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Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE TLC 2012

Wwetlc2012

WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2012
December 16, 2012
Brooklyn, NY
Reviewed on February 5, 2015

Change is coming.

Ever since the ”Summer of Punk” last year, WWE has focused on bringing in new and popular talent that also happen to be popular on the internet as well. For the first time, it looks as if WWE is listening to the “IWC” and the “smarks”.

Daniel Bryan, the former Bryan Danielson, is a former World Champion at this point. CM Punk is the reigning WWE Champion and has been for the past 13 months. Antonio Cesaro, the former Claudio Castagnoli, is at the US/IC title level. The Shield, who debuted a month prior in the main event, have one “WWE type” in Roman Reigns, but two IWC types as well in Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins (Jon Moxley and Tyler Black). Perhaps most importantly for this show is Dolph Ziggler, in the main event here against John Cena.

Rest assured though, those old school WWE type talents are still around. Ryback went from squashing jobbers to fighting CM Punk for the title. Sheamus held the World title for most of the year. Kane is still ticking in a fun tag team with Bryan.

But the point is there is tons of talent and for once, the IWC, the smarks, are seeing things their way. And to be honest, their way looks pretty damn awesome.

The Card

Tables Match: #1 Contender to the World Tag Team Championship
Team Rhodes Scholars vs. Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara

This was the last gasp attempt to get Sin Cara over, which was to team with Mysterio.

I don’t remember if both men have to go through tables here, but I am assuming that’s the case.

Sandow and Cody run down the crowd. If you are watching on the Network, the crowd shot at the 6:18 mark would feature me in the middle. Yeah, I’m the goof in the black shirt.

Awesome twisting armdrag for Sin Cara. Moves like that was what go Mistico over in the first place.

Innovative move here. Cody traps Sin Cara’s leg between the steel steps and the ringpost, then drives a table into the steps.

Team Rhodes Scholars win in 9:30. Sin Cara goes for a springboard, but Cody Rhodes runs in and pushes him off the top rope and Cara goes flying into the table. Awesome finish and a great opener to start the PPV. Right team went over too. This might have been the original Sin Cara’s best match in the WWE. He just never got it going. Sandow and Rhodes didn’t beat the tag champs for the belts though.

Nice Shield promo. It’s on glitch old security camera footage, which is a nice touch. It’s also a great promo, as they run down Ryback, Daniel Bryan and Kane. Interesting comment about Ryback being reckless and such, I wonder if that was a semi-shoot there.

United States Championship
Antonio Cesaro© vs. R-Truth

Cesaro had the remixed Malenko music here…which to be honest I think he should bring back.

R-Truth does a crazy man comeback. I do like that WWE never ignored his transition to a crazy man in 2011 when he turned heel.

Cesaro pins R-Truth in 6:39. Neutralizer (which I never really liked as a finisher) gets the win. Back and forth standard match here. Good for what it was. Cesaro cuts a post match promo, pointing out that the fans booing the US Champ is like the fans booing the US. Shame he’d basically be in the same spot, if not lower, two years later.

Ziggler promo. He thinks John Cena is getting preferential treatment. He wonders why Cena gets a shot at MITB when he lost his MITB earlier in the year…and he has nothing on the line. Yeah…that’s a good point actually.

Miz TV. 3Mb are his guests, and they end up arguing with the Spanish announcers. That draws out Ricardo Rodriguez, and 3MB threaten him. Alberto Del Rio basically turns face in making the save. A very effective reason to turn, as it’s been shown that the only person Del Rio really cared about was Ricardo. It would pay off until the Mania feud where Jack Swagger’s involvement killed any heat Del Rio had.

Two other things to point out from this: Miz is a pretty terrible face. And 3MB were awesome. While Drew McIntyre should have probably done better, I would have never guessed Jinder Mahal would work out in any way.

Intercontinental Championship
Kofi Kingston© vs. Wade Barrett

Kofi was beyond stale at this point. He had been doing the same thing for 4 years at this point. As a result, Barrett was getting huge cheers.

Amazing side slam by Barrett, but it was really Kofi’s selling by swinging around that made it awesome.

Kofi Kingston retains the title by pin in 8:39. A close Trouble in Paradise wins it for Kingston. Pretty disappointing result, although Barrett would win the title soon enough anyway. Match was solid. That’s never been the problem with Kingston afterall.

A pretty good start to this PPV so far.

We get CM Punk in his own personal skybox! Promo time!

It’s a brilliant promo. Punk states that his 392 day world title reign is just the beginning. Shame that wasn’t true.

Tables, Ladders and Chairs
The Shield vs. Ryback, Kane and Daniel Bryan

This came about as this was to be Punk vs. Ryback for the WWE Title, but as Punk explained, Ryback injured him two weeks ago and he couldn’t compete.

This would be the Shield’s first WWE match.

Action packed from the start. Ryback gets some boos, some cheers and some Goldberg chants.

The beauty of the Shield: everything they did gelled like they were a team. They save one another. They control the ring together. All that stuff. It’s why they ended up being so effective.

Reigns gets propped up against a ladder and receives a dropkick from Daniel Bryan. Imagine how WWE fans would feel about that now!

Ryback had the advantage a bit…but the Shield has taken over. Triple powerbomb through the Spanish announcer’s table to Ryback!

Bryan nearly gets decapitated by a table side that was propped on the top rope. Ouch!

Double superplex off the table that was on the top rope! Kane makes the save!

They try to superplex Kane, but Kane just shoves Rollins off the top to the floor!

Chokeslam to Ambrose on an open chair! My god!

Reigns spears Kane through the barricade. It’s just awesome spot after awesome spot here.

Curb Stomp to Bryan on an open chair! I don’t think that was Rollins’ finish yet though.

Ryback is back!

The Shield get the advantage on Ryback too, and beat him down the entry way. They get Ryback on a table and Rollins climbs a 15 footer. Ryback comes to though and catches Rollins…and sends him flying though a stack of tables!

The Shield win when Roman Reigns pinned Daniel Bryan in 22:46. Roman Reigns hits a top rope powerbomb through a table on Bryan, and Ryback can’t get back in time to make the save. Just wow. Incredible match, incredible debut for the Shield. My 2012 Match of the Year. An action packed 22 minutes for sure. Ryback and The Shield looked great.

Diva’s Championship
Eve© vs. Naomi

Naomi won a pre-show battle royal for this title shot. Kaitlyn and Eve had been feuding, and Eve cost Kaitlyn the battle royal earlier.

Eve retains by pin in 3:07. Spinning neck breaker wins the match for Eve. Better in some ways than the standard Divas match as Naomi did some flippy fake outs, although she also botched a jump to the top rope and a leg lariat in the corner. It was still passable.

Chairs Match: World Championship
Big Show© vs. Sheamus

This was a pretty awesome heel run for the Big Show, and to be honest I wasn’t expecting it at this point. At Survivor Series, Sheamus hit Big Show with 30 chair shots, setting up this match.

Slow start, but crowd wakes up when Sheamus begins to beat the crap out of Big Show with a chair…then slams him!

Vader Bomb from the Big Show with a chair on top of Sheamus. Wouldn’t that hurt Show more?

Sheamus his White Noise on two open chairs on Big Show! Ouch. Sick move.

Big Show retains by pin in 14:17. Big Show gets a giant sized chair and the chairshot wins it. Silly, but I think that’s a good creative finish actually. Match wasn’t too bad either, even if it was a bit slow. Definitely was the end of the Sheamus run as an elite-top guy though. Big Show would continue his effective heel run and put over ADR huge on Smackdown…in a match that should have been at Mania.

AJ Lee is apologizing to John Cena for screwing something up. The Barclay’s Center is dying for an AJ heel turn with Dolph winning tonight for sure.

3 Man Band vs. Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and ?

This match was set-up earlier. Miz announces The Brooklyn Brawler as the surprise partner. I mean, it’s fun because we’re in Brooklyn and he gets a good pop.

Del Rio with an awesome suicide dive out of nowhere to McIntyre.

Del Rio, Miz and the Brawler win when Jiner Mahal submitted in 3:24. “Brooklyn” Crab for the win. Just a fun cool down match before the main event.

MITB Briefcase on the Line: Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler (MITB) vs. John Cena

Storyline here: AJ Lee was the General Manager of RAW, but resigned because of allegations of an affair with John Cena. Even in traditional terms no idea why Cena would be the face here. Ziggler and his girlfriend, GM Supervisor Vickie Guerrero were trying to put the screws to Cena. Vince McMahon got Vickie to make Cena vs. Ziggler in a MITB Ladder match (way to give up Dolph there Vickie). So here we are.

Ziggler just looks like a superstar here.

Cena slightly messes up a monkey flip. Of course the fans are all over him for that.

Ziggler locks Cena in a sleeper, but Cena carries Ziggler up the ladder. Unfortunately for both, Cena passes out, and both go flying off and crash through a table. Cool spot.

Ziggler climbs the ladder…but Cena ends up pressing the ladder AND Ziggler over his head. Ziggler escapes. Another really cool spot there.

One of the worst looking hurricanranas I’ve seen into a table by Cena. Somehow it worked though.

Vickie Guerrero comes out with a chair…but AJ takes out her using all Cena moves, including a Five Knuckle Shuffle.

Dolph Ziggler wins in 23:16. Cena climbs the ladder…but AJ turns and pushes the ladder down! Ziggler runs in with a superkick to finish off Cena. AJ flashes a crazy smile, then skips off as Ziggler wins to a huge reaction. Great main event here with the right result. Ziggler looks like a real superstar here and SURELY WWE would capitalize on him in 2013.

Of course, that didn’t actually happen. Cena actually got his win back on RAW that luckily no one remembers. Ziggler put on a great show in the Rumble, but Cena won that. Big E. Langston got involved in the AJ/Ziggler pairing, and at first was just the muscle. After Ziggler cashed in MITB and won the World Heavyweight Title, the crowd was solidly behind him. Then it all went downhill with an ill-fated double turn with him and Del Rio, then Big E. turned on him as well. That feud went nowhere, and suddenly Ziggler was back in the US Title scene. It was really a shame. Had Ziggler cashed in on new WWE Champ Cena, he’d be cemented today as a top guy (assuming he didn’t lose, of course).

The Ziggler story kind of defines this show overall. TLC 2012, without considering anything else, is a great show. Everything was pretty good, and the big matches were great. But long term…nothing other than the Shield mattered. Ziggler went back to midcard status after a pseudo-top run. Sheamus has been trending downward ever since. They didn’t know what to do with Ryback past the next few months, and an ill-fated heel turn followed. Again, only the Shield really kept going and became big stars.

Big, big stars.

Final Grade: A-

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Money In the Bank 2011

Money_in_the_Bank_(2011)

WWE Money in the Bank 2011
July 17, 2011
Chicago, IL
Reviewed on March 8, 2014

Background: Ever since WCW went bankrupt, American Professional wrestlers didn’t have a whole lot of leverage anymore. There was no real competition. Sure, there was TNA, but a few notable wrestlers…only one who was a sure fire main eventer at the time (and one WWE legend)…ever went there. (Kurt Angle is the main eventer…even though Jeff Hardy, Mick Foley is the legend). Other guys had other non-wrestling ventures they could look at, but usually, they came back (Big Show, Chris Jericho, Batista). In terms of North American pro wrestling, the top is WWE. The money is in WWE. The stardom is in WWE.

The case of Kurt Angle actually showed that Vince McMahon could have all the leverage. Angle…fresh off of main eventing Wrestlemania, went to TNA and ratings hardly moved. Vince had went from a system of having one or two top guys (The Hogan Era, the Austin-Rock Era) to many big guys with only one that was at the very top (an argument Vince used with Hulk Hogan regarding Hogan’s Summerslam 06 payoff). I believe this actually dilutes the product, but that’s another discussion for another time.

Creatively though, WWE had really hit a down point after a solid 2010. That glass ceiling that’s existed for years and years in WWE seemed to be in clear view of the fans. In 2010 guys like Sheamus, Wade Barrett, the Miz and Daniel Bryan were coming on strong. In 2009, the same could be said about CM Punk. All of these guys here had been something ranging from kinda buried to buried. Sheamus went from bad ass heel champion killing Triple H to joke King of the Ring to actually outright missing the Wrestlemania card in favor of a Rock promo. He only recovered in early 2012…only to get buried because of his stupid 18 second World Title win at Mania 28. Barrett was the leader of one of the most creative angles WWE had done in a while in the Nexus. John Cena squashed him and the Nexus at TLC 2010, and Barrett has never reached that level again. The Miz was the WWE World Champion coming into 2011. Maybe he was somewhat average in the ring, but his character was just pure heel heat. Cena buried him at Over the Limit 2011 in one of the worst booked I Quit Matches I can remember (it’s not that Cena won…it was how)…and then losing to Alex Riley. Bryan hadn’t really been buried, but he also missed the Mania card and seemed to just be in that jobber to stars role after a really hot 2010.

That brings us to CM Punk. WWE was still trying to make new stars, but some were not catching on or not quite ready (John Morrison, R-Truth for the former, Alberto Del Rio for the latter.) There was something different with Punk though. The fans were connecting to him. For whatever reason, WWE wasn’t listening. He eventually got a world title shot for MITB though, which was the day his contract expired. Punk delivered a famous worked-shoot promo which ushered in the reality era for WWE. Punk was supposed to be the heel, but there was not a chance in hell that was happening, especially with the PPV in Chicago. The hype was tremendous. It was the most non-Mania anticipated PPV since One Night Stand 2005. Vince got involved in the storyline. It felt real. Someone was so good, they finally had some leverage.

Some other stories for this show: Mark Henry was actually becoming a bad ass. Christian had won his first World Title and lost it to Randy Orton two days later (which was absolutely awful in a lot of ways), leading to a heel turn for Christian.

The Card

They use that awful Donald Trump theme song for the PPV. At least it has to do with the theme.

Smackdown Money in the Bank
Sheamus vs. Heath Slater vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Wade Barrett vs. Sin Cara vs. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan

If I remember correctly, the smart money here was on Wade Barrett. I wonder in retrospect if that was just hope though. To be fair, he wasn’t the obvious favorite, as Sheamus and Bryan def could have won.

Cody was still doing the broken face gimmick…which is what eventually made me a fan.

There are still some remnants of the Corre vs. Nexus storyline…which we see here with Gabriel and Slater. This would be the last time we see anything resembling the Nexus though.

Bryan with a perfect top rope dropkick to knock Rhodes off the ladder. This is going to be good.

Various wrestlers doing over the top and through the rope dives…with Sin Cara finishing with his sky high plancha on Sheamus. This is fun so far and they’ve barely used the ladder!

Forgot Sin Cara had the top rope C4 in his arsenal! This has to be Sin Cara’s peak here.

Powerbomb from Sheamus off the apron through a ladder. Poor Sin Cara. I believe this was used as a storyline to injure him as he had a Wellness Violation. Brutal spot though. Sin Cara was stealing the show before that powerbomb.

Actually it looks like both Gabriel and Slater were members of the Corre. Tells you what I remember.

Cole is still anti-Bryan.

Kane and Sheamus go LOD on Bryan. Nice spot, especially when you remember LOD is from Chicago.

Fans behind Daniel Bryan. When wasn’t he over?

Slater with a nice neckbreaker off the ladder to Bryan.

Sheamus and Barrett use the ladder as a fork and Health Slater’s the meat! They somewhat botch it as they dump him into Kane…but it was cool nonetheless.

Kane chokeslams Sheamus off a ladder into a ladder that was propped on the bottom rope. Ouch!

Rhodes uses a ladder for a Disaster Kick!

450 from Gabriel on a ladder bridge on the top rope…and he nails Kane! Very impressively done!

Daniel Bryan wins in 24:27. Bryan and Rhodes fight on the top of the ladder with Bryan locking him in a front choke. Barrett tries to sneak behind and grab the title, but Bryan sees him and tries to elbow him off. Barrett teases a Wasteland on that propped ladder, but Bryan escapes and kicks Barrett in the head, knocking him off. Bryan grabs the title. By the way, the original Flight of the Valkyries being played for the Money in the Bank winner is pretty awesome. Anyway, match is fantastic. Creative. Only dull point was actually when Cara went out, as fans thought he was really hurt and he was winning over the crowd. Bryan got a good pop when he won as well.

Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis here. Still trying to sign CM Punk.

Diva’s Championship
Kelly Kelly© vs. Brie Bella

Kelly went for a flying headscissors…but didn’t quite scissor the head.

Story here is apparently Kelly Kelly is mad that the Bellas said her Maxim shoot was airbrushed. It probably was.

Kelly Kelly does that leg stand choke that Candace Michelle did at Wrestlemania 22…and Brie counters by escaping and shoving Kelly…who falls face first on the floor! Ouch.

Brie with a leg wrap around waistelock. Not bad.

I don’t remember Brie being a good wrestler. Has this always been the case?

Brie screws up on the bulldog as she drops too early.

Bellas are much better heels than faces.

Kelly Kelly retains by pin at 4:46. Kelly hits a Rocker Dropper (the K2 or K Squared maybe?) for the win. Nikki complains that Kelly doesn’t even eat. Wasn’t there a bullying campaign being touted by WWE at this time? Anyway, pretty solid Women’s Match overall. We’re 2 for 2.

Best of Nitro DVD!

Big Show vs. Mark Henry

If you threw this match out there in 1999, it would have been absolutely horrible.

In 2008 Mark Henry went from looking like an actor playing a scary motherfucker to looking like a scary motherfucker. Why WWE wasted that in 2009-2010 I don’t know…but Henry now is full blown bad ass, and you see the difference everywhere.

Big Show with a flying shoulder tackle!

Love the selling of each other’s strength here. Show shoves Henry into the stairs and Henry actually sells by flying over them. Great.

Henry works on the knee…apparently Show was coming off a knee injury.

Half-Crab! This match is at a faster pace than I ever would have guessed.

Big Show with a shoulder tackle off the 2nd rope…but he hurts the knee!

Flawless World’s Strongest Slam…and a kickout!

Mark Henry pins Big Show in 6:00. Another WSS, and then two Splashes for the win. Henry then traps Show’s leg in a chair and drops a Vader Bomb Knee Drop (Pillmanizing!), injuring Show which would lead to some more Show vs. Henry goodness later in 2011. Exactly the win Henry needed to get him in the main event and continue to get him over as a legit bad ass. Well done. Good match. We’re 3 for 3.

2nd Stretcher of the night. First Cara, now Big Show.

Vince still hasn’t re-signed CM Punk. It’s getting close to the expiration date! Vince says he offered the most lucrative contract he possibly could. This is the man who gave Bret Hart 20 years once!

RAW Money in the Bank
Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Evan Bourne vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley vs. R-Truth

This one’s winner prediction was more clean cut. It was pretty obvious Del Rio was winning.

Booker T talks about Alberto Del Rio’s claim that it was destiny for him to become champion. Sad that he never got passed that mindset.

Even though I was disgusted with the idea of Truth main eventing Capital Punishment, he was a funny heel.

Everyone grabs a ladder to start to defend themselves, and Truth grabs a small step ladder to put over a fear of heights. Pretty funny.

Miz was still over here.

Poor Del Rio. He gets knocked around and put under a ladder on the outside, and everyone just tosses their ladders on him.

The future Awesome Truth have a step ladder duel.

Bourne and Kingston climb up an unopened ladder. You know, Kingston was the reason they were able to cut Shelton Benjamin.

Of course Cole is pro-Miz and anti-Riley.

Bourne with the Air Bourne (Shooting Star Press) from a super high ladder to everyone on the outside! That tops John Morrison’s spot from Mania 27.

Miz is hanging from the title belt and falls badly. It looks like he wrecked his knee and he screams like it. Doctors at ringside and it looks like the kneecap is dislocated. Poor Miz. He avoid stretcher #3…but is helped to the back.

Double falling hurricanrana from Bourne and Rey at the same time, which was cool.

Swagger puts on the Ankle Lock on Kingston when Kingston is hanging on the ladder!

Booker T is critical of Kofi Kingston’s dancing in matches. What a hypocrite. Spinarooni anyone?

R-Truth just botched something. I can’t really explain what.

Kofi Kingston just nails Rey with his legs on the top of the ladder. Rey falls like a dead man. Wow.

It’s the Miz! Was a face turn on the horizon? Got a huge reaction…and when Rey stopped him he got booed.

Alberto Del Rio wins in 15:54. Rey is about to win, but here is Del Rio! Rey hits Del Rio with the briefcase on top of the ladder, and it really looks like Rey is about to win…but Del Rio goes for the mask! Brilliant (if you ignore WCW)! Rey covers up and Del Rio shoves him onto the ladder next to him…which is amazing in itself since he practically can’t see as he’s hiding his face. The ladder does topple over messing up the finish, but it’s still fine as ADR climbs up and wins. Another very good match! People thought Punk was winning tonight, and Del Rio was cashing in. We’re a month early for that!

Anyway, we are 4 for 4 with 2 matches left!

Del Rio interview…he actually originally had the title match at MITB before Punk got it. This foreshadows the MITB cashing…if it happens.

World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton© vs. Christian

If Orton is DQed, or if there is a bad referee call, he loses the title to Christian.

Story here: As I wrote earlier, the IWC was spit at with the two days Christian title run, but it did lead to a good story. Orton seemed to feel bad for Christian. In future rematches, Christian would keep getting screwed somehow (like, he had his leg under the rope in the Capital Punishment match). Eventually, Christian turned heel as he thought WWE was protecting their “golden boy” (which fits the theme of this PPV brilliantly). Orton mentioned at first it was all respect, but now he was getting angry. Which leads of course to the DQ stip.

There were Christian’s last good days.

Christian starts by throwing a chair into the ring and sliding it to Orton. Nice.

This is a solid match, but nothing exciting is really happening, if that makes sense. It’s actually the standard for Christian.

Orton does bust out a nice dodge and roll-up from the corner.

Orton has one of the best dropkicks in wrestling.

Top rope headbutt from Christian.

Orton survives the Kill Switch.

Christian wins the title when Orton gets DQed at 12:20. Christian spits at Orton, and Orton low blows him for the DQ. Crowd pops. Orton beats the hell out of Christian and RKOs him on the announcer’s table. Table doesn’t break. You can kinda tell the refs want him to come back to try again. Table holds on the 2nd time as well. In all seriousness, it’s a basic solid match. Christian was the master of those. While the ending was stupid, it does make sense within the story. You know how HHH tells Daniel Bryan that’s he’s a B+ wrestler. That’s what Christian really was. Still though, a solid match is a solid match. We are 5 for 5. Will Cena-Punk deliver?

WWE Championship
John Cena© vs. CM Punk

Get ready for the spiritual successor to RVD vs. Cena at One Night Stand 06.

The one thing that made little sense that they had to fix in this match build-up was that there’s no good reason Vince would ever give Punk a title shot if he could leave. So, that’s how the if Cena loses he’s fired bit was added, as Cena was the one who wanted this match.

CM Punk’s entrance here is one of the greatest of all time. The crowd reaction is amazing. Punk absolutely owns the arena. Michael Jordan could show up and I think the focus would be on Punk.

It’s a shame that Punk didn’t keep “This Fire Burns” longer. The line “even through these darkest days, this first still burns” fit perfectly here.

The heat for Cena is immense.

Snapmare by Cena. BOOOOOOOO!

“You Can’t Wrestle” chants…and Punk clarifies that they are talking about Cena. Haha.

Great wrestling early. Cena really gets high on a hip toss…he has his selling shoes on for Punk, that’s for sure.

Every move Punk makes just works. The crowd is absolutely white hot here.

Punk with a leg sleeper. Punk busted out everything for this match.

Punk with a low-five to Colt Cabana!

Cena is hung on the apron…and Punk comes off the top with a knee to the back of the head!

Small botch…Punk hits a twisting crossbody, but he’s a bit too low and hits Cena’s knee.

Cena suplexes Punk to the floor from the apron!

There are a lot of finisher teases here, which really works the crowd.

Cena with a new move, a slam into a reverse DDT type move. Pretty cool.

You Can’t See Me…blocked with a kick to the head!

Suicide Dive from Punk! He hit it good too! Match is practically perfect so far.

You Can’t See Me hits! AA…but Punk almost lands on his feet. Punk then hits a sweet kick combo with a sweep! Awesome!

GTS blocked into a gutwrench slam.

Stiff knees to the face from Punk and a bulldog! That 2nd one clearly hit Cena in the face hard.

Match has steadily built up to the point where it’s concievable anyone can win.

Punk in the STF! Huge cheers when Punk gets the rope.

Punk off the top, but Cena rolls through and gets the AA. No, AA countered. GTS…amazingly countered into a STF. Incredible sequence!

Punk counters the STF into the Vise!

AA….1…2……….NO! I remember thinking that was the finish.

Cena hits a huge legdrop from the top, but Punk gets out at 2!

Another AA, I really thought this was it, but no, another kick out!

Cena goes for a top rope AA….but Punk counters into a hurricanrana!

GTS hits….but Cena falls to the outside!

Punk gets Cena back into the ring…but Vince and Big Johnny are here! Huge boos.

STF! STF! Vince sends Johnny to ring the bell!

CM Punk wins the WWE Title when he pinned John Cena 33:44. Cena knocks out Big Johnny and tells McMahon that a man is gonna win this fight. Cena goes back in and walks into the GTS, 1…2…3! Crowd ERUPTS!

Vince panics, then in an interesting move goes to the announcer’s desk and calls for Alberto Del Rio to cash in MITB. Del Rio comes, but Punk kicks him in the head and leaves through the crowd. Vince looks like he’s crying in the ring. This ending is a very weird (in an interesting way) moment, as you are mixing shoot with work elements there.

I don’t know what the greatest wrestling match of all time is, but this is without a doubt a contender. The story. The build. The layout of the match. The two characters in the ring. The two men in the ring. The moves. The false finishes. Everything. Everything hit. When WWE said that the Mania 27 Undertaker vs. HHH match was the Match of the Year, they slapped Punk and Cena in the face (that’s coming from someone who likes that match a hell of a lot). It won every other match of the year award out there.

The WWE had a goldmine waiting with CM Punk after this. But even with his eventually super long World Title reign, he was still never the man. True change never happened. The sad thing is that it fulfilled what CM Punk said in the famous shoot: Vince McMahon will make money in spite of himself.

There are six matches here and at a minimum, all six are good. That combined with the fact that you have an arguable Match of All Time candidate, well, how is this not one of the greatest PPVs of all time?

Final Grade: A+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWECW One Night Stand II

ECWonenightstand2006

ECW One Night Stand 2006
June 11, 2006
New York, NY
Reviewed on March 4, 2014

Background: I don’t remember when it was decided that WWE would add a third brand, the ECW brand, but I remember being shocked about it. This was a huge deal. The revival of ECW! And it’s going to have all of the classic ECW guys like RVD and Sabu! And you know what, it really looked like WWE wasn’t going to mess this one up. The Rise and Fall of ECW was a great documentary. One Night Stand 2005 was one of the greatest PPVs ever (or…at least a great PPV) and actually sold quite well. The money would practically print itself. Sigh.

One Night Stand 2006 was the launching pad for the ECW brand. This show was more of a new start than a reunion show. Some storylines focused on ECW stealing some RAW and Smackdown talent. Kurt Angle and The Big Show would both become ECW talents. Also, both Sabu and RVD had shots at the World Heavyweight and WWE titles respectively. Anything could happen at this PPV…and surely, anything will. People were legitimately excited for this prospect.

The Card

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

Yeah, that was the first line of the ONS2005 review. Well, that’s just what ECW fans do!

“If Cena Wins, We Riot.” The classic sign.

Paul Heyman’s out first. This ain’t Raw. This ain’t Smackdown…this ain’t even WWE!

Heyman thanks the fans. I’m sure he means it.

It’s a pretty awesome promo. Paul Heyman is one of the best promo men in wrestling history.

Taz vs. Jerry Lawler

This began with the Joey Styles worked shoot and Lawler slapping him in the fact. Lawler was the perfect ECW heel, he basically just played it like he did in 1997.

Taz makes Jerry Lawler pass out in 0:35. Lawler slaps Styles on the way to the ring. Styles jumps on his back. When Lawler fends him off and sets him up for the piledriver, Taz locks him in the Tazmission for the win. Fun way to start the show, good way for Lawler to get his comeuppance.

Taz joins Styles on commentary. Sorry, but Taz is not as good as Mick Foley.

WWE vs. ECW recap video. Highlights Big Show’s ECW turn. And the John Cena vs. Sabu match.

Kurt Angle vs. Randy Orton

There’s history here. These two were part of the World Heavyweight Title match at Mania 22, and Angle snapped Orton’s ankle later (or, wellness strike #1).

One of the best things Orton has ever done is use pyro as heel heat.

Kurt Angle’s theme is a bit remixed to drown out any YOU SUCK chants.

What a difference a year makes. Fans are all for Angle here. This time last year they were telling him that he sucked dick.

Great chants here. “Angle’s gonna kill you” and a break his ankle chant.

This match is purely used to put Angle over as a shoot wrestling killer. Just like the original Taz.

This match can be described as Kurt Angle making Randy Orton his bitch. There’s a beautiful spot where Angle traps Orton with his legs then just slaps the back of his head a few times.

Orton finally gets some offense in…but you just know he’s getting killed soon.

Pretty sure Angle stole the triple German from Benoit.

Kurt Angle makes Randy Orton submit in 15:07. Orton goes for a RKO but Angle counters by just shoving Orton hard to the mat. Angle goes for the Angle Lock, but Orton rolls him up for 2. Angle gets the Angle Lock and grapevines the leg for the win. Good match to make Angle look like a bad ass. It’s a shame his WWE days were numbered. I do think Orton gets a little too much offense in at the end, but it works. Don’t worry Orton fans, he gets his return win at Vengeance.

The FBI (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke) vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy

I laughed about this match, simply because it’s basically the same match from last One Night Stand. That match was damn good though.

Big Guido is the only FBI member back from last year.

Tajiri just comes all nonchalant and breaks up a submission by kicking the hell out of Mamaluke.

This is a very different match than last year’s international three way dance. A lot of technical wrestling from Tony Mamaluke.

Admittedly, the commentary taking shots at Smackdown is a little annoying.

Double Tree of Woe! Stereo dropkicks to the face!

Super Crazy hits a springboard Asai Moonsault to the FBI to the outside…and lands on his feet!

Big Guido beats up Crazy.

Super Crazy I think botches a backdrop or a flapjack, that could have been bad but he gets away with it.

Camel Clutch on Crazy and a second rope dropkick from Guido!

Tajiri with an Octopus Hold! Awesome.

Double Tarantula!

They chop down Big Guido!

The FBI win when they pin Tajiri in 12:24. Little Guido hits this brutal dropkick on an inverted Super Crazy to get rid of him, then the FBI hit a double brainbuster for the win. Very fun match. Not quite as good as last year’s, but that’s not fair at all.

Here comes the Big Show! He takes out everyone…and hits Tony Mamaluke with a Cobra Clutch Backbreaker! What happened to that move? It was sick!

It’s JBL!

He shoots on what he did to The Blue Meanie last year. Which was pretty fucked up at the time to be fair.

He points out that RVD, Big Show and Kurt Angle are stars because of Vince McMahon. He’s mostly correct on that.

JBL makes fun of ScyFy. Thanks to Taz leaving Smackdown, JBL is now the voice of Smackdown!

He calls ECW the minor league. To be fair, he’s not wrong.

I like JBL…but that really wasn’t necessary.

World Heavyweight Championship
Rey Mysterio© vs. Sabu

Admittedly don’t understand why Sabu got a shot at the title here. RVD had to use Money in the Bank afterall.

Sabu has weird fuzzy pants.

No baggy pants for Rey this time. He should have swapped attires in regards to his ONS choices.

Dueling chairs to start!

There’s something wrong with Nick Patrick being the referee in an ECW show.

Oh, no dueling chairs afterall.

Dueling chairs!

Air Sabu early!

Air Mysterio! Pretty nice hurricanrana there.

Pretty sure Sabu gave Rey a concussion with that chair throw there.

Perfect top rope moonsault from Rey!

Rey drives Sabu through a table! Sabu looked like he hurt his throat there.

Great sequence of missed flips and stuff. Hard to explain but it works.

Triple Jump Moonsault…I think Sabu legit hurts Rey there though.

My god that had to be a concussion. Holy shit. What a chair to the head.

Sabu and Rey Mysterio wrestle to a no contest in 9:10. Springboard into a DDT through the table! Oddly some guy in a tux who’s a doctor is out and says it’s over, neither can fight anymore. It’s a very weak finish that at the time maybe was creating a no violence NY State Wrestling Commission character, but it didn’t work. But the match up until the actual finish is great.

Mick Foley, Edge and Lita vs. Beulah, Tommy Dreamer and Terry Funk

Reading Mick Foley’s Hardcore Diaries really gave a lot of insight into this match and how frustrating it was for Foley specifically. Vince had no hope of this match being any good. It almost became an eight man tag.

Foley turned heel here and went with the “I once was a part of ECW, but I became a bigger star in WWE” route. Mick does the classic “You’re right, I sold out…..I sold out Madison Square Garden etc.” Just classic.

He brings up that he once loved ECW….when it was owned by Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley! Long live the Alliance! What an awesome line that is.

Edge is great here too. “This is their Christmas, only their Santa Claus is Jewish, fat, bald and gives out an endless supply of bullshit”

Lita’s mic skills were never good.

This match is originally just a tag without the women, but Beulah knows about Lita’s fondess for threesomes…so six person tag it is.

Man Terry Funk makes slaps even look good.

It doesn’t take long for the weapons to come out.

Edge gets hip tossed on a ladder!

Spinning ladder!

Edge sends Terry Funk crashing down as he climbed a ladder. Funk was 61 years old here.

Barbed Wire board!

They suplex the board on Dreamer! Dreamer went through so much in these ECW PPVs. Makes you feel worse when you remember he jobbed to Daivari 6 months later.

Fans want fire. Sick bastards.

Foley in the wire! Jeez.

Funk takes the board to the face! They’re all sick.

Foley punches Funk in the face with barbed wire on his arm….then Foley tries to take out the eye!

Funk keeps yelling “My eye! My eye!” Most amazing seller in the business here.

Funk gets taken to the back.

Poor Dreamer. Poor poor Dreamer.

Socko!

Socko to Beulah!

Edge is about to have his way with Beulah….but here comes Funk with a 2×4 with barbed wire on it!

Funk owns them all.

The 2×4 is on fire! Fire to Foley! Foley’s on fire! Foley through the barbed wire board! Oh My God!

Edge sends Funk into Foley….their night is over.

Dreamer accidentally chokes Edge out for real here with the barbed wire, which I think Lita knew. Beulah takes her down…catfight!

Death Valley Driver to Lita!

Educator with the wire to Dreamer!

Edge, Mick Foley and Lita win when Edge pins Beulah in 18:45. Edge spears Beulah! Great facial expression from Beulah. Edge gets the win with the most provocative cover in wrestling history. Violent match. Great match. Watching Funk try to get out of the wire is something else.

There’s John Cena in the back, thinking about the match!
There’s Rob Van Dam in the back thinking about the match!

Masato Tanaka vs. Balls Mahoney

A lot of wrestling early on. Which isn’t the way to go with Mahoney ever.

This match is to put over Balls I guess.

Crowd is into it, which helps.

I did like how Balls would use people’s beers as a weapon.

Balls Mahoney pinned Masato Tanaka in 5:03. Dueling chairs! Tanaka gets the advantage but misses the chair shot. Mahoney nails his chair shot and dents the chair! 1…2…3! The first okay match of all the One Night Stands. It was to put Balls over, and it did.

We get the RVD vs. Cena video. I’ll get to this match in a sec….

Here comes Eugene!

As Eugene’s uncle Eric Bischoff once said, Eugene is as smart as a ECW fan!

Are you saying boo…or U for Eugene! BOOOO! Thanks everybody!

Eugene has a poem for us!

ECW’s the place to be.
I love Terry Funk and RVD.

Stevie Richards makes me cowl.
I take a bath and use Taz’s towel.

ECW is not phony.
I want to hug Balls Mahoney.

I want to hug all of you.
I want to picnic with Sabu!

I have to say….Sandman’s entrance isn’t the same without Enter Sandman.

Sandman is in amazing shape compared to last year.

Eugene goes for the hug…then gets the everliving shit caned out of him.

WWE Championship
John Cena© vs. Rob Van Dam

RVD won the 2nd ever Money in the Bank and decided to cash it in at One Night Stand. Makes perfect sense. For a while, RVD was the only one to cash in the briefcase in an actual match.

This match is actually the Dr. J to Cena vs. Punk at MITB 2011’s Michael Jordan.

I actually have a lot of respect for Cena here. If he had actually won he might have not left alive…and really dealt with the boos well.

Cena tries to throw his gear into the crowd and the crowd keeps throwing it back.

It’s pretty cool how RVD just absolutely owns the arena.

Here comes the toilet paper!

Early on they do a bunch of things to play to the crowd (the boo-yay-boo-yay sequence).

ECW fans are hypocrites. They chant “same old shit” to Cena…but RVD’s been doing the same old shit longer than Cena has.

RVD with a moonsault off the stairs!

RVD’s corkscrew legdrop with his opponent lying on the railing was always a great spot.

Rolling Thunder on a chair!

Split Legged Moonsault on a chair…but Cena gets the chair up!

Cena uses the ropes like a heel, nice!

Cena sends RVD head first into a chair in the corner!

Cena with the Five Knuckle Shuffle! He then plays to the crowd. Cena can be a great heel sometimes.

Pretty sure RVD botches putting Cena on the top rope…but the crowd chants “Cena fucked up”. Nice.

Table propped in the corner!

The STFU!

Love Cena not breaking the hold after RVD got to the ropes.

Cena takes out the ref!

Rob Van Dam wins the WWE…now ECW Title when he pins John Cena in 20:41. Cena sends RVD to the outside. A guy in riot gear comes in and spears Cena through the propped table! I assume that was done to make it seem like it’s Rhyno…but it turns out to be Edge. RVD hits a Five Star and Heyman runs in to make a three count which did feel kinda odd. Taz makes a horrible call on commentary (Ok, I guess!). Match is good. It is clear that RVD isn’t the RVD of old though. RVD celebrates with the new WWECW!

This show was classic ECW’s last great moment. It’s hard to pinpoint the blame of WWECW’s demise. Was it when ScyFy demanded things like The Zombie? Was it the first ECW show that was just in a normal arena? Was it because Kurt Angle was gone a few weeks later? Was it when RVD and Sabu got caught smoking pot and Big Show became champion? Was it when Batista and Big Show headlined an ECW show? What about when Undertaker did one?

Rob Van Dam winning the classic ECW Title is a moment I’ll never forget. It’s too bad that everything went downhill from that point forward. I believe at this point the next year Vince was ECW World Champion. Just wow.

But this show, while not the first One Night Stand, was still a good and fun show. Almost everything hit, and even the things that didn’t weren’t horrible or even bad.

Final Grade: A-