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Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews Summerslam ’99

WWF Summerslam ‘99
August 22, 1999
Minneapolis, MN

There’s an argument to be made that right here, at this point, we were at the highest level the WWF would ever be. RAW Ratings were out of orbit. PPV buys were huge. The WWF was beating down WCW Nitro so badly Eric Bischoff was weeks away from losing his job. Vince McMahon was only a couple of months away from the WWF going public. Some argued that Stone Cold Steve Austin was a level above what Hulk Hogan was in the 80s. Other WWF stars began to transcend wrestling. The Rock was climbing fast toward megastar status. Mick Foley wrote a New York Times Best Seller. To say the WWF was riding high here was an understatement.

But there were some cracks in the armor as well. Stone Cold’s body had slowly begun to betray him. The Undertaker’s knees were going out on him. Foley’s body was pretty much at the point of done.

Would Summerslam ’99 be a continuation of the dominance the WWF had shown over the last year and a half…or would the wheels begin to fall off here?

The Card

We go over a year and a half of The McMahons screwing Stone Cold to explain why Jesse Ventura is our referee tonight.

Ventura and Triple H go face to face right away in the back. Ventura lays down the law, and HHH says he’ll break every rule.

We get some Y2J after that with ”Harold” Finkel. Jericho was hilarious in his early WWF days.

Intercontinental Championship and European Championship
D’Lo Brown (Both Champs) vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett comes out with Debra and wow at Debra. Jarrett gets awesome heat when he sends Debra to the back…and then D’Lo brings her back out!

I don’t want to spoil it here, but there’s some really smart booking going on. JR on commentary brings up that Jarrett doesn’t want to win by countout when D’Lo was on the outside…just as Debra was looking to help D’Lo up.

The crowd is super hot for D’Lo. Huge reaction on the running powerbomb.

Jeff Jarrett pins D’Lo Brown to win both titles in 7:28. Debra and Jarrett distract the ref…allowing Mark Henry to run in and betray D’Lo with a guitar shot. Jarrett gets the win…and it turns out Debra, Jarrett and Henry were all on the same page! Jarrett would hand the European title to Henry. Fun opener with a good story and a great crowd! Strange how both men wouldn’t have much of a WWF career left. Jarrett would bolt for WCW in two months…D’Lo sadly accidentally paralyzed Droz, and was never the same.

Michael Cole interviews a wooden Edge and Christian. Of course, both would end up being great on the mic.

Tag Team Turmoil

The winner of this would become the #1 Contender to the Tag Team Title.

Edge and Christian begin against The New Brood…Matt and Jeff Hardy.

Something the Attitude Era did was create stars. Matt and Jeff were outright jobbers until 1999.

Fun start, although the match so far is a bit slow considering the four men in the ring.

Screw the start. Edge spears Jeff Hardy by jumping off the barricade just as Jeff was jumping off the other side. What? Matt comes off the top to the outside with a moonsault for good measure.

Christian pins Matt to eliminate the Hardys…and Mideon and Viscera are next. Can’t we just have the Hardys again?

We last saw Viscera at Summerslam when he was Mabel and in the WWF Title match. Crazy how much changed in four years.

I always thought Vis’s spin kick was awesome.

Viscera accidentally avalanches Mideon, then Edge and Christian double dropkick Vis out. Spear to Mideon, and Edge gets the pin. Prince Albert and Droz are next.

Not much here…Edge gets the Downward Spiral for the win. Acolytes, the favorites, are next.

The Hollys come out early, and Bradshaw takes out Christian with the Clothesline From Hell and we get a heel vs. heel finale. What a disappointing finish. I like both teams, but running it with one face team (E and C) means they needed to get to the end.

The Acolytes win when Faarooq pinned Hardcore Holly in 17:27. The Hollys argue and that leads to the spinebuster. This was fun with Edge and Christian…but after that who really cared?

I’m pretty sure the whole Al Snow think jumped the shark when he started talking to other things other than Head.

Road Dogg here…but it’s Y2J time!

Jericho was crazy over. The crowd goes nuts for the countdown.

Jericho wrote in Undisputed that this was his first great segment…and he’s 100% right. Jericho’s absolutely awesome here.

This would lead to Jericho’s WWF debut match at Smackdown…which was a bit of a let down (as was Jericho up to Survivor Series).

Hardcore Championship
Big Bossman© vs. Al Snow

One of the most creative starts to a match…Al Snow jumps up on the set and dives onto Bossman as soon as he goes through the curtain. Nice!

Road Dogg does an on the scene commentary that’s more annoying than not to be honest.

Bossman just grabs a random guy’s crutch to hit Al Snow. That’s a great heel move.

Match goes all the way across the street into a bar. Have to say, this is pretty fun. Maybe I just haven’t seen one of these in a while.

Al Snow pins Bossman to win the title in 7:25. Bossman takes a shot a Road Dogg and Road Dogg responds with a nightstick shot to Bossman to let Snow win the title. For some reason The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards attack Snow. Hell if I remember why.

Women’s Championship
Ivory© vs. Tori

I think Tori’s pretty bad as a wrestler, so I don’t have high hopes here.

Eat your heart out Cesaro…Ivory with a big swing!

Ivory retains by pin in 4:11. Some weird finish with a flying sitting drop. Ivory tries to disrobe Tori, but Luna makes the save.

Lion’s Den Match
Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman

While I didn’t realize it then, Shamrock being this far down the card should have been a sign that he wasn’t long for the WWF (this was actually his last PPV match).

The Lion’s Den is a UFC style octagon.

I don’t really like the idea of this match. A No DQ match would have been fine.

Ken Shamrock wins by KO in 9:05. A few Kendo Stick shots take Blackman out and the ref counts him out. I didn’t really like this at all. I don’t even remember what else Blackman did until “Head Cheese” in early 2000. If Shamrock was leaving, he should have put Blackman over.

”Love Her or Leave Her”
Shane McMahon vs. Test

Is Test wins, Shane stays out of Test and Stephanie McMahon’s relationship. If Shane wins, Test and Steph break up. No option for “Steph marries HHH instead though”.

Test opens by taking Shane down with tons of aggression. Where was that during the rest of Test’s career?

The Mean Street Posse get their own couch in the crowd! This matters because Test tosses Shane into all three of them which was a pretty funny spot.

Did Shane just bust out a Sky Twist Press? Holy hell!

I believe this was the debut of the flying Shane elbow off the top through the Announcer’s Desk…and it’s pretty awesome. A perfect hit.

Patterson and Brisco come out and own the Posse. Brisco with an awesome street sign shot!

Test pins Shane McMahon in 12:14. I would have bet money after this one that Test was set for multiple World Titles in his future. Somehow…this was the peak of Test. He only went downhill from here. In retrospect, Shane’s “richest backyard wrestler” shtick probably carried this. Nonetheless, this match was really good. In a lame twist, Shane would ignore this stipulation on Smackdown.

World Tag Team Championship
Kane and X-Pac© vs. Big Show and Undertaker

I never really got into the whole Taker controlling Big Show deal when Show chokeslammed Taker through the ring once, but whatever.

I did enjoy the Kane-X-Pac tag team though, if just for Kane’s character development. It gave him something past being Undertaker’s brother…even though it didn’t completely work and ultimately weakened Kane’s character. At least they took a chance and tried.

Lawler with a great line: “I’ll never forgive that idiot X-Pac for taking this monster and making him a human being.” Not a bad point there.

Kane debuts the “road” jersey here, which is a look he should have went with for the rest of his career honestly.

I think it was obvious at the time that Taker and Show were winning…and I think having the Acolytes win earlier was supposed to give fans the idea Kane and Pac were winning.

One of the bigger surprises of the match is Kane playing face in peril. Match is surprisingly working since we have Big Show, Kane and 1999 Undertaker in here.

Undertaker just turned X-Pac into a wishbone. Ouch.

Undertaker and Big Show win the title in 12:00. Big Show actually gets the chokeslam, but Show does a one foot on the chest cover and Taker is livid when Pac kicks out. Taker shows him how it’s done with a Tombstone. So much better than it had any right to be. Multiple stories worked out here concurrently. X-Pac forced a tag late to try to prove he could hang with the three monsters. Undertaker continues to “teach” the Big Show. Well done all around.

Kiss My Ass Match
The Rock vs. Billy Gunn

Billy Gunn brings a”full-sized” lady for the Rock to kiss on the ass when he loses.

Rock is megaover, of course.

The first half of this is pretty dull. Some fighting down the ramp but nothing really inspiring going on.

It does pick up back in the ring, especially with a nice neckbreaker counter from Gunn.

Pretty good set-up for the Fameasser…but the match goes downhill after that.

Gunn brings in the woman, but Rock counters and Gunn’s face goes in her ass. Great.

The Rock pins Gunn in 10:11. Rock Bottom, People’s Elbow. That goodness that’s over. Match was getting kinda good too. Gunn would be back in the midcard with the Outlaws in a few weeks (and was a good guy for some reason again right after this).

WWF Championship – Jesse Ventura is the Special Referee
Stone Cold Steve Austin© vs. Triple H vs. Mankind

There was a pretty convoluted story to even get to this point that had Chyna as the #1 Contender. Less said the better. I don’t even know storyline wise why Mankind was added either, although backstage there were two possible reasons (I’ll get into that later). According to the video, Mankind won it from Chyna. Works I guess. HHH and Mankind then did the pinning one another at the same time deal (which a variation was used for Summerslam 2000 as well) to get our triple threat.

In case anyone was wondering, Stone Cold was still the most over man in wrestling by far. His pop is nuts.

THe early Austin-Mankind partnership is a nice flashback to their tag title run two years prior.

The story begins…HHH whacks Austin in the knee with a chair.

Mick Foley, nutcase that he is, decides to bust out his somersault crack smash off the apron…and he misses. Jeez Mick.

Ventura refuses to count for HHH after HHH uses a chair. Ventura’s a great ref here. As a bonus, Ventura tosses a middling Shane McMahon, and adds the quote “that was for your old man you bastard!”

Mankind wins the title when he pinned Austin in 16:24. HHH gets the Pedigree, but Mankind knocks him away and hits a Double Arm DDT on Austin for the shocking win! HHH proceeds to destroy Austin’s leg with a steel chair. For all intents and purposes, the HHH Era began right here…and the Stone Cold Era as we knew it was over.

Match was really fun all in all. Mankind’s title win is the result of either one or both of these scenarios: Austin didn’t want to job to HHH and/or Ventura wanted to raise the hand of a face at the end. I believe it’s the latter, especially since Austin goes down to HHH at No Mercy ’99 (and No Way Out 2001). HHH would beat Mankind for the title the very next night.

A really up and down PPV, but I definitely enjoyed the ups. I liked the opener. I liked most of the tag turmoil. Jericho was fun. The Hardcore Title match was fun. Test vs. Shane was very good as was the main event. I didn’t care for Shamrock-Blackman or Rock-Gunn though.

Historically, somehow this PPV is forgotten. It’s crazy because again, this is basically where the HHH Era begins and the Austin Era ends. Sure, Austin would still be in the main event until Survivor Series, and his 2000 comeback was entertaining, but Summerslam 1999 was the end of Stone Cold as THE MAN. From each point forward you could either argue The Rock (who’s late surge stole him many Most Popular Wrestler of the Year Awards) or HHH as the man.

Overall, this was still enjoyable.

Final Grade: B

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Big spoilers here…are you even reading this if you haven’t seen the film. Also, all Star Wars films have to invite comparison to the prequels…because inevitably any discussion of the Star Wars films invites such comparisons.

Considering the fact that the original Star Wars was just about the most successful film ever, there was never any doubt that we would get a sequel. Three years after the original, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back came to the big screen…to surprisingly mixed reviews.

I’m going to get the negative out of the way first. Episode V doesn’t resolve anything. It’s a middle of the plot film and you could basically call Episode V and Episode VI a Part 1 and Part 2 film series. There’s no real beginning and there’s no conclusion at all. You KNOW there’s going to be a sequel just how it plays out. Otherwise you’d have an incomplete story.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, Empire Strikes Back is awesome. Let’s revisit some of our characters from A New Hope. Luke Skywalker is better this time around. While I still have issues with his character in regards to maturity, he finally shows that emotion that I felt was missing in A New Hope, especially in the latter half of the film. Yes, our hero has to be saved not once but twice this time around, but he does enough to make me think that he at least has the potential to be the one to take down the Empire.

Han Solo and Princess Leia’s romance really comes together here, and Solo and Leia’s journey throughout the film may be some of the best sequences in the series. Han Solo’s “I know” to Leia when she declares her love for him is iconic (and improvised by Harrison Ford!). I might have thought their dialog missed in a New Hope, but it’s on the mark here.

And oh man, while I don’t quite see it for Episode IV (and Episode VI) I understand why Darth Vader is an iconic villain here. With Tarkin gone, Vader is in command and it’s absolutely awesome. Vader shows no mercy (with one exception that’s totally fine) for anyone that fails him. He kill his admirals who make mistakes, leading to a great moment when a newly appointed Admiral gulps in fear when called upon. Just incredible all around. When Vader is the top bad guy to deal with, you feel scared for the Rebels.

The supporting characters are all great this time around. You really believe in the loyalty Chewie has toward Solo. This time around I actually find C-3PO funny (the ridiculous odds he gives out in life or death situations is pretty great, it’s a lot better than saying “we’re doomed” all movie) and R2D2 still has incredible charisma for a robot on wheels that doesn’t even say words. One of the best scenes in the film (and the series) is when R2 opens the blast door for everyone to escape Cloud City. Lando is a new character. He’s the head of Cloud City and like Solo, he’s someone who does what’s best for his interests until eventually realizing he needs to help.

I think what helps Empire is the splitting of Solo, Luke and Leia. In a New Hope Solo at times overshadows Luke. Here, we see Luke’s story and we see Han and Leia’s, and this allows us to really get invested in both sides of the Rebellion (the Rebels themselves, and then the Jedi who need to provide the finishing blow). When both sides come together in the finale, we feel like we have a totally different Luke Skywalker and a totally different Han and Leia. It’s great character development all around. As a bonus, Yoda is pretty awesome as the old Jedi Master who teaches Luke, also giving us another iconic quote (“Do or do not, there is no try”).

There are two big moments at the end of the film, one that I’m all for and one that I don’t like. Obviously Vader being Luke’s father is incredible and a great moment in film overall. No issues there. Leia having a telepathic moment with Luke, foreshadowing their revealed brother-sister relationship I think is one of the weaker parts of the original trilogy. I don’t think it adds anything to the series. Before I believed in Luke and Leia due to their past. Adding a sibling relationship unnecessarily forces them to have a connection with one another despite that they had a strong one already. And it all starts with that telepathic link.

That’s Return of the Jedi’s problem though.

Pros:

+Once again, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2 and Darth Vader are all great characters. This time I also thought Leia and Luke were good to great as well. And let’s not forget Yoda!

+Strongest part of the story for sure. You really understand everyone’s motivations and feelings this time around.

+Can’t stress enough how awesome Darth Vader is here. Just considering Empire Vader you’re looking at one of the greatest film villains of all time.

+The huge reveal regarding Vader and Luke at the end is nothing short of iconic.

Cons:

-Clearly a story with no ending. Basically forced you to see the sequel in three years.

-Just how many times does our hero need to get saved?

I might prefer the prequels, but I have full appreciation for Empire. It’s great.

Grade: A

 

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWE Summerslam 2008

WWE Summerslam 2008
August 17, 2008
Indianapolis, IN

2008 was shaping up to be a very good year.

Everyone just seemed to be hitting their stride. Triple H had been a solid top face. Edge an amazing heel. Everything didn’t feel booked around John Cena for the first time in years…which also worked wonders for Cena. Chris Jericho and JBL, both coming off huge layoffs and rough comebacks, had gotten back into stride and were entertaining top guys again. Undertaker somehow became one of the best, if not the best worker in the whole promotion. Jeff Hardy was being groomed for the top, although he made some mistakes along the way. CM Punk surprisingly was at the top, at least kind of as he was the World Champion although in the middle of the pack still. Even someone like Mark Henry was suddenly realizing his potential with his strong run as ECW World Champ.

A lot of awesome stuff was happening…and it built up to a pretty good looking Summerslam.

Could WWE keep a good year going?

The Card

We get a promo of the big main event, which is the presumed blow off of the pretty awesome Edge vs. Undertaker feud.

Jeff Hardy vs. MVP

This was still part of Hardy’s “punishment” after getting a wellness strike before Wrestlemania 24 and losing out on his shot at winning MITB. He would get past this and be on top soon enough though.

It’s astonishing to me that MVP didn’t work out in WWE. He was one of the most entertaining heels in the whole promotion at this point.

There are huge “MVP” chants, which is surprising as Hardy was one of the most popular stars in WWE at the time.

MVP pins Jeff Hardy in 10:21. Shelton Benjamin appears at ringside and Hardy takes him out, but that distraction leads to Hardy missing a Swanton and MVP hitting the Drive-By for the win. I pretty surprising result, as Hardy would be on the fast track to the World Title shortly after this. Really good match.

Santino and Beth Phoenix interview by Maria. Santino just recently dumped Maria for Beth. Santino really found his way as a comedy heel here.

WWE Intercontinental and Women’s Championship Match
Kofi Kingston (IC Champ) and Mickie James (Women’s Champ) vs. Santino and Beth Phoenix

Until the New Day run, I swear Kofi was the same exact character for six years.

Michael Cole says that RAW GM Mike Adamle made this “Adamle Original” match. That was one awful part of 2008, GM Mike Adamle.

Santino takes a monkey flip from Mickie, and even that’s hilarious.

Santino jumps in Beth’s arms to avoid a Kofi dive. Just great stuff.

The Mickie vs. Beth stuff is awesome. Beautiful hurricanrana.

Tornado DDT from Mickie to Santino!

Beth Phoenix and Santino win the titles when Beth pinned Mickie in 5:45. Glam Slam wins it. Great for what it was. Depending on how you felt about the IC Title this was either a travesty or awesome. Since the US Title seemed to be the serious title (Benjamin was the Champ at this point I believe) this was more than fine.

Shawn Michaels makes his way out the ring to announce his retirement with his wife Rebecca. HBK was slammed into the Jeri-Tron 5000 by Chris Jericho, which is one of the best heel turns ever done in my opinion. This led to an eye injury that led to HBK’s retirement here.

At least until Chris Jericho shows up. Jericho, who had begun doing the whole suit and tie thing and, as amazing as Edge was at this point, was the best heel in the business. Jericho demands that HBK admit that Jericho is the reason he is retiring. HBK fires back that Jericho needs to live with the fact that he’s not Shawn Michaels.

Jericho goes for a punch…and decks Rebecca. Jericho is in shock, as is HBK. After reading Jericho’s 3rd book, it turns out Jericho accidentally decked her for real. While horrifying, it added so much to this segment and the entire segment is pretty incredible. While I don’t like how he won it, there is no surprise in the fact that Jericho was given the World Title shortly after this. This continued a pretty amazing feud (although I actually don’t like their Unforigiven match) which led to a fantastic ladder match at No Mercy ’08.

ECW World Championship
Mark Henry© vs. Matt Hardy

Mark Henry owned here at this was the peak of Matt Hardy’s popularity. Neither would actually maintain it, although Henry would return to form in 2011.

Matt Hardy wins by DQ in 0:31. Must have been short on time. Tony Atlas pulling out Matt to cause a DQ though just further shit on what the ECW Brand was though. Sadly, something similar would happen with the ECW World Title next year too.

World Heavyweight Championship
CM Punk© vs. JBL

Punk had won the title from Edge using MITB, and JBL felt he was an undeserving champ. Punk probably wasn’t ready for the World Title yet, and as described on his documentary, this was a really a midcard feud with the World Title involved, although JBL and Punk were both pretty good at this point.

Just a fun big man vs. little man match here. Feels like an IC Title Match though.

CM Punk retains by pin in 11:09. GTS gets the win. A little short, but very good. It was a solid, clean victory for Champ Punk and one of the better JBL matches. Just a shame it was stuck in the midcard.

WWE Championship
Triple H© vs. The Great Khali

I thought it was pretty weird for Khali to get one more shot at the top here. This would be the last time though, as Khali became the comedic “Punjanbi Playboy” in October and never gave up that role.

HHH does his best here. Khali dominates with nerve holds and his chops and such, and HHH makes the most out of it, selling for Khali, making him look like a million bucks.

HHH retains the title in 9:18 by pin. Probably Khali’s 2nd best match. Give HHH tons of credit, it’s good considering who his opponent is. This was the end of any main event run for Khali, who soon became a comical babyface.

John Cena vs. Batista

The story is that this came from a miscommunication from a Tag Match, but that was a set-up for the obvious “dream match” scenario.

The promo video really pushes the whole idea of Batista and Cena being the top guys in the company and finally colliding. Interestingly though, this isn’t the main event. I think this was because Batista wasn’t really at his peak here and had been cast aside on Smackdown. Peak Batista is from 2005 through mid 2007, then again in early 2010.

Batista using the Figure Four is a nice touch with Flair’s retirement back at Mania.

I like that Batista is busting out moves we don’t normally see from him. A Figure Four before, and now a variation of a rear naked choke.

Awesome counter: Cena goes for his top rope legdrop on a bent over opponent, only Batista turns it into a Batista Bomb. And it’s not even the finish!

Batista pinned John Cena in 13:44. The 2nd Batista Bomb wins it cleanly. Not a surprising finish as Batista was the one that needed a little re-establishing, and a clean win over Cena was the perfect solution. Both of these guys also showed great chemistry that would be seen again a couple years later. I don’t think anyone was expecting a great match here, but that’s what they got.

Hell in a Cell
The Undertaker vs. Edge

If Jericho vs. HBK wasn’t your 2008 Feud of the Year, then this was. Taker and Edge had brilliant matches at Wrestlemania, Backlash and a classic at One Night Stand. Edge won that last won for the title that “retired” the Undertaker…but a vengeful Vickie Guerrerobrought The Undertaker back.

I will say the Edge-Vickie marriage was just something that didn’t really work, but Edge was so good it pretty much didn’t matter. There was also a brilliant segment in the lead-up where Edge beat up Mick Foley in Foley’s last great WWE segment.

Some real creative stuff early on using the ring steps. Snake eyes from Taker, then an Edge dropkick and spear with Taker sitting next to the steps.

This is a flat out a great brawl. Bonus points for Edge invoking what he did to Mick Foley before dropping an elbow with a chair off a ladder onto Taker.

A big surprise…Edge spears Taker through the Cell! I believe this was the first time in six years that the Hell in a Cell participants went outside the Cell.

In a ridiculously dangerous spot, Edge jumps off one table and spears Taker through the other one. Just sick.

In a brilliant callback, Edge whacks Taker with a TV camera. He did the same at Survivor Series ’07.

The brawl keeps on and eventually Taker gets the upperhand and puts an epic beatdown on Edge. Poor Edge gets whacked with the camera, goes flying through the tables and Is the recipient of a vicious con-chair-to. Talk about a feud ender.

The Undertaker pinned Edge in 26:40. Tombstone finished it off. Really a TLC match in a Hell in a Cell match…but it was a great match nonetheless and the last great Cell match until Wrestlemania XXVIII. It was weird at the time that there was no blood or anything…but really it was just a sign of the times as blood would become a thing of the past. A great ending to a great feud. As long as we ignore the hokey post-match beat down where Taker chokeslams Edge through the ring and then lights the hole on fire. We can just ignore that if that’s okay (don’t worry, Edge would show up three months later at Survivor Series and win the World Title).

This is a pretty awesome show all around. Everything except the short ECW World Title match basically hit. CM Punk showed he can be a great World Champion (not that WWE let him run with it or anything…we’d have to wait a year for that), HHH showed he can actually get a good match out of the Great Khali, the two main events were great AND we got that whole HBK-Jericho segment. This is as close to an A+ as you can get without getting one…but it feels like it just comes short. This might have not been the best Taker-Edge match or even Cena-Batista match…and historically, Punk got nowhere.

Still a great show though.

Final Grade: A

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Big spoilers here…are you even reading this if you haven’t seen the film. Also, all Star Wars films have to invite comparison to the prequels…because inevitably any discussion of the Star Wars films invites such comparisons.

Without a doubt, Star Wars changed the way we look at big blockbuster films. It’s crazy looking back that George Lucas didn’t have a ton of confidence in his film and thought he was going to get killed by Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While perhaps it hasn’t aged beautifully, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was a special effects masterpiece that launched the careers of several stars (Harrison Ford, for example) and made more money than any other movie at that point.

But let’s be honest, that doesn’t mean it’s the greatest film of all time or anything. In fact, it may be the most overrated. Looking at the critical acclaim the film has received in every way, as well as it’s revered state among most Star Wars fans only shows just how overrated the film is.

I had some pre-conceived notions about A New Hope before watching it again for this review, since truthfully I didn’t entirely enjoy it when I was younger. I found it rather boring and I didn’t see much in Luke Skywalker, our main protagonist, to get invested in. I felt the same way on both accounts watching the film again.

The film begins with the evil Empire, led by Darth Vader, hunting down several members of the Rebellion who have stolen integral plans of the Empire’s moon-sized weapon, the Death Star. The best that Princess Leia can do is send the plans and a message with a droid named R2D2 to another planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi resides. After that we get an unnecessary argument between R2 and fellow droid C3PO, splitting the two. They end up captured and reunited, and it’s really one of the more pointless and slower starts to a film I’ve ever seen.

They eventually get bought by Luke Skywalker and his aunt and uncle. Luke stumbles upon the message for Kenobi, and knows a Ben Kenobi himself. We learn a little bit about Luke’s dream of one day being a Jedi like his father and Kenobi’s past as a Jedi Knight himself. Kenobi tries to convince Luke to come with him to follow him and follow his dream, although Luke declines as he feels tied at home. Luke’s aunt and uncle are killed though, and we come upon one of the first problems with Luke Skywalker. Other than a two second bowing of his head, he seems to not be all that concerned that his family as just brutally murdered and joins Kenobi on his quest.

On the Empire side of things, I think it’s well known that Darth Vader is one of the best film characters in cinema history. I don’t buy him as particularly a great villain though, and some of the interactions here with Grand Moff Tarkin, the commander of the Death Star show why.  While Vader definitely shows his dominance at times, there are other moments where it seems like Tarkin is running the show on the Death Star. Luckily, that’s rectified near the end.

The film picks up when we’re introduced to Han Solo, a smuggler/pilot looking to make money however he can in order to pay back from debts. Ford’s Solo outshines Mark Hamill’s Skywalker on pretty much every level. Eventually, they are picked up by Death Star and Solo and Skywalker look to rescue Princess Leia while Obi-Wan looks to help anyway he can…and confront Vader. Our heroes end up in a pretty ridiculous situation…without the droids our New Hope would have been crushed in a garbage disposal…while Kenobi faces off with Vader. Vader kills Kenobi in front of Luke’s eyes…and we finally get some emotion out of Luke that isn’t whining or complaining.

Getting to that point, Luke Skywalker complains about everything. Watching them film he actually reminded me of Robin in Batman and Robin. So I don’t continue to harp on the weakness of Skywalker, it’s also worth noting that his fascination with Leia is pretty creepy considering what would happen with the rest of the series.

Anyway, the film does end on a strong note, although the pacing is messy. The Empire tracks Skywalker, Solo and Leia to the Rebel base, and the race is on. The Rebels send attack fighters to exploit a weakness in the Death Star while the Empire look to destroy the planet the Rebels are on. With some “help” from Kenobi, Luke gets in the final blow at the last minute with a Han Solo assist…and the Rebels win for now. The Death Star blows up (Vader wasn’t inside) and the Luke and Han are given medals at the end. The entire ending sequence is the first time we can believe in Skywalker as a top hero…although I’m unsure how we got that to that point.

There’s a lot to analyze with Star Wars and there is more good than bad for sure. But the bad is often ignored for whatever reason. I often laugh at some of the comments about the prequels in regards to the terrible dialog in those three films (a fair criticism) while wondering where those comments are when it comes to a New Hope. There’s an especially cringe worthy statement from Leia to Tarkin that made me wonder if Lucas wanted to base Leia off of spoiled English royalty. C3PO is also quite annoying here, which surprised me because I remember at one time thinking C3PO was funny.

Pros:

+Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, R2D2 and Darth Vader are all great characters.

+For 1977, this was a technical masterpiece.

+Great third act.

Cons:

-There’s nothing inspiring about Luke Skywalker at all.

-Tarkin is a good character, but unfortunately his presence holds Vader back.

-Downright boring opening.

-Dialog misses at some parts

For its historical significance and the pros listed I can’t put the film too low, but’s worth repeating that this is one of the most overrated films in cinema history.

Grade: B-

 

Other (DC, Marvel, Disney etc.)

RDT Reviews Iron Man (2008)

Big spoilers here…I mean the film has been out for seven years now…

I’m sure Marvel looked at Batman Begins and wondered “how can we do that?” While Marvel has had a part in many of the films involving their characters (obviously), this was the first full production from Marvel Studios and only Marvel Studios. And they would one-up the DC Comics Dark Knight Trilogy with the idea to connect all of their main characters and weave them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

While Iron Man technically isn’t the Marvel Comics counterpart to DC’s Batman (you can argue that would be Steel), the message was there…that Marvel is on the big screen now in direct competition to DC and Batman (and Christopher Nolan’s trilogy). Iron Man has to be a hit for this to really work and Marvel delivered for sure.

The first twenty minutes of the film is fantastic. We quickly get an idea of who Tony Stark is and why he in fact becomes Iron Man. It’s done so well that we don’t really need a long backstory. The message is clear: Tony Stark realizes the weapons he’s created are doing more harm than good, and after a traumatic experience of being captured and made to create more of these weapons, he realizes he should use his resources to defend the world. Considering the direction the Marvel Cinematic Universe has went, this is an impressive start considering Tony’s still trying to do everything he can to defend the world. Stark’s partner, Obadiah Stane, of course isn’t exactly about to just let Tony Stark change the entire direction of the company at a moment’s notice. Also brilliantly done in the film is show Stane’s power. When it’s revealed he tried to overtake Stark Industries by having Stark captured and killed, Stane kills many of the Ten Rings (the group that captured Tony) members when they make demands. For most of the film Stane is a great villain.

Even the smaller storylines are done well. We get a lot of plot development from Pepper Potts and her relationship with Tony without taking up tons of screen time and narration to explain it. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson even makes an appearance, looking to gain info about Stark and Iron Man for the Avengers Initiative. Stark’s best friend Colonel James Rhodes is also established as someone who looks to keep Stark in check when he can.

If there’s one part of the film I don’t like, it’s what Stane does toward the end. He quickly goes from someone just looking to overtake the company to someone who becomes mad with power. Once he gets control of his own suit, the Iron Monger, it makes you wonder just what Stane’s motivation suddenly is. It’s disappointing to see a cunning business man go crazy just like that.

It’s worth noting that Iron Man feels a lot darker than later MCU films would be. There’s not a whole lot of comedy, although the bits that are intended for that work too (although, I’m pretty sure Stark would have died when one of his tests go wrong and he crashes into a wall). I find this to be quite refreshing as it helps us feel the dilemma and pain Tony Stark goes through as he realizes what his weapons have done to people all over the world.

The cast hits everywhere. Robert Downey Jr. is so good that it can be debated he’s as much Tony Stark as Hugh Jackman is Wolverine. Gwyneth Paltrow works as Pepper. Terrence Howard, although not long for the role, is good as Rhodey. I also bought into Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane.

It should also be pointed out that the end credits sequence was a huge deal at the time and left no questions about where Marvel was headed.

Pros:

+Cast hits their marks, especially Downey as Iron Man.

+Efficient and great character development.

+Great story…you really believe in Tony Stark.

+Obadiah Stane is a good villain…for most of the film.

+Subtle moments that looking back made you realize the MCU was going to be a huge deal.

Cons:

-Stane’s motivations don’t really jive with the rest of the film.

A pretty great start to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for sure.

Grade: A

 

Basketball

Top 100 Basketball Players Ever: #80-#71

#80: Lenny Wilkens

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NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’71)

MVP Runner-Up: 1x (’68)

NBA All-Star: 9x (’63, ’64, ’65, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ‘73)

NBA Top 10 Points: 1x (’69)

NBA Assists Leader: 2x (’70, ’72)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 12x (’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71, ’72, ’73, ’74)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (’68)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 2x (’67, ’68)

NBA All-Time Assists: 12th

2nd Best Player on two Runner-Ups: (’61 Hawks, ’64 Hawks)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 71st

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 72nd

A strange resume for sure. Wilkens was once runner-up for MVP…but also never made an All-NBA Team. His advanced stats (dubious for the 60s admittedly) don’t blow anyone away. What stands out is that random runner-up for MVP and his assists totals.

You know who he reminds me of? Jason Kidd. Now Kidd is obviously a lot more revered than Wilkens considering Kidd’s been All-NBA Team many times. But that’s the reason Kidd is about 40 spots higher. Lenny Wilkens seemed like another very good player stuck in the Russell Celtics era. He had two early cracks at the title but the Hawks couldn’t get it done. Nothing wrong with that. Lenny would eventually win a title with the ’79 Sonics as a coach and has won like a billion games. Not bad.

#79: Earl Monroe

New York Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks

NBA Rookie of the Year: (‘68)

All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (‘69)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’68)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’69, ’71, ’75, ‘77)

NBA Points Runner-Up: 1x (‘69)

NBA Top 10 Points: 3x (’68, ’69, ‘70)

Starter on one NBA Championship Team: ’73 Knicks

2nd Best Player on one Runner-Up: ’71 Bullets

Role Player on one Runner-Up: ’72 Knicks

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 67th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 47th

My first instinct is to go with Earl “The Pearl” being overrated because he had a cool nickname and he played on the famous Knick teams of the early 70s. His resume doesn’t quite stack up with the guys around him on this list at all.

Here’s the thing. When Monroe was great…he was elite. He outright invented a move (spin move) and was unstoppable until knee injuries. He still played a part in three straight NBA Finals…although he didn’t win in ’71 and got outplayed by Gail Goodrich in ’72. He played a role in the ’73 Knicks title, which helps. His career as a productive player wasn’t over yet either, as he made All Star teams in 1975 and 1977, as the league was adding talent post ABA merger.

Maybe he should be lower, but this is one of those where reputation is going to outweight the resume. And no one really has anything bad to say about Earl “The Pearl”.

#78: Tony Parker

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NBA Finals MVP: 1x (’07)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’12, ’13, ‘14)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’09)

All-NBA Rookie 2nd Team: 1x (’02)

NBA All-Star: 6x (’06, ’07, ’09, ’12, ’13, ‘14)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 1x (’12)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’09, ’13)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Win Shares: 1x (‘13)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’13)

2nd or 3rd Best Player on three Championships Teams: (’05 Spurs, ’07 Spurs, ’14 Spurs)

Starter on one Championship Team: (’03 Spurs)

2nd Best Player on one Runner-Up: (’13 Spurs)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 139th

Tony Parker made a great case for himself after 2011, where he suddenly looked like the real best player on the Spurs. This shouldn’t have been such a shock as while the Spurs were starting to look and feel old, Parker had hit his prime. Unfortunately a disappointing 2015 just as suddenly makes Parker look washed up and probably prevents him from moving up to this list.

Truth is, Parker has been a very good player for almost all his career. He definitely lucked out on landing with the Spurs…I don’t think he even has half the career he ended up having without that stroke of luck…but he definitely had talent. As early as 2003 Phil Jackson wrote in his book how Parker would give the Lakers fits on screen rolls. Even early on in his career, Parker was playing at a high level in the playoffs.

The 2003 Finals was a different story, although I believe it’s a story that showed that Tony Parker could be great. The main storyline leading up to the 2003 Finals between the Spurs and the Nets was that Jason Kidd’s contract was expiring…and the Spurs were one of the top teams to land him. There were interviews with Parker asking if he would take a back-up role to Kidd during the finals no less (I remember Parker saying he’d beat him out for the starting job). Anyway, as Parker struggled towards the end of the finals, that controversy only grew stronger and only went away when Kidd re-signed with the Nets. Parker took that slight and turned it into a very good career, and from 2004 on, I’d even argue you might want to have Parker than Kidd.

#77: Chris Webber

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NBA Rookie of the Year: (’94)

All-NBA 1st Team: 1x (’01)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 3x (’99, ’02, ’03)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 1x (’00)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’94)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’97, ’00, ’01, ’02, ‘03)

NBA Top 10 Points 2x (’00, ‘01)

NBA Rebounds Per Game Leader: 1x (’99)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 2x (’99, ’00)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 1x (’94)

NBA Top 10 PER: 3x (’00, ’01, ‘02)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (‘00)

NBA Top 10 WS/48: 1x (’02)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 3x (’01, ’02, ’03)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 3x (’00, ’01, ’03)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 72nd

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 80th

There are similarities to Tracy McGrady in terms of being a once-in-a-lifetime talent who didn’t pan out by not working on his game. Chris Webber was given every single thing a big man could ever want. Explosive power. Great passing. Good size. Good leaping ability. Webber had everything. Yet Webber’s college career might have messed him up mentally to the point where this once-in-a-lifetime talent never reached his sky high potential.

First, let’s look at Webber’s college career. As the centerpiece of the Fab Five, Webber was dominant. While Michigan’s loss to Duke in the 1992 Championship game hurt, it will never be forgotten how Michigan lost the 1993 Championship game on Webber’s infamous timeout. With 19 seconds left and Michigan down by two, Webber grabs a missed free throw. He first gets away with a travel before dribbling straight into a trap. Webber then calls timeout when Michigan has none, leading to a technical and costing Michigan a last chance at the National Championship. One must wonder how much this affected Webber in the NBA, especially in his playoff battles with the Lakers. When it came to the clutch, Webber never wanted to be the man and came up short each time. I think some of that can be traced back to this 1993 NCAA Championship.

The 2nd piece of Webber’s college career is the behind the scenes piece. As ESPN’s 30 for 30 on the Fab Five documented, the Fab Five were not happy about how Michigan made tons of money promoting them, yet as NCAA amateurs they couldn’t receive a penny of it. Thanks in big part to Michael Jordan, future NBA players were now about their brand and getting theirs. As Jack McCallum put it in his Dream Team book, it was the era of “the fully hatched superstar”. After being used by Michigan (a story that gets a lot worse with the Ed Martin scandal) in his mind, Webber went out to the NBA and did what was best for him as a brand.

This meant bad things for Webber early on. While unlucky to be traded from Orlando to Golden State (since he could have played with Shaq), he was still quite lucky to play for coach Don Nelson. Nelson and Webber clashed though, and Webber got out after one year, a shame since Webber was the perfect fit for Nellie-ball.

After toiling away on the Wizards for a few seasons (and getting seriously injured for the first time) Webber was dealt to the Kings and immediately put them on the map. One of Webber’s best accomplishments is being able to be a competitive top power forward in a league with Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett (and later even Dirk Nowitzki). Webber would never reinvent his game though, and when Garnett surpassed him, it was easy to think that Garnett had become what Webber was supposed to be.

The Kings with Webber also have a legitimate gripe as arguably they should have been the 2002 NBA Champions…something that would have altered Webber’s legacy greatly. The Lakers were heavily favored by the referees in both Games 3 and 6 for sure of the NBA Finals and there’s video evidence of it and everything. With that being said the Kings still had home court in Game 7. And they came just short. Officiating and all, one big Webber 40 point explosion and the Kings still pull off the title (yes, they were beating the 2002 Nets).

Injuries continued to sap Webber’s effectiveness to the point where the Kings were arguably better without him (something that proved to ultimately be false in the long run, but in 2004 seemed true as they went 55-27 and Webber only played 23 games). The Kings looked to move to Peja Stojakovic as their top guy. The Kings dealt Webber to the Sixers in the middle of the 2005 season and haven’t won a playoff series since. Webber finally changed his game enough to at least have one 20 PPG season with the Sixers, although his efficiency had gone. He never developed a reliable three point shot or even outside shot. Some forgettable stints followed and that was that.

Sure he was unlucky in some spots. Sure he got screwed in 2002. But he still had the talent to be a top 30 guy and that’s on him.

#76: David Thompson

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ABA Rookie of the Year: (’76)

All-NBA 1st Team: 2x (’77, ’78)

All-ABA 2nd Team: 1x (‘76)

All-ABA Rookie 1st Team: (’76)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’79)

ABA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’76)

NBA All-Star: 4x (’77, ’78, ’79, ‘83)

ABA All-Star: 1x (’76)

ABA Points Runner-Up: 1x (’76)

NBA Top 10 Points: 4x (’77, ’78, ’79, ’81)

ABA Top 10 Steals: 1x (’76)

ABA Top 10 Blocks: 1x (’76)

ABA Top 10 PER: 1x (’76)

NBA Top 10 PER: 1x (’78)

NBA Win Share Leader: 1x (’78)

ABA Top 5 Win Shares: 1x (’76)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 2x (’77, ’78)

NBA Top 5 WS/48: 1x (’78)

ABA Top 5 WS/48: 1x (’76)

ABA Top 5 Offensive Rating: 1x (’76)

NBA Offensive Rating Runner-Up: 1x (’78)

Best Player on one ABA Runner-Up: ’76 Nuggets

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 70th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 63rd

Sadly, David Thompson is one of the poster boys for the cocaine era of the NBA. In Thompson’s case it may be the biggest waste of a career in professional basketball history due to substance abuse. Thompson was arguably the NBA’s best player in the late 70s (depending how you feel about Bill Walton) and had surprisingly taken that title from Julius Erving. Thompson had a great 1978 season where his Nuggets just couldn’t get by the Sonics in the Western Conference Finals.

How great was Thompson in 1978? He scored 73 in the final game of the regular season to try to win the scoring title (similar to David Robinson’s 71 point game 16 years later), only he was so hot early fans thought he was going for 100. Thompson was merely 23 years old at the time. Everything fell apart in 1979 when he injured his knee in Studio 54 in New York City…and the aforementioned cocaine problems.

I might rethink this one in the future as he only played 509 career games and was only elite for four seasons. That’s the thing though, unlike someone like Webber, Thompson was elite at for a portion of his career. You know you’ve done something influential in your career when Michael Jordan selects you to induct him into the Hall of Fame. As Simmons put it, “Skywalker” was the Intellvision to Jordan’s Playstation 2. That’s pretty good for the late 70s.

#75: Jerry Lucas

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NBA Rookie of the Year: (’64)

All-NBA 1st Team: 3x (’65, ’66, ’68)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’64, ‘68)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’64)

NBA All-Star Game MVP: 1x (’65)

NBA All-Star: 7x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ‘71)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’66, ‘68)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 8x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69, ’70, ’71)

NBA Top 10 PER: 6x (’64, ’65, ’66, ’68, ’69, ‘71)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’64, ’65, ’68, ‘72)

NBA Top 5 WS/48: 3x (’64, ’72, ‘73)

Role Player for one Championship Team: ’73 Knicks

Starter on one Runner-Up: ’72 Knicks

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 64th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 38th

I have to admit I was quite skeptical of SLAM’s ranking. Here’s the deal with Jerry Lucas. He put up big stats in a league with a couple of elite centers and no real bigs other than that (a big reason why Oscar put up his insane stats). He was one of the best two power forwards in the league, but PF was a diluted position. He was Oscar’s 2nd option on a bunch of Royals teams that failed to win anything. He went to the Knicks and started for a Finals team…although he took on less of a role in 1973 and the Knicks promptly won the title. He also wasn’t regarded highly at all, as he was once traded for Jim King and Billy Turner (one all-star total there) and another time for Cazzie Russell (another one time all-star).

Still, it’s hard to look past that resume. For the first six seasons of his career he averaged a 19-19. And he was a part of two Finals teams. His rankings on both Simmons and SLAM’s lists make it hard to really drop him. But reading Simmons, even he seems skeptical. So I don’t know. This feels right.

#74: Pete Maravich

Pete Maravich shoots

All-NBA 1st Team: 2x (’76, ‘77)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 2x (’73, ‘78)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’71)

NBA All-Star: 5x (’73, ’74, ’77, ’78, ‘79)

NBA Points Leader: 1x (’77)

NBA Top 10 Points: 5x (’71, ’73, ’74, ’75, ‘77)

NBA Top 10 Assists: 2x (’73, ’75)

NBA Top 10 PER: 3x (’73, ’74, ‘76)

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 68th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 60th

One of the most famous basketball players of all time was someone clearly ahead of his time. Maravich was an offensive savant, making crazy passes that one would have never thought possibly and hitting jumpers from all over the floor. He scored 68 with this style of play in 1977 and managed three other 50 point games that season as well.

It should be mentioned that Maravich did all of that in addition to averaging 24 PPG for his career…without a three point line. Can you imagine a jump shooting guard scoring all those points without a three point line? The thing was practically made for him (in his last year when he was beyond washed up, he took 15 three pointers and made 10). He averaged 31.1 PPG in 1977. Compare that statistic with players and take away a point for each three pointer they made a game. I’d guess that Maravich would be someone who hit minimum 3 threes a game. That right there is 34 PPG.

Of course, whether or not a player can actually win as the best player on his team that way is debatable. The Pistol couldn’t win anything. He gets overrated historically for the highlight reel plays for sure but it hasn’t really been until 2015 that outside shooting teams can make all the difference. In the 1970s…with no three point line? No chance. Still, the Pistol was great at one point for sure.

#73: Chris Bosh

top100bosh

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (‘07)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’04)

NBA All-Star: 10x (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, ‘15)

NBA Top 10 Points: 2x (’09, ‘10)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 1x (‘09)

NBA Top 10 PER: 2x (’08, ‘10)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 1x (’06)

3rd Best Player on two Championship Teams: ’12 Heat, ’13 Heat

3rd Best Player on two Runner-Ups: ’11 Heat, ’14 Heat

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): Not Ranked

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 171st

Chris Bosh made a choice. Either be a 22-9 guy on .500 Raptors team or be a role player on a title contending team every year. He chose the latter. There was a lot of hate toward Bosh, but there’s no question that he was an integral part of the Heat four year run. Without Bosh the Heat fall to the Pacers in Round 2 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. Many fans who hate LeBron and the Heat would complain that Miami created a super team…but at the same time Chris Bosh sucked. Well which one is it? It can’t be both.

You should sacrifice individual statistics for team glory. That’s why Robert Horry is on this list. And that’s why Bosh is on this list. On any given night that D-Wade was hurt and LeBron needed a second weapon, Bosh was there. It remains to be seen what the post LeBron Heat look like with Bosh. Year one didn’t look that great and Bosh was hospitalized midway through…but 2015-2016 will tell us a lot. It’s a chance for Bosh to climb through this list, let’s see if he can do it.

#72: Dwight Howard

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NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 3x (’09, ’10, ’11)

All-NBA 1st Team: 5x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ‘12)

All-NBA 2nd Team: 1x (’14)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’07, ’13)

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 4x (’09, ’10, ’11, ’12)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: 1x (’08)

All-NBA Rookie 1st Team: (’05)

NBA All-Star: 8x (’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14)

NBA Top 5 MVP Voting: 4x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 6x (’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’12)

NBA Blocks Leader: 2x (’09, ’10)

NBA Top 5 Rebounds: 10x (’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11,’12, ’13, ‘14)

NBA Top 10 Blocks: 4x (’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14)

NBA Top 10 PER: 4x (’09, ’10, ’11, ‘12)

NBA Defensive Rating Leader: 3x (’09, ’10, ’11)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 6x (’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12)

NBA Defensive Win Shares Leader: 4x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 7x (’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12, ’13)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 4x (’08, ’09, ’10, ’11)

NBA Top 5 WS/48: (’09, ’10, ’11)

NBA Career Rebounds: 34th

NBA Career Blocks: 25th

NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 58 (28th)

Best Player on one Runner-Up: ’09 Magic

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 78th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 86th

This whole time we thought that Dwight had the potential to be the next Shaq…only in reality Dwight was the evolutionary Dikembe Mutombo. That’s not a bad thing. Dwight gets this high on the list due to his great defensive resume and the fact he took the 2009 Magic to the NBA Finals. Perhaps you’re thinking this isn’t high enough for Dwight then. Here’s the counterpoint to that.

Dwight Howard dominated the NBA at a time where there was a dearth of top centers. Shaq was just about done and Andrew Bynum couldn’t stay healthy. Interestingly Yao Ming had tons of success against Dwight (Yao averaged 24-10, 56% FG with a 7-2 record vs. Dwight’s 12-10, 46% FG in head to head matches), but he couldn’t stay healthy either. But then the Joakim Noahs and Marc Gasols showed up and Dwight starting having back problems. He hasn’t been the same since 2011 really, and now it suddenly looks like the league has passed him by. Remember, teams like the Thunder and Cavs would add players like Kendrick Perkins and washed-up Shaq just to be able to single Dwight.

It doesn’t change that he had a legit argument for the 2011 MVP, or that he led the Magic to the 2009 NBA Finals. It doesn’t change that Dwight Howard at one point was dominant. It just means he was great for a short period time, never got better offensively (which would help him tons now) and is probably at best a #2 or #3 guy on a title team. Which still isn’t that bad. Like many others though, he should be better.

#71: Dennis Rodman

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NBA Defensive Player of the Year: 2x (’90, ‘91)

All-NBA 3rd Team: 2x (’92, ‘95)

All-NBA Defensive 1st Team: 7x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’95, ‘96)

All-NBA Defensive 2nd Team: 1x (’94)

NBA All-Star: 2x (’90, ‘92)

NBA Rebounds Leader: 4x (’92, ’93, ’94, ‘98)

NBA Top 10 Rebounds: 10x (’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, ’97, ‘98)

NBA Top 10 Offensive Rating: 2x (’89, ’90)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Rating: 9x (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’95, ’96, ’97, ‘98)

NBA Defensive Win Shares Leader: 1x (‘92)

NBA Top 10 Defensive Win Shares: 5x (’90, ’91, ’92, ’94, ’98)

NBA Top 10 Win Shares: 1x (‘92)

NBA Career Rebounds: 22nd

NBA Career Defensive Win Shares: 54.5 (38th)

Role Player on two NBA Championship Teams: ’89 Pistons, ’90 Pistons

Starter on three NBA Championship Teams: ’96 Bulls, ’97 Bulls, ’98 Bulls

Role Player on one Runner-Up: ’88 Pistons

Simmons Pyramid Ranking (2010): 69th

Slam Magazine 500 Ranking (2011): 48th

One of the most destructive defensive players in NBA history. He was one of the first guys who could guard anyone from small point guards to centers. He gave Karl Malone fits in the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals and played great in the 1996 NBA Finals as well, including 19 boards in the clincher. Despite being pretty much crazy in all aspects of his life, he got along well with two NBA teams known for having competitive personalities (the Bad Boy Pistons and the Post-Baseball Jordan Bulls).He only submarined one potential Champ, which was the 1995 Spurs (not joining huddles, missing/showing up late to practices, even showing up late for games). The good far outweighs the bad here.

His rebounds prowess was also quite incredible. It seemed like Rodman could grab a rebound from absolutely anywhere. Unlike guys like McGrady and Webber, it looked like Rodman made the most of his physical talent and left it all out on the court (most of the time). Did it help being teammates with Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan? Of course. But you can’t argue with results.

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews The 1993 WWF King of the Ring

WWF King of the Ring ‘93
June 13, 1993
Dayton, OH

The New Generation was hit with Hulkamania brother!

Hulk Hogan had “retired” at the conclusion of Wrestlemania VIII. After a top feud of Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage, Vince McMahon had Flair drop the World Title to Bret Hart. While Bret was a new face on top of the card, he had been an excellent IC and Tag Champion over the years. There weren’t any heels built for Bret to face off with, but Bret still carried the top title with pride and his match quality night in and night out proved he was worthy of being the Champion.

Who knows why the decision at Wrestlemania IX was made to have Bret drop the title to Yokozuna who then immediately dropped it to a returning Hogan. The crowd was hot for the finish, sure, but long term that was one of the worst the WWF had ever made. Unless of course, we were getting Hogan vs. Bret at Summerslam ’93. But first we’re getting Hogan vs. Yoko II. Bret will have to carry the PPV match quality wise…while Hogan has to “draw the money”, brother.

The Card

This is being billed as the first King of the Ring, but there were previous non-televised KOTRs before.

King of the Ring Qualifier: Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon

This is a rematch from the ’93 Royal Rumble. Ramon had just began his program with The 1-2-3 Kid, which would lead to a face turn.

Razor was such a cool character. Really could have been a top guy in pretty much any era.

Razor definitely has heat…huge “1-2-3” chants.

Pretty awesome false finish where Bret tries for a backslide out of a Razor’s Edge, but then flips over Razor by using the turnbuckles and rolls Razor into a small package.

Bret Hart wins via pin in 10:25. Razor goes for a belly to back suplex off the top, but Bret turns in midair and lands on Razor for the 1-2-3. Good match that made Razor look really strong as he went toe to toe with Bret. Interesting to see a Bret match where he doesn’t go for the legs at all.

Man, I can’t believe they were building toward a Mr. Hughes vs. Undertaker program. I mean how dreadful does that sound?

King of the Ring Qualifier: Mr. Perfect vs. Mr. Hughes

This was Mr. Perfect’s short WWF comeback, but it wouldn’t last and he’d retire again shortly. He would be back in 1997 of course.

The role of selling for the monster is something Perfect was a master of…but this isn’t pretty to watch.

Ha. Bret gets asked who he would wrestle between these two. I mean, you think he laughed like hell before or after he answered Mr. Perfect?

Hughes crotches the 2nd rope and he sells it like he’s taking a shit. I think I’ve had enough.

Mr. Perfect wins in 6:02 by DQ. Hughes takes the urn and whacks Perfect for the DQ. I mean whatever really. This match can be best described as Mr. Perfect wrestling himself. But even then, it was better than it had any right to be. And we get Perfect vs. Bret II.

Mr. Fuji and Yokozuna interview. Trying to save face about Wrestlemania IX here. I don’t remember Yoko ever cutting English speaking promos though, so that was something.

King of the Ring Qualifier: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

One of the last WWF matches of Duggan’s early WWF run. He’d show up in WCW when Hogan did.

Match is built around whether or not Duggan can slam Bigelow or not. A small story is better than none I guess.

Duggan gets the slam…but the end would be near for him.

Bigelow wins via pin in 4:59. Duggan misses the 3 Point Stance clothesline, and Bigelow comes off the top with the headbutt to advance. Interestingly, if I were watching this without knowing the results I would have assumed Luger was coming from the other side of the bracket against Bret, but Luger vs Bigelow would be heel vs. heel, so either Tatanka was going over or something screwy was happening.

King of the Ring Qualifier: Tatanka vs. Lex Luger

Luger was still the Narcissist here (with awesome music). I assume if Bret were still champion and Hogan wasn’t around, Luger would be winning this tournament to face Bret at Summerslam.

Interestingly, both Luger and Tatanka were undefeated, so something had to give here.

Refs make Luger cover the metal plate in his arm with an elbow pad…which doesn’t make any sense, but it works.

This hasn’t been too bad. Luger still gave a shit at this point it seemed.

Only real complaint here: announcer’s pretty much give away the finish bringing up the time limit constantly.

Draw: Time Limit: Other complaint: Luger and Tatanka don’t really gain a sense of urgency as time ticks away. Luger gets big cheers asking for five more minutes. I wonder if Vince had the idea of turning him face at this point. Luger then whacks Tatanka without the elbowpad!

Match was a solid back and forth affair. They would have much worse matches later for sure. Anyway, this draw puts Bam Bam in the finals.

King of the Ring Semi-Finals: Bret Hart vs. Mr. Perfect

First, Bret and Perfect have a hilarious promo, which includes Bret saying Stu Hart beat Larry Hennig, and Perfect responding with “your dad never beat my dad”.

The commentators tell the story about Razor stomping on Bret’s hand in their earlier match. According to Bret’s book, this was to allow Bret to use three different finishes and give him an excuse not to use the Sharpshooter.

So far this match has been ahead of its time. Hard, crisp moves that remind me a bit of the Angle vs. Benoit series.

Ridiculously stiff European uppercut from Bret late in the match. What a match this has been.

Great psychology! Bret goes for the Sharpshooter and Perfect grabs Bret’s damaged hand!

Vertical suplex sends both men to the outside, which was a unique spot for sure.

Bret Hart wins via pin in 18:56. Perfect puts Bret in a Small Package…but Bret reverses into his own and wins! Amazing match, possibly the 1993 Match of the Year. Very similar to technical matches a decade later.

Hogan interview. The last in his WWF career for some nine years.

WWF Championship
Hulk Hogan© vs. Yokozuna

Whatever you think of Hogan’s drawing power at this point, the live crowd was still pretty hot for him.

This is the rematch from Wrestlemania IX.

Match starts off really slowly, with Yokozuna just beating on Hogan.

Hogan goes for the slam! But doesn’t get there.

Hogan no-selling a belly to belly isn’t exactly putting Yokozuna over here…

Yoko surviving the big legdrop though…that definitely is putting Yokozuna over.

Yokozuna wins the WWF Title by pin in 13:08. Hogan calls for a slam after Yoko kicks out of the legdrop…but is distracted by a camera man. The camera blows up in Hogan’s face, and Yoko hits a big legdrop of his own to finish off Hulkamania in the WWF until Hogan returned at No Way Out 2002.

Match is awful. Maybe it flew for 1986, but in 1993 Bret had shown the main event style was headed in another direction. He also didn’t put over Yokozuna clean either. I mean an exploding camera? Interestinly, Undertaker would do the whole surviving Yokozuna’s splashes and such better in 1994, although those matches had other problems. Crowd was very pro-Hogan for what it’s worth, which isn’t much at this point.

Yoko lands a Banzai Drop on Hogan to finish him for good.

We get an interview with the IC Champ Shawn Michaels. He names his new bodyguard Diesel here.

Money Inc. and The Headshrinkers vs. The Smokin’ Gunns and The Steiner Bros.

Seems like a thrown together match just to include the tag division.

The Gunns and Steiners win when Billy Gunn pinned Ted Dibiase in 6:49. Dibiase takes out Billy with the Million Dollar Dream, then cockily let’s go. Billy rolls him up for the win, which is a pretty lame finish. Probably done to get the Gunns over as Dibiase’s career was coming to a close anyway.

Yokozuna victory celebration!

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Shawn Michaels© vs. Crush

This was near the end of Crush’s good guy run. I never saw Crush as a money drawing top face, but some thought he should have gotten the run instead of Luger. I would disagree though.

Match started off okay with Crush hitting HBK with power moves and HBK selling them to death.

Match terrible slows down though when Diesel rams Crush into the post and HBK then locked in a headlock. Killed the match.

Shawn Michaels retains by pin in 11:14. Two Doinks show up and distract Crush, and HBK gets a superkick to the back of the head for the pin. A contender for HBK’s worst PPV match post-Rockers to be honest.

King of the Ring Finals: Bret Hart vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The beginning of the match can be described as Bam Bam viciously kicks Bret Hart’s ass.

The middle of this match can be described as Bam Bam viciously kicks Bret Hart’s ass.

Luna Vachon gets a chair shot in, and Bigelow finishes Bret with the flying headbutt! A second referee comes in to say the match continues because of Luna’s interference. Weird moment there, as I mean, should Hogan have gotten a 2nd chance earlier then?

Bigelow STILL kicks Bret’s ass, and to be honest it’s pretty awesome.

Bret makes his comeback and we get a great back and forth.

Bret Hart wins King of the Ring via pin in 18:11. Bret gets the victory roll for the win. A tremendous big man vs. little man match. Shockingly, there was no Bigelow vs. Hart program afterwards (makes sense with the screwjob finish in the middle), but Bigelow went nowhere after this. Don’t you think Taker vs. Bigelow makes more sense than Hughes vs. Taker? Come on now.

Jerry Lawler attacks Bret during Bret’s coronation, legit injuring Bret’s ribs. Lawler even throws the throne chair at him. Great heel stuff from Lawler as the PPV ends.

There’s a some great (Bret-Perfect) and a bunch of good (Bret everywhere else). There’s some historical significance here too with Hogan’s last WWF PPV for nine years and Diesel’s PPV debut. There’s a lot of bad too, showing that the WWF just didn’t have a deep talent roster at this point (Mr. Hughes?!) or didn’t know what to do with such talent (The Steiners or even Doink here). Luger vs. Tatanka was okay, but the rest of the non-Bret matches just weren’t good.

But Bret Hart showed that World title belt or not, he was the MVP of the WWF at this time. Soon Vince would have no choice than to put the strap on him.

Final Grade: B-

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews ECW Heatwave ’98

Heatwave ‘98
August 2, 1998
Dayton, OH

There’s nothing special about ECW anymore.

Okay, that’s not exactly true, but with WWF Attitude changing the landscape of wrestling suddenly ECW looks bush-league. If anyone randomly caught ECW at 2 AM or whenever they were on, they would probably think it was a WWF rip off show. While it wasn’t their worst year, or even a bad year, 1998 was the year ECW lost its unique place in wrestling and ultimately the year where ECW stopped changing the business and just purely survived.

It didn’t help that quality wise, ECW was lacking. While still having many great performers, a terrible PPV back in May was something ECW could ill-afford. I assume Paul Heyman knew it too, because new talent was brought in for Heatwave ’98. There’s no random Bam Bam Bigelow vs. New Jack match here (what was Paul E. thinking with that one?) ECW still could survive at this point, it just needed to show it could put on a show at the level of the big leagues.

The Card

The Hara Arena looks pretty big for an ECW arena, which is a pretty good look.

ECW World Champion Shane Douglas is hurt, so he’s doing color commentary with Joey. Douglas being hurt for most of 1998 was another strange dynamic. The 1998 Triple H look in yellow isn’t doing Douglas any favors.

We get an f-bomb from Douglas right away. He hypes up the Taz vs. Bigelow rematch. Taz of course was chasing Douglas at this point.

Joey gets his face rubbed on Francine’s chest. Sure why not.

Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn

Jerry Lynn had put over Justin Credible for the better part of 1997 and most of 1998. I always felt the Credible-Lynn series did a good job elevating both guys to bigger things: Credible to the ECW main event and Lynn to the RVD feud. Joey hypes this as the rubber match to this feud, which means while Credible won all the house shows, Lynn and Credible must have split the big show matches.

Credible has an interesting group with him: Chasity, Nicole Bass and Jason.

Slight timing error for Lynn, but Lynn makes up for it with a nice twisting crossbody.

It’s hard not to notice how many ripoff characters we have here. Credible is a poor man’s X-Pac, Bass is a poor man’s Chyna and Jason is a poor man’s Buff Bagwell…and maybe a stretch but Chasity is a poor man’s Luna Vachon.

This match is pretty good so far though. A very good back and forth.

Pretty nice Bossman Slam from Credible.

Hurricanrana from the top rope through a table on the floor by Jerry Lynn? Nice!

Credible’s band of freaks gets owned by Lynn when they saved Credible. Bass gets a low blow and a chair shot, and Chasity gets Tombstoned.

Justin Credible pins Jerry Lynn in 14:36. That’s Incredible Piledriver from the top rope ends Jerry Lynn for the pin. Great finish to a very good opener. Heatwave is off to a great start. I think Lynn carried things here…but Credible did hold up his end of the bargain, and that’s all you need.

They also sell the finish like death for Lynn too, as they should, it being a tombstone off the top and all.

We must have skipped something on the Network because we go straight to the next match.

Chris Candido vs. Lance Storm

A well booked feud here. Storm tried to join the Triple Threat, but was double crossed by Candido. The only thing that really kept Storm and Candido from destroying one another was the fact they were tag team champions. They lost those belts (well, Candido and replacement partner Douglas) to RVD and Sabu. So now all that’s left is for them to go one on one.

Tammy Lynn Sytch is here with Candido too. Remember, at Living Dangerously Storm thought it was a good idea for Sytch to be his mystery partner. So that plays into this too. I assume Sytch had been fired from the WWF at this point.

Storm’s non-extreme style was perfect for him as a heel later.

Chris Candido has to be up there with most underrated wrestlers ever.

Suplex on Candido to the floor from the apron just looks like it hurts bad with the concrete floor in play.

Chris Candido pinned Lance Storm in 11:00. Sytch provocatively shoves Storm on the top rope and crotches him. Ref gets involved and accidentally pulls Sytch’s top off, which gets a big reaction. Blonde Bombshell finishes Storm, which is an awesome finish. Another really good match here.

Apparently The Dudley Boys and Jack Victory beat the crap out of New Jack in the parking lot earlier. That should tell you how that match is ending later.

Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka

AKA: the match that proved Paul E. needed to go into a new direction and did so.

RVD sneezing ”Hakushi” for some reason was hilarious to me when referring to Jinsei Shinzaki for some reason.

If seeing these two stiff the hell out of one another is what you want, this match is for you.

Tanaka no sells a release German where he landed on his head. Tanaka always seemed to do stuff like that and truthfully I never got it.

When someone the size of Mike Awesome does a springboard axehandle smash into the crowd, it’s hard not to be impressed, even if the landing wasn’t the great.

Tanaka no sells some chair shots. Again, I never really got it. It’s also quite cringe worthy today.

Tanaka drops Awesome right on his head through a table on the concrete floor from the ring. Sometimes I’m amazed I loved this stuff once. To me now it’s just scary.

Masato Tanaka pins Mike Awesome in 11:49. Tornado DDT on two chairs wins it. Very good brawl and the match of the night so far. I can’t stand Tanaka’s no-selling (it’s part of his character, not something he does maliciously) and Awesome seems to half-ass any moves that doesn’t involve killing his opponent (like clotheslines, big boots), but everything else was stiff as hell and it made a very good match. 3/3 for Heatwave so far! This was the future of ECW, believe it or not.

Taz was money on the mic in ECW and I’m surprised that didn’t translate to the WWF.

ECW World Tag Team Championship
Rob Van Dam and Sabu© vs. Jinsei Shinzaki and Hayabusa

Heyman brought in Tanaka, Awesome, Shinzaki and Hayabusa to draw for Heatwave (Well Tanaka and Awesome were there earlier) after the disaster that was Wrestlepalooza. And it worked, this match has a huge match feel for it and I’m surprised it didn’t main event.

Real sloppy start from RVD and Hayabusa. Two early botches, one off a roll up and the other off a springboard clothesline by Hayabusa.

There are some really smart spots in this one too. RVD with a cocky backflip to dropkick when Hayabusa was trapped in the Camel Clutch…but when he played to the crowd Shinzaki took him out with a springboard dropkick of his own.

Beautiful Asai Moonsault from Hayabusa!

Bow and Arrow by RVD on Shinzaki…then Sabu comes off the top with a chair!

Awesome twisting splash from RVD! The camera angle made it seem like he flew out of nowhere!

Perfect 450 from Hayabusa!

Van Daminator when Hayabusa was straddled on the top rope. Funny enough, Hayabusa no sells it.

RVD and Sabu when Sabu pinned Shinzaki pin at 20:51. It gets messy at the end, but Sabu and RVD drive Shinzaki and Hayabusa through a table and get the win. Sabu shoves RVD away for the pin, which a great little nod to their story. I know a lot don’t like this match because it boils down to such a spotfest…but it’s a damn fun spotfest and I loved most of it. I’d say it’s a great match, but it was quite sloppy at many points and some of the spots don’t quite hit the mark. But fun is fun.

FTW World Championship
Taz© vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The FTW World Title is the title Taz said meant he was the real World Champ because he couldn’t get to Douglas.

In Taz’s big monster push, Bigelow was the only man to beat him…at Living Dangerously when he put Taz through the ring. Bigelow is Douglas’ right hand.

I’m surprised this isn’t main eventing either.

We’re told that this is Falls Count Anywhere, which kinda gives away the finish.

Taz just no sells an immediately hard powerbomb from Bigelow which is whatever to me. That’s not a move that should be no sold.

We’re already brawling on the outside and Taz gets a kick that knocks Bigelow off the ramp into the crowd, which seems pretty dangerous for the fans.

This has been 70% in the crowd. This was the wrong way to go about this match.

Taz with a tornado DDT through the rampway, and this time I think it’s overdone. It was just done to go one step further from the finish at Living Dangerously.

Taz wins by submission in 13:21. Bigelow emerges from the hole…but so does Taz! Taz locks in the Tazmission and Bigelow seemingly reaches for the ropes, which is considered a tap out. Uh…even that was pretty terrible, since it seemed clear he was reaching for the ropes. I thought this match absolutely sucked. This should have been Taz suplexing Bigelow around the ring for 10 minutes and choking him out clean. And what’s the deal with two straight Bigelow matches on PPV that did a tour of the arena? Why are we wasting Bam Bam Bigelow here?

Dudleyville Streetfight
Bubba Ray, D-Von and Big Dick Dudley vs. Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman and Spike Dudley

I loved the feud. The Dudleyz hit Beulah McGillicutty with 3D when Tommy Dreamer was handcuffed to the ropes. Beulah never came back. To say I bought the hatred Dreamer had for the Dudleys would be an understatement.

We get about 20 minutes of Bubba Ray and Joel Gertner promos/intros, followed by the Sandman, Spike and Dreamer’s entrance. I’m sorry, but that was a huge waste of time there.

Surprisingly good wrestling sequence with D-Von and Dreamer that doesn’t make any sense within the context of the story, but I’ll take it.

We actually get a bit of a wrestling match for the first half of this. Bubba throwing around Spike is always fun.

Once the Sandman got in there, all wrestling ended. It’s now a pier six.

Spike Dudley comes off a huge ladder in the ring and flies into many on the floor! Cool moment for Spike!

Somersault senton by the Sandman on the ladder. Some interesting ladder spots for 1998, messy as they are.

Bubba hits his own 2nd rope senton with Dreamer under a ladder. Bubba was huge then!

Somehow we get Judge Jeff Jones piledriving a blow up doll to mock Beulah. Dreamer spikes him for that.

Dreamer, Sandman and Spike win when Dreamer pins Bubba Ray in 14:26. DDT on a ladder gets it done. Jack Victory shows up and takes out Dreamer…and here comes New Jack of course! The Dudleys get the crap kicked out of them to end the show. Anyway, it’s just garbage wrestling, but I had no problem with any of this. An ugly old fashioned street fight where Tommy Dreamer got his revenge and some Dudleys got beat up. That’s ECW in a nutshell, isn’t it? There’s also a really cool visual at the end with Jack, Spike, Dreamer and Sandman all on ladders with their hands raised.

ECW needed a good PPV badly, and they delivered. The next step, Douglas vs. Taz, was set up. Dreamer can move on now (not sure if he does though), RVD and Sabu teased their eventually break-up. Credible and Lynn helped one another. Awesome and Tanaka injected some much needed new blood. This is easily the best ECW PPV so far.

I can’t put it in the A range, Bigelow vs. Taz was a mess and the time between that and the Dudleyville Street fight was absolutely wasted, killing the flow the show had. Why not give Candido and Storm a little more time?

But it was close and the right step for ECW.

Final Grade: B+

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 Wrestlemania XXVIII

WrestleMania_XXVIII_poster

WWF Wrestlemania XXVIII
April 1, 2012
Miami, FL
Reviewed on July 13, 2014

Once in a Lifetime…(Of course, this was only true if you died with the next year or if you were born after this match)

The Rock vs. John Cena was one of those dream matches you always hear about. What would happen if Sting fought Shawn Michaels? The Undertaker vs. Andre the Giant. Kurt Angle vs. Bret Hart…CM Punk vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin.

So what would happen if The Rock took on John Cena?

In theory there was nothing wrong with this main event. The Rock was the top guy in the late 90s early 00s, Cena is the top guy now. Wrestlemania 28 made a ton of money to the surprise of no one.

But even so, even this was a little bit missing for the hardcore fans. Hardcore fans would have preferred Punk vs. Austin as a top guy vs. top guy dream match for sure. The Rock coming back was exciting, but without the Attitude Era he was a bit watered down, regulating his gimmick to saying Cena liked Frutty Pebbles and Froot Loops and that Vickie Guerrero was fat. Cena…was just Cena. Booed and all. It was a bit underwhelming. To be fair, it didn’t really need buildup anyway.

This show was designed to get the Attitude watchers back. In conjunction with WWE ’13 later, which was Attitude themed, WWE really was pushing to grabs those fans back and hope that they’d connect with the current roster, specifically CM Punk.

So as a result, we have HHH vs. Undertaker III. Inside Hell in a Cell. Basically the HIAC Dream Match.

How did Once in a Lifetime fare?

The Card

Lillian Garcia’s voice is amazing.

World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan© vs. Sheamus

Sheamus won the Royal Rumble and was rewarded by being in the Mania opener.

Interestingly, these two were slated for a US Title match at Mania 27, but was cut to make sure The Rock could talk for 20 minutes.

Bryan won the World Title in a MITB-cash in scenario at TLC 2011, and became an entertaining annoying heel champion. He also began to get “YES!” over here.

Sheamus pins Daniel Bryan to win the title in 0:15. Bryan kisses AJ and gets his head kicked off by Sheamus. One of the most awful ideas in WWE history here. I purposely reviewed Mania 11 before this because there is a connection here.

I wrote about in the Mania 11 review that the Diesel strong kickout really hurt his run and caused fans to feel sympathy for HBK, leading to an ill fated face turn. Well, this is that times 1000. It killed Sheamus dead as a top face so badly he still hasn’t recovered in 2014. It ironically MADE Bryan. Fans were already chanting YES!, but now it was deafening. WWE smartly didn’t turn Bryan face either, they let it build up. Sheamus winning a solid 12-15 minute match would have been solid for him.

Also, while this should never really be done, it can be done just fine sometimes even for the World Title (see Diesel vs. Backlund). But the opener of WRESTLEMANIA and a WORLD TITLE match shouldn’t be 15 seconds.

It was also reported later people were filing in and didn’t even realize they missed the match until later. Incredible.

Team Johnny in the house. The Miz received a huge demotion, since he was in the main last year.

Randy Orton vs. Kane

Kane was still wearing the steel mask here in his 2011 monster comeback. Apparently this feud is over Kane losing to Orton in some forgettable match in the summer of 2011, and he was disappointed in himself for shaking Orton’s hand.

This was after Kane’s “Embrace The Hate” campaign with Cena and Zack Ryder. For the record, this should have been Ryder and not Orton.

Daniel Bryan chants start the match. Way to go WWE. Way to go.

Interestingly this is the third straight Mania with Orton far away from the main event. Streak would end at 4.

Michael Cole calls Orton’s DDT a bulldog. Good to see Cole is on tonight.

Pretty boring match overall.

Kane pinned Randy Orton in 11:00. Chokeslam from the top rope wins it. Didn’t look nearly as good as when Matt Hardy took it at Summerslam ’04, but it got the job done. Interestingly, this match was apparently decided this way to screw up betting lines.

Santino and Mick Foley advertising Deadliest Catch. Good thing Mick never had a pirate gimmick…

DAMN!

Intercontinental Championship
Cody Rhodes© vs. Big Show

Ludicrous idea of Big Show wanting a Wrestlemania moment after being a joke in so many Wrestlemanias. Sorry if I don’t buy a multi-time World Champion (including as recently as a few months prior) as thinking winning the IC title is his big Mania moment.

The intro video for this is gold though.

I became a big Cody Rhodes fan around this time.

Spear off the Disaster Kick was cool I guess.

Big Show wins the title in 5:18. Knock out punch for the win. Big Show cries afterwards. Again, pretty ridiculous. Match was a whole lot of nothing. It was a shame Rhodes’ long reign ended here.

Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos vs. Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres

I do think it is pretty awesome that Menounos is a huge WWE fan.

I always thought it was interesting that the Stinkface became a Diva move even thought it was originated by Rikishi.

Nice somersault senton from Kelly.

I miss Beth Phoenix.

Maria and Kelly win when Maria pinned Beth in 6:49. Roll-up for the win. Not bad considering one team is Kelly and a celebrity.

End of an Era Hell in a Cell Match
Triple H vs. The Undertaker

Shawn Michaels is your special guest referee.

This is a long storyline that really began at Royal Rumble 2007 with HBK vs. Taker’s Rumble finish.

Last year, Taker beat HHH at Mania 27, but didn’t walk out. That was his justification for the match, he didn’t want that to be his last memory. This is HHH’s chance again to Break the Streak.

Jim Ross will be calling this!

Somehow a bald Undertaker still looked bad ass.

Surprisingly we get the Metallica theme on the Network for the Cell.

No wasting time here. Both men go right at one another.

A good knock out brawl so far. Each throwing the other into the cell. Steel steps. How HIAC’s in the PG era need to be done.

HHH goes for a pedigree on the steel steps…and Taker backdrops him off. Nice!

Spinebuster on the steps! Taker shocks HHH right afterwards with Hell’s Gate! HHH powerbombs Taker out of it! Good play on the Mania 27 ending.

Out comes the chair! Also a good play on last year’s match.

HHH goes nuts with the chair. HBK tries to stop him, but that’s not gonna fly in HIAC of course.

This establishes HBK’s conflict. HHH tells HBK if he wants it to be over, then to end it himself. HHH then shoves HBK away. Taker tells him not to stop it. It is really pretty awesome and the crowd gets into it.

HHH takes it to a level he didn’t last year and brings in the sledgehammer!

Sldegehammer to the face. Kinda believable as a finish, and fans get into the false fall.

HBK stops HHH from squashing Taker’s head with the sledgehammer, which woulda been something.

At the time it was pretty believable that HBK could end it at some point to end the streak, which is what makes this so effective.

Taker locks HBK in the Hell’s Gate to stop him from ending the match…and HHH comes down on Taker’s head with the sledgehammer! Wow!

Taker gets Hell’s Gate on HHH…there’s no tap out or referee though. It leaves all three men lying.

Charles Robinson in the house!

Chokeslam, HHH kicks out. Taker responds by chokeslamming Robinson of course.

Taker goes for the Tombstone, but HHH pushes Taker into Sweet Chin Music from HBK! I swear, that was the streak right there. Pedigree…and Taker kicks out! I was shocked when I first saw that. That was perhaps the greatest false finish I’d ever seen.

HHH throws HBK out of the ring…and then Taker shocks HHH with a sit-up! Amazing.

Tombstone…but HHH survives.

Pedigree…but Undertaker survives. Crowd is eating all of this up.

Taker’s turn to beat the shit out of HHH with the chair. HHH’s professional receipt.

Taker stops HHH’s sldeghammer attack. One last DX crotch chop and Taker whacks him with the sledgehammer as HBK’s back is symbolically turned.

The Undertaker pins Triple H in 30:45. Tombstone for the end. Taker, HHH, HBK walk out together in what SHOULD have been Taker and HHH’s last match. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Anyway, right here is a sure top 10 Wrestlemania match, and arguably top 5. It had everything and booked two guys perfectly. A perfect match of history, carnage and false finishes. This is why Brock Lesnar vs. HHH DIDN’T work next year, and arguably why Lesnar vs. Taker didn’t two years later. Incredible. My co-Match of the Year in 2012, only because TLC 2012’s Kane/Bryan/Ryback vs. Shield match was insane. I have trouble deciding between the two. But incredible. Absolutely incredible. It really should have been the End of an Era. It was perfect.

Hall of Fame time. Flair in the Horsemen, Edge are the main events. Weird that Edge retiring was three years ago.

Heath Slater gets beat up by Flo Rida. Slater is pretty hilarious.

Team Teddy (Santino, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Zack Ryder, The Great Khali, Booker T) vs. Team Johnny (The Miz, David Otunga, Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre)

Winning Team’s GM becomes sole GM or something like that.

I always hate the color shirts thing for big teams. It totally takes away from the individuality of the wrestlers. Same for them not having their own music.

Why the hell was Otunga the team captain?!

Same goes for Santino.

Eve came out with Ryder as well. Never guess how that goes wrong.

Booker T gets a majority of the time. I like Booker T, but that seems counterproductive at this point in terms of giving younger guys a chance.

Somehow throwing Hornwoggle at Mark Henry was a good idea? Seriously?

Ziggler has to save Miz from a Cobra. Long way from fighting Cena I see.

Awesome Rough Rider where Miz counters…but Ryder lands on Ziggler anyway.

Team Johnny wins in 10:38 when Miz pins Zack Ryder in 10:38. Eve does the WOO WOO WOO taunt with Ryder in the ring, but the ref tries to get Eve out and this distracts Ryder. Miz gets the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. This would build up to Miz vs. Ryder right? Of course not…

Eve then kicks Ryder low. Just kill off a popular young guy why don’t we? People who hate Ryder now just ignore how over he really was. Worst part was Ryder was actually showing some character here of actually getting pissed at Eve instead of just being the happy-go-lucky face he was.

Anyway, good way to get everyone involved. Sure as hell better than the other crappy multi-man tag matches we saw in the past (like at Mania 27, for example).

WWE Championship
CM Punk© vs. Chris Jericho

Big Johnny runs into Punk and waives the DQ rule, so if Punk is DQed he loses the title. Not Punk’s best acting job there…

Story here: Jericho came back to challenge for the Best in the World title. For some reason, this turned into a Punk is sober/family isn’t sober angle, which missed what this feud could have been. It did lead to some Punk anger stuff which fits the Big Johnny waiving the DQ rule.

They try to tease some DQ stuff early on with Punk, Jericho slapping him in the face and Punk going nuts, etc.

Jericho asks Punk how his sister is…and Punk gets a chair.

He’s about to nail Jericho in the head with the chair, with Jericho giving Punk his head yelling “your father’s a drunk!” It actually looks pretty awesome.

Jericho suplexes Punk from the apron to the floor, which looked great.

Match surprisingly slows to a crawl. It’s not a bad wrestling match, but it is surprisingly how the crowd really isn’t into it. Unfortunately, I think they were burned out emotionally from Taker vs. HHH, and it’s hard to buy Punk’s anger here.

Excellent Lionsault into the Walls of Jericho, even if bother were countered.

Codebreaker is an awesome move.

Very nice impact on the Lionsault. That’s one of the downfalls of the move as it often looks okay at best, but it looked great here.

Punk goes for the hurricanrana…and Jericho stops it and locks in the Walls of Jericho! Great counter that woke up the crowd!

Punk’s flying clothesline is countered into a Codebreaker! Nice spots!

Punk gets ready for the GTS, and Jericho counters into the Old School Walls of Jericho (which I would consider the Lion Tamer). Coulda bought it as a finish for sure.

Really cool Anaconda Vise sequence where Jericho kept getting pin attempts.

CM Punk retains the title in 22:38. Punk gets Jericho in the center of the ring with the Vise this time. No way out for Jericho and he taps. Despite some odd points towards the beginning, the match owned otherwise. They should have just the straight wrestling match without all the silly anger stuff. Main events are coming through for sure.

We get Brodus Clay. He tells the fans to call their mama’s on their phone. Then Brodus’s “mama and her bridge club” come out and dance to the Funkasauras music. An absolute waste of time. If I were Sheamus or Daniel Bryan I would have quit the company on the spot.

The Rock vs. John Cena

We get some musical performance from MG Kelly and Flo Rida and a whole lot of other people that should have also had Sheamus and Bryan thinking about quitting.

In all seriousness, obviously they’d not quit over this, but they should have been offended over this. Some world title. What a shame since Sheamus and Bryan tore it up next month.

They get booed. And then the real boos come out, here comes John Cena! You would think if WWE wanted him to get at least a 50-50 reaction they wouldn’t dress him up in Boston Celtic green in Miami but what do I know.

Nice strategy from The Rock, making Cena listen to Flo Rida first. No wonder he won.

Here it is. A year of build-up.

All this “both legends in their prime” thing is a little off. No way The Rock in in his prime.

This definitely has a huge match feel for sure.

Cena does get some “Let’s Go Cena” chants.

This is a pretty good back and forth match, with both guys trying to see who’s got what.

Fans are really in this the whole way. First AA Rock kicks out of, of course.

Rock Bottom! Kick out!

This is the kinda thing that bothered me about this match. Cena hits his top rope legdrop when Rock was coming up, a standard move, and he’s shocked it didn’t beat Rock. That doesn’t fit the context of the match.

Rock’s sharpshooter was always a thing of beauty…lol.

Cena’s STF is so terrible.

The People’s Elbow was a good false finish.

Rock actually hits the crossbody off the top, something he hadn’t done since 1997, and Cena rolls though with an AA. Great false finish as Rock kicks out!

The Rock pins John Cena in 33:34. Cena mocks Rock and goes for a People’s Elbow…but Rock gets up and hits the Rock Bottom for three! A lot better of a match than I remember it, pretty good back and forth contest of two wrestlers of their level. The image of Cena sitting on the ramp a loser is pretty strong. This of course set up Cena-Rock II.

Well, this is an interesting show as the main events all delivered and everything else was there. All three main events delivered big time too, especially Taker vs. HHH.

Historically, it didn’t do too much it was meant to do. CM Punk’s reign kept going, Cena got his revenge next year (although was nearly killed by Lesnar on the way), Taker and HHH unended an era? No one really got over any more than they were coming into Wrestlemania.

Except Daniel Bryan.

It’s a huge blunder on this show, the whole Sheamus-Bryan incident. Forget about Bryan for a second, he was getting over at some point no matter what. Sheamus has been ruined for years now. They ran with him through 2012 and he was booed throughout. Fast forward to 2013 when Cena is about to choose his Summerslam opponent and he asks the crowd about Sheamus while fans wanted Bryan. People still haven’t forgotten.

This could have been an A, but it drops to An A- with the Bryan stuff, and down to a B+ as the first hour wasn’t good AND the Brodus Clay and musical acts were just a slap in the face to the World Title.

Final Grade: B+