQ called for this for some reason. She gets the big mace and you can see this coming from a mile away. Elizabeth tries to mace Sting, but he finally wised up to getting swerved for years and sets her up as the mace he gave her had silly string. Sting still kicks Luger’s ass. Liz gets in with the bat and absolutely CLOCKS Sting in the face with it for the DQ.

Winner via disqualification: Sting in 5:25
You could see the Liz turn coming from a mile away, though Sting being ready for it was cool. There was too much reliance on Liz and it was far too short to have anything good happen. *¼

Lex Luger puts a chair on Sting’s hand and stomps on it. That’s an odd body part to target. Sting doesn’t even flinch as he’s selling a potential concussion.

Powerbomb Match
Kevin Nash vs. Sid Vicious
First man to hit a powerbomb wins. No pinfalls or DQ or anything like that. They plod through their offense, as neither guy was really motivated to do any good at this point in their careers. Sid hits Nash in the back with a chair outside. Since this is WCW, we get a ref bump. Sid then hits a hideous powerbomb on Nash. Jeff Jarrett runs out to break a guitar over Sid’s head. He gets rid of the evidence like the match isn’t no DQ or something. Nash goes for a powerbomb but his back hurts too much so he literally just tells the referee that he hit the powerbomb and the official believes him.

Winner: Kevin Nash in 6:58
Wow. That was horrendously bad. They did all of their usual sluggish offense before we got the screwy finish. Who thought this was a good ending? I can’t put into words how dumb this entire thing was. DUD

WCW United States Championship Ladder Match
Chris Benoit (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett
As if we didn’t have enough Double J so far tonight, he accepts the challenge. Schiavone’s reaction to hearing Jarrett’s music was “AGAIN?” which I thought was great. They fight in the ring early, with the highlight being a superplex. The ladder comes into play and Jarrett takes some bumps into it. Benoit’s nose get busted open after the ladder is driven into his face with a baseball slide. In a cool spot, Benoit’s leg gets caught in the ladder on the top and Jarrett pulls him back, sending the ladder crashing onto him. Jarrett gets his leg stuck in the ladder next, hanging upside down. He swings back and forth to knock Benoit off and it looked really dangerous. Both guys tease the win but neither grab the belt. Benoit gets close but Jarrett leaps from the top and dropkicks the ladder. Benoit’s fall also looked very dangerous. Benoit rolls under the ladder shortly after and dropkicks it into Jarrett’s face. He again comes close, touching the belt, but does the throat slash sign and nails a massive headbutt from the top. Benoit snatches the title, earning the belt.

Winner and Still WCW United States Champion: Chris Benoit in 10:15
Maybe it’s because it was WCW in 1999 or maybe it was because of the level of ladder matches happening in the WWF around this era, but this is a forgotten match. It is really good as they fit a fair amount of innovative stuff into ten minutes and the match never lulled at any point. ***½

WCW World Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match
Bret Hart (c) vs. Goldberg
One year prior, Goldberg lost his first match and the World Title. They treat this match like a big deal but the fans aren’t as into it as one would hope. Bret works the mat, while Goldberg uses his power, which is how I’d expect things to go here. Bret counters a move into the Sharpshooter but Goldberg just kicks him off. The fight moves outside where Goldberg runs over the referee. Charles Robinson quickly runs out as the replacement. He goes down too and Goldberg misses a spear, hitting the ring post. Bret busts out the ring post figure four because it’s awesome. Bret now systematically picks apart the leg. As Goldberg rallies another referee goes down. Goldberg hits the kick that would end Bret’s career before he pretty much murders Bret on a spear. Roddy Piper comes out in a referee shirt. He walks very slowly, giving Bret time to chop block Goldberg. He locks in the Sharpshooter and Rody instantly calls for the bell, giving us the screwjob finish.

Winner and Still WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Bret Hart in 12:10
I thought this was a good match. Goldberg played the powerhouse well and Bret played the role of the technician who picked him apart just as good, if not better. The only serious issue I had with the match was ending your biggest show of the year on a screwy finish. ***

Overall: 4/10; Weak. The show ended with two strong matches and started with a decent one. Most of the other things on the card are either not very good, or flat out dire. You could tell Vince Russo was around just by looking at some of the overbooked, screwy finishes. The Powerbomb Match is especially atrocious and kind of epitomizes how dumb WCW was at the time. Next time on “Random Network Reviews”, I take a long look at Battleground 2013!

Fave Five 11/28/16-12/4/16

1) AJ Styles: Man, that was one eventful week. So much so that people like Sasha Banks (third Women's Title win), Marty Scurll (retained the ROH TV Title in a strong match), Rosemary (captured the TNA Knockouts Title) and several others missed out. In the end, I went with AJ Styles as the number one pick. He retained the most important title in all of wrestling in the main event of TLC. Not only that but it was another in a string of great matches for Styles. Seriously, his worst PPV matches this year have been the really good ones with Chris Jericho. That says something. Sure he had help from James Ellsworth but at the end of the day, AJ Styles added another notch to his "Wrestler of the Year" belt.

2) Alexa Bliss: There were a fair amount of firsts this week and Alexa Bliss is at the very top of that list. In a move that came as a surprise to many, Alexa Bliss captured her first ever championship by defeating Becky Lynch in a tables match at TLC. I would have kept the title on Becky for a bit longer but Alexa has been one of the best post-draft stars. She has delivered since her callup and deserves the title. The match itself proved to be better than a lot of tables matches and both women performed in a big moment. Alexa should be near the top of the women's division for a long time.

3) Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton: Speaking of people winning their first ever titles, we have Bray Wyatt. It's kind of mind boggling that he hadn't before this. Bray and Randy Orton defeated Heath Slater and Rhyno to become the second ever Smackdown Tag Team Champions. For a long time, Wyatt and Orton were incredibly stale but this has rejuvenated both men. Orton didn't even have to change his look or mannerisms but this new role feels so fresh. It is remarkably refreshing and another home run hit by the blue brand. They make things work that otherwise shouldn't. It's also really cool that Luke Harper seems to also be a champion under the freebird rule.

4) Kyle O'Reilly: It was yet another first ever title win this week at Ring of Honor's Final Battle Pay-Per-View. Kyle O'Reilly defeated former tag team partner and rival Adam Cole to win the ROH World Title. The match itself was quite lackluster to me (their Final Battle 2015 and Supercard of Honor matches were much better) and Kyle's victory was unfortunately met with a lukewarm reaction. It was another in a long line of moments where ROH made the title change too late (see McGuinness, Nigel and Black, Tyler for example). Kyle should have dethroned Jay Lethal earlier this year and Cole didn't exactly need a second reign. Still, props to O'Reilly for the arguably the biggest win of his career.

5) Rich Swann: Rich Swann defeated The Brian Kendrick in the main event of the debut episode of 205Live to win the Cruiserweight Championship.

Lucha Underground "The Bulls of Boyle Heights" Review

We begin in Dario's office. A knock is heard and Angelico enters. He wants Johnny Mundo, even if the title isn't on the line. Dario says that Johnny's lawyer is preventing it. Angelico says he could lawyer up due to getting jumped twice while working for Dario. He threatens Dario but Dario says that he can get his hands on Mundo if he wins the "Battle of the Bulls" tournament that begins tonight. Angelico seems to like this and leaves.

Matt Striker and Vampiro run down the tournament. There will be four fatal four way matches and the winners all meet in a four way to determine a number one contender.

Battle of the Bulls Tournament: Cage def. Dr. Wagner Jr. w/ Brenda and Famous B, Joey Ryan and Texano in 8:34
Famous B was attacked while doing the introduction of Dr. Wagner Jr. Like most LU multi-man matches, this was worked at a pretty quick pace. We got to see more of Texano vs. Cage. Cage busted out a sweet moonsault from the top rope because HE'S A MACHINE! Famous B's "don't cheer for this meatheat" was perfect. Ryan tried to sneak in some offense but jumped right into a jackhammer from Cage. There's a great tower of doom spot where Cage powerbombs Texano and Wagner, who double superplex Ryan. I missed the finish itself but it seems like Cage stole it from Texano, adding fuel to their rivalry. This was fun. ***

Dario talks to Sexy Star in his office. He says that he likes how she is a fighter and believes the Worldwide Underground stole the title with her. He offers her a one on one match with PJ Black, the only member of the group she hasn't faced. If she wins, she gets a shot at Mundo and doesn't have to enter the Battle of the Bulls tournament. Her match with Mundo would be a Steel Cage one as well, but if she doesn't beat PJ, she never gets another shot at the title.

Officer Reyes sees his boss and admits that Dario knows he's undercover. She trusts him and needs him in the temple. Since his cover is blown, she wants him to go in deeper. When his arm heals, she wants him to return under a mask.

Sexy Star def. PJ Black in 6:27
This was mostly standard stuff from both. PJ was an arrogant prick throughout, while Sexy played the resilient underdog. It did feature an awesome spot where Sexy went for a super rana but PJ rolled through into a Styles Clash for a near fall. As Sexy began her comeback, Jack Evans showed up. He distracted the referee but it backfired and Sexy rolled PJ up to win. Nothing to write home about but both participants played their roles well. **1/4

Kobra Moon explains that her tribe was led by three generals and they were great. Two remain and I believe they were with her. They're also dressed like snakes. The one who deserted then was Drago and she wants them to bring him back.

Dario tries to convince Matanza to join the tournament but he just wants Rey. Dario says that Rey is injured right now. Matanza brings him in for a hug but pulls him face first into the steel bars. With Dario out cold, Matanza reaches for the key.

Battle of the Bulls Tournament: The Mack def. Dragon Azteca Jr., Marty Martinez and Mil Muertes w/ Catrina
Four unique characters. The interactions between them were great. Mil was the powerhouse, Marty was strange and brought great character work, Mack played a really fun babyface and Azteca flew all over the place. Mil speared Marty off the apron and onto both Mack and Azteca at one point. Mil's dominance got subdued by an offensive onslaught from the other three men in the match. Unfortunately, my feed cut out during this match and I only saw that the Mack won and nothing more.

Overall: 7/10. I'd say this was a fun episode. What I saw of the tournament matches were both pretty fun and featured some unique interactions. Sexy/PJ was fine and the segments throughout the show told a good story and advanced several things.

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