Reviewing every WWE PPV in order from worst to best

[Jarf]

The Bar were awesome n I actually remember this ppv n match. Good analysis

I didn't like them teaming at first, because I wanted Cesaro to get a singles push, but they ended up becoming one of my favorite teams of the modern era

 

[Comrade Khan]

I didn't like them teaming at first, because I wanted Cesaro to get a singles push, but they ended up becoming one of my favorite teams of the modern era

I selfishly want Sheamus to go to AEW for a year just so they can redo that team one last time, but I feel you on wanting more for Cesaro and it never happening in WWE

 

[Jarf]

SummerSlam 1989

Match 1: The Brain Busters def. The Hart Foundation (16:23)

The Busters were the Tag Team Champions after beating Demolition for them. They explain the reason the titles not being on the line as the match being signed on before they won the titles. This was a hell of a way to start the show. A fast paced, smartly wrestled opener. The Hart Foundation have the advantage and just totally school Arn and Tully in the beginning. But I think it’s halfway through the match where they finally get some momentum going. They isolate the powerhouse, Neidhart and wear him down. After a few minutes, Neidhart makes the tag to Bret, who is able to turn the tides They are rocking for a bit and have the match well in hand, until Jimmy Hart gets on the apron, and distracts Neidhart and the referee. While Bret is pinning Tully, Arn comes off the top rope and hits an axe handle from there, before he rolls Tully out and covers Bret himself. Arn covers his head so the referee can’t see its him as he’s pinning Bret which was a good way to end it. Lame move to end the match, but since it was the 80s, I’ll give it a pass. Great match to start the show.

My Rating: ****

Match 2: Dusty Rhodes def. Honky Tonk Man (9:36)

It’s absolutely baffling to me that this company signed Dusty Rhodes, who was already a legend at this point in his career, and his first PPV match is against… The Honky Tonk Man? Yeah, longest reigning Intercontinental Champion, I know. Honky Tonk Man sucks though and I will stand by that. Dusty gets a hot start, but Honky takes the advantage and tries to wear down Dusty. And it’s so uninteresting… Such a snoozefest. The match ends with the spot that never ever works out for the heels. “I’ll hit him while you hold him” spot. Jimmy Hart swings Honky’s guitar at Dusty, but misses and hits Honky instead. Dusty knocks Jimmy off the apron and elbow drops Honky to get the win.

My Rating: *1/4

Match 3: Mr. Perfect def. Red Rooster (3:21)

Not really a whole lot to say about this match. Although I think I did hear they called an audible and ended the match early because Rooster got hurt on a duck down leapfrog. That’s really the only noteworthy spot. Perfect ends it with a Perfect Plex.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 4: Rick Martel & The Fabulous Rougeaus def. Tito Santana & The Rockers (14:58)

Another great match! And one I think is better than the opener. Much like the first match, this was smartly wrestled and fast paced. And with an added personal stake between Martel and Santana. Martel avoids Tito in the beginning of the match, until they take Tito down and isolate him from his corner, only then does Martel get in. Tito is in the heel corner for a while before he finally reaches Shawn Michaels, who comes in like a house of fire and turns the intensity up! All 6 men end up in the ring, a huge brawl breaks out, and the referee eventually loses track of who’s legal. Santana hits a Flying Forearm on Martel which makes the crowd pop HARD! The finish is honestly lame. Just a single punch from Martel was enough to knock out Jannetty, and allowing him to pin him. But even so, great match here. All 6 guys looked great. And you could tell Shawn Michaels in particular had a bright future ahead of him.

My Rating: ****

Match 5: Intercontinental Championship Match - Ultimate Warrior def. Rick Rude (c) (16:02)

Oh, boy we’re going back to shit… Nah, I’m kidding. This match was actually great too! Shocker, because it’s a Warrior match, but its also a Rick Rude match, and Rude was one of the few guys who could get a good match out of Warrior. Warrior puts Rude through the ringer early! Like, really whooping his ass. Even gorilla press slamming over the ropes and to the floor! Warrior gets off to a hot start and Rude has to do something. He goes after Warrior’s back and starts wearing him down. Rude was able to weather the early storm and now has Warrior in control. Warrior gets a second wind going, and is about to hit a big splash, but Rude gets his knees up, then tries what he can to put Warrior down including 2 piledrivers. But at the end, Rowdy Roddy Piper makes his way down, and because they have some beef apparently, Rude is distracted by the Rowdy one. Piper is here to flash his ass and chew bubblegum… and he’s all out of bubblegum… anyway, Rude is irate that he’s now seen Piper’s cheeks. This gives Warrior enough time to recover, hit the gorilla press slam and a big splash to win the Intercontinental Title. Surprisingly great match!

My Rating: ****

The show completely falls off a cliff after this match… a cliff so big that the fall isn’t scary anymore and is just boring.

Match 6: Jim Duggan & Demolition def. Andre the Giant & The Twin Towers (7:23)

At this point in the show, we’ve had three 4 star matches, which would get most shows a pretty high rating. The problem is, every other match on the show sucks so BAD! This was terrible. Just 6 big guys lumbering around. Smash gets to bodyslam Boss Man and Akeem, so that’s something I guess, but that’s about it, nothing interesting beyond that. The match ends with Duggan hitting Akeem with his 2x4 while the referee isn’t looking so Smash can pin him.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 7: Greg Valentine def. Hercules (3:08)

So somehow Ronnie Garvin got the gig of being the ring announcer for this match… it’s never explained how, he just is. He gives Hercules a regular introduction and because he’s feuding with Valentine, he insults him while he’s introducing him. This is probably the worst match on the show, but thankfully, it’s also the shortest. Basically, Valentine is more interested in Garvin on the outside than Hercules, so Hercules beats him down and Valentine wins by putting his feet on the ropes. Garvin refuses to announce Valentine as the winner, and announces Hercules as the winner by disqualification. Valentine attacks both men and gets his jaw jacked for it.

My Rating: *

Match 8: Ted DiBiase def. Jimmy Snuka via countout (6:27)

Oh, look, another bad match. Very boring and kinda botchy. It follows the 80s formula where the babyface gets a hot start, and the heel takes control and wears down the babyface. Snuka makes a comeback and looks to hit a superfly splash. But Virgil gets on the apron and distracts him. Snuka follows him out and brawls with him. But DiBiase follows him and jumps him from behind, then throws him into the ring post before getting back in the ring. Then Snuka gets counted out and thats it. Snuka attacks both men after the match. He sends Ted out of the ring before he hits a Superfly Splash on Virgil. Now it’s time for the main event.

My Rating: *1/4

Main Event: Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake def. Randy Savage & Zeus (15:04)

What a colossal piece of shit this match was. God, I hated this match. Zeus was treated like this unstoppable beast who could take anything Hogan dished out. The match starts out with all 4 men brawling. Soon enough however, Zeus and Savage wear down Hogan. Savage acts as the brains while Zeus acts as the brawn. Hogan makes the hot tag to Beefcake, who manages to get a Sleeper Hold on Zeus. But while the referee isn’t looking, Savage comes in with Sherri’s purse and hits him in the head with it. Eventually, Beefcake gets Hogan back in the ring, but he ends up taking an elbow drop from Savage after Zeus took him down. And because I’m not pissed off yet, Hogan gets up right after it, no selling it. Zeus gets tagged back in and while Savage and Beefcake are fighting outside, Sherri’s purse ends up in the ring after he she drops after falling in. Hogan picks it up and hits Zeus with it. Hogan bodyslams Zeus and hits a Leg Drop to win the match. Elizabeth gets some payback on Sherri after the match by hitting her with the loaded purse. So while I am glad Savage doesn’t take the pin, Hogan no sells his finish, which is even worse. So yeah, fuck this match. Suck my dick and also my balls.

My Rating: *

Cagematch Rating: 5.51

My Rating: 6/10

This is kind of a tough show to rate. It gives us 3 great matches in the first half of the show, but every match thats bad… is REALLY bad. Most of them are short, but that main event is just everything I hate about this period of the company. Most shows with three 4 star matches would probably be enough to get a 7/10, but everything else drags it down significantly.

Up next though, we’re going to the show where Hogan made his return to the company along with a couple friends. No Way Out 2002.

 

[Skyefire]

So Hogan and Savage go from having a classic match at WrestleMania to a total stinker all thanks to Zeus. And despite that Zeus still managed to get signed by WCW to have yet another awful match against Hulk Hogan. He doesn't have a rating on Cagematch.net but based on each of his match ratings it comes to about 2.75 which is helped out by the Survivor Series elimination match where he gets eliminated in a couple of minutes.

Andre at this point just can't go anymore. And yet at the same time he wasn't really putting anybody over. The only time he was pinned was by The Ultimate Warrior. One of his most common moves was getting tied up in the ropes so his opponents (despite being babyfaces) can attack him when he's defenseless. I think they put him in the tag team with Haku so Haku could do all the work and make Andre look good. I don't think Andre even tagged into the match at WrestleMania.

So, here's the Ron Garvin-Greg Valentine thing. Garvin beat Valentine in a random TV match shortly after WrestleMania. Valentine was furious over the loss and challenged Garvin to a Career vs Career Match which Valentine won, so Garvin could no longer be a wrestler in WWF. Thus, Garvin became a referee and was favoring the babyfaces especially against Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo. Garvin got physically involved in a match attacking Valentine causing Valentine to lose. Garvin attacked Valentine again after the match. Jack Tunney then suspended Garvin from being a referee, so Garvin became a ring announcer. Soon after Summerslam Garvin was somehow reinstated as a wrestler. Garvin and Valentine feuded and at some point I think there was an angle with Garvin having to wear a shin guard and Valentine and Jimmy Hart arguing it was a weapon and that it was illegal.

 

[Jarf]

So, here's the Ron Garvin-Greg Valentine thing. Garvin beat Valentine in a random TV match shortly after WrestleMania. Valentine was furious over the loss and challenged Garvin to a Career vs Career Match which Valentine won, so Garvin could no longer be a wrestler in WWF. Thus, Garvin became a referee and was favoring the babyfaces especially against Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo. Garvin got physically involved in a match attacking Valentine causing Valentine to lose. Garvin attacked Valentine again after the match. Jack Tunney then suspended Garvin from being a referee, so Garvin became a ring announcer. Soon after Summerslam Garvin was somehow reinstated as a wrestler. Garvin and Valentine feuded and at some point I think there was an angle with Garvin having to wear a shin guard and Valentine and Jimmy Hart arguing it was a weapon and that it was illegal.

OK, that explains a lot. Thank you! It was confusing.

 

[Jarf]

Hey guys, this post has nothing to do with this thread, but while I was watching Roadblock, after the Tag Team title match, Michael Cole said Sheamus was the 6th or 7th guy to win the WWE Title, US Title, the Royal Rumble Match and the Tag Team Titles. I know, I swear WWE makes these monumental moments randomly. But it got me wondering, who were the other people on that list, so this is the list that I ended up with. First things first though, I should explain I'm going under the assumption they only were counting the WWE Tag titles, while if you won the US Title in WCW, that counts.

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin: US Champion (12/27/1993), Royal Rumble Winner 1997, Tag Team Champion (5/26/1997), WWE Champion (3/29/1998)

2. Bret Hart: Tag Team Champion (1/26/1987), WWE Champion (10/12/1992), Royal Rumble Winner 1994, US Champion (7/20/1998)

3. Ric Flair: US Champion (7/29/1977), Royal Rumble Winner 1992/WWE Champion, Tag Team Champion (12/14/2003)

4. John Cena: US Champion (3/14/2004), WWE Champion (4/3/2005), Tag Team Champion (1/29/2007), Royal Rumble Winner 2008

5. Edge: Tag Team Champion (4/2/2000), US Champion (11/12/2001), WWE Champion (1/8/2006), Royal Rumble Winner 2010

6. Roman Reigns: Tag Team Champion (5/19/2013), Royal Rumble Winner 2015 (Grrrr), WWE Champion (11/22/2015), US Champion (9/25/2016)

7. Sheamus: WWE Champion (12/13/2009), US Champion (3/14/2011), Royal Rumble Winner 2012, Tag Team Champion (12/18/2016)

8. Randy Orton: Tag Team Champion (11/13/2006), WWE Champion (10/7/2007), Royal Rumble Winner 2009, US Champion (3/11/2018)

9. Seth Rollins: Tag Team Champion (5/19/2013), WWE Champion (3/29/2015), US Champion (8/23/2015), Royal Rumble Winner 2019

10. Rey Mysterio: Tag Team Champion (11/7/2002), Royal Rumble Winner 2006, WWE Champion (7/25/2011), US Champion (5/19/2019)

 

[Jarf]

No Way Out 2002

I’m going to admit, I watched this show while dealing with an awful case of vertigo, so maybe my judgment isn’t all that fair. But even so, I don’t think my opinions about this show would change. I thought this was absolute trash, and it being as high as it is in the list is baffling.

This show starts with the nWo, Hogan, Hall and Nash making their returns to the company. “The poison has arrived.” So what does the “poison” have to say? That the locker room HATES them and… it hurts their feelings. Wait… Wh-what? You wanna have a drink with the boys? You wanna thank Vince for the opportunity?! No! No! No! This isn’t the nWo! If you look up the definition of dead on arrival, you’ll find a picture of this next to it! This show sucks already and this was the main hook of the show.

Match 1: WWF Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Tag Team Turmoil Match - The APA won by last eliminating Billy & Chuck (16:16)

So after WWF killed the nWo, it’s time for a gauntlet match! Yay! Anyway, match starts with Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert against Christian and Lance Storm and that goes 2 minutes. Christian hits an Unprettier on Scotty. Up next is the Hardy Boyz and the 2 teams have an okay small match. The Hardyz win after a Swanton Bomb from Jeff onto Lance. Then the Dudleys come out and they have a decent mini match against The Hardyz. Stacy and Lita end up fighting in the ring during this match. Jeff dives onto Bubba on the outside, while in the ring, D-Von tries to hit a Saving Grace on Matt, who flips over on his feet and rolls D-Von up from behind to win. D-Von blindsides Matt before outside to hit a 3D on Jeff with Bubba. Next is Billy & Chuck. Jeff is out and Matt doesn’t last long by himself so Billy & Chuck now have to face The APA. Pretty sure Bradshaw bloodies Billy’s nose before they even get in. Billy & Chuck isolate Faarooq for a couple minutes until he gets the tag to Bradshaw who takes out both guys, hitting a Clothesline From Hell on Billy and the APA win. They’re going to WrestleMania to meet the tag team champions! And just them for sure.

My Rating: **

Match 2: Rob Van Dam def. Goldust (12:15)

Goldust attacked RVD on an episode of Raw because shrug. So this obviously filler match is happening. This match was pretty okay actually. It was your average TV match, but it’s alright. RVD throws Goldust off early with his athletic ability, but it isn’t long before Goldust starts to wear him down and takes control of Van Dam. RVD starts to make the comeback in the latter half. He misses his first 5 star attempt, but he hits it on his second attempt. An okay match here.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 3: WWF Tag Team Championship Match - Tazz & Spike Dudley (c) def. Booker T & Test (7:58)

Tazz & Spike is one of those oddball tag teams that I kind of dig. This is a typical tag match really. Booker and Test have an obvious size advantage and Spike ends up taking the brunt of the damage from them. But after a tornado DDT (that took him a while to finish) Spike makes the tag to Tazz. Spike hits a Dudley Dog on Test, and Booker pulls Spike out. He lifts Spike on his shoulder, but Spike shoves him into the ring post. That leaves Test and Tazz in the ring. Test argues with the referee, and shoves him, prompting the referee to push back, and Test is shoved back into the KATA HA JIME! THE KATA HA JIME! HE TAPS! So it’ll be Tazz & Spike vs The APA at WrestleMania… No it’s won’t be.

My Rating: **

Match 4: Intercontinental Championship Brass Knuckles on a Pole Match - William Regal (c) def. Edge (11:18)

This started out as just an okay match, but it soon breaks down into pretty much nothing. Edge however gets busted up in this match. Regal shoves him off the top to the barricade outside. Edge apparently hit his mouth on the landing, and he bleeds from the mouth. Regal then hits a Tiger Driver on the outside. There is a terrifying spot where they’re both on the apron, and Regal tries to pick Edge up in a powerbomb position, and Edge is supposed to reverse it into a hurricanrana. But Regal doesn’t get him up high enough, and nearly drops Edge on his head on the apron! Edge’s career could’ve been ended 9 years before his first retirement! Regal eventually gets the knucks, but Edge electric chair drops him from there, causing Regal to drop them. Then Edge, for some reason throws the brass knucks outside. Edge hits a Spear, before he goes back outside and grabs the brass knuckles. But Regal had another pair in his trunks the whole time and hits Edge with them to retain his title.

My Rating: **

Match 5: The Rock def. The Undertaker (18:20)

Can I just say that I fucking hate watching The Rock and Undertaker wrestle each other! I like both guys, but I hate them together, because they had almost no chemistry. Thats why they had to add Kurt Angle into the mix when they had that match at Vengeance later that year, just to make it good! It starts out alright, with The Rock not even bothering with his entrance and just sprinting to the ring to start the match, which I’m now noticing is a common Rock thing. But the rest of this match is a snooze. They also brawl outside the ring for definitely more than a 10 count. Towards the end of the match, Undertaker grabs a pipe from his motorcycle after he knocked down the referee. But Ric Flair runs down to try to stop Undertaker from using it. The Rock ducks a shot from the pipe, knocks Taker down and puts him in the Sharpshooter, prompting VInce McMahon to run down, so he can get his ass kicked by The Rock. Undertaker picks Rock up for a Tombstone, but while the ref is dealing with Vince, Flair comes in with the pipe, hits Taker with it. One Rock Bottom later and Rock gets the W. Extremely overbooked at the end, but that’s not the last or even the second to last time we’ll see that.

My Rating: **1/4

Match 6: Undisputed Championship #1 Contenders Match with Stephanie McMahon as Special Referee - Kurt Angle def. Triple H (14:55)

This was after Triple H and Stephanie were in the middle of divorce. So Steph isn’t on Triple H’s side in this match. Kurt rolls Triple H up early twice and obviously both times, Steph fast counts. Funnily enough, Steph is taken out almost immediately, after Kurt clotheslines her trying to hit HHH. For the next several minutes, these two get to have a pretty solid match. The best match of the night, but still nothing special, but compared to everything else on the show, I’ll take it. But as you can probably guess, this match is even worse in terms of overbooking than the last one. Triple H. Tim White filled in for Steph while she was out, but she eventually comes back after he gets knocked down. Then she gets knocked down again. Triple H hits a Pedigree. Tim White slowly makes the count, but Steph elbow drops him, before she turns him around and stomps on his balls, which I’m sure was the fantasy of many men at this time. Triple H teases hitting the Pedigree on Steph, but Kurt hits HHH in the back with a steel chair before hitting the OLYMPIC SLAM to win the match. So Kurt Angle is going to WrestleMania… except no he’s not.

My Rating: ***1/4

Main Event: Undisputed Championship Match - Chris Jericho (c) def. Steve Austin (22:24)

I have to say, WWF fucked up by having Kurt win the last match. HHH eventually wins back the title shot, but now people are thinking that Kurt is taking that spot. So now the choices for him to face are either Chris Jericho or Stone Cold. There was no way WWE were going to do a heel vs heel Mania main event, and Stone Cold vs Kurt Angle would’ve been a fine Mania Main Event… if they hadn’t wrestled each other 100 times in 2001. That’s just my opinion on it, maybe people felt differently at the time, but considering the crowd was mostly dead for this match, I imagine investment was low. Now onto the match itself. Was it bad? No. Was it good? Also no. It was just average. But I would say painfully average. Not the caliber of performance you would expect from these two, and whats worse is it’s the main event. The crowd does pop a little when Austin puts Jericho in the Walls of Jericho. But that’s it. Towards the end, we have… you wanna guess? Another ref bump. Is Russo booking this show? Stone Cold hits a Stunner, but there’s no referee to count the pin. But while the referee is down, “the poison” runs down to the ring and they beat up Austin, where Scott Hall hits Austin with one of the worst Stunners ever. And that’s what Jericho wins the match with. nWo get back in the ring to beat up Austin some more, so Hall can hit, yet another awful Stunner on Austin, before they spraypaint NWO on Austin’s back. And finally, this terrible show is over.

My Rating: **1/2

Cagematch Rating: 5.54

My Rating: 4/10

What a shit show. Somehow, this show feels like they wanted it to be really good, but at the same time, put no effort into making it good. This was a filler show through and through, just wasting time before we get to the season finale known as WrestleMania. And the nWo’s return sucked ass. They did almost nothing this whole show. They cut a promo at the beginning, saying their feelings were hurt and they had a couple backstage segments with Austin and Rock. Then they cost Austin the main event. That impact would’ve been felt if they had shown up here at the end. How the hell is this show so much higher than King of the Ring from this year?

Well… we inevitably had to go back to 1995 eventually… My next show will be In Your House 2: The One With the Lumberjacks.

 

[Skyefire]

Tazz and Spike Dudley retain the Tag Team titles, they are going to defend the belts at WrestleMania...nope, Tazz won't be involved in WrestleMania while Spike will be Hardcore Champion for a whole 10 minutes. But, Kurt Angle wins the #1 contender's match, it will be him vs Jericho at WrestleMania for the belt...nope, Angle would not be involved in the World Title match at all, not even a triple threat or fatal 4-way like at WM 16 and 22. Instead Kurt would have a random mid-card match with Kane, while Jericho and HHH will have a forgettable World Title Match. And the nWo beats down Austin, surely Austin will have a major match with the nWo at WrestleMania...nope, Austin will have a mid-card match with Scott Hall while The Rock will get the headlining match with Hogan.

 

[Jarf]

Tazz and Spike Dudley retain the Tag Team titles, they are going to defend the belts at WrestleMania...nope, Tazz won't be involved in WrestleMania while Spike will be Hardcore Champion for a whole 10 minutes. But, Kurt Angle wins the #1 contender's match, it will be him vs Jericho at WrestleMania for the belt...nope, Angle would not be involved in the World Title match at all, not even a triple threat or fatal 4-way like at WM 16 and 22. Instead Kurt would have a random mid-card match with Kane, while Jericho and HHH will have a forgettable World Title Match. And the nWo beats down Austin, surely Austin will have a major match with the nWo at WrestleMania...nope, Austin will have a mid-card match with Scott Hall while The Rock will get the headlining match with Hogan.

Yep. Pretty much everything this show set up was undone haha.

 

[Jarf]

In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks

Match 1: The Roadie def. 1-2-3 Kid (7:26)

Starting the show off with a quick and solid opener. Decent. Who’d have thunk these 2 would be pals a few years later? The Kid jumps Roadie before he gets to the ring and drags him in and shows off his athletic ability early. He floors Roadie totally until Roadie hits a powerslam and starts wearing down The Kid. At some point, they cut backstage to Jeff Jarrett with a comically small TV sitting behind him. Vince is like “he’s not even paying attention.” Yeah, cause he can’t even find the TV, haha. Anyway, The Kid gets a short lived comeback in and the match ends something I’ve never seen, at least not in WWE. Roadie hits a piledriver from the top rope to finish the Kid off!

My Rating: ***

Match 2: Men on a Mission def. Razor Ramon & Savio Vega (10:09)

Look, everyone its the King of the Ring as Vince and Lawler reminds us of constantly, giving me flashbacks to one of the worst shows I’ve watched in this thread. King Mabel and Sir Mo isolate Savio from his corner for a boring amount of time, until Vega eventually reaches Razor who comes in and lays into both men on the heel team. The one good part of this match is when Mabel, somehow, gets on the top turnbuckle and Razor throws him off. That got a pop out of me, won’t lie. Savio and Mo end up on the outside while Mabel squashes Razor in the corner and then hits a side slam to win the match.

My Rating: *1/2

Now I have done a good job of not fast forwarding during any parts of this series so far, no matter how awful it is. I could not sit through the Jeff Jarrett concert. I was unable to do it.

Match 3: Bam Bam Bigelow def. Henry Godwinn (5:33)

Oh yeah, this match happened. I guess I’ll talk about it. It started off being a brawl at first, but soon enough, Henry just starts wearing down Bam Bam. But as you could guess from the time, that didn’t last long and Bam Bam gets a come back in. He goes up, and misses the diving headbutt, before Henry himself goes up and misses whatever the heck he was going for and Bam Bam covers him to win.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 4: Intercontinental Championship Match - Shawn Michaels def. Jeff Jarrett (c) (20:01)

Now youtube wrestling reviewers and even Meltzer himself are very high on this match. So I went into it expecting a classic… and what a match it was. Amazing technical match! Not as good as I was expecting it to be, but a fantastic match nonetheless! This was very well paced throughout the whole match. Shawn messes with Jeff and The Roadie early and has the upper hand. Until Jarrett back drops Shawn over the ropes and onto the floor outside which was no doubt an awful spot to take. Jeff starts to wear down Shawn and works over his knees and back. Shawn almost gets counted out after The Roadie jumps him from behind with the ref’s back turned. The Roadie consistently gets involved, which gives Shawn an uphill battle. But as we’ve seen many times, there aren’t many much better at fighting from down under than Shawn Michaels. He makes a comeback and completely turns the tide of this match, turning up the pace and throwing Jarrett off his game. Shawn is tuning up the band, but while the referee is tending to Jarrett, The Roadie chops Shawn’s leg out from behind. At the end of this match, Jarrett motions to Roadie on the outside and irish whips him, but Shawn reverses and so, Roadie, without looking, ends up tripping up Jarrett instead of Shawn. When Jeff turns around, he walks into a superkick and Shawn takes the win. Absolutely great match! Had a basic story told, but the pace was very good and Shawn is a master of working this style.

My Rating: ****1/2

Match 5: WWF Tag Team Championship Match - Owen Hart & Yokozuna (c) def. The Allied Powers (10:54)

Much like the opener, a very solid match, but nothing too good. They tease dissension between Owen and Yoko early, but they make up very quickly. They isolate Bulldog from his corner for a while, and Bulldog eventually makes the hot tag to Luger. Luger and Bulldog both work together to turn the match around in their favor. Owen gets knocked to the floor and they both pick up Yokozuna for a double back drop. Luger covers Yoko, but Owen dives off the top rope to an axe handle on Luger. Owen tackles Bulldog out of the ring and Yoko hits a leg drop on Luger and covers him to win the match.

My Rating: ***

Main Event: WWF Championship Lumberjack Match - Diesel (c) def. Sycho Sid (10:02)

Now in 1995, it’s only natural to end your PPV in the worst way that you can think of. This match sucked. I’d say it’s slightly better than their match at the first In Your House, but that’s a very low bar and that’s more for the added element of the lumberjacks outside than anything Diesel and Sid during this match. It goes exactly how you’d expect, whenever Diesel or Sid ends up outside, they get jumped by the face lumberjacks (Sid) or the heel lumberjacks (Diesel). One lumberjack in particular gets really involved, that being Mabel, who just beats the shit out of Diesel on the outside. Of course, this is to set up the worst SummerSlam main event of all time. Sid eventually hits a Powerbomb on Diesel, then high fives all the heel lumberjacks on the outside, and then when Diesel kicks out, he’s shocked. Sid for whatever reason, goes outside to fight with the face lumberjacks, and Shawn ends up hitting him from behind. Sid goes back in to get hit with a big boot from Diesel and that big boot is what ends the match. What a shit show.

My Rating: 1/2*

Cagematch Rating: 5.54

My Rating: 5.5/10

Honestly, I’d say the Cagematch rating is pretty spot on. This is certainly better than a lot of other In Your Houses I’ve had to watch. And if that main event hadn’t bombed so hard, I probably would’ve given it a higher rating, especially for that Shawn and Jarrett match. But just like everything about wrestling in 1995, (unless you were watching ECW), this show is just simply underwhelming. Good news is I only have 3 more shows from ‘95 that I need to watch.

Speaking of underwhelming, it’s time to fast forward to 2019 again, this time with Clash of Champions.

 

[Jarf]

Clash of Champions 2019

Match 1: Raw Tag Team Championship Match - Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode def. Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman (c) (9:40)

2019 was the year of random ass tag teams from what I remember and this match is a prime example of that. These 4 weren’t even teams before SummerSlam. There is the extra element that Seth and Braun will face each other later for the Universal Title. This match was okay, nothing too good though. Braun starts the match and tosses Dolph and Roode around. Seth gets tagged in and he ends up getting worn down by Roode and Ziggler. But Seth eventually makes the tag to Braun who bowls down the challengers. But Seth later gets tagged back in and he gets his shots in. But some miscommunication between Seth and Braun leads to them losing the match. Braun pushes Dolph into Seth, Braun and Dolph tumble outside, letting Roode hit Seth with a Glorious DDT and random tag team number 17 of 2019 are the winners.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 2: SmackDown Women’s Championship Match - Bayley (c) def. Charlotte Flair (3:45)

It’s actually comical how short this match, because they had a video package played before it. They’re in Charlotte, NC for this show so Charlotte is actually the one being cheered for once. Anyway, this match is pretty much Charlotte flooring Bayley. I don’t remember Bayley getting very much offense in. Charlotte goes after Bayley’s leg and after bullying Bayley into a corner, Charlotte pushes the ref out of her way, and Bayley shoves Charlotte’s face into the bottom turnbuckle which Bayley exposed, and then pins Charlotte to retain. And Bayley grabs her title and fucking sprints out of the arena! She hauled ass! And that’s a lot of ass to haul!

My Rating: *1/2

Match 3: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match - The Revival def. The New Day (Big E. & Xavier) (c) (10:15)

Xavier goes into this match with a bad knee which was kayfabe injured I think, but I think he came down with a legit injury later. So The Revival go after that. Big E. gets tagged in and he gets taken down after he gets distracted by Scott Dawson pulling Xavier off the apron. Xavier is down for a few after this and The Revival pick apart Big E. But Xavier eventually gets back on the apron and Big E. tags him in. Xavier goes buck wild for a little bit, but The Revival are crafty bastards and Dash chops Xavier’s leg out from under him. The Revival hit a Shatter Machine on Big E. on the outside and hit one on Xavier in the ring, but instead of going for the cover, they opt to punish Woods some more and Dawson puts Woods in a leg hold and Woods has to tap out. This was a solid match, but considering who’s in it, it should’ve been better. I was expecting this to be one of the best matches on the card.

My Rating: ***

Match 4: Women’s Tag Team Championship Match - Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross (c) def. Fire & Desire (9:05)

For those who don’t remember, Fire & Desire was Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. I also have to say that I didn’t like Alexa and Nikki being together at first since I felt like they were doing an injustice to Nikki’s character. But I love this idea that Nikki, the crazed psycho of all people, is the person who softened Alexa’s “mean girls” gimmick. There isn’t much to say about this match. It’s kinda botchy. The most exciting part of the match is R-Truth running out to the ring with the 24/7 title and Alexa almost pinning him for it mid-match. But apparently, Mandy made fun of Nikki’s appearance on SmackDown, so to see Nikki get the pin on Mandy here was a nice touch.

My Rating: *3/4

Match 5: Intercontinental Championship Match - Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. The Miz (9:35)

Sami Zayn was managing Shinsuke at the time, and while he did a phenomenal job, it was also a phenomenal waste of his talents. Sami actually has a mic and taunts Miz at the beginning of the match until they cut his mic. I wonder though if he was told to do that or if he did it on his own. I don’t remember much from this match the first time I watched it, but this was a very solid match here. A clash of styles that oddly works for it. It was back and forth which is much more interesting to me than the normal style that WWE employs. Miz goes after Shinsuke’s leg mid-way through the match and puts Nakamura in a Figure 4, but Shinsuke is able to reach the ropes. Nakamura attempts a Kinshasa, but misses and gets a Skull Crushing Finale instead. Sami distracts the referee while Miz goes for the pin. In the finish, Miz goes after Sami and knocks his hat off, but Shinsuke knees him in the head from behind, and then takes him out with one final Kinshasa to the face to retain.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 6: Raw Women’s Championship Match - Sasha Banks def. Becky Lynch (c) via DQ (20:00)

The match of the night goes to these two, despite the lame finish. These two really worked here tonight. This felt like a straight up wrestling match and a brawl at the same time. Great back and forth match. It really felt like these 2 hated each other. Full of great counters between the two. Sasha just screams at one point when she’s unable to pin Becky. After both of them have failed to put the other away with their signature submission holds, Sasha goes outside and grabs a chair and throws it in the ring. The ref goes to get it out, but Sasha grabs another one from under the ring and hits Becky with it. And she gets a 2 count. The match continues and Becky picks up the chair herself and takes a swing at Sasha, but ends up hitting the referee instead. The ref goes down and they end up brawling outside, into the crowd and into the corridors backstage. They make their way back to the ring. And Sasha grabs another chair, but Becky kicks her and ends up picking up the chair herself and wailing Sasha with it. Then only after Becky starts leaving with her title, do they announce Becky is disqualified. But even though this finish kinda stunk, this match was great and it leads to their match at Hell in a Cell which was even better.

My Rating: ****

Match 7: WWE Championship Match - Kofi Kingston (c) def. Randy Orton (20:50)

Aw man. This is just sad to rewatch honestly. I was so excited about this match. I was more invested in this match than anything else on the card, because it felt like a story coming full circle. The match isn’t… bad. It’s solid, but not really as good as it should’ve been. Not many spots stand out from this match. Orton wears down Kofi, trying to control the match and dropping Kofi on whatever hard surface around the ring. As the match goes on, Kofi fights back and after dropping Orton over the rope, he flies over on top of him. We get a couple cool counters. Orton later gets kicked in the head by Kofi, stunning him… or did it. Orton hits an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE! But Kofi is close enough to the ropes to get his leg up there. Orton then tries a punt to the head, but Kofi moves out of the way, ducks a clothesline and hits a Trouble in Paradise to retain the title. A solid match, but not really main event caliber. Which, I kinda hate to say it… was kinda Kofi’s whole title reign.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 8: No Disqualification Match - Erick Rowan def. Roman Reigns (17:25)

Didn’t care too much for this match at the time, but looking back on it now, this was a really good match even with the slow pace. Roman, at least at this time, excelled at gimmick matches. This was a very good hoss fight. Roman jumps Rowan before he gets to the ring and the fight is on. They brawl outside the ring and in the crowd and eventually comes back to the ring. Rowan puts Roman through a table not once, but twice. The first, Rowan caught Roman out of a Superman Punch. Then with both hands, tossed Roman up by the throat into a powerbomb position through one of the announce tables! Then they go out into the crowd and Rowan chokeslams Roman through another table out there! They end up making their way and Roman makes a comeback, hitting Rowan with the boom, then punching down the ramp. Roman from the top of the stage gets a running start… and eats a big boot from Big Brodie himself! Then Harper and Rowan beat down Roman together before Rowan pins him to pick up the win. And this will lead to that sick Tornado Tag at Hell in a Cell.

My Rating: ***3/4

Main Event: Universal Championship Match - Seth Rollins (c) def. Braun Strowman (11:00)

Just because people were more invested in the other world title match, I think I would’ve booked Kofi and Orton to go on last, but this was a really good match to end the show on. It isn’t too different from the match Seth had with Brock the previous month. Seth chops Braun down early with superkicks and a frog splash for a 2 count. Braun uses his brute strength to toss Seth around and club him. Braun does the run around the ring pounce. But after the second trip, Seth trips him up around the announce tables. Seth hits a couple suicide dives, and gets caught on the third. Braun picks Seth up on his shoulder, but Seth slides off the back, pushes Braun into the steps, and superkicks him onto the spanish table. Seth goes onto the turnbuckle and looks like he’s about to dive on Braun, but Braun leaps back up and pushes Seth off. Then Braun goes up and Seth goes up with him. They actually tease Seth hitting the superplex on Braun from up there, but Braun pushes him off and then hits a frog splash from there, but hurts his knee on the way down. Seth ends up hitting a Curb Stomp and Braun kicks out at one! Seth hits 2 more and Braun still kicks out. To finish the monster, Seth hits a Pedigree and another Curb Stomp and retains, making Braun look like a choker once again.

My Rating: ***3/4

As Seth celebrates at the top of the stage… the lights go out… and The Fiend attacks Rollins. This was exciting to see at the time… Significantly less so now that I’ve seen where it leads to…

Cagematch Rating: 5.61

My Rating: 7.5/10

This is a classic case of the booking of a show holding back the rating. But truthfully, the booking for this show was only mildly annoying instead of rage inducing, which is what I was used to from this company at this fucking point. And honestly, the action is pretty good. The only great match on the card is Becky vs Sasha but almost everything else was pretty solid.

From cringy babyface Seth Rollins to Snake Plissken heel Seth Rollins, it’s time to get EXTREEEEME once again with Extreme Rules 2015.

 

[Jarf]

Extreme Rules 2015

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Match 1: Chicago Street Fight - Dean Ambrose def. Luke Harper (55:45)

Yes, this match technically went on for nearly an hour. Because it’s what starts the show, but something happens several minutes into it. The match starts off with them beating the hell out of each other as you’d expect and it’s looking like this will be a really good match. But then they go backstage, Luke Harper hops into a car and Ambrose dives through the passenger window and Harper drives out of the arena… and they don’t come back until after 2 more matches have already happened. They go back to the ring and an official makes his way out. Then they just start throwing a bunch of chairs that they definitely didn’t all of in the ring. The match ends when Harper goes to the top rope and Dean throws him off into the pile of chairs. Then Dean finishes it with a Dirty Deeds. I guess it was a different idea, kind of. They did the same thing at WrestleMania 12, but it was 19 years later at this point, but still, I guess. But at the same time, fuck you for robbing us of a match that could’ve been much better. But at least the stuff we did get to see was pretty good.

My Rating: ***

Match 2: Kiss Me Arse Match - Dolph Ziggler def. Sheamus (9:16)

You can tell how much Jojo didn’t want to announce this match. You could hear it in her voice and see it on her face, she felt like an idiot having to announce a Kiss Me Arse match and then explain the rules to it. Sheamus works over Ziggler for a lot of the match, and wears him down. That was kind of Dolph’s thing at this point. He would get his ass kicked and then make an epic come back. Which I know thats common in WWE, but when I say Dolph got his ass kicked, I mean he’d get it KICKED! And how epic it is. Just throwing forearms that really stumbles Sheamus. Dolph hits a superkick on Sheamus and gets a 2 count. Sheamus spends a lot of this latter half throwing Dolph around and targeting his back. But Sheamus goes for a suplex, and Dolph counters that into a small package that beats Sheamus. But Sheamus doesn’t kiss Dolph’s arse. Instead, he low blows Dolph and Brogue Kicks him. Then he makes Dolph kiss his arse which is something I wish I didn’t have to say.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 3: WWE Tag Team Championship Match - The New Day (Kofi & Big E.) def. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd (c) (9:36)

God damn, what a sprint this was. Not a great match, but it’s exciting for sure. They pretty much just hit all their spots and go home. Crazily there’s a spot early in the match where Big E. bounces off the ropes and Cesaro catches him effortlessly. And I do mean, effortlessly! Cesaro doesn’t even stumble back or let his knees buckle, he just catches him! New Day isolate Tyson from his corner, but it doesn’t last long, he tags in Cesaro who throws Kofi around like he weighs nothing. He does the suplerplex from the apron spot, where he stands on the second rope and suplex’s his opponent from the apron, which might be my favorite move in the history of wrestling, allowing Tyson to follow that up with an elbow. Big E. hits the spear to the outside and back body drops Cesaro on the outside. Then New Day hit the Midnight Hour on Tyson on the inside, and Cesaro just BARELY makes the save. Big E. and Cesaro go outside, while Kofi tries a Trouble in Paradise, but Tyson catches his leg and puts him in the Sharpshooter! More chaos ensues and Cesaro gets tagged back in, and he does the swing on Kofi, into the dropkick from Tyson. Big E. gets back in to save Kofi and as Big E. and Tyson fall outside, Kofi rolls Cesaro up from behind and The New Day win their first Tag Team Titles.

My Rating: ***3/4

Match 4: United States Championship Russian Chain Match - John Cena (c) def. Rusev (13:35)

I was… not a fan of this match. Cena began the open challenge series the night after he won the title, so he was gaining some respect from the fans. The crowd was hot for this match at the beginning which was surprising. There isn’t a whole lot to talk about with this match, it was kinda boring. They just beat each other with the chain for several minutes. Later in the match, Rusev gets Cena in the Accolade, and Cena gets up back Rusev into one corner, but unknowingly giving him one corner he’s touched, then Cena backs up into another corner, Rusev gets a 2nd corner. Rusev looks up and realizes he only needs to touch 2 more corners. He touches a 3rd, but Cena pulls him before he gets to the 4th and hits an AA. The finish is actually pretty good. Both of them go around to three corners and touch them and only need to touch one more, the same one. Rusev tries to run for it, but Cena pulls him back and hits another AA and touches the last corner to retain the US Title.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 5: Divas Championship Match - Nikki Bella (c) def. Naomi (7:18)

A battle as old as time. Tits vs Ass… I couldn’t resist making that joke. I can’t tell what exactly it was WWE were trying to do with the Bellas at this time. It looks like they were trying to turn them face, and Naomi just turned heel. So Naomi works a heel style, and she’s fine, and Nikki keeps up somewhat. But the match isn’t very interesting. The one spot that sticks out is when Nikki is outside and Brie goes over to check on her, but Naomi kicks her away. Brie gets Naomi back at the end, when the referee isn’t looking, Brie kicks her in the face. Nikki then hits the Rack Attack to retain. Thank fuck the women’s revolution was just a couple months away. Something Nikki paved the way for in her own mind even though she was legit what the women’s revolution was against.

My Rating: **

Match 6: Last Man Standing Match - Roman Reigns def. Big Show (19:46)

I’m sure this match shocked a lot of people at the time. People were still booing Roman and they just about tired of seeing Big Show, so I can’t imagine there were many people who actually cared about this match. But wow, this might be Big Show’s best one on one match ever. They don’t do a lot in the early part of the match, but you realize they were just building up to spots. The crowd would chant we want tables and Big Show said “no tables” and actually broke one with his bare hands while he yells “I’M A GIANT!” He says that 3 times during this match and I still don’t know why? Was that supposed to get heat? Roman sets up 2 tables on the outside next to each other, but it backfires and Big Show ends up chokeslamming him through both of them! At this point in the match, Big Show is getting annoyed, but still confident. He tries for a spear through a table stood up in the corner, but Roman dodges and Big Show puts himself through it. As the match goes on, Roman runs around the ring and spears Big Show through the barricade. Big Show gets back up, and he looks like he’s about to chokeslam Roman off one of the announce tables, but Roman escapes, runs off the stairs next to the table and spears Big Show through the other announce table! Big Show gets up before he slumps back down, and Roman finishes the job by pushing the remaining table on top of Big Show. The ending visual is pretty cool with Roman standing on top of the table as Big Show is pinned underneath it. This was a surprisingly great match.

My Rating: ****

Main Event: WWE World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match with the RKO banned - Seth Rollins (c) def. Randy Orton (21:02)

The RKO is banned from this match, the stipulation chosen by Seth Rollins. And Kane acts as the “gatekeeper.” So basically, he just stands by the door. But the problem with that is that Kane and Seth are having some marriage problems. The early part of this match is nothing special, kinda boring actually. But I’d say after the superplex from the top of the cage that Orton hits on Seth, the match starts to get good. Noble and Mercury try to climb over the cage after Kane wouldn’t let them in, so Orton tosses Seth into the cage, causing them to fall off. Orton hits a draping DDT off the top rope, before he does the setup to the RKO. But instead, he uses the Pedigree, and Seth kicks out of that. Orton tries to hit a punt kick on Seth, but Seth dodges and hits an enziguri. Orton tries to leave the cage, but Kane won’t open the door. Seth tries to kick Orton, but Orton dodges and Seth kicks the door into Kane’s face instead. It does get overbooked here at the end and it becomes more about Kane than anything. Grandpa Kane throws the door into both their faces. He gets in and teases… for such a long fucking time, of hitting the Chokeslam on Seth, but he goosles Orton instead and Chokeslams him, but then he Chokeslams Seth anyway. He drapes Seth’s arm over Orton’s chest, but Orton kicks out. Kane picks Orton back up for a Tombstone, but Orton slides off the back and hits an RKO on Kane. But then Seth hits an RKO on Orton before he frantically slides out of the door. The show ends with Seth holding the title while Lawler and JBL argue with each other about the using of the RKO from Seth. But whether its fair or not, Seth retains the title and leaves with a big smile on his face.

My Rating: ***1/2

Cagematch Rating: 5.63

My Rating: 8/10

I think this show is underrated. Not every match is a banger, but it’s mostly good matches on this show. Roman vs Big Show being the best match of the night was a shocker. It isn’t the best PPV ever, but I’d say I enjoyed this show for the most part.

The next show I remember being bad and good at the same time. SummerSlam 2017.

 

[Leon TrotSky]

Big Show being good, never thought I'd see the day

 

[Jarf]

Big Show being good, never thought I'd see the day

He's had a couple great matches in this thread before. His Stretcher Match with Brock is underrated imo

 

[Jarf]

SummerSlam 2017

Match 1: John Cena def. Baron Corbin (10:15)

Man, oh man, they made Corbin look like the biggest nerd on the planet, and if I cared about him at all at this time, I might have been upset by this. Corbin lost his MITB briefcase after a failed cash-in where gets very easily distracted by Cena so Jinder can roll him up. You can tell how much Cena isn't taking Corbin seriously as the first thing he does is go outside and wears JBL's hat. This was a boring way to start the show, which I guess is par for the course with Corbin. He wears down Cena for a while. Cena gets very little offense in this match and then he just wins, Corbin beat on him this whole match and Cena just hit like a few moves and just won with the AA. Corbin looked like the biggest loser on the beach.

My Rating: **

Match 2: SmackDown Women's Championship Match - Natalya def. Naomi (c) (11:10)

What a weird match this was. A women’s championship match in the mid-2010s that didn’t feature a member of the horsewomen or Alexa Bliss? Looking back on it, Naomi’s title reign was kinda pitiful. She lost a 6-women tag at Backlash, had a bad match at Money in the Bank, and didn’t even have a match at Battleground. Still though, this match was alright. Nattie wears down Naomi for a lot of it. Naomi gets her comeback in, and actually manages to escape the Sharpshooter the first time, but then she misses a split legged moonsault, allowing Nattie to put her back in the Sharpshooter to win the title.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 3: Singles Match with Enzo Amore suspended in a shark cage - Big Cass def. Big Show (10:30)

My sentiments match the crowd’s here. BORING! BORING! BORING! Real talk, why did this match need to go 10 minutes. You mean you couldn’t have done this lame angle in five? Big Show comes into this match with a broken hand and he hits the KO punch, but Cass is able to kick out. Enzo tries to get out of the cage, but can’t slide through. But thankfully, he just so happened to keep a small bottle of baby oil in his pants… wh-why? He lubes himself up before he slips through the bars, he drops down and immediately gets kicked in the face by Cass. Cass hits Big Show with a big boot, and that’s it…. No, Big Show kicks out. Why?! JUST TAKE IT HOME! Cass winds up another kick to Big Show to end the match. What a pointless finish. This fucking sucked.

My Rating: DUD

Match 4: Randy Orton def. Rusev (0:10)

The theme of tonight’s SummerSlam is making the new stars look like giant nerds. Congrats to Corbin for not looking like the biggest loser on this years SummerSlam. Rusev jumps Orton before the match starts and beats his ass around the ring for several minutes and when the referee rings the bell, Rusev goes to clothesline Randy, who ducks and RKO’s Rusev into the earth’s core to win in record time.

Match 5: Raw Women’s Championship Match - Sasha Banks def. Alexa Bliss (c) (13:10)

I think I bet on Alexa when this match happened, because they were in Brooklyn, and WWE seemed to hate letting people win in their hometown. This match is pretty on par with the other women’s title match of the night. It’s just okay. Alexa works over Sasha for most of the match and Sasha gets a come back in. Alexa hits a Twisted Bliss, but Sasha kicks out of it, and Alexa throws a temper tantrum, and that is what pretty much costs her. Sasha gets Alexa in the Bank Statement and Sasha wins the title for a 4th time! Hooray! Can she hold on to it for a while? Hell no! She has it for 8 days and loses it back to Alexa on Raw. Okay… but why though? Don’t get me wrong, Alexa was my crush for such a long time, to the point where my dad called her my wifey, so I’ll go to bat for Alexa all day… But why though?

My Rating: **1/2

Match 6: Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt (10:50)

Now this is where the show starts to get good. I didn’t think this match would steal the show, but this was the one I was hyped for most. I fucking loved both these guys a lot at this time and Finn was going to come back as the demon. What wasn’t there to be excited about. I thought this was a solid match, and I think people think Bray looked like a pushover here. I disagree, I think he held his own fairly well even if he did make the WWE trademark shocked face when Finn kicked out. Finn gets an early sprint and overwhelms Bray early, but Bray’s craftiness keeps him in the fight. No particular spot stands out, but I thought that this was a solidly worked match. Finn hits a slingblade, a basement dropkick and finally, a Coup de Grace to win the match.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 7: Raw Tag Team Championship Match - Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose def. The Bar (c) (18:35)

With the guys involved, you knew this was going to be awesome, and damn what a match this was. Seth and Dean take the fight to The Bar early, causing them to regroup outside. Sheamus goes over to the opposite side of the ring and Brogue Kicks Dean, taking him out of the picture for a few minutes while the Bar double team Seth. While thats happening, some people in the crowd start playing with a beach ball, and this is the moment Cesaro won me over forever. Cesaro runs into the crowd, grabs that fucking beach ball and rips it to fucking shreds. Dean eventually gets back up on the apron and The Bar keep Seth away from him, but Dean decides he won’t stand by and leaps from the top rope onto the three men. He picks Seth back up and and throws him back in the ring. Seth makes the tag and the match gets really good. Some nice double teaming from Seth and Dean, including a spot where Dean superplexes Sheamus, and Seth follows that with a frog splash. As the match goes on, Dean gets put in a Sharpshooter by Cesaro, and he really wrenches on this thing! It’s sick. Sheamus hits a rolling senton on Seth on the outside. Cesaro transitions the Sharpshooter into a Crossface. Dean is able to reach the ropes and the finishing spot to this match is pure perfection. Cesaro and Sheamus are going for their celtic cross finisher, where Cesaro leaps off the ropes into Sheamus who has his opponent in the celtic cross position. Seth springboards onto the top rope with Cesaro and hits a hurricanrana! Cesaro hits Sheamus and rolls out. Seth hits a superkick, and a ripcord knee on Sheamus, who walks into a Dirty Deeds from Dean. 1, 2, 3. Awesome match! On most shows, that definitely would’ve stolen the show, but there is one later that ends up beating it.

My Rating: ****1/4

Match 8: United States Championship Match with Shane McMahon as Special Referee - AJ Styles (c) def. Kevin Owens (17:20)

My god, Shane was so sweaty. Holy shit. Man was breathing heavy 5 minutes into the match. This match definitely could’ve stolen the show, and they honestly could’ve if it hadn’t been for the overbooking of it. It’s a shame really. I wanted to rate this match higher ‘cause it was actually a really good match, but the ref shenanigans get old very quickly. Both men end up arguing with Shane at some point during this match, feeling like they should’ve won already. But it was a really nice back and forth these two had. At some point, Owens pulled Shane on top of him while AJ attempted a 450. Why Shane didn’t DQ Kevin right there, I don’t know, that was terribly blatant, but here Owens hits the first Pop-Up Powerbomb and AJ is able to kick out after Shane recovers. I love this one specific counter where AJ is going for a hurricanrana off the top rope, but Owens reverses it to get AJ in position for the Fisherman Buster! AJ hits a Styles Clash and Owens is able to kick out. He goes to finish it with a Phenomenal Forearm, but Owens dodges. AJ lands on his feet and rolls through. He runs towards Kevin who hits another Pop-Up Powerbomb. But AJ gets his foot on the bottom rope and Shane doesn’t notice it until he counts to three, but he immediately realizes his mistake and waves off the 3 count. Owens once again gets in Shane’s face. The finish to this match, AJ hits a Forearm and hits another Styles Clash to finish Owens off. Again, very good match, but it’s annoying that most of the attention was on the referee.

My Rating: ***3/4

Match 9: WWE Championship Match - Jinder Mahal (c) def. Shinsuke Nakamura (11:25)

This is fucking bullshit… This is fucking bullshit man. Nakamura was the hottest fucking thing in this company at this time. How fucking stupid does one have to be to fuck this up. If Jinder really had to retain here, don’t fucking feed Nakamura to him! I went into this match, with 100% certainty that Nakamura was winning. Why you may ask? “Because they aren’t that stupid” I told myself. As it turns out, Vince McMahon’s stupidity knows no bounds. And Gerald Brisco tried to shame us for celebrating Vince’s retirement. Blow it out your ass, you old fart. And the reason I’ve only ranted about this match so far, because the match itself was bad. I only remember one thing from this match and that’s the finish where they make Shinsuke look dumb as fuck, because he is easily distracted. They really just recycled the same finish to Jinder’s matches with Randy Orton, where Nakamura beats up the Singhs, Khallas. It’s over and I almost put my fucking head through the screen. Not only was Jinder Mahal still WWE champion, but they managed to make Nakamura, the hottest fucking thing going at the time, look like a dumbass and ended his undefeated streak on the main roster. Fuck this match with absolutely no lube! We’re going in raw to fuck this fucking match!

My Rating: *1/2

Main Event: Universal Championship Fatal 4-Way Match - Brock Lesnar (c) def. Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman & Samoa Joe (20:45)

The first time I watched this match, I was unimpressed, not gonna lie… but that’s probably due to the fact I was fuming over the last match. Watching it now, I can safely say that this fucking ruled! This absolutely stole the show and this match was what it needed to be. A colossal battle between 4 titans. Just chaos from start to finish. I’m just gonna go down the list of things that stood out to me the most since they did so much in this match! Samoa Joe puts the Coquina Clutch on Brock on the outside, Joe lets go just before Roman reaches them and spears Brock through the barricade. I like that Joe learned his lesson from the last time that happened. Braun tosses a chair at Roman and Joe. Braun fucking manhandles Brock and puts him through 2 tables and drops a third one on top of him. Brock gets taken out on a stretcher. Roman hits Braun in the head (legit) with the steel steps which looked awful. Braun gets cut from that, I don’t know if Roman hit him in the ear or not, but either way, that fucking hurt for sure. Braun double spears Roman and Joe and Brock comes back out, tackles Braun and lays into him with punches! The all pretty much hit their finishers, except for Brock and there’s near falls for days. Braun hits a Running Powerslam on Roman, but Brock breaks it up. Braun picks Brock up to him with one, but Roman spears Braun. Joe comes back in and throws Roman out. Joe puts the Clutch back on Lesnar, but Brock turns that into an F5. He hits it and goes for the cover, but Roman breaks it up. Roman hits 3 superman punches on Brock, and goes for a Spear, but Brock picks him up out of it and hits an F5 to retain the title. What a fucking match! Honestly, I think the match peaked in the first 10 minutes, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the match wasn’t a banger. Fucking great stuff!

My Rating: ****1/2

Cagematch Rating: 5.63

My Rating: 5.5/10

This show had some very exciting, very great matches on it. But overall, this show was fucking awful. Those 3 matches, (you know which ones) save this show from scoring much, MUCH lower. And as far as terrible booking decisions go, Jinder going over Shinsuke on this show doesn’t get talked about enough. If WWE really must have kept the title on Jinder (They didn’t), then they shouldn’t have fed the hottest thing going, the undefeated Nakamura to him. Aside from Bray Wyatt, I don’t think Vince has ever fumbled somebody as hard (at least in the modern WWE), as Nakamura.

Okay, so this next show has just gotten a lower rating than the one I just watched, so ignore the fact that it’s rating will be lower. It’s the show that seems insignificant, but was the start of something legendary… even if it has jumped the shark. Payback 2020. The first pandemic era PPV.