Reviewing every WWE PPV in order from worst to best
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My one complaint about the Jeff Hardy vs RVD match was after the ladder spot Jim Ross says "There's probably someone sitting at home and saying 'They know how to fall.' How do you learn to fall off of a 20 foot ladder?" He used that a few times over the years. They would have a rematch in a Ladder Match at Summerslam. It was not as good as this but still good.
Hey everyone. So I know what show I'll be watching next but unfortunately, something is going on with cagematch and the ratings for the show aren't showing so I can’t sort them and I don’t know if it's my browser or a problem with the site itself but until that gets fixed I won't be able to watch another show after this next one.
EDIT: Aaaaaaand it's fixed. (Smh)
EDIT: Aaaaaaand it's fixed. (Smh)
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Breaking Point (2009)
First off, just finding this show on Peacock was a pain in the ass! Normally when you type something into the search bar, it’ll come up and you can watch it. No matter what I put in, this show would not come up! So I wondered if it was even on Peacock. Oh, it’s on there, if you google search for WWE Breaking Point on Peacock, it’ll take you right to it. So why tf wouldn’t it come up?
Match 1: Unified Tag Team Championship Match - Chris Jericho & Big Show (c) def. MVP & Mark Henry (12:15)
The night starts with a very meh opener. I just couldn’t get into this match. Its starts with MVP and Jericho. And Jericho retreats when Henry gets tagged in and then Big Show comes in. Him and Henry do some slow big man moves. MVP gets tagged back in and he goes at it with Jericho. Big Show tags himself in and Spears MVP. They isolate him from Henry for a bit before MVP lands on his feet on a hip toss and DDTs Jericho. He tags Henry, who tosses Jericho around and drops a splash on him. Big Show throws MVP out of the ring, and Henry throws Big Show out next. Jericho tries to hit the Codebreaker, but Henry catches him and throws him over his head. Jericho sells his knees, causing the referee to check on him. Big Show gets on the apron and knocks Henry out. Jericho crawls over to cover Henry and champs retain.
My Rating: **1/4
Match 2: United States Championship Match - Kofi Kingston (c) def. The Miz (11:57)
I feel like I watched a different match than most users. This match has a fairly high rating with my rating being the lowest one for it so far. I was not into this match. I thought it was boring. I’ll give them this, Miz works a smart match here and controls Kofi’s high flying style. Miz just wears Kofi down the whole match and Kofi does a good job at avoiding Miz’s new finisher, the Skull Crushing Finale. Kofi reverses it 3 different times during the match. Kofi goes for the Boom Drop, but Miz gets his knees up. Kofi manages to hit the SOS and eventually the Boom Drop. Miz goes for the SCF one more time, but Kofi escapes it and sends Miz off the ropes so he can hit the Trouble in Paradise to retain.
My Rating: **3/4
Match 3: Submissions Count Anywhere Match - Legacy def. D-Generation X (21:44)
An underrated match. I thought the action and storytelling in this match was great. During DX’s pre-match promo, the crowd chants “You screwed Bret” because they’re in Montreal. The match starts out as a brawl. They wind up in the crowd in the backstage area. DX puts Legacy in duel Figure 4s. They come back to ringside and there’s some interesting ways of applying submissions in this match. HHH pulls Cody through the opening of a sit out chair and Boston Crabs him, and Shawn comes over and puts him a Camel Clutch at the same time. DiBiase makes the save. Both teams make their way up the ramp and fight up there. Cody and Shawn go onto a balcony and Cody pushes him off. Shawn is down for a while so HHH has to fight both members of Legacy at the same time. Holding his own for a while until they go backstage. HHH puts DiBiase through a table with a spinebuster and puts Cody in the Crossface, but DiBiase saves the match by throwing a fucking cooler at HHH’s head. And Cody knocks HHH out with a chair shot to the head. Shawn tries to save HHH, but he’s too late and is ganged up on by Legacy. Shawn fights both men off for a bit. Much like their Hell in a Cell Match, Rhodes and DiBiase go with divide and conquer. Shawn hits Cody with a superkick and throws DiBiase out of the ring and puts Cody in the Figure Four. But DiBiase saves the match and Cody wraps Shawn’s knees around the ring post and puts him in the Figure 4 there, then DiBiase comes up from behind and puts Shawn in the Million Dollar Dream. So Shawn has 2 submissions applied on him, but here comes HHH down the ramp. But he’s too late and Shawn taps out to Legacy, giving them a big win.
My Rating: ****
Match 4: Singapore Cane Match - Kane def. The Great Khali (5:52)
A craptastic match. They have canes sticking up out of the ring posts already because god forbid Khali has to go outside to get them. Thankfully the match doesn’t go too long but even for a quick match, it feels slow. All they do is whack each other with canes, as you would expect. There’s a couple times where Kane just watches Khali swing at him cause he’s so slow. Khali tries to put the Vice Grip on Kane, who swings behind him to hit Khali in the head. Ranjin Singh gets in and tries attacking Kane with a cane (hehe) Kane goosels him and takes it from his hand. Khali chops Kane and checks on Ranjin, but Kane whacks Khali with a cane. Kane chokeslams Khali and wins the match with that.
My Rating: *
Match 5: ECW Championship Match - Christian (c) def. William Regal (10:15)
A pretty decent match that gets plenty of time to get a story going. The match is back and forth and both men seem to be evenly matched. Regal avoids the Killswitch 3 different times during the match. Regal is vicious in his attack, attacking with knee strikes and gross looking suplexes. Christian bounces off the middle rope and sunset flips Regal. Regal rolls through and knees Christian in the face. 2nd attempt at the Killswitch, Regal reverses into a Regal Plex. Christian kicks out. Some more back and forth and Regal gets increasingly irritated he can't beat Christian. Regal shoves Christian throat first in the middle rope and goes for a running knee to the face, but Christian dodges and hits Regal with the Killswitch to finally retain his title.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 6: WWE Championship I Quit Match - John Cena def. Randy Orton (c) (19:48)
Wow. What a match this was. The pace is incredibly slow but the psychology is amazing. And from a character standpoint, I think this was a perfect match to showcase what sets them apart. Cena being the resilient superman (sometimes irritatingly so) and Orton being the sadistic bastard he is (especially at this time). Cena gets to a quick start, but Orton soon turns this match into a torture scene. Cena took an RKO on a chair on Raw so he comes into this match with a head injury and Orton goes after that the most. Over and over. And every time Cena says he doesn’t quit, Orton gets more and more pissed off. Draping DDT, a steel chair, the steel steps. Orton stomps Cena’s head into the steps. Orton brings out a pair of cuffs and wears the key around his neck like a necklace. He cuffs both of Cena’s hand and drapes it around the top of the ring post, forcing Cena to sit there as Orton attacks him more and more, almost to the point of passing out. Orton grabs a bottle of water and splashes Cena in the face, saying “YOU AIN’T PASSING OUT ON ME BOY!” The referee asks Cena if he quits and Cena responds by spraying Orton’s face with a mouthful of water… And Orton decides that Cena needs to suffer. He grabs a kendo stick and wails Cena with it repeatedly. Orton chokes Cena with the cane, but Cena kicks Orton in the junk and manages to get off the ring post. But Orton grabs a chair and whacks Cena in the head with it. Orton cuffs Cena to one of the turnbuckles and beats him over the back with the chair. Cena backdrops Orton on the floor and grabs the key from around his neck and with a shaky hand frees himself. Then Cena cuffs Orton’s wrist, connecting them together. Cena beats Orton around the ring before throwing him in the ring. Orton gets one last shot on Cena with an RKO, but he realizes the key is gone from around his neck. He spots it from across the ring and tries to drag Cena’s 250 frame across the ring. Cena stops him from reaching the key and gets Orton in the STF, wrapping Orton's own arm across his face using the cuffs which gets Orton to say I Quit. That's my one problem with this match. This was a hell of a match!
My Rating: ****
Main Event: World Heavyweight Championship Submission Match - CM Punk (c) def. The Undertaker (10:54)
This show would've been better off with Cena and Orton going last because this match stunk. Unlike the Cell Match they had that everyone thinks is a squash, this match is actually a squash. And yet the guy who gets squashed still "wins." I say win with quotes because the match has a fucked finish. Literally, Undertaker just bullies Punk. Punk gets a couple shots in, but most of the match is Undertaker throwing Punk around the ring and its so boring. Very bad way to end the show. And it only gets worse. Undertaker puts Punk in the Hell’s Gate and Punk taps out pretty much immediately. Undertaker starts to celebrate, but Teddy Long’s music hits and declares that Vickie Guerrero banned the Hell’s Gate a year ago and said ban is still in effect. And so he restarts the match. Punk tries getting the drop on Taker, but Taker gets the upper hand and tries for the Last Ride, but Punk lands behind Taker and chop blocks him before putting Undertaker in the Anaconda Vice… and the referee calls for the bell. But Undertaker doesn’t tap… And the show ends on a confusing note. A shitty, gross, terribly confusing note. Why is it that whenver WWE was in Montreal, they had to reference the screwjob.
My Rating: **
Cagematch Rating: 6.21
My Rating: 5.5/10
2 great matches and a decent one get this show higher than most I’ve seen. But the bad matches plus that ending doesn’t help it. While the main event isn’t what determines a good or bad show, it is the main thing I tend to take into account and if the main event sucks, it tends to leave a sour taste in my mouth, especially when it has such a shitty ending.
First off, just finding this show on Peacock was a pain in the ass! Normally when you type something into the search bar, it’ll come up and you can watch it. No matter what I put in, this show would not come up! So I wondered if it was even on Peacock. Oh, it’s on there, if you google search for WWE Breaking Point on Peacock, it’ll take you right to it. So why tf wouldn’t it come up?
Match 1: Unified Tag Team Championship Match - Chris Jericho & Big Show (c) def. MVP & Mark Henry (12:15)
The night starts with a very meh opener. I just couldn’t get into this match. Its starts with MVP and Jericho. And Jericho retreats when Henry gets tagged in and then Big Show comes in. Him and Henry do some slow big man moves. MVP gets tagged back in and he goes at it with Jericho. Big Show tags himself in and Spears MVP. They isolate him from Henry for a bit before MVP lands on his feet on a hip toss and DDTs Jericho. He tags Henry, who tosses Jericho around and drops a splash on him. Big Show throws MVP out of the ring, and Henry throws Big Show out next. Jericho tries to hit the Codebreaker, but Henry catches him and throws him over his head. Jericho sells his knees, causing the referee to check on him. Big Show gets on the apron and knocks Henry out. Jericho crawls over to cover Henry and champs retain.
My Rating: **1/4
Match 2: United States Championship Match - Kofi Kingston (c) def. The Miz (11:57)
I feel like I watched a different match than most users. This match has a fairly high rating with my rating being the lowest one for it so far. I was not into this match. I thought it was boring. I’ll give them this, Miz works a smart match here and controls Kofi’s high flying style. Miz just wears Kofi down the whole match and Kofi does a good job at avoiding Miz’s new finisher, the Skull Crushing Finale. Kofi reverses it 3 different times during the match. Kofi goes for the Boom Drop, but Miz gets his knees up. Kofi manages to hit the SOS and eventually the Boom Drop. Miz goes for the SCF one more time, but Kofi escapes it and sends Miz off the ropes so he can hit the Trouble in Paradise to retain.
My Rating: **3/4
Match 3: Submissions Count Anywhere Match - Legacy def. D-Generation X (21:44)
An underrated match. I thought the action and storytelling in this match was great. During DX’s pre-match promo, the crowd chants “You screwed Bret” because they’re in Montreal. The match starts out as a brawl. They wind up in the crowd in the backstage area. DX puts Legacy in duel Figure 4s. They come back to ringside and there’s some interesting ways of applying submissions in this match. HHH pulls Cody through the opening of a sit out chair and Boston Crabs him, and Shawn comes over and puts him a Camel Clutch at the same time. DiBiase makes the save. Both teams make their way up the ramp and fight up there. Cody and Shawn go onto a balcony and Cody pushes him off. Shawn is down for a while so HHH has to fight both members of Legacy at the same time. Holding his own for a while until they go backstage. HHH puts DiBiase through a table with a spinebuster and puts Cody in the Crossface, but DiBiase saves the match by throwing a fucking cooler at HHH’s head. And Cody knocks HHH out with a chair shot to the head. Shawn tries to save HHH, but he’s too late and is ganged up on by Legacy. Shawn fights both men off for a bit. Much like their Hell in a Cell Match, Rhodes and DiBiase go with divide and conquer. Shawn hits Cody with a superkick and throws DiBiase out of the ring and puts Cody in the Figure Four. But DiBiase saves the match and Cody wraps Shawn’s knees around the ring post and puts him in the Figure 4 there, then DiBiase comes up from behind and puts Shawn in the Million Dollar Dream. So Shawn has 2 submissions applied on him, but here comes HHH down the ramp. But he’s too late and Shawn taps out to Legacy, giving them a big win.
My Rating: ****
Match 4: Singapore Cane Match - Kane def. The Great Khali (5:52)
A craptastic match. They have canes sticking up out of the ring posts already because god forbid Khali has to go outside to get them. Thankfully the match doesn’t go too long but even for a quick match, it feels slow. All they do is whack each other with canes, as you would expect. There’s a couple times where Kane just watches Khali swing at him cause he’s so slow. Khali tries to put the Vice Grip on Kane, who swings behind him to hit Khali in the head. Ranjin Singh gets in and tries attacking Kane with a cane (hehe) Kane goosels him and takes it from his hand. Khali chops Kane and checks on Ranjin, but Kane whacks Khali with a cane. Kane chokeslams Khali and wins the match with that.
My Rating: *
Match 5: ECW Championship Match - Christian (c) def. William Regal (10:15)
A pretty decent match that gets plenty of time to get a story going. The match is back and forth and both men seem to be evenly matched. Regal avoids the Killswitch 3 different times during the match. Regal is vicious in his attack, attacking with knee strikes and gross looking suplexes. Christian bounces off the middle rope and sunset flips Regal. Regal rolls through and knees Christian in the face. 2nd attempt at the Killswitch, Regal reverses into a Regal Plex. Christian kicks out. Some more back and forth and Regal gets increasingly irritated he can't beat Christian. Regal shoves Christian throat first in the middle rope and goes for a running knee to the face, but Christian dodges and hits Regal with the Killswitch to finally retain his title.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 6: WWE Championship I Quit Match - John Cena def. Randy Orton (c) (19:48)
Wow. What a match this was. The pace is incredibly slow but the psychology is amazing. And from a character standpoint, I think this was a perfect match to showcase what sets them apart. Cena being the resilient superman (sometimes irritatingly so) and Orton being the sadistic bastard he is (especially at this time). Cena gets to a quick start, but Orton soon turns this match into a torture scene. Cena took an RKO on a chair on Raw so he comes into this match with a head injury and Orton goes after that the most. Over and over. And every time Cena says he doesn’t quit, Orton gets more and more pissed off. Draping DDT, a steel chair, the steel steps. Orton stomps Cena’s head into the steps. Orton brings out a pair of cuffs and wears the key around his neck like a necklace. He cuffs both of Cena’s hand and drapes it around the top of the ring post, forcing Cena to sit there as Orton attacks him more and more, almost to the point of passing out. Orton grabs a bottle of water and splashes Cena in the face, saying “YOU AIN’T PASSING OUT ON ME BOY!” The referee asks Cena if he quits and Cena responds by spraying Orton’s face with a mouthful of water… And Orton decides that Cena needs to suffer. He grabs a kendo stick and wails Cena with it repeatedly. Orton chokes Cena with the cane, but Cena kicks Orton in the junk and manages to get off the ring post. But Orton grabs a chair and whacks Cena in the head with it. Orton cuffs Cena to one of the turnbuckles and beats him over the back with the chair. Cena backdrops Orton on the floor and grabs the key from around his neck and with a shaky hand frees himself. Then Cena cuffs Orton’s wrist, connecting them together. Cena beats Orton around the ring before throwing him in the ring. Orton gets one last shot on Cena with an RKO, but he realizes the key is gone from around his neck. He spots it from across the ring and tries to drag Cena’s 250 frame across the ring. Cena stops him from reaching the key and gets Orton in the STF, wrapping Orton's own arm across his face using the cuffs which gets Orton to say I Quit. That's my one problem with this match. This was a hell of a match!
My Rating: ****
Main Event: World Heavyweight Championship Submission Match - CM Punk (c) def. The Undertaker (10:54)
This show would've been better off with Cena and Orton going last because this match stunk. Unlike the Cell Match they had that everyone thinks is a squash, this match is actually a squash. And yet the guy who gets squashed still "wins." I say win with quotes because the match has a fucked finish. Literally, Undertaker just bullies Punk. Punk gets a couple shots in, but most of the match is Undertaker throwing Punk around the ring and its so boring. Very bad way to end the show. And it only gets worse. Undertaker puts Punk in the Hell’s Gate and Punk taps out pretty much immediately. Undertaker starts to celebrate, but Teddy Long’s music hits and declares that Vickie Guerrero banned the Hell’s Gate a year ago and said ban is still in effect. And so he restarts the match. Punk tries getting the drop on Taker, but Taker gets the upper hand and tries for the Last Ride, but Punk lands behind Taker and chop blocks him before putting Undertaker in the Anaconda Vice… and the referee calls for the bell. But Undertaker doesn’t tap… And the show ends on a confusing note. A shitty, gross, terribly confusing note. Why is it that whenver WWE was in Montreal, they had to reference the screwjob.
My Rating: **
Cagematch Rating: 6.21
My Rating: 5.5/10
2 great matches and a decent one get this show higher than most I’ve seen. But the bad matches plus that ending doesn’t help it. While the main event isn’t what determines a good or bad show, it is the main thing I tend to take into account and if the main event sucks, it tends to leave a sour taste in my mouth, especially when it has such a shitty ending.
In Your House 18: Badd Blood
Spoiler alert: I fucking hate this show.
Match 1: 3-on-2 Handicap Match - The Nation of Domination (The Rock, D’Lo Brown & Kama Mustafa) def. The Legion of Doom (12:20)
If you’re wondering where Ken Shamrock is, he was injured by Faarooq with a spinebuster that caused him to spit up blood… for like 2 weeks. This spinebuster was 2 weeks ago and Shamrock is still spitting up blood. Call me crazy, but if he’s still internally bleeding after 2 weeks, there might be a bigger issue, but whatever. The LOD declares they’re going to go alone in this match. They start off hot, using their power to their advantage, and overwhelms The Nation out of the gate. But soon enough, they take Animal down and keep him away from Hawk for a while. And I mean a while. Animal survives all their offense however and eventually reaches Hawk. And LOD turns the match entirely in their favor, into a brawl. They set Rocky up for the Doomsday Device, but Faarooq runs down and distracts Animal who sits Rocky down cause people in wrestling are easily distracted. D’Lo knocks Animal out of the ring. Kama hits Hawk with an enziguri and Rocky hits the Rock Bottom to win the match.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 2: Max Mini & Nova def. Mosaic & Tarantula (6:43)
Normally, I enjoy watching these little guys wrestle. But this match was not good. It was pretty sloppy and confusing at times because partners would just come in without tagging. The thing I remember the most is how Mosaic & Tarantula bully Max Mini around. Tarantula presses Max above his head and drops him on the announce table which I think fucked up his leg a little. After some sloppy wrestling, Max crucifix pins Tarantula to win the match.
My Rating: *1/2
Match 3: WWF Tag Team Championship Match - The Godwinns def. The Headbangers (c) (12:17)
Alright you guys. I’ve officially decided that The Godwinns suck more than the Bushwhackers. And yet somehow, they always get over 10 minutes. I swear on every show they’re on they get at least 10 minutes. And how I say? How? Because they suck! This match sucks because they botch pretty much every big move. Thrasher hurricanranas Phineas offscreen and Vince goes “lets take a replay.” Only to see that they botched that. They replayed a botch you guys. Phineas almost lands on his head. And when they’re not botching, it’s just The Godwinns wearing Thrasher down and its boring. Mosh gets the hot tag. Thrasher powerbombs Mosh on Phineas and Henry “saves” the match. Save is in quotes for a reason. Mosh gets caught in a powerbomb that nearly ends in disasters because Phineas falls back and then pins Mosh to end this awful match. Jesus Christ.
My Rating: DUD
Match 4: Intercontinental Championship Tournament Final Match - Owen Hart def. Faarooq (7:12)
The tournament set up after Stone Cold went down with an injury. Austin is brought out so he can present the winner with the Intercontinental Title. Which, not sure what they were thinking there (kayfabe wise) Austin actually rings the bell himself and during the match, Austin takes the headset from the english, spanish and french announcers, taking the attention away from the match. Not that I’m complaining, it’s not like the match was that interesting anyway. Faarooq uses his power so Owen has to work smarter and goes after Faarooq’s legs. Jim Neidhart runs out towards the end and distracts the referee and while his back is turned, Austin gets up and clocks Faarooq with the title, and after Owen wins the match, Austin tosses the belt in the ring and leaves. Confusing the commentary, but obviously, Austin wants the belt back and wants to beat Owen to do it.
My Rating: *1/2
Match 5: Disciples of Apocalypse def. Los Boricuas (9:11)
On the same show, you have the Godwinns, DOA and The Boricuas. No wonder this show was ass. Savio Vega is the only one in the match even remotely good and he can’t carry 7 other guys. Boricuas isolate Chainz from his corner and keeps him away for a while. He makes the tag to Crush, who goes buck wild until a big brawl breaks out between the two teams, Boricuas nearly win the match but Crush hits someone, I don’t care much who with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to win the match. Somehow not even the worst match though.
My Rating: *
Match 6: Flag Match - Bret Hart & British Bulldog def. Vader & The Patriot (23:13)
Fuck me! Good lord this show sucks! I saw this match coming and thought. “It’s Bret Hart, surely this won’t be bad.” Oh it’s bad. It’s bad alright. It isn’t the worst match of the night, but it is the most irritating! First off, they make the flag stipulation useless by adding the fact you can win by pins or submissions as well. Spoiler alert, a pinfall ends the match. But not that I cared at that point since I shouted “TAKE IT HOME!” several times at my TV screen! The most interesting part of this match was before the bell even rang when the teams got into a fight before the match. And of course, since there are no disqualifications, they gotta tag in and out. Urgh! The Patriot reverses the Sharpshooter into his (poorly executed) version of it. Vader later tries to do the exact same. Finisher steals aren’t as cool the second time you do it in a match. Bret at some point grabs the ring bell and fucking clocks Vader in the head with it. That was gross honestly. They hardly ever even go up for the flags and the match ends with Bret rolling Patriot up from behind and finally taking it home.
My Rating: **
Main Event: Hell in a Cell Match - Shawn Michaels def. The Undertaker (29:59)
The one saving grace of this show is this match right here. The first ever Hell in a Cell Match with a memorable ending! And they really couldn’t have chosen 2 better people to set the bar for this match. As we all know, Shawn and Undertaker have one of the greatest chemistries in wrestling history and it shined in this match! And the first 10 minutes is Undertaker slowly and methodically beating the hell out of Shawn. Throwing him into the cage repeatedly. Shawn dodges an attack from Undertaker into the cell, and Shawn takes the opportunity to wail on Taker. Shawn dives through the ropes into Taker, pushing him into the cell wall. Shawn takes it to Taker for the next several minutes, piledriving Undertaker on the steps, bringing a chair into the ring, which is what started this feud to begin with. But Undertaker at some point backdrops Shawn over the ropes and Shawn lands on the camera guy outside. Shawn beats on this unfortunate cameraman someone calls for help. While Sgt. Slaughter unlocks the cage to help this man out, Shawn continues assaulting Undertaker in the ring, dropping an elbow and then a superkick to Taker’s face. But this superkick has pretty much no effect at all on Undertaker. He sits up and Shawn is like “fuck this, I’m outta here.” With the door open, Shawn gets out and Taker chases him out. Undertaker reverses a dropkick and catapults Shawn into the cage, busting the heartbreak kid open. He javelins Shawn into the cage twice before Shawn escapes his grasp by low blowing the deadman. Shawn goes up the cage, but Undertaker follows him up there! Taker batters Shawn around the top of the cell. Shawn tries to escape down announcers side, but Undertaker catches him and basically Lion Kings him off the side through the announce table below! Undertaker brutalizes Shawn some more on the outside before dragging his body back inside the cell, where the door is padlocked shut once again. Undertaker takes Shawn to the top rope and Taker drops him off with a Chokeslam! Undertaker grabs another steel chair and fucking cracks Shawn’s head with this chair! Undertaker slashes his throat and signifies the end is near, but then… The lights go out… and a some ominous music starts playing… And an eerie red light fills the arena as Paul Bearer walks down the entrance way with a fucking slasher villain. This man, who we now know as Kane walks to the door, rips the cage door off, and steps inside, staring into the eyes of The Undertaker, who looks back at him with pure shock. Kane raises his arms and brings them back down, causing fire to shoot out from the ring posts and Kane picks Undertaker up and drops him with a Tombstone before leaving. Shawn crawls over, slowly and drapes an arm over Taker’s chest. 1, 2, 3. Shawn survives the Hell in a Cell Match. Shawn doesn’t win, he survives. Thanks to Kane. This was an absolutely amazing classic! In a way, it set a standard for this match that not many could live up to. A great match with a great ending that is for my money, still the best debut in WWE history. Yeah, we recently had the Wyatt Sicks debut (which was awesome by the way). But for me, this is still the best debut because they built this up for months and it paid off amazingly!
My Rating: *****
Cagematch Rating: 6.21
My Rating: 3/10
Okay, I have to ask this question because I’m incredibly confused. Did I watch a different show than everyone else? Because there’s no way this should have anything higher than a 3. Yeah, you had 2 of the most memorable debuts in WWE. The Hell in a Cell and Kane, along with an incredible match as you could expect from Undertaker and Shawn. But you have to understand, that match is the only thing from stopping me from giving this show a lower rating. You got another thing coming if I’m supposed to just forget the 2 and a half hours of shitty wrestling that I had to watch before it! When I say this show is bad. It’s beyond bad. This would be in the same vein as King of the Ring ‘95 if it hadn’t been for that main event.
Spoiler alert: I fucking hate this show.
Match 1: 3-on-2 Handicap Match - The Nation of Domination (The Rock, D’Lo Brown & Kama Mustafa) def. The Legion of Doom (12:20)
If you’re wondering where Ken Shamrock is, he was injured by Faarooq with a spinebuster that caused him to spit up blood… for like 2 weeks. This spinebuster was 2 weeks ago and Shamrock is still spitting up blood. Call me crazy, but if he’s still internally bleeding after 2 weeks, there might be a bigger issue, but whatever. The LOD declares they’re going to go alone in this match. They start off hot, using their power to their advantage, and overwhelms The Nation out of the gate. But soon enough, they take Animal down and keep him away from Hawk for a while. And I mean a while. Animal survives all their offense however and eventually reaches Hawk. And LOD turns the match entirely in their favor, into a brawl. They set Rocky up for the Doomsday Device, but Faarooq runs down and distracts Animal who sits Rocky down cause people in wrestling are easily distracted. D’Lo knocks Animal out of the ring. Kama hits Hawk with an enziguri and Rocky hits the Rock Bottom to win the match.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 2: Max Mini & Nova def. Mosaic & Tarantula (6:43)
Normally, I enjoy watching these little guys wrestle. But this match was not good. It was pretty sloppy and confusing at times because partners would just come in without tagging. The thing I remember the most is how Mosaic & Tarantula bully Max Mini around. Tarantula presses Max above his head and drops him on the announce table which I think fucked up his leg a little. After some sloppy wrestling, Max crucifix pins Tarantula to win the match.
My Rating: *1/2
Match 3: WWF Tag Team Championship Match - The Godwinns def. The Headbangers (c) (12:17)
Alright you guys. I’ve officially decided that The Godwinns suck more than the Bushwhackers. And yet somehow, they always get over 10 minutes. I swear on every show they’re on they get at least 10 minutes. And how I say? How? Because they suck! This match sucks because they botch pretty much every big move. Thrasher hurricanranas Phineas offscreen and Vince goes “lets take a replay.” Only to see that they botched that. They replayed a botch you guys. Phineas almost lands on his head. And when they’re not botching, it’s just The Godwinns wearing Thrasher down and its boring. Mosh gets the hot tag. Thrasher powerbombs Mosh on Phineas and Henry “saves” the match. Save is in quotes for a reason. Mosh gets caught in a powerbomb that nearly ends in disasters because Phineas falls back and then pins Mosh to end this awful match. Jesus Christ.
My Rating: DUD
Match 4: Intercontinental Championship Tournament Final Match - Owen Hart def. Faarooq (7:12)
The tournament set up after Stone Cold went down with an injury. Austin is brought out so he can present the winner with the Intercontinental Title. Which, not sure what they were thinking there (kayfabe wise) Austin actually rings the bell himself and during the match, Austin takes the headset from the english, spanish and french announcers, taking the attention away from the match. Not that I’m complaining, it’s not like the match was that interesting anyway. Faarooq uses his power so Owen has to work smarter and goes after Faarooq’s legs. Jim Neidhart runs out towards the end and distracts the referee and while his back is turned, Austin gets up and clocks Faarooq with the title, and after Owen wins the match, Austin tosses the belt in the ring and leaves. Confusing the commentary, but obviously, Austin wants the belt back and wants to beat Owen to do it.
My Rating: *1/2
Match 5: Disciples of Apocalypse def. Los Boricuas (9:11)
On the same show, you have the Godwinns, DOA and The Boricuas. No wonder this show was ass. Savio Vega is the only one in the match even remotely good and he can’t carry 7 other guys. Boricuas isolate Chainz from his corner and keeps him away for a while. He makes the tag to Crush, who goes buck wild until a big brawl breaks out between the two teams, Boricuas nearly win the match but Crush hits someone, I don’t care much who with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to win the match. Somehow not even the worst match though.
My Rating: *
Match 6: Flag Match - Bret Hart & British Bulldog def. Vader & The Patriot (23:13)
Fuck me! Good lord this show sucks! I saw this match coming and thought. “It’s Bret Hart, surely this won’t be bad.” Oh it’s bad. It’s bad alright. It isn’t the worst match of the night, but it is the most irritating! First off, they make the flag stipulation useless by adding the fact you can win by pins or submissions as well. Spoiler alert, a pinfall ends the match. But not that I cared at that point since I shouted “TAKE IT HOME!” several times at my TV screen! The most interesting part of this match was before the bell even rang when the teams got into a fight before the match. And of course, since there are no disqualifications, they gotta tag in and out. Urgh! The Patriot reverses the Sharpshooter into his (poorly executed) version of it. Vader later tries to do the exact same. Finisher steals aren’t as cool the second time you do it in a match. Bret at some point grabs the ring bell and fucking clocks Vader in the head with it. That was gross honestly. They hardly ever even go up for the flags and the match ends with Bret rolling Patriot up from behind and finally taking it home.
My Rating: **
Main Event: Hell in a Cell Match - Shawn Michaels def. The Undertaker (29:59)
The one saving grace of this show is this match right here. The first ever Hell in a Cell Match with a memorable ending! And they really couldn’t have chosen 2 better people to set the bar for this match. As we all know, Shawn and Undertaker have one of the greatest chemistries in wrestling history and it shined in this match! And the first 10 minutes is Undertaker slowly and methodically beating the hell out of Shawn. Throwing him into the cage repeatedly. Shawn dodges an attack from Undertaker into the cell, and Shawn takes the opportunity to wail on Taker. Shawn dives through the ropes into Taker, pushing him into the cell wall. Shawn takes it to Taker for the next several minutes, piledriving Undertaker on the steps, bringing a chair into the ring, which is what started this feud to begin with. But Undertaker at some point backdrops Shawn over the ropes and Shawn lands on the camera guy outside. Shawn beats on this unfortunate cameraman someone calls for help. While Sgt. Slaughter unlocks the cage to help this man out, Shawn continues assaulting Undertaker in the ring, dropping an elbow and then a superkick to Taker’s face. But this superkick has pretty much no effect at all on Undertaker. He sits up and Shawn is like “fuck this, I’m outta here.” With the door open, Shawn gets out and Taker chases him out. Undertaker reverses a dropkick and catapults Shawn into the cage, busting the heartbreak kid open. He javelins Shawn into the cage twice before Shawn escapes his grasp by low blowing the deadman. Shawn goes up the cage, but Undertaker follows him up there! Taker batters Shawn around the top of the cell. Shawn tries to escape down announcers side, but Undertaker catches him and basically Lion Kings him off the side through the announce table below! Undertaker brutalizes Shawn some more on the outside before dragging his body back inside the cell, where the door is padlocked shut once again. Undertaker takes Shawn to the top rope and Taker drops him off with a Chokeslam! Undertaker grabs another steel chair and fucking cracks Shawn’s head with this chair! Undertaker slashes his throat and signifies the end is near, but then… The lights go out… and a some ominous music starts playing… And an eerie red light fills the arena as Paul Bearer walks down the entrance way with a fucking slasher villain. This man, who we now know as Kane walks to the door, rips the cage door off, and steps inside, staring into the eyes of The Undertaker, who looks back at him with pure shock. Kane raises his arms and brings them back down, causing fire to shoot out from the ring posts and Kane picks Undertaker up and drops him with a Tombstone before leaving. Shawn crawls over, slowly and drapes an arm over Taker’s chest. 1, 2, 3. Shawn survives the Hell in a Cell Match. Shawn doesn’t win, he survives. Thanks to Kane. This was an absolutely amazing classic! In a way, it set a standard for this match that not many could live up to. A great match with a great ending that is for my money, still the best debut in WWE history. Yeah, we recently had the Wyatt Sicks debut (which was awesome by the way). But for me, this is still the best debut because they built this up for months and it paid off amazingly!
My Rating: *****
Cagematch Rating: 6.21
My Rating: 3/10
Okay, I have to ask this question because I’m incredibly confused. Did I watch a different show than everyone else? Because there’s no way this should have anything higher than a 3. Yeah, you had 2 of the most memorable debuts in WWE. The Hell in a Cell and Kane, along with an incredible match as you could expect from Undertaker and Shawn. But you have to understand, that match is the only thing from stopping me from giving this show a lower rating. You got another thing coming if I’m supposed to just forget the 2 and a half hours of shitty wrestling that I had to watch before it! When I say this show is bad. It’s beyond bad. This would be in the same vein as King of the Ring ‘95 if it hadn’t been for that main event.
Vengeance 2004
Match 1: Rhyno & Tajiri def. Garrison Cade & Jonathan Coachman (7:29)
Okay, how many Coach matches have I had to watch since doing this. I don’t think it’s been many but its more than I should have to. How did this guy keep getting PPV matches. Still, this manages to be a serviceable match to start show against all odds. Probably because Rhyno and Tajiri are awesome. Coach avoids Rhyno at the beginning. And soon they begin keeping Tajiri away from his corner for a bit, but Tajiri puts Coach in the Tarantula and then crawls over to make the tag to Rhyno, who has to carry the other team in the comeback. Tajiri eventually gets tagged back in and in the chaos, Tajiri mists Cade, trying to hit Coach, which the referee saw so it really should be a DQ. Rhyno gores Garrison after Coach dodges him, but Coach isn’t out of the woods yet and gets kicked in the side of the head and Tajiri pins Coach.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 2: Batista def. Chris Jericho (12:19)
These two can definitely do better. I wasn’t that impressed with this match, but it does make Batista look like he’s more than just a guy with big muscles. He works smarter and wears Y2J down and targets his back with big power moves. Jericho tries a couple times to get Batista in the Walls of Jericho, but can’t seem to because Batista is so huge. Jericho bulldogs Batista from the top rope and attempts the Lionsault, but Batista gets his knees up and sets Jericho up for the Batista Bomb, but Jericho slides off and hits the Enziguri. But Jericho gets caught in a Spinebuster and followed by a Batista Bomb, Batista covers Jericho near the ropes. Jericho gets his foot on the rope, but Batista takes it off before the referee sees it and Batista is declared the winner.
My Rating: ***
Match 3: World Tag Team Championship Match - La Resistance (c) def. Ric Flair & Eugene via DQ (12:28)
So this was… interesting. If you’re wondering why Eugene is teaming with Ric Flair, allow me to refresh in case you don’t remember. HHH had made Eugene an honorary member of Evolution, and that’s gonna be important for the main event. But Flair is absolutely against teaming with Eugene. I’d say he’s downright embarressed by having to team with him. Eugene starts the match and does pretty much all of Flair’s stuff. The only Flair thing he didn’t do was go to the top rope and get thrown off. Flair is not taking any of this very well. I’m pretty sure he only tagged himself in so he can show everyone how its done because now he starts doing all his shit, up until the point when La Resistance take Flair down and begin isolating him from Eugene. Flair crawls towards Eugene, but Conway runs over to take Eugene off the apron. After this though, Eugene snaps and gets in the ring and starts peppering Conway in the corner. The referee tries to pull him away, but Eugene shoves him away and the referee calls for the DQ. Eugene hits Sylvain with a Stunner and hits Conway with a Rock Bottom and then the People’s Elbow because he’s a mark.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 4: No Disqualification Match - Matt Hardy def. Kane (10:29)
Oh man, I’m so glad I got to see more of this storyline. Fuck, what a gross story. Hardy meets Kane outside the ring and the bell rings as the fight starts outside. And Hardy actually takes the fight right to Kane at first. Matt takes the announce table apart and tries to hit the Twist of Fate, but Kane shoves him away and starts to beat the piss out of Matt. And from here, the match starts to slow down. Kane beats up Matt for several minutes, until Matt starts to make a comeback and brings a chair into the ring. Matt drops the chair and Kane picks him up for a Tombstone, but Matt lands on his feet and gives him the Twist of Fate for a close 2 count. Kane Chokeslams Matt and then goes out to grab the steel steps, but Lita runs down and gets in his way and begs him to stop. Kane drops the steps and moves Lita out of his way, saying “watch what I do to your boyfriend.” EWWWWWW! Kane picks the steps back up and goes to ram Matt with them, but Matt uses the chair and hits the steps which hit Kane in the face and Matt covers him to pick up an upset victory.
My Rating: ***
Match 5: Intercontinental Championship Match - Edge def. Randy Orton (c) (26:36)
A bit of an overrated match honestly. But damn, what a closing few minutes it had. The drama as we close towards the end was awesome. But mostly, I don’t see this as a classic match. It has some basic wrestling at the beginning. Orton works over Edge’s neck which he just came back from having time off for that specific injury. Orton tries to leave with his title, but Edge baseball slides Orton into the announce table which Orton’s head hitting the table grossly. Edge throws him back in and tries for the Spear, but Orton kicks him as he runs at him. This middle portion is just Orton putting Edge in chinlocks and shit… and its boring. It’s no fun. Sorry, but that is what holds this match back for me is how long this took. But coming down to the finish, oh man this match starts to pick up! Starting when Edge dropkicks Orton out of the air. Edge overwhelms Orton for the next several minutes and nearly has him beat a couple times, after an Edge-O-Matic and a crossbody. But Orton reverses it into a pin, which Edge kicks out of. Orton pokes Edge in the eye and takes the opportunity to take the turnbuckle pad off, which would come back to haunt him. Edge rolls Orton up in a Small Package, but the referee is occupied with the pad, but stops once he sees Edge is pinning Orton. The crowd starts to come alive for this match. Edge goes for the 10 punches in the corner, but Orton drops Edge face first into the exposed turnbuckle and rolls him up, putting his feet on the ropes but Edge kicks out. Orton goes for the RKO, but Edge shoves him off into the corner, and goes for the Spear again, but Orton leap frogs over him and Edge hits the middle turnbuckle. Orton goes for the RKO again but Edge reverses it into a backslide. Orton irish whips Edge towards the corner, but Edge reverses and Orton’s back hits the turnbuckle he exposed earlier and Edge finally hits the Spear to take the IC Title from Orton! What a finish! I also liked that they countered each other’s finisher several times, and it took only one to end the match.
My Rating: ****
Match 6: Women’s Championship #1 Contenders Match - Victoria def. Molly Holly (6:15)
Honestly, an okay match. These two were actually good wrestlers and there was some psychology here in the short match they had. Victoria even jumps over the ropes onto Molly on the outside which I’m not sure she did often. Molly trips Victoria on the steel steps and Victoria’s shoulder hits the steps and Molly begins to work her shoulder. And it comes into play in the finish because Victoria attempts the Widow's Peak, but drops Molly as her shoulder gave out. Molly tries to attack again but Victoria gives her a superkick to win the match.
My Rating: **3/4
Main Event: World Heavyweight Championship Match - Chris Benoit (c) def. Triple H (29:03)
Not a great match, but a pretty damn good one to end the night. This match was going pretty well in the beginning. The two seemed to be even for the most part, but Benoit soon starts to outwrestling HHH. Benoit tosses HHH into the steps outside and rolls him back inside and attempts to hit a Diving Headbutt. And HHH begins to go after Benoit’s chest. He whips him into those ring posts and Benoit hits them like he’s Bret Hart. He drops him on his chest from a suplex position several times. Really taking a toll on Benoit’s chest. But Benoit starts to mount a comeback after getting HHH in the Sharpshooter. HHH reaches the ropes. Benoit hits 3 german suplexes and goes for the Headbutt again, but HHH rolls out of the ring. Benoit gets off the rope and hits a suicide dive to the outside! Then he rolls HHH back in and after HHH clotheslines the ref aiming for Benoit, he starts calling for Eugene. And there’s a lot that happens after this point so buckle in. Benoit puts HHH in the Crossface and has him in it for a while. HHH taps out but there’s no referee to call it. Eugene starts to get in the ring, so Benoit gets up and knocks him off. HHH low blows Benoit from behind and hits the Pedigree. Eugene gets the referee back in the ring. 1, 2… Kickout! HHH tells Eugene to grab a steel chair, and Eugene does so, handing it to HHH. But apparently gets second thoughts and tries to take it from him. HHH shoves him off now and Benoit takes advantage, hitting HHH with a low blow. Eugene gets in with both men down and grabs the chair, he goes back and forth between the two, arguing with himself over who he should hit. Benoit gets up tries to take the chair away from him and they start tug-o-war. And there’s no way Benoit would’ve lost this as he was jacked to the fucking gills but Eugene gets the better and accidentally swings the chair back into HHH’s face. Eugene leaves the ring as the referee starts to come to, Benoit rolls HHH up from behind to retain the title. So… lots of overbooking at the end there that hinders it, but a good match to end the PPV.
My Rating: ***1/2
Cagematch Rating: 6.20
My Rating: 6.5/10
Pretty close to it’s Cagematch rating. While the show doesn’t have any bad matches on it, I wouldn’t say it’s really worth watching. A mediocre PPV. Even the two best matches felt like they went too long at times. But even so, I’d recommend those matches and recommend skipping everything else.
Match 1: Rhyno & Tajiri def. Garrison Cade & Jonathan Coachman (7:29)
Okay, how many Coach matches have I had to watch since doing this. I don’t think it’s been many but its more than I should have to. How did this guy keep getting PPV matches. Still, this manages to be a serviceable match to start show against all odds. Probably because Rhyno and Tajiri are awesome. Coach avoids Rhyno at the beginning. And soon they begin keeping Tajiri away from his corner for a bit, but Tajiri puts Coach in the Tarantula and then crawls over to make the tag to Rhyno, who has to carry the other team in the comeback. Tajiri eventually gets tagged back in and in the chaos, Tajiri mists Cade, trying to hit Coach, which the referee saw so it really should be a DQ. Rhyno gores Garrison after Coach dodges him, but Coach isn’t out of the woods yet and gets kicked in the side of the head and Tajiri pins Coach.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 2: Batista def. Chris Jericho (12:19)
These two can definitely do better. I wasn’t that impressed with this match, but it does make Batista look like he’s more than just a guy with big muscles. He works smarter and wears Y2J down and targets his back with big power moves. Jericho tries a couple times to get Batista in the Walls of Jericho, but can’t seem to because Batista is so huge. Jericho bulldogs Batista from the top rope and attempts the Lionsault, but Batista gets his knees up and sets Jericho up for the Batista Bomb, but Jericho slides off and hits the Enziguri. But Jericho gets caught in a Spinebuster and followed by a Batista Bomb, Batista covers Jericho near the ropes. Jericho gets his foot on the rope, but Batista takes it off before the referee sees it and Batista is declared the winner.
My Rating: ***
Match 3: World Tag Team Championship Match - La Resistance (c) def. Ric Flair & Eugene via DQ (12:28)
So this was… interesting. If you’re wondering why Eugene is teaming with Ric Flair, allow me to refresh in case you don’t remember. HHH had made Eugene an honorary member of Evolution, and that’s gonna be important for the main event. But Flair is absolutely against teaming with Eugene. I’d say he’s downright embarressed by having to team with him. Eugene starts the match and does pretty much all of Flair’s stuff. The only Flair thing he didn’t do was go to the top rope and get thrown off. Flair is not taking any of this very well. I’m pretty sure he only tagged himself in so he can show everyone how its done because now he starts doing all his shit, up until the point when La Resistance take Flair down and begin isolating him from Eugene. Flair crawls towards Eugene, but Conway runs over to take Eugene off the apron. After this though, Eugene snaps and gets in the ring and starts peppering Conway in the corner. The referee tries to pull him away, but Eugene shoves him away and the referee calls for the DQ. Eugene hits Sylvain with a Stunner and hits Conway with a Rock Bottom and then the People’s Elbow because he’s a mark.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 4: No Disqualification Match - Matt Hardy def. Kane (10:29)
Oh man, I’m so glad I got to see more of this storyline. Fuck, what a gross story. Hardy meets Kane outside the ring and the bell rings as the fight starts outside. And Hardy actually takes the fight right to Kane at first. Matt takes the announce table apart and tries to hit the Twist of Fate, but Kane shoves him away and starts to beat the piss out of Matt. And from here, the match starts to slow down. Kane beats up Matt for several minutes, until Matt starts to make a comeback and brings a chair into the ring. Matt drops the chair and Kane picks him up for a Tombstone, but Matt lands on his feet and gives him the Twist of Fate for a close 2 count. Kane Chokeslams Matt and then goes out to grab the steel steps, but Lita runs down and gets in his way and begs him to stop. Kane drops the steps and moves Lita out of his way, saying “watch what I do to your boyfriend.” EWWWWWW! Kane picks the steps back up and goes to ram Matt with them, but Matt uses the chair and hits the steps which hit Kane in the face and Matt covers him to pick up an upset victory.
My Rating: ***
Match 5: Intercontinental Championship Match - Edge def. Randy Orton (c) (26:36)
A bit of an overrated match honestly. But damn, what a closing few minutes it had. The drama as we close towards the end was awesome. But mostly, I don’t see this as a classic match. It has some basic wrestling at the beginning. Orton works over Edge’s neck which he just came back from having time off for that specific injury. Orton tries to leave with his title, but Edge baseball slides Orton into the announce table which Orton’s head hitting the table grossly. Edge throws him back in and tries for the Spear, but Orton kicks him as he runs at him. This middle portion is just Orton putting Edge in chinlocks and shit… and its boring. It’s no fun. Sorry, but that is what holds this match back for me is how long this took. But coming down to the finish, oh man this match starts to pick up! Starting when Edge dropkicks Orton out of the air. Edge overwhelms Orton for the next several minutes and nearly has him beat a couple times, after an Edge-O-Matic and a crossbody. But Orton reverses it into a pin, which Edge kicks out of. Orton pokes Edge in the eye and takes the opportunity to take the turnbuckle pad off, which would come back to haunt him. Edge rolls Orton up in a Small Package, but the referee is occupied with the pad, but stops once he sees Edge is pinning Orton. The crowd starts to come alive for this match. Edge goes for the 10 punches in the corner, but Orton drops Edge face first into the exposed turnbuckle and rolls him up, putting his feet on the ropes but Edge kicks out. Orton goes for the RKO, but Edge shoves him off into the corner, and goes for the Spear again, but Orton leap frogs over him and Edge hits the middle turnbuckle. Orton goes for the RKO again but Edge reverses it into a backslide. Orton irish whips Edge towards the corner, but Edge reverses and Orton’s back hits the turnbuckle he exposed earlier and Edge finally hits the Spear to take the IC Title from Orton! What a finish! I also liked that they countered each other’s finisher several times, and it took only one to end the match.
My Rating: ****
Match 6: Women’s Championship #1 Contenders Match - Victoria def. Molly Holly (6:15)
Honestly, an okay match. These two were actually good wrestlers and there was some psychology here in the short match they had. Victoria even jumps over the ropes onto Molly on the outside which I’m not sure she did often. Molly trips Victoria on the steel steps and Victoria’s shoulder hits the steps and Molly begins to work her shoulder. And it comes into play in the finish because Victoria attempts the Widow's Peak, but drops Molly as her shoulder gave out. Molly tries to attack again but Victoria gives her a superkick to win the match.
My Rating: **3/4
Main Event: World Heavyweight Championship Match - Chris Benoit (c) def. Triple H (29:03)
Not a great match, but a pretty damn good one to end the night. This match was going pretty well in the beginning. The two seemed to be even for the most part, but Benoit soon starts to outwrestling HHH. Benoit tosses HHH into the steps outside and rolls him back inside and attempts to hit a Diving Headbutt. And HHH begins to go after Benoit’s chest. He whips him into those ring posts and Benoit hits them like he’s Bret Hart. He drops him on his chest from a suplex position several times. Really taking a toll on Benoit’s chest. But Benoit starts to mount a comeback after getting HHH in the Sharpshooter. HHH reaches the ropes. Benoit hits 3 german suplexes and goes for the Headbutt again, but HHH rolls out of the ring. Benoit gets off the rope and hits a suicide dive to the outside! Then he rolls HHH back in and after HHH clotheslines the ref aiming for Benoit, he starts calling for Eugene. And there’s a lot that happens after this point so buckle in. Benoit puts HHH in the Crossface and has him in it for a while. HHH taps out but there’s no referee to call it. Eugene starts to get in the ring, so Benoit gets up and knocks him off. HHH low blows Benoit from behind and hits the Pedigree. Eugene gets the referee back in the ring. 1, 2… Kickout! HHH tells Eugene to grab a steel chair, and Eugene does so, handing it to HHH. But apparently gets second thoughts and tries to take it from him. HHH shoves him off now and Benoit takes advantage, hitting HHH with a low blow. Eugene gets in with both men down and grabs the chair, he goes back and forth between the two, arguing with himself over who he should hit. Benoit gets up tries to take the chair away from him and they start tug-o-war. And there’s no way Benoit would’ve lost this as he was jacked to the fucking gills but Eugene gets the better and accidentally swings the chair back into HHH’s face. Eugene leaves the ring as the referee starts to come to, Benoit rolls HHH up from behind to retain the title. So… lots of overbooking at the end there that hinders it, but a good match to end the PPV.
My Rating: ***1/2
Cagematch Rating: 6.20
My Rating: 6.5/10
Pretty close to it’s Cagematch rating. While the show doesn’t have any bad matches on it, I wouldn’t say it’s really worth watching. A mediocre PPV. Even the two best matches felt like they went too long at times. But even so, I’d recommend those matches and recommend skipping everything else.
WrestleMania 38 Night 2
The first entrance of Night 2 is Triple H, who comes down in a suit, does the full entrance, an entrance longer than it usually is. One because of the long ramp, and two, because he’s just soaking it in. And honestly, kudos to Triple H, because he could’ve probably taken 10 minutes to give a farewell speech, but he realized the show must get started. So the only thing he says is, “I just came out here to say thank you. And to express my love in the best way I know how.” Before he shouts “WELCOME TO WRESTLEMANIA!” And he leaves his boots in the middle of the ring, and unlike Undertaker, he wouldn’t come back for them.
Match 1: Raw Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match - RK-Bro (c) def. Alpha Academy & The Street Profits (11:32)
Starting the night off hot is this fast paced, exciting match. It didn’t need to go long, it just needed to get the crowd excited, and they accomplished just that. The flying starts early with Montez flying over the post and diving on a bunched up crowd, before Chad Gable does the same with a moonsault. And unlike most multiple team matches, one member of each team is allowed in the ring at once. Riddle gets beat up for a while, by Otis especially. Dawkins goes to pin Riddle at one point and Otis just freakin splashes both of them. Riddle hit the Bro to Sleep followed by a German suplex on Angelo to get a breather, and makes the tag to Orton who the people go nuts for. He backdrops Montez and Gable on the announce table. Him and Riddle do dueling DDTs on the Profits before they set up a double RKO, but get stopped by Otis and Gable. Alpha Academy hit a Doomsday Bulldog on Montez. (Gable hits a bulldog with Montez stacked on Otis’ shoulders) Profits hit a Doomsday Blockbuster on Gable. Dawkins hits a Spinebuster on Orton before diving onto Otis on the outside. Montez sets up a frog splash, but Riddle comes up beside him and springboards and what makes this spot is the girly scream Montez gets out before Riddle RKOs him from the top rope. With Riddle laid out on the mat, Gable goes for a Diving Headbutt, but Orton catches him with an RKO to retain the titles. No I’m not going to talk about Gable Steveson. Let’s move on.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: Bobby Lashley def. Omos (6:34)
I sometimes wonder if Omos would've been a world champion by now if Vince were still in charge. Thankfully he's not so we don't have to worry about that. Lashley has to basically carry this whole match. And he tries to make Omos look good, but… that doesn't really work. Omos throws Lashley around and puts him in the most boring move I can think of, the bearhug. Lashley fights back into the match and thinks it's best to chop the man down. He hits a Spear to his back before hitting another one in the front and wins the match.
My Rating: **
Match 3: Anything Goes Match - Johnny Knoxville def. Sami Zayn (14:26)
Some of you mass pass judgment on me for this… but I love this match. I prefer Sami as the underdog babyface but what he did as a heel was great. I'm also not sure this match would've worked with anyone other than Sami Zayn. He's just that good. And I normally hate celebrities going over but considering the circumstances of how Knoxville won, I think it works. Zayn starts the match just beating up Knoxville and has the upper hand early because of course he does. Zayn pulls out a table with mouse traps glued to it and sets it up, looking at Knoxville and going "did you do this?" The hijinks begin once Chris Pontius gets in the ring, strips down into his speedo and Pat McAfee says "Pontius' cheeks just said hello to us and they're clapping at WrestleMania." Which had me losing my shit. Wee Man comes out from under the ring and starts laying into Sami and bodyslams him! They pull out a catapult… thingy with a stick with a boot attached to it. Sami kicks Knoxville and then Wee Man. Then he goes to the top rope. But Knoxville had a button to set off the pyro on that corner Sami's on and Sami gets crotched. Knoxville pulls out a bowling ball and rolls it into Sami's balls. And then Knoxville uses the nutcracker boot thing on Sami. Knoxville then pulls a taser out and chases Sami around the ring. Zayn walks right into a giant hand slamming into his face! Sami's nutsack gets tonged on to the top rope and Knoxville tosses him through the mouse trap table outside! As Pontius and Wee Man pick Sami back up and throw him in the ring, the rest of the Jackass crew bring in a gigantic mouse trap and set Sami under it. And it… malfunctions which is unfortunate because it’s the finish. But it does set off and Knoxville pins Sami under this mouse trap. Despite the finish, I had fun watching this match. Don’t look at me like that.
My Rating: ****
Match 4: Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way Match - Naomi & Sasha Banks def. Carmella & Queen Zelina (c), Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley & Natalya & Shayna Baszler (10:51)
They really had nothing else for these titles at WrestleMania other than “Fatal 4-Way.” And hey, thats not a bad thing… but that’s what they had for them for 3 out of the 4 WrestleManias they were around for at this point. This match was alright, but not good. There was some spots that stood out, Liv and Sasha diving through opposite sides of the ring. Liv hits the Ob-Liv-ion on Sasha, but Nattie tagged herself in so Liv couldn't pin her. Shayna Baszler tries to break Liv’s ankle. The rest of this match is pretty much everyone getting their spots in. Carmella does the Trish hurricanrana thing from the corner on Rhea. There’s a double tower of doom spot which they had to do every multi-person match apart from the opener. The finish to this match is Naomi holding up Carmella with Sasha doing a rolling codebreaker to win the titles… before walking out 2 weeks later. And to be fair, if Vince was my boss, I would probably walk out too. So I actually applauded them at this point to be honest.
My Rating: **3/4
Match 5: Edge def. AJ Styles (24:27)
An underrated match. I feel like this match’s biggest weakness was the fact that expectations were high and the match was too long. But I thought this was a great match and the best match on night 2. It was even for the most part with only a small part of the match where one man had the advantage over the other. Edge gets his knees up as AJ goes for the 450 and Edge goes after his ribs. But AJ reverses a suplex into his own into the corner. From here, the match is basically even with both men getting aggressive with every move. Edge catches AJ’s foot off the pele kick and takes a page out of his old rival’s book and applies the STF on him. Styles gets Edge in the Calf Crusher, which Edge reverses into an armbar, before transitioning to a crossface. AJ suplexes Edge from the top rope to the apron which I know sucked. AJ throws Edge back in the ring and gives him a 450 to the back, before attempting a Phenomenal Forearm. Edge dodges and goes for the Spear, but AJ leaps over him and Edge’s throat hits the middle rope and Styles takes advantage by hitting the Styles Clash for a close 2 count. Styles goes back to the apron, but gets distracted by Damian Priest on the outside. AJ turns back to Edge and goes for the Forearm again, but Edge leaps and hits probably one of the best Spears he’s ever hit to win the match. Edge and Priest laugh with each other, raising their arms and leaving together… thus the birth of the Judgment Day.
My Rating: ****
Match 6: Sheamus & Ridge Holland def. The New Day (1:43)
Thankfully, it’s short so I don’t have to talk about it very long… but how you gonna have Kofi and Woods come out with Big E. tribute gear and have them lose? Sheamus doesn’t get tagged in at all during the match, he has to spend the match holding back Pete Dunne (Butch who?) Sheamus hits Brogue Kick on Woods as the referee’s back is turned and Holland pins him to win the match, and Dunne gets in to beat up Woods after the match because he was an angry man for some reason.
Match 7: Pat McAfee def. Austin Theory (9:37)
Not a match you would expect to be good, but I thought this was a nice, good match. Only thing is, I have to wonder how Pat McAfee is a better wrestler than Austin Theory. Legitimately, Pat is the one who makes this match awesome. Also, shouts out to Pat for coming out to Seven Nation Army. Like, that was the most hype entrance of the night. Pat starts off with punches and chops Theory’s legs out. Theory chops his throat and starts beating him down. But Pat fights back and knocks Theory into the announce table and bashes his head off the table in front of Vince (that fucking scatty freak) who’s sitting at ringside. Pat goes for a superplex, but Theory shoves him off, which Pat backflips off the ropes, landing on his feet and leaping back onto the ropes and then hitting the superplex! Like Pat McAfee rules, he needs to wrestle more often! Pat reverses the A-Town Down into a rollup and Pat wins!
My Rating: ***3/4
Match 8: Vince McMahon def. Pat McAfee (3:45)
But… we are, unfortunately, not done here. Because Vince McMahon needs to not only wrestle… but win without bumping. Pat challenges Vince to get in the ring with him and the match starts after Theory jumps Pat from behind. You guys remember that episode of SpongeBob where Patrick beat himself up to make SpongeBob look tough… That’s basically this match. Vince moves, he lays his hands on Pat, but Pat has to do allllllll the work… Because Vince wanted to win brother. Fucking senile old man. And as if that wasn’t enough, the finish is so, so bad. Vince “punts” a football into Pat’s stomach… and that’s it. Vince wins. I don’t know what he was thinking here. Because if he was trying to push Austin Theory, he wasn’t doing a good job of making him look good. He lost his match to Pat, but once the 80 year old man gets in there, ohhh boy Pat’s in trouble. Ahhhhh fuck you Vince.
My Rating: DUD
We at least get another Stone Cold pop. The glass shatters and Austin marches to the ring, he gives Theory a stunner who sells it like he’s jumping on a trampoline. He has a beer with Vince before he gives him a stunner… And what might be the funniest Stunner I’ve ever seen. Because Vince fucks it up so badly. He has a beer with Pat McAfee. Before Austin stuns him too, and before Pat falls back, he spits the beer out form his mouth. 3 Stunners which were all great for different reasons. You may be thinking “At least the match led to the moment.” Here’s the thing… We didn’t need the Vince match to get to this point. We didn’t. The funniest thing about this though is that at the WrestleMania press conference earlier this year, they said Pat McAfee was undefeated at WrestleMania. And normally, I hate when they try to lie to us, but considering how bad the match was, and who he lost to, I too would like to block that from the record books.
Main Event: WWE World & Universal Championship Unification Match - Roman Reigns (Universal) def. Brock Lesnar (WWE) (12:17)
I have a bone to pick with this match. Several in fact. One, the fact that legitimately not a single soul asked for it. Two, taglining it the "BiGgEsT wReStLeMaNiA mAtCh Of AlL tImE." I know it was probably more for marketing purposes, but saying something doesn't make it true! I can think of several off the top of my head that were much bigger. Thirdly, the match is okay, but if you're going to use a tagline like that, it has to deliver. This match did not do that. To start the match, Brock tosses Roman around the ring as Brock's matches usually did. But thanks to a distraction from Paul Heyman, Roman Spears Brock through the barricade, and for the rest of this match, Brock sells his ribs. They just basically get their shit in now. Brock reverses a Superman Punch into an F5, which Roman kicks out of obviously. The referee gets bumped. Roman low blows Brock and hits him with the Universal Title. Once the referee recovers, Roman gives Brock another Spear, but Brock transitions into the Kimura from that position. Roman reaches the ropes, forcing Brock to let go. Heyman begs his meal ticket to get back up. Brock picks Roman up and goes for another F5, but Roman slided down the back, pushes Lesnar into the ropes. Brock comes back into a Spear and Roman takes both titles home. Biggest WrestleMania Match of All Time? Yeah, not even close.
My Rating: ***1/4
Cagematch Rating: 6.22
My Rating: 8/10
I started this, expecting it to be mediocre… and admittedly, the booking of this show is incredibly brain melting. But I don't know, I found myself liking the show for the most part. 3 great matches, and a nice sleeper match between McAfee and Theory. Don't judge me, but… and as much as I hate to give Vince credit, he went out with a bang… and a terrible match. The biggest problem I have with it aside from Vince's match, is that the main event was underwhelming on so many different levels.
The first entrance of Night 2 is Triple H, who comes down in a suit, does the full entrance, an entrance longer than it usually is. One because of the long ramp, and two, because he’s just soaking it in. And honestly, kudos to Triple H, because he could’ve probably taken 10 minutes to give a farewell speech, but he realized the show must get started. So the only thing he says is, “I just came out here to say thank you. And to express my love in the best way I know how.” Before he shouts “WELCOME TO WRESTLEMANIA!” And he leaves his boots in the middle of the ring, and unlike Undertaker, he wouldn’t come back for them.
Match 1: Raw Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match - RK-Bro (c) def. Alpha Academy & The Street Profits (11:32)
Starting the night off hot is this fast paced, exciting match. It didn’t need to go long, it just needed to get the crowd excited, and they accomplished just that. The flying starts early with Montez flying over the post and diving on a bunched up crowd, before Chad Gable does the same with a moonsault. And unlike most multiple team matches, one member of each team is allowed in the ring at once. Riddle gets beat up for a while, by Otis especially. Dawkins goes to pin Riddle at one point and Otis just freakin splashes both of them. Riddle hit the Bro to Sleep followed by a German suplex on Angelo to get a breather, and makes the tag to Orton who the people go nuts for. He backdrops Montez and Gable on the announce table. Him and Riddle do dueling DDTs on the Profits before they set up a double RKO, but get stopped by Otis and Gable. Alpha Academy hit a Doomsday Bulldog on Montez. (Gable hits a bulldog with Montez stacked on Otis’ shoulders) Profits hit a Doomsday Blockbuster on Gable. Dawkins hits a Spinebuster on Orton before diving onto Otis on the outside. Montez sets up a frog splash, but Riddle comes up beside him and springboards and what makes this spot is the girly scream Montez gets out before Riddle RKOs him from the top rope. With Riddle laid out on the mat, Gable goes for a Diving Headbutt, but Orton catches him with an RKO to retain the titles. No I’m not going to talk about Gable Steveson. Let’s move on.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: Bobby Lashley def. Omos (6:34)
I sometimes wonder if Omos would've been a world champion by now if Vince were still in charge. Thankfully he's not so we don't have to worry about that. Lashley has to basically carry this whole match. And he tries to make Omos look good, but… that doesn't really work. Omos throws Lashley around and puts him in the most boring move I can think of, the bearhug. Lashley fights back into the match and thinks it's best to chop the man down. He hits a Spear to his back before hitting another one in the front and wins the match.
My Rating: **
Match 3: Anything Goes Match - Johnny Knoxville def. Sami Zayn (14:26)
Some of you mass pass judgment on me for this… but I love this match. I prefer Sami as the underdog babyface but what he did as a heel was great. I'm also not sure this match would've worked with anyone other than Sami Zayn. He's just that good. And I normally hate celebrities going over but considering the circumstances of how Knoxville won, I think it works. Zayn starts the match just beating up Knoxville and has the upper hand early because of course he does. Zayn pulls out a table with mouse traps glued to it and sets it up, looking at Knoxville and going "did you do this?" The hijinks begin once Chris Pontius gets in the ring, strips down into his speedo and Pat McAfee says "Pontius' cheeks just said hello to us and they're clapping at WrestleMania." Which had me losing my shit. Wee Man comes out from under the ring and starts laying into Sami and bodyslams him! They pull out a catapult… thingy with a stick with a boot attached to it. Sami kicks Knoxville and then Wee Man. Then he goes to the top rope. But Knoxville had a button to set off the pyro on that corner Sami's on and Sami gets crotched. Knoxville pulls out a bowling ball and rolls it into Sami's balls. And then Knoxville uses the nutcracker boot thing on Sami. Knoxville then pulls a taser out and chases Sami around the ring. Zayn walks right into a giant hand slamming into his face! Sami's nutsack gets tonged on to the top rope and Knoxville tosses him through the mouse trap table outside! As Pontius and Wee Man pick Sami back up and throw him in the ring, the rest of the Jackass crew bring in a gigantic mouse trap and set Sami under it. And it… malfunctions which is unfortunate because it’s the finish. But it does set off and Knoxville pins Sami under this mouse trap. Despite the finish, I had fun watching this match. Don’t look at me like that.
My Rating: ****
Match 4: Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way Match - Naomi & Sasha Banks def. Carmella & Queen Zelina (c), Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley & Natalya & Shayna Baszler (10:51)
They really had nothing else for these titles at WrestleMania other than “Fatal 4-Way.” And hey, thats not a bad thing… but that’s what they had for them for 3 out of the 4 WrestleManias they were around for at this point. This match was alright, but not good. There was some spots that stood out, Liv and Sasha diving through opposite sides of the ring. Liv hits the Ob-Liv-ion on Sasha, but Nattie tagged herself in so Liv couldn't pin her. Shayna Baszler tries to break Liv’s ankle. The rest of this match is pretty much everyone getting their spots in. Carmella does the Trish hurricanrana thing from the corner on Rhea. There’s a double tower of doom spot which they had to do every multi-person match apart from the opener. The finish to this match is Naomi holding up Carmella with Sasha doing a rolling codebreaker to win the titles… before walking out 2 weeks later. And to be fair, if Vince was my boss, I would probably walk out too. So I actually applauded them at this point to be honest.
My Rating: **3/4
Match 5: Edge def. AJ Styles (24:27)
An underrated match. I feel like this match’s biggest weakness was the fact that expectations were high and the match was too long. But I thought this was a great match and the best match on night 2. It was even for the most part with only a small part of the match where one man had the advantage over the other. Edge gets his knees up as AJ goes for the 450 and Edge goes after his ribs. But AJ reverses a suplex into his own into the corner. From here, the match is basically even with both men getting aggressive with every move. Edge catches AJ’s foot off the pele kick and takes a page out of his old rival’s book and applies the STF on him. Styles gets Edge in the Calf Crusher, which Edge reverses into an armbar, before transitioning to a crossface. AJ suplexes Edge from the top rope to the apron which I know sucked. AJ throws Edge back in the ring and gives him a 450 to the back, before attempting a Phenomenal Forearm. Edge dodges and goes for the Spear, but AJ leaps over him and Edge’s throat hits the middle rope and Styles takes advantage by hitting the Styles Clash for a close 2 count. Styles goes back to the apron, but gets distracted by Damian Priest on the outside. AJ turns back to Edge and goes for the Forearm again, but Edge leaps and hits probably one of the best Spears he’s ever hit to win the match. Edge and Priest laugh with each other, raising their arms and leaving together… thus the birth of the Judgment Day.
My Rating: ****
Match 6: Sheamus & Ridge Holland def. The New Day (1:43)
Thankfully, it’s short so I don’t have to talk about it very long… but how you gonna have Kofi and Woods come out with Big E. tribute gear and have them lose? Sheamus doesn’t get tagged in at all during the match, he has to spend the match holding back Pete Dunne (Butch who?) Sheamus hits Brogue Kick on Woods as the referee’s back is turned and Holland pins him to win the match, and Dunne gets in to beat up Woods after the match because he was an angry man for some reason.
Match 7: Pat McAfee def. Austin Theory (9:37)
Not a match you would expect to be good, but I thought this was a nice, good match. Only thing is, I have to wonder how Pat McAfee is a better wrestler than Austin Theory. Legitimately, Pat is the one who makes this match awesome. Also, shouts out to Pat for coming out to Seven Nation Army. Like, that was the most hype entrance of the night. Pat starts off with punches and chops Theory’s legs out. Theory chops his throat and starts beating him down. But Pat fights back and knocks Theory into the announce table and bashes his head off the table in front of Vince (that fucking scatty freak) who’s sitting at ringside. Pat goes for a superplex, but Theory shoves him off, which Pat backflips off the ropes, landing on his feet and leaping back onto the ropes and then hitting the superplex! Like Pat McAfee rules, he needs to wrestle more often! Pat reverses the A-Town Down into a rollup and Pat wins!
My Rating: ***3/4
Match 8: Vince McMahon def. Pat McAfee (3:45)
But… we are, unfortunately, not done here. Because Vince McMahon needs to not only wrestle… but win without bumping. Pat challenges Vince to get in the ring with him and the match starts after Theory jumps Pat from behind. You guys remember that episode of SpongeBob where Patrick beat himself up to make SpongeBob look tough… That’s basically this match. Vince moves, he lays his hands on Pat, but Pat has to do allllllll the work… Because Vince wanted to win brother. Fucking senile old man. And as if that wasn’t enough, the finish is so, so bad. Vince “punts” a football into Pat’s stomach… and that’s it. Vince wins. I don’t know what he was thinking here. Because if he was trying to push Austin Theory, he wasn’t doing a good job of making him look good. He lost his match to Pat, but once the 80 year old man gets in there, ohhh boy Pat’s in trouble. Ahhhhh fuck you Vince.
My Rating: DUD
We at least get another Stone Cold pop. The glass shatters and Austin marches to the ring, he gives Theory a stunner who sells it like he’s jumping on a trampoline. He has a beer with Vince before he gives him a stunner… And what might be the funniest Stunner I’ve ever seen. Because Vince fucks it up so badly. He has a beer with Pat McAfee. Before Austin stuns him too, and before Pat falls back, he spits the beer out form his mouth. 3 Stunners which were all great for different reasons. You may be thinking “At least the match led to the moment.” Here’s the thing… We didn’t need the Vince match to get to this point. We didn’t. The funniest thing about this though is that at the WrestleMania press conference earlier this year, they said Pat McAfee was undefeated at WrestleMania. And normally, I hate when they try to lie to us, but considering how bad the match was, and who he lost to, I too would like to block that from the record books.
Main Event: WWE World & Universal Championship Unification Match - Roman Reigns (Universal) def. Brock Lesnar (WWE) (12:17)
I have a bone to pick with this match. Several in fact. One, the fact that legitimately not a single soul asked for it. Two, taglining it the "BiGgEsT wReStLeMaNiA mAtCh Of AlL tImE." I know it was probably more for marketing purposes, but saying something doesn't make it true! I can think of several off the top of my head that were much bigger. Thirdly, the match is okay, but if you're going to use a tagline like that, it has to deliver. This match did not do that. To start the match, Brock tosses Roman around the ring as Brock's matches usually did. But thanks to a distraction from Paul Heyman, Roman Spears Brock through the barricade, and for the rest of this match, Brock sells his ribs. They just basically get their shit in now. Brock reverses a Superman Punch into an F5, which Roman kicks out of obviously. The referee gets bumped. Roman low blows Brock and hits him with the Universal Title. Once the referee recovers, Roman gives Brock another Spear, but Brock transitions into the Kimura from that position. Roman reaches the ropes, forcing Brock to let go. Heyman begs his meal ticket to get back up. Brock picks Roman up and goes for another F5, but Roman slided down the back, pushes Lesnar into the ropes. Brock comes back into a Spear and Roman takes both titles home. Biggest WrestleMania Match of All Time? Yeah, not even close.
My Rating: ***1/4
Cagematch Rating: 6.22
My Rating: 8/10
I started this, expecting it to be mediocre… and admittedly, the booking of this show is incredibly brain melting. But I don't know, I found myself liking the show for the most part. 3 great matches, and a nice sleeper match between McAfee and Theory. Don't judge me, but… and as much as I hate to give Vince credit, he went out with a bang… and a terrible match. The biggest problem I have with it aside from Vince's match, is that the main event was underwhelming on so many different levels.
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Hey! Just letting everyone know I'm not dead. Just been dealing with a case of burnout since it feels like I haven't gotten a break in 2 weeks. I finished the show I'll be reviewing next an hour ago and I'll have it up... later today I guess since it is 4 am here.
Over the Limit 2012
Match 1: #1 Contenders Battle Royal for the Intercontinental or United States Championship - Christian won by last eliminating The Miz (12:13)
I feel like this match was meant to be on the pre-show because the show starts with this match just starting. Really threw me off. Cody and Santino were the IC and US Champions at the time and both were at ringside to watch. This was also Christian’s first match back since he was injured in the fall. God damn, this Battle Royal was boring though. Christian was the only winner that wouldn’t have made you go “That’s kinda lame.” It had such stars as Alex Riley, Heath Slater, David Otunga, The Great Khali anyone? Really, there’s nothing to like about this match until the end. We come down to the final 4 which was Christian, Miz, Otunga and Tyson Kidd. Tyson Kidd springboards and hits a double dropkick on Miz and Otunga and that’s the most exciting spot. Kidd tries to skin the cat, catches Miz with his legs, but is kicked off by Otunga. Miz and Otunga work together against Christian and Booker T asked “Why are they working together.” And for once, I’m with commentary Booker T. I hate this trope so much. It slows the match down (even more than it already was). Christian manages to eliminate Otunga and after another minute, eliminates Miz. And then he points at Santino, which when you think about it, makes kinda sense even though he’s a babyface. After all, he’s already held the Intercontinental Title. Winning the US Title would’ve made him a Grand Slam winner. They don’t bother to mention that, so I really just made this make more sense than they did. And now that that match is out of the way. It’s time to play the opening video package. Wait what?
My Rating: *1/2
Match 2: WWE Tag Team Championship Match - Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) def. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger (12:21)
This match was okay, but there was nothing outstanding about it until the end. It’s competently worked, it’s just nothing special. It starts with some standard, babyface team running the match until Truth gets knocked over and isolated from his corner. Dolph and Swagger keep him away from Kofi for much of the match. And with, I’m assuming 2 minutes left in the match, Truth tags in Kofi, who brings some life into this match. Swagger tags in Dolph at the same time and Kofi springboards halfway across the ring to hit this man. Kofi lays into Dolph and Swagger comes in to save his man, and grabs Kofi, running towards the ropes, but Kofi reverses and Swagger tumbles to the floor, and while Kofi is getting back in, Dolph hits the Fame-Asser for a 2 count thanks to Truth. Truth dives onto Swagger on the outside with their partners still in the ring. Kofi stands up in his corner and Dolph takes a run and leaps at Kofi. And Kofi hits Dolph out of the air with a perfectly timed Trouble in Paradise for the win! A finish that made my jaw drop, no joke.
My Rating: **3/4
Match 3: Divas Championship Match - Layla (c) def. Beth Phoenix (7:10)
Ya know, just as I was starting to think Layla wasn’t that bad of a wrestler, she just had to prove me wrong with this match. She’s not horrible, but she ain’t good either. Beth has to carry her basically. Layla just come off of a knee injury, so Beth spends the majority of the match working over her knee. But Layla starts to get a comeback started after Beth presses her and Layla reverses it into a DDT. Layla reverses the Glam Slam into a victory roll which was alright. Match has a real anti-climactic finish. Beth kicks her knee out of her knee, but then Layla just hits a Neckbreaker and wins. Okay, That was a finish.
My Rating: **
Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4-Way Match - Sheamus (c) def. Randy Orton, Chris Jericho & Alberto Del Rio (15:54)
Before I get into the match itself, I wanna point out something interesting. As they were announcing everyone in the match, Randy Orton got a much, much louder reaction than Sheamus did. Matter of fact, Sheamus got hardly any reaction at all. So how did he remain the champ for another 5 months? I was expecting this to be better, but I can’t complain too much as this was a pretty good match. It’s your standard four way match with everybody getting their shit in. The first half isn’t special. Jericho and Del Rio work together for a short bit, that tired old trope. I’d say halfway through the match is when the match started to get good. There is a sweet sequence between Orton and Sheamus. Sheamus shoves Orton away off an RKO, Sheamus goes for the Brogue, Orton ducks and tries the RKO again, but Sheamus drops to the mat and rolls Orton up from behind. I thought that was a great sequence. All 4 men got a chance to bet their moves in. Orton hits a double DDT on Del Rio and Ricardo. Jericho hits Orton with a Codebreaker to send him out, then Del Rio gets Jericho in the Armbreaker, but Jericho reverses it and transitions into a Walls of Jericho, Sheamus comes in, goes to Brogue Jericho, but Chris ducks and lets go of Del Rio. He hits Sheamus with the Codebreaker, and puts him in the Walls of Jericho. And Orton literally slides in to hit the RKO on Chris. And then drops Del Rio with one. But Sheamus Brogues Orton and hits White Noise on Jericho to retain. Pretty good match.
My Rating: ***3/4
Match 5: Brodus Clay def. The Miz (4:11)
And after that match, now I have to watch Brodus Clay and pre-Talking Smack promo Miz. Whoopee. And it’s bad. For the 4 minutes it got, its bad. I’ll give you the rundown. Brodus throws his weight around. I think Miz got 1 or 2 shots. I don’t know. I couldn’t give 2 shits about this match. Why was it there? Brodus hits a fallaway slam from the second rope. And then hits a splash for the win. And even for a running splash, this feels lazy. He doesn’t even jump for it, it really just looks like he falls on top of Miz.
My Rating: *
Match 6: Intercontinental Championship Match - Christian def. Cody Rhodes (c) (7:16)
So at some point during the show, Cody was talking shit about Christian backstage and saying that he would’ve embarrassed him if he had chosen to face him. So Christian is standing behind him as he says it and is like “Actually, I wanna fight you actually.” So now we have an IC Title Match instead. Which, Christian vs Cody sounds like the better match anyway, so I won’t complain. But even so, this match wasn’t special. Nowhere near as good as the No Way Out match they had a month later. It’s an average TV match really. Cody just wears down Christian for a bit. Christian hardly gets any offense in now that I think about it. Cody eventually starts getting pissed that he can’t beat Christian, even though he still has a finisher he hasn’t used yet. Christian moves out of the way of a running Cody in the corner, and hits the Killswitch to win the IC Title.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 7: WWE Championship Match - CM Punk (c) def. Daniel Bryan (23:58)
It’s an actual crime that this wasn’t the main event of this show. For more than just the reason nothing else on the show came close to how good this was, but we’ll get to that later. This match was incredible! Aside from John Cena or Samoa Joe, I think Daniel Bryan might be Punk’s best opponent. These two worked an absolute masterclass here! I remember when I was 13, this match blew my mind and it still holds up today. Very early, both men go after the body part they were gonna focus on the whole match. Punk went after Bryan’s legs and Bryan went after Punk’s ribs. And I don’t think there was a point during the match where it felt like one man had the edge. There was a point where Bryan just punished and stretched Punk, but that was really it. Punk hits a suicide dive on Bryan. Throws Bryan back in and goes for the springboard clothesline, but Bryan kicks him out of the air. Punk puts Bryan in the Figure 4, and Bryan sits up while in the hold and these 2 start exchanging slaps. Bryan eventually has to reach the ropes to escape. The counters in this match were nice and smooth and the chemistry was off the charts. Like, Benoit and Angle levels of good! Punk crotches Bryan on the top rope and hits a springboard clothesline from there. Punk hits a Diving Elbow, but can’t capitalize thanks to the ribs. Bryan misses a dropkick in the corner and Punk hits the running knee in the corner, and then goes for the bulldog, but Bryan reverses and drags Punk down to the mat, putting him in the Yes Lock! Punk survives in this hold for a solid minute before he rolls over with Bryan’s back and shoulders to the mat. The referee counts Bryan out and Punk retains after an absolute classic! An underdog babyface vs a strong heel or an established babyface vs an up and coming heel are nice stories. But this felt like a battle between equals and it was awesome!
My Rating: ****3/4
Match 8: Ryback def. Camacho (1:50)
Never thought I’d see the day Camacho would be back in WWE. And yet somehow, he doesn’t feel like he’s improved at all since then. Yeah, this was a squash. Camacho knocks Ryback down with a clothesline, good for him I guess. Ryback hits one back and hits the Shell Shock to win. By the way, there were Goldberg chants during this match. I think Ryback had only been back a month and already was being compared to Goldberg which is funny to me.
Main Event: No Disqualification Match - John Laurinaitis def. John Cena (16:57)
Ya know… The fact that Punk and Bryan put on such a great match makes this match worse. This match had precisely, zero business going last over the WWE Title Match. If they had just done the finish at the start of the match and ended it quickly, then it still would’ve been bad but at least they didn’t drag it out. Nah, they made me watch this for 17 fucking minutes! I feel like this was supposed to be a comedy match because commentary was laughing. A comedy match main eventing a PPV is egregious enough. The fact we don’t even get a good payoff makes it worse. Cena just bullies Laurinaitis for 15 minutes. And I am all for that, don’t get me wrong, I’ll stomp Laurinaitis out too. He deserves it. But fuck this match is just not funny. I don’t find this funny at all. I’m not gonna go through every spot because it’s just not worth it. I’ll just talk about the end, Laurinaitis low blows Cena and tries to escape through the crowd. Big Show comes out with Laurinaitis a moment later and brings him back in the ring. Cena picks Laurinaitis up for the AA and Big Show turns heel for the 17 millionth time in his career by knocking Cena out. And Laurinaitis, takes ages to cover Cena. Good lord, I think I have grandkids now with how long it took Laurinaitis to cover Cena even though we knew at that point who was winning. This… this was so bad. This is one of those matches that had me go “My expectations were low, but god damn!”
My Rating: DUD
Cagematch Rating: 6.21
My Rating: 6/10
Two matches save this show. Without them, they’re just a house show with an awful ending. The four way was a good match but that WWE Title Match was amazing and is one of the best matches of both Punk and Bryan’s WWE run. And it really should’ve been the match to end the show because the main event was horrible beyond measure. The fact that they could’ve sent the fans home happy instead of miserable with just a simple swap between 2 matches.
Match 1: #1 Contenders Battle Royal for the Intercontinental or United States Championship - Christian won by last eliminating The Miz (12:13)
I feel like this match was meant to be on the pre-show because the show starts with this match just starting. Really threw me off. Cody and Santino were the IC and US Champions at the time and both were at ringside to watch. This was also Christian’s first match back since he was injured in the fall. God damn, this Battle Royal was boring though. Christian was the only winner that wouldn’t have made you go “That’s kinda lame.” It had such stars as Alex Riley, Heath Slater, David Otunga, The Great Khali anyone? Really, there’s nothing to like about this match until the end. We come down to the final 4 which was Christian, Miz, Otunga and Tyson Kidd. Tyson Kidd springboards and hits a double dropkick on Miz and Otunga and that’s the most exciting spot. Kidd tries to skin the cat, catches Miz with his legs, but is kicked off by Otunga. Miz and Otunga work together against Christian and Booker T asked “Why are they working together.” And for once, I’m with commentary Booker T. I hate this trope so much. It slows the match down (even more than it already was). Christian manages to eliminate Otunga and after another minute, eliminates Miz. And then he points at Santino, which when you think about it, makes kinda sense even though he’s a babyface. After all, he’s already held the Intercontinental Title. Winning the US Title would’ve made him a Grand Slam winner. They don’t bother to mention that, so I really just made this make more sense than they did. And now that that match is out of the way. It’s time to play the opening video package. Wait what?
My Rating: *1/2
Match 2: WWE Tag Team Championship Match - Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) def. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger (12:21)
This match was okay, but there was nothing outstanding about it until the end. It’s competently worked, it’s just nothing special. It starts with some standard, babyface team running the match until Truth gets knocked over and isolated from his corner. Dolph and Swagger keep him away from Kofi for much of the match. And with, I’m assuming 2 minutes left in the match, Truth tags in Kofi, who brings some life into this match. Swagger tags in Dolph at the same time and Kofi springboards halfway across the ring to hit this man. Kofi lays into Dolph and Swagger comes in to save his man, and grabs Kofi, running towards the ropes, but Kofi reverses and Swagger tumbles to the floor, and while Kofi is getting back in, Dolph hits the Fame-Asser for a 2 count thanks to Truth. Truth dives onto Swagger on the outside with their partners still in the ring. Kofi stands up in his corner and Dolph takes a run and leaps at Kofi. And Kofi hits Dolph out of the air with a perfectly timed Trouble in Paradise for the win! A finish that made my jaw drop, no joke.
My Rating: **3/4
Match 3: Divas Championship Match - Layla (c) def. Beth Phoenix (7:10)
Ya know, just as I was starting to think Layla wasn’t that bad of a wrestler, she just had to prove me wrong with this match. She’s not horrible, but she ain’t good either. Beth has to carry her basically. Layla just come off of a knee injury, so Beth spends the majority of the match working over her knee. But Layla starts to get a comeback started after Beth presses her and Layla reverses it into a DDT. Layla reverses the Glam Slam into a victory roll which was alright. Match has a real anti-climactic finish. Beth kicks her knee out of her knee, but then Layla just hits a Neckbreaker and wins. Okay, That was a finish.
My Rating: **
Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4-Way Match - Sheamus (c) def. Randy Orton, Chris Jericho & Alberto Del Rio (15:54)
Before I get into the match itself, I wanna point out something interesting. As they were announcing everyone in the match, Randy Orton got a much, much louder reaction than Sheamus did. Matter of fact, Sheamus got hardly any reaction at all. So how did he remain the champ for another 5 months? I was expecting this to be better, but I can’t complain too much as this was a pretty good match. It’s your standard four way match with everybody getting their shit in. The first half isn’t special. Jericho and Del Rio work together for a short bit, that tired old trope. I’d say halfway through the match is when the match started to get good. There is a sweet sequence between Orton and Sheamus. Sheamus shoves Orton away off an RKO, Sheamus goes for the Brogue, Orton ducks and tries the RKO again, but Sheamus drops to the mat and rolls Orton up from behind. I thought that was a great sequence. All 4 men got a chance to bet their moves in. Orton hits a double DDT on Del Rio and Ricardo. Jericho hits Orton with a Codebreaker to send him out, then Del Rio gets Jericho in the Armbreaker, but Jericho reverses it and transitions into a Walls of Jericho, Sheamus comes in, goes to Brogue Jericho, but Chris ducks and lets go of Del Rio. He hits Sheamus with the Codebreaker, and puts him in the Walls of Jericho. And Orton literally slides in to hit the RKO on Chris. And then drops Del Rio with one. But Sheamus Brogues Orton and hits White Noise on Jericho to retain. Pretty good match.
My Rating: ***3/4
Match 5: Brodus Clay def. The Miz (4:11)
And after that match, now I have to watch Brodus Clay and pre-Talking Smack promo Miz. Whoopee. And it’s bad. For the 4 minutes it got, its bad. I’ll give you the rundown. Brodus throws his weight around. I think Miz got 1 or 2 shots. I don’t know. I couldn’t give 2 shits about this match. Why was it there? Brodus hits a fallaway slam from the second rope. And then hits a splash for the win. And even for a running splash, this feels lazy. He doesn’t even jump for it, it really just looks like he falls on top of Miz.
My Rating: *
Match 6: Intercontinental Championship Match - Christian def. Cody Rhodes (c) (7:16)
So at some point during the show, Cody was talking shit about Christian backstage and saying that he would’ve embarrassed him if he had chosen to face him. So Christian is standing behind him as he says it and is like “Actually, I wanna fight you actually.” So now we have an IC Title Match instead. Which, Christian vs Cody sounds like the better match anyway, so I won’t complain. But even so, this match wasn’t special. Nowhere near as good as the No Way Out match they had a month later. It’s an average TV match really. Cody just wears down Christian for a bit. Christian hardly gets any offense in now that I think about it. Cody eventually starts getting pissed that he can’t beat Christian, even though he still has a finisher he hasn’t used yet. Christian moves out of the way of a running Cody in the corner, and hits the Killswitch to win the IC Title.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 7: WWE Championship Match - CM Punk (c) def. Daniel Bryan (23:58)
It’s an actual crime that this wasn’t the main event of this show. For more than just the reason nothing else on the show came close to how good this was, but we’ll get to that later. This match was incredible! Aside from John Cena or Samoa Joe, I think Daniel Bryan might be Punk’s best opponent. These two worked an absolute masterclass here! I remember when I was 13, this match blew my mind and it still holds up today. Very early, both men go after the body part they were gonna focus on the whole match. Punk went after Bryan’s legs and Bryan went after Punk’s ribs. And I don’t think there was a point during the match where it felt like one man had the edge. There was a point where Bryan just punished and stretched Punk, but that was really it. Punk hits a suicide dive on Bryan. Throws Bryan back in and goes for the springboard clothesline, but Bryan kicks him out of the air. Punk puts Bryan in the Figure 4, and Bryan sits up while in the hold and these 2 start exchanging slaps. Bryan eventually has to reach the ropes to escape. The counters in this match were nice and smooth and the chemistry was off the charts. Like, Benoit and Angle levels of good! Punk crotches Bryan on the top rope and hits a springboard clothesline from there. Punk hits a Diving Elbow, but can’t capitalize thanks to the ribs. Bryan misses a dropkick in the corner and Punk hits the running knee in the corner, and then goes for the bulldog, but Bryan reverses and drags Punk down to the mat, putting him in the Yes Lock! Punk survives in this hold for a solid minute before he rolls over with Bryan’s back and shoulders to the mat. The referee counts Bryan out and Punk retains after an absolute classic! An underdog babyface vs a strong heel or an established babyface vs an up and coming heel are nice stories. But this felt like a battle between equals and it was awesome!
My Rating: ****3/4
Match 8: Ryback def. Camacho (1:50)
Never thought I’d see the day Camacho would be back in WWE. And yet somehow, he doesn’t feel like he’s improved at all since then. Yeah, this was a squash. Camacho knocks Ryback down with a clothesline, good for him I guess. Ryback hits one back and hits the Shell Shock to win. By the way, there were Goldberg chants during this match. I think Ryback had only been back a month and already was being compared to Goldberg which is funny to me.
Main Event: No Disqualification Match - John Laurinaitis def. John Cena (16:57)
Ya know… The fact that Punk and Bryan put on such a great match makes this match worse. This match had precisely, zero business going last over the WWE Title Match. If they had just done the finish at the start of the match and ended it quickly, then it still would’ve been bad but at least they didn’t drag it out. Nah, they made me watch this for 17 fucking minutes! I feel like this was supposed to be a comedy match because commentary was laughing. A comedy match main eventing a PPV is egregious enough. The fact we don’t even get a good payoff makes it worse. Cena just bullies Laurinaitis for 15 minutes. And I am all for that, don’t get me wrong, I’ll stomp Laurinaitis out too. He deserves it. But fuck this match is just not funny. I don’t find this funny at all. I’m not gonna go through every spot because it’s just not worth it. I’ll just talk about the end, Laurinaitis low blows Cena and tries to escape through the crowd. Big Show comes out with Laurinaitis a moment later and brings him back in the ring. Cena picks Laurinaitis up for the AA and Big Show turns heel for the 17 millionth time in his career by knocking Cena out. And Laurinaitis, takes ages to cover Cena. Good lord, I think I have grandkids now with how long it took Laurinaitis to cover Cena even though we knew at that point who was winning. This… this was so bad. This is one of those matches that had me go “My expectations were low, but god damn!”
My Rating: DUD
Cagematch Rating: 6.21
My Rating: 6/10
Two matches save this show. Without them, they’re just a house show with an awful ending. The four way was a good match but that WWE Title Match was amazing and is one of the best matches of both Punk and Bryan’s WWE run. And it really should’ve been the match to end the show because the main event was horrible beyond measure. The fact that they could’ve sent the fans home happy instead of miserable with just a simple swap between 2 matches.
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Oh I won’t give this any credit. Even as a 13 year old, I thought this was dumb as hell.
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I feel you on that. Don't be afraid or ashamed to take a break when you need to. Your mental health comes first.
Money in the Bank 2024
Match 1: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Drew McIntyre def. Jey Uso, LA Knight, Chad Gable, Andrade & Carmelo Hayes (16:30)
We start the night with a great Ladder Match. This was awesome. All 6 men got to shine and that’s when you’ve done something right. The fan favorites were obviously Jey Uso and LA Knight. The first insane spot of the match goes to Andrade. Chad Gable is hanging off one side of the ladder, has McIntyre in an armbar who’s standing on the other side, and Andrade springboards off the ropes to hit a leg drop on Gable. Not long after that, Carmelo Hayes comes in, hits a springboard off the middle rope and back to hit Andrade with a clothesline off the ladder. I love the combination of German Suplexes Chad Gable got to hit. He hits Jey with a German. Lifts Drew off the mat with a German. Catches Hayes off a springboard to hit the Chaos Theory. Andrade comes back in and Gable hits a german on a Ladder nearby over Andrade’s back. Jey and Knight temporarily work together to take McIntyre out until the end, BFT and a Splash. An insane spot and callback to when Andrade did the same thing to Finn Balor in the 2019 Ladder Match, Andrade hits a sunset flip bomb on Melo onto a ladder bridged between a standing ladder and the ring ropes. Gable teases hitting a German on LA from the ladder. But instead, Gable hits a belly to belly suplex over the ropes onto a bridged ladder between the announce table and the ring. Gable looks like he’s about to take it, but Jey Uso comes in, moves the ladder out from under Gable who is still hanging on to the briefcase and hanging there. He legs go and drops to the mat, chest first and then gets up to take a Spear, which seemed unnecessary but he is channeling his inner Perc Angle recently to be fair. Jey goes up to grab the briefcase, but McIntyre steps in and throws a ladder into Uso to knock him down, he hits the Claymore and climbs up to grab the briefcase.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: Intercontinental Championship Match - Sami Zayn (c) def. Bron Breakker (13:15)
These two can definitely do better, but I can’t complain too much. This was a damn fine match which made Bron look like an absolute athletic powerhouse. Also, please release Bron’s new theme on Spotify, thank you. Only thing I don’t like is how they continue to treat Sami like an underdog. This man ended Gunther’s record setting Intercontinental Title reign, I’m not sure he’s much of an underdog anymore. But to be fair, Bron is an absolute menace. And not only is he strong, he’s also frighteningly quick. I did like how Bron was in control of most of the match, and yet we didn’t have to sit through any boring ass rest holds. Bron saves Sami’s life at some point by catching him off a flip from the barricade. Sami was inches away from being dumped on his head. Bron at some point leaps from the apron onto Sami who was resting against the announce table. Sami catches Bron with a tornado DDT, Blue Thunder Bomb and an exploder into the corner. He sets Bron up for the Helluva Kick, but Bron leaps out of the corner and bulldozes Sami. Bron goes for the Spear, but Sami kicks him as he runs at him, and hits a Helluva Kick to retain. Now I’ve seen people say that Bron was “buried” in this match. And I hate that word so much because wrestling fans rarely ever see a burial and yet they use the damn word all the time. Don’t say Bron was buried just because you wanted him to win and he didn’t. He whooped Sami’s ass most of the match and he’s 26 years old. He’ll be just fine.
My Rating: ***3/4
So after this match, Trish Stratus comes out to introduce John Cena to the crowd. I’m sure you’ve all heard about this so I won’t bore you too much with this. But he says that he’ll be retiring and that WrestleMania next year will be his last. Now for those who didn’t see the press conference, the idea is for him to do one more full time run from January to December next year. I don’t know about you, but I’m actually looking forward to this retirement tour, and I’m already thinking up several dream matches for him before he goes.
Match 3: World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match - Damian Priest (c) def. Seth Rollins & Drew McIntyre (15:48)
Oh boy. This was hard to watch honestly. It isn’t the worst match ever, it’s actually competent for the most part, but man I thought this match was awkward. I don’t think it helps that Seth and Priest don’t have any chemistry basically, but it’s also hindered by the fact that they keep waiting for Drew McIntyre to come from the back. Seth seemed a lot slower and, not to shame him, a little thicker. I’m not sure what was going on, but these two just didn’t click. Seth landed on his back and got back up to hit the Curb Stomp with a leap over Damian’s body. Priest kicks out. Priest attempts the South of Heaven a couple times but Seth escapes. It’s after he hits the falcon arrow that you go. “Oh, this is bad.” Because Priest… forgot to kick out. Why wouldn’t he count three? That referee was trying to fuck on him obviously. Thankfully, after the referee screwed Seth, McIntyre’s music hits and takes away some of the awkwardness of what just happened. He comes down to the ring with the briefcase. Seth hits him with a superkick, goes for the Pedigree, but Drew counters into the Future Shock. He drops Seth with a Claymore and then drops Priest with a Claymore a moment later. But thankfully for him, here’s CM Punk to screw Drew over again. He wails McIntyre with a chair before hitting him with the World Championship. Priest hits Drew with the South of Heaven and retains the title. But he doesn’t look happy about it, probably because he’s thinking about that botched pin. They tease a fight breaking out between Seth and Punk before we move on from this. I’m sorry, but I don’t see Priest as a main event caliber wrestler. I just don’t. Here’s hoping Gunther takes the title at SummerSlam.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 4: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Tiffany Stratton def. Chelsea Green, Naomi, Iyo Sky, Lyra Valkyria & Zoey Stark (16:52)
The women saw that men’s ladder match and apparently said “hold my beer” because god damn this was insane! These ladies really put it all out there in this match! Admittedly, it is pretty sloppy in the beginning stages, but I’d say after Tiffy hits that Alabama Slam on Naomi onto the ladder is when the match begins to get good. They keep harping on the fact that Chelsea Green is afraid of heights, and that’s going to be a factor throughout the match regarding her. There’s a spot in the match where Naomi does the splits between two standing ladders and hits a DDT on Zoey which was impressive. Tiffany and Chelsea form a temporary alliance and set up two tables next to each other on the outside of the ring which will be important at the very end. Two different ladders get bridged between 2 different ladders in the ring and the ring ropes on opposite sides. Lyra gets dropped onto one of the bridged ladders by Stark, taking her out for the match. Chelsea hits an Unprettier on Naomi on the same ladder a few moments later. And then the spot that takes Iyo and Zoey out, a spot that made my jaw drop even the second time I watched this match because it still didn’t look fun. From the top of one of the ladders, Iyo puts Zoey on her shoulder and hits Stark with an Emerald Flowsion onto the bridged ladder below them! Genuinely a holy shit moment! Iyo rolls out of the ring and Chelsea comes back into an empty ring, throwing the bridged ladder out and climbs the ladder, despite her fear of heights. And Chelsea has the briefcase in her hands, but Tiffy comes back in, shakes the ladder she’s standing on, which makes Chelsea stop. Tiffany climbs the ladder beside Chelsea’s and pushes her over through the tables on the outside that they set up together! That is really the icing on the cake in this match as Tiffany grabs the briefcase down!
My Rating: ****
Main Event: The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu) def. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton & Kevin Owens (24:40)
I know that the plan is definitely Cody vs Solo at SummerSlam… but is there anyway we can get Cody vs Jacob instead? Please. Pretty please. Jacob was really the MVP of the match. He carried this match as far as his team is concerned. The first half of the match is really nothing special here. Apart from the bit where Randy hits Jake with a draping DDT, and Jake gets back up a second later and Orton turns around, tries to set up the RKO, only to look up and see Fatu is standing again. I thought that was the only interesting bit of the first half of the match. The discount Bloodline keep Owens away from his corner for a while, putting me to sleep. After Cody gets the hot tag, the match begins to pick up, and chaos ensues with Cody and Solo fighting in the ring. Solo accidentally knocks the referee out and Cody hits him with the Cross Rhodes. KO hits a swanton and Orton drops Solo with the RKO. And then they tease hitting Solo with a Shield Powerbomb through the table, but Jacob Fatu from outta nowhere, knocks Cody to the floor, drops Orton with a superkick and goes to do the same to Owens. But KO drops Fatu onto the announce table with a few superkicks and then hits a splash off the barricade through the table. Owens picks up Tama Tonga in the ring for a Package Piledriver, but Tonga Loa, the best wrestler in the world, at first tries to shove his fist up Kevin’s ass for some reason and then low blows him. Randy comes back in, drops both of them with an RKO. Solo runs back in and drops Orton with a Samoan Spike. Cody comes back and hits Solo with a couple Cross Rhodes but Jacob Fatu, the god damn MVP of this match, runs back in and hits whisper in the wind on Cody to save the dollar store Tribal Chief. Jacob picks Cody up and Solo tells Cody to acknowledge him and drops him with a Samoan Spike. Jacob rolls the referee back in, he counts the pin and Solo pins Cody. It’s gonna be Cody vs Solo at SummerSlam but I legitimately could not care less about that. I would however, be greatly interested in Cody vs Jacob Fatu instead.
My Rating: ***1/2
Cagematch Rating: 5.68
My Rating: 7.5/10
Had to watch this show because next because somehow, it got a bad reception. And it wasn’t the greatest show, but I’m gonna tell you exactly what I think about the bad reception this show got. We, in today's WWE, are spoiled as hell. To the point where a show like this, which was perfectly fine, is considered bad. Only thing I didn't like so much was the World Title match and the setup to a Championship Match I have no interest in (Cody vs Solo). But that's just about it. Everything else is pretty good. And people are allowed to not like this show, but I saw ratings ranging from 3 to 0 on Cagematch. I don't think those people have been through the trenches of actually terrible wrestling.
Match 1: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Drew McIntyre def. Jey Uso, LA Knight, Chad Gable, Andrade & Carmelo Hayes (16:30)
We start the night with a great Ladder Match. This was awesome. All 6 men got to shine and that’s when you’ve done something right. The fan favorites were obviously Jey Uso and LA Knight. The first insane spot of the match goes to Andrade. Chad Gable is hanging off one side of the ladder, has McIntyre in an armbar who’s standing on the other side, and Andrade springboards off the ropes to hit a leg drop on Gable. Not long after that, Carmelo Hayes comes in, hits a springboard off the middle rope and back to hit Andrade with a clothesline off the ladder. I love the combination of German Suplexes Chad Gable got to hit. He hits Jey with a German. Lifts Drew off the mat with a German. Catches Hayes off a springboard to hit the Chaos Theory. Andrade comes back in and Gable hits a german on a Ladder nearby over Andrade’s back. Jey and Knight temporarily work together to take McIntyre out until the end, BFT and a Splash. An insane spot and callback to when Andrade did the same thing to Finn Balor in the 2019 Ladder Match, Andrade hits a sunset flip bomb on Melo onto a ladder bridged between a standing ladder and the ring ropes. Gable teases hitting a German on LA from the ladder. But instead, Gable hits a belly to belly suplex over the ropes onto a bridged ladder between the announce table and the ring. Gable looks like he’s about to take it, but Jey Uso comes in, moves the ladder out from under Gable who is still hanging on to the briefcase and hanging there. He legs go and drops to the mat, chest first and then gets up to take a Spear, which seemed unnecessary but he is channeling his inner Perc Angle recently to be fair. Jey goes up to grab the briefcase, but McIntyre steps in and throws a ladder into Uso to knock him down, he hits the Claymore and climbs up to grab the briefcase.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: Intercontinental Championship Match - Sami Zayn (c) def. Bron Breakker (13:15)
These two can definitely do better, but I can’t complain too much. This was a damn fine match which made Bron look like an absolute athletic powerhouse. Also, please release Bron’s new theme on Spotify, thank you. Only thing I don’t like is how they continue to treat Sami like an underdog. This man ended Gunther’s record setting Intercontinental Title reign, I’m not sure he’s much of an underdog anymore. But to be fair, Bron is an absolute menace. And not only is he strong, he’s also frighteningly quick. I did like how Bron was in control of most of the match, and yet we didn’t have to sit through any boring ass rest holds. Bron saves Sami’s life at some point by catching him off a flip from the barricade. Sami was inches away from being dumped on his head. Bron at some point leaps from the apron onto Sami who was resting against the announce table. Sami catches Bron with a tornado DDT, Blue Thunder Bomb and an exploder into the corner. He sets Bron up for the Helluva Kick, but Bron leaps out of the corner and bulldozes Sami. Bron goes for the Spear, but Sami kicks him as he runs at him, and hits a Helluva Kick to retain. Now I’ve seen people say that Bron was “buried” in this match. And I hate that word so much because wrestling fans rarely ever see a burial and yet they use the damn word all the time. Don’t say Bron was buried just because you wanted him to win and he didn’t. He whooped Sami’s ass most of the match and he’s 26 years old. He’ll be just fine.
My Rating: ***3/4
So after this match, Trish Stratus comes out to introduce John Cena to the crowd. I’m sure you’ve all heard about this so I won’t bore you too much with this. But he says that he’ll be retiring and that WrestleMania next year will be his last. Now for those who didn’t see the press conference, the idea is for him to do one more full time run from January to December next year. I don’t know about you, but I’m actually looking forward to this retirement tour, and I’m already thinking up several dream matches for him before he goes.
Match 3: World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match - Damian Priest (c) def. Seth Rollins & Drew McIntyre (15:48)
Oh boy. This was hard to watch honestly. It isn’t the worst match ever, it’s actually competent for the most part, but man I thought this match was awkward. I don’t think it helps that Seth and Priest don’t have any chemistry basically, but it’s also hindered by the fact that they keep waiting for Drew McIntyre to come from the back. Seth seemed a lot slower and, not to shame him, a little thicker. I’m not sure what was going on, but these two just didn’t click. Seth landed on his back and got back up to hit the Curb Stomp with a leap over Damian’s body. Priest kicks out. Priest attempts the South of Heaven a couple times but Seth escapes. It’s after he hits the falcon arrow that you go. “Oh, this is bad.” Because Priest… forgot to kick out. Why wouldn’t he count three? That referee was trying to fuck on him obviously. Thankfully, after the referee screwed Seth, McIntyre’s music hits and takes away some of the awkwardness of what just happened. He comes down to the ring with the briefcase. Seth hits him with a superkick, goes for the Pedigree, but Drew counters into the Future Shock. He drops Seth with a Claymore and then drops Priest with a Claymore a moment later. But thankfully for him, here’s CM Punk to screw Drew over again. He wails McIntyre with a chair before hitting him with the World Championship. Priest hits Drew with the South of Heaven and retains the title. But he doesn’t look happy about it, probably because he’s thinking about that botched pin. They tease a fight breaking out between Seth and Punk before we move on from this. I’m sorry, but I don’t see Priest as a main event caliber wrestler. I just don’t. Here’s hoping Gunther takes the title at SummerSlam.
My Rating: **1/2
Match 4: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Tiffany Stratton def. Chelsea Green, Naomi, Iyo Sky, Lyra Valkyria & Zoey Stark (16:52)
The women saw that men’s ladder match and apparently said “hold my beer” because god damn this was insane! These ladies really put it all out there in this match! Admittedly, it is pretty sloppy in the beginning stages, but I’d say after Tiffy hits that Alabama Slam on Naomi onto the ladder is when the match begins to get good. They keep harping on the fact that Chelsea Green is afraid of heights, and that’s going to be a factor throughout the match regarding her. There’s a spot in the match where Naomi does the splits between two standing ladders and hits a DDT on Zoey which was impressive. Tiffany and Chelsea form a temporary alliance and set up two tables next to each other on the outside of the ring which will be important at the very end. Two different ladders get bridged between 2 different ladders in the ring and the ring ropes on opposite sides. Lyra gets dropped onto one of the bridged ladders by Stark, taking her out for the match. Chelsea hits an Unprettier on Naomi on the same ladder a few moments later. And then the spot that takes Iyo and Zoey out, a spot that made my jaw drop even the second time I watched this match because it still didn’t look fun. From the top of one of the ladders, Iyo puts Zoey on her shoulder and hits Stark with an Emerald Flowsion onto the bridged ladder below them! Genuinely a holy shit moment! Iyo rolls out of the ring and Chelsea comes back into an empty ring, throwing the bridged ladder out and climbs the ladder, despite her fear of heights. And Chelsea has the briefcase in her hands, but Tiffy comes back in, shakes the ladder she’s standing on, which makes Chelsea stop. Tiffany climbs the ladder beside Chelsea’s and pushes her over through the tables on the outside that they set up together! That is really the icing on the cake in this match as Tiffany grabs the briefcase down!
My Rating: ****
Main Event: The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu) def. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton & Kevin Owens (24:40)
I know that the plan is definitely Cody vs Solo at SummerSlam… but is there anyway we can get Cody vs Jacob instead? Please. Pretty please. Jacob was really the MVP of the match. He carried this match as far as his team is concerned. The first half of the match is really nothing special here. Apart from the bit where Randy hits Jake with a draping DDT, and Jake gets back up a second later and Orton turns around, tries to set up the RKO, only to look up and see Fatu is standing again. I thought that was the only interesting bit of the first half of the match. The discount Bloodline keep Owens away from his corner for a while, putting me to sleep. After Cody gets the hot tag, the match begins to pick up, and chaos ensues with Cody and Solo fighting in the ring. Solo accidentally knocks the referee out and Cody hits him with the Cross Rhodes. KO hits a swanton and Orton drops Solo with the RKO. And then they tease hitting Solo with a Shield Powerbomb through the table, but Jacob Fatu from outta nowhere, knocks Cody to the floor, drops Orton with a superkick and goes to do the same to Owens. But KO drops Fatu onto the announce table with a few superkicks and then hits a splash off the barricade through the table. Owens picks up Tama Tonga in the ring for a Package Piledriver, but Tonga Loa, the best wrestler in the world, at first tries to shove his fist up Kevin’s ass for some reason and then low blows him. Randy comes back in, drops both of them with an RKO. Solo runs back in and drops Orton with a Samoan Spike. Cody comes back and hits Solo with a couple Cross Rhodes but Jacob Fatu, the god damn MVP of this match, runs back in and hits whisper in the wind on Cody to save the dollar store Tribal Chief. Jacob picks Cody up and Solo tells Cody to acknowledge him and drops him with a Samoan Spike. Jacob rolls the referee back in, he counts the pin and Solo pins Cody. It’s gonna be Cody vs Solo at SummerSlam but I legitimately could not care less about that. I would however, be greatly interested in Cody vs Jacob Fatu instead.
My Rating: ***1/2
Cagematch Rating: 5.68
My Rating: 7.5/10
Had to watch this show because next because somehow, it got a bad reception. And it wasn’t the greatest show, but I’m gonna tell you exactly what I think about the bad reception this show got. We, in today's WWE, are spoiled as hell. To the point where a show like this, which was perfectly fine, is considered bad. Only thing I didn't like so much was the World Title match and the setup to a Championship Match I have no interest in (Cody vs Solo). But that's just about it. Everything else is pretty good. And people are allowed to not like this show, but I saw ratings ranging from 3 to 0 on Cagematch. I don't think those people have been through the trenches of actually terrible wrestling.