Reviewing every WWE PPV in order from worst to best

[Crocker]

The Trish injury was very legit she was out for a few months, it was while she was out injured she made the decision to retire later that year.


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[Jarf]

The Trish injury was very legit she was out for a few months, it was while she was out injured she made the decision to retire later that year.


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Ah, that's rough.

 

[Jarf]

Hell in a Cell 2011

Match 1: Sheamus def. Christian (13:41)

Not a banger, but a decent way to start the show. I thought these two worked well together. I think Sheamus was still trying to find himself as a babyface. Before Sheamus even comes out, Miz and R-Truth walk through the crowd and are thrown out even though they have tickets. At this point, they were fired I think. Sheamus starts the match just beating on Christian. But Christian gets the upper hand after shoving Sheamus off the top rope to the floor. This portion of the match isn’t anything special. Sheamus starts to come back into the match and the pace begins to pick up. From here, the match is pretty even. The final few minutes of the match is where it starts to get good. Christian rolls to the outside and Sheamus goes out after him, and eats a Spear for his trouble. Christian then rolls back in the ring and tells the referee to count Sheamus out. But Sheamus makes it back in at 9, and then gets another Spear from Christian. But Sheamus kicks out of this. Christian then gets the idea to go up top and attempt a diving headbutt. But Sheamus moves out of the way of it. Sheamus picks up Christian for the Razor’s Edge, but Christian slides off and tries a Killswitch. Sheamus shoves Christian off. Christian goes to Spear Sheamus in the corner, but Sheamus moves and Christian’s shoulder hits the ring post. Sheamus runs off the ropes and when Christian turns around, he’s hit with the Brogue Kick. 1, 2, 3. Sheamus wins.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 2: Sin Cara Azul def. Sin Cara Negro (9:45)

This match got crushed on Cagematch. And I think it’s more because this storyline was goofy. But honestly, I thought this match was okay. Even if OG Sin Cara is a botch machine. It’s pretty back and forth. They actually manage to work smoothly at first. Sin Cara Azul has a hold of Sin Cara Negro’s arm and flips back off the ropes to arm drag Negro out of the ring. And then he dives out of the ring onto Negro. Azul goes for a moonsault off the middle ropes to Negro, who was nowhere near where Azul was gonna land anyway. I was wondering when the first botch was gonna happen. Negro then does a dive over the ropes himself. The other comes later when Azul tries to flip into the ropes again, but instead of handspringing back onto his feet, he lands on his chest. “This match was recorded twice, look out, here comes the Sin Cara.” As the match goes on, Negro ends up back on the floor and Azul bounces off the ropes over and onto Negro outside. Azul eventually picks up the win after a yoshi-tonic into a 1, 2, 3.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 3: WWE Tag Team Championship Match - AirBoom (c) def. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger (11:18)

A decent match for what it is. Bourne and Kingston were a fine tag team. Obviously, they’d be the ones flying around the ring. Bourne and Kingston start off hot, but then Ziggler and Swagger slow down Evan Bourne and begin grounding him. But Bourne manages to make a tag pretty quickly to Kofi and Kofi dodges a clothesline from Ziggler, and just falls through the middle rope. I thought that he had fucked up. But as it turns out, Swagger, had spread the top and middle rope, causing Kofi to fall out and land on his head, which looked like it hurt. Then Dolph and Jack start to keep Kofi away from his corner. Kofi gets put in the Ankle Lock by Swagger, but Kofi rolls through and makes the hot tag to Bourne while Swagger tags in Dolph. Bourne turns the match in his team’s favor. Swagger gets tagged back in and Swagger gets Bourne in the Ankle Lock. It looks like Bourne might tap, but Kofi crossbodys Jack, making the save. But then Kofi receives a Zig Zag. Dolph and Swagger go to finish off Bourne. Swagger climbs the middle rope and tells Dolph to left him onto his shoulders. Dolph helps Jack put Bourne in a powerbomb position, but Bourne reverses it into a frankensteiner. Kofi pulls Dolph out of the ring as Bourne pins Swagger to retain the Tag Titles.

My Rating: ***

Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship Hell in a Cell Match - Mark Henry (c) def. Randy Orton (15:58)

Gotta say, probably one of my least favorite Hell in a Cell Matches. There was absolutely nothing interesting about this match. This feud did not need to be in Hell in a Cell. It’s one of the reasons I hate this PPV concept. Can’t wait for Punk and Drew to bring some legitimacy back to this match. Orton tries to surprise Henry and brings the fight to him early. He puts up more of a fight here than he did in their Night of Champions match. But this was Mark Henry’s time. Henry dominates much of the match but he doesn’t really do much outside of throwing Orton into the cage and grinding his face against it. He did throw the steel steps at Randy’s head at one point, but Randy dodges. I pretty much just summed up about the first 11 minutes of the match. So Henry goes to hit WSS (World’s Strongest Slam) on the steps outside. But Orton grabs onto the cage and kicks at Henry from above. He drops Henry with a DDT on the steps. Orton even hits the draping DDT in the ring. And then when Henry recovers, Orton gives him an RKO for a 2 count. So the RKO didn’t work. So Orton decides to try the Punt Kick. But Henry gets up, scoops Orton up and drops him with the WSS to retain. Then after the match, Henry tries to Pillmanize Orton’s leg, but Orton moves his leg and starts wailing on Mark with the steel chair. Henry kicks Orton in the gut and it ends with Henry running away from Orton. What? Why? Well, doesn’t that just contradict how you’ve booked him for months. Consistency is all I ask for. Fucking jeez.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 5: Intercontinental Championship Match - Cody Rhodes (c) def. John Morrison (7:20)

Cody comes out holding the Intercontinental Title. The one that started in 1998. The best IC Title design and that’s a hill I’ll die on. And he brings out the original IC Title, you know the one. The one with the white straps. Also a great design. But it’s not better than the one he just threw away. Man, remember when all the titles had a unique design and didn’t look the same. That was pretty cool. Then John Laryngitis comes out and tells Cody that he has to defend the IC Title, per orders of Triple H, unprepared and in street clothes against John Morrison. A pretty good, competitive match to be honest. It’s a shame Michael Cole wouldn’t stop bitching the whole time. Morrison floors Cody early, not even letting him get his buttoned up shirt off first. Cody eventually gets his shirt off and once he gets Morrison down on the floor. He starts hugging the ring post and telling the referee to count him out. One good kick to the back gets Cody off the post. Cody gets back in the ring first and Morrison follows after him, just to get knocked back down by Cody. And now Cody begins to ground Morrison. But then Morrison starts to comeback. But he tries to bounce off the middle rope and kick Cody, but Cody ducks and Morrison hits the canvas. Cody takes advantage, rolling up on his back for the 3 count. Cody retains in casual attire.

My Rating: ***

Then after that we get a backstage segment where Laryngitis lets HHH know that The Miz and R-Truth have made it back in the building and are beating up talent. They get thrown out again.

Match 6: Divas Championship Match - Beth Phoenix def. Kelly Kelly (c) (8:30)

The fact it took Beth Phoenix 3 tries to beat Kelly Kelly is kinda upsetting. But this match sort of makes up for it. Because this is a squash match. A prolonged squash match. But a squash match nonetheless. That’s not to say that Kelly doesn’t get any shots in at all, but the few she does get in, pretty much make no difference. It feels to me, like maybe Beth underestimated Kelly in their first two matches, and once she started taking Kelly seriously, she absolutely floored her. Beth dominates the first half of the match. Kelly makes a very brief comeback and covers Beth after a bulldog. Beth kicks out and then Natalya, who I think missed her cue, gets up on the apron and starts yelling at the referee. But Eve Torres comes over and yanks her off the apron. But Nattie chucks Eve into the barricade while in the ring, Beth puts Kelly in a modified version of the surfboard and Natalya grabs a microphone, telling Kelly to scream. And boy does she scream. Nattie puts the mic up to Kelly’s face so everyone can hear her loud and clear. Kelly escapes the hold by grabbing the ropes. And while the referee backs Beth up, Nattie hits Kelly in the head with the mic pretty much knocking her out cold. Not sure how the referee didn’t hear that, but whatever. Beth doesn’t even need to hit the Glam Slam at this point because Kelly is out. But Beth does anyway and pins her to win the Divas Title.

My Rating: **1/4

Main Event: WWE Championship Triple Threat Hell in a Cell Match - Alberto Del Rio def. John Cena (c) & CM Punk (24:08)

Another match that doesn’t feel like it belongs in the cell, but they at least made good use of it, and still had a really great match to boot. It feels like all 3 had a different strategy gameplan coming in. Del Rio decided he’d get violent in the cell. Punk was the one coming up with spots. And Cena was just like (puts hands up). I like that both Punk and Cena both went after Del Rio together at first, as I would too. There’s a few standout spots too with Cena picking up Del Rio on the outside and Punk dives onto them through the middle rope. Punk sets up a table outside the ring that he’s going through later. Spoilers. He tries to put Cena through it first, it looks like he’s gonna give him a bulldog off the apron. Del Rio brings a steel chair into the ring to use against Cena. And then sets up before dropping Cena’s back over it. It follows a usual Triple Threat formula with 2 people in the ring for the most part, but they all worked pretty well together. Punk mainly. Cena picks Punk up for an AA, and Del Rio comes in with a steel chair. Bashes both men with it. Punk gets left alone with Cena again and gets picked up again and dropped with an AA. Cena covers Punk, but Del Rio makes the save. Del Rio and Cena go at it now, and Del Rio tries to slap on the Cross Armbreaker, but Punk stops that from happening and hits Cena with a GTS. But as he goes for the cover, he gets pulled out by Del Rio and flung into the Cell. Del Rio tries to take advantage of Cena, who rolls him up in a small package. Del Rio kicks out and throws Cena outside before throwing him into the Cell too. Punk comes back in and hits his 2K Comeback and drops an elbow on Del Rio. Cena comes back and goes at it with Punk for a bit. Punk gets Cena down too now and climbs the top rope, but Del Rio comes up and shoves him off, sending Punk through the table he had set up earlier. Del Rio tries to take advantage of Cena, but Cena drop toe holds Del Rio to the mat and gets in to the STF. Ricardo Rodriguez knocks the referee outside the cell out and grabs the key off him that unlocks the padlock and throws a steel pipe in to Del Rio. Cena knocks Ricardo to the floor and drops him with an AA to the outside of the Cell. But then Del Rio hits Cena in the gut with the pipe. He grabs the key and with it he relocks the Cell from the inside before tossing the key under the ring. He then grabs Punk and throws him back in the ring. I gotta say, this was a brilliant strategy. Now it’s basically one on one because when Cena does recover, he can’t get back in the cage. Punk and Del Rio have a small match as Cena tries to get back in the Cell. Punk sends Del Rio out of the ring. But Del Rio sees the pipe on the floor and hits Punk in the head with it. And then he taunts Cena on the outside. He gets back in the ring, takes a swing at Punk, who lifts Del Rio up for the GTS. But Del Rio hits Punk again with the pipe before hitting him in the head one more time to win the title. This was a great match. I’d say it’s only problem was the fact it was very formulaic. It feels extremely planned (which it probably was). Oh, and the fact that Del Rio won. Fuck you.

My Rating: ****

So after the match is over, the Cell begins to raise. And Cena immediately runs into to get at Del Rio. But then pretty much immediately after that, 2 Solo Sikoas… Wait. (Checks notes). Miz and R-Truth come out in black hoodies and start beating up the referee, Cena, Del Rio, Punk, the camera men, whoever gets in their way. And then, confusingly, they just lower the Cell again? And it remains lowered until someone comes out with a pair of bolt cutters. Like, I’m sorry, is there a reason we can’t raise the cage? I’m confused. Is there a storyline reason for that, or is it just lazy writing. That would unironically make a great wrestling game show honestly. By the time, they get the cage open, you have the entire roster, the national guard, Miz’s mother and Truth’s grandmother, your Uncle Fred, and the fucking Avengers out there. Good lord. So Miz and Truth get arrested and Triple H says “nuh uh” and starts throwing hands. And that’s how the show ends.

Cagematch Rating: 6.34

My Rating: 6.5/10

I’ll give it this, I at least didn’t have to see any outright terrible matches. No match on this card was so bad that it made me question my love for wrestling. The show is average, but that’s the main problem. It’s average and remains average until the last match. Certainly not worth shilling out 50 bucks for. Especially since this show only takes place 2 weeks after the last PPV that you wanted people to shill out 50 bucks for. Yeah, there’s a 2 week gap between this and Night of Champions. Last match was good at least.

 

[Jarf]

Fastlane 2023

Match 1: Undisputed Tag Team Championship Match - Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso def. The Judgment Day (c) (20:43)

A well worked match to start the night. I’m glad I held off on watching this show for this thread so now I can enjoy it freshly. The entrances were hype. I was hype for this match. It’s pretty even early in the start of the match. But they keep mentioning that Priest and Finn are the ones with tag team chemistry. Jey takes a run at the ropes and gets kicked in the head by Priest. And from there, Priest and Finn start grounding Jey into the mat. They keep Jey away from Cody for a while, but they can’t do it forever and Jey eventually reaches Cody, who turns things around for his team, damages Priest’s leg while he’s in the ring. He goes at it with Finn, they have a nice exchange. Finn dropkicks Cody in the corner and goes up for the Coup de Grace. But Cody goes up with him and hits a stalling superplex from the top rope and then grabs his neck. Cody and Finn each make a tag to their partners. Jey and Priest are the legal men. Uso dives on both them outside and hits a Splash on Priest inside, but Finn makes the save. He drops Priest with a Spear and then starts going up for another Splash, but he sees Dominik and Rhea Ripley coming down. Uso superkicks Dom and then turns around to face Rhea. And he lets himself get distracted. Now I’m not gonna deny that was pretty stupid of him. I’m just saying… I get it. But that distraction allows Priest to recover, and he hits a head scissors off the top rope and then clutches his knee. But Jey landed halfway across the ring and Finn goes up to hit the Coup de Grace. Cody makes the save. As the match goes on, Cody and Priest wind up back outside as Finn and Jey go at it. Jey gets hit in the head with the MITB briefcase by Rhea. Finn rolls Jey up from behind, but Uce kicks out. Rhea tells Priest to use the announce table and Priest takes it apart. Damian grabs Cody and plans to take him up on the table. The referee doesn’t see any of this. JD McDonaugh takes a swing with the briefcase at Cody, but Cody dodges and JD hits Damian’s knee instead. Then Cody gets up on the table behind Damian and drops him with a Cross Rhodes on the table. Cody gets back on the apron, tags himself into the match, and Jey hits Finn with the superkick. Jey holds up Finn and Cody hits the Cody Cutter before finishing the match with the Cross Rhodes. Cody and Jey are the Tag Team Champs! So they leave and go get drunk!

My Rating: ****

Match 2: The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar & Carlito) def. Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits (10:02)

I wasn’t a big fan of this match. The finish was kinda cool but I’ve never been big on people joining a match midway through. What’s up with Carlito by the way? Can he wrestle or not? He’s done hardly, if any wrestling since he came back. But anyway, Lashley and the Profits had taken out the other two members of the LWO on SmackDown, so Rey Mysterio said “Let me make a phone call.” Well, his backup was running late apparently, because when the bell rings it’s just Rey and Santos going alone. I’m glad that Lashley and the Profits turned face again. I don’t think the Profits are better babyfaces than they are heels, Montez especially. The match starts with Santos and Montez and they get us off to a pretty decent start. Especially when they both stand on the top rope and stare lovingly into each other’s eyes before Santos leapt and hit a hurricanrana from the top rope. Mysterio and Lashley both get in the match and Bobby pretty much dominates him. I honestly don’t remember Rey doing much but getting his ass kicked. They end up keeping Rey away from his corner, and Rey tries to reach Santos, but Montez yanks him off the apron and Zelina dives off the apron on him. As the match goes on, Lashley and the Profits keep Rey away from his corner, but it doesn’t really matter anyway because Santos has still yet to get back up. Just as all hope seems lost, Carlito’s new music hits he makes a beeline to the ring. Rey tags him and Carlito literally being fresh, propels the LWO to victory. Gotta say, he’s more jacked than he’s ever been though. Rey takes Dawkins out with a seated senton on the outside. Lashley pounces him into the barricade, and then Escobar comes back in and dives through the ropes onto Lashley. And Carlito finishes the match with a Backstabber to Montez. This match actually kinda stunk. But the pop for Carlito was huge and that was pretty sweet.

My Rating: **

Match 3: WWE Women's Championship Triple Threat Match - Iyo Sky (c) def. Asuka & Charlotte Flair (17:15)

I don’t get how this match’s rating isn’t higher. I loved this. And they deserved more than a dead crowd who started randomly chanting this is awesome when the match was almost over. But they are right. This match was awesome. Immediately after the bell rang, Charlotte boots Iyo and Asuka spews mist in her face. Charlotte is temporarily taken out from the match as she tries to get the mist out of her eyes. Iyo and Asuka go at it for a few minutes before Charlotte makes it back in, and from there, this is a nice athletic match. Iyo acts as the high flyer, Asuka’s the striker and Charlotte was the powerhouse. They all kinda brought something different to the table and it was fast paced all the way through. I like the bit where Iyo springboarded over both Charlotte and Asuka to sunset flip pin Asuka. Asuka escapes and irish whips Iyo to the ropes and Iyo uses that opportunity to dive onto Charlotte outside. Iyo sweeps Asuka’s legs out on the apron and moonsaults off the middle rope to Asuka. Charlotte gets up and goes to the top and hits one of her own signature moonsaults to both women. Charlotte takes Asuka back in the ring. Iyo goes up to the top rope from behind Charlotte. Charlotte sees her and gets her up in a fireman’s carry, but Asuka comes up and powerbombs Charlotte off the middle rope with Iyo on top. Asuka covers both of them and they both kick out. Asuka brings Charlotte down, trying to put her in an armbar, but Charlotte reverses it into a Boston Crab. But Asuka manages to escape and turn into it into a pin, but Charlotte escapes and transitions into the Figure 4. But Iyo saves the match with a running meteora! Asuka and Iyo put duel submission holds on Charlotte at once, but let go to fight each other. Iyo gets sent out of the ring after a codebreaker from Asuka. So that leaves Asuka and Charlotte in the ring and Charlotte Spears the hell out of Asuka for a 2 count. Bayley winds up coming down to the ring and tries to help Iyo back up. Iyo gets back on the apron and tells Bayley to leave, and Charlotte takes advantage of that by booting Iyo in the face. And Charlotte turns around into a Codebreaker from Asuka off the top rope! Asuka covers Charlotte, but Flair kicks out. Charlotte gets Asuka in the Figure 8, and Asuka begins tapping, but the referee is distracted by Bayley. Iyo takes advantage of that with a moonsault to Charlotte, breaks the hold, covers her and Bayley leaves so the referee can count the pin. Iyo hugs Bayley and celebrates her win. I might be alone in this, but I thought this was a better match than the opener. This was great!

My Rating: ****

Match 4: John Cena & LA Knight def. Jimmy Uso & Solo Sikoa (17:21)

Before I talk about this match, I wanna go on record to say that I love LA Knight. But I can’t help but feel this would’ve been a better match if AJ Styles were in it like he was originally supposed to be. This was… a very weird storyline. I was greatly confused that Jimmy Uso wanted back in the Bloodline when he turned on Roman before Jey did. John Cena starts the match and he stays in it for nearly the entire match. He starts it with Jimmy and has no problem handling him, but after Solo gets tagged in, the match quickly turns around and then the Bloodline starts keeping Cena way from Knight. This portion of the match isn’t all that interesting. Cena hits a surprise AA on Jimmy and tries to reach LA. But Solo runs across the ring and knocks LA off before Cena could reach him. But Cena does end up reaching him after he definitely knees Solo in the penis in full view of the referee. The crowd goes wild for LA. And now this match starts to pick up. For real, this was a super hot finish. Knight comes in and makes a comeback for his team. He gets a samoan drop from Solo, and Cena comes off with a crossbody to Solo. And as Cena is on the ground, Jimmy comes off the top rope with a splash. Knight gets sent out by Uso. Cena lifts Solo up for the AA, but gets superkicked by Jimmy. Solo sets Cena up for another Uso splash, but Knight comes back in the ring and Solo runs at him. Knight drops the top rope and Solo falls to the outside. Knight leaps to the top rope and superplexes Jimmy off. Cena hits the 5 knuckle shuffle. Knight finishes Jimmy off with the BFT. Hot finish, but the first half of the match isn’t good enough for a higher rating.

My Rating: ***

Main Event: World Heavyweight Championship Last Man Standing Match - Seth Rollins (c) def. Shinsuke Nakamura (28:25)

It’s a shame that Shinsuke started fading into obscurity after this match. That Cody Rhodes feud really killed any credibility he had. I thought this feud was pretty good. I like that Shinsuke exploited Seth’s back. Seth’s back really becomes a focal point in this match. Shinsuke goes after Seth’s back extremely early, pushing him into the ring apron and the barricade. Seth exposes the concrete floor, which will become important later. Seth Rollins starts pulling out a bunch of shit out from under the ring, including tables, chairs, not ladders though (yet). Nakamura brings out a pair of nunchucks, which was sweet and hit Seth in the back with it. Seth eventually brings out a ladder and uses it against Shin. Then he sets it up near the announce table, what I assume would be a curb stomp onto the table. They take the fight out to the crowd and start climbing the stairs. Rollins bites Shinsuke, but Shin low blows Seth and kicks him off the stairs to the floor (crashmat) below. They come back to the ring to the exposed floor. Seth goes for a Pedigree on the concrete, but Shinsuke backdrops Seth onto the concrete floor. And Seth’s selling in this match is amazing. Rollins manages to hit a Pedigree on Shin in the ring. Seth sets up a table on the outside. Shinsuke drives Seth’s back into the apron again and sets him up on the table Seth set up. Shin climbs to the second rope and double knees Seth through the table. Rollins beats the 10 count and Nakamura grabs a steel chair, and just goes to town on Seth with it. Seth gets back up before 10 and manages to toss Nakamura into the ring post. He drags Shin back to the announce table and starts climbing the ladder he set up, presumably to try the Curb Stomp again. But Seth’s back was turned, so Nakamura gets up and Shinsuke starts climbing up the other side of the ladder. And Shin spews red mist into Seth’s face! Before he pushes him off the ladder through the table. And if I didn’t know already that Seth wins, I could’ve believed that was it. But Seth of course beats the 10 count. Shinsuke drags Seth back into the ring and knees Seth into a table set up in the corner. Again, if I didn’t know who won already, I would’ve thought that was it. But what Seth does is roll to the outside so he lands on his feet. And Nakamura nearly loses his damn marbles over this. Nakamura decides to take Seth into the crowd, where the match finishes. Shin takes him up on a ledge set up in front of the railing with conveniently placed tables in front of them. Even now, Seth is saying “is that all you got?” Shinsuke picks Seth up in a fireman’s carry, and Seth slides off to drop Shin with a Pedigree, and a Curb Stomp. But Nakamura gets up after that and Seth finishes the job with a Falcon Arrow through both tables. Seth gets up, but Shinsuke doesn’t, and Seth retains. I can’t say I thought it was spectacular, but it was a great LMS match and a great main event.

My Rating: ****

Cagematch Rating: 6.34

My Rating: 8.5/10

It’s been a while since I’ve watched a show I had a lot of fun watching. It really has 2 downsides. The boring 6-Man, which only went 10 minutes so it was very small portion of the show. And that match at least got a big pop for Carlito’s return. LA Knight got a pop in general. That tag match was decent. But the opener, the middle match and ending all make this show a really good watch.

 

[Jarf]

Elimination Chamber 2021

Match 1: Universal Championship #1 Contenders Elimination Chamber Match - Daniel Bryan def. Cesaro, Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & King Corbin (34:20)

A good way to start the show off. I wasn’t as into this as I expected I would be. Considering the lineup, this should've been amazing. I gotta say though, you have to be an idiot to agree to this, knowing you have to wrestle again with little to no chance of success later. The match begins with Bryan and Cesaro. And they just wrestle at the start. It's an okay start to the match. Bryan begins to sell an injury to the knee that is going to plague him for the rest of the match. Corbin is out of his pod next and he plays his part fine. Corbin has always done better in multi man matches 'cause he can just be a heavy. He makes use of the Chamber, throwing Bryan and Cesaro into the wall and the pod. Corbin even goes after Bryan's hurt knee. Then it's time for Sami Zayn to come out and he shuts the door in Corbin's face. Bryan runs into Corbin from behind and as Sami mocks Corbin, he doesn't know Cesaro is sneaking up behind him. Cesaro enters Sami into the match himself. And I swear, over 5 minutes passes before we get a new entrant. The next man should've been entered a while ago. But in this span of time, Cesaro swings Corbin, puts him the Sharpshooter and forces him to tap out. Then it's KO's turn to come in and Sami tries to form an alliance with him. Kevin nods his head, but it was a ruse and Sami yells "Oh my god! What are you doing!" Before Kevin bounces Sami's head off the pod. Owens proceeds to beat up the other three men in the match, yelling at Jey in his pod to pay attention. The countdown starts and Kevin goes out to meet Jey as he gets out. Owens starts to take out all his frustrations on Jey, throwing him into the chain and then through a pod. Owens hits a moonsault off the top of a pod onto the pile of men below. Sami tries to kick him, but Owens dodges and hits Sami with the Stunner before he covers him to eliminate him. So they open the door to let Sami out and while that happens, Owens goes back out after Jey, who happens to be over at the door. Jey rakes Kevin in the eyes, bringing Owens down to his knees. And Jey takes that opportunity to slam the door into Kevin’s arm. And then Jey superkicks the hell out of Owens. Jey lets go and superkicks Owens in the ring before he goes up again to hit a Splash to eliminate him. Jey goes to dive on Cesaro, but Cesaro meets him with an uppercut. Cesaro and Bryan go back to fighting and Cesaro has Bryan beat here. From the second rope, he presses Bryan over his head and drops off the ropes, with Bryan on Cesaro’s knee. Cesaro then grabs Bryan’s injured knee and starts to spin him around by said knee. But then Jey comes back in and superkicks Cesaro, who drops Bryan. Jey hits the splash on Cesaro to eliminate him. Before he hits one on Bryan. But Bryan kicks out. Uso then goes to the top of a pod and tries to splash Bryan, but Bryan dodges out of the way, and then gets back up, hits a running knee, covers Jey and wins the match. Was this a good Chamber match. Absolutely. Would I say it was great. Not really. I wasn’t as into it as I feel many others were.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 2: Universal Championship Match - Roman Reigns (c) def. Daniel Bryan via referee’s decision (1:36)

Bryan hasn’t even gotten back up on his feet before Roman’s music hits. Roman comes out, he takes his sweet time getting to the ring, that’s how seriously he’s taking Bryan at this point. When Roman gets in the ring and the bell rings, he immediately goes to Spear Bryan. But Daniel catches him by the arm and puts him into the Yes Lock! But alas, Roman separates Bryan’s hands and then mounts him, raining hard elbows down into the side of his head, and then Roman puts Bryan in the Guillotine Choke. The referee calls for the bell and declares Roman the winner. I know Bryan still had another 30 minutes in him. But whatever, this is fine, I guess. Then after the match, Roman celebrates, comes off the corner and turns around to get Speared by Edge, the Royal Rumble winner. Making clear who he wants to face at WrestleMania.

Match 3: United States Championship Triple Threat Match - Riddle def. Bobby Lashley (c) & John Morrison (8:38)

A decent Triple Threat Match. Yeah, it’s John Morrison and not Keith Lee. Keith Lee was taken out of the match due to an “injury sustained by Bobby Lashley.” So Morrison wins a pre-show Fatal 4-Way to replace Lee in this match. This match made Lashley look like a beast even in defeat. He dominates Riddle and Morrison early on. He's tossing them around like they weigh nothing. Riddle and Morrison decide to work together and Lashley's still bowling over them both. Riddle head scissors Lashley over the top rope and Morrison dives over onto Lashley. Riddle then bounces off the middle rope and takes out Lashley. It's just left between Riddle and Morrison for ow.a little bit. Then Lashley comes back and completely dominates them again. But Riddle manages to get Lashley down with a knee to the jaw, before going up and hitting the twisted swanton. Morrison grabs Riddle and throws him out before he hits Starship Pain sort of on Lashley. MVP starts talking shit on the outside and Morrison tells him to shut the hell up before he goes out and takes MVP’s crutch from him (how rude). Morrison goes to swing at Lashley, but Lashley moves and puts Morrison in the Hurt Lock, causing him to drop the crutch. So Riddle comes back in and smacks the crutch against Lashley’s back. Lashley lets go and rolls to the outside while Riddle hits Morrison with the Bro Derek in the ring. Riddle is the new US Champion.

My Rating: ***

Match 4: Women's Tag Team Championship Match - Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) def. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair (9:36)

You mean that Fastlane match was a rematch? They did this match twice. I don’t know if anyone remembers my Fastlane ‘21 review, but they had yet another match on that show (because why does a WrestleMania main event need any build up at all) and it wasn’t very good. This one was just as bad. Matter of fact, I’d say it’s even less interesting. The first bad spot of the match is when Nia presses Sasha above her head and tosses her into Bianca. Bianca catches her, but before that, Bianca just awkwardly stands and watches, not even bothering to save Sasha. Shayna and Nia take over when Shayna drapes Sasha’s arm over the top rope, and Nia bowls her down on the apron. So they keep Sasha away from Bianca. Sasha eventually does make the hot tag and Bianca comes in hot. And she actually hits the KOD on Shayna. But Nia breaks up the pin. Sasha is tagged back in. Nia takes Bianca out with a spinebuster and looks like she’ll do the same to Sasha. Sasha brings Nia down in the Bank Statement. Reginald comes down with a bottle of champagne. And after Nia escapes the hold, Reggie slides the bottle in, and Sasha says “I can’t use this.” Nia takes advantage and clotheslines Sasha before dropping her with a Samoan Drop. What a lame match.

My Rating: **

Before the next match begins, we see Miz and MVP talking backstage, and we can’t hear what they’re saying.

Main Event: WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match - Drew McIntyre (c) def. AJ Styles, Sheamus, Jeff Hardy, Kofi Kingston & Randy Orton (31:21)

And just like that, we are already at the second Chamber Match. This show was only 2 and a half hours by the way, it’s a breeze. I thought this was a good Chamber Match. But pretty on par with the one earlier. Not a great Chamber Match. I’d say it really started to pick up once Sheamus entered, but we’ll get there. The match starts with Orton and Hardy. They don’t really do anything interesting in that time. But the champ comes out third and starts to fight with Orton. He turns his attention to Jeff, and picks him up. He tells a camera guy to move. The camera man does in fact, not move, and he goes a good close up of Hardy being launched face first into the pod. But Orton drops McIntyre with a draping DDT. And so he waits for the next man to enter. That man being Kofi Kingston. It takes less than a minute for Kofi to eliminate Orton with a rollup. Orton’s pissed and RKOs both Kofi and Jeff. And then AJ Styles yells at Omos to “get me out of here!” Omos rips off the back panel of AJ’s pod and AJ rushes to the open door where Randy is just leaving, goes in just to pin Jeff and Kofi who both kick out. And this part actually baffles me. I know they probably thought this was a clever idea if Tom Philips saying “this is brilliant” on commentary is any indication. No Tom. No, it is not brilliant. You know why? Because now, AJ is in the match sooner than he would’ve been if he waited his turn! I appreciate them wanting to do something different in this match, but this was not a good different. This was just stupid. So as we count down to Sheamus coming, which I don’t even know how anymore. AJ totally fucked up the clock I think. Drew starts putting the boots to everyone in the match. He’s the only one standing when Sheamus exits his pod. And these two start brawling like they know how. From this point forward, this match is good. Kofi gets 2 different dive spots. One off the top rope onto Drew and Sheamus and one off the pod into the sea of people below. Kofi goes for a flying… himself, off the top, but Sheamus catches him, goes for a back drop, Kofi flips back on his feet. He goes for the Trouble in Paradise, but Sheamus dodges, bounces off the ropes and drops Kofi with a Brogue Kick to eliminate him. Down to four. Jeff Hardy comes back in and hits Twist of Fates on everyone. He climbs to the top of a pod, looking to Swanton AJ. But Styles rolls away and Hardy hits whisper in the wind on Drew and Sheamus instead. Jeff goes to the other side, hits the Swanton on Styles, and gets up to be hit with a Claymore from McIntyre. Drew eliminates Hardy. Sheamus comes back in and starts going back at it with Drew. Sheamus goes to Brogue AJ. But Drew grabs him and hits with a Future Shock DDT. McIntyre readies for the Claymore but Sheamus meets him with a Brogue Kick instead. Styles comes in with a Phenomenal Forearm to eliminate Sheamus. AJ looks to finish the match with another one on Drew, Drew Claymores Styles out of the air and pins him to win the Chamber Match.

My Rating: ***1/2

Drew doesn’t have long to celebrate before Bobby Lashley runs in and starts beating down McIntyre. Bobby leaves McIntyre laying in the ring and Miz’s music hits. He runs down with the Money in the Bank briefcase and cashes in.

Impromptu Main Event: WWE Championship Match: The Miz def. Drew McIntyre (c) (0:28)

Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale and wins the title. Good for him. Now we all know what happens after this. Lashley beats Miz 2 weeks later on Raw for the title and becomes the new WWE Champion. Here’s my thing. The deal that was made between Miz and MVP was that Lashley would beat down whoever won the Chamber and Miz would come in and steal it. In exchange, Miz would give Lashley the first title shot. But here’s my thing. In theory, whoever won the Chamber would be worn down and beat up already wouldn’t he? What I’m trying to get at, folks, is that The Miz is an idiot.

Cagematch Rating: 6.35

My Rating: 6/10

Honestly, this wasn’t a terrible show. It does have two good Chamber Matches on it. However, it is incredibly forgettable. I bet you forgot about this show before you even read this review. The thing is, the Elimination Chamber PPV is supposed to forward a story going towards WrestleMania right? Other than Edge Spearing Roman, I can’t think of anyway that this built up WrestleMania at all, which is actually kinda funny.

 

[Chris]

Completely forgot that cash in was here and not on Raw

 

[Jarf]

Completely forgot that cash in was here and not on Raw

I forgot that there was a cash in at all lol

 

[Skyefire]

I certainly don't remember Roman Reigns vs Daniel Bryan match. That was kinda odd that they would even set something like that up. I guess that was to help set up the triple threat match at WrestleMania between Reigns, Bryan, and Edge. I also don't remember the MITB cash-in taking place on PPV. I think we're all confusing it with Miz's match against Bobby Lashley for the title which took place on Raw. That was also one big waste of a Money in the Bank with Otis winning the contract, Miz defeating him for the contract, Miz cashing in and winning the title, then to have Lashley beat Miz for the belt. I kinda suspect that the whole reason the WWE title chamber match was the main event instead of the other chamber match and subsequent title match was because of the cash-in.

 

[Jarf]

I certainly don't remember Roman Reigns vs Daniel Bryan match. That was kinda odd that they would even set something like that up. I guess that was to help set up the triple threat match at WrestleMania between Reigns, Bryan, and Edge. I also don't remember the MITB cash-in taking place on PPV. I think we're all confusing it with Miz's match against Bobby Lashley for the title which took place on Raw. That was also one big waste of a Money in the Bank with Otis winning the contract, Miz defeating him for the contract, Miz cashing in and winning the title, then to have Lashley beat Miz for the belt. I kinda suspect that the whole reason the WWE title chamber match was the main event instead of the other chamber match and subsequent title match was because of the cash-in.

This was WWE at its peak "we don't care" attitude

 

[Leon TrotSky]

They did this so Lashley wouldn't have to beat McIntyre clean before Mania 37 but.... why does Lashley have to go into Mania as champion in that case??

 

[Jarf]

No Mercy 2016

Match 1: WWE Championship Triple Threat Match - AJ Styles (c) def. John Cena & Dean Ambrose (21:39)

And the show opens with the main event as they said on commentary. Such a strange way to have the opening match be the “closing” match. But I can’t complain because this match was awesome. Without a doubt one of the best matches to open a WWE PPV. The action is fast and furious from the opening bell. And it doesn’t stop until the match does. All three men try to hit their finisher right away, and then they all go down with a triple clothesline. Yes, you heard me. (Dean and AJ clothesline John and John clotheslines them both). AJ hooks his arms around Dean’s waist and Cena comes in from behind, throwing both men over his head. AJ flips off the middle rope, hooks Dean’s head, kicks John in the gut, drops Cena with a DDT and Dean with a reverse DDT. They really said “we’re just gonna do all the shit.” Cena whips out a Yoshi-Tonic on AJ. Cena really expanded his arsenal in 2015 and 2016 and I love it. Cena makes 2 attempts at a 5 Kncukle Shuffle. First on Dean, but gets stopped by AJ with a German Suplex. Then on AJ, but gets stopped by a diving elbow from Dean. Dean manages to duck a Phenomenal Forearm from AJ, who hits Cena instead. AJ and Dean go at it in the ring and knock each other down with a double clothesline. Cena sees them both down and hits them both with a 5 Knuckle Shuffle. He then hits an AA on Styles, but AJ rolls out of the ring before Cena can cover him. He picks Dean and then hits him with one. But Ambrose kicks out. Cena puts Dean in the STF, but AJ saves the match. AJ takes Cena out momentarily with a suplex on the apron. Styles hits a springboard 450 on Ambrose in the ring and then the Styles Clash. Cena comes back in though and pulls Styles off and locks him in the STF. Ambrose stops AJ from tapping out and punches Cena to save the match. Then they have a triple KO spot. Cena picks AJ up in a fireman’s carry and swings AJ’s boot into Dean’s face. AJ slides off Cena and hits him with an enziguri. Then Dean rebounds between the ropes and comes back with a clothesline. Dean uses AJ’s own Calf Crusher, and then Cena grabs AJ’s other leg and puts on the STF. AJ taps out and they ring the bell but because Cena and Dean both had a submission on Styles, the referee says the match must continue. Ambrose reverses an AA attempt by Cena and drops him with Dirty Deeds. Dean is about to win when AJ pulls the referee out of the ring. Ambrose dives onto AJ through the ropes and tosses him over the announce table. Ambrose goes up to the top rope, and Cena meets him up there. Cena picks Dean up on his shoulders before launching him with an Avalanche AA! This is the only problem I have with the match, this finish was a little anti-climactic. AJ comes in with a chair, hits Cena in the gut and the back and just pins him to win. But whatever, this match was fantastic. I love it. And it isn’t even the best match on the show.

My Rating: ****1/2

Match 2: Nikki Bella def. Carmella (8:06)

A fine match honestly. It’s not good but it’s not horrible. Nikki starts off as the aggressor. She follows Carmella outside, and Carmella takes the advantage after dropping Nikki onto the barricade and throwing her into the LED board on the ring. Nikki starts to sell her neck, which she had surgery on the year before. Carmella grounds Nikki working her neck, but Nikki starts to come back after a shitty spear. Carmella manages to almost lock in the Cone of Silence (If you don’t remember, Carmella just squeezes her opponent’s neck with her legs) But Nikki stands up and transitions to an Alabama Slam position. But Carmella rolls through and tries to pin her. Nikki kicks out and drops Carmella with a nice forearm shot! Carmella drops Nikki to the mat again and puts her in the Cone of Silence. Nikki manages to reach the ropes and then wins the match, picking up Carmella in a fireman’s carry into a cutter.

My Rating: **3/4

Match 3: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match - Heath Slater & Rhyno (c) def. The Usos (10:19)

Here we have future WrestleMania main eventers and also The Usos. I honestly loved Slater and Rhyno being a team. This was shortly after The Usos turned heel and became cool again as well. Is it bad that I could tell which Uso was Jey because he showed more personality than the other? The Usos try to keep Slater away from his corner, but Slater does reach Rhyno. Rhyno comes in, tosses Usos around. But soon enough, he starts to get the isolation treatment. Rhyno catches a breath with a spinebuster on Jimmy. He reaches Slater, who comes in hot and starts to bring the match back in their favor. He goes at it with Jey in the ring. Jey drops him with a samoan drop before he gets pulled out by Rhyno. Jimmy hits a baseball slide on Rhyno before he goes to the top rope, only for Slater to go up with him and hit a powerslam from up there. Jimmy superkicks Slater, and then Jey kicks Slater’s leg out from under him. Jey puts Slater in the Tequila Sunrise while Jimmy gets Gored on the outside. Rhyno comes in, saves Slater. Rhyno gets tagged back in and Gores Jey to retain their titles. A pretty solid match in 10 minutes.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 4: Baron Corbin def. Jack Swagger (7:30)

Baron Corbin vs Jack Swagger on PPV is definitely a choice. This Baron Corbin I could at least stand though. At least at this point, he had a cool gimmick and I could take him seriously. After he became a waiter at TGI Friday’s, I couldn’t take him seriously anymore. This is a rematch from one they had on SmackDown. Which I can’t imagine wanting to run this match more than once. Corbin starts attacking the hand of Swagger, trying to make it so he can’t lock in the Ankle Lock. Smart strategy. Swagger tries to lock in the Ankle Lock the first time and can’t do it. Swagger starts to make a comeback and when he tries again, he does it without much issue. Corbin reaches the ropes. He pokes Swagger in the eye when the referee wasn’t looking, and Corbin hits the End of Days to win the match. Let’s move on now.

My Rating: *1/4

Match 5: Title vs. Career for the Intercontinental Championship - Dolph Ziggler def. The Miz (c) (19:42)

A masterpiece. An absolute fucking masterpiece is how I would describe this match. If you had told me in 2015 that The Miz and Dolph Ziggler were going to have one of the best feuds of 2016, I would’ve asked you what drugs you were on. I remember in the build up to this match, I legitimately had no idea who was going to win. Ziggler had been floundering and struggling for a hot minute here, his contract was running out and it was rumored that he hadn’t renewed it. So it was 50/50 tossup who was gonna win. I feel it’s important to point out that The Miz had told Daniel Bryan earlier that he and Dolph Ziggler would have a lot in common after that night. I say that because this was the first match where Miz started using Bryan’s moves. The match starts on even ground. Ziggler fights aggressively. Miz kicks the middle rope into Ziggler’s leg, setting up a weakness he could exploit later. Miz takes firm control of the match after reversing an irish whip and Ziggler hits the corner hard. Miz starts mimicking the Yes Chants, just to be a dick. Because remember, this career revival of Miz started because Bryan called him a coward. So he’s just being as petty as humanly possible. Then Miz starts hitting the corner dropkicks like Bryan used to do. Ziggler fights to stay in the match and with every kickout, you can see Miz getting more and more agitated. Miz starts going after Dolph’s leg some more, he makes 2 attempts to put on the Figure Four, but Ziggler manages to escape both times, the second with a rollup. Miz goes to the top rope, but Ziggler goes up to meet him. Miz tries a sunset flip, but Ziggler rolls through and tries to roll up Miz in his own sunset flip pin. But Miz rolls out of it and now applies the Figure Four. Ziggler reaches the ropes and signals to Maryse to distract the referee. Miz takes the pad off one of the turnbuckles. Ziggler hits Miz with a Rough Ryder for a 2 count. Ziggler leaps at Miz, but Miz dodges and Ziggler goes face first into the exposed turnbuckle. Miz starts using Daniel Bryan’s Yes kicks, but Dolph ducks under the last kick and hits Miz with a Zig Zag! Ziggler covers Miz, but Miz kicks out. While the referee checks on Miz, Maryse sprays Dolph in the eyes with some pepper spray, Miz hits a Skull Crushing Finale. But too close to the ropes, Dolph gets his foot on it on the cover. Miz starts attacking Dolph’s leg. And winds up yanking Dolph’s boot off as he tries to pull him away from the ropes. Miz turns back around into a Superkick from Dolph. Kenny and Mikey from the Spirit Squad run down to the ring, they get kicked off the apron by Dolph. But Miz comes up from behind, drops Dolph with another Skull Crushing Finale. Everyone thinks thats it. 1, 2. KICKOUT FROM DOLPH! Miz is in shock, Maryse is shocked. Kenny and Mikey are losing their god damn minds! The referee finally has enough of their bullshit and sends them all back. Miz turns back around into a superkick from Ziggler. Ziggler pretty much falls into the cover, 1, 2, 3. What a classic! Not a match you would expect out of these two, but these guys really were determined to make sure THEY were the talking point of this show. An honest Match of the Year candidate. The Triple Threat may have had more action, but from a storytelling standpoint, this was perfect!

My Rating: *****

Match 6: Naomi def. Alexa Bliss (5:23)

Oof, what a rough transition. Now, Alexa Bliss was supposed to wrestle Becky Lynch for the Women’s Title, but because of medical reasons, Becky couldn’t compete. But they still decide Alexa has to wrestle. Naomi comes out and they just have a short match. Alexa works over Naomi’s arm. It’s nothing special. Naomi hits a poor execution of the “she calls that the rear view.” Naomi rolls Alexa up to win. I don’t really understand the decision to have your number one contender lose clean on PPV to someone who isn’t the champ. Like, you should just give Naomi Alexa’s title shot at that point.

My Rating: *

Main Event: Bray Wyatt def. Randy Orton (15:41)

Speaking of things I don’t understand, if you’re going to have the World Title match open the show, why would you have this match with a poor build up and nothing on the line close the show over a match with a title and a career on the line. I honestly thought that because this match was main eventing, that something huge was gonna happen. Something that could not be followed. Like Sister Abigail would appear and… I don’t know, suck Randy’s soul out or something. Something that would be so shocking, you couldn’t have another match after it. Little did I know, that was not the case. But I’ll get to this match. Which, if you remember, Bray and Randy had absolutely no chemistry at all. And this was a feud I was excited about when they first started it. But this match was not good. It starts on even ground. With Bray and Orton getting into fight. Orton attempts to RKO Bray on the outside, and Bray just shoves him off over the announce table. Bray brings the bottom half of the steel steps, over in front of the tables. It comes back to bite him later as he goes a running senton onto Randy onto said steps. That’s where Orton starts to make his comeback. He drops Bray onto the barricade, a draping DDT in the ring. And he sets up for an RKO. But then the lights go out. And when they come back on, Luke Harper is in the ring. He stares Orton down, and turns back around into a Sister Abigail from Bray for the 3 count. I know I said earlier this wasn’t a good ending. But now that we’re in 2024, it’s just nice to see Brodie and Bray hugging in the ring. Two guys missed by the wrestling world. And the show ends with Brodie standing behind Bray, as he hits his signature pose. R.I.P. Bray and R.I.P. Brodie.

My Rating: **1/2

Cagematch Rating: 6.36

My Rating: 8.5/10

This was a tough show to rate. It’s both good and bad at the same time. The Triple Threat and The Title vs. Career matches were enough for me to rate this show really high. Both were absolute classics. I’d say those matches by themselves made this show more enjoyable than a good portion of the shows I’ve watched so far combined. With that being said, it’s also got it’s share of bad. From boring matches to questionable booking decisions. If Bray vs Orton had delivered, or if they stuck the Title vs. Career match on last, I would probably have this show as my number one. It’s just too flawed though.

 

[Chris]

What a poster

 

[Jarf]

What a poster

The Miz honestly won the game of life with Maryse lol

 

[Jarf]

Payback 2015

Match 1: Sheamus def. Dolph Ziggler (12:20)

An underrated gem from a pretty forgettable PPV. Sheamus pie faces Dolph and that just about sends Dolph into a frantic rage as he rushes Sheamus early. Dolph seems to have hurt Sheamus’ leg, after a clothesline to the outside. But Sheamus catches Dolph’s foot on a superkick attempt and then starts to dominate the match. Not much else interesting until Dolph starts to come back into the match. He gets Sheamus in the corner, and drives him down with knees, forcing Sheamus to sit in the corner. And as “payback” (haha) for what Sheamus did to him at Extreme Rules, Dolph pulls up his trunks and pretty much stinkfaces Sheamus. Sheamus loses his mind on the outside before he runs back inside, now pissed off. After hot shotting Dolph on the top rope, Sheamus bounces off them and goes for the Brogue Kick, Dolph ducks and then hits a Fameasser. Sheamus kicks out of that. Sheamus takes control of the match back after a powerbomb and then starts hitting the classics on him. He puts him in a Texas Cloverleaf, but Dolph manages to reach the ropes. Sheamus slaps Dolph and grabs him by the face. Dolph responds with a fucking nasty headbutt! Dolph superkicks Sheamus and as he covers him, we see Dolph is busted open. And busted open for real. That headbutt fucked him up. Sheamus kicks out and gets up first, Dolph is clearly weary off the headbutt and Sheamus finishes him with a Brogue Kick.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 2: WWE Tag Team Championship 2 Out of 3 Falls Match - The New Day (Kofi & Big E.) (c) def. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd (12:40)

A really fun match, I really enjoyed it. The only thing I don’t like is that its a 12 minute 2 Out of 3 Falls Match. Why bother making it 2 out of 3 Falls if that’s all the time you give it? Other than that, really good match. The first fall is over in 2 minutes and Cesaro and Kidd just have fun with New Day in that time. Cesaro lifts Kofi up for a suplex and Tyson comes off the top rope with a crossbody. Big E.breaks up the pin, but Cesaro clotheslines him out of the way and swings Kofi around into a kick from Tyson. Tyson pins Kofi 1, 2, 3 to win the first fall. Xavier then gets on the apron and tries to claim “freebird rule.” Natalya goes over to pull Woods down. Tyson takes X out. Big E. goes for the Spear off the apron, but Tyson flips into the ring and lariets Kofi. Tyson suicide dives on Big E. but E. catches him and throws him over his head. The second fall is over soon enough. Kofi goes to throw Cesaro out of the ring, but Cesaro flips onto his feet on the apron, big boots Kofi, only for Big E. to take him out with the Spear off the apron. Tyson tries to make a brief comeback, he dropkicks Kofi out of the air. But Big E. catches him, and they drop Tyson with the Midnight Hour to win the second match. And this third fall is so fucking good. Tyson reaches Cesaro, who comes in like a house of fire. He uppercuts Kofi several times before pressing him over his head and throwing him into Big E. Then Cesaro takes a run at Kofi and uppercuts him so hard, it sends Kofi into the corner, the back of his head hitting the turnbuckle. Kofi leaps off the top rope and gets caught by Cesaro and takes a back breaker. For Tyson to come in and drop an elbow off Cesaro’s knee. Tyson then puts Kofi in the Sharpshooter, but Big E. saves it. Cesaro takes E. outside and tosses him over the announce table. Kidd launches Kofi into the air, and Cesaro uppercuts him on the drop. Cesaro covers Kofi, but Big E. stops the 3 count. Kofi winds up outside and as the referee is trying to get E. out, Xavier rolls in, rolls up Cesaro in a small package, the referee doesn’t even realize its Woods and not Kofi and counts the pinfall. New Day retain.

My Rating: ***3/4

Match 3: Bray Wyatt def. Ryback (10:54)

You wouldn’t expect a whole lot from this pairing, but this match turned out alright. A short lived feud which was done to give them something to do I think. Ryback has the upper hand early, using his power to muscle around Bray and knock him to the floor. But Bray takes control after Ryback rams his own shoulder into the ring post after Bray dodges. Bray plants Ryback’s face on the apron before he climbs back up and drops over Ryback with a senton. From that point on, it becomes a point that Ryback’s ribs are hurting, which will become his downfall. Bray shows some strength of his own here by lifting Ryback for a suplex, but then just tosses him across the ring. Ryback eventually starts to come back and the match is pretty even. Ryback leaps off the top rope with a splash which I don’t think anyone expected and then goes to his ribs. Ryback lifts Bray on his shoulders for the Shell Shock, but Bray grabs the top rope and in the struggle, the top turnbuckle pad gets flung off. As the referee goes to grab it, Bray shoves Ryback, into the exposed turnbuckle, ribs first and Bray wins the match after a Sister Abigail.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 4: United States Championship I Quit Match - John Cena (c) def. Rusev (27:58)

This show seems pretty mixed as far as how people feel about it. This match has a pretty low rating on Cagematch, but I’ve also seen reviews that rate this at 4 stars. So I wasn’t sure what to expect. This match should be called “Do You Quit” Match. Because every 30 seconds, after everything they did in this match. Even the smallest shit that’s never beat anybody, they’re like “ask him!” And the referee would go “Do you quit.” And of course, for 28 minutes, the answer would be no every time. It honestly got annoying. Rusev tells Cena to quit before they even do anything. Honestly, it would’ve been hilarious if Cena had been like “Yeah, okay, I quit.” Rusev beats on Cena for a bit, before he brings in the steel steps and props them up in the corner. He whips Cena into them twice. Then he lays them on the mat and hits a tilt-a-whirl slam onto them. Rusev tries to do the Accolade on the steps, but Cena moves and AAs Rusev on the steps. The first big offense Cena’s had the match. Cena and Rusev go outside. Cena stands Rusev up against the barricade and literally tells Rusev what he’s about to do if he doesn’t say I quit. Rusev says no and then Cena Spears him through the barricade. Rusev definitely had time to move, but he didn’t feel like it I guess. They fight out into the crowd and wind up back on the entrance way. Rusev sees the pyrotechnics behind a small set up part of the set design. Cena AAs him behind it and then the pyrotechnics go off. We can’t see behind it, trying to give us the illusion Rusev was burnt by pyro. Except I’m almost definitely sure there is no magic button over there to make them go off and if there is, that’s incredibly unsafe. Dumb spot. Cena grabs a metal barrier, he hits Rusev with it and props it against the apron. But Rusev grabs Cena and suplexes him onto the barrier, bending it in half. That was pretty cool at least. Rusev throws Cena back in the ring and puts the Accolade on him until Cena passes out. While Cena is out, Rusev unscrews the turnbuckle from the ring post. Now, Bret Hart was declared the winner of the Submission Match he had with Austin because passed out and couldn’t continue. Austin never tapped out, which was the stipulation of the match. Well Cena is passed out here, he doesn’t move in like 3 minutes. What I’m getting at people, is that Rusev was robbed. Rusev wakes Cena up with a bottle of water, which he didn’t really need to do, I’m pretty sure whatever he was planning to do with that turnbuckle would’ve done the trick. Cena drops Rusev to the mat, and uses pulls the ring rope over Rusev’s face as he applies the STF. Rusev starts screaming in bulgarian, Lana actually has to get in the ring and take the mic herself to say “he quits.” I was unaware that somebody else was able to quit for you. Yeah, I don’t like this match. It’s not DUD territory bad, but this was pretty damn lame if you ask me.

My Rating: **

Match 5: Naomi & Tamina def. The Bella Twins (6:13)

So after a 28 minute Do You Wanna Quit match, I get to watch the Bella Twins. WWE were really attempting to turn the Bella Twins into babyfaces here. You had Naomi and Tamina working heel. Here’s the issue with that idea. We didn’t like the Bella Twins. You have Brie botching like hell while Naomi and Tamina keep her away from Nikki. Jerry Lawler, at some point during the match says “Who doesn’t like Nikki Bella?” The only thing stopping Nikki from being the Roman Reigns of the women’s division at that point was that WWE turned her heel again shortly after this, and stopped trying to get her over. Naomi backdrops Brie behind her, Brie lands on her head ‘cause she’s bad, she makes the cold tag to Nikki. Nikki starts to bring the match back for her team, but after a distraction from Tamina, Nikki gets hit with the ‘she calls that the rear view’. But kicks out of her finisher in this 6 minute match. Tamina throws Brie into the barricade, so she’s not a factor for when Nikki is on the top rope and Naomi throws her off. Naomi covers Nikki to take the win.

My Rating: *1/2

Match 6: Neville def. King Barrett via countout (7:22)

This match sucks too honestly. And that sucks because it shouldn’t. These two just didn’t click I guess. But it’s super not interesting. Neville hardly gets to do any of his big high flying moves. After a brief good start for Neville, Barrett takes control and starts beating on Neville. But Neville starts to come back after flipping on his feet off a back drop. Hilariously, Neville gets Barrett on the mat, and then flips, that’s it. He doesn’t move. It’s supposed to be a standing shooting star, but Neville flips in place. Barrett puts his elbow pad inside out to set up the Bullhammer. He tells Neville to get up. Neville dodges it and he gets Barrett back on the mat, then goes up for the Red Arrow. But Barrett rolls out of the ring, and Neville dives on him from the inside. Neville gets back in, but Barrett doesn’t and gets himself counted out. Oh, okay. So this match is completely pointless, nobody gets any points, or any momentum I guess. But Barrett just comes back in while Neville isn’t looking and attacks him. He puts on his cape, holds up his sceptor. Neville gets back in the ring, and Barrett takes a swing at him, but Neville ducks and switches behind him, to hit a German Suplex, and then he goes up and hits the Red Arrow. What an absolutely pointless endeavor this was.

My Rating: **

Main Event: WWE World Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4-Way Match - Seth Rollins (c) def. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose & Randy Orton (20:52)

But at least the main event delivered. You have Orton and the Shield. Talk about a 4th wheel honestly. But hey, it leads to a pretty good spot halfway through. The other stipulation for this match is that if Seth Rollins loses, Kane loses his job as director of operations for the Authority. Kane is at ringside for this match, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury come to the ring with Rollins. Noble and Mercury pull Roman and Dean out right at the beginning of the match, that goes as well as you could expect for them. Rollins and Orton go outside which leads to Ambrose diving onto them through the middle rope. And then Roman dives on literally everyone but Kane. Rollins winds up getting ganged up on by Ambrose and Roman. They just take turns taking shots at them. Roman sets up a superman punch, but Kane pulls Roman out of the ring. Rollins and Ambrose go at it for a bit, and as Dean goes for the Dirty Deeds, Kane comes in and Chokeslams Dean. Dean kicks out and Kane tries to yell at the referee, but Orton yanks him off the apron, followed by a driveby from Reigns. Orton clotheslines Roman on the outside and goes back in and goes at it with Seth. Orton hits a nice superplex on Seth in the ring. They wind up outside and Orton soon finds Roman and Dean coming up to fight him, together, along with Rollins, they stomp Orton into the floor before breaking. They look at each other… they look at Orton… Rollins points at the table beside him and then they gang up on Orton again. The crowd starts to lose their minds because like old times, they’re working together again. Seth and Dean pick Orton up, stack him on Roman’s shoulders and then they throw him through the table! The crowd fucking loses their minds! Seth seems to forget that they’re not bros anymore and sticks his fist out between Dean and Roman, waiting for them to do the same. Dean and Roman laugh with him. The switch on Dean’s face is kind of funny. The way he goes from laughing to stoic is super quick. Roman’s not smiling anymore either, and now they start whooping Seth’s ass. They tear apart the other announce table, going to powerbomb him through that one. But Kane saves his ass. They lay Kane out, and Seth out on the table. They pick Kane up and powerbomb him over Seth laying on the table. But it doesn’t break. So the crowd starts to chant “one more time! One more time!” Dean and Roman give them what they want! They pick Kane back up and drop over Seth again, and this time, the table breaks. It just leaves us with Dean and Roman. It will never not bother me that we never got a feud between these two. The few times they got to fight each other, they showed incredible chemistry. They just have a sweet mini-match between themselves while everyone is out. The crowd is chanting “Ambrose.” They were firmly behind this man. Roman makes an attempt at a Spear, but Dean gets his foot up, and tries the Dirty Deeds. Roman escapes and knocks Dean back. Dean tries to rebound and clothesline, but Roman ducks and hits a Spear. Roman covers him and Rollins runs in to stop the 3 count. The 3 Shield members go at it. Roman is knocked down by Ambrose. He drops Seth with a Dirty Deeds, but Kane pulls Dean out of the ring and takes him out of the match with the steel steps. Roman tries to attack Kane, but he gets Chokeslammed on the bottom half of the steps. But Orton finally comes back and takes Kane down before he gets back in the ring to fight with Rollins. Noble and Mercury attempt to help, but they each get an RKO for that. Rollins gets caught in a powerslam in mid-air. Orton brings him to the ropes and hits a draping DDT. And then Orton sets Seth up for the RKO. Seth pushes him off as Kane comes back in, but Orton was ready and drops Kane with the RKO. Seth kicks Orton in the gut and hits him with a Pedigree for the 3 count. The first time Seth used the Pedigree if I’m not mistaken. Great main event. Lots of fun to watch.

My Rating: ****

Cagematch Rating: 6.36

My Rating: 6/10

This show got off to a pretty good start. I thought the first 3 matches on the show were really good, even if none of them were particularly mind blowing. But then it takes a drastic drop at the I Quit Match. The next couple matches really don’t help it’s cause either. But the main event was a damn great match that ended the show on a high. Overall, a forgettable show.

 

[Skyefire]

Going back to No Mercy, if I recall, I think the idea behind putting the WWE title match was to get a leg up on some other sporting event, possibly Sunday Night Football which games usually start at like 8:15-8:30 so WWE wanted to get the fans before the game.