Reviewing every WWE PPV in order from worst to best

[Jarf]

SummerSlam 2018

Match 1: Intercontinental Championship Match - Seth Rollins def. Dolph Ziggler (c) (22:01)

The best way they could’ve started the show to be honest. This was hot off of Dean Ambrose’s return on Raw. He was in Seth’s corner, to keep Drew McIntyre, who was in Dolph’s corner, in line at ringside. The story in this match was very well told. Despite that Dean was down there, Seth’s attention was pretty focused on Drew, and that allowed Dolph to take control of the match early. He goes after the bad knee of Rollins and starts grounding him on the mat. The beginning of the match is nothing special, but when Seth clotheslines Dolph to the outside, it’s like a switch gets flipped, and the pace begins to pick up. Seth suicide dives Dolph and sends him back in the ring. Not much longer later, they wind up on the apron, where Dolph spikes Seth with a DDT. Seth barely makes it back in the ring in time, and as he starts to get up, Dolph attempts a Zig Zag, but Seth hangs on to the ropes and flings Dolph off. Seth superkicks Dolph and goes up for a frog splash, but Ziggler gets the knees up and rolls Seth up for a 2 count. There’s a moment where Dolph is on the top rope, facing away from the ring. Seth leaps up, pulls Ziggler up for an inverted superplex followed by a 1916. Dean also happened to be on that side of the ring and even he couldn’t believe what he just saw! The way he sells it with his face is great. Seth sets up a Curb Stomp, but Drew throws Dean into the steel steps and it distracts Seth just long enough for Dolph to recover. Seth runs at Dolph and hits the turnbuckle as Dolph sidesteps. Dolph hits the Zig Zag, covers Seth, who kicks out and is now bleeding. The ref puts on his gloves and thankfully, I think Seth said no. A few rollups and Seth picks Dolph off the mat and throws him in the corner with a buckle bomb! Drew gets on the apron, but doesn’t see Dean coming from behind. He yanks Drew off the apron and drops him with the Dirty Deeds. Seth sees this happen, but not Dolph who is back on his feet. But Seth was ready for him and when he turned his head, he struck first with the superkick and then finished Dolph off with a Curb Stomp. 1, 2, 3. Great match to start off the PPV! I loved it.

My Rating: ****

Match 2: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match - The New Day (Big E. & Xavier) def. The Bludgeon Brothers (c) via DQ (9:27)

A really fun match. I wouldn’t have minded seeing this go even longer, with the way these guys were working. It’s just a shame it had such a lame finish. Right off the bat, Rowan and Harper start picking apart The New Day. They drop Woods to the mat and shove Big E. off the apron. Despite the rocky start New Day gets off to, they manage a comeback, with Xavier managing to distance himself from the Bludgeons and reach Big E. for the tag. Rowan comes around and gets a belly to belly from Big E. Then Harper comes to the apron. He leaps off, gets caught by E and takes a scary belly to belly where he was thankfully okay where he lands on his head. E and Harper are the legal men and as they’re going at it in the ring, Woods, dives onto Rowan on the outside. Harper hits Big E. with a superkick, and goes outside, hits a black hole slam on Woods. He gets back on the apron and Big E. hits his signature spear off the apron. But then Rowan comes off the apron with a crossbody on E. They take Big E. Woods manages to get tagged and after he kicks out of a powerbomb from Harper, Kofi starts celebrating outside, trying to get the crowd hyped. Harper and Rowan see Kofi celebrating and decide he has to pay I guess. Rowan back drops Kofi on the floor. Big E. takes Rowan out with a Big Ending on the floor. He gets on the apron and drops Harper off into Woods’ knees on the outside. They take Harper back in the ring where Xavier sets up an elbow from the top rope. Harper rolls to the outside and Woods, the insane man that he, probably does permanent damage to his hip by dropping an elbow to the outside! They set up Harper in the ring for the Midnight Hour, but Rowan gets on the apron and knocks Woods off with one of their mallets, causing the DQ finish. Boooooo. Man, this match was going so well and they had to ruin it with that. At the time, I was very surprised because at this point, nobody had presented a challenge to the Bludgeon Brothers, but New Day were so close to beating them here.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 3: Singles Match for the Money in the Bank Briefcase - Braun Strowman (MITB) def. Kevin Owens (1:55)

The first of 3, (yes, 3) squash matches on this show. Like, the production team put a video package together for this match. Only for the match to be shorter than the video itself. Right away, Braun squashes Kevin in the corner, he does his round the world shoulder tackle. Kevin sells it like he just got hit by a car. Kevin gets one move in this match, and it doesn’t even phase Strowman. Braun grabs Kevin and chokeslams him on the steel rampway, before dragging him back into the ring and drops him with a running Powerslam to retain the briefcase.

Match 4: SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match - Charlotte Flair def. Carmella (c) & Becky Lynch (14:42)

This is one of those matches that became historic with hindsight. This match was the catalyst for Becky Lynch to become the star that she is today. And I was wondering before this match began if any of it would’ve happened if Becky had won. If Charlotte had lost. Makes you think honestly. But as for the match itself, it was decent. I mean, Becky and Charlotte had to carry it, because well ya know. I thought Carmella got too much offense in if I’m being honest. She was supposed to be a weak champion. The first half of the match is that. Becky and Charlotte don’t go at it a whole lot, but they work their magic when they do. Carmella hits the Trish Stratus, head scissors thing on Becky, and she tries to do the same on Charlotte, but Charlotte grabs her and comes off the turnbuckle to put her in the boston crab. Carmella rolls through to escape, but Charlotte transitions it in the Figure 8. Becky breaks up the Figure 8 with a legdrop from the ropes. And I’ll give Carmella credit for trying something new (unless she had done it before, but I don’t think I saw her do this before.) She dives through the ropes onto Becky, only for Charlotte to hit one of her moonsaults from the top rope onto both women… Well, Carmella at least, Becky was a little out of position. Charlotte takes Becky back in the ring and tries for a Natural Selection, but Becky reverses it into a Dis-Arm-Her. That’s broken up by Carmella. Carmella drops Becky with a superkick, but Becky gets Carmella in the Dis-Arm-Her. Carmella reaches the ropes, but Becky brings her back to the center where she puts it back on her. But she’s facing away from Charlotte as she does and doesn’t see her come back in. Charlotte hits Natural Selection and pins Becky, causing the crowd to boo. Boo, Charlotte, boo. Becky and Charlotte hug each other in the ring, the crowd says “Boooooo.” No hard feelings though between Becky and- oh wait, Becky slaps Charlotte to the mat! And the crowd fucking erupts! Becky puts the boots to Charlotte to the cheers from the crowd. Becky leaves with some extra swagger in her step, the crowd applauds her and then they start chanting “You deserve it.” Assumedly, directed at Charlotte. If Becky had won this match, I don’t think she would be in the position she’s at today. It’s funny how the butterfly effect works. I’m not going to give this hindsight points though, because Becky becoming a megastar was not in WWE’s plans at all. They really wanted us to cheer Charlotte over Becky. I think not sir.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 5: WWE Championship Match - Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles (c) via DQ (22:44)

Another good match ruined by dumb ahhh DQ finish. If you don’t recall this storyline, Samoa Joe brought AJ’s family into it, and he became, just… creepy as hell. TNA chants at the start of this match. This match builds up towards the bigger picture towards the end, so the beginning isn’t a whole lot to talk about. Very clearly though, Samoa Joe is in AJ’s head. It looks like there could be a new champion. Joe takes control of the match and starts to wear Styles down. He kicks AJ’s leg out from under him and AJ hits the apron hard. But later in the match, Styles starts to come back, and picks up the pace slightly. But AJ makes a mistake of picking Joe up and dropping him over his knee. Styles starts selling his knee after that. Styles then goes out to the apron and sets up for the Phenomenal Forearm, but Joe dodges and Styles lands on his feet, but runs into a quick as lightning powerslam from Joe. Styles superkicks Joe and drops him with a Styles Clash. But Joe kicks out of that. AJ gets Joe in the Calf Crusher, and Joe escapes it by bouncing AJ’s head off the mat like a basketball, and then puts Styles in the Coquina Clutch. Styles manages to reach with one foot on the bottom rope. Joe then indicates he’s about to go for the Muscle Buster. Joe puts Styles up on the top rope, and Styles fights Joe off, only for Joe to throw a kick that sends AJ out of the ring. Joe throws AJ into the steel steps which cuts AJ open. And then Joe grabs a mic, stands up on one of the announce tables and says and looks at AJ’s wife and daughter and says “I told you daddy was coming home, it looks like he’s not. But I’ll be your new daddy. This (understandably) sends AJ into a rage and he tackles Joe off the table through the barricade, which would’ve been cool if it didn’t lead to a DQ finish. AJ grabs a steel chair and begins going to town on Joe with it. What’s crazier about this to me, is that they copied and pasted the same fucking finish for the WWE Title Match at the next year’s SummerSlam too!

My Rating: ***3/4

Match 6: The Miz def. Daniel Bryan (23:26)

8 years in the making. This match was 8 years in the making and while it wasn’t a classic, it sure damn delivered. An honest underrated gem. This was Bryan’s first match since he returned to the ring that I thought was truly great. Bryan waited 2 years to punch Miz in the face and of course, that’s one of the first things he does in this match, while Miz of course, uses the moves he stole from Bryan. Miz uses Bryan’s surfboard submission, but Bryan pretty easily escages and then uses it himself, showing Miz how its done. Miz soon takes control of the match and starts grounding Bryan, wearing him down, yada yada. But Bryan starts to come back and out classes The Miz. Bryan dives on Miz from the top rope to the outside, gives Miz a back drop off the top rope. There’s a sequence of events halfway through which was fantastic. Bryan starts kicking Miz’s chest, but Miz ducks under the kick to the head, kicks Bryan in the knee and drops him with a DDT. So Miz starts kicking Bryan in the chest, and Bryan says “weak sauce.” He leans in to the kicks Miz is giving him and catches his foot, just starts slapping the hell out of Miz, dragon screw and then the kick to the head he was going for earlier. Miz is able to avoid a running knee by catching Bryan and trying to apply the Figure 4, but Bryan tries bringing Miz down to the the mat for the Yes Lock. Miz escapes and slingshots Bryan into the corner, then drops him with a Skull Crushing Finale. But Bryan kicks out of it. These two wind up on the apron and Miz dodges a kick from Bryan, which cause Bryan to hit the led ring post. Miz takes advantage of that with a Figure 4. But Bryan rolls them over on their bellies. Bryan starts throwing full on elbows to the side of Miz’s face before he puts him in the Yes Lock. As Miz is crawling to the ropes, he bites Bryan to try and escape. And Bryan responds by punching Miz in the back of the head. Miz winds up grabbing the rope to escape and he pretty much stumbles over to Maryse, who not so subtly hands Miz something. Referee can’t see what it is as Miz slips it onto his hand. Pretty clear he has brass knuckles and as Bryan goes to suicide dive Miz, Miz cold clocks Bryan and stumbles over to Maryse, throwing the knucks back over in the process before he goes back in the ring and pins Bryan to win this great match. Not a 5 star classic, but for sure a match that doesn’t get talked about enough.

My Rating: ****1/4

Match 7: Finn Balor def. Baron Corbin (1:31)

The 2nd of 3 squash matches of the evening. Finn Balor comes out, all painted up, looking cool as hell with his dope ass entrance. I got the vibe this was more about humiliating and embarrassing Corbin than it was about “needing to tap into the other side” or something. Finn dropkicks Corbin in the ring, outside the ring, dives on him, dropkicks him in the corner, comes off the ropes and drives his feet into Corbin’s chest to win the match. Corbin doesn’t hit a single move. It’s such a shame Vince didn’t know how to properly utilize the demon though. He won’t bring it out against Brock Lesnar or the Fiend, but the demon will come out to fight Baron Corbin. Okay, sure.

Match 8: United States Championship Match - Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Jeff Hardy (10:58)

An okay match, nothing grand or special about it. Just an average match. I thought it was an intriguing matchup, but I don’t think they had chemistry. Pretty early in the match, Nakamura starts to ground Hardy. Hardy starts to come back. Like I said, just a match you should see on TV. Jeff Hardy hits a whisper in the wind and goes up for a Swanton, but Nakamura kicks Jeff’s legs out, laying him out across the ropes, and Shinsuke drives his knee into his torso. Hardy goes for a twist of fate, but Shinsuke twists out of it and tries to low blow Jeff, because that was his gimmick now for some reason. Jeff finally hits the Twist of Fate and hits a Swanton, but Shinsuke grabs the bottom rope. Jeff hits another Twist of Fate, and Jeff goes back up for another Swanton. But Nakamura rolls out to the apron, and Hardy decides to do something stupid. He goes for the Swanton on the apron. Nakamura rolls out of the way and Jeff’s back makes a loud thud as he hits the apron. Nakamura rolls Hardy back in and hits a Kinshasa to retain. And then, because Jeff Hardy was feuding with Randy Orton. Orton comes out and… that’s all he does, he comes out, and leaves. Man, if they had told to fly out just to do that, I would’ve been like “Are you fucking joking.”

My Rating: **3/4

Match 9: Raw Women’s Championship Match - Ronda Rousey def. Alexa Bliss (c) (4:39)

Here we are, our last squash match. Gotta say, this one might be the roughest just because it’s dragged out a little longer than the other 2. I mean, it’s pretty much what I expected from it going into it. Alexa stays out of the ring for the first minute or so. Ronda turns her back to Bliss and even shuts her eyes. Bliss comes in from behind and tries to put a chokehold on Ronda, who makes that grr face she became known for. And then she just proceeds to kill Alexa Bliss. She ragdolls this woman. She finally puts Alexa out of her misery with an armbar. Alexa taps immediately. And then Ronda celebrates like Eddie Guerrero did when he won the WWE Title.

Main Event: Universal Championship Match - Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar (c) (6:08)

Pro: Brock Lesnar lost the Universal Title. Cons: It was to Roman Reigns and they made Braun Strowman look a total fucking chump. I have absolutely no fucking clue what WWE was trying to do by booking this the way that they did. Obviously they wanted Roman to be cheered. But they had been trying to do that for years and this sure as fuck wasn’t gonna do it. First of all, nobody wanted this match. Not a single living soul on the planet asked for this. But the fact that they made Braun Strowman, one of their favorites at the time, look like an absolute joke. Yeah, you can forget about getting Roman over bud. So after they announce champion and challenger, Braun Strowman’s music hits and the crowd goes wild. They go nuts, myself included. I was excited. I thought a savior was on his way. We were all thinking the same thing “He’s gonna cash in!” They hand Strowman a mic and he says “I refuse to be a coward and cash this in when my opponent’s back is turned.” I’m going “Yes!” And then he says “I’m gonna cash in, after the match on whoever wins.” And I’m like …Oh… okay. Um. So what I’m getting at here is that it’s not at all cowardly to cash in after your opponent has been weakened. By the way, when people cash in the briefcase, their music typically hits first so the champion knows they’re coming. Their back isn’t turned at all so why…? Who fucking wrote this garbage?! But whatever, Braun’s gonna cash in after the match. That’s still good. As long as the champ isn’t Brock or Roman at the end, who cares. So Roman starts out hot right out of the gate. He drops Brock with several superman punches and a couple Spears. One the last Spear, Brock puts Roman in a guillotine. He tosses Roman around with suplexes and sets up an F5. But Roman slides off and goes for a Spear, but Brock sidesteps and Roman goes through the ropes, onto Strowman on the outside. So Brock goes outside next and picks Braun up, drops him with an F5 and throws Roman back in the ring. Then beats Braun with his own briefcase before tossing it up the stage. Then Brock beats Strowman with a chair. Brock gets back in the ring, still holding the chair and turns around into a Spear from Reigns, who pins Brock to win the Universal Title to a standing boo. But it’s okay, because Braun is still cash in right? He’s tanked worse than what Brock gave him right? He’s gonna go pick up the briefcase right?! He’s gonna win the title right?!?! That show graphic popping up at the bottom of the screen is to fake us out right?!?!?!?!

My Rating: *1/2

He’s not cashing in. I’ll ask again. WHO! WROTE! THIS! GARBAGE!

Cagematch Rating: 6.37

My Rating: 6.5/10

This show was so close. Oh, so very close to being one of the best SummerSlams of all time. This show for the most part was very good. 3 very good matches on this show, a couple decent ones. Match quality wise, this was a great show. But just like every show with great wrestling for the last 10 years Vince was in charge, he has to book it in the dumbest way he possibly can. 2 DQ for good matches. The Becky thing actually worked out, but I’m not going to give it points for hindsight because nothing that happened after was part of the plan. And just every fucking thing that had to do with that main event made me wanna put my head through a wall. Pretty much the only things on this card that went on without a hitch were the opener and Miz vs Bryan. That’s it.

 

[Jarf]

Cyber Sunday 2008

Match 1: No Holds Barred Match - Rey Mysterio def. Kane (10:15)

Our night starts off with david vs goliath. Although, me personally, I would’ve voted for Falls Count Anywhere. Basically the same match except you can pin your opponent outside the ring. Mysterio starts off good. He takes Kane off his feet a couple times, and breaks out a stop sign. He goes to hit Kane with it, but Kane boots Rey in the face, STOPping him in his tracks (Har Har Har). Kane then starts ground Mysterio. Rey looks like he’s gonna hit a 619, but Kane was ready for it and drops Rey with a clothesline. Rey hits a… ready for this? DESTINOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (catches breath) OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Kane brings the steel steps into the ring and props them up in the corner. Only for Rey to reverse what he’s trying and hits a drop toe hold. Really? Set those stairs up for a big drop toe hold spot? Rey takes a chair and takes it to Kane’s legs and head, must be before those were banned. Kane falls into the second rope again and Rey goes for it again. But Kane, again was ready for it and grabs Rey by the throat. He goes for the Chokeslam, but Rey counters with a hurricrana, dropping Kane to the middle rope again and finally hitting the 619, followed by a springboard splash for the win. This match was… eh, it was alright.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 2: ECW Championship Match - Matt Hardy (c) def. Evan Bourne (11:05)

Would anyone like to take a guess what percentage Evan Bourne won by? I’ll give you a hint. It’s a very nice number. I wonder if WWE were expecting Mark Henry, for whatever reason, to win the poll. They say on commentary “Matt Hardy was probably expecting Mark Henry.” Why in the world would he be expecting that? This match was pretty good actually. Hardy was still a babyface, so there was no heel dynamic in the match. Bourne managed to throw Matt Hardy off with his speed. Matt can’t seem to get any momentum going early. But Evan Bourne goes for a springboard moonsault to the outside, and Matt pushes Bourne’s legs out from under him, causing him to hang upside down in the ropes. Hardy then starts grounding Evan, slowing him down. And then Evan starts to eventually come back. The pace picks up and it’s pretty even towards the end. Evan drops Matt and goes up to the top rope, and tries for a Shooting Star Press. Matt rolls out of the way, and Bourne crashes into the mat. As soon as Bourne is back up, Matt goes for the Twist of Fate. But Bourne has one more surprise and gets a backslide pin, but Matt kicks out and stands back up, grabbing Bourne and finally hitting Twist of Fate to retain the title. Yeah, no way would this match have been better if Mark Henry was voted.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 3: The Miz & John Morrison def. Cryme Tyme (10:20)

This is the only result of the night that surprised me. I thought that Punk and Kofi would’ve run away with this one. But Cryme Tyme must have been really over at this time. R.I.P. Shad Gaspard. An okay match. It’s not really a standout match, but it has a subtle detail that comes into play at the end. Shad and JTG start off good. But soon enough, Miz and Morrison drop Shad into the mat and start working over the big man’s knee. He’s not over in their corner for long as he makes the tag to JTG, who ends up getting isolated from his corner. JTG he to fight his way towards Shad. Morrison grabs his foot, and JTG rolls forward, Morrison nearly runs into Shad’s fist. JTG ducks under John to tag in Shad. Shad starts get his team rolling again. Shad goes for a suplex on Morrison, but Miz kicks his knee out from under him. Morrison hits a swinging neckbreaker and pins him to win the match.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 4: Intercontinental Championship Match - Honky Tonk Man def. Santino Marella (c) via DQ (1:07)

I would’ve just not voted on this match because there was no good option here. Yeah, I know, Goldust was only 39 at this time, but he… he was in rough shape to put it bluntly. I love Piper but he definitely wasn’t in shape. And Honky Tonk Man wasn’t good even in his prime. Somehow, because Santino had this stupid “Honk-A-Meter.” The Honky Tonk Man won the poll. Santino cuts an amazing promo before the winner is revealed though where he calls Shaquille O’Neal, “Shazam” O’Neal. And calls himself the “champion of earth”! I miss Santino honestly. He should come back and be someone’s manager at least. I need more Santino promos. And then Honky Tonk Man comes out and he grabs a mic and I immediately roll my eyes. Shut up please. He cuts a promo, don’t really remember what he said. The match is nothing because who thought Honky Tonk Man was gonna wrestle? Beth Phoenix trips Honky from the outside and instead of sending her to the back like these referees usually do, he just disqualifies Santino immediately. Probably to get out of this match. But of course, it wouldn’t be an “old guy returning” segment if more old guys didn’t come beat up the new guy. Can you tell how much I hate moments like these. Goldust comes out and Piper comes out, and they all collectively beat up Santino together. Great, well that was pointless. Let’s move on.

Match 5: Last Man Standing Match - The Undertaker def. Big Show (19:25)

A really good match. I liked this, even if it was a little slow, it didn’t hinder the match, probably because it was Last Man Standing. It turns into a fist fight a couple times during the match. Big Show beats the shit out of Taker in this match. Undertaker hits Big Show in the head with a chair, again, no ban yet. Undertaker crushes Big Show’s throat with a chair. Big Show hardly sells it though, he loses points for that. They go out behind the announce tables. Big Show grabs the chair and it gets punched back into his face by Taker. Taker climbs on top of the barricade, but is grabbed and Chokeslammed through the ECW table. He was definitely down for a ten count but he took too long selling it, so poor Charles Robinson had to stop the count and look like he forgot the last number. They come back in the ring, Big Show chokeslams him, hits him with the big KO punch. And Undertaker gets back up both times. Big Show goes out and grabs another chair and hits Taker in the head with it. Undertaker reaches up and drags Big Show into the Hell’s Gate submission and doesn’t let go until he thinks Big Show is out. The referee begins his count with both men down. Big Show is sleeping and Taker is like “Ah, I’m so hurt. Ah my legs don’t work.” Undertaker gets up though and is declared the winner of the Last Man Standing Match. When you think about it, this was still just a knockout match, you just gotta be more thorough making sure they’re KO’d.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 6: WWE Championship Match - Triple H (c) def. Jeff Hardy (15:35)

Now for the best match of the evening. You know, they literally had this same match earlier in the month at No Mercy, and people still voted to exclude Kozlov from this match. Maybe they should’ve taken that as a hint to, ya know, keep Kozlov out of the main event picture. This wasn’t as good as their No Mercy match, but by this point, you know these guys have chemistry. They each go for big moves early, HHH avoids the Twist of Fate and Jeff escapes a Pedigree attempt. Jeff goes for the dropkick in the corner, and HHH catches him and drops him with a Spinebuster. Pretty sweet counter honestly. But Jeff starts to mount a comeback after jumps off the steel steps and into HHH against the barricade. Jeff throws HHH back in the ring and hits 2 Whisper in the Winds. HHH goes for a Pedigree, but Jeff avoids it with a jackknife pin. Jeff hits Twist of Fate finally and goes up, hits a Swanton Bomb and just for good measure, decides to go back up and hit another, but HHH this time gets his knees up. HHH goes for a Pedigree again, looking desperate to hit it at this point, but Jeff escapes again and kicks HHH out of the ring and leaps over the top rope onto HHH on the outside. Jeff throws HHH back in the ring and goes to the top rope, which was a mistake. HHH crotches Jeff and hooks his arms, I’m thinking he’s about to Pedigree Jeff off the top rope and spike his ass. But HHH pulls Jeff off and Pedigrees him to retain. So Jeff once again, loses a title match.

My Rating: ***3/4

Main Event: World Heavyweight Championship Match with Steve Austin as Special Referee - Batista def. Chris Jericho (c) (17:05)

I forgot that this match even happened, probably because the winner’s title reign was over in like 2 weeks. This one, Austin overwhelmingly won, even with Shawn Michaels as an option. People love that rattlesnake. What? Jericho, like a big dummy, gets in Austin’s face and slaps Batista in the face. Weird way to start off a match with your title on the line, by jaw jacking the referee, who has a history of not taking offense to shit like that, but you do you Chris. Jericho tries to get himself counted out, but Austin grabs a mic and says that if Jericho gets counted out or DQ'd, he'll lose his title. I guess the referee just has the power to do this. But anyway, this is a solid match, but it’s not fantastic. Batista of course is the stronger of the two and uses that to his advantage. Jericho hurts Batista’s knee early on and goes right after it. Like at one point, Jericho has the Walls of Jericho locked in and Batista reaches the ropes, Austin pulls Jericho off the hold by his hair. This match really takes a turn after Austin gets knocked down to the outside. Batista accidentally shoulder blocks him when Jericho dodges him. Jericho hits Batista with a Codebreaker and covers him. Shawn Michaels runs down and starts to count… after about 10 seconds. He takes his sweet old time counting the second and Batista kicks out. I love Shawn being incredibly petty in this situation. Jericho tries to threaten Shawn, but Shawn fakes him out, making it look like he’s gonna superkick him. Jericho turns around into a spinebuster. Shawn begins to count, but JBL pulls him out and clotheslines him to the mat. Jericho low blows Batista and goes out to grab the World Title. As Austin gets up, Orton runs in and knocks him back down. Jericho hits Batista with the title and covers him. Orton counts, 1, 2. But Austin gets back up and drops Orton with a Stunner, that Orton sells magnificently. Jericho starts jaw jacking Austin, who tries to give him a Stunner, but Jericho shoves him off. He turns back around into a Spinebuster from Batista, who then finishes the match with a Batista Bomb. We have a new World Heavyweight Champion for at least a week!

My Rating: ***

Cagematch Rating: 6.38

My Rating: 6/10

I’ve watched some pretty mid shows so far doing this. This might be the middest of them all. I didn’t hate this show, but I also can’t say I found myself enjoying it apart from those couple matches between the IC Title Match, the lowest point of the show, and the main event which in of itself, was also mid. Not gonna lie, I finished this show yesterday and put off writing about it. Just because I wasn’t super excited to even talk about it. It also doesn’t help that the main event is made completely pointless by Batista losing the title 8 days later.

 

[Chris]

Considering everyone involved says these were always shoots bc Vince is an absolute psychopath, the amount of times a hardcore stipulation that requires you to finish inside the ring beat Falls Count Anywhere makes me lose faith in the intelligence of every wrestling fan, they just vote which name sounds cooler to them

 

[Jarf]

Considering everyone involved says these were always shoots bc Vince is an absolute psychopath, the amount of times a hardcore stipulation that requires you to finish inside the ring beat Falls Count Anywhere makes me lose faith in the intelligence of every wrestling fan, they just vote which name sounds cooler to them

For real. Falls Count Anywhere is definitely the better match simply because falls can happen anywhere!

Semi-unrelated note, remember when Jericho was gonna fight Paul Heyman in a fan voted stipulation, and all 3 choices were the same match? Lmao

 

[Chris]

Yeah I forget the gimmick name but when Raw did fan voting on the WWE app for that small time period, it was mind numbing

 

[Jarf]

Survivor Series 1998

As far as I've seen, this is widely regarded as one of the best Survivor Series of all time, so I was shocked to see it already on my list. But how did I feel about this show? Well, let's see.

Match 1: WWF Championship Tournament First Round Match - Mankind def. Duane Gill (0:30)

Mankind is coming into this tournament as the hand picked winner by Vince McMahon. Mankind comes out, dressed in a tuxedo. And yeah, he wrestles in this for 2 matches. Vince McMahon announces the first match himself. He introduces Mankind who gives Vince a hug. And Vince reacts with disgust. Hmm. Interesting reaction. Vince then introduces Mankind's opponent, the crowd is chanting HBK. Which would've been crazy. Mankind vs Shawn in the first round. Vince really talks this guy up, and it turns out to be (drum roll) DUANE GILL! Jerry Lawler says, "who?" Gillberg walks out to an audience of crickets. Before he can even fully get in the ring, Mankind attacks him, puts the slippers to him and hits him with a Double Arm DDT to advance in 30 seconds. Already Mankind is in prime position to get to the finals. Easy match.

Match 2: WWF Championship Tournament First Round Match - Al Snow def. Jeff Jarrett (3:31)

And then we just move right along to match 2. This was okay for what it was. Can't say they did anything spectacular in 3 minutes. Debra gets on the apron to distract the referee. But while Jeff Jarrett grabs Head, Al grabs Jeff's guitar. Jeff strikes Al first. The referee is distract, getting the guitar out of the ring, so Snow low blows Jarrett and gives Jarrett head and pins him to advance.

My Rating: **1/4

Match 3: WWF Championship Tournament First Round Match - Steve Austin def. Big Boss Man via DQ (3:20)

Unusual for Austin's match to come within the first 20 minutes of a show. Feels weird honestly. Boss Man meets Austin on the entrance way and the fight starts before the bell even rings. Austin is obviously winning that fight. But Boss Man takes momentary control, before Austin starts putting the fists and boots to him. But Boss Man slides out of the ring and knocks Austin silly with the nightstick, causing the DQ. Boss Man continues to beat on Austin, much to Vince's pleasure backstage despite the fact that Austin advanced.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 4: WWF Championship Tournament First Round Match - X-Pac vs. Steven Regal ended in a double countout (8:10)

I think this was Regal's only PPV match as the "real man's man", which was a gimmick I thought wasn't real and one that only existed in my mind at one point. This was one of the only parts of the show I wasn’t big on. I like both these guys, but this was just boring. I believe Regal was dealing with some neck issues at the time too. The entire match is just Regal grounding X-Pac. Not much else. Pac starts to mount a comeback towards the end, but he gets crotched on the top rope and falls outside. Regal follows him out and attempts a double arm hook suplex, but X-Pac reverses it into a normal suplex and both men wind up counted out. Normally, I would hate a finish like this, but from a story perspective, there's a good reason for it. Because the winner of this match would've met Stone Cold in the Quarter-Finals. So Vince panics and he sends Slaughter out there to relay a message that he wants an overtime. That's the only thing I didn’t like, Slaughter does so, Finkel announces the match will continue, but X-Pac is like "I don't wanna bro." And just leaves. Man, why'd you have to do my man, Sean Waltman like that?

My Rating: *

Match 5: WWF Championship Tournament First Round Match - Ken Shamrock def. Goldust (5:56)

A pretty iffy match. Because every time they seemed to get some steam going, they messed up some of their spots. They looked lost a couple times. Shamrock jumps Goldust off the gun and the fight begins. Shamrock is the dominator in the match. And Goldust starts to make a comeback and for some reason decides to try a Shattered Dreams, but the referee gets in the way and stops him. Shamrock gets on the middle rope and hurricanranas Goldust, landing on his head in the process. Shamrock puts the finishing touches with the Ankle Lock to advance.

My Rating: **

Match 6: WWF Championship Tournament First Round Match - The Rock def. Big Boss Man (0:03)

Probably the quickest match in wrestling history. What was originally supposed to be The Rock vs HHH. HHH mysteriously doesn't show up to the PPV. So Patterson and Brisco, the stooges come out and announce that at the last minute, Vince was able to find a replacement… Big Baw Man. Baw Man runs into the ring, gets rolled up in like 3 seconds. Rock moves on to the Quarter-Finals. Seems like a pretty embarrassing moment for Boss Man, until the end of the show.

Match 7: WWF Championship Tournament Quarter-Final Match - The Undertaker def. Kane (7:16)

Both Taker and Kane got a bye to the second round. With JR making the excuse that the reason was so they would destroy each other. But this bracket was filled out by Vince himself, that's what they told us. So make that make sense. But whatevs. Do that destroy each other? Not really, they just kinda have a regular match, nobody is destroyed. Undertaker tries to weaken Kane's leg. They just kinda lumber around. Kane Chokeslams Taker and sets him up for the Tombstone, but Paul Bearer distracts him on the outside and allows Taker to recover and pick Kane up for his own Tombstone, which Taker hooks the leg for because he dropped him too close to the ropes.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 8: WWF Championship Tournament Quarter-Final Match - Mankind def. Al Snow (3:55)

Mankind's still wrestling in a suit. I kinda like it, it's funny. Al Snow goes right after Mick and at some point during the match, it shows Vince backstage, revealing he wrapped Mr. Socko around Head. When Mick realizes it's on Head, he takes it off and then he starts beating up Head. Why? Cause reasons. Al Snow saves head, but he ends up taking the sock and the referee calls for the bell.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 9: WWF Championship Tournament Quarter-Final Match - The Rock def. Ken Shamrock (8:20)

This match is fine. Rock and Shamrock had wrestled a billion times it felt like. It was pretty even at first. Boss Man came down during the match, presumably to help Ken. Shamrock gets Rock in the Ankle Lock, and Rock crawls his way to the ropes. Rock hits a People's Elbow on Shamrock, and Ken shockingly kicks out. Boss Man climbs onto the apron, and gets right in the referee's face. Like right in there, so he doesn't see Boss Man toss the nightstick in the ring, towards Shamrock, but The Rock intercepts it and knocks Kenny out with it to advance.

My Rating: ***

Match 10: Women's Championship Match - Sable def. Jacqueline (c) (3:14)

Not a great match, but it's short, so meh. Sable is distracted by Marc Mero outside and is jumped from behind by Jackie. Sable almost has it early, but Mero pulls her out of the ring, so Sable kicks Mero in the gut and powerbombs him on the floor. Jacqueline attacks Sable from behind again. But she only delays the inevitable, because Sable picks her up and drops her with a powerbomb to win the title.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 11: WWF Championship Tournament Semi-Final Match - Mankind def. Steve Austin (10:27)

Incredibly overbooked. But it works for it. Aside from the main event, this is probably my favorite match of the night. This sets in motion the chain of events that would take place that leads to the winner's victory. Austin and Mankind start the match on the outside. Austin and Mankind were already having a good match. And then Vince, and his henchmen for lack of a better term come down to the ring. Mick brings a steel chair in the ring and the referee seems very lenient on it. Mick gives Austin a DDT on the chair and then threatens to use a piledriver on said chair. But Austin back drops Mick on the chair. And then Austin drops Mankind with a Stunner and is about to punch his ticket to the finals! 1, 2… Vince actually jumps into the ring and stops the referee's count himself! Austin takes the chair and bashes Foley with it and covers him again. Shane McMahon in a referee shirt, who had resigned Austin to a new contract, runs down to count the pin… except he doesn't. He gives Austin a double bird! And Austin looks like he's about to snap, and this is amazing storytelling. Mankind is basically finished and yet all the cards aren't in Austin's favor. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of is the finish. Boss Man and the stooges hop in the ring and gang up on Austin. Brisco knocks Austin with one of the weakest chair shots ever. I thought Austin would kick out. No way he's losing to that. Nope, he does. But as soon as that bell rings, Vince and company immediately get the hell out of there. And who could blame them. Austin is pissed. And historically, that means something bad is gonna happen to whoever he's pissed at. Austin car jacks some poor guy and chases their limo out of their arena.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 12: WWF Championship Tournament Semi-Final Match - The Rock def. The Undertaker via DQ (8:23)

Oh no. No! Not another Rock/Undertaker match. No! At least this was one of their shorter matches. But as you could probably expect, there isn't much to this match. Undertaker is in control for a lot of it, because as far as the crowd knows, Rock is a babyface. They do fight into the crowd but they quickly return to the ring. Rock body slams Undertaker and then says something to Paul Bearer. Probably dropped several F-bombs. Boss Man also comes down for this match. But he doesn't make much of a difference this time. Undertaker is about to Chokeslam Rock, but Kane comes down and Undertaker throws Rock into him. Kane Chokeslams The Rock and gets Taker disqualified. A couple things about this finish that I find funny is it's Undertaker's dumbass fault. He's the one who threw Rocky into Kane. 2nd was that all Kane needed to do was punch Rock in the face or clothesline. But he said "Chokeslam." Point is, Kane gets his brother DQ'd. They take the fight into the crowd. Rock will meet Mankind in the finals.

My Rating: **

Match 13: WWF Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match - The New Age Outlaws (c) def. The Headbangers & Mark Henry & D'Lo Brown (10:10)

But before we get to that, we have one more filler match. And man, oh man, it's a trainwreck. The rules here are very confusing. 3 men allowed in the ring at the same, but not necessarily has to be one member of each team, so both Headbangers could be in? What? Although that could be my misinterpretation, because they all looked so lost. Most of the match is both challenging teams keeping Road Dogg away from Billy. But legitimately, The Headbangers, Mark and D'Lo look like rookies here. Like they have no idea what their next spot is. Billy eventually gets the hot and he takes on everybody in the ring. He hits (insert Headbanger here) with a Fameasser after a brief brawl between all 6 men. Outlaws win this terrible, terrible match.

My Rating: 1/2*

Main Event: WWF Championship Tournament Final Match - The Rock def. Mankind (17:10)

This is it. The match that this night has been building to. The Corporate Champion, Mankind vs The People's Champion, The Rock. Little did they know, it was actually the other way around. This was a very good match. They would give us just a taste of the chemistry that they had. It starts out like an average match, but gradually, they pick up the pace and violence. Early in the match, Vince and Shane come out to the ring to observe if you will. The referee pretty much let's everything that would call for a DQ. But for this match, it's actually understandable. It's kind of a big deal. These two go out into the crowd. The Rock crushes Mankind under the steps and slams a steel chair into them over and over again. They come back into the ring, Rock hits a People's Elbow on Mick. Mick kicks out. Mick hits Rocky with a Double Arm DDT. They go back outside. Mick leans Rock up against the announce table and then he climbs the top rope and he comes off, crashing through the table as Rocky moved out of the way. Once they come back into the ring, Foley drops Rock and whips out his sock! Foley stuffs it in The Rock's mouth and Rock nearly passes out here, but he manages to reverse Socko into a Rock Bottom. The Rock rolls over and gets an arm over Foley's chest. But Mankind kicks out again. Rock gets back on his feet and he looks at Vince. He raises the eyebrow, before he grabs Mick's legs, crosses them and rolls him over to put him in the Sharpshooter. But what's this? Vince tells the time keeper to ring the bell. Because Vince couldn't help referencing Montreal I guess. I'm willing to admit that it's a great finish though because it's all part of our story here. The Rock's music hits. Vince grabs the WWF Title, him and Shane get in the ring, and guess what bro. You just got SWERRRRRRVED! They all hug and Vince presents The Rock as the champion after screwing over poor Mankind, who's terribly confused.

My Rating: ***1/2

So then The Rock puts the boots to Mankind, who's already been through enough tonight, setting the course for him to put some butts in seats. Then Stone Cold comes back out, he goes down to the ring, Vince and Shane bail so Austin just beats up The Rock, drops him with a Stunner. Then he pulls Mankind back up and drops him again with a Stunner, presumably to get even for earlier. What a show.

Cagematch Rating: 6.37

My Rating: 9/10

So that's how I feel about this event. There were no match of the year candidates on this show, but this event was more about a story unfolding throughout the course of one night. After The Rock reveals himself to be a corporate champion, everything starts to make more sense. Boss Man being his opponent and losing in 3 seconds. Boss Man coming out for his last 2 matches before the finals, tossing the nightstick. Little details like that that start to pile up and connect. Another thing this show does is set up a feud between Rock and Mankind while also advancing the feud between Austin and Vince, all culminating in Austin and Rock's big match at WrestleMania. As much as I hate Vince Russo, I have to applaud him for putting on such a well written show. Of course it isn't perfect, there's some stuff on this show I could've done without but overall, really, really great PPV.

 

[Jarf]

In Your House 11: Buried Alive

Match 1: Steve Austin def. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (15:30)

An interesting matchup here. Long before either of them became major stars in the company, Austin and HHH were going at it. What's weird is that they were both heels at the time. Now I really tried to enjoy this match. Most people give this match at least 3 stars. I tried to enjoy this match, I really did. But unfortunately, most of the attention was focused on Jim Ross' mic continually cutting out! To an annoying degree. This happens for about 2 matches by the way! It doesn't stop after this one. So I don't have a lot of comments to say about this match. But they weren't exactly having a classic anyway. But then it just gets weirdly overbooked. So apparently Hunter is booked to face Mr. Perfect on Raw the next night. So Perfect comes down, basically steals the woman HHH came to the ring with. HHH goes out to confront him, but Austin follows him out, and tosses him back in the ring. Then he gets in Perfect's face for some reason and throws a soda in his face. Like between JR's mic cutting out constantly and this random bit with Perfect, I had to ask "what the fuck is going on?" HHH tries to Pedigree Austin, but stops to stop Perfect from leaving with his girl. Eventually the Mr. Perfect portion of the match is over and they go back to the ring where Austin beats Hunter with a Stunner.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 2: WWF Tag Team Championship Match - Owen Hart & British Bulldog (c) def. The Smoking Gunns (9:17)

Okay, one heel vs heel match is weird enough. But another one? What a strange way to book a PPV. And JR's mic is still. Cutting. Out. This bit got old in the first match, now it's just pissing me off. The story of this match seems to be more on Sunny than it does the Tag Team Titles. Billy cares more about her than he does the titles. So that doesn't help it. I thought this match was okay. But that was it. Most of my attention was on Jim Ross and his fucking mic problems. The Gunns seemed to be working as the heels since they kept Owen away from Bulldog. The Gunns tease fighting which is what cost them their titles in the first place. The finish to this was actually really good though. Bart picks Owen up, sidewalk slam style and sets him up for Billy to come off the ropes with a legdrop. Well Bulldog saves the day by pulling Bart back by his jeans. Bulldog and Bart go outside while Owen hits a spinning heel kick on Billy to take the win.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 3: Intercontinental Championship Match - Marc Mero (c) def. Goldust (11:38)

This match was surprisingly decent. Goldust is replacing Faarooq in this match as Faarooq was taken out by Ahmed before the show. Mr. Perfect comes back down to do commentary on JR's mic which is conveniently working again… Oh yeah, JR bailed by the way. Mero starts off hot. He gets off to a good start. He has Goldust on the ropes early, but on a dive to the outside, Mero hurts his knee, which is going to slow him down. Goldust gets the advantage and starts to wear Mero down. The crowd boos him and Goldust grabs a mic and threatens to kiss all of them in the crowd if they don’t shut up, which is kinda funny. But Mero starts to make a comeback, and the crowd gets more and more fired up with every move he does. He nearly has Goldust after a moonsault off the top rope. Goldust back drops Mero over the top rope. That’s when Mr. Perfect gets out of his seat and walks over to get in Goldust’s face. But then, Hunter comes out to the ring with his hair as its absolute wettest. Which I can only assume means, he just got out of the shower and said “hey can you just walk out there and yell at Mr. Perfect.” Which is kinda funny when you think about it. Bro had to put his sweaty gear back on just to yell at someone. Anyway, Goldust takes a punch from Perfect as the referee is trying to hold Hunter back. Mero brings Goldust back in, hits a Samoan Drop and hits the 450 from the top rope to retain his title.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 4: WWF Championship #1 Contenders Match - Sycho Sid def. Vader (8:00)

This match was built up more so around which guy has the better powerbomb. Of course, since he’s facing the winner at Survivor Series, Shawn Michaels comes to do commentary. It starts out as a match where they clobber each other. What more can you ask for than 2 big men goin’ hard? That’s what the match is at first, a fist fight between them. But as Sid sets Vader up for the Powerbomb, Jim Cornette gets on the apron and distracts him. Sid goes to the top rope and I actually said “Please don’t do a missile dropkick.” Too soon? But Vader catches him and hits him with a powerslam, before dragging him to the corner and hitting a second rope splash. Then Cornette says to finish Sid off with the Powerbomb. That doesn’t work out. Sid starts to come back and eventually, he beats Vader with a… chokeslam… Wait. That’s not a powerbomb. The entire build around this match was which man had the better powerbomb, and not only does a powerbomb not end the match, there’s not a single one hit by either men during this match. That’s hilarious to me. My god, what were they doing? Anyway, because Sid has yet to turn heel yet, when Shawn Michaels gets in the ring with him, they shake hands after teasing a fight breaking out.

My Rating: **1/4

Main Event: Buried Alive Match - The Undertaker def. Mankind (18:25)

Probably one of their weaker matches to be honest. But still plenty enjoyable. This is one of the more underrated feuds in WWE history in my opinion. All anyone talks about is Hell in a Cell. And to be fair, it was brutal. But nobody talks about the great wars they fought from 96-97. As soon as both men are in the ring, they start throwing fists. Undertaker backs Mick up against the ropes. Foley takes a head bump within 2 minutes. Why I not surprised, crazy crazy man. Facing hard cam, they go out into the crowd, only for Taker to whip Mick back over the railing a moment later. And then he runs at and leapt over the guardrail into Mick with a clothesline. Undertaker chases after Paul Bearer and Mankind chases him with a steel chair, but Taker was for it, and kicks Mick. But after a distraction from Paul, Foley nails Taker with that chair. They reach the dirt hill with the grave dug in and Foley is thrown down it by Taker. They go back to the ring, only for Mick to drop Undertaker with a piledriver and a Double Arm DDT on the chair. Mankind thinks he's won and cradles the urn in his hands. But Undertaker sits up behind him. He drops Mick with the steel chair. He brings the steel steps in the ring and just tosses them at Mick's head before he drops them on his back. He picks Mick back up and hits a Tombstone. Then points to the grave to signal the end. Taker carries Mankind up to the grave, but Foley gets the Mandible Claw on him. But Undertaker grabs Mankind by the throat and chokeslams him into the grave. Undertaker starts shoveling dirt over Mankind and before he can really bury Mankind, the referee calls for the bell. Now this is probably just lazy booking, but I'm going to say it's cause the referee was trying to save Mankind. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Undertaker came here to bury a man alive and that's what he plans to do. But the Executioner (aka Terry Gordy dressed like a pervert) saves his ass by bashing Undertaker with a shovel. He goes down into the grave and digs Foley out. They shove Undertaker in together and start piling the dirt down in. And they were thorough about this. They committed to the gimmick. HHH, Goldust, Crush and Bradshaw all even came out to help them bury Taker. This takes about several minutes to fill up this hole. But then thunder starts going off in the arena (which never made much sense to me now that I'm thinking about it. The lights start to dim. All the heels bail before anything else happens. And the night ends on an honestly cool visual. Undertaker's gloved hand comes out from the grave like a zombie. And then the show goes off the air.

My Rating: ***3/4

Cagematch Rating: 6.40

My Rating: 5/10

10 minutes short of 2 hours, this show is mid. Fucking JR's mic problems was the main focus of the first half hour. Got on my nerves. Mero and Goldust had a decent match. The "who has the better powerbomb" match was funny, just because nobody hit a powerbomb ever. And that main event was pretty good. But I know they can do better. Overall, not really worth watching.

 

[Skyefire]

With Buried Alive, Austin was supposed to face Savio Vega but for some reason Vega was out. He last wrestled a week before at a house show, and didn't wrestle again until Survivor Series. Goldust had a rare opportunity that night to walk out as double champion facing both Mero for the I-C title and Shawn Michaels in a dark match after the show for the WWF title.

With Survivor Series, I might not rank it quite as high as you but I did find it very enjoyable. Of course WWE has to go and mimic the Montreal Screwjob for the first of what would be numerous times, but it worked and at that time that hadn't been done before. Also, this was Duane Gill's return to WWF before he became Light Heavyweight Champion and before he joined the JOB Squad and became Gillberg.

 

[Jarf]

Survivor Series 2016

Man, I’m kinda amazed by the fact I had to watch this show already.

Match 1: Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match - Team Raw (Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax & Alicia Fox) def. Team SmackDown (Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Natalya, Naomi & Carmella) (17:30)

The lowest point of the night honestly. I didn’t like this match very much. First off, they did Becky an incredible disservice and I remember being pissed about it in the build up. Despite the fact that she was SmackDown’s Women’s Champion, it was Nikki Bella who was called the captain of the team. When they show Nikki backstage, after getting jumped by who was later revealed, incredibly unsurprisingly, to be Natalya, I actually cheered. Get out of here Nikki, Becky’s the real captain. Charlotte and Sasha begin fighting and shoving each other 2 minutes into the match. This is going to be a running theme during the evening. Match starts off with Alicia and Carmella which is… questionable to say the least. I like how they establish Nia as the difference maker for her team. She bowls over the entire SmackDown team. Carmella is the first one eliminated after a Scissors Kick from Alicia. But then Alicia is taken out moments later by Alexa Bliss. Naomi attempts to take on Nia. She hits a crossbody off the top to Nia outside. But as Naomi tries to get back in the ring, Nia throws her to the floor and Naomi gets counted out. Sasha Banks comes in and manages to hold her own against Bliss and Natalya. As she goes to hit the backstabber, Alexa saves Nattie, and Sasha turns to knock her down, but Nattie rolls Sasha up from behind to eliminate her. So then Charlotte comes in and she goes at it with Natalya. They have a nice little mini match where Nattie gets Charlotte in the Sharpshooter. But Charlotte is able to crawl and grab the ropes thanks to Dana Brooke. Charlotte gets up and knocks Nattie out with a big boot to eliminate her. Strangely, even though they are now down 2 to 3, Becky and Alexa start fighting now. I hate this trope and is kinda why I’m not exactly yearning for the Survivor Series Elimination Match to be brought back. They never have a good reason for fighting other than to be petty. When Nia comes in, Becky and Alexa start working together to try and bring her down, including hitting one of the worst double DDTs ever. Becky manages to make Nia tap out with the Dis-Arm-Her. Making it 2 on 2. But Nia grabs Becky and tosses her into the barricade, before throwing her back in the ring. Alexa tags herself in, only to be dropped with a boot from Charlotte, who then pins her to eliminate her. Leaving it down to Becky on Team SmackDown. After wrestling with Charlotte for a bit, Bayley, who has done literally nothing this entire match, finally gets in and has a mini match with Becky. Becky tries to wrestle Bayley down to the mat, Bayley desperately hangs onto the ropes, but then closes the distance with Becky and hits her with a Bayley to Belly to win the match for Team Raw. And instead of celebrating, Charlotte attacks Bayley after the match is over and steals the spotlight.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 2: Intercontinental Championship Match - The Miz (c) def. Sami Zayn (14:05)

Pretty good match, as expected. The original plan was for it to be Dolph defending against Zayn. But Ziggler lost the title to Miz on SmackDown, I’m assuming because this was in Toronto, they knew Sami was gonna be cheered no matter what, so they wanted him to face a heel. Sami was on Raw at this point, so if he won, he would bring the title to that show. Sami gets off to a pretty good start, but after a slight distraction from Maryse, Miz chop blocks Sami’s leg and starts going right after that, weakening Sami and making him slower. That’s demonstrated in Sami running and diving over the ropes, selling his knee. Miz makes 2 different attempts to put Sami in the Figure 4, but Sami shoves him off both times. Zayn starts to come back and starts hitting all the classics (aside from the brainbuster I guess), Blue Thunder Bomb, Exploder Suplex, and he tries for a Helluva Kick, but Miz dodges and Sami further hurts his knee. Miz finally manages to get Sami in the Figure 4. And Zayn reaches the ropes. Sami winds up putting Miz in the Figure 4 himself. And Zayn has Miz in the hold for a while. Miz starts desperately trying to reach the ropes. But Maryse rings the bell, making Sami believe he won the match so he lets go of the hold. Miz takes advantage and rolls Sami up from behind to retain the title and keep it on SmackDown.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 3: Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match - Team Raw (The New Day, Cesaro & Sheamus, Enzo & Cass, Gallows & Anderson & The Shining Stars) def. Team SmackDown (Slater & Rhyno, The Usos, American Alpha, The Hype Bros & Breezango) (18:55)

An underrated gem. I really liked this match. Not enough to rate it higher, but this was a pretty exciting match. First off, Fandango starts handing out tickets to his teammates and the opposing team, even Xavier on the outside. But Big E. picks him up, him and Kofi hit the Midnight Hour to eliminate Breezango like 20 seconds in. But then just mere seconds later, as Team Raw is celebrating the early elimination, Jimmy Uso comes in, drops Kofi with a superkick and pins him to eliminate Raw’s Tag Team Champions. This next portion of the match is nothing special. The Hype Bros are eliminated by Gallows and Anderson while American Alpha eliminate the Shining Stars. But then pretty much after that, the match starts picking up. Slater does a stage dive off the top rope onto a sea of people below. American Alpha take Cesaro and Sheamus down. Gable takes a run at Jason, who throws Gable over his head onto everyone outside. Jason then tries to dive, but Gallows intercepts him. Him and Anderson take Jason out to eliminate American Alpha. Team Raw starts ganging up on Slater, but Gallows knocks Enzo off the apron accidentally, and so he starts arguing with Cass. They pretty much allow Slater to tag Rhyno in. Rhyno Gores Gallows and eliminates them. Then Enzo and Cass eliminate Rhyno, leaving Team SmackDown with the Usos. Usos drop Enzo with a superkick and a splash to eliminate Enzo and Cass. So now its down to The Usos against Cesaro and Sheamus. And this final stretch is awesome. Of course, this was at the time when Cesaro and Sheamus were only starting to team and still didn’t like each other. So looking at it that way, The Usos seemingly have the advantage. Usos go to hit Sheamus with a double superkick, but Cesaro shoves him out of the way to eat the kicks himself. Sheamus then drops Jimmy with a Brogue Kick, leaving him and Jey to go at it. Sheamus gets Jey up for an Celtic Cross on the second rope, but they’re in SmackDown’s corner and Jimmy tags himself in. So Sheamus hits the cross off the second rope and Jimmy comes off with a splash. He covers Sheamus and Cesaro saves it with a double stomp! Cesaro bounces off the second rope to hit a twisting uppercut to Jey. He drops Jimmy with a running uppercut outside before he hits the second rope to hit Jey with a crossbody. Cesaro swings Jey before attempting to put him in the Sharpshooter. But Jimmy comes in to kick Cesaro’s knee out and hits a suicide dive on Sheamus. Jey uses this to put Cesaro in the Tequila Sunrise. But Cesaro pushes Jey off and reverses it back into a Sharpshooter. Jey crawls towards the ropes, and nearly reaches them, but Cesaro pulls him back to the center of the ring. Jimmy comes out and goes to superkick Cesaro, but Sheamus saves him with Brogue Kick before Jimmy could strike. Jey taps out and Team Raw take another W. What a finish!

My Rating: ***3/4

Match 4: Cruiserweight Championship Match - The Brian Kendrick (c) def. Kalisto via DQ (12:25)

Yet another pretty decent match. The crowd was dead for pretty much all of it sadly. And it also suffers from a bad finish. The stipulation was that if Kalisto won, he would take the Cruiserweight division to SmackDown. They each try to hit their finishes early. Kalisto is able to throw Kendrick off early, but Kendrick traps Kalisto’s upper body between the steps and the ring post and kicks it. From there, Kendrick mainly has the advantage and wears Kalisto down. But if Kendrick stayed on top the whole way, this would be very boring. The turning point for Kalisto is when he hits a spanish fly off the ring apron. Kalisto hits a suicide dive to the outside and throws Kendrick back in. He goes to the top rope, but Kendrick meets him up there, and hooks his arm around Kalisto’s neck and takes Kalisto to the mat and just squeezes Kalisto’s neck. Kalisto reaches the ropes to break the hold and starts to comeback again. He hits Kendrick with a Sliced Bread No. 2. But Kendrick is too close to the ropes and puts his foot on the bottom rope. Kalisto goes to the apron and sets Kendrick up for something, but then Baron Corbin runs in from behind and attacks Brian, causing the referee to call for the bell. Kalisto springboards into the loving arms of Corbin, who hits his cool as finisher before leaving. Unfortunately, that leaves this match with a lousy finish.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 5: Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match - Team SmackDown (AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton & Shane McMahon) def. Team Raw (Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman) (52:55)

Good fucking lord, this match was long. But you know what, it was good. Not as good as I remember it to be honest, considering there’s periods where there’s pretty much nothing happening. But man, this match had so much to love about it that it makes it worth it. The start of the match is just different pairs of guys going at it, they really tease us with a Styles and Rollins face off, but AJ just tags in Dean. Pretty much everyone but Braun gets a turn in the ring before they all just go gung ho and start fighting in the middle of the ring. Braun tags himself, making him one of the legal men. The poor referee has no clue what to do as both teams go at it. Kevin dives on everybody outside. Styles and Ambrose knock Reigns and Rollins out in the ring. And then for some reason, they start fighting. Again, just being petty. Shane tries to get between them, but Styles knocks Ambrose down from behind, allowing Strowman to come in and hit Dean with a running powerslam to eliminate him. Ambrose is the first man out after 15 minutes. And then Strowman single handedly tearing apart the SmackDown team. He catches AJ off a springboard and fucking flings him into outer space. Orton tries to catch him by surprise with an RKO, but Strowman throws him off. Bray Wyatt, his old leader tries to sway him into helping them. But Strowman rejects Bray and dropkicks him to the outside. Strowman starts tearing apart the announce table. But Orton comes up behind and RKOs him onto the table. Bray and Orton set Braun up on the table, and motion for Shane to go to the top rope where he drops an elbow through Braun through the table. Styles picks Shane back up and throws him back in the ring. While Strowman is counted out thanks to none other… than James Ellsworth, who was hiding underneath the ring and clung to Braun’s ankle, stopping him from reentering the ring. Braun chases Ellsworth up the ramp and fucking tosses him off the stage through some tables down there! Then the match slows down, and after a period of almost nothing going on, we get not one, but 2 eliminations. AJ throws a shot at KO who was minding his business on the apron. AJ goes for a Styles Clash on Jericho, but Kevin hits AJ with the List of Jericho and the referee disqualifies him. Seth and Roman watch Kevin go up the ramp as Jericho collects the pages from his list off the mat, Orton tags himself in and eliminates Jericho with an RKO. Leaving us with Rollins and Reigns as the remaining members of Team Raw against 4. Shane sets Roman down in Raw corner, Seth has been taken out and Shane goes coast to coast, only to get speared out of the air by Roman. Shane is eliminated but he scares the crap out of everyone in the process. I don’t know if he was just horribly selling or was got actually fucked up. But he got his shoulder up on the pin and they just say he’s eliminated. Whatever happened, Shane is out and now Seth and Roman slightly have less of a handicap. One thing I noticed here is that it’s down to heels vs babyfaces here. Rollins and Styles actually do wind up facing off and wrestling… but it lasts for like 2 minutes. Roman and Rollins tear apart the announce tables outside and are about to put Orton through one, but Styles saves him and takes both men out. AJ gets back in the ring to gloat, but as he does, Ambrose runs back down to attack him because Dean no longer cares to get that W, he just wants to fuck AJ up. Security comes down to restrain Dean, but Seth and Roman see all of this happen and help out Dean, taking out the team of security guards together, the crowd loses their minds. They pick Styles back up. Seth and Dean lift him onto Roman’s shoulders and they drop him through the announce table. They throw Styles back inside and Rollins eliminates him. Now it’s Seth and Roman against Bray and Orton. Bray and Randy surround the ring and Luke Harper comes out from under the ring, which is kinda funny to think he was probably chilling with Ellsworth under there earlier. This final stretch isn’t as good as The Usos vs the future Bar earlier, but this is still very good. Seth and Bray fight on the inside while Roman and Orton go outside. The referee doesn’t see Harper toss Roman into the ring post and drop him with a superkick. Rollins goes up top for a frog splash, but Bray rolls out of the way and Orton catches him in an RKO. Bray covers Seth to eliminate him. So now it’s just Roman Reigns left for Team Raw. And Roman decides the best strategy… is to charge straight, balls to the walls! He superman punches Orton off the apron, knocks Bray down, gives him a drive-by. He ducks a clothesline from Harper and hits him with a Spear. Roman goes back in and sets up in the corner, to finish Bray with a Spear, but as he charges, Orton saves Bray by shoving him out of Roman’s path, taking the Spear himself, allowing Bray to hit Sister Abigail on Roman to win the match for Team SmackDown. Another sweet finish! And even better, Bray got the final pinfall! Which, considering the kind of 2016 he had, he really needed at the time. This match has its flaws but I think the good outweighs the bad.

My Rating: ****1/4

Main Event: Goldberg def. Brock Lesnar (1:25)

Fantasy warfare just got real! Even though this match happened already 12 years ago. But it just got real… What a lame tagline. Anyway, what do I think of this? I love it and hate it at the same time. On one hand, Goldberg returning to the ring and squashing the most dominant wrestler in possibly the entire history of WWE was a surprise. If you say you saw this coming, you’re a liar. On the other hand, I don’t like that this made Goldberg pretty much better than the entire roster at the time. Brock beat everyone and Goldberg just came back at 50 years old to make him his bitch. Brock lifts Goldberg and backs him into the corner, and Goldberg just shoves him to the mat. Brock gets up, he gets knocked down with a Spear. Goldberg sets up another one and Spears Brock again. And Lesnar sells it beautifully. He is squirming in pain. Goldberg picks Brock back up and hits a Jackhammer to beat Lesnar in less than 2 minutes. Goldberg celebrates with his kid and then the show ends.

Cagematch Rating: 6.40

My Rating: 9/10

Honestly, I loved this show. I can’t believe it’s this low. I won’t say its a perfect show. But this is when the concept of Raw vs SmackDown wasn’t so overused as it would be in later years. Pretty much the only match that wasn’t very good was the opener. That’s basically it. From an in-ring standpoint, there was nearly nothing to hate on this show. Overall, I found this to be a great show.

 

[Jarf]

Bad Blood 2024

Match 1: Hell in a Cell Match - CM Punk def. Drew McIntyre (31:23)

For more reasons than one, I was left speechless after seeing this match. First off, WWE made a massive mistake having this go first and not last. Because how the hell do you, can you have another match after this. And after the many, many years of Vince abusing the hell out of this match, speaking of its brutality and producing matches with absolutely no brutality whatsoever, Hell in a Cell has been restored to its former blood glory thanks to CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, who had one of the best matches I’ve ever seen. This was a blood feud and a blood feud can only end in blood. And there was plenty of that. Less than 10 minutes into the match, both men’s backs already start to show the scars. Drew hits a Claymore on Punk outside the ring. He picks him up and flings him into the cage face first, busting him open. And Drew gets this smirk on his face. And then Drew starts to really enjoy himself as he tortures Punk and a wrench into Punk’s open wound. Drew sets up a table outside the ring that will come into play later. But Punk fulfills his promise of making Drew bleed when he smacks him into the head with a toolbox. And the blood starts flowing. Literally flowing! Punk’s wound looks like a papercut compared to Drew’s. Punk manages to give Drew a GTS and Drew falls out of the ring so Punk can’t pin him. Punk picks Drew back up and throws him back in, only to be met with another Claymore which Punk kicks out of. Both men start exchanging blows. Drew headbutts Punk, Punk kicks Drew in the head and both roll out to the apron. Drew grabs Punk with only the turnbuckles separating them. He lifts Punk over the corner and through the table Drew had set up earlier! Drew is the first to get up and grabs the steel steps, he hits a Celtic cross on the steps and then tries a tilt-a-whirl slam which Punk reverses into the Anaconda Vice! Drew reaches for the wrench next to him, and Punk just takes it from him and start beating him in the head with it! Which reopens Drew's wound because now, the blood is flowing again. Drew looks up at Punk and Punk tells Drew to "pray to me." Drew low blows Punk. And then he goes outside to grab a black bag that everyone including me thought was thumbtacks. But no. This is perfect. Drew stands over Punk… and drops the beads of the broken bracelet he stole from Punk months ago. The one with his wife and his dog's names on it. Drew backs up, he goes for a Claymore. And Punk dodges. Drew lands on his poor, poor back on the edge of the steps! Jesus Christ! Punk wraps a chain around his knee, picks up some beads and stuffs them in Drew's mouth before he picks him up and drops him over his knee with a GTS! Punk wins! Undertaker and Shawn may need to step aside because after 27 years, their may be a new greatest Cell Match of all time! Should've ended the show. That's a hill I'll die on.

My Rating: *****

Match 2: WWE Women's Championship Match - Nia Jax (c) def. Bayley (14:12)

I'm willing to give this match some leniency. They had a very tough act to follow. But even so, they really never got the ball rolling. Nia dominates Bayley early in the match and honestly bowls over her. Bayley starts to make a bit of a comeback. But then we start having a problem with Nia attempting to do more than she's athletically capable of doing. Like when Bayley powerbombed Nia out of the corner and then did a front flip on her back. And then commentary tries telling us it was a hurricanrana. Nia powerbombs Bayley on the steel steps, which what is it with people wanting to fuck up their backs on this show. The referee gets knocked out after Bayley kicks Nia in the head, causing her to fall on said referee between them. Bayley hits Nia with the Rose Plant, pretty much has the match won. And then Tiffany Stratton's (god awful) theme song plays. She runs down with the barbie Briefcase and hits Bayley with it. And then she looks like she's contemplating cashing in. And then Nia Jax sits up like the Undertaker and starts to question Tiffy. But Bayley tries to take advantage of that and rolls Nia up from behind. Nia kicks our and then gets kneed in the face. Bayley goes up to drop an elbow, but Stratton throws her briefcase at her to distract her. Nia takes advantage and knocks Bayley off the ropes, before hitting a Banzai Drop on her. Uh, wasn't too crazy about this.

My Rating: **

Match 3: Damian Priest def. Finn Balor (12:50)

Speaking of things I'm not crazy about, what the hell are they doing with Finn Balor? Did he seriously need to lose this match? Is he just destined to lose matches he should definitely win? Yeah, I haven't forgotten, Edge! This feud is now dead in the water thanks to this result. Priest and Rhea won in Berlin, he didn't need this win. This match goes basically how I expected it would. Priest beats up Finn, throws him around the ring. Balor starts to come back. But mostly, he is jabronied like hell here. I'll give them this, they tried. They really tried give us a show, but it just didn't click. Carlito and JD come down. Priest gets hung up by JD as Carlito distracts the ref. Finn dropkicks Damian in the corner, gives him a Coup de Grace and Priest kicks out. Priest takes out JD and Carlito and Finn starts dropping off the ropes with double stomps, and Priest doesn't go down. On the last one, Priest catches him and Priest hits South of Heaven for the win. And just like that, I no longer give a shit about this feud. Tell me why I should?

My Rating: ***

Match 4: Women's World Championship Match - Rhea Ripley def. Liv Morgan (c) via DQ (14:32)

Ah yes, the not at all tired shark cage stip. Dom, the Pete Davidson of WWE, was suspended in a shark cage above the entrance way so he couldn't interfere. This match got absolutely wrecked on Cagematch. I can kinda see why. As someone who really enjoyed their SummerSlam match, this was kinda disappointing. I think it was at least better than the earlier women's title match. Rhea starts the match with a dropkick and tossing Liv around, until Liv starts going after Rhea's bum knee. The match is alright, it just starts to become overbooked at the end. Halfway through the match, Dirty Pete opens the door and Rhea sees this. So she drags Liv outside, throwing her around some more and hits a Riptide on the floor. Dom gives everybody a heart attack when he falls out of the cage, and something catches onto the cage, hanging him upside down above the floor. Just think though, if he had fucked that up, he would've landed on his head. So Rhea throws Liv back in the ring, has the match won at this point. And I would just like to point out she could've done this after beating Liv, she goes out to grab a kendo stick and proceeds to beat the bricks out of Dom with it. But as she's doing, the returning Raquel Rodriguez blindsides her and causes the referee to call for a DQ, saving Liv's title. What a lame finish.

My Rating: **3/4

Main Event: Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns def. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu (25:50)

So now we get to the last match. Roman Reigns' first match back teaming with Cody Rhodes. And I thought this match was good. But it certainly took a bit to get there. As always, Jacob Fatu is awesome. Love that psycho. The match starts with Fatu and Cody. And then Solo gets tagged in. And they really tease us with this Roman tag. Instead of tagging out like I kinda expected him to, Solo tries to fight Roman. It doesn't really work out for him. But a distraction from Fatu, allows Solo to knock Roman down from behind. Roman tags in Cody, who winds up the isolation treatment from Solo and Jacob. Basically, the first half of this match is very skippable. You miss almost nothing. Cody eventually makes the hot tag to Roman. Roman comes in, cleans house, gets caught out of a Superman punch by Solo. Solo tries to spike him. But Roman pulls a crucifix pin out to reverse. Roman hits the Superman Punch and goes for a Spear, but Fatu stops him. He hits Roman with a superkick before him and Solo drop him with a double superkick. Jacob positions Roman in the middle of the ring and hits a moonsault off the top while Solo comes off with a splash. Solo covers and Cody breaks up the pin. Fatu and Cody wind up outside, where Jacob crashes through the barricade after Cody dodges him. And Jacob gets back up more pissed than anything and tosses chairs around. Cody hits him with a Cross Rhodes outside, and Jacob keeps getting up. So Cody hits a few superkicks to Jacob, who falls onto the announce table. Cody sees this. And deciding to return the favor for SummerSlam, climbs the turnbuckle. And I love how he salutes Roman before he dived off, splashing Jacob through the table. They're gonna be out the rest of the match which means it's down to Roman and Solo. Roman prepares to finish off Solo, but Tama Tonga and the GOAT TANGA LOA, run down to distract Roman, who takes a swing at Tama. And turns around into a Spear from Solo. Solo covers and Roman kicks out. Solo grabs Roman by the hair and screams at him saying that he (Roman) lied to him, and that he would be the next in line. Which is actually some really good storytelling tbh. But we fade out to see somebody wearing a hoodie and a bandana over his face standing behind Tama and Tanga. And it turns out to be Jimmy Uso. Jimmy superkicks Tama and Tanga, providing a distraction for Roman to get up and Spear Solo before pinning him 1, 2, 3.

My Rating: ***1/2

So after the match, Jimmy gets in and if I may say, Roman's character arc is incredible. He genuinely looks happy to see Jimmy. For about 3 and a half years, Roman cared only about himself but here, his reunion with Jimmy feels different. Cody comes back into the ring, he locks eyes with Roman before the OTC and Jimmy leave. The dollar store Bloodline comes back in and jump Cody. Jimmy turns Roman around, saying. "We gotta help him." Roman says "it was only a one time deal." And Jimmy goes "you gave him your word." Roman and Jimmy run back in to help fend off the attack. Roman eyes up Cody's title and then The Rock's music hits. He comes out… and stares at Roman and Cody… and nothing else. Legit nothing else since then. He might as well have not shown up at all. Good match, okay ending… but we all know what match should've closed the show.

Cagematch Rating: 6.36

My Rating: 6.5/10

Mediocre really. The fact that the first match was so good actually hurts the rest of the event. By the end of the first match, I'm burnt out already. You may think I'm being dramatic but imagine if Bret and Davey Boy opened at SummerSlam '92 instead of closing it. And it's not just that, but this is what everyone is calling the feud of the year having its dramatic conclusion in bloody fashion. I don't care who was in the tag match, I don’t care if it's The Rock. Him walking out and doing nothing doesn't justify it ending over the Cell Match. Not to mention the middle of the card which is just mediocre matches and questionable booking. Overall, one of HHH's weakest PLEs yet.

 

[Jarf]

SummerSlam 1997

Match 1: Steel Cage Match - Mankind def. Hunter Hearst Helmsley (16:25)

A really fun way to start the night off. You can never go wrong when you pair these two up together. Right away, they point out that Mankind will be comfortable in the cage and HHH will not be. And the cage is meant to keep Chyna out, but she gets involved a couple times during this match. Mankind starts the match beating up HHH. Chyna winds up turning the tide for HHH because the cage is made up of the blue bars and not the silver mesh that it usually is. It’s also not very tall. Mankind tries to climb up over the cage, but Chyna fucking elbows him in the dick. Ouch. HHH gets up and follows him up the cage, hitting a superplex from the top of it. Triple H has a chance to escape out of the door, but he decides not to, opting to beat up Mankind instead, wanting to end this feud between them. Obviously, it comes back to bite him in the ass later. As the match goes on, Mankind starts to come back and turns the tables. Once he puts the Mandible Claw on HHH, Chyna flips out. She shoves the referee into the steel steps, and slams the door in Mankind’s face. Then grabs a steel chair, climbing the cage, and tossing it over into the ring. HHH grabs Mankind and sets up for the Pedigree. But Mankind reverses it and catapults HHH into Chyna, flinging her off the side. Mankind drops Hunter with a Double Arm DDT before he starts to climb the cage. Chyna misses her cue and tries to go for the finish early, and HHH is like “get out.” Because Mankind is almost at the bottom when he decides to go back up to the top of the cage and drops an elbow into HHH’s chest. Mankind climbs back over while Chyna hops in and drags HHH towards the door. Honestly, this finish would’ve been better if she hadn’t tried to do it already, but you know what, it’s a pretty good finish period. Mankind reaches the floor first and is declared the winner. But instead of Mankind’s music, Dude Love’s music begins to play. He taps his foot and starts to dance towards the back.

My Rating: ****

Match 2: Goldust def. Brian Pillman (7:15)

The stipulation for this match is that if Pillman loses, he must wear a dress on Raw… We’re really setting the world on fire with these ideas. Pillman jumps Goldust from behind before the bell rings, and Goldust in turn… plants a big ol’ kiss on Pillman’s face. No gimmicked kiss either. Goldie’s facepaint is fucking smeared around Brian’s mouth. This match is pretty boring to be honest. And the finish is incredibly rough. The match is pretty even to be honest, which is preferable. Goldust tosses Pillman off the top rope and Pillman is supposed to get crotched on the top rope, but he misses and winds up on the floor outside. Goldust tries for a sunset flip, but… they really were not on the same page here. Pillman is supposed to sit on Goldust when he flipped over, but he was too far from the ropes and the spot gets completely fucked up. Pillman reaches the ropes to get hit in the face with Marlena’s purse and Goldust pulls him to the mat to pin him. So now Pillman must wear a dress… Okay.

My Rating: **

Match 3: The Legion of Doom def. The Godwinns (9:51)

As soon as that Godwinns theme hit, I groaned. But you know what, this might be the best Godwinns match ever. It’s not great, but it’s a lot better than I was expecting. Hawk and Animal must have controlled what they do. This match is a grudge match based on LOD breaking Henry’s neck with a Doomsday Device. LOD are the aggressors early and it starts with a fast pace. I’d say halfway into the match is when the Godwinns got any momentum going for them, by knocking Animal into the barricade. This part of the match isn’t that great, but it’s not long before Hawk is tagged in and he whoops their asses. The Godwinns are pretty much finished at this point. LOD goes for the Doomsday Device on Henry, but Phineas makes the save. They toss Phineas out of the ring though and then decide to give Henry a spike Piledriver instead and they win the match.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 4: European Championship Match - British Bulldog (c) def. Ken Shamrock via DQ (7:29)

You know, even for a 7 minute match, you’d expect these two to do better. Unfortunately, this match is pretty bad. It had a promising start with Shamrock charging the ring starting the brawl before the bell. But when Bulldog takes control, he has it for the rest of the match. And then it’s just chinlock city. Here are the highlights of this match. Chinlock, clothesline, chinlock, bodyslam, chinlock. Like fuck me. Oh yeah, 22 years before the dog feud storyline between Roman and Corbin, they did it here too. There is a can of dog food sitting on the announce table and at the end, Bulldog takes some straight from the can and slaps Ken in the head with it. And then Shamrock snaps. He takes the can of food and hits Bulldog in the head with it, causing the referee to call for the disqualification. Out of all the finishes I’ve seen, this is definitely one of them. Kenny has officially snapped. He throws Bulldog back in the ring and puts him in a sleeper hold. And he holds it for so long, that I left the room to get some water and he still had the hold on. The entire backstage staff comes out to get him off Bulldog and then Shamrock starts throwing referees into the mat. And the crowd goes wild for this! They love when referees get beat up apparently.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 5: Los Boricuas def. The Disciples of Apocalypse (9:07)

How does this keep happening? How is it that this match got booked on 3 different PPVs this year! Not gonna lie, this match makes those other 2 worse, because this should’ve been their clue to never book this match again. Let alone on another PPV! This is quite literally only 2 things worth mentioning, and they both involved outside interference. The Nation of Domination comes to the ring during the match, with Ahmed Johnson in tow. I don’t remember Ahmed ever joining the Nation. As soon as they get down there, Ahmed removes the mat, exposing the concrete underneath. Making it pretty obvious it’s going to be used at some point. And that point comes when both teams get in the ring and start brawling. Chainz goes outside to antagonize Ahmed for some reason, and he gets a Pearl River Plunge on not the concrete. Jesus Christ. Anyway, he gets tossed back in for one of the Boricuas to pin him. Who cares who? I never want to see this match again.

My Rating: DUD

Match 6: Intercontinental Championship Match - Steve Austin def. Owen Hart (c) (16:16)

Oh boy. The infamous moment that cut Austin’s career short. This is sadly what people remember the most about SummerSlam ‘97. And not enough people remember that this match was actually pretty good. I think this was on its way to being another IC Title classic at SummerSlam. Surprisingly enough, Owen is in control most of the match. And it’s probably due to him chopping Austin’s knee out before the bell rang. But Austin brings the fight to Owen early despite that, albeit while limping. These two clicked pretty well. Owen actually attacks three different parts of Austin’s body. The knee, his hand and his neck. When Austin starts gaining momentum, Owen tries to leave, but Austin follows him out and brings him back in. And then from there, it’s all Owen until the end of the match, following a belly to belly. And I’m sure I don’t need to explain what happens at the end, but its part of my job (that I’m not getting paid for). Austin whips Owen into the ropes, Owen reverses a tilt-a-whirl and picks Austin up in a Tombstone position. Drops on his ass… And it becomes clear very quickly that Austin is in a bad way. Owen stands up and starts gloating, taunting the crowd, soaking it in. But he’s really buying time because Austin can’t move. And doesn’t move for about a minute and a half. With Owen’s back turned, Austin crawls over and Owen falls on his back so Austin can pin him with a rollup that Austin has said “looked like shit.” 1, 2, 3. Austin wins, but basically loses his neck in the process. I thought about going lower for the end of the match alone, but this was good before that.

My Rating: ***1/2

Main Event: WWF Championship Match with Shawn Michaels as Special Referee - Bret Hart def. The Undertaker (c) (28:09)

I have to wonder how much time had to be shaved off for the last match. Gotta say, this match had a pretty good story. At this time, Bret and Shawn fucking HATED each other. Hate is a strong word, but they hated each other. And that was pretty much the main story. It should be noted that the stipulation was that if Bret lost, he would never wrestle in America again. But if Shawn showed any bias against Bret, he would also never wrestle in America again. This match starts with a quick pace. Bret takes the belt out of Shawn’s hands, holding it up before he clocks Taker in the back with it. Bret tries to get an early advantage, but Undertaker throws fists at Bret and throws him around. Undertaker drives Bret back first into the ring apron twice, weakening Bret’s back. But Bret starts going after Undertaker’s knees, chopping the big man down. Paul Bearer comes down randomly at one point and his only point for being there is for Undertaker to go out there and beat him up. It provides a distraction for Bret to run up behind him and chop his leg out. Shawn sends Paul Bearer out of there. This isn’t the first time this happens. Owen Hart and Brian Pillman come down to the ring, and Undertaker goes outside to beat them up now. Shawn comes back outside to tell Owen and Pillman to leave. I feel like he should’ve done that when they got out there, but that’s just me. Undertaker makes it back in the ring, and Bret runs into a Chokeslam. Undertaker covers Bret, but Shawn’s back is turned as he’s making sure Owen and Pillman actually leave. Undertaker gets up and picks Shawn up off the floor to argue with him. Bret takes advantage and rolls Taker up from behind. Shawn pins that, but Taker kicks out, knocks Bret to the mat and then backs Shawn up towards the corner. Bret goes back to work on Taker’s knee and his back as well, setting up for the Sharpshooter. Undertaker avoids the Sharpshooter, grabbing Bret by the throat. Bret is able to avoid another Chokeslam. The pace and intensity begins to pick up as Undertaker starts to mount a big comeback against Bret. Undertaker grabs Bret by the throat and Chokeslams him in the ring from the apron. Bret hits a superplex from the top rope before he puts Undertaker in the Sharpshooter. But Taker pushes off the mat and pretty much shoves Bret off him and Bret falls outside the ring in the process. When Bret comes back in the ring, he eats a clothesline. And Taker picks Bret up for the Tombstone but Bret slides down his back and sweeps his legs out, dragging him toward the ring post and crosses his legs, as if he’s locking in the Sharpshooter. Undertaker shoves him off again, but Bret falls into Shawn Michaels, who was telling Bret to let him go. With Shawn down, Bret walks over to grab a steel chair, and he wails Taker in the head with it and tossing it away. Shawn comes back in to see Bret covering Taker. But Undertaker kicks out of the pin. However, Shawn sees the chair and as Bret is stomping Taker out in the corner, Shawn grabs it and turns Bret around, questioning him about the chair. Bret denies using it but Shawn clearly isn’t buying it. Bret tells Shawn “fuck you!” Before he hawks a monster loogie in his face. Shawn’s patience has officially been exhausted and he swings the chair at Bret. But Bret ducks it, and Shawn hits Undertaker instead. Bret covers Taker and Shawn, with no other choice, counts the pinfall and we have a new champion. Great way to end an incredibly mediocre PPV.

My Rating: ****1/4

Cagematch Rating: 6.40

My Rating: 6.5/10

This show is a little hard to rate. On one hand, this match does have 3 matches that are worth watching. I loved the opener. Thought the main event delivered. With 3 standout matches, this should be a great PPV… If it weren’t for that terrible middle portion. Now thankfully, all those matches are short, but one after the other really makes me want to stop watching.

 

[Leon TrotSky]

What in your opinion was the worst PPV match involving a combo of DoA/Boricuas/Truth Commission

 

[Jarf]

What in your opinion was the worst PPV match involving a combo of DoA/Boricuas/Truth Commission

That's like making me choose which is my least favorite form of torture lol. Probably this one, but that could just be recency bias.

 

[Skyefire]

Hard to believe that DOA vs Boricuas made the card but The Nation of Domination didn't. With the Austin vs Owen match, the officials couldn't stop it because of Austin had lost he would have to kiss Owen's ass. Can someone answer me this, though, was there ever a stipulation where Jim Neidhart would have to shave his beard? If there was it was obviously dropped as he was absent from WWF for two months.

 

[Jarf]

King of the Ring 1994

First off, I gotta get this out of the way right now. Whoever’s idea it was to get Art Donovan on commentary for this show deserved to have their pay cut. It was made abundantly clear right away he knew nothing about wrestling and had no idea who anyone was. And why was he so obsessed with how much everyone weighed?

Match 1: King of the Ring Quarter-Final Match - Razor Ramon def. Bam Bam Bigelow (8:24)

We start the night off with 2 of the WWF’s finest. Bit of a snooze to be honest. But it’s 8 and a half minutes so I can’t complain that much. Razor throws a toothpick at Luna and Bam Bam jumps him from behind. Razor gets some offense in and starts taking the fight to Bam Bam. But after Bigelow sidestepped Razor and Razor tumbles outside. Nothing special in this middle portion as Bam Bam just lays on Razor and wears him down. Razor eventually comes back and he makes an attempt to put Bam Bam on the middle rope as he was going for the Razor’s Edge I think. But Bam Bam elbows him in the face and drops him with a bodyslam, before he goes up for a moonsault, but Razor recovers and throws Bigelow off onto his back, and covers him to advance in the tournament.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 2: King of the Ring Quarter-Final Match - I.R.S. def. Mabel (5:34)

Woo boy, what a piece of hot garbage this was. This match wasn’t even that long, but boy does it feel like the longest 5 minutes of my life. Irwin tries to jump Mabel from behind, and Mabel sidesteps him. He proceeds to beat on I.R.S. for a little bit before Mabel takes a tumble out of the ring. I.R.S. nails him with a nice clothesline and that manages to drop him on his back. Unfortunately, this now means I.R.S. is just gonna lay on him. So Mabel starts to come back and for some reason, they let him do a small package because why not. Mabel goes up to the second rope and I.R.S. shakes the ropes, causing Mabel to come off and he lands on his back. I.R.S. hooks the outside leg so he can grab the rope, as Mabel flops his leg like a fish. But not his arm. Legitimately, I.R.S. was barely on top of him, there was nothing stopping Mabel from lifting his shoulder here.

My Rating: 1/2*

Match 3: King of the Ring Quarter-Final Match - Owen Hart def. Tatanka (8:18)

We get to our first decent match of the night. Tatanka wasn’t exactly a technical wizard, but with the right person, he could put on a decent match. Example, Owen Hart. Tatanka attacks Owen right away as he enters the ring and the fight begins. The match takes a turn when Owen sidesteps Tatanka and throws him out of the ring. Tatanka lands on his feet and Owen goes out after him. They start fighting out there and Owen rakes Tatanka’s eyes before throwing him into the ring post. And it makes a nasty sound on contact. Owen throws Tatanka back in the ring and starts to chop and wear him down. But Tatanka eventually gets the ball rolling again. He chops the hell out of Owen’s chest, he throws Owen into the corner and Owen tries to leap back over Tatanka, but Tatanka catches him and drops him with a powerslam. Tatanka looks to have this match well in hand until Owen reverses an irish whip. Tatanka bounces off and goes for a sunset flip, but Owen sits down on him, hooking Tatanka’s legs and pinning him 1, 2, 3.

My Rating: ***

Match 4: King of the Ring Quarter-Final Match - 1-2-3 Kid def. Jeff Jarrett (4:39)

Gotta say, I was very impressed by Sean Waltman on this show. Both his matches clocked just a bit over 8 minutes and still he put on 2 pretty good matches. Starting with this one with Jeff. He starts the match just trying to kick Jarrett in the face. And Jarrett decides to start going after his legs, to maybe slow him down or eliminate his high flying style. It doesn’t last long though, cause they only have about 4 and a half minutes. The Kid hits Jarrett with a big heel kick that knocks him loopy. The Kid goes up and Jarrett follows him up there. Jarrett attempts a superplex, but The Kid hangs on to the top rope and hits a crossbody for a 2 count. The Kid starts to get more hyped and attacks Jarrett with his legs. He whips Jarrett into the corner, and goes for a dropkick. But Jarrett sidesteps and The Kid hits the corner and lands on the back of his head. Jarrett thinks he has this won, and that’s pretty apparent from how cocky he is as he elbow drops The Kid’s knee before going for a Figure 4. But The Kid brings Jarrett down into a small package to advance in the tournament. But Jeff being a sore loser, attacks The Kid after the match. He gives him 2 piledrivers and attacks his knee, leaving it a question if he’ll compete in the Semi-Finals.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 5: WWF Championship Match - Diesel def. Bret Hart (c) via DQ (22:51)

The real main event if we’re being honest. I understand the reason they did this match halfway through the show as the story they were telling with Jim Neidhart only works if this match happens before the finals… But even so, this match was great. If I’m not mistaken, Diesel was working with a hamstring injury during this match too which makes his performance here more impressive. Jim Neidhart is in Bret’s corner to keep Shawn Michaels from interfering. He does a pretty shitty job if I’m being honest. Diesel tries to bully Bret right away, but Bret, being the cagey veteran that he is, goes after the big man’s legs to bring him down to his size as Bret put it in a pre-match interview. But with the referee’s back turned, Shawn drops Bret with a clothesline on the outside and Neidhart chases after him. He never catches him and that’s about as useful as Jim is going to be all match. From here, this next big chunk of the match is Diesel wearing Bret down with Bret making small comebacks here and there that got snuffed out. The turning point of the match really happens after Shawn takes off one of the turnbuckle pads. Diesel goes to ram Bret’s face into it, but Bret stops that in its tracks and does it to Diesel instead. Bret goes on the attack, laying into Diesel with fists, and the way Diesel sells it is great. He’s rocked and stumbles back into the ropes. It takes many shots to the face for Bret to knock Diesel on the mat, but Diesel eventually crumbles and Bret is back in the game. He goes to put Diesel in the Sharpshooter, but Shawn gets on the apron and because Jim has been absolutely useless this whole match, he knocks Shawn off himself. Diesel drops Bret with a big boot, and stands over him, raising his arm. But Bret grabs his legs and brings Diesel down to the mat so Bret can put him in the Sharpshooter. But Diesel is already too close to the ropes and Bret is forced to let go. Diesel rolls outside and attacks Neidhart. And the referee is distracted by Diesel, so he doesn’t see Shawn roll in and knock Bret in the back with the title. Diesel gets in and covers Bret. But Bret kicks out. Diesel picks Bret back up and drops him with a Jackknife. But then Neidhart gets in the ring and knocks Diesel down with a clothesline, causing the DQ finish. Seriously though. If you don’t plan on having an actual finish to protect both guys, don’t book it! Neidhart is reprimanded by the referee, and storms to the back, not helping Bret as Diesel and Shawn get in to wail on him after the match is over. A great match that shamefully had a bad finish.

My Rating: ****

Match 6: King of the Ring Semi-Final Match - Razor Ramon def. I.R.S. (5:13)

I’m so glad I.R.S. was eliminated here. God forbid he had made it to the finals and I had to watch him wrestle again. The match starts on the outside as Razor goes out to meet him there. It’s a one sided fight early on, but I.R.S. soon gets the upper hand with a big clothesline. And just like earlier against Mabel, he just lays on Razor. Like come on, you’re putting me to sleep here. I.R.S. was trying to prove he was the chinlock master or something, I don’t know. Razor starts come back though as he sidesteps I.R.S. and flings him over the top rope. Once they’re back in the ring, Razor picks him up and drops him with a Razor’s Edge. Moving on now.

My Rating: *1/4

Match 7: King of the Ring Semi-Final Match - Owen Hart def. 1-2-3 Kid (3:37)

Very well may be the greatest match under 5 minutes of all time. In under 4 minutes, these guys really went at it. Before the Kid can even get in the ring, Owen drops him with a baseball slide. The Kid gets up only for Owen to dive through the ropes onto him! And that’s just how the match starts. Owen throws The Kid in the ring and immediately follows it up with a diving headbutt that The Kid kicks out of. Owen whips Kid into the corner, only for it to be reversed and Owen hits the corner hard before falling back on the mat. The Kid bounces off the ropes with a crossbody for a close 2 count. The Kid takes Owen down with 2 kicks to the chest and a spinning kick to the face. Owen knocks The Kid to the mat with a hard enziguri. The Kid kicks Owen in the face and gives him a northern lights suplex, but too close to the ropes, Owen gets his foot on it as the referee counts 3. But the referee realizes his mistake and tells The Kid that he hasn’t won yet. Owen rolls outside and The Kid follows him out, diving over the ropes onto Owen before throwing him back in. He throws Owen off the ropes and Owen catches him as The Kid went for a spinning heel kick and gives him a german suplex! The Kid nearly pins Owen with a victory roll, but Owen reverses it back into a pin of his own. The Kid reverses an irish whip and goes for a head scissors, but Owen catches him and drops him with a powerbomb. Then brings him back to the center, putting him in the Sharpshooter and forcing him to tap out. I’ll tell you, if they had given these two an extra 20 minutes, I wouldn’t have complained. But for only a 3 minute match, this was awesome!

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 8: WWF Tag Team Championship Match - The Headshrinkers (c) def. Crush & Yokozuna (9:16)

The Headshrinkers against the short lived tag team of Crush and Yokozuna. How crazy is it that just 3 months ago, Yoko was the WWF Champion in the main event of WrestleMania and now he was a tag team guy. The match starts with all four men getting into a fist fight. One that the Headshrinkers win, as they headbutt but Yoko and Crush out of the ring, causing them to need to regroup. The Headshrinkers show good teamwork in the start. But Fatu eventually gets turned inside out with a clothesline from Crush. From there, Crush and Yoko keep Fatu away from his corner. But after Yoko misses Fatu in the corner, and hits it back first, he was apparently feeling sleepy and falls face first to the mat. Samu gets the hot tag and the tide begins to shift for The Headshrinkers. They give Yoko a double headbutt, which makes him fall out of the ring. Samu climbs the top rope, but Fatu throws Yoko into the ring post, which apparently shook the ring and Samu gets crotched on the top rope. Crush follows him up and hits a superplex. Things start to look bleak until Lex Luger of all people comes down and distracts Crush long enough for Samu to roll him up. This finish gets fucked up because Crush prematurely raises his shoulder. You can visibly see the confusion. Crush clotheslines Samu out of the ring and Fatu gets in right after, hits Crush with a superkick and pins him to retain even though he wasn’t the legal man. Rough way to finish.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 9: King of the Ring Final Match - Owen Hart def. Razor Ramon (6:35)

I wasn’t expecting a classic, but I gotta admit, I was expecting more from these two. But to be fair, I’ve never had to wrestle 3 matches in one night before so I can’t blame them too much, I think maybe both guys were worn out by this time and that’s part of the reason why the match is so short. This match is nothing special as you could guess. The only really notable parts of the match is at the end. Owen just mainly lays on Razor and wears him down. Razor props Owen up on the middle rope and hits a back suplex from there. Then Razor decides to put the finishing touches on Owen. He sets him up for a Razor’s Edge, but Owen back drops Razor over the top rope. As Owen is talking with the referee, Jim Neidhart runs down and seemingly is helping Razor up, but then he clotheslines him and throws him into the ring post before tossing him back in the ring and pretending that nothing happened. Owen goes to the top rope and hits an elbow drop to beat Razor and accomplish the same thing Bret did in ‘93. The King of the Ring. After that, we have the coronation ceremony. Owen says he wants the only one in his family that he trusts, Jim Neidhart to crown him and declares himself the King of Harts. And he says it 3 times to really drive that point home and gives the camera a smile. Randy Savage on commentary pretty much tells us in the form of a theory that Neidhart was only in Bret’s corner earlier to make sure he keeps the title so Owen can be the one to take it from him. Which I actually really like.

My Rating: **

Main Event: Roddy Piper def. Jerry Lawler (12:30)

So after a… well, mediocre event, we get this pile of crap. Oh my god it hurts my soul because I fucking love Roddy Piper. Now to preface, Jerry Lawler did a segment on Raw where he brought out some skinny dude pretending to be Piper. I only say that because now that skinny dude is in Piper’s corner for this match and is somehow a focal point during it. Piper beat on Lawler for about 5-6 minutes at the start of the match. Like so long that I thought this was gonna be a squash. Lawler for whatever reason seems more interested in beating up the James Ellsworth of ‘94 than Piper and it costs him a couple times. Lawler brings the fan into the ring and Piper goes to check on him, which allows Lawler to take control of the match. And boy, he just lays on him, and lays on him, and lays on him. And it’s bleh. Boring. He hits Piper with a piledriver. The referee gets knocked down and Lawler pulls something out of his tights and hits Piper in the face with it. Just toying with him at this point. He puts his feet on the ropes as he covers Piper, but the skinny fan pushes them off. Lawler gets up and starts yelling at the kid, but Piper gets back up too and hits Lawler with a back suplex, and that’s how he beats him. Piper wins with a back suplex. And that’s the end of the show.

My Rating: *

Cagematch Rating: 6.42

My Rating: 6/10

This event had its highs and most certainly had its lows. I’ll start with what I did like, which was The WWF Title Match which got the most time. The two Sean Waltman matches. And Owen Hart was absolutely the right choice for the winner of the tournament. It only makes sense. It would lead to their Cage Match which was stellar, so there’s that. The twist that Neidhart was in it with Owen the whole time was pretty good. But as for everything I didn’t like, that was everything else. That main event suuuuucked. The show really didn’t have a whole lot to offer in excitement. And… Art Donovan.