Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Unforgiven 2005

Unforgiven_2005

WWE Unforgiven 2005
September 18, 2005
Oklahoma City, OK
Reviewed on May 20, 2014

The Batista-John Cena era was well underway in WWE. For the past two years John Cena was slated to be the future, but something happened once he got there. After disposing of JBL, Cena went up against several internet favorites and the cheers went away. Cena was soon booed in arenas all over the world…and he NEVER got passed that. It began with Christian and Chris Jericho. Today it’s Daniel Bryan. The point is, John Cena became the machine’s champion. And the fans forever resented him for it.

Unforgiven is the start of a serious push for some guys that to be fair probably didn’t deserve it. Most notably in this case is Chris Masters. While Masters became a solid hand later, he was clearly not ready for this spot.

Another point of interest of this card is the Matt Hardy-Edge cage match that spawned from the real life Hardy-Edge-Lita feud. One of the first instances of what was later called the Reality Era was shown here.

The Card

Intercontinental Championship
Carlito© vs. Ric Flair

This was the period where HHH was gone after Batista destroyed him, and Flair was on his own. Flair became a face as a result.

Pretty slow start with a lot of strutting and wooing.

Ha, awesome spot where Flair actually hits a move off the top rope instead of being slammed off.

Ric Flair wins the title by submission in 11:46. Carlito goes to spit the apple in Flair’s face, but Flair punches him causing Carlito to choke. Figure Four and Carlito taps. I thought it started pretty boringly, but the finish was pretty good and the crowd was very into it.

Postmatch promo with Flair setting up the future Flair-HHH feud.

Lita and Edge were such awesome heels.

Torrie Wilson and Victoria vs. Trish Stratus and Ashley

The hell if I know what this feud is about.

Apparently Trish was injured since April and is just coming back now. I remember her being a bitch heel before that, so I guess it’s one of those babyface comebacks.

Victoria and Trish start. Those two always had good chemistry.

Trish and Ashley win when Trish pinned Victoria in 7:07. Chick Kick for the win. This wasn’t too bad actually! Mostly Trish vs. Victoria which is what was needed…since Torrie can’t wrestle and Ashley kinda can’t either.

Flair taking a bunch of lady fans to his limo. Flair is hilarious.

Big Show vs. Snitsky

Oh man this might be awful.

Sick back suplex by Snitsky on the Show!

Big Show pins Snitsky in 6:11. Chokeslam for the win. Actually…not bad! I’m shocked. It was short and to the point, and there was some good power wrestling there. That back suplex was awesome.

Haha, more Flair stuff.

There’s a lot of HBK vs. Chris Masters hype…even though the match isn’t coming up yet.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Kerwin White

Oh man Kerwin White.

Shelton Benjamin pinned Kerwin White in 8:06. White tries to hit Benjamin with the golf club…but Benjamin counters with the T-Bone for the win. Match was surprisingly dull. Not sure what was missing. I guess it wasn’t bad though.

Steel Cage Match
Matt Hardy vs. Edge

Story here: Where do I start? In real life Adam Copeland slept with Amy Dumas, who was Matt Hardy’s girlfriend. This led to Matt Hardy legit getting fired, but the crowd wanted him back. Crowd chanted “We Want Matt” everywhere. They brought him back and it was a huge deal all around. Edge and Matt had a lame Summerslam match though that ended via ref stoppage. Oddly, there was a shoehorned Kane storyline in this too, since Kane storyline wise was married to Lita. That got forgotten here.

Action packed start. Edge tries to escape quickly, but Matt lets him know this is gonna be a long one.

Powerbomb from the top leading to a ten count with both men down. Come on, it’s a Cage match, let’s not have that crap in here.

Crowd really gets behind Matt as he traps Edge in the ropes (as Edge trapped him at Summerslam) and punches away.

Side Effect off the top! Lita brings a chair into the ring…and then breaks up the pin!

Twist of Fate to Lita! Spear by Edge! Matt Hardy won’t die though.

Matt Hardy pins Edge in 21:05. Yodel Legdrop from the top of the cage ends Edge! Great match here. You really felt Matt Hardy hated both Edge and Lita here. Surprisingly, this didn’t launch Matt to the main event. Instead, this was perhaps his career peak. Still, a great match is a great match.

Bischoff-Cena confrontation. This came off as a poor man’s Austin-McMahon.

World Tag Team Championship
The Hurricane and Rosey© vs. Cade and Murdoch

Hurricane and Rosey were one of the least cared about Tag Champs ever.

WHATSUPWITTHAT?

Sick DDT from Murdoch on Hurricane where Hurricane was laying on the apron and Murdoch standing on the outside. Hurricane is dead.

Basically a handicap match now.

Murdoch and Cade win the title when Murdoch pinned Hurricane in 7:40. Hurricane staggers back and makes the tag, but he is still woozy and Cade and Murdoch hit a double team clothesline move for the win. Interesting story of the match with Hurricane, but match overall was pretty bad. The tag division overall at the time was really weak.

A girl comes out of Flair’s limo with only Flair’s robe on. Flair is hilarious.

Maria interviews Chris Masters. Maria asks him why he is called the Masterbate. No idea we had dumb Maria at this time. What an awesome character that was.

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Masters

Story here: Masters says HBK is a fossil and it’s time for new blood. HBK said that “Greenhorn”, people need to know their spot in the pecking order and Masters isn’t at the top yet.

Masters gets an early Masterlock but HBK manages to escape.

Torture Rack from Masters!

Michaels counters a Masterlock by jumping over the top rope, which was awesome.

Shawn Michaels pins Chris Masters in 17:27. HBK gets caught come off the top. Masters catches him and turns it into a near Masterlock, but HBK counters and hits Sweet Chin for the win. Wow, Chris Masters looked great here. It had to be HBK, since Masters didn’t remotely do anything before or after this match quality wise. HBK just knows how to wrestle bigger opponents. Very good match.

WWE World Championship
John Cena© vs. Kurt Angle

This match seems structured as Cena being the underdog and Angle being the big match experienced favorite.

This has been a good back and forth match.

Ref bump, and Cena gets the FU for zero!

Angle comes back with the Ankle Lock and Bischoff taunts him.

Kurt Angle wins by DQ in 17:17. Cena takes the WWE title belt and nails Angle…and the ref sees it! Seriously? That’s the PPV finish? A good match ruined by its ending. It’s endings like this that led to people not purchasing the B-tier PPVs anymore. Angle and Cena brawl some more afterwards.

Unforgiven 05 is a weird show as nothing was really bad on this show and there was some greatness…but none of it really mattered at all. Chris Masters? Midcarder a year later and unemployed the year after that. Matt Hardy? Ranged from upper midcard to midcard hell for a while until his brother overshadowed him again. He never got over the break-up with Lita. The finish to Angle-Cena just extended the storyline. I barely remember the rest of the show and I just watched it.

A good effort for all involved. For the great match and no bad matches this was in B territory…but you can’t have your main event end like that.

Final Grade: C+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWECW One Night Stand

ECWonenightstand2005

ECW One Night Stand
June 12, 2005
New York, NY
March 2, 2014

Background: I had mentioned in the December to Dismember review that the 2004 Rise and Fall Documentary was the first step in the revival of ECW. This was step two. The documentary was a huge success. Rob Van Dam reportedly continually pitched the idea of a ECW Pay-Per-View. And here it is.

There was a lot of doubt in regards to how good this show would actually be. Would Vince McMahon ruin it? The InVasion was still kinda fresh in some people’s heads. Would Vince throw out a watered down product? A LOT of people thought this was going to be a failure. Like somehow JBL would be the last man standing or something.

Storyline wise, Paul Heyman wanted to bring ECW back for a One Night Stand, and Eric Bischoff, arguably the most hated man in ECW history, didn’t want it to happen. There was a lot of real life animosity between Bischoff and Heyman due to how Bischoff would raid ECW’s talent roster in the mid-90s. Of course Bischoff was very defensive about how some actually thought there were times when ECW was the #2 promotion in the world (something Bischoff even provides in the documentary). Nonetheless, Bischoff is the perfect heel for this scenario. On the Smackdown side, JBL was also against the show for the standard reason Jerry Lawler was against ECW in 1997. He didn’t think they were in his league and deserved any TV or PPV time the WWE could provide. Both Raw and Smackdown had threatened to invade One Night Stand.

The Card

The crowd is electric early on! ECW! ECW! ECW!

Here comes Joey Styles!

Everyone just seems so happy to be there.

“OH MY GOD!”

Mick Foley is going to be Joey’s commentating partner tonight. Awesome. A lot better than Schiavone and Hudson.

The new ECW intro video package at first doesn’t feel like what ECW is about…but then you realize if ECW ever made it big time this is exactly what it would look like.

Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho

Storm of course has the beautiful Dawn Marie with him.

I believe Storm had recently retired. Of course, an ECW reunion show with a match vs. Jericho I’m sure was an easy sell. Styles and Foley actually state this this is intended to be Storm’s last match.

Impact Players are talked about from Styles and Foley. Will we see Justin Credible later?

Jericho comes out dressed as Lionheart Chris Jericho, but has the Y2J music. Good thing that theme owns anyway.

Storm and Jericho shake. These guys are best friends afterall.

Amazing chain wrestling to start. Favorite was a Jericho monkey flip being countered into a cartwheel from Storm.

Dawn gets the “she’s a crack whore” chant.

Jericho does a dropkick from the first rope. That just looked cool.

Lionheart chant. ECW crowds were great.

Lance Storm probably had the best dropkick in the business.

Storm even makes a delayed vertical suplex look amazing.

Storm jumps to the top rope, when he jumps back (which makes no sense, but whatever), Jericho dropkicks him in the back of the head! No one cares when spots make no sense when they were amazing.

Chris Candido chant. He had passed away like a week before this and was Storm’s partner in ECW.

Fuck John Cena chant. Because why not.

The Calgary Crab! Or the Straight Shooter, whatever you want to call it.

Justin Credible and Jason are here! Jericho fights them off.

Lance Storm pins Chris Jericho in 7:22. Jericho rolls up Storm, but Storm kicks out and Credible cracks Jericho right in the face! Storm gets the win! Styles says “what a crappy way to win your last match” Match was excellent. I wish it was longer.

We get a Gary Wolfe interview…time to reflect on a lot of ECW wrestlers who had passed.

Rocco Rock, Bam Bam Terry Gordy, Mike Lockwood (Crash Holly), The Original Sheik, Mike Lozansky, Pitbull Anthony Durante, Big Dick Dudley, Chris Candido all honored. Great video.

Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy vs. Little Guido

Tajiri has Mikey Whipwreck and The Sinister Minister with him.

We are reminded that this is an elimination match.

I totally forgot Guido comes out with the whole FBI. JT Smith, Tony Mamaluke, Tracy Smothers, Big Guido. Just awesome.

Never understood how Super Crazy was never a bigger deal.

Tilt-a-whirl into an armbreaker from Guido to Tajiri, nice. They go into a chain wrestling sequence.

The way Super Crazy would nip-up from everything was great.

Crazy and Guido end up in the crowd.

O DIOS MIOS!

Super Crazy does a balcony moonsault onto the FBI! I’m pretty sure that was the moment fans realized this was going to really an ECW show and not a watered down show.

FBI interference everywhere. Tajiri mists Guido! Guido gets Whippersnappered from the top! Tajiri pins Guido! It is hard to keep up.

Double springboard moonsault!

Super Crazy wins when he pins Tajiri in 6:12. Crazy gets the top rope moonsault for the win! Can’t believe that was only 6 minutes. It was an amazing 6 minutes.

We get some ECW memories.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psicosis

Psicosis takes off the mask to honor the ECW fans. Although the fans actually don’t appreciate it.

Rey’s theme does not fit here.

They both kinda start off slow, with a small botch in there. Still, it’s good chain wrestling though.

I remember people thinking Psicosis was wrestling for a job with the slow downed pace.

Suddenly the match kicks into high gear with Rey on the railing and getting hit by a Psycho Guillotine!

Psicosis misses a dropkick into the corner and does a violent flip into the mat. Psicosis was so good, shame he also never really got the big push in the WCW Cruiserweight division.

Rey does a seated senton into the crowd and Psicosis!

619 did not get a good response.

Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned Psicosis in 6:22. Rey hits the West Coast Pop for the win. You can kinda tell that Rey’s style changed a lot since becoming a WWE guy. The match wasn’t bad, it was still pretty good for the most part, but it was missing the flow you’d expect from both of these guys. It didn’t help that the previous two matches were a lot better.

Here come the Smackdown Invaders! JBL, Orlando Jordan and Kurt Angle are the leaders here.

We get a you suck dick chance. Angle will own them later. Now we get fuck you Smackdown.

JBL: “I got a ticket you little Mexican”!

Some more ECW memories.

Joel Gertner!

Kurt Angle and JBL embarrass Gertner. Good heel heat.

Angle cuts a promo.

ECW fans: You suck dick. Angle: Your mother taught me how!

JBL talks about how Madison Square Garden sells out with his name on the marquee. I like JBL, but that’s a stretch.

I do think this is one of JBL’s best promos. He buries the ECW fans pretty badly. It’s great.

Here comes Rob Van Dam and Bill Alfonso to shut JBL up!

RVD is megaover…obviously.

RVD points out that he will be shooting from the heart.

“Remember when RVD had a vocabulary?” This is RVD’s best ever promo as well.

RVD basically explains how much better he was used in ECW than WWE. He’s 100% right.

He tells the crowd the idea of an ECW PPV was his.

RVD talks about how crushed he was that he injured his leg how it won’t let him wrestle on the show.

RVD says the line that missing ONS sucks worse than missing Wrestlemania. I’m sure he means that 100% too.

It’s RHYNO!

Lights go out…it’s SABU! Great moment! Impromptu match!

Rhyno vs. Sabu

You got fired chant. Rhyno was fired a few weeks before this show.

Sabu with the springboard dive to the outside!

Nobody threw a chair into someone’s face like Sabu.

Air Sabu in the corner!

Triple Jump Moonsault blocked as Rhyno sends Sabu face first into the chair!

Ref gets GORED!

RVD is back in, nails Rhyno with the chair.

Skateboard! Dropkicks the chair in Rhyno’s face!

Sabu pinned Rhyno in 6:30. RVD puts Rhyno face first on the table….Arabian Skullcrusher through the table! Fun little brawl, great finish!

Foley and Styles steal one another’s lines, which was pretty awesome too.

Al Snow and Head promo! Snow blames Head for inviting the Invaders. Lol.

More ECW memories.

Here comes RAW!

“Oh no there’s Coach now I’m scared”. Lol.

Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie plays rudo. While he’s great at it, I wish for this show he didn’t.

There’s an early sequence where Benoit accidentally breaks Eddie’s nose, which I think is the reason this match doesn’t live up to expecations.

Let’s go Benoit…Let’s go Eddie…Let’s go Eddie etc….

This match is surprisingly slow, and while it isn’t necessarily bad, it’s disappointing so far.

Eddie hits Benoit with a pretty nice chairshot to the back.

Very nice top rope superplex by Eddie.

Chris Benoit def. Eddie Guerrero by submission in 10:52. Benoit hits a Diving Headbutt, then makes Eddie tap to the Crossface. It was a hard hitting bout and by no means bad, but like Rey-Psicosis there was just something missing in it. Still though, it was good.

Gertner’s back!

Gertner asks something of Bischoff that he says everyone of ECW has been begging to ask him…”Can I please have a job?!” Hilarious!

Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome

The best part of this match is Joey Styles trashing Awesome…and JBL rooting him on…because of his betrayal of ECW in 2000.

Crazy over the top rope suicide dive from Awesome. Unfortunately Joey Styles utters a line on commentary that became awkward when Awesome committed suicide 18 months later. (It’s a shame he didn’t succeed in taking his own life!)

AWESOME BOMB FROM THE APRON THROUGH A TABLE. I think Tanaka is dead. My god!

Big top rope splash from Mike Awesome. What hangtime!

Absolutely sickening chairshots! Tanaka no sells the first couple, but the third takes him down!

Tornado DDT on two chairs by Tanaka! This match is stiff and violent.

God damn Tanaka slams a chair on another chair on Awesome’s face…then does the same from the top rope!

Top rope chair shot!

Awesome is grabbing a table. Top rope Tornado DDT by Tanaka through the table!

Awesome Bomb from the top through the rest of the table! Tanaka kicks out! For sure thought it was over there!

Mike Awesome pinned Masato Tanaka in 9:52. Awesome hits Tanaka with another Awesome Bomb….from the ring through a table on the floor! Awesome adds a suicide dive over the top and the ref makes the count on the floor! Holy shit what a match. Some of the shots make me cringe, but god damn a great match is a great match. Awesome Awesome Bombs a ref at the end.

Here comes Heyman. Some more shootin’ comin’ up.

He isn’t crying, he just was smoking a joint with Van Dam!

He tells Bischoff that it’s not him at a WCW PPV, that he’s in ECW’s house!

Hide your wives, it’s Edge!

Matt Freak’in Hardy!…which actually seems to legitimately surprise Edge.

To JBL: The only reason you were WWE Champion for a year was because HHH didn’t want to work Tuesdays!

This stuff actually may seem tame for someone watching this for the first time in 2014, but at the time, a shoot like this on PPV was a big deal. Remember, this is pre-youtube and pre-twitter. In 2005, this was a great and revolutionary segment.

The Dudley Boyz vs. Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman

I know WWE Network has blocked out some violent spots in this one. If I remember them I’ll mention them.

Oddly, this would be the Dudley Boyz last WWE match.

Tommy Dreamer seems so happy to be there.

Of course no Enter Sandman on the Network. The entrance is still cool though. Sandman is horribly out of shape…but he would be in amazing shape one year later.

The Dudleyz dance to Enter Sandman in the ring. It was a pretty cool vision just overall.

IT’S THE BWO!

Stevie kick to the Sandman!

It’s Kid Kash. He hilariously dumps himself over the top rope.

Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten!

Poor Nova gets double chairshotted: “That’s more painful than being Simon Dean on TV!”

Kid Kash somersault dives into everyone over the top rope to the outside!

Match begins.

We get some cheese grater action. Which I thought was edited out, but it’s not!

Of course, Dreamer is a bloody mess.

Dreamer wears a ladder and does the spinning ladder spot Terry Funk made famous.

Now Bubba Dudley gets the cheese grater!

The steel tray shots look stiff as fuck.

Bubba just dented a chair over Sandman’s head!

Holy shit is right.

Double Figure Fours is a funny spot here. You know, since the rest of the match had no wrestling whatsoever.

Storm and Credible are back!

That’s Incredible to the Sandman on Barbed Wire!

Francine is here and she low blows Dreamer!

Catfight with Francine and Beulah!

Dreamer and Beulah double DDT the Dudleyz!

Dreamer mocks the WWEDudleyz “WHAT’S UP” gimmick and makes sure D-Von isn’t having kids.

Sandman is powerbombed through a table.

3D to Dreamer!

Here comes Spike Dudley!

Spike is the key to getting a table on fire!

The Dudleyz win when Bubba pins Dreamer in 10:52. FLAMING TABLE! Dreamer gets powerbombed though and Bubba gets the pin. Wow. So violent but amazing match! Poor Dreamer!

Dudleyz threaten Beulah, but Sandman makes the save…and calls for a beer!

Here comes Stone Cold Steve Austin! Huge pop of course.

He’s wearing a XFL jersey. Lol.

Austin calls for the rest of ECW to come out for a show ending party.

Austin holds off on the beer. Austin challenges the Invaders to a fight!

We get a We Want Taz chant…and here he comes!

Angle vs. Taz showdown…

We have a brawl! Taz chokes out Angle!

Unfortunately this is where JBL stiffs The Blue Meanie. You can see the Dudleyz pull JBL to safety.

Mick Foley brings Eric Bischoff in.

Strategically, only WWE guys actually get a hand on Bischoff. First the 3D, then a Benoit flying headbutt, a Rey 619.

Bischoff lets out a fuck ECW!

Stone Cold Stunner to Bischoff!

The Dudleyz dump Bischoff somewhere outside the arena.

The ring full of ECW alumni celebrate as the show goes off the air!

Last Thoughts

What a show, what a fucking show.

Every match at minimum would be considered good. Jericho vs. Storm? Excellent. International Three Way Dance? Excellent. Rey vs. Psicosis, alright to good. Sabu vs. Rhyno? Good. Benoit vs. Eddie, alright to good. Awesome vs. Tanaka? Amazing, arguable Match of the Year Candidate. Dudleyz vs. Dreamer/Sandman, great.

Everything on this show connected. The history of ECW. The shoots. Even Austin being the man to challenge the Invaders gave ECW legitimacy.

Maybe if you didn’t grow up with ECW you don’t understand a lot of this. Afterall, ECW closed its doors 13 years ago and really hadn’t been all that great since 1999. Even so, you’d have to admit this was a very fun and very good show.

But if you grew up with ECW, well then, damnit, this show was perfect. It’s a shame 18 months later ECW as we knew it would be dead.

This show is great. One of the best Pay-Per-Views ever.

Final Grade: A+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Great American Bash 2004

GreatAmericanBash2004

The Great American Bash 2004
June 27, 2004
Norfolk, VA
Reviewed on March 13, 2014

Background: Smackdown in 2004 is a strange time. Ever since the Brand Extension, Smackdown had some of the best wrestling in the world and was a critically acclaimed show. Suddenly though, Brock Lesnar was gone, Chris Benoit and Edge were on RAW and Kurt Angle and Big Show were injured. There were definitely guys who could step up and main event with WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero…but the one WWE went with was totally unexpected and the decision was panned at the time. (And still kinda is, even if I did become a big fan of JBL, his reign was not good business wise). The misuse of Rob Van Dam and Booker T just made no sense here…as did the idea to not keep Edge on Smackdown.

You’ve gotta feel bad for Guerrero. This was the classic set up to fails scenario. Smackdown was not going to succeed with him on top with the lack of star power on the brand no matter how good he was, and evidence in his book you can see that the pressure to succeed as champion was really tough on him.

Another point to note is that we do see the continued emergence of John Cena here as well.

We’ll talk about The Undertaker when we get there.

The Card

Torrie Wilson is our host I guess?

Opening video does make this card seem a lot better than it is.

WWE US Championship: Four-way Elimination
John Cena© vs. Booker T vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Rene Dupree

One of these is not like the other.

I think this is an outright strange choice for a match considering the lack of star power on the roster…and how other matches on this card would suffer.

Also, Booker T and RVD needed to be used better than half of a US title match.

This was also still Thuganomics John Cena.

Man RVD gets no crowd reaction. How do you ruin Rob Van Dam? For the record, RVD getting injured later in the year was a blessing for him, as it allowed him to have a hot comeback with ECW.

Booker and RVD were feuding here, kinda. It led to the worst finish in Smackdown history, as Booker was DQed for punching RVD when he was in the ropes.

Rene Dupree does have big heat on him being French here.

Dupree has a headlock on RVD while Booker T is just hanging outside. Cena is standing around too. While it actually makes sense for Booker and Cena…it doesn’t make a good match.

Now Cena vs. RVD with Booker and Dupree standing outside. Who decided it was a good idea to structure the match this way?

THE FRENCH TICKLER. The only thing Rene Dupree did that was memorable.

Cena rolls up RVD for the pin to eliminate him. Wow, Dupree lasted longer than RVD.

Booker pins Dupree after Cena FUs him. Cena vs. Booker left, and since they would go this direction, it makes sense.

John Cena retains when he pinned Booker in 15:52. Booker misses a Scissors Kick and Cena gets the FU for the pin. There’s nothing really wrong with this match, but it is a shame to see RVD flat out wasted here.

Kurt Angle admonishes Charlie Haas. He’s disappointed in him as he was his protégé but now he has a better one in Luther Reigns. He sets up this impromptu match.

Sable promo about how she looks better than Torrie Wilson. Depends on your preference I guess. I’d take Torrie.

Charlie Haas vs. Luther Reigns

People just don’t care about Luther Reigns. That wouldn’t ever change either. Unfortunately, people didn’t care about Charlie Haas post World’s Greatest Tag Team either…but that’s actually a bit of a shame. Anyway fans boo the early offense of Reigns.

Haas clearly misses a dropkick but Reigns sells it by stumbling back anyway.

Nice suplex from Charlie Haas there.

Luther Reigns pins Charlie Haas in 7:11. Reigns hits the Roll of the Dice (CrossRhodes, whatever) for the win. Absolutely nothing wrong with this match either, in fact I thought Haas looked good as a babyface in peril. Too bad he never got the chance Shelton Benjamin got post draft (remember, Benjamin went over HHH right away). Fans really couldn’t give a crap about either guy though. Still, not really a bad match as really it was just boring.

JBL promo! I did think it was weird that JBL went all New York City but then brought back the Texas Bullrope Match.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio © vs. Chavo Guerrero

Three problems with the idea of this match before it begins.

#1. Chavo just got finished jobbing the title to Jacqueline in a program I’ll never understand. Sure screwed the prestige of the title though.

#2. Rey Mysterio and Chavo have probably wrestled tons of times at this point. On PPV they only had one match so far (in WWE at least) at No Way Out 2004. This wasn’t a hot feud, but really moreso they had nothing planned for either so just keep cruiserweight titling it away!

#3. Rey Mysterio is a perfect example of someone where if put in a better spot, could have helped this show a lot. Really couldn’t run an Eddie vs. Rey for the title program?

The standard fast paced chain wrestling and springboard counters start the match. Revolutionary in the US in 1996 surely, but not in 2004.

Chavo dropkicks Rey off the top rope, very Jericho like.

Story of the match is for Chavo to work the knee.

This match is all mat based, which is okay I guess. I think the problem is this is Chavo’s best style…but he’s nowhere near as good as Benoit, Eddie or Jericho, who were all in the promotion at the time.

Weird double facebuster off the top rope.

I actually like the Gory Guerrero Bomb. It’s a cool move.

West Coast Pop into a half-crab was nice.

Rey Mysterio retains when he pins Chavo in 19:40. Chavo goes for another Gory Bomb, but gets caught in that awesome sunset flip for the three. This is a good match where Rey really sold the knee well. The issue is, most people watch Rey Mysterio for high flying stuff, and the story of the match had little high flying due to the knee. But it was still good.

Kenzo Suzuki vs. Billy Gunn

Attitude vs. new school! Kenzo’s never been pinned or been made to submit yet.

2003 was the last gasp to try to make Billy Gunn a top guy, but he floundered. By this point, the Mr. Ass run was on its last legs.

Kenzo was always just really awkward in the ring. That’s the best way I can describe him. His selling is strange too, very one second he’s selling the next he’s not (as evidenced by a Billy Gunn boot to the face).

Three of the eight minutes of this match was spent in a resthold. Pretty bad. Fans hate it.

The way Suzuki telegraphs moves actually reminds me of The Great Khali. Take from that what you’d like.

Shining Wizard gets two. First exciting thing in the match.

Kenzo Suzuki pinned Billy Gunn in 8:06. Kenzo botches a reverse DDT into his knee…and that gets three? Isn’t that one of Christian’s secondary moves? Why not just use the Shining Wizard? Anyway, match was boring and bad. Nothing happened and the finish was botched. No surprise Kenzo only lasted a year.

Paul Heyman and Paul Bearer in the back. Heyman is mad that everyone thinks he’s bluffing about putting Bearer in the Concrete Crypt. Bearer’s facial expressions own here.

Sable vs. Torrie Wilson

Battle of Playboy covers here.

Cole says the Great American Bash is used to matches like Dean Malenko vs. Arn Anderson. Just had to point that out eh Cole?

Nice neck snap from Sable! I didn’t expect that.

They follow with botching a rollup. But whatever.

Match has slowed to a crawl with the self-chinlock.

Horrible floatover suplex. Sable landed with her feet somehow, and Torrie didn’t complete the floatover.

They both knock heads and are down!

Sable pins Torrie Wilson in 6:06. Horrible botched finish here. Torrie gets up from the bumped heads spot, but Sable doesn’t. They go with the “Torrie wants to pin Sable but the ref says back up I need to make sure Sable is okay” finish (which never makes any sense. She’s not supposed to be okay, which is why Torrie should go for the pin!). Then a surprise roll-up from Sable…but somehow she goes too far so Torrie’s shoulder is WAY off the canvas, but the ref counts three anyway. Horrible. Awful match. It was so bad they had to talk about the finish on commentary.

Best interview ever with Rene Dupree. It’s because of what Dawn Marie is not wearing. Nunzio gets involved and is a bit funny here too. The FBI own Dupree.

Hardcore Holly vs. Mordecai

New school vs. Attitude era part two!

The story for this match was funny. Hardcore Holly and Moredcai were just found brawling last Thursday, and here we are. For the record, the past three matches were all made three nights ago, and Haas vs. Reigns was made this night.

Here is someone who just doesn’t look like he knows what he’s doing in the ring. Just sloppy all around.

Long headlock here.

I think a neckbreaker was supposed to happen, but somehow Mordecai and Holly bang heads. I think it was off Mordecai jumping way too high on a stun gun.

Mordecai pins Hardcore Holly in 6:31. Alabama Slam reversed into the Crucifix Bomb for the win. Match was boring, one spot was botched. I guess not as bad as the previous two matches, but not good either. It was bad enough that despite being undefeated and getting a win on PPV, we never saw Mordecai again as he was sent to OVW. He wasn’t good as Kevin Thorn. I actually liked the gimmick…but it didn’t work.

WWE Championship: Texas Bullrope Match
Eddie Guerrero© vs. JBL

Touching the four corners rules in effect.

The cowbell is a weird weapon.

A lot of choking with the rope early on.

Eddie dropkicks JBL into the corner and it’s JBL’s second corner. Establishing this actually makes sense for later.

Big chairshot busts JBL wide open. Good story as it’s revenge for what happened at Judgment Day 04.

Another chairshot to the head. Was this the first time Bradshaw ever bled? I don’t remember him doing so as a member of the APA.

Eddie’s corner lights stop working. Weird.

Eddie hits a frog splash! Eddie has dominated this match. JBL rolls out of the ring, which is a genius move here as Eddie can’t reach the corner now.

JBL uses the rope as a noose and sends Eddie from the corner onto the announce table (which didn’t break)! Nice spot though.

Powerbomb through the table by JBL!

JBL wins the WWE Title in 21:06. After some near JBL wins, Eddie beats the crap out of him with the cowbell. Eddie then goes to touch the corners, but JBL follows and touches the first three behind Eddie. (JBL’s first light doesn’t work. Nice job WWE). JBL then gets the advantage as he pulls Eddie and goes for the fourth corner. Eddie does a dive at the corner and gets it, splashing JBL in the corner in the process! Eddie retains….but no, Kurt Angle points out that JBL’s shoulder hit first and he wins the title. Dusty Finish aside, the match is pretty good. Probably the best of JBL’s career.

Concrete Crypt Match
The Undertaker vs. The Dudley Boyz

Your main event! You know this is a bad idea when I’m hating an Undertaker match.

Story here: Taker returned all dead…but there were no top heels on Smackdown for him to face (my theory on why we got JBL). He kinda buried Booker in May. So, Heyman became that top heel, and challenged the Dudleyz to make a difference or get tough or something. Dudleyz abducted Paul Bearer and Heyman used that to control the Undertaker in what would have been an awesome heel turn (and opponent for Guerrero). Nonetheless, here we are. If Taker doesn’t do the right thing (lose?) Bearer gets entombed in cement. What’s the point of the Dudleyz winning then? I don’t know. Why is this the main event? I don’t know. I love the Undertaker, but Eddie vs. JBL needed to be main eventing.

It’s not a feather in the Dudleyz cap if Taker lays down for them…since they really wouldn’t be beating him you know.

So far anytime Taker is owning the match, Heyman threatens to bury Bearer.

Heyman eventually has enough and does it, but Bubba Ray Dudley begs him to stop because he wants to finish off the Undertaker.

Now it’s all Dudleyz. But since the outcome is in little doubt, it’s pretty damn boring.

All the mic work is being down by Bubba. I never realized it, but I bet this was a chance to see if Bubba Ray Dudley could be a top guy. The answer is no by the way. (At least in 2004, Bully Ray is pretty cool in TNA).

Michael Cole actually calls the inverted double neckbreaker as the double team. Just lol.

The Undertaker defeats the Dudley Boyz when he pinned D-Von in 14:42. Tombstone for the win. Ok, so Taker shoots a lightning bolt at Heyman when Heyman tries to finish off Bearer (where was that shit earlier Undertaker?), then gets to Bearer. Instead of saving him though, he tells him it has to be this way and finishes the job. It’s like writers were so happy to get the old school Undertaker back, so they decided to write an angle for him, forgetting the fact that it’s 2004 and not 1994. Anyway, match is a disjointed mess and made no sense. I would have assumed this to be the main event of a WCW 2000 PPV. Why couldn’t we just run Eddie vs. Taker in the summer?

Anyway, this PPV has some good moments but kinda sucks when you put it all together. Only one really good match (JBL! And Eddie of course). One good match that was missing something (Rey-Chavo) Everything else ranges from decent (US title) to borderline ok (Reigns-Haas) to terrible and bad. Historically it became a running joke that the Great American Bash was the worst PPV of the year. The JBL title reign wasn’t exactly a draw, but it was surprisingly entertaining. This wasn’t a heel turn for Undertaker, just an explanation to get away from Bearer (and a dumb one), nevermind that it seemed to imply that Taker killed Bearer. This would be a C or C+ in normal circumstances, but for the crap it’s gotta be a bit lower. I do think it’s overall better than December to Dismember though…and actually it was a lot better than I remember it.

Final Grade: C-

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Bad Blood 2004

BadBlood04

WWE Bad Blood 2004
June 13, 2004
Columbus, OH
March 15, 2014

Background: I’m sure I touched upon a lot of stuff when I did the Great American Bash 04 review, so here I’ll just write about RAW at this time specifically. To be honest, it’s the HHH and Shawn Michaels show. I guess I can throw Chris Benoit in there too, but this is the tiebreaker. Royal Rumble? Shawn vs. HHH in a Last Man Standing Match. Mania? HHH vs. HBK vs. Benoit. Backlash was the rematch of Mania. Now this. The only time Benoit would be in the last match despite being World Champion is when he faced off against HHH or when he lost the title to Randy Orton. On the flip side, I don’t think there is anything wrong with putting your top draws on the top of the card, just don’t say you are giving Benoit a chance as a top guy when really you aren’t (it’s not unlikeUndertaker and Eddie on Smackdown, except Taker was part time enough to let Eddie have some of the glory. Not that either was optimal though). Also, Benoit was still doing midcard feuds, as he’s in the Tag title match here as well. I guess this elevated Edge, so again, I guess I can’t complain. (I will complain about the absolute waste of Chris Jericho though).

Some of the younger guys were really coming along though. Orton was a solid IC Champion who just finished getting put over by Mick Foley. Shelton Benjamin went from a dying tag team to the most exciting guy on the roster match wise. Even Batista looked like a solid force in Evolution. And say what you want about Eugene, it may have been an offensive character, but he was over until Summerslam. If he was booked as more of a serious threat, that could have been a really cool thing for WWE. Of course he was wearing a superhero cape two years later, so so much for that.

Let’s get to HHH vs. HBK part a billion.

The Card

World Tag Team Championship
La Resistance (Robert Conway and Sylvian Grenier) vs. Edge and Chris Benoit

World champ in the opener!

Canadian National anthem in French! Edge interrupts. I wonder if the fans are dumb and chant USA in this match.

Benoit is from Atlanta, Georgia. I forgot about that stupid intro thing for Benoit and Jericho. I think you can blame Kenzo Suzuki for that.

Most of the match has Edge in the ring. I guess to save Benoit for later.

Nice reversal of the double suplex to a double neckbreaker by Edge.

Benoit and Edge win by DQ in 10:15. Benoit has Grenier locked in the Crossface, but Kane shows up to cause the DQ. Match wasn’t really much of anything. Benoit got a good pop when he got the hot tag. La Resistance was just never that good.

Eric Bischoff and The Coach are backstage. Turns into Eugene and Eric with Eugene being upset that Uncle Eric doesn’t like him. I always thought it was great that Eugene’s favorite wrestler was Triple H. Nick Dinsmore played the character excellently.

Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko

This was Christian and Trish Stratus’ Problem Solver.

Pretty nice Bossman Slam from Tomko. Match is pretty damn boring though.

Chris Jericho pinned Tyson Tomko in 5:57. Tomko accidentally knocks Trish off the apron and Jericho hits a standing enzuigiri for the pin, which is a weak finish as it is. Match was boring. Jericho wrote in his book that he was unmotivated here, and it’s kinda obvious. I don’t blame him for how far down the card he went.

Randy Orton does this weird interview where he talk to the crowd. It’s like someone doing a horrible Rock impression without catchphrases.

Ouch Shelton promo afterwards.

Intercontinental Championship
Randy Orton© vs. Shelton Benjamin

Missed baseball slide from Shelton. Not a good start.

Fans are actually behind Orton here. This probably is why he ended up horribly turning face. Thanks fans.

Ric Flair’s out here!

That reverse gutwrench neckbreaker is a cool move from Orton. Wonder why he doesn’t use it anymore (maybe he does?).

Pretty cool slugfest from Orton and Benjamin.

Flair saves Orton after a T-Bone by putting Orton’s foot on the rope. Benjamin takes out Flair!

Benjamin puts the Figure Four on Flair…and gets booed! He then almost rolls up Orton for the win with the figure four still locked in! Creative!

Randy Orton pins Shelton Benjamin to retain in 15:02. Crossbody by Orton who then holds the tights. Shame, as I was really getting into the match with Benjamin’s comeback and nearfalls. Still, a solid match. Probably the 2nd best of Orton’s young career at this point (behind vs. Foley at Backlash).

Matt Hardy and Lita make out session! Bischoff interrupts with security to remove Matt from the building, as he thinks he’s going to interfere in the Benoit vs. Kane match later. The Kane-Lita-Hardy feud was not a high point for anyone.

Women’s Championship
Victoria© vs. Gail Kim vs. Trish Stratus vs. Lita

As much as I thought psycho Victoria, bland face Victoria was awful.

I am a Gail Kim fan though.

Standing moonsault from Victoria looks cool, but makes a strange thud that made it obvious she didn’t hit Kim.

Tomko breaks up a Lita pin and he’s GONE!

Fun fact: Two of these women began their WWE careers as a Godfather Ho.

Gail Kim with an awesome leg scissor with an arm bar. Does AJ do this now?

Gail Kim with a Dragon Sleeper! I knew I remember correctly about Gail Kim being awesome.

Trist Stratus wins the title when she pinned Lita at 4:43. Lita hits a sick DDT on Gail Kim…then Trish rolls her up for the win! Not a bad Women’s match, when it was a string of 1 on 1 stuff it was good.

Eugene vs. The Coach

I gotta admit, The Coach was an amazing heel.

The Eugene angle also involved an awesome William Regal face turn.

Handshake Lock!

Fans are really into Eugene here. Eugene was over, there was no denying it.

Eugene gets into some weird position I can’t explain for no reason. I didn’t get that.

Ok Eugene turns it into a trap on the Coach. Awesome.

Eugene is now playing with a stuffed animal from a fan at ringside while Coach just runs the ropes. Weird but funny.

I really wish they went the route of Eugene actually being a super serious wrestler. This match is alluding to that idea.

A blonde model comes out with cookies. Eugene eats some cookies, and the Coach slams Eugene into the cookies!

Garrison Cade is out here and rips apart the stuffed animal.

Eugene pins The Coach in 7:36. Coach accidentally nails Cade. Rock Bottom! People’s Elbow! Eugene wins! Eugene Stunners Cade for good measure. Fans chant Eugene. Sure, the match sucks, but I think it’s pretty funny and the crowd was most into this than anything else so far tonight.

World Heavyweight Championship
Chris Benoit© vs. Kane

Sadly, this feels like a battle of two second tier guys. That’s because Benoit wasn’t really the top guy on RAW, and Kane has entered the feuding with Matt Hardy and Lita portion of his career. It’s a shame too, as this could have been a top tier feud in an alternate time period.

I did like the booking of Benoit at this time though. He was the tough bring it on guy. Feared no one.

Good match early on. Benoit really brings out the best in everyone and Kane is no exception. Kane also looks like he’s really trying.

Match is just crisp. This feels like a Bret Hart-Diesel match a bit.

Benoit works on the knee! Classic little man big man strategy.

No Sharpshooter though, as Kane blocks with a throat grab.

Sharpshooter!

Germans!

Great Diving Headbutt to Kane situp combo. Really making both guys look strong here.

Chris Benoit retains when he pinned Kane in 18:12. Benoit locks in the Crossface, but Kane stands up from it! Benoit tries to reverse into opposite side of the Crossface, but then rolls Kane up for the 1-2-3! Great match! The finish was a little disappointing but it works as Kane doesn’t tap out. Keeps Benoit strong for HHH again (nevermind he’s the champ!). Kane stays strong for…Matt Hardy. Whatever. Great match. Best of the unmasked Kane at the time for sure.

Hell in a Cell
Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H

The HHH-HBK video says HBK is entering HHH’s world because HHH never lost a HIAC. At this point, HBK was in the first HIAC…and HHH didn’t win every one he was in either (Armageddon 2002).

Early on we get a lot of…wrestling.

HHH is the first to bleed by getting slammed into the cell.

I don’t really get the early pin attempts. It’s Hell in a Cell. You know it’s going to be more violent. That’s why the crowd is dead for them (Mick Foley pointed this out for his HIAC match in 2000).

HHH with the chair! Very slow match here. Maybe if this was their first meeting it would be fine, but this had to be their 100th in two years. I need something different.

Nice hip toss by Michaels to HHH sending him over the top rope.

We’re about 15 minutes in and we’ve barely used the cell or any weapons. I understand in 2010. Not in 2004.

We’re getting some stairs and cell action now.

HBK was about to do one of my favorite spots, the piledriver on the steps, but HHH backdrops him to the floor. We’re picking it up a little at least.

Some chair action now. They were going with the whole HBK injured back story again…which was fine.

Missed Sweet Chin Music turns into a stair shot by HHH. Small holy shit chants…which are unwarranted.

HBK is busted open.

You know what this is like? A bad prototype of the Undertaker vs. HHH matches at Wrestlemania seven years later. Those work because they are guys you see going at it once a year. This just isn’t working here as again, this match has been on RAW and other PPVs many many times.

HBK bringing in a ladder. This is reminding me of HHH vs. Jericho’s HIAC now.

Some ladder shots. This match is just dragging.

We have a table.

HBK with an elbow off the top of the ladder through HHH. Not really a great elbow though, he had to fall due to the roof of the cell.

Sweet Chin Music! HHH kicks out. This needs to end.

Pedigree (2nd one) and both men are dead.

Triple H pins Shawn Michaels in 47:25. Another pedigree and it takes HHH forever to get the cover. He gets the three. I’m sorry, but this match isn’t good. It goes a good 15 minutes way too long and was just a standard street fight. The spots weren’t much, nothing special between the ladder and table spots. Cell was barely used. Also, it didn’t matter who won! That’s probably the worst thing about this match. It literally had no impact on storylines. Win or lose, HHH is still probably fighting Benoit at Vengeance. This was just a flat out boring Hell in a Cell match and they gave nothing you haven’t seen before between the two over the past two years.

This card had very little historical significance. It gave Shelton a chance at a big PPV match I guess. HHH vs. HBK really didn’t matter. Benoit vs. Kane didn’t even matter as Kane was headed back to the midcard and Benoit would be back there in a year as well. Emergence of heel Edge wasn’t apparent yet. Jericho wrestled Tomko.

We wouldn’t be that far from the Cena-Orton-Batista era…but we weren’t there yet.

The main event could have swung this to B status. Instead, it lowered it to C.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE No Way Out 2004

2004NoWayOut

No Way Out 2004
February 15, 2004
Daly City, CA
Reviewed April 17, 2014

Background: Eddie fuckin’ Guerrero.

I could end right there. This PPV is 90% about the rise of Eddie Guerrero. For the last year Eddie Guerrero was the most popular wrestler in WWE period. He’s a perfect example of a guy getting the World Title purely on how the crowd reacted to him. No one deserved it more at the time other than perhaps Benoit, who’d get it himself a month later.

WWE had been in their Brand Extension format for nearly two years now. It seemed that Smackdown was the “wrestling” show where RAW was WCW-lite (HHH wrestled Booker T, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner and Goldberg in PPV main events in 2003…nevermind that Evolution is a Four Horsemen ripoff anyway). And Eddie Guerrero was the perfect guy to represent the wrestling part of the company.

The other major thing to note is we do see a bit of the continued rise of John Cena here. Obviously, that would be important later.

The Card

Sable and Torrie kick off the PPV. They were not feuding here. They welcome us to the PPV. Nice waste of time.

WWE Tag Team Championship-Handicap Match
Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty© vs. The Bashams and Shaniqua

I usually hate this idea.

Rikishi gets a good reaction. To be honest…we are way past Rikishi being a guy that matters and in fact he’d be released a few months later.

I swear Scotty would have been way more successful is he didn’t have the WORM. He gets attacked during it or after it every time.

Nice slam from Shaniqua to Scotty.

Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty retain when Rikishi pinned Shaniqua in 8:16. Banzaii Drop for the win. This was the end of the Linda Miles era I believe. Match was pretty boring, and perhaps the most formulaic tag team match I’d ever seen on PPV. I mean whoever put it together didn’t even try.

Half Blindfold Match
Jamie Noble (Blindfolded) vs. Nidia

Ugh.

Story here: Noble and Nidia’s relationship went to hell. Tajiri blinded Nidia with the Mist and she was blinded for weeks. Noble treated her like crap. Nidia got revenge by putting a $5k mink coat in a woodchipper. And she got this match.

Noble takes off the hood early on and the ref says he would DQ him.

Match goes as you’d expect it. Nidia with a lot of funny hit and runs.

Nidia pants Noble.

Jamie Noble beats Nidia by submission in 4:23. Noble cheats and peaks under the hood and tosses Nidia off the top rope. Then he locks in a Dragon Sleeper which seems a bit excessive for the win. Obviously this was absolute crap. Tajiri, Sakota and Akio vs. Paul London, Billy Kidman and Ultimo Dragon was bumped to the pre-show for this crap.

Kurt Angle interview. John Cena interrupts. They had feuded and teamed in 2003. Cena slaps him and they go at it.

The World’s Greatest Tag Team vs. The APA

Someone want to explain why this isn’t for the Tag Team Titles but the earlier BS was? Even worse since these four teams would be against one another at Mania anyway.

Story: Bradshaw’s arm was injured on Smackdown. He comes out with a soft cast.

ONE OF THESE MEN WOULD BE WWE CHAMP IN FIVE MONTHS!

Benjamin works the arm. Go psychology!

Bradshaw basically ignores his injury after the hot tag.

The World’s Greatest Tag Team win when Benjamin pinned Bradshaw in 7:19. Clothesline from Hell…but he hurt his arm doing it and Benjamin got a superkick for the win. Not good. APA didn’t seem to really try. I guess it was matches like this that people pointed to when JBL won the title.

Goldberg is here. He has a front row ticket! Him and Lesnar had been feuding. Lesnar cost Goldberg the Royal Rumble match.

Paul Heyman is out here. He’s pissed about Goldberg.

Brock’s out here now too. Heyman wants to get Goldberg arrested.

Goldberg gets in there and gets a Jackhammer! Time for him to get arrested. I like how his theme plays when he gets arrested.

Hardcore Holly vs. Rhyno

Story: None, this match was made on Smackdown. Actually, half this card was.

Funny note about Hardcore Holly. Holly came back with that mini-feud with Lesnar. And once Lesnar beat him at the Rumble…that was it. Like they didn’t even think past that match for anything Hardcore could do. I don’t even think he’s on the Mania card.

Holly does come out when Lesnar is still in the ring, so there’s that I guess. Not that it went anywhere since Lesnar was leaving next month.

Cole tells us the match was made Sunday Night on Heat, so I gave WWE too much credit with the Smackdown origin then. (Cole says they wrestled on Smackdown though, so whatever).

I like Hardcore Holly and Rhyno…but no one cared about either of them at this point.

They are trying to do the whole smashmouth hard hitting match…but it just isn’t working here.

Rhyno with a great spinebuster there.

GORE…but Holly rolls out of the ring to avoid being pinned.

Hardcore Holly pins Rhyno in 9:54. Bad looking Alabama Slam for the win. Bad match. Very boring. No one cared. Bad first hour of wrestling here.

Rey-Chavo promo.

UNDERTAKER PROMO! Crowd popped huge for that. He’s coming in 28 days!

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio© vs. Chavo Guerrero

I feel like I just reviewed this match (I did, GAB 04).

Story focuses on Chavo’s heel turn and alliance with Chavo Classic.

Rey has famous boxer Jorge Paez with him. No idea why.

Chavo Classic breaks up a West Coast Pop, and gets knocked out by Paez. Paez gets thrown out. Big pop for the KO though.

Awesome Moonsault near the end from Rey.

Nice West Coast Pop reversal into the half crab.

Chavo Guerrero wins the title in 17:21 by pin. Chavo Classic comes back and knocks Rey off the top, and Chavo rolls Rey up and holds the tights for the win. I didn’t write a lot, but it was the standard Chavo’s mat game vs. Rey’s air game. A good match that this PPV dearly needed.

Not Chavo’s best post-match promo.

#1 Contender to the World Title
John Cena vs. Big Show vs. Kurt Angle

A lot of stories intertwined here to get to this point. Show and Angle had feuded in the past. Angle and Cena as well. They were all in the same match at Survivor Series where Cena pinned Show to win.

A lot of 1 on 1 stuff early on.

Angle actually tries to German Suplex Big Show off the apron. That would have been something.

Pretty sure Cena has FUed Big Show in every match he ever had with him.

Kurt Angle wins when he makes John Cena submit in 12:18. Angle dumps Show over the top rope…and he makes Cena submit to the Ankle Lock. Second half of the match was fun and the first half really wasn’t bad either. Surprised this wasn’t longer. Fans wanted Cena here to be honest. But, while Cena is hurt…Eddie chants start, so you know what the fans want.

WWE World Championship
Brock Lesnar© vs. Eddie Guerrero

Story: Eddie won a Smackdown Rumble to get a shot at the title. Then, the classic underdog story.

Lesnar owns early with power moves. Good start to this story.

Lesnar just drops Eddie on his head. Sure that might have been a botch…but it looked damn sick.

All Brock early.

Man Lesnar does the Shell Shock a lot better than Ryback.

Eddie gets some offense…but Brock takes him right back down. Love how this match is structured.

Eddie works on the knee…before he’s stun gunned into the top rope. Really making it look like Brock is far superior than Eddie…which works VERY well here.

STF from Eddie. Huge pop! People might have bought this as a finish as the STF wasn’t widely used yet.

Lasso From El Paso! Then back to the STF…which again gets a nice pop.

What a spinebuster! Ouch.

Great psychology with Lesnar selling the knee everywhere, even when he’s doing a vertical suplex.

Lesnar yells at Eddie to “JUST DIE”. Just a great match in every way here.

“GIVE UP LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO!” Lesnar is awesome.

Three Amigos to Lesnar!

Frog Splash…misses! I think everyone thought that was hitting.

F5…but Guerrero accidentally takes out the ref with his feet! Brock has Eddie beat, which was a great way to keep him strong (even though it wasn’t needed).

GOLDBERG. SPEAR TO LESNAR!

Amazing false finish as Lesnar kicks out!

Time for Eddie to cheat!

A great swerve as Lesnar actually ducks the belt shot and goes for a F5…the crowd loudly groans…but Eddie turns it into a Tornado DDT on the belt!

Eddie Guerrero wins the WWE Title by pin in 30:07. Guerrero hits the Frog Splash for the win and MONSTER pop. Great celebration follows. Incredible match, arguable Match of the Year for 2004. Great story, great psychology, great moments, great false finishes, just wow all around. And it furthered the Lesnar-Goldberg feud (also great idea that the Goldberg spear wasn’t what beat Lesnar, Eddie beat Lesnar). Shame that Lesnar left at Mania, as Eddie vs. Lesnar could have been awesome to go through the summer with.

I mean, this was basically advertised as a one match show, but wow did that match deliver. A lot can be forgiven when the main event is incredible.

The first hour and fifteen minutes of this PPV sucked. Four bad (or awful) matches. Rey vs. Chavo helped, and the three way was good. Main event was of course, awesome.

Something that hurts the PPV a little bit is that there’s no historical value here. Unfortunately, while it was great to see Eddie as champ, it didn’t last and it didn’t lead to an era of change for WWE. Cena and Batista were the champs 13 months later. Lesnar was gone. Cena had a role, but nothing big for him. Angle was a bit stale at this point. I mean the man who eventually beat Eddie for the title was pinned in a throw away tag match.

Due to the awesome main and awesome moment, I wanted to go B+, but the really crappy beginning and lack of historical influence knock it a little bit. Without the main though, this is a C at best.

Final Grade: B

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Summerslam 2003

SummerSlam_2003_poster

WWE Summerslam ‘03
August 24, 2003
Phoenix, AZ
Reviewed on August 2, 2014

We are in the era of Triple H and his wannabe Ric Flair run. The Brand Extension is off and running, although the talent level still hasn’t quite caught up. In June we just started with Brand-specific PPVs which led to a rather weak Bad Blood 2003 and Vengeance 2003 (although, neither show was really weak, it was just a clear talent dropoff from the combined PPVs from before).

The Smackdown Brand seems strongest wrestling wise, although holding them down a little bit was perhaps the weakest Undertaker year, the back in the main event Big Show and the injury to Edge. It still had Guerrero, Benoit, Angle, Mysterio and Lesnaretc., so not all was lost. RAW was the HHH vs. WCW show, as through 2003 HHH would go over Scott Steiner, Booker T, Kevin Nash, and now, he is matched up with Goldberg.

Goldberg wasn’t working as well as WWE liked, a lot of that was his booking. Goldberg is limited in that he is only really effective as a top guy destroying everyone. Remember that for the review.

Also worth noting that a some of the seeds of the future were planted around this time. Batista was injured (some things don’t change), John Cena was fighting Undertaker and Randy Orton is notably in the main event. In fact, Orton’s PPV debut was in a main event World Title match. You don’t see that often.

2003 was a tough year for WWE. Let’s see how they did with Summerslam!

The Card

I always approve of a Lilian Garcia National Anthem.

This is one of the best PPV intro videos for sure. Sadly, the Network doesn’t have the St. Anger theme.

World Tag Team Championship
La Resistance © vs. The Dudley Boyz

I could name probably three teams off the top of my head would should be in this spot other than La Resistance. But, when you got Pat Patterson connections it doesn’t really matter…(one of those teams would be The World’s Greatest Tag Team).

This feud did have the debut of Rob Conway, if that matters at all.

The Dudleyz were staler than stale at this point.

Nice telegraphed hiptoss by D-Von, although not sure who’s fault it was.

More mistiming between the two when a D-Von tackle is off.

Greiner and Dupree were just too young to be in this spot. Dupree would get better later on at least.

WASSUP! I can’t believe this was still a thing in 2003.

La Resistance retains when Dupree pins D-Von in 7:49. 3D to Dupree, but Bubba and Greiner go at it and the ref doesn’t see a cameraman nail D-Von with a camera. Totally killed the crowd. Camera man was Conway obviously. Match sucked and the fans really wanted the belts on the Dudleyz. And I don’t think it was just because they were the faces.

Coach interviews the Dudleyz and mentions that La Resistance was clever in their tactics. Bubba doesn’t have the strongest interview.

Christian questions Eric Bischoff about the IC Champion not having a match (great question!). Bischoff blames Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The Undertaker vs. A-Train

The A-Train run in 2003 was not a good one. Pretty horrible that this is Taker vs. A-Train and not Taker vs. John Cena.

By the way, who the hell thought this was a good idea? Taker vs. A-Train? DIdn’t Taker beat him AND Big Show in a handicap match at Mania?

A-Train brings out Sable with him. Sable’s 2003 comeback was a little funny considering her role and what she sued WWE for 4 years prior.

This feels like a Smackdown main event. Not sure if this is a compliment or not.

This match isn’t much so far. Basic Undertaker offense and A-Train doesn’t really offer anything unique.

Sleeper from the Undertaker! Woo! I don’t remember seeing a lot of that.

Blocked Snake Eyes looked botched to me. It wasn’t though.

Ref takes an awesome bump on the Taker clothesline.

Undertaker pins A-Train in 9:19. Taker goes for the Tombstone, but it’s countered and Taker gets a chokeslam for the three. Why tease the Tombstone? Sable postmatch saves A-Train from a Last Ride trying to seduce Taker, but Taker grabs her throat forStephanie McMahon to come out and take her out. Woo? Anyway, we are 2 for 2 in bad matches.

Eric Bischoff vs. Shane McMahon

This was a spinoff of the Kane turn after he tombstoned Linda. Bischoff put JR in a position to get burned alive, and this led to him having to face Shane. Shane was back obviously defending his mother as well.

This match seems like it should have many bucketloads of money. Shame that Bischoff’s name value was lowered too much at this point.

The idea that Bischoff raped Linda McMahon is pretty uncomfortable, although to his defense Bischoff isn’t presenting it that way.

Shane kicks Bischoff’s ass all over, leading to…

The Coach HEEL TURN! Coach smacks Shane with a chair twice, and Bischoff declares the match no DQ and Falls Count Anywhere!

Really, the Coach heel turn is so out of nowhere it’s awesome. Lawler and JR was in total shock.

Bischoff cuts JR and Lawler’s mics off. He lets Coach do play by play and he makes fun of JR. It’s not bad!

It does go a little too long. Shane gets a comeback, but Coach hits a low blow.

Here comes Stone Cold!

Coach reminds Austin he can’t touch him unless physically provoked, but Shane shoves him into Austin! Charles Robinson’s reaction is great here. Coach doesn’t last.

Shane makes Bischoff slap Austin, and Austin responds with a Stunner!

Shane McMahon pins Erich Bischoff in 10:33. Shane decides to put Bischoff on the announcer’s desk and drives him through with a top rope elbow drop. Sure why not? Match wasn’t really a match, but I got a laugh out of the whole Coach deal. Still, did the Coach heel turn need to be at the 2nd biggest show of the year?

Ric Flair tells Randy Orton that HHH has to leave the Chamber as World Champion. No what ifs.

United States Championship
Eddie Guerrero© vs. Tajiri vs. Rhyno vs. Chris Benoit

Guerrero had just won the new US Title beating Benoit. He also was part of a team with Tajiri when Chavo went down, but turned on him after Tajiri landed on his low rider. Benoit and Rhyno had also been feuding.

This Eddie heel run didn’t last. He needed to be a face at this point and the fans wouldn’t stop chanting “Eddie” until he was.

At least we should finally get some good wrestling here!

Funny Eddie stuff with him running from everyone, but sneak attacking everyone when he can.

Eddie just non-chalantly suplexes Benoit over the top and out of the ring.

The issue with this match is that it has no flow. It’s some good spots, but then someone breaks up something.

Lasso From El Paso!

Crossface! Nice spot.

Eddie breaks Benoit’s crossface by hitting a LOW dropkick to Benoit. Nice!

Tajiri goes for his handspring again but he runs into Rhyno on the apron, which leads to Benoit hitting a German. That spot woulda been better if Benoit just caught the normal move and Germaned him.

Tajiri with the best German Suplex of the night!

GORE to Eddie…but Eddie had the title belt and Rhyno hit his head!

Tajiri with an awesome save! He went from the Tree of Woe to stopping a pin in a second!

Eddie Guerrero retains when he pinned Rhyno in 10:50. Tajiri and Benoit fight to the outside and allows Guerrero to hit the Frog Splash for the win. What a shame. If this got five more minutes I’m sure the middle sequences would have been better and there woulda been more flow. Instead we get a disjointed four way with an awesome finish. Oh well. Still pretty good.

We see a video of Lesnar getting close to killing Zach Gowen.

Matt Hardy also made sure that Gowen lost by forfeit on Velocity.

WWE Championship
Kurt Angle© vs. Brock Lesnar

Angle won the title he lost to Lesnar at Mania XIX back at Vengeance in a three way. Lesnar turned heel and aligned with Vince as he felt Angle stole his title. Basically, the roles are now reversed from Mania XIX. Lesnar was a lot better as a heel.

Fun fact, the build-up contains the only Lesnar vs. Vince match ever.

This is a pretty action packed match, but I will say it’s not their Mania match so far.

Lesnar actually presses Angle over his head and throws him out of the ring. For someone with a fragile neck as Angle, I’m surprised they did that. Then again, Angle’s nuts, as we all found out later.

Crazy tilt-a-whirl from Lesnar.

Lesnar seems to be doing more power stuff and less technical stuff, probably because he’s a heel now.

Good psychology with Lesnar holding the shoulder as he’s German suplexed (he hit the post before).

Lesnar barely survives an Angle Slam!

Angle took off the straps for the Angle Slam. Hilariously, he puts them back on, just to take them back off for the Angle Lock!

Angle puts Lesnar in a crazy sleeper, but with his legs. Tazz calls it as a Figure Four which is incredible for all the wrong reasons.

Birthday Vince breaks up an Angle Lock when the ref was out.

Kurt Angle retains by submission in 21:17. Angle Lock gets it done. Lesnar tapping is an odd choice. Angle hits an Angle Slam on Vince through a chair, which had to hurt. A very good match, but not as good as Mania XIX. Lesnar tapping seemed pretty counterproductive, but it IS Angle and it didn’t matter in the long run at all.

Jaime Koeppe won the Diva Search. I have no idea who that is.

No Holds Barred
Rob Van Dam vs. Kane

This was the blow off for the Kane taking off his mask angle. I love RVD, but lol at this whole idea. The Kane taking off his mask angle could have made HUGE money.

This feud also already lost steam as Shane McMahon and Kane already began interacting.

The idea that the Kane mask angle had nothing to do with the Undertaker is ridiculous.

Moonsault from the barricade from RVD!

Some ladder action. RVD seesaws it into Kane’s face.

To be honest for a big monster they are having Kane give way too much here. This and Unforgiven 2003 were big reasons this Kane run went nowhere.

JR calls Kane and hideous and smelly monster. That B.O.!

Match really slows to a crawl with Kane’s offense.

It’s edited out, but Kane actually falls off the top rope going for a flying clothesline to the outside. He misses anyway.

RVD begins killing Kane. Rolling Thunder on a chair and a skateboard!

RVD actually goes for the Van Terminator, but Kane moved out of the way…JR calls it as it hit. Moving JR and Lawler away from ringside was a bad idea.

Kane pinned Rob Van Dam in 12:49. Kane tombstones RVD on the steps. That’s it for RVD. This match had some good spots a lot of meh inbetween. Like RVD was ever winning this anyway. Kane for some reason doesn’t make a convincing monster here, probably because Brock Lesnar looked a lot more intimidating as a monster earlier. At least he hasn’t yet been owned by a non-wrestler!

Linda gets a good slap on Eric Bischoff!

World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match
Triple H © vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Nash vs. Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg vs. Shawn Michaels

Fun fact about this match. It was supposed to be Goldberg vs. HHH, but HHH suffered an abdominal injury (we’ll get to that) and we got this instead. I wonder what this card would have looked like otherwise.

Also, there are 3 minute intervals between each entrant as opposed to five last November.

Nash had lost a hair vs. hair match with Jericho right before this on RAW. Needed it for a movie.

HBK and Jericho start us off!

HHH is wearing longer tights, so maybe it was a quad injury.

Jericho beating Rock and Stone Cold in the same night kept him over for a LONG time. I mean, he woulda stayed over anyway, but this only helped. I wonder what the last PPV that was brought up in is. This is 21 months later.

Good opening sequence but no one cares. They want Goldberg.

Here comes Orton.

Orton’s old finisher, the High Crossbody, comes out here!

Not much to say there. Here comes Big Daddy Cool!

Best sidewalk slam in the business!

Jericho eliminates Nash after a HBK SCM. Two minutes of work for Nash there. With one bump. This would be the last time we’d see him in a WWE ring until the Royal Rumble in 2011.

HHH is next! HBK promptly superkicks him and HHH falls back into his pod.

Nash powerbombs Jericho and Orton as his last act. The Nash 2002-2003 run wasn’t pretty.

A little preface here. HBK, Orton and Jericho (and HHH, kinda) are left. What is about to happen is the best 3 minutes of booking that WWE Goldberg has ever had.

Goldberg kills everyone not named HHH, as HHH is still in his pod.

Goldberg nearly breaks Orton in half.

He almost does it again as he spears Orton! Orton is gone.

Goldberg proceeds to destroy Y2J next, tossing him from the ring into the chain wall.

Goldberg actually breaks Jericho in pieces when he spears him through the pexi-glass! It wasn’t a clean break, but, um…yeah it looked awesome. Poor Jericho is 2 for 2 in being thrown through pod class walls.

We get some Goldberg vs. HBK, which is historic I suppose. Goldberg kills him too. Jackhammer and he’s gone.

Goldberg pulls what’s left of Jericho and spears him again for good measure. Jackhammer and we are down to HHH vs. Goldberg.

Fans are in a frenzy! Anything that went wrong with Goldberg before this show was fixed by those three minutes.

HHH hides in the pod, so Goldberg BUSTS through the glass!

Goldberg begins to whip HHH’s ass. This is like the rich man’s December to Dismember Chamber match.

HHH comeback! Er…what? Goldberg ends that quickly thankfully.

HHH retains the title when he pins Goldberg in 19:12. Goldberg goes for a spear, but Flair throws the sledgehammer into the ring through the chain wall, and HHH gets Goldberg in the head mid spear! HHH pins him for the win. Well, that put the nail in the coffin for Goldberg’s WWE run. He’d win the title the next month in a 20 minute boring match and the draw was just gone.

I mean isn’t this the perfect way for Goldberg to win the WWE Title? Destroying everyone, spears and jackhammers everywhere? That is what Goldberg is! What a horrible result of the reign of terror from 2003 HHH. Unreal.

Nevermind that HHH wrestled a total of 3 minutes here because of his injury! Once HBK superkicked him we didn’t see him until the end! Just horrible all around.

Historically, Goldberg won the title but no one cared anymore. Angle and Lesnar kept going and Lesnar would win the title, but he would be gone six months later. Kane was done after Taker beat him at Mania, although Benoit almost brought him back.

I mean, Eddie Guerrero won, that matters right? Oh and Randy Orton’s PPV debut (how many people have made their WWE PPV in a world title match? It’s him, Hogan and Piper, right?)

A lot of bad stuff, some good stuff, nothing really great or notable here. And that finish is just incredibly bad.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Armageddon 2002

Armageddon02

WWE Armageddon 2002
December 15, 2002
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Reviewed on March 13, 2014

Background: 2002 was perhaps the strangest year in WWE history. What started with a HHH comeback and the end of the InVasion era with the NWO ended with two new (for different reasons) faces on the top of the card. Those faces were Brock Lesnar, someone who received a ridiculous mega push and impressively handled it, and Shawn Michaels, who was out as an active wrestler for four (of the most profitable) years but made a very unlikely return. Never mind that there are now two World Champions, a splitting of the roster (Brand Extension!) and just a real overall change of who WWE was going with. Gone were the days of Stone Cold vs. The Rock headlining (although they’d have one more big match). It was now guys like Lesnar, HBK, HHH, Kurt Angle and Undertaker. A lot of the Alliance guys had spots on the card and would be all over the place. For the first time, I’d argue there were too many guys that could have been at the top, and not enough in the midcard (which is why guys like Jericho, RVD and Kane would never stay in the main event.

I didn’t even get into the WWE debuts/returns of Hulk Hogan, Scott Steiner and Eric Bischoff.

With that being said, let’s see how it all comes together.

The Card

I am always going to be a fan of the Armageddon theme.

World Tag Team Championship
Chris Jericho and Christian© vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Lance Storm and William Regal vs. Booker T and Goldust

Quick 2002 recaps for these guys: Jericho went from Undisputed Champ to midcard with random main event runs, Christian was in an awesome team with Storm, Dudleyz were broken up most of 02 due to the Brand Extension…but at Survivor Series they reunited. Storm and Regal were in the midcard. Booker T hadn’t gotten a big push…yet, Goldust was lucky to be employed.

As with most 4 way tags, there is no flow early on as there are so many pieces and different teams tagging in and out.

For some reason Goldust and Bubba Ray Dudley are working together. This is exactly what I mean about flow.

First elimination is botched. Storm top rope legdrops Bubba Ray and Regal tries to pin him and get the tights…only he pulls so hard so Bubba actually pins him…then Regal redoes it to get the pin. Goldust then pins Regal anyway, so we’re down to Jericho and Christian vs. Booker and Goldust.

Goldust takes a nice bump by missing a crossbody and flying out of the ring.

Fans are really into Booker T here.

This tag match really went up quality wise when we went to two teams.

Nice false finish with Jericho hitting Booker with the belt and a Lionsault!

Booker T and Goldust win the title when Booker pins Chris Jericho in 16:43. Jericho tries to hit Booker again with the title, but Booker turns it into a Book-End for the win! Pretty good match once it went down to two teams. Didn’t see the point of adding Storm and Regal and the Dudleyz considering how they went out. Nice opener.

Josh Matthews backstage interviews Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was turned face here because of the Paul Heyman turn at Survivor Series. He’s here to make an impact!

Edge vs. A-Train

Here comes the A-Train push. I thought he was actually better than people give him credit for in 2003. Doesn’t mean he was good though.

Story here: A-Train is looking to make an impact. He beat up Rey Mysterio Jr.. Then attacked Edge. Here we are.

A-Train took a weird bump on a roll-up. Match has been pretty uneventful.

Edge with a tornado Edgeucator? The way he pin A-Train was dangerous though…(unless you’d want to see A-Train’s balls).

Edge wins by DQ. A-Train nails Edge in the leg with a chair. That’s a TV finish, not a PPV finish. Edge gets revenge though and kinda kills any monster gimmick from A-Train there. Match was uneventful and boring. A-Train still isn’t ready as his timing was off (weird roll-up bump, dove on a facebuster are two examples). Whatever.

World Champ Big Show is angry about Brock being in Kurt Angle’s corner later. Heyman said he’ll take care of it.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit

No crowd reaction for either guy…but that’s because Benoit kinda sorta turned when Eddie attacked him. He’s still probably a tweener here.

Even though it’s been a fast paced hard hitting start, some small errors by Eddie and Benoit on armdrags.

Eddie with a sick looking legheadlock.

They kinda mess up the skyhigh pancake as well. Timing very off between the two.

Indian Deathlock from Eddie! One of my favorite holds!

Totally forgot about Eddie’s Lasso From El Paso submission hold.

German suplex after German suplex after German suplex etc. etc. Poor Eddie.

More Germans. Eddie finally counters and gets some on Benoit though!

Perfect Frog Splash from Eddie! Kickout from Benoit!

Chavo’s out here. He smacks Benoit with the tag title belt!

Lasso From El Paso! I think it’s a variation of the Texas Cloverleaf, so maybe it’s a Malenko tribute.

Ridiculous powerbomb by Benoit. Wow.

I cringe a bit when I see the Benoit Diving Headbutt, but it’s still damn impressive.

Chris Benoit makes Eddie Guerrero submit in 16:47. Benoit tries to lock in the Crossface, then makes an awesome switch of the sides when Eddie went for the ropes. Roll through…but Benoit holds on and Eddie taps. Sure, it was a slow start, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a great match. I’m sure that surprised no one.

Heyman-Stephanie interaction. Nothing special here, Steph just holds that Lesnar will be here.

We get the Dawn Marie, Torrie Wilson, Al Wilson angle. Dawn Marie tries to show the night her and Torrie spent together. Of course, it’s teased, but we don’t see anything significant before Al Wilson calls it off. Fans are pissed, and rightfully so.

Interestingly, WWE was doing a bunch of gay and lesbian angles through 2002. HLA. Billy and Chuck. Now this. Torrie and Dawn do make out in the video, I’m not sure if that’s considered risky TV in 2002.

Anyway, this is ultimately a waste of time. This was the highlight of the angle.

Kane vs. Batista

It’s easily forgotten, but it wasn’t as if WWE just suddenly pushes Batista to the moon in 2005. They were trying since 2002.

Batista had an ugly spear.

Kane looks like he’s moving in slow motion.

Ric Flair with the highlights of the match as he viciously attacks Kane…and Kane no sells it all. It was pretty funny.

Batista was really really green here and it shows. Everything is off.

Batista botches the Batista Bomb. Couldn’t get him up all the way.

Pretty bad spinebuster that JR calls the Sidewalk Slam.

Batista pins Kane in 6:38. Kane hits the chokeslam, but Flair distracts the ref. Batista Bomb for the win. You know Kane was on fire (not literally) when he came back in July. Once the whole Katie Vick deal happened the idea of a serious Kane push was gone. Now he’s making a rookie Batista look good in 6 minutes. They’d try again with Kane next year too.

Angle’s looking for Lesnar!

A VERY early Thuganomics John Cena is out here for a rap. He’s with B-Squared! Um..ok then. That was it.

WWE Women’s Championship
Victoria© vs. Trist Stratus vs. Jacqueline

Psycho Victoria was an awesome gimmick.

Wow crazy start. Skinning the cat from Jackie. Victoria with a somersault legdrop on Trish from the outside.

Trish’s Stratusfaction gets turned into a double back suplex!

Sick superplex on Trish from Victoria.

Jackie and Trish mess up a pin spot as Jackie released before Trish kicked out.

Trish with a great kick combo to Victoria!

Messed up pin there. Victoria wasn’t in position to break it up, so Trish unnecessarily stalled on a pin and it looked bad.

Victoria retains when she pinned Jackie in 4:28. Victoria whacks Trish in the head with the title belt when she had a pin, and Victoria steals it. Had a great start, but fell apart midway unfortunately. Still, I mean, usually if the Women’s match is good it’s a bonus.

Angle gives Lesnar a tape of Heyman screwing him over. Really trying to convince him to be in his corner.

WWE Championship
Big Show© vs. Kurt Angle

Story: Show vs. Lesnar at Survivor Series. Heyman screws Lesnar. Lesnar attacks all of Smackdown and gets suspended. Angle wins #1 contendership and asks Lesnar to help him in return to helping gets his suspension lifted. Question is, can Angle beat the Big Show?

Honestly, this would be solid. Except…Big Show had been an absolute joke for 2 years before the title win. While this would rebuild him, it didn’t help the story. Big Show couldn’t be a more obvious transitional champion.

Angle was also in the Benoit type tweener role…but since this is the Big Show, he became a face by default.

Show accidentally tosses Angle over the top rope onto Paul Heyman. Pretty funny.

This was Big Show’s weird black jeans wearing period.

BEARHUG!

Tornado DDT was pretty cool. Match was pretty boring before that.

Top rope missile dropkick from Angle! Don’t recall seeing that often.

Crowd is not into this…because they are waiting for Brock.

Angle Slam…but Show kicks out!

Kurt Angle wins the WWE Title by pin in 12:36. Angle makes Show tap but there’s no ref. A-Train runs in and takes out Angle. Chokeslam by Big Show…but here comes Lesnar, F5! Angle gets the pin there. This match wasn’t good, but Angle jumping all over the place gave it something. For the record the twist in this storyline to get Angle on Heyman’s side made no sense.

RVD is at The World live from Times Square! What a waste.

World Heavyweight Championship: Three Stages of Hell
Shawn Michaels© vs. Triple H

Fall 1 is a Streetfight. Fall 2 is a Steel Cage. Fall 3 is a Ladder Match.

Story: HBK returned after HHH turned on him. HHH vs. HBK at Summerslam was arguable match of the year. HBK then went into the first ever Elimination Chamber and won HHH’s World Title. This is HHH’s return match.

This is still the period where we were all kind of shocked that HBK was wrestling at all, nevermind the champ.

This was a true throwback to 95-96 HBK. He has the hat, the outfit and the red heart pants.

HBK mocks Flair to start which is pretty funny. It gets Flair banned, which is also funny.

Opening sequence is oddly timed, it even had a part where HHH just shoved HBK into the ropes.

Shawn with a crossbody into HHH and a trashcan. That made no sense to be fair.

HBK with a table. I think this is a first for HBK (that isn’t an announcer’s desk).

They’ve set two tables on the outside. I hope they use them before the cage match, as if they don’t it will be obvious it’s going three falls (I guess it’s obvious anyway).

HHH messes up blocking Sweet Chin Music, as it clearly hit him before he grabbed the foot.

This street fight is not clicking for me. Very slow.

Figure Four! I’m beginning to think HHH and HBK wanted to do a straight wrestling match but someone told them they had to do a Street Fight.

2×4 with barbed wire. Weird weapon to have in this feud.

Now HHH lights it on fire. Even weirder.

HBK gets possession and nails HHH with the 2×4 wrapped with barbed wire on fire! Again, I get it’s supposed to be a real hate feud and all that, but it’s not a weapon that makes sense for these two. Now a sledgehammer I would understand.

That also wasn’t the finish of fall one. Just weird.

HHH wins the first fall in about 20 minutes. He hits a messed up pedigree (HBK’s foot never left the canvas). Also, HBK was been selling the leg since the Figure Four. I did not like that street fight. All over the place. No psychology whatsoever. Barbed wire/fire seemed really wasted here.

Cage time.

HHH brings a table into the cage before it drops.

Flair’s back as HHH and HBK go at it at the top of the cage.

Flair sets up another table out there. To be fair, they are selling the whole they could fall from the cage through the table idea.

Flair’s in the cage! Kinda defeats the purpose of the cage.

Flair takes an entertaining ass-kicking. Flair has been one of the best parts of this show.

HBK sets HHH on the table. Top of the cage splash through the table! HBK gets the pin, and its Ladder Match time!

Flair’s a bloody mess.

HBK misses a top of a big ladder splash. Ouch.

Another Pedigree where HBK doesn’t pick one of his feet from the canvas. Weird.

HHH wins the World Title in 38:35. HBK nails Sweet Chin Music! HBK slowly climbs to the top of the ladder, but HHH is back and shoves him off through the stack of tables! HHH grabs the title for the win. Really didn’t like this match for some reason. While I loved how it was structured (1st fall should be the longest, 3rd should be the shortest) I felt as if it just dragged. The first fall didn’t know if it wanted to be a wrestling match or a street fight. 2nd fall seemed to be more about Flair. 3rd fall being a ladder match was okay I guess. It was just one or two high spots then the finish. Not a bad match by any means, but not even close to what they did at Summerslam in just a Street Fight.

This isn’t a bad PPV by any means, but you can tell this was just a lot of transition. Benoit was in mid turn. Angle was in mid turn. A-Train was being established, which sucked. Big Show was an odd champion and a clear transitional one. HBK was supposed to be temporary. Three title changes as well. Nothing really hit the ball out of the park for this PPV, but I did think Eddie vs. Benoit was very good.

2002 was a strange year indeed, and to be fair a lot of the card looked nothing like it did at the beginning of 2002, so I guess there’s some extra credit for transition or something.

Final Grade: C+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Summerslam 2002

SummerSlam_2002

Summerslam 2002
August 25, 2002
Uniondale, NY
Reviewed on April 18, 2014

Background: 2002 was all about change in WWE. After purchasing WCW in 2001 Vince had a virtual monopoly in the wrestling business. This led to some guys not getting pushed as there just weren’t enough spots. Even with the Brand Extension there was just not enough room at the top. Guys like Chris Benoit, Booker T and RVD…and to an extent Jericho still had to wait for their chance.

There are three reasons why spots weren’t available, but one of those reasons was in the process of solving itself. This reason was top guys weren’t going anywhere. Triple H and Undertaker were going to be top guys however you looked at it. This was solving itself though, as The Rock had become a part timer and Stone Cold walked out after Vince tried to shunt him down the card a bit.

The other two reasons are on full display on this PPV. The first is older stars coming back. Hulk Hogan grabbed a main event spot for a few months before this PPV. Here, Shawn Michaels was coming back. That’s another top spot gone (not saying the HBK return was bad, because it wasn’t). The other is Vince still went with his development territory. I’m sure tons of guys were downright shocked when Vince megapushed Brock Lesnar, heck some theorized that’s why Hardcore Holly was stiff with him (and Brock broke his neck). It’s interesting to point out though that Vince was on the money with both of these (even if Brock left two months later).

But change is the theme. If you told me at Summerslam 2001 that Brock Lesnar and Shawn Michaels were going to be in the top two main events at Summerslam 2002…I would have asked who Lesnar was and reminded you that Shawn’s career was over.

Summerslam 2002 is also a great example of just how much talent Vince McMahon actually had of his disposal here. WCW guys, ECW guys, legends, rookies with huge potential, top WWF Attitude guys, it’s all here.

The Card

It is worth mentioning that the theme for Summerslam, Fight, is pretty awesome.

Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio

Story: I don’t quite remember it, but I recall Rey getting a couple of pins on Angle in tags, and Angle being angry about it.

The circumstances of this match are far more interesting anyway. Mysterio had just debuted in WWE about six weeks ago. It was cool that instead of just putting him in the Cruiserweight Division, they gave Rey a top tier storyline right off the bat…which led to the incredible Tag Title matches later in the year with The Guerreros, Edge, Angle and Benoit.

Rey attacks Angle with a springboard headscissors from behind as his music still plays!

Fun opening sequence with leads to Angle almost getting the Ankle Lock.

Mysterio goes for his bodyscissor bulldog, but Angle turns it into a German!

There’s a good story here as Rey had been doing a lot of high flying stuff that we may be accustomed to now as we’ve seen 12 years of WWE Mysterio matches…but at the time was absolutely awesome. But Angle had scouted many of them and comes up with great counters for a lot of it. It was like this way Rey’s first chance with the big leagues, if that makes sense.

Awesome spot where Rey was gonna fly over the top but the ref stopped him…then Rey just jumped over the ref instead! Great stuff.

Rey flips off the top to counter Angle, then hits a springboard dropkick!

Kurt Angle makes Rey Mysterio submit in 9:20. Top rope hurricanrana, but Angle counters by landing on his feet…then getting the Ankle Lock for the win! Incredible opener. Like I said earlier it loses a little luster as we’ve seen these Rey Mysterio matches for years now, but at the time it was something new in a WWE ring. It’s one thing to have that match with Juventud Guerrera. It’s another to have it with a main event guy like Angle. This match is also an example of putting a guy over even as that guy loses. Rey looked great here.

Looks like Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon have to share the General Manager’s office. What an early waste of Eric Bischoff this was.

Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair

Story: Flair attacked Jericho during a Fozzy performance. They went at it for weeks, and Flair ended up destroying the set in a Fozzy performance.

Flair does not make his flip here.

Pretty much all Jericho early on.

Pretty stupid idea where Jericho had Flair in the Figure Four, but Flair grabbed the ropes and tapped out at the same time. Kinda confusing.

Ric Flair makes Chris Jericho submit in 10:22. Flair gets the Figure Four and someone actually taps out! Match was pretty disappointing considering who was involved. Just a lot of punching and chops. This was during Flair’s no confidence in himself part of his career. Flair going over also seemed odd, but according to Jericho he thought it was a great way to re-establish Flair.

Heyman pep talks Lesnar. THE ROCK IS THE UNDERDOG!

Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge

I believe this rivalry spawned from when Rock and Edge fought Guerrero and Benoit. They went the jealously route then, Edge looks handsome, got everything, etc. etc.

Edge hurts his shoulder on missing a spear and landing on the outside, and the psychology of the match begins.

They even tie in the whole Edge’s shoulder was injured months ago, so good storytelling here.

Eddie with a top rope leap into an arm DDT. Nice!

Eddie is twisting Edge’s arm in every way available. Good stuff.

Edge hits a flying press from the top to the outside, and Eddie takes this awesome bump where he just bounces off the barricade. Just looked cool.

Frog Splash on the arm! Nice idea!

Edge pins Eddue Guerrero in 11:47. Edge gets a Spear out of nowhere for the pin. Finish is lame as it came out of nowhere…and Edge’s arm was suddenly just fine. But the match itself was really good, with great psychology all around.

World Tag Team Championship
Lance Storm and Christian© vs. Booker T and Goldust

Un-Americans in the house!

I never liked Booker T’s delayed kneedrop.

Goldust gets thrown over the top turnbuckle onto the floor, crazy bump for Goldust.

Good heel spot where Booker gets the tag but the ref didn’t see it cause of Storm. You just don’t see that anymore.

Another good heel spot where Storm pulls Booker off the apron, and Goldust gets there and tags no one.

Un-Americans retain when Christian pins Booker T in 9:36. Storm bumps the ref, and Booker hits a double Scissors Kick. He has it won. Test comes down and hits Booker with the big boot for Christian to get the win. Decent match with some good heel stuff. Finish sets up a rematch. A little too much Goldust for my tastes, at least 2002 Goldust.

Makeout contest in WWE New York. Winner makes out with Nidia. Highlight being JR saying he entered the contest a couple of time.

Intercontinental Championship
Chris Benoit© vs. Rob Van Dam

Benoit beat RVD for the title…then jumped to Smackdown. Rematch here. Truthfully I wish there was more story here, as this was one of the few interpromotional matches at the time of the early Brand Extension. There was some part with Dawn Marie and Stacy Keibler messing up paperwork or something, but come on, one RVD attack on a Smackdown could have been cool.

Benoit is another example of someone who deserved to be in a higher spot, but there was no room at the top. Benoit just came off of a year long injury and got no hype coming back and then just got slotted in the IC level as he always did. What a shame.

This was actually kind of a dream match for me when I was kid. Even before I got all smarkish, I knew Benoit and RVD were awesome in the ring.

Benoit has dominated this match, and while it’s been a hard hitting affair it’s a bit disappointing.

I believe this is the only show ever where RVD loses his ponytail.

Benoit with one of my favorite submissions, the double self choke.

Benoit is doing some awesome technical wrestling and really working on the arm…shame that RVD hasn’t sold any arm damage.

Of course now RVD is selling the arm. At least he finally did it.

Rob Van Dam wins the IC Title when he pinned Benoit in 16:30. Five Star for the win! It’s a good match, but really disappointing when you consider these two should have been having incredible matches. RVD seemed a bit out of it. This match was supposed to lead to a Unification match vs. HHH (RVD has unified the Hardcore and European titles earlier in the year), but it didn’t end up quite going that way.

Steph with some creepy laugh to Bischoff. Crazy what a better performer she is now.

The Undertaker vs. Test

Story: Test is the muscle for the Un-Americans, Taker is the American Bad Ass. This had a Taker face turn in it, which was done out of necessity as Lesnar, HHH, Angle were all on the heel side.

Pretty boring match here.

JR saying Oh My God when Test kicked out of the chokeslam was a sign of everyone just trying too hard to get Test over.

The Undertaker pinned Test in 8:18. Storm and Christian show up, but Taker takes them out of course. Taker finishes Test with a Tombstone (what made this match special enough for that?) Taker goes all American out (continuity from Survivor Series 93?!?!). Anyway, match sucked. I feel like this was Test’s last chance to have a good match (see Billy Gunn vs. Benoit at Armageddon 2000), as his career nosedives after this. To be fair though, the booking is the kinda stuff we hate about John Cena today. Did Taker have to bury all three UnAmericans?

Weird crowd shots. I wonder what WWE was censoring there.

Un-Sanctioned Match
Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels

Storyline: HBK brought HHH to RAW. HHH and HBK were going to recreate DX…but HHH turned on HBK. Now, the standard young guy thinks he surpassed the older guy story. HHH is the ungrateful star. HHH thinks HBK used him to stay on top five years ago.

Real life story: HBK’s career ended at Wrestlemania XIV. His career was as good as over…but his life turned for the better. HBK changed from the pill popping jackass he was to a born again Christian. HBK also said in his book the more he worked out, the better his back felt. He wanted to do a Streetfight because it was easy to do, and his back wouldn’t take damage (and he was originally gonna do it vs. Vince). This was a HUGE deal. I’m actually shocked it didn’t go on last. It was also supposed to be a one time thing…but as we all know he lasted 8 more years.

I think it’s insane that HBK just went all out right away. I mean 40 seconds in and we already get an over the top rope bodypress.

HBK dominates the first few minutes. Great way to show he’s still at a main event level (kayfabe).

HHH uses the obvious psychology available: Backbreaker from the Game.

HHH continues working on the back, and HBK sells it like a million bucks.

Also worth pointing out that JR is amazing here…talking about how he wants to see HBK’s arms moving to make sure he isn’t paralyzed.

Great heel spot with HHH holding the top rope right in Earl Hebner’s face while HHH had HBK locked in the abdominal stretch. The HHH-Hebner history comes into play here too.

Brutal chair shot to the back. Just awesome psychology.

Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere…which is actually a bit disappointing as it’s the first SCM in a match in like 4 years.

HBK with the nipup and HUGE pop.

Bulldog on the steps!

We’ve got a ladder. Still crazy how HBK went all out here.

Table! HBK didn’t even use tables in his prime.

Splash from the top rope through HHH through the table! What was Shawn thinking?! (Of course, I assume he thought his back was still fucked at this point).

Shawn Michaels pins HHH in 27:20. Elbowdrop off the ladder! Time for SCM…no, blocked! But HBK counters a Pedigree into a pin, 1…2…3! Huge pop! HHH nails HBK in the back with the Sledgehammer, and HBK is carried out. Amazing match, purely five stars. Crazy how HBK just comes back and owns right away. Arn Anderson told HBK before the match, “You need to practice, it’s not like riding a bike”…and then afterwards said “I guess for you it is like riding a bike”. Match of the Year for 2002 Contender for sure.

Absolutely random Howard Finkel banter. This is the first PPV he has announced since Wrestlemania II in this arena! And baseball may be going on strike…but they will always have the Fink. Here comes Trish! Finkel compares her to other Long Island skanks. Trish apologizes for anything she’s done to the Fink…and tells Fink she loves his sexy voice! Now he points out that Trist has the puppies and Finkel has his weiner. Trish then brings out Lillian Garcia and she beats Finkel up. Random fun I guess to serve as a buffer between the two main events. Poor Fink.

WWF Undisputed Championship
The Rock© vs. Brock Lesnar

Story: Brock won this title shot after winning KOTR 2002. Rock won the title in a three way with Angle and Taker. Brock retained his title shot when he took out Hogan on Smackdown. And here we are.

Did anyone look like a superstar from the beginning more than Brock Lesnar?

You can tell they are a little short of time. I assume HHH and HBK went extra.

Lesnar gets a really quick belly to belly and a 2.

Fans are AGAINST The Rock here…they knew he was leaving for a movie.

Double nipup was cool.

Weird selling from the Dragon Screw there.

Let’s Go Lesnar chants!

Worst Sharpshooter ever.

Bearhug spot actually works…as Brock established it when he killed Hogan.

You can tell Brock still didn’t know how to sell correctly at times…he clearly oversells a punch when he flies over the top rope.

Rock drives Paul Heyman through the Announcer’s table with a Rock Bottom!

Lesnar survives a Rock Bottom!

Rock survives a…Brock Bottom?!

Brock Lesnar wins the WWE Title in 16:10. People’s Elbow…but Brock gets up before Rock finishes it and hits a huge clothesline. Finisher reversal sequences ends with a F5 and the title. Big props to the Rock here, not only did he just put over Lesnar clean, but he got a good match out of him (Lesnar was still quite raw here). This match and Lesnar’s HIAC with Taker solidified him as a top guy for good. Well done.

And well done is what you can say about this PPV. But there’s a hidden shame in here. This PPV had A+ potential. You had a match of the year candidate with HBK-HHH, a solid main with Lesnar-Rock. A great Rey-Angle match. A very good RVD-Benoit match. A very good Edge-Eddie match. Historically the show mattered two, Brock Lesnar would be an over main event staple for the next two years…and HBK of course was on the top of the card for the next 8. Rey also showed he could hang with top guys too…and that the idea of being too small didn’t really apply to him (Finlay said it in a shoot once that small guys would hurt the title…except Rey because he was THAT good).

What brings it down? While decent, it’s a shame Jericho and Flair didn’t click. Taker vs. Test was whatever and the tag title match, while solid, also seemed a little off (too much GOldust, not enough Booker T).

But I mean, there’s some great shit here. And The Fink was pretty funny!

Final Grade: A

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WCW Greed

GREED

WCW Greed
March 18, 2001
Jacksonville, FL
Reviewed on March 2, 2014

Background: I think it is well documented that WCW was in deep trouble at this point. Buyrates had plummeted in 2000, and the word plummeted is no exaggeration. The company (smartly, I should mention) was riding on Scott Steiner as a top guy and giving him a lengthy reign. Whether you hate or like Steiner, it was nice to see someone get a steady reign at the top and actually be a new star. Now obviously there were a lot of other problems with Steiner, but this booking was a huge upgrade from the non-stable hot potato the WCW Title went through in 2000. It was too little, too late though.

I don’t know if the wrestlers knew at this point, but this would be the very last PPV for World Championship Wrestling. Vince McMahon would buy the company a week later.

The Card

Tony Schiavone: If it’s professional wrestling, it’s Greed. What does that even mean?

Kwee Wee vs. Jason Jett

Apparently this is an unadvertised bonus match.

Jason Jett kicks Kwee Wee but it’s blocked. Jett backflips out. That was cool.

Jett puts on a reverse crab and a surfboard combo move, which was a cool submission.

Kwee Wee with the suicide dive that had no chance even if Jason Jett stood in the same place. At least he tried I guess.

Jason Jett seems pretty good. Standing moonsaults, 180 springboard DDTs (I remember Matt Hardy having that). Not bad.

Just quickly looked up if Jason Jett was anyone, apparently he’s EZ Money. How about that.

I guess Kwee Wee’s gimmick is his temper? Angry Allan?

Top rope powerbomb reversed into a hurricanrana. Funny, I recall EZ Money doing a spot like that in TNA…although I think he was the hurricanrana giver there.

Jason Jett pins Kwee Wee in 12:17. Jett hits a suplex where he just drops the guy mid-plex. Pretty cool finisher honestly. Solid match too, even if I can’t take Kwee Wee too seriously. A lot of great spots, mostly from Jett.

WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship Tournament Final
Rey Mysterio Jr. and Billy Kidman vs. Primetime Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo

The idea of the Cruiserweight Tag Title would have been a lot more interesting in the mid 90s.

I am surprised Skipper never became a bigger deal. Has a cool entrance where he walks the ropes then backflips in.

I hated the Filthy Animals.

I hate this half-mask Rey Mysterio is wearing. I wish this version of Rey was just stricken from history.

I think it’s weird that all of Billy Kidman’s talent seemed to disappear when WCW did.

This has been a solid match so far. Kidman just hiptossed Skipper off the stage into Romeo, then Rey and Kidman both did running dives off the stage. Fun match.

Before this match I would have thought Romeo and Skipper were not in Rey and Kidman’s league, but Skipper and Romeo are showing otherwise.

Sitout powerbomb from the top is always a great spot from Kidman. I really didn’t understand how Kidman looked washed up 8 months later in the WWF.

Rey is taking over. Senton bomb rolls into a suicide dive through the ropes into Primetime!

Kidman with the springboard Shooting Star Press to the floor! Kidman-kaze? Whatever, great move.

We’re just ignoring the idea of a legal man here I guess. Whatever.

Wow, arm trap suplex from Skipper…top rope legdrop from Romeo. Poor Rey!

Powerbomb by Rey, top rope splash from Kidman! Skipper saves Romeo!

I always loled at Rey doing the Bronco Buster.

Kid Romeo and Primetime win the title when Romeo pinned Rey in 13:46. Romeo catches Rey’s springboard moonsault and hits the last kiss, which is a powerslam-brainbuster combo. Very fun match! Great start to this PPV so far!

We have Buff Bagwell backstage and he comes into CEO Ric Flair’s office. Jeff Jarrett, Flair and Road Warrior Animal are in there, hyping up how the Magnificent Seven is going to win all their matches and all that stuff.

Shawn Stasiak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Stacy Keibler is so hot.

Shawn “The Star” Stasiak. Right.

The Mecca of Manhood is another Stasiak nickname. Right.

I didn’t even know Bam Bam made it to the end of WCW. I assume he doesn’t care at this point.

Stasiak has photos of himself for the fans! In case they forget him. Because they will.

Bam Bam still threw dropkicks at this point. Nice.

Shawn Stasiak pins Bam Bam Bigelow in 5:55. Stacy throws hairspray to Stasiak and he uses it to blind Bigelow. A neckbreaker leads to the win. Honestly, it wasn’t horrible, but it’s boring and not good either. But, if you are going with Stasiak, then Bam Bam put him over just fine.

Stacy makes out with Stasiak. His career highlight I’m sure.

Romeo and Skipper are very excited about their title belts. As they should be.

Team Canada (Mike Awesome and Lance Storm) vs. Konnan and Hugh Morrus

I always mark for the Canadian National Anthem. We don’t get it though as we get the maniacal laughter of Hugh Morrus. Morrus runs in without Konnan to start the match, but Konnan comes in soon thereafter.

Konnan tries to break up a Storm pin attempt, but Storm gets up and faces Konnan before he gets there. I don’t remember seeing that before and it was kinda cool.

Konnan with the rolling clothesline. That and the Tequila Sunrise are cool moves.

Team Canada is beating up on Konnan for most of this match, but it’s not really exciting or anything.

Lance Storm clearly misses a dropkick that Konnan sold.

Mike Awesome with an awful…awful piledriver on Konnan. Konnan landed on Awesome’s legs.

Storm not on his best game here. His top rope splash attempt was clearly mistimed and Konnan got the foot up.

Morrus is in. No drama here whatsoever.

Mike Awesome and Lance Storm win when Awesome pins Morrus in 11:28. Storm interrupts No Laughing Matter, and Mike Awesome turns that into a running Awesome Bomb for the win. Match was not good. Blown spots and downright boring at times. Storm was disappointing here, and the rest are who they are. Morrus and Konnan just seem like two guys thrown together, and not like a tag team at all.

We’re in the Rhodes’ locker room. Dusty ordered burritos! 240 of them! There is gonna be a match between Dusty’s ass and Flair’s face and he’s gonna smell the burritos! That’s coming from one of the best promo men in the history of the business ladies and gentlemen!

More of this Bagwell documentary. He’s interviewing US Champ Rick Steiner. I think Rick said the F-word here. Something about Midajah as well. Not notable.

Quick Natural Born Thrillas promo. Chuck Palumbo would be Chucky this time next year.

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Chavo Guerrero Jr.(c) vs. Sugar Shane Helms

That theme song is absolutely awful. God damn.

Chavo has a cool remix of Eddie Guerrero’ theme.

Chavo Guerrero’s career peaked in 1998. Unless you were a Lt. Loco fan.

Some good chain wrestling here.

This has been a technical wrestling match with no highflying. Scott Hudson mentions this on commentary. It isn’t bad though.

Chavo kinda botches flipping Helms to the outside.

This match feels like a match that is happening because all the top Cruisers were unavailable.

Chavo with a nice reversal into a sitout Curtain Call. Nice move.

Nice block of the Tornado DDT into the Nightmare on Helms Street.

Crowd with a boring chant. Weird, because the match was boring earlier on but has picked up.

Helms with a frog splash press to the outside on Chavo. Very nice.

Shane Helms pins Chavo Guerrero Jr. in 13:57 to win the title. Top rope back suplex is blocked and Chavo goes for a Vertebreaker. Helms reverses and hits the Vertebreaker for the win. Alright match with some good moments. Felt like a poor man’s version of a WCW Cruiserweight Title match.

More Bagwell documentary. Flair is mad about what Dusty said.

Booker T interview. The US Title has eluded him for 8 long years! This is a former WCW World Champion here.

WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire)© vs. Totally Buff (Buff Bagwell and The Total Package Lex Luger)

Luger and Bagwell may be my least favorite tag team ever.

Luger reminds us that Totally Buff were the ones that ended Bill Goldberg’s WCW career. What a nice thing to do.

Now Totally Buff are burying the Tag Champs but saying they don’t know who they and that they are rookies. Sigh.

The Natrual Born Thrillers retain the titles with a double pin at 0:54. You know what, that was very well done. Superstar diva heels talk trash about the young champs. Young champs kick ass. What a way to put over the young blood. Sean-ton Bomb is pretty nice.

Scott Steiner promo! Page is going down!

Wow they are really selling the ass kicking Totally Buff got. They reference the time Bagwell broke his neck three years ago.

Ernest Miller vs. Kanyon

Apparently Kanyon did a Kanyon Cutter to Ms. Jones, The Cat’s valet. Kanyon goes right after Ms. Jones after a Cat calls Kanyon ugly.

Kanyon looks like a demented stalker when he’s close to Ms. Jones.

Kanyon with a top rope Rocker Dropper. Not bad.

The Cat does some dancing and splits with uppercuts and elbows and stuff. I guess it’s not bad, but it takes away from the seriousness of the match a bit.

Kanyon somehow botches a Boston Crab, as the Cat ends up on his side.

Kanyon survives the Feliner, which looks a lot like Kofi Kingston’s Trouble in Paradise.

Ernest Miller pins Kanyon in 10:31. Ms. Jones tries to kick Kanyon, but he ducks and she knocks down The Cat. Kanyon then grabs Jones by the arm, and she misses a kick. She gets a 2nd kick though, and the Cat hits the Feliner for the win. Kanyon attacks The Cat afterwards, then MIA Smooth or something comes in with a chair and chases off Kanyon. Match was boring and the storyline is not good. I guess it wasn’t horrible overall though.

More documentary stuff. Luger and Bagwell arguing!

Dusty apparently ate all the burritos and he says he thinks they are down to ass. Seriously what the fuck.

WCW US Championship
Rick Steiner© vs. Booker T

Steiner is beating the crap out of Booker early on.

Ugly looking double underhook powerbomb. Still all Steiner. Booker got some punches that had no effect on Steiner.

Wow Steiner is no-selling everything here. Backsuplex and Steiner is right back up.

This is still all Steiner. Making Booker look horrible.

Booker T pinned Rick Steiner in 7:31 to win the title. Booker accidentally takes out the ref, and Steiner hits a German Suplex. No ref for the count. Rick Steiner goes up top, but Shane Douglas nails him in the head with a cast (and Rick lands on his feet!). Booker gets the Book-End for the win. Awful match. Steiner no sold everything and dominated the rest. Booker couldn’t win without help. Terrible.

Documentary time. Buff Bagwell has been knocked out! Luger accuses Animal.

Dustin Rhodes and Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett

Flair comes out with a shirt full of flowers and dress pants. He says he’s not wrestling and Jarrett will beat them both up by himself.

Ref sends Road Warrior Animal to the back.

Wasting a lot of time here.

It feels weird in 2001 to be chronicling the Rhodes vs. Flair feud over the last 20 years.

Jarrett and Dustin start us off.

Flair’s in there. Punching and chopping away at Dustin.

Flair just lets Dustin tag in Dusty. First thing I think Dusty does is fart. Ugh.

Crowd very into Dusty. I think he farts again. I mean seriously.

Dusty’s elbows are pretty good though.

Jarrett and Flair are doubling teaming Dustin. I guess that makes sense in the context of the match.

Dustin gets the tag, Flair vs. Dusty!

Bionic Elbow from Dusty…but Jarrett makes the save.

Dusty and Dustin Rhodes defeated Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett when Dustin pinned Flair in 9:58. Finish is botched as Dustin was supposed to take down Flair somehow for the win. It’s not clear how but it looks terrible.

Flair needs to kiss Dusty’s ass now.

The last thing this PPV needs is Dusty’s ass.

Stinkface to Jarrett. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

On the replay it looked like Dustin was going for an inside cradle, but Flair thought it was something else? Anyway, that match was a bit of a mess. I guess it was to get Dusty a pop? I don’t know. Whatever.

WCW World Championship: Falls Count Anywhere
Scott Steiner© vs. Diamond Dallas Page

The story is Steiner has taken out ever top contender, and all that is left is Page. Not bad honestly. Puts over both.

I wonder if Michael Buffer was embarrassed to be a part of this crap at this point.

Even though I know he had a heel turn somewhere in 1999, Page is basically the same exact wrestler he was in 1998. Just with shorter hair.

In 20 seconds Page had more offense on Scott than Booker T had on Rick.

Page is all out on the attack early on. Makes sense within the story, as Page said he was the hunter and not the hunted.

Some garbage can action. Steiner then takes a crutch from a fan and nails Page.

Page elbow drops Steiner through a table…although the table crumpled slowly. This has been a decent brawl so far.

Steiner was a good suplex-type guy. Those suplexes look vicious.

This match is better than I expected it to be. A solid brawl.

Diamond Cutter! 1….Rick Steiner pulls out the ref. DDP takes out Rick.

DDP shoves Scott into Rick and rolls him up…but a near fall only results.

Page gets busted open from a shot to the face with the WCW title.

Page is busted open badly. Jeez.

Steiner Recliner! Page gets to the ropes though.

Scott Steiner retains the title when DDP passes out in the Steiner Recliner. For some reason Midajah distracts the ref while Steiner nails Page with a lead pipe (it’s No DQ you know). Second Steiner Recliner ends it. Steiner continually nails Page with the pipe. Really not a bad match, it’s quite okay and better than I thought it would be.

Overall, I don’t think this is an awful Pay-Per-View at all. There are some good matches, some bad ones and some average ones. It is a bit sad that this is the last PPV we’d see from WCW.

I wanted to put it in C+ range, but you can thank Rick Steiner and Dusty Rhodes’ ass for me having to knock it down a bit.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWF No Way Out 2001

No_Way_Out_2001

WWF No Way Out 2001
February 25, 2001
Las Vegas, NV
Reviewed on February 8, 2015

AKA: The Final Ass Kicking.

This would be the last WWF PPV to take place while WCW was still alive. No Way Out was the final PPV spot before what is shaping up to be the biggest Wrestlemania of them all.

As I wrote in my Royal Rumble 2001 background…the WWF was rolling. But admittedly, there were subtle signs that things may not be going as smoothly as they were say, 12-18 months ago.

For one, some star making attempts hadn’t went well. Rikishi’s heel turn had just about fizzled out at this point. Billy Gunn was pretty much given up on after Armageddon 2000. Eddie Guerrero was having personal problems. Even Chyna went from the WWF’s version of Wonder Woman to someone who’s ego may have been getting way too big. She wouldn’t last much longer (of course, who knows how much the HHH-Stephanie deal played a part in that). Then again, this is nitpicking. Kurt Angle was doing just fine afterall.

Also, it seems that the WWF may have been running out of ideas. The Armageddon Hell in a Cell back in December was a cool concept on paper (and was a very good match), but it also hurt the aura of the Hell in a Cell itself. The post-Wrestlemania scene is probably going to have a lot of familiar faces in it (which it ultimately did), and at some point that’s not just going to draw huge. When I get to those PPVs I’ll write about that.

Lastly, and something I did address in the Rumble ’01 review, ratings were down during Austin’s comeback. While they got back in the 5.0 range during Rumble time, we’re still a bit under 5 in February. That’s about a 16% decrease from the same time the year before. And that’s WITHOUT Austin.

Still, the WWF was rolling and rolling strongly at this point. There’s nothing to be alarmed about…

Yet.

The Card

WWF Hardcore Division
Raven© vs. Big Show

This was an odd period for the Big Show, where he came back at the Rumble…but was immediately regulated to midcard status after being a main eventer his whole career.

Also, the WWF brought in Raven, but still held on to the 24/7 Hardcore model for the title. It was kind of a waste since well, this is Raven we’re talking about here.

In a forgotten angle, Raven’s ninja (Tori) attacks Show, but she doesn’t help.

Crash Holly as a popcorn vendor gets involved…then Steve Blackman and Hardcore Holly get involved as well. It’s 24/7!

Billy Gunn runs in and he gets a pin on Raven for the title!

Raven gets his title back.

Big Show pins Raven in 4:20. Big Show gets a chokeslam. He gets the pin. Billy Gunn keeps trying, but Big Show fights him off. It’s a fun start to the show at least.

Kevin Kelly talks to an arriving Kurt Angle. Angle says he’s ready.

Lillian Garcia asks Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit how they will co-exist. Well, they are going against one another so…that’s not really necessary is it? At least JR points that out.

Fatal Four Way Match: Intercontinental Championship
Chris Jericho© vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. X-Pac vs. Chris Benoit

A lot of stories here. Jericho sidelined X-Pac for a few months in their cage match at No Mercy. Jericho also sidelined Guerrero according to the Guerrero interview we just had. Benoit and Guerrero are part of the reformed Radicalz. Lastly, Jericho beat Benoit for the IC title at the Rumble in a great ladder match.

Radicalz do work together early on, but seeds of doubt are planted when Benoit tries to go for the win when Guerrero went up top for a Frog Splash.

Something else weird. Jericho is the only face here…but X-Pac took a lot of the Radicalz beating early on.

Guerrero and Benoit come to blows!

Beautiful hurricanrana by Guerrero to Benoit.

We get a few minutes of some Benoit-Jericho greatness.

Jericho gets everyone in the Walls…until Justin Credible provides a distraction for X-Pac.

X Marks the Spot (double superkick) by X-Factor to Benoit!

Guerrero breaks up a Benoit Crossface with a flip over neckbreaker. Wow!

Chris Jericho retains when he pins X-Pac in 12:17. Roll-up with a bridge for the win. Wow, match really picked up in the 2nd half and was pretty good the whole way. One of the more entertaining four way matches you’ll ever see.

Vince McMahon tells William Regal that he’s confident he’ll do the right thing for the Stephanie McMahon vs. Trish Stratus match. Regal doesn’t have a damn clue what to do. Regal’s hilarious.

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley vs. Trish Stratus

After Vince asked Linda for a divorce, Linda went into a catatonic state. Stephanie planned to be the dominant female in the WWF, but with Vince’s affair with Trish, she feels threatened. This actually started a bit earlier when HHH took on Kurt Angle at the Rumble, and Trish managed Angle.

One of the biggest shockers here: Trish and Stephanie BRAWL. No catfight here, just a flat out brawl.

Stephanie jumps off the barricade with a clothesline to Trish. What?

Trish with a hangman’s sleeper in the corner. This is crazy good.

Stephanie powerbombs Trish out of a hurricanrana attempt. I mean just wow.

Regal is here after a double KO. Will he do the right thing? He puts Trish on Stephanie!

Regal changes his mind as the ref counts and puts Steph’s foot on the rope!

SMH wins by pin in 8:29. Trish yells at Regal…and gets a neckbreaker for her troubles. Stephanie gets the pin. Did Regal do the right thing? Anyway…that’s one of the greatest women’s matches in WWF/E history right there. No exaggeration. I assume this spawned Trish actually becoming a wrestler later in 2001. Just wow.

And no…REGAL WAS WRONG. Vince chews him out.

Three Stages of Hell
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H

This feud really began back at Summerslam ’99 when HHH took Austin out after their three way with Mankind. They feuded a bit for the rest of the year…but then Austin was run over. After the failed idea that Rikishi was the driver, HHH was revealed to be his accomplice. Austin dropped HHH from a crane in a limo (another one of those shortsighted ideas that showed the WWF was running out of ideas), but HHH returned in like a month and cost Austin the WWF Title. Austin cost HHH the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble. HHH tried to screw Austin over at the Rumble…but Austin somehow won anyway. Vince wanted to protect the big money match, so he had Austin and HHH sign no contact waivers. If Austin violated it he would lose his Mania match. If HHH violated it, he was suspended for six months. In an AWESOME heel moment, HHH pretended to sign it, then beat the hell out of Austin. THEN he signed the contract (Austin did already). Austin gave Stephanie a stunner, which was a pretty sick response. HHH went after JR of course. Just an amazingly built feud here.

First Fall: Straight Wrestling Match. Second Fall: Street Fight. Third Fall: Cage Match.

There’s the assumption that HHH was a lock to win the first fall, but Austin was a lock to win the 2nd. This line of thinking played out beautifully here.

Austin is outright WHIPPING HHH early on.

HHH finally gets control and works on the neck. Smart, since Austin was out with a neck injury twice in his career, specifically from the hit and run.

Huge pop for a HHH Figure Four. Fans are really into this.

HHH comes off the top, but Austin catches him with a boot and the Stunner. Austin wins fall one. My only nitpick is that it was a little too short at about 12 minutes. But it was an awesome 12 minutes for sure. Just non-stop action.

Austin tosses HHH out of the ring for fall #2!

Well look at that, Austin did the whole Mania X7 chair shot deal to HHH first in this match. Austin is destroying HHH here.

Austin brings Barbie into the mix. Barbie is a barbed wire 2X4. HHH gets control of it though and takes out Austin with it. And now we have blood.

Austin backdrops HHH from once announce desk through the other! A holy shit bump if I ever saw one. Also a nice touch of psychology right before that as well. HHH was going for the Pedigree, but tended to the arm first. Austin worked on the arm in the first fall.

HHH gets two neckbreakers on a chair and a back suplex as well on the same chair. All focusing on the neck.

ANOTHER great HHH bump, this time he gets backdropped over the top from a Pegidree attempt! I mean god damn what a match.

Damn what a chair shot by Austin.

HHH brings in the ultimate equalizer…the sledgehammer! Austin goes for a stunner, but HHH shoves off and takes Austin out with the sledgehammer! Pedigree gets the pin. Awesome finish to the 2nd fall! Brilliant booking too, which I’ll get into.

Third fall coming up. All the weapons are still in the ring for the cage too!

The violence continues! Austin eats cage twice, then gets Barbie to the heat. Austin comes back with another chairshot!

Now HHH gets a face full of Barbie.

Austin survives a Pedigree.

Catapult into the cage by Austin! Anything can finish at this point!

HHH survives a Stunner!

Triple H wins 2-1 when he pinned Austin in 39:26. One of my favorite finishes ever. HHH gets the sledgehammer, and Austin gets Barbie. Both men hit one another at the same time…but Austin falls down first and HHH lands on him for the pin. Let’s talk about all the awesome booking points of this match here. First, Austin winning the first fall and HHH winning the second fall was smart in itself. This is because it furthered HHH’s run as a top tier guy. Even though HHH had been on top in 2000 and even proved himself brawl wise in his feud with Foley…he could arguably still be perceived as a tier lower than someone like Stone Cold. Austin putting over HHH in the 2nd fall ended that perception. The finish itself was brilliant, as it can be seen as practically a draw for Austin, not hurting him one bit…but also putting over HHH as a top guy. This should have led to a further feud after Wrestlemania and not been the blow off. What the WWF did instead was one of the dumbest booking decisions in history and one of the reasons they lost so much steam. Even if Austin still turns heel, your top tier babyface is RIGHT THERE in HHH. The crowd even told us this on the RAW after Mania with the huge reaction HHH got when he was out to save Rock from Austin. Instead, all the work this match did for HHH got undone when he suddenly played second fiddle to Austin in the Two Man Power Trip. Damn shame. This booking is actually an offshoot of Bret-Owen, where Owen got the win first, and thus was the clear #1 Contender when Bret won the title.

That doesn’t change the fact that…and it’s close with TLC II…but that this is my 2001 Match of the Year. It’s just incredible. Austin gets a stunner in for good measure.

If Jerry Lawler wins, The Kat gets naked, if Steven Richards wins, The Kat joins the Right To Censor
Jerry Lawler vs. Steven Richards

Here is your cool down match.

Tazz is out here to replace Lawler on commentary. What a thirteen months for him.

The RTC-Kat storyline should be pretty clear.

Richards using his own version of the Ho Train avalanche is pretty brilliant.

Steven Richards pins Jerry Lawler in 5:32. Richards holds Lawler for no reason other for Kat to accidentally hit him with Ivory’s Women’s title. Terrible finish that made no sense. Match was bad too, Richards’s timing was clearly off.

We wouldn’t get the payoff either. WWF fired Kat basically as soon as she got to the back. Lawler, Kat’s real life then husband, quit in protest as well. This is the last time we’d see Lawler until after the InVasion.

World Tag Team Championship: Three Way Tables Match
The Dudley Boyz© vs. Edge and Christian vs. Undertaker and Kane

An odd match that really got thrown together at the last minute, at least the Taker and Kane part. The Dudleyz won the tag belts from E and C at the Rumble.

Undertaker is oddly wearing tights that resemble his Ministry look.

Bubba busts his ass sliding on a chair. Good thing that was after some sick chair shots.

This has been two different matches so far. The Dudleyz beating up E and C, and Taker and Kane beating up E and C.

Now Taker and Kane beat up the Dudleyz.

Taker and Kane destroy everyone with chokeslams and the win seems academic…although it isn’t…

Because Rikishi and Haku are out here to stop Taker and Kane from winning.

The Dudley Boyz retain in 12:04. 3D to Christian through a table. Good match, but we didn’t need to see Taker and Kane bury the tag division. It was necessary though, since Taker was slated to face HHH at Mania (although, was the original plan Taker and Kane vs. Rikishi and Haku…and perhaps Austin vs. Rock vs. HHH? Probably not). Really just a placeholder to get to TLC II at Mania for sure though.

WWF Championship
Kurt Angle© vs. The Rock

Really obvious who’s winning here, but that’s okay. Angle beat Rock back at No Mercy to win the title in the first place. Rock beat Big Show for this title shot.

Kurt Angle established the Ankle Lock as a finisher in this feud with the Rock.

Angle and Rock with a great start. I like Rock’s exaggerated Russian Leg Sweep.

JR sells the Ankle Lock like death. What a great finish that turned out to be for Angle.

You can tell they are working at an accelerated pace due to them running short on time. As a result they just do everything faster without resting. Sometimes the psychology doesn’t work…but it’s working here for sure. Reminds me of the Summerslam ’02 main.

For some reason The Big Show has decided to come out here midway to chokeslam the ref, Angle and The Rock. This didn’t lead to anything though, as Show was in the Hardcore division for the next couple months. Anyway, back to our four star match.

Crazy intensity from Angle when he traps Rock in the Ankle Lock. “Give it up before I break your fucking ankle!”

Angle shockingly survives a People’s Elbow. Angle still looked like a million bucks here. Huge bullshit chant too.

Great false finish with Angle sending Rock into an unprotected corner…and an Angle Slam.

I think the finish gets screwed up here. Rock Bottom gets two, and Earl Hebner doesn’t count three despite the fact it looks like Angle doesn’t move. Weird too, considering Rock would just hit another Rock Bottom.

The Rock wins the title by pin in 16:53. That Rock Bottom wins it, which makes me wonder why they just didn’t go with the first one since Angle didn’t kick out. Nonetheless, this was a great match, obvious finish aside. Angle’s first title reign put him in that main event category. It’s amazing to look at the difference between Angle’s 1st reign and Jericho’s Undisputed reign a year later. Angle was booked strongly all reign and looked like a star afterwards. Jericho was booked like a chump mostly and struggled afterwards.

Anyway, this show owns. Can’t give it the full A+ as there’s a little too much lack of direction with some guys. I mean what the hell Big Show? Taker and Kane being in the tag title match and being attacked by Rikishi and Haku is another example. But those are nitpicks. The show was great. Angle vs. Rock? Great. Austin vs. HHH? Incredible. Even Stephanie vs. Trish was great considering expecations. The WWF might have been nearing the end of its peak, but damn what a peak it was.

Final Grade: A