Reviewing every WWE PPV in order from worst to best

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Money in the Bank 2025

Oof…

Match 1: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Naomi def. Rhea Ripley, Alexa Bliss, Giulia, Roxanne Perez & Stephanie Vaquer (25:11)

Alright, lets get this over with. I went into the women's Ladder Match with higher expectations than the men's. I thought this field kicked ass, but it was very underwhelming if I'm being honest. Here's an idea. How about not giving them so much time. Seriously, this is the one HHHism I have a problem with. More time doesn't equal better matches and this show pretty much proves it. This match has its moments but because its 25 minutes long, so much of it is set up. Set up for whatever the next spot is supposed to be. And it just really feels like a drag to watch. One of the few cool spots of the match happens early on when Rox hurricanranas Rhea onto a ladder. Roxi hits a nice springboard moonsault on Rhea laying on the ladder. Roxi and Giulia form a temporary alliance and bury Rhea under a bunch of ladders. But she later comes out from under them and grabs Rox, throws her into the barricade. A ladder gets set up in the ring, and another gets bridged between the the middle rope and the rungs of the standing ladder. And what is by far the best part of the match, Stephanie gives Rhea the Devil's Kiss on the ladder! Hell yeah brother! Another ladder is bridged on the other side of the ladder, and Alexa and Rox hit dueling Code Reds to Naomi and Steph on the ladders, that was sweet. Rhea and Alexa both take out Giulia and Rox and stare each other down. Buddy Matthews just smiling and nodding his head watching at home. Rhea and Alexa both end up climbing the ladder, and Naomi comes in, tips the ladder over, Rhea and Bliss end up hitting a ladder bridged in the corner. Naomi makes the climb and takes down the briefcase. In my opinion, the right choice. Giulia, Steph and Rox especially haven't been on the main roster very long, Alexa doesn't need it, Rhea sure as hell doesn't need it. Naomi though needed something after losing to Jade at Mania. So good choice for winner. Just wish the match wasn't so long.

My Rating: ***

Match 2: Intercontinental Championship Match - Dominik Mysterio (c) def. Octagon Jr. (4:55)

An okay match but whereas the last match was too long, this one was too short. You seriously couldn't shave off a few minutes from both ladder matches for this one. Especially when it seems like you're trying to sell AAA to a casual audience. This match comes about because Octagon idolized Rey Mysterio as a kid. And that fact makes me feel old as hell because I idolized Rey Mysterio as a kid too. The bell rings and a minute into the match, Octagon has Dom stumbling. He pulls out a back corkscrew crossbody off the top rope, Octagon sends Dom outside with a tilt-a-whirl. And then hits a springboard moonsault to the outside. But they get back in the ring, Dom crotches Octagon on the top rope and ties the tails on his mask to the bottom rope before stomping a mudhole in his ass. Dom goes for 3 Amigos but only gets one suplex out of it. Octagon runs off the ropes and gets hit with a Michinoku Driver. Dom goes for a 619, but misses, Octagon hits a swinging fisherman neckbreaker, and heads to the top rope. But Liv Morgan gets on the apron and distracts him. Dom crotches Octagon on the top though and now hits the 619, goes up to hit a Frog Splash to the back for the win.

My Rating: **1/4

Match 3: Women's Intercontinental Championship Last Chance Match - Becky Lynch def. Lyra Valkyria (c) (15:20)

Just like at Backlash, Becky and Lyra put on the best match of the night. But this fell under expectations set by that match in my opinion. Becky tries to attack Lyra as they're doing ring announcements, but Lyra thwarts that and tackles Becky, laying into her with elbows. Lyra goes for a kick through the ropes after Becky rolls to the outside, but Becky catches her foot and yanks to the floor, Lyra hits it hard, and this gives Becky the advantage even after the hot start Lyra got off to. Becky starts wearing Lyra down, Lyra fights back. This match doesn't quite have the same sizzle as their Backlash match. Lyra goes for a roundhouse kick, but her foot gets caught by Becky, who flips Lyra back on her chest. Becky goes to the top rope, Lyra meets her up there and hits a superplex and then a fisherman for a 2 count. Lyra tries for a moonsault, misses but lands on her feet, hits Becky with a heel kick, goes for Nightwing, but Becky counters, double underhooks into an armbar. But Lyra escapes and counters it into kind of a half crab, but putting her foot on the back of her neck as she does. Becky somehow makes it to the bottom rope, but Lyra follows her out. Lyra drapes Becky over the barricade and hits a legdrop to the back of her head. Lyra throws Becky back inside and goes up, but gets caught and powerbomb on the back of her head by Becky. After Lyra kicks out of that, Becky heads up, but gets met up there by Lyra, which turns out to be a mistake because then, Becky hits a Manhandle Slam from the 2nd rope and Lyra kicks out before rolling outside the ring. Becky goes out after her and throws Lyra into the post before hitting another Manhandle Slam out there. Becky gets back in the ring to break the count, but she picks Lyra back up on the outside and gets hit with a Nightwing. Both women make it back in the ring on a 9 count and the match continues. Both women start exchanging blows, Lyra picks Becky up for another Nightwing, but Becky escapes, rolls Lyra up from behind and they counter roll ups a few times before it ends with Becky winning the match. Part of the stipulation was that if Becky won, Lyra would have to raise her hand. And I don't like how they handled this. Lyra raises Becky's hand the first time, fine, whatever. She holds up her end of the deal, but then Becky demands Lyra hold up her hand on all four sides of the ring. And Lyra does it. She already did it the first time, she shouldn't do it again, at least thats the angle I would've run. And then Becky demands Lyra to put the belt around her waist. That definitely isn't the deal they made. As soon as Becky threw the belt at her, Lyra should've clocked her with it. But she does and then she hits Nightwing, which too late, you already complied with everything Becky said. Whatevs.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 4: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Seth Rollins def. LA Knight, Solo Sikoa, Penta, Andrade & El Grande Americano (33:35)

Okay, I might need some help here because I really don't understand why so many like this match. Granted, it is better than the women's Ladder Match, but not by much. I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but I did not need this to be over half an hour. Why was it so long?? Both Ladder Matches last year were so much shorter and they ruled! Stop booking long matches for the sake of doing long matches! Its pretty bad when the best part of the match is when the guys who aren't even in the match run in. The bell rings and the three babyfaces in the match gang up on Seth while El Grande leaves the ring. Solo tosses Seth outside and finds himself getting ganged up on by Knight, Penta & Andrade. Knight dropkicks a ladder back into Americano's face. Seth whips Andrade to the ropes, and he uses that as a chance to dive onto Solo, Knight and Americano. Penta sends Seth outside with a superkick and he climbs on the post, and dives on the field. Americano ambushes Penta and starts beating on people with a ladder. Poor Andrade gets it dropped on his dick. That sucks I bet. Not much to write home about the next several minutes. Americano hits kinda like a Dominator from a Razor's Edge on Seth on a ladder. Knight hits a Scorpion Death Drop to Solo on a ladder. One of the best spots of the match is when Seth is the only one in the ring, he goes up but Americano comes in and goes up the same side as Seth, pushes him head first down the other side and locks in an ankle lock on the ladder. Andrade and Penta run in and Andrade hits a sunset flip powerbomb to Americano while Penta hits a suplex into a ladder propped in the corner! This spot was awesome at least. The next spot is cool too, it just takes so much time to set up because they gotta kill time. Andrade bridges the ladder propped up between the ropes and the ladder in the middle of the ring. But it ends with Penta hitting a Mexican Destroyer on top of it. El Grande Americano brings out the fireball branded ladder and laid it on his shoulders and spun around with it. Another good spot. Americano climbs the ladder but gets knocked off with a headbutt by Penta. Seth goes up to stop him, but gets knocked off after Americano put the steel plate in his mask. I might be alone but I absolutely hated this next spot. Penta and LA Knight both look like idiots here. Penta is at the top of the ladder, he's just knocked Rollins off, there is no one to stop him from winning. Except LA Knight, who instead of stopping Penta goes, “why don't I catapult Americano into a ladder, I think I'm gonna do that.” So he catapults Americano into a ladder propped up against the ring post, Americano uses another ladder propped on the turnbuckles to swing onto the ladder in the middle of the ring and headbutts Penta off, Knight climbs up the ladder and backdrops Americano off the ladder. I can normally let ridiculous spots go but I'm sorry, all of that was stupid. Penta had the match won but because he's not supposed to win, he has to look dumb by not knowing how to unclip the briefcase. Anyway, next thing that happens, Seth Rollins calls Bron and Bronson out to the ring. Bron Breakker kills Americano with a Spear, we don't really get to see it because the camera guy missed it. Breakker tears Knight in half with a Spear, Bronson Tsunamis Andrade. Heyman points out Solo on the outside. The Bron(son)s begin to move on him, but then Jacob Fatu's music hits. He comes out with JC Mateo and the four big dudes fight it out. Bron Spears JC through the barricade while Fatu hits a pop-up samoan drop to Bronson and a suicide dive. Fatu helps Solo back in the ring, actually sets the ladder up for him. Solo doesn't get far up before his ankle gets grabbed by Fatu. He looks up at Solo and says “SOLO, I HATE YOU!” He yanks Solo off the ladder, superkick, moonsault off the top and then a uranagi through a bridged ladder outside. Fatu leaves and now everyone but Seth Rollins is down. Seth goes up, but LA Knight pulls him down, but it was just one last bit of resistance before Seth climbs and takes the briefcase. The match has its moments, but so much of it is setting up for the next spot. And I couldn't help noticing how long Americano, Andrade and Penta had to stay down. That whole ending felt like it took 10 minutes. They were out for so long. As for the winner? Can't say I'm excited about it but I'm willing to see where it goes.

My Rating: ***

Main Event: Cody Rhodes & Jey Uso def. John Cena & Logan Paul (24:00)

There was no reason for this match to happen if we're being entirely honest with ourselves. Cody pins Cena but somehow that doesn't make him next in line for a title shot? Jey Uso loses the World Title 2 days later which means his feud with Paul is pretty much over. So ultimately, it doesn't really matter who won this match. Great. This is a tough match to rate also. Because the first half of the match is very slow and very boring. Nothing to write home about, you could probably save yourself some time by just watching the last 10 minutes because thats when all the good stuff actually starts happening. The match starts with Cody and Cena, who tags out to Paul just to get cheap heat. And then he tags himself back in. So officially Cody and Cena start the match. Jey Uso comes in and he winds up getting the isolation treatment from Cena and Paul. And they just get heat on him for forever. And stupidly, the only reason Jey is even able to get to Cody is because Cena and Logan started arguing and having a shoving contest. Its very silly in my opinion. But man, once Cody gets that hot tag, the energy is dialed to 11. Cody manages to turn the tide, taking on both men by himself, Cody Cutter to Cena, suicide dive to Paul. Cody goes for a Cross Rhodes, but gets countered by Cena, who shoves him into a right hand from Logan. Cody stumbles into an AA by Cena. 1, 2. Pin is broken up by Jey. Logan goes for the buckshot lariat, but lands awkwardly which made me smile. Jey superkicks him, Cena gives him an AA. Cody drops Cena with a Cross Rhodes and covers him. Paul goes for a springboard splash, but Cody dodges and hits Cena instead. Paul gets dropped with a Spear from Jey. All four men are down. Logan and Cody exchange blows that ends with Logan hitting the Paulverizer. But instead of covering him, Logan points to a drone, signaling that he wants it to come to him. Logan climbs the top rope and I love this part. Logan holds the drone in his hand, so we have an up close view of him taking a superplex by Cody and then Jey splashing him a second later. Cena comes back inside, hits Jey with an AA and then one to Cody. Cena covers him and gets 2. Cena gets pissed now and throws Cody outside he takes apart an announce table and goes to AA Cody through the other, but Cody slides off, Jey hits a Spear from the other table. Jey is laid on the table which gives Logan a chance to hit a springboard moonsault through the announce table! Paul and Jey won't be getting up after that. As the referee is out there checking on them, Cena slides in with the WWE Title and hits Cody with it. Evil John Cena has done it again folks. But then, a man in a black hoodie runs into the ring and starts beating up Cena. And its R-Truth! Big pop for the Truth who lays Cena out with a bat! Cody drops Cena with another Cross Rhodes and pins him, 1, 2, 3. Cody picks up the win and gets nothing for it. So… Good for him. This match would be better if it wasn't for how long they got heat on Jey. I think 15 minutes would've been more ideal for this match.

My Rating: ***1/4

Cagematch Rating: 6.24

My Rating: 5/10

Yeah, to be honest, I didn't like this one. I can't really say I had much fun watching it. The ladder matches were disappointing in my opinion. Only half of the main event was any good. And this show really suffers from the HHHism that a longer match is the same as a better match.

 

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Survivor Series 2005

Match 1: Match 1 in the Best of 7 Series for the United States Championship - Booker T def. Chris Benoit (14:21)

The night starts with a best of 7 Series. If you remember my Armageddon ‘05 review, Benoit ended being down 3 to nothing so of course Booker wins this match. Their Armageddon match is definitely better but I liked this one too. Benoit was fighting up for almost the entire match. There's a few times at the beginning where Booker has to roll outside but he gives Benoit a wicked axe kick. It looked it was gonna turn into a shoot a couple times. Booker wears Benoit down. Benoit eventually has to start making a comeback. He tries to put Booker in the Sharpshooter, but Booker counters into a small package. Booker does a pretty good job at avoiding Benoit's submissions all match, I don't think Benoit ever locks the Crossface or Sharpshooter on him. Benoit drops Booker with some german suplexes and heads up to the top rope. A distraction from Sharmell gives Booker time to meet Chris up there. Benoit knocks Booker off after multiple headbutts. And I don't mean, 3 or 4, I mean like 10. Benoit goes for the Diving Headbutt, but Booker moves out of the way and rolls Benoit in an Oklahoma Roll to win Match number 1 of 7. Sharmell grabs Booker's boot from the outside and holds it down so they act like its a cheatery finish, but I don't honestly see how that helps.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 2: Women’s Championship Match - Trish Stratus (c) def. Melina (6:35)

To be honest, not a bad match at all. They let Melina get quite a bit of offense on Trish in this match. That being said, Melina doesn't look terrible, but she still looks very green. Melina comes out with MNM and Trish comes out with Mickie James. Trish gets in the ring and double legs Melina immediately. Trish throws Melina to the outside, MNM go to help her up, but Trish dives on all 3 of them to the outside. Trish beats up Melina for a bit. But Melina first gets fucking mule kicked by Trish and then elbows her in the back. Melina goes outside to fight with Mickie. Joey Styles gets his “CAT FIGHT” line and its fucking funny because he does it quick. He says it fast as if he just wanted to get it in there. Tazz is doing commentary too and he's on a different level on this event in a funny way. Because Joey goes “on paper, Melina isn't as accomplished as Trish Stratus” and Tazz gets pissed about it. “Whats this On PaPeR? I'm sick of hearing of about this paper!” I couldn't stop laughing. Tazz is worked up about this over this “on paper” line. And Styles isn't even wrong anyway. But anyway, the ref gets distracted by Melina and Mickie fighting outside and MNM slide in, and go to hit the Snapshot on Trish, but the referee catches them in the act and send them to the back. Melina gets pissed about it and gets pissed the more and more Trish kicks out of her moves. Trish comes back and goes for Stratusfaction, but Melina counters by lifting Trish so she misses the top rope. Trish lands on the apron. Melina goes for a shoulder block, but Mickie pulls Trish out the way. Trish hits a kick to Melina's head and then a bulldog from the top rope to retain, much to the chagrin of Tazz who makes me laugh again later during the main event.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 3: Last Man Standing Match - Triple H def. Ric Flair (26:59)

I find it so strange how this match is not brought up more for people's favorite Last Man Standing Match. Because I thought this was amazing. Fun fact, this was one of the first wrestling matches I ever watched. Because my parents bought me the DVD when I was 7 and I fucking loved it even back then. Triple H comes out first and attacks Flair in the aisle. The bell rings as HHH whips Flair's ass as he's wearing the robe. The two fight into the crowd, fight out there for a bit until HHH back drops Flair to ringside. Ric Flair's selling in this match is spectacular. Its surprising that he hates hardcore wrestling, because he is really fucking good at it. And he bled buckets in this match too. HHH grabs a screwdriver from a toolbox and digs it into the head of Flair. And as a kid, I thought that shit was legit so I thought HHH was vicious as fuck. The blood runs down Flair's chest, it runs into his hair. HHH paints his own body with it, he looks badass here. HHH throws Flair to the outside and hits a Spinebuster. Then he grabs a mic and tells Flair to “get up you old bastard” and then he says “stay down or I'm gonna put you down for good.” Very contradicting statements Hunter. HHH looks like he's gonna pick Flair up, but then Flair grabs HHH's junk and HHH is still holding the mic to his mouth and he fucking screams into it. HHH slams the mic into Flair's head to escape the ‘ol dick twist. HHH throws Flair on one of the announce tables and goes to Pedigree Flair onto it. But Flair counters and backdrops HHH through the spanish table. Triple H is back up at the count of 9. HHH knocks Flair with a facebuster to the knee. HHH heads outside and grabs a steel chair, he goes to Pedigree Flair onto it, but Flair hits HHH in the dick again. And this would not be the last time he does this in the match. But then Flair picks the chair up and swings into HHH's face. Flair bites him twice. Once in the forehead, the other on the back of his thigh. Flair punches HHH in the cock again in the corner. Like the amount of cock and ball offense on display is almost comedic, but also somehow doesn't take away from the match quality. Flair wraps HHH's legs around the ring post, swings his knees into it as well as pulling him into it. Several times. So that HHH takes more damage to the dick. Its hilarious that Flair is working the balls. But then he goes after HHH's knees. He wraps them around the post again and swings a chair at HHH's leg. Flair locks in the Figure Four on HHH for a while and Flair is free to pull on the ropes for leverage so thats what he does. Triple H stands back up on very trembley legs. HHH knocks Flair down with a clothesline and leaves to grab the steps. HHH slams them into Flair's bloody face. And Flair screams like its the most painful thing he's ever experienced. HHH tries it again but Flair drop toe holds him, and HHH's face hits the steps. When HHH stands back up, Flair sends him off the ropes, but HHH catches him bent down and Pedigrees him. Flair has to use the steps in the ring to pull himself up. HHH hits another Pedigree. Flair as he's pulling himself up, and flips HHH the bird, which sends HHH into a frenzy. Triple H beats him in the corner and pulls him out to hit a 3rd Pedigree. Is that it? No, its not. Flair very, very slowly stirs. The referee pronounced could've counted him out if he wanted, but now HHH is pissed. He goes out to grab a sledgehammer and slams in the back of Flair's head. Ric Flair is no longer moving, he's not even stirring. Triple H wins as the referee counts to 10. This match was so damn good. What I loved most though is the brutality by HHH. Over the years, I've gotten so tired of hearing people say “I'm gonna end his career.” Because we all know those words don't mean shit. But HHH beat Flair's ass like he meant it. I legitimately believe Flair could've hung it up after this match. Aside from the WrestleMania match with Shawn, this would've been a much better retirement match than any of the other 14 that Flair has had since then. They would've had to find a new IC Champ, but that might have added some prestige to it. Like, “this was the last title Ric Flair ever had.” But anyway, damn good match. Very much a forgotten classic.

My Rating: ****1/2

Match 4: WWE Championship Match with Daivari as Special Referee - John Cena (c) def. Kurt Angle (13:50)

Speaking of forgotten gems. This match is pretty good too. Doesn't come close to the match before it but I enjoyed this. Of course, there are some mamy ref bumps in this match, it very much feels like an attitude era main event. Kurt Angle was on a different level in 2005 by the way, the way he goes from being a goofball to a bloodthirsty maniac is insane. The video package they played before the match made him look like a bad dude. Daivari is the special ref assigned to make sure Kurt Angle wins. And they don't even try to hide that he's not gonna be impartial. He raises Kurt's hand before he even calls for the bell and Cena just nods and says “okay.” Its funny because even though Daivari is the guest ref, I'm pretty sure he spends most of the match taking a nap. A few minutes into the match, Cena hits a fisherman and pins Kurt, but Daivari stands still as a stature and doesn't count once. Cena stands up and walks over Angle, who grabs Cena's leg and puts on the Ankle Lock. Cena is in the hold for a while. After about a minute in the hold, Cena reaches the ropes, but Daivari kicks Cena's arm off. Cena kicks Angle off and gets up to hit a spinebuster. And without a beat, he stands up and bitch slaps Daivari. And I could not stop laughing. Then Daivari yells at him and motions to his ref shirt as if that means anything. And then Cena bitch slaps him again. So Daivari starts throwing a fit and almost DQ's Cena. But Kurt nearly tackles him to stop him from doing it. Kurt can't win the title on a DQ. Cena shoulder blocks Angle into Daivari, sending them both outside. Daivari falls asleep outside and the match continues. Angle pulls Cena outside and hits a belly to belly. Kurt calls for another referee to run out and another referee does. These two have a standard wrestling match for the next several minutes. Kurt starts to wear Cena down, but Cena is able to get back into the match with a DDT. They start trading shots back and forth, but Cena ducks a clothesline, hits 4 out of his 5 moves of doom, and as he goes for the 5th, Kurt clotheslines the referee and low blows Cena. Kurt motions for another referee to run out and as the new guy runs out, Angle drops Cena with an OLYMPIC SLAM! He hooks the leg and Cena kicks out. Angle lifts Cena onto the top rope and hits a suplex from there before pulling Cena in position for a moonsault. Guess what, Kurt Angle misses the moonsault. Cena stands up and lifts Angle up for the FU. But Angle grabs the referee and escapes, and takes Cena down with a clothesline. The referee tries to berate him, but Kurt grabs this man and hits a dirty uppercut on this man. He heads out and throws Daivari in the ring. Kurt sees a SmackDown referee on his way out and tries to send him back. Meanwhile, Cena DDTs Daivari in the ring and plays dead. There are striped shirts everywhere. Kurt sees everyone in the ring down and gets inside. Kurt goes to pick Cena up. Cena lifts Kurt and drops him with an AA for the 3 count. They definitely overbooked this match but I still think its enjoyable. But man, I think this was the point people started to turn on Cena. It had been 8 months into this reign and everyone loved Kurt. So this really did John no favors.

My Rating: ***1/2

Match 5: Theodore Long def. Eric Bischoff (5:18)

I can only assume this match was happening because WWE wanted to make sure that people took away something to hate from this PPV. What other reason is there to book it? The match is this. Teddy Long avoids Bischoff's karate kicks until Palmer Canon (remember that guy?) gets on the apron for whatever reason. Bischoff takes his black belt and chokes Teddy from behind with it. Bischoff karate kicks Canon off the apron, who by the way, had to stay up there until Bischoff kicked him off, and Bischoff kinda forgot about that, so Canon is just standing on the apron, doing lots of odd hand motions, moving around like a weirdo. Thats pretty funny I'll admit, but its not intentionally funny. A lot of this match is just Bischoff choking Teddy. Until the Boogeyman's music hits and Bischoff sends both referees (oh yeah, theres two of them in this match, one for raw and one for SmackDown) The Boogeyman turns out to be behind Bischoff. Boogey hits Eric with a Pumphandle Slam, which, neither referee seems to care about or somehow didn't see it happen. Anyway, Teddy crawls to the cover and pins Bischoff to win this terrible match. They had this match after the WWE Title Match… huh.

My Rating: DUD

Main Event: Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination Match - Team SmackDown (Batista, Randy Orton, JBL, Rey Mysterio & Bobby Lashley) def. Team Raw (Shawn Michaels, Carlito, Chris Masters, Kane & Big Show) (23:28)

Considering how intense the Raw and SmackDown beef was since 2002, I'm surprised it took them this long to do a match like this. This was the first time they did it and back then, this was actually a cool idea because they hadn't beaten it into the damn ground yet. Speaking of tropes they beat into the ground, ya know what there wasn't in this match? In-team fighting. It is so nice to watch a Survivor Series Match for once where teammates aren't fighting each other. The match starts with Orton and Michaels, but pretty quickly Lashley gets in and starts wrecking shop. He manhandles Masters. He manhandles Carlito. He manhandles Michaels, all pretty easily. Lashley picks HBK up for the Dominator, but Kane goosles him from the apron and drops Lashley with a Chokeslam, Shawn covers him for the 3 count. Lashley is the first man eliminated. Rey gets in like a house of fire, but its quickly stopped by Kane. I'd say apart from this one bit, the match doesn't slow down. Rey escapes the grasp of Kane and tags in Batista, who has his torso all taped up. But Batista still manages to eliminate Kane after a Spinebuster following a 619 from Rey. Big Show gets in the ring and Chokeslams Batista, gets a 2 count. Team Raw distract the referee and behind his back, Big Show and the eliminated Kane double Chokeslam Batista. Big Show covers him and eliminates the World Heavyweight Champion. JBL comes in and goes for a Clothesline From Hell, but gets tossed aside easily by Big Show. Rey leaps in, gets caught by Show, who just throws Rey into the corner. Big Show goosles Randy on the apron, but Orton hangs Show on the top rope to escape. JBL clotheslines Big Show to hell, but Big Show stirs after that, JBL tags in Rey who hits a 619 to Show, who stumbles on his feet. Rey tags in Orton who rolls in like he's a spy or something and RKOs Big Show. Orton tags in JBL, who drops Show again with another Clothesline From Hell. And somehow after all that, Big Show is still moving and sits up slowly. JBL tags in Rey, who hits a West Coast Pop and eliminates Big Show. After that, the remaining members of Team Raw get in and a brawl ensues. JBL hits a fallaway slam to Shawn on the outside which knocks him out for several minutes, which makes me wonder why the fallaway slam wasn't a regular finisher for JBL. In the time Shawn is out cold, they eliminate Carlito & Masters, due to surprisingly good teamwork by JBL and Rey. Carlito catches Rey off a springboard moonsault in a powerslam position and transitions to a reverse DDT position. But JBL tagged himself in as Rey hit the ropes. JBL comes in and clotheslines the hell out of Carlito and takes him out. Masters comes in, but he's quickly eliminated after a 619 and a springboard legdrop to the back of the head. JBL goes and grabs HBK, to throw him back in the ring. HBK shows some signs of fight left. Rey drop toe holds him to the second rope and hits a 619. Rey springboards in and eats Shawn's boot to the chin! It looks super clean! Shawn falls into the cover and eliminates Rey. JBL runs in and tries to immediately Clothesline Shawn. But he ducks and drops JBL with a superkick and eliminates him too. And just like that, its down to HBK and Orton. The match doesn't go on too much longer. Orton gets in and goes for the RKO, but Shawn shoves him off, goes for a superkick, but Orton pulls himself back from it and rolls outside. Shawn follows him though and dives on him from inside. Shawn hits all the classics, flying forearm, elbow drop and then tunes up the band. JBL gets back in with a steel chair though. He takes a swing, and misses, taking another superkick. That little distraction gives Orton the opening to hit an RKO for the 3 count. SmackDown wins.

My Rating: ***3/4

After the match, every SmackDown jobber runs out to the ring to celebrate. A couple of them lift Orton onto their shoulders. They really give him the Bret Hart, WrestleMania 10 celebration. But the mood shifts as soon as we hear a gong. Orton starts to freak out. A bunch of hooded dudes drag this big casket out. Orton makes faces like he's taking the most burning shit he's ever taken. Lightning strikes the casket, setting it on fire. And after a very long pause, the casket busts open and out steps The Undertaker with a sick beard. Dude should've kept this look honestly. Undertaker marches down to the ring and starts beating everyone's ass. Orton and his dad high tail it out of there. Most people get out of the ring but those that don't, get beat by Taker. Taker finishes the attack with a Tombstone to William Regal. Undertaker stares down Randy Orton who's still watching from the aisle. I thought this ending was pretty cool. Some may ask why Undertaker didn't go after Randy. But I like to believe its because he wanted to wait and make Randy think about the next time they see each other. And this would lead to the great Hell in a Cell Match at Armageddon.

Cagematch Rating: 6.77

My Rating: 8.5/10

The only bad spot of the show is the GM Match. That match was so bad. Even worse than I remembered. Trish and Melina isn't anything to get excited about. I really like everything else on this show though. Good opener. Good WWE Title Match. Good main event, good ending. Classic Last Man Standing. That and this event is also oddly comedic at times. There was several parts of this that got a legit laugh out of me. Cena bitch slapping Daivari will never leave my brain again.

 

[Jarf]

Elimination Chamber 2014

Match 1: Intercontinental Championship Match - Big E. (c) def. Jack Swagger (11:41)

The night starts the Intercontinental Title Match. Pre-New Day Big E. feels so strange to me just because he feels like a totally different person. Big E. uses his strength to push Jack around in the beginning. But they work an okay match good for TV but not so much for PPV. Swagger sits on E. They work like big dudes as they should. Swagger goes for the Swagger Bomb, which is countered by Big E who catches him in a powerslam position. Swagger hangs on to the top rope so E. couldn't hit the Big Ending, so E throws Jack onto the apron and hits the Spear through the ropes. Big E. E goes to the top rope, but Jack meets him up there and hits a belly to belly from the top rope. Swagger clips Big E's knee and locks in the Ankle Lock. E. is in the hold for a while before E kicks him off. They have a brief exchange and E just bowls over Swagger before removing the straps to set up the Big Ending, but Swagger trips him up from the mat to lock in the Ankle Lock again. It looks like E is about to tap out, 2nd time he's been put in the hold. But Big E. stands up and whips out an enziguri to get out. E. hits the Big Ending to retain. A fine match for TV. Not so much for PPV.

My Rating: ***

Match 2: WWE Tag Team Championship Match - The New Age Outlaws (c) def. The Usos (8:52)

I still can't believe that the New Age Outlaws were given a Tag Team Title reign in 2014. Doesn't matter how long it was. Why did they have them? My guess is because they were supposed to be transitional champions for The Usos. But why did they win this match if that were the case. Anyway, they just have an average match. I would say the Outlaws looked slow, but they weren't that good even in their prime soooo. Anyway, the first few minutes of the match is nothing to talk about, but Jey takes a run at Road Dogg in the corner and gets flung hard upset down in the corner. That actually looked like it hurt a lot. The Outlaws start to sit on Jey, getting their heat. Its very dull. The crowd is so bored they start chanting CM Punk. Because we are not even in a month after Punk's departure from the company. Jey eventually reaches his brother for the tag. Jimmy comes in like a house of fire and takes on 2 old guys at once. Jimmy goes to dive on them over the ropes, but Billy moved and Jimmy only hits Road Dogg. I think they actually crack heads. Billy throws Jimmy back in the ring, but eats a superkick from Jimmy. After a kickout, Jimmy goes up top for a Splash, but Road Dogg hops on the apron. Jimmy leaps over a standing Billy, ducks a clothesline to superkick Road Dogg, but gets rolled up from behind by Billy for the win.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 3: Titus O'Neil def. Darren Young (6:18)

“Is there a problem with the Prime Time Players? I don't think so.” Anyway, this match isn't actually bad. The problem is that nobody really cares about this match. But again, its like what I said about the opener. Fine for TV, not for PPV. Titus tries to push Darren around, but Darren fires off a few shots that stuns the big man and clotheslines him over the top rope. The match is pretty even for the most part surprisingly. Titus reverses a whip into the corner and Darren takes the Triple H bump over the ropes. After that, Titus works over Darren's ribs. Darren starts to fight back though. Like I said, typical TV match. Its fine. Darren hits a neckbreaker on the apron and tries to go for the Gut Check, but Titus escapes, sends Young off the ropes, hits a pop-up spinebuster for the win.

My Rating: **1/2

Match 4: The Wyatt Family def. The Shield (22:28)

“This is awesome!” They chanted this before the bell even rang, before they even touched, before the Wyatts even got in the ring. The hype for this match was so high and the energy for this was amazing. This should've happened at WrestleMania. Imagine 75,000 people chanting “This is awesome!” Just for the staredown. Both teams look like they're gonna retreat to a corner, but Ambrose makes the first move and attacks Bray, forcing the other four to throw themselves in too. This is all before the bell rings. The match starts with Rollins & Rowan and within a few minutes in the match, The Shield try to beat down Rowan in their corner, which doesn't work because Rowan charges out of the corner and flips Seth back with a shoulder block. Roman and Harper both get in and Roman pushes Harper back to his corner where him, Seth and Dean can just beat him down. But Harper dropkicks Dean and the tides start to turn. The Wyatts try to isolate Dean, but Dean pretty quickly tags in Seth, who comes in and makes the crowd lose it! He comes with an onslaught against Harper. He heads to the top rope facing the crowd, but Harper meets him up there and goes for a throwaway German off the top, but Seth flips back, lands on his feet! And then he clotheslines Harper over the top rope and hits a suicide dive. Seth throws Harper back inside and springboards to knee him in the face. Seth runs off the ropes for a Curb Stomp, misses and runs back into a sweet black hole slam. The Wyatts keep Seth away from his corner for a few minutes. Bray covers Seth at one point and Dean comes in to break the count, but gets booted in the face by Harper for doing so. Seth knocks Harper down with an enziguri and as Harper tags Rowan, Seth tags Roman and it is full steam ahead the rest of the match! Roman takes on all 3 Wyatts divide and conquer style. Quickly taking Harper and Bray out before taking down Rowan. Bray gets in to break up a pin, but Dean gets in swinging like a mad man. Harper gets and pulls Dean off Bray. Dean rocks Luke and dropkicks Bray off the apron. By the way, can I just say, the camera work in this match is spectacular. The way they follow everyone's movements makes it look like they're having trouble getting everything. Dean goes outside after Bray and Harper goes after Dean with a suicide dive! Then Seth gets in and one ups him with a tope onto Harper. Back in the ring, Rowan goes to squash Roman in the corner. But Roman dodges, rolls Rowan from behind but gets a 2 count, which is followed by a double down. They clothesline each other at the same time and everybody is down. What an awesome sequence! Seth goes over to the spanish table, tearing it apart to do something but gets stopped by Bray. Him and Harper prep Seth for a powerbomb, but Dean throws his body into Harper before him and Bray start throwing hands. They head out into the crowd and Lawler goes “this is a war!” Roman and Rowan continue to throw hands in the ring. Just two big men slabbin meat! Bray returns to ringside, no Dean Ambrose in sight. He helps Harper with Seth. Rowan hits a fallaway to Roman on the inside before going outside to help his brothers. Bray directs them towards the tables. Harper and Rowan drop Seth from one table through the other. Roman starts to roll back in, there's no Dean, there's no Seth. He's the only man left. The Wyatts surround Roman and maul him. Harper presents him as if he's a tribute for Bray. Bray gets tagged in and sets up Sister Abigail, but Roman pulls Bray's hands off him and stands back up straight, getting eye level with him. Bray headbutts Roman and Roman screams in his face before countering with a samoan drop. Harper comes in and Roman throws him to the outside. Rowan comes in and gets a Superman Punch. He hits Bray with one and goes for a Spear. But Harper steps in front of Bray and takes the Spear! Bray throws his whole body at Roman and hits Sister Abigail to win the war at Elimination Chamber. Amazing. Just amazing! Should've happened at WrestleMania. But we got it at the very least and I'm glad we did because this is a classic!

My Rating: ****3/4

Match 5: Divas Championship Match - Cameron def. AJ Lee (c) via DQ (3:57)

Dumb. Just fucking dumb. This match was terrible. To no fault of AJ Lee either which sucks. Okay, so first of all, why was there a need for a DQ finish? What were they protecting Cameron for? Were they gonna launch the big Cameron push or something? Not much to talk about other than the absolutely stupid finish. Cameron has hold of AJ on the outside by her hair and I'm guessing she was supposed to dodge this but it just looks like she was holding AJ still for this. Tamina superkicks AJ and commentary try to play it off like she was trying to hit Cameron. I don't care what your words say, my eyes are telling me a different story. So then, Cameron throws AJ back inside and covers her. Tamina shoves Cameron off the pin. Cameron goes outside, gets hit by Tamina and Cameron wins by DQ. Awful. Even for a 4 minute match, its awful. Everyone here came out looking like an idiot.

My Rating: DUD

Match 6: Batista def. Alberto Del Rio (7:11)

I can't really remember a whole lot from this match. The only thing I took away from this is that this crowd was not having it with Batista. Do you know how bad it has to be for Del Rio to get cheered over you? I might be being generous when I say that because clearly this crowd gave no shits about this match. Del Rio comes out, wearing a neckbrace and hobbling to the ring on a crutch, pretends like he can't compete. But surprise, surprise, he was lying and attacks Batista with the crutch. Del Rio works over the arm… ah who am I kidding, you don't care about this. During this match, they chant for everyone they can think of that isn't anyone in this match. They went from chanting “Daniel Bryan!” To “CM Punk!” to “Y2J!” To “RVD!” Anyway, Batista wins with a Batista Bomb to the boos of this audience.

My Rating: *

Main Event: WWE World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber Match - Randy Orton (c) def. Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Cesaro, Sheamus & Christian (37:33)

An overlooked Chamber Match in my opinion. I thought this was a really great match. I can definitely see a lot of people being pissed over this, but I think its aged pretty well. The match starts with Cesaro and Sheamus, future teammates. They get us off to a fine start, but its when Daniel Bryan comes in, being the first let out of a pod that the match quality picks up. He comes into this match with a bad, heavily taped up shoulder, but he is all gas no brakes immediately. Cesaro finally slows down Bryan by catching him in mid-air and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. They all head outside and Bryan whipped into the pod he came out of, takes it with his bad shoulder which won't do him any favors. Christian is the next man to be let out of a pod. He attacks Bryan and goes after his hurt shoulder. There's a really cool spot where Christian gets thrown up by Cesaro outside. Christian grabs onto the chain wall and leaps off, going for a hurricanrana, but Cesaro catches him, holds him up in powerbomb position and throws Christian into an empty pod. Cesaro and Sheamus continue to go at it until the countdown for a new challenger comes up. Cena comes out next. He catches Christian out of a crossbody and AAs him onto Cesaro in the ring. Cena then heads up but is dropkicked by Bryan, who hits a head scissors off the top. Bryan gives Cena kicks to the chest but is stopped by Christian who drops Bryan with a Killswitch. Christian covers Bryan but gets a 2. If Bryan had been eliminated there, there would've been a riot. Cesaro hooks Christian's legs, teases a swing, but Cena hits a running crossbody to Cesaro, causing him to catapult Christian into the top buckle. That was a sweet spot. Cena drops Christian with a side slam, Sheamus hits a Celtic Cross on Cena. Cesaro and Sheamus throw hands with each other which is always fun to watch. Cena picks up Christian from the outside and slams him into the Chamber wall. Cena comes in, hits a shoulder tackle on Cesaro. Goes for another and gets thrown into the air and hit with an uppercut! Cena, Cesaro and Bryan all get into a 3-man strike exchange. The match desolves into a brawl between everyone. Bryan just starts throwing feet at anyone. Sheamus actually holds Cesaro back in the corner for Bryan to kick him, Sheamus throws Bryan into the wall and then, Cesaro suplexes Sheamus for the outside to the inside of the ring. This is a lot of fun. Orton finally gets out of his pod as everyone is down and he takes the time to gloat and pose. Which, surprise, ends up being a mistake. He tries to punt Bryan, but Bryan moved out of the way. Orton finds himself back in a corner with Cena, Bryan and Sheamus staring a hole through him. Orton decides the best course of action… is to get back in his pod. Orton shuts himself in the pod and taunts Sheamus from the inside. Bryan and Cena are pulled away by Cesaro and Christian. So Sheamus decides that the best course of action… is to Brogue Kick the pod open! Orton slumps down in his pod and Sheamus pulls his carcass out. All 6 men are now in the match. Sheamus tosses Orton into the ring where Cena awaits. But then Cesaro tosses Cena out of the ring and proceeds to swing Orton for over a minute! Bryan takes advantage of a dizzy Cesaro and hits a chaos theory. Sheamus goes to Brogue Kick Christian, who dodges and causes Cena to get Brogued instead. Christian goes up on top of a pod to get away from Sheamus. Sheamus goes up to get him, but is stopped by Orton, who hits a suplex from the ropes. And Christian hits a frog splash from the top of the pod to take Sheamus out of the match. Christian is eliminated less than a minute later though by Bryan. Bryan and Cena fight each other. Bryan tries to wrestle Cena down into a Yes Lock, but Cena escapes and picks Bryan up for an AA. Cesaro comes back inside and german on Cena as he has Bryan up. Cena picks Cesaro up for an AA and drops him onto the grate outside. Cena drags Cesaro back inside and locks in the STF, forcing Cesaro to tap out. Orton tries to RKO Cena, but gets shoved off and is tripped into an STF. Then the lights go out, and when they come back on, the Wyatt Family is in the ring and they gang up on Cena. Orton takes advantage and pins Cena to eliminate him. Kane comes down to make the Wyatts leave, and they comply with big smiles on their faces. Then Kane gets in the Chamber to check on Cena, who is probably totally fine. Bryan leaps off the top to knee Kane in the face. Orton grabs Bryan by the hair and throws him through a pod. Bryan hangs Orton in a tree of woe and kicks him repeatedly, but Orton hits a draping DDT and then tries an RKO, but Bryan shoves him off and hits a running knee and is about to win, but Kane pulls the referee out of the ring. Bryan kicks Kane in the head, but turns around to get an RKO. Orton hooks the legs. 1, 2, Bryan kicks at 2! Orton starts to flip out and nearly gets pinned with a small package. Whatever hope had though is snuffed out a second later when Kane gives Bryan a right hand and Bryan turns back into an RKO. Orton eliminates Bryan and retains the title. And you can feel all the life drain from this crowd. They're so disappointed that they aren't even booing. They show us several shots of people in the audience just looking sad. Their eyes are what says it all really. Now this is either good booking or bad booking depending on one thing. When they decided Bryan would win the title at WrestleMania. If they decided on it before this event, this is good. Doing it at WrestleMania instead of Elimination Chamber is the right move. If they hadn't yet… Then this is just terrible. Ain't none of wanted to see Batista vs Orton. Either way though, this match was awesome.

My Rating: ****1/2

Cagematch Rating: 6.80

My Rating: 6.5/10

So much of this rating depends on the two awesome matches on it. Because pretty much everything else stunk. After watching the 6-Man Tag and then that being followed by 2 terrible matches, I had to take a break. Its just such a drastic drop in quality. I think this show is pretty much in the right ball park.

 

[Jarf]

Survivor Series 2024

Match 1: WarGames Match - Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair, Naomi & Bayley def. Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton & Candice LeRae (38:11)

I went into this with an open mind. I know that Cagematch has become a place where toxic people go to complain. So I tried to go into this openly despite the harsh rating the match received. But this match sucked. Nothing of importance actually happens until the last person enters the cage because the thing I remember the most before all that is a botched sunset flip off the cage. The match starts with Bayley & Nia Jax, which was probably their first mistake because that means Nia Jax is in the match the entire time. My other gripe is that they seemed confused and uncoordinated at times. Until Rhea and Liv get in the cage, they don't really do anything compelling. Just trying to buy time. And this is something that everybody did before getting in the cage and it drove me up a wall. They all grabbed a weapon from under the ring. I'm sorry but I thought the inherent danger of WarGames is that it was just a big fight inside a cage. You might as well put the weapons in the cage before the match from now on. And the worst part is, after everyone loads the ring with a new weapon, they sometimes don't even try to use it right away! Rhea Ripley is the last one from her to get in the cage and when she does, she pretty much Undertaker at Survivor Series ‘05s the opposing team. Liv Morgan before heading to the ring grabs a baseball bat. She gets in and the bell rings. Nia, Tiffy & Candice jump Rhea from behind, holding her in place so Liv can go to town on her with the bat. Liv pulls out a pair of cuffs that she probably usually reserves for Dom. But she doesn't get to use them and the match descends in everyone taking turns hitting a move on whoever the last person was to hit a move. Two big crowds start to form in each ring. Why you ask? Because Tiffany and Iyo pull a double dive into them. Tiffy hits a senton and Iyo hits a moonsault with a trash can over her head. So after that, we get a sweet tease where Tiffy brings the MITB briefcase out of a trash can. She's got the champs, Nia and Liv laid out in front of her. She takes too long making her decision though and is confronted by Raquel. But then Iyo blasts them in the face with a fire extinguisher and while Raquel is blind, Rhea cuffs her to the top rope. Two tables are set up in different rings. Nia whips Bianca with her own hair and places her on one of them, but Bianca gets off and Naomi comes to her aid. They powerbomb Nia through the table together and Naomi covers her, but Liv stops the count with the bat she had earlier. She hits Iyo too. She tries to hit Bianca, but she catches it and tosses it aside before grabbing a chair and chases her to the other ring, where Raquel is cuffed. Raquel can't go far but she can at least move to boot the chair in Bianca's face. Bayley beats on Raquel, but Liv slides a chair to Raquel, who hands it to Bayley and Liv drops her with ObLIVion on the chair. Liv covers her but the pin is broken by Rhea. The two head up to the top rope in front of the other table. Match ends after a Riptide through the table, Rhea pins Morgan to win it for her team. Great final stretch but there was also 28 minutes that I could've gone without seeing.

My Rating: **1/4

Match 2: United States Championship Match - Shinsuke Nakamura def. LA Knight (c) (9:43)

Oof, another sucky match. Yeah, these guys didn't click even a little bit. Shinsuke Nakamura has had to have had one of the worst runs in WWE. They'll push him for one month every year and then get bored with him. And it makes little sense for him to go over Knight here, given he was (somehow) still over as hell. I can't say much about the match because the early part of it is not special at all. Like I said, these 2 don't click in the slightest. I was surprised how LA Knight casually bust out a burning hammer in the middle of the match and it got no reaction. Shinsuke crotches LA on the top rope and this was nuts, from the floor, Shinsuke kicks Knight in the back of his head. I like nobody even reacts to how Nakamura got his foot so high. Nakamura climbs up behind him and hits an exploder off the top rope where Knight almost spikes himself on, good god, if he was a centimeter off. Shinsuke goes for a Kinshasa but Knight dodges it and goes for a BFT, but Shinsuke retreats to the apron where the two rings meet. Nakamura hits a reverse DDT on the steel connecting the rings and hits a Kinshasa back in the ring to win the title and do absolutely fuck all with it for 3 months.

My Rating: **1/4

Match 3: Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Match - Bron Breakker (c) def. Sheamus & Ludwig Kaiser (14:24)

Our first good match of the night thank fuck and man is it good. I didn't have too many expectations for this so I was surprised how much I liked it. When the bell rings, Sheamus and Bron eye up Kaiser, who decides to just step out. Bron throws Sheamus over his head and now Kaiser gets in with a steel chair. Bron ducks under it, hits the ropes at break neck speed and hits a clothesline. Kaiser for a brief moment has both men down and brings a chair in to wedge it between the top turnbuckles. But he turns around to Sheamus and Bron, who take turns treating him like a punching bag. But Ludwig finds himself the only one standing again and hits a running dropkick to Sheamus into the steel steps and then throws Sheamus ribs first into the table. Then from offscreen, Bron throws his entire body into Ludwig! After throwing Ludwig on his ass, he turns back to Sheamus. The crowd starts chanting “lets go Sheamus!” I gotta say, chasing the Intercontinental Title has made Sheamus more over than he's ever been. Which good for him. Man deserves his flowers. Sheamus and Kaiser throw fists up against the announce table so Bron leaps from the apron and crossbodies both of them over the table. Bron throws Sheamus over the barricade, but is shoved into the steps by Kaiser, who backs up against said barricade. And in a very meme potential moment, Sheamus stands up behind him, grabs him by the chin and beats his chest. He ducks a clothesline by Bron and does the same thing to him. Sheamus throws Kaiser back in the ring. Kaiser rolls out, grabs Sheamus’ shillelagh and swings, but Sheamus takes it from him and clotheslines him over the barricade. Sheamus gets back in the ring. Him and Bron start throwing hands. Sheamus hits a Razor's Edge for a 2 count. Bron hits the franksteiner off the top rope. Bron goes to Spear him, but Sheamus sidesteps him and Bron runs head first into the chair wedged up in the corner. Sheamus drops Bron with a Brogue Kick and he's about to win the Intercontinental Title. 1, 2, Kaiser pulls the referee out of the ring. Sheamus rolls outside and gets an absolutely merciless beating with the shillelagh by Kaiser. And he doesn't hold anything back on these shots. I wouldn't be surprised if Sheamus told him to hit him as hard as he could. Sheamus knees Kaiser in the face to make him drop the weapon. Sheamus goes for a Brogue Kick, but stops short because of his injured ribs. Kaiser hits a rolling senton. Sheamus counters a DDT into a fireman's carry. Kaiser gives him a good shot to his ribs and hits a DDT. Kaiser stands and turns around a Spear from Bron that almost cuts him in half! Bron gives another Spear to Sheamus to retain the Intercontinental Title which once again, has alluded the celtic warrior. If Sheamus retires without winning the IC Title, I'm gonna be very disappointed. The chase continues. Great match though.

My Rating: ****

Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship Match - Gunther (c) def. Damian Priest via referee’s decision (19:18)

A good match, but like a lot of sequels, it doesn't live up to their first at SummerSlam. They don't do anything interesting in the beginning. The first few minutes of this match are very skippable. The first notable thing they do all match happens after Priest hits a flapjack on Gunther and then immediately clutches his shoulder like he hurt it. Gunther sees Priest treating his shoulder and goes right after. He paints a bullseye on Damian’s shoulder. It takes us a while to finally get a chop in the match but Gunther really drops Priest from it before going back to the shoulder. Priest starts to fight back with the good arm and hits an enziguri at the same time that Gunther hits a chop. Gunther wrings Damian's arm and chops him, and Priest starts getting pissed. He chops the hell out of Gunther multiple times and drops him with an elbow. Priest hits a superkick and picks Gunther up for a Razor's Edge, but his shoulder gives out and Gunther tries to lock in the sleeper, and transitions into a powerbomb. Damian kicks out after that. Gunther goes to the top rope, but Priest follows him and hits a head scissors off it. He picks Gunther up again and this time hits Razor's Edge. Gunther kicks out. Priest drops the straps and tries the Chokeslam, but his shoulder doesn't let him. Gunther chops him hard. Priest goosles him again, and again the shoulder doesn't let him get Gunther up. Gunther brings Priest down into a Kimura Lock, but Damian drags them both over to the bottom rope to force the break. Damian hits a couple hard clotheslines to Gunther and then goes to the top rope. Gunther goes up with him and tries a superplex, but Priest shoves him back to the mat. And Damian ends up falling to the outside. The next thing gives it away this was done on purpose, but the audience starts chanting “you fucked up.” So Damian just looks like a clumsy, clumsy man. Finn Balor though, comes from the crowd, and hits a double stomp from off the steel steps. Gunther rolls out, boots Finn in the face and throws Priest back inside, hits a powerbomb and then pulls Damian's shoulder back with one arm, while just smothering him with the other. And the referee calls it. Honestly… weak finish. Good match, but weak pacing and weak finish.

My Rating: ***1/2

Main Event: WarGames Match - The OG Bloodline & CM Punk def. The New Bloodline & Bronson Reed (41:55)

Now its time for the main event, which is a fun watch honestly. I thought the character work in this match was pretty good. And Tanga Loa was also in the match. I've seen better WarGames Matches, but this is a nice watch. Jey Uso & Tama Tonga start the match. Not a whole lot to say about the 5 minutes between them. The first man to get let out is Bronson Reed. Bronson throws a bunch of chairs in the ring before getting in. So Jey just chucks them at his face. Reed was ready for the 3rd chair though and just swats it away. And this is so funny. Jey's reaction to that is “shit.” There's no mistaking what he says, its so clear. Not much to talk about other than that here. First man to come help Jey is his brother Jimmy, who is somehow, the first person tonight to not grab any weapons before getting in the ring. I remember seeing people being surprised about Jimmy whipping out a whisper in the wind, but my old ass remember he's always been able to do that. The Usos actually have WarGames on lock, they have Tama & Bronson down when the countdown starts. In these 3 minutes, I heard someone in the crowd yell “Tanga Loa sucks!” and another guy yell “I second that!” and thats hilarious, because when Tanga is about to leave the shark cage, Solo must've agreed because he grabs him by the shoulder and tells Jacob its his turn. Fatu gets in the cage and The Usos try to double team him, but Fatu immediately just wrecks em both. Jey hits him with a samoan drop and Fatu stands right back up. Fatu hits a backspring moonsault with his feet hitting Jimmy on the apron and moonsaults Jey. Both Usos are down when another countdown starts. CM Punk is about to go in, but Roman blocks him with one arm and motions for Sami to go. I love the subtly in this one moment here. Punk stares a hole through Roman. Roman's not even looking back and Sami looks at both of them like “we don't need this.” Its like he didn't wanna leave the two of them alone with each other. Sami heads to the ring regardless, takes down Tama & Bronson. Sami goes for a crossbody on Fatu, who catches him, but Fatu then eats a superkick from Jimmy and drops Sami. Sami and Jimmy do their old handshake and hug it out which gets the biggest pop of the match. But the 3 minute period ends with Sami & The Usos on their backs as the 3 savages stand. Unfortunately Tanga Loa is next and he walks down to boos. He grabs a couple tables and slides them in the ring and doesn't use them. (Urgh). When its time for someone else to enter the match, Roman is ready to go. He's about to step out. But Punk shoulder nudges past him and heads down himself. Tama, Bronson & Fatu are all standing there waiting when Punk gets down there. Punk grabs a toolbox from under the ring and he hits all 3 of them in the head with it. Then he hits T'Loa and beats him like he owes him money with this toolbox. Punk hits a knee in the corner to Fatu and then the bulldog onto the toolbox. Only for Fatu to get back up flail about like a madman. Punk turns back around to get samoan dropped by Fatu. Once again, everyone on Roman's team has been dropped by Solo's team. And to make matters worse, its time for Solo to enter. Solo heads to the entrance, his teammates hold Sami, Jey & then Jimmy's head in place so Solo can slam the cage door into their heads. Solo and his bloodline have 3 minutes until Roman gets in. Which means 3 minutes that they get to beat down the OG Bloodline. Solo gives out orders to everyone. They stack the Usos up so Fatu can hit a moonsault and Bronson squashes Sami with a Tsunami. They all surround Punk next, circling him like wolves. Punk hits Solo and the other four gang up on him. Solo grabs a chain and a lock and uses it to lock the cage door, much to the shock and dismay of Roman. And I would actually like this, if not for the fact that Roman has to get in before the match can actually be over. And you could argue, they could beat down his team and then let him in. But they don't do that at all so I'm not sure what exactly their plan was. Of course Roman gets in by climbing over the cage. “Wow that must be super hard to get in with Solo's entire team watching him.” “Actually it'll be super easy, barely an inconvenience.” Anyway, Roman's in the cage, he takes out Solo's entire team with a crossbody off the top rope. Roman helps his whole team up to the feet. Well, everyone except for Punk. Punk and Roman stare a hole in each other until Paul Heyman waddles down and yells at them from the outside. I barely hear what he says but I did hear this. “THIS IS WARGAMES!” And then the bell rings and Alicia Taylor says. “Let the WarGames begin!” Ah thats so cool! I don't care, that moment was hype as fuck. Both teams get in a big brawl. Sami hits Bronson with a tornado DDT, Usos hit dueling splashes on the GoD. Punk picks Fatu up for a GTS but at the same time, Roman ducks a Spike by Solo. Roman runs off the ropes to Spear Solo, who sidesteps, causing Roman to Spear Punk. As Roman stares at Punk, Solo grabs him by the hair and drops him with a Samoan Spike. Solo hooks the leg, but Roman kicks at 2. Fatu slips as he tries to moonsault Punk, and apparently fucks his knee up. Solo and Bronson set up a table in ring number 2. Roman low blows Fatu and gets up to Spear Solo, but then gets dropped with a superkick by Reed. Reed lays Roman on the table and then climbs to the top of the cage. Bronson leaps as Punk pulls Roman off the table. Bronson crashes through the table which had to suck to take. 400 pound man leaping 10 feet and taking 2 landings on your torso? I know that shit hurt. Roman stands back up and now he helps Punk back up. Fatu jumps Roman from behind and goes to DDT, Punk. Roman superman punches Fatu, but gets not one but 2 Samoan Spikes by Solo. Solo covers Roman and gets superkicked in the back of his head by Jey. Fatu goes full attack mode on one knee and eats a superkick from each Uso, but is still on his feet. But he takes another superkick and then The Usos drop him with a 1D! They lay Jacob onto a table. Jey takes T'Loa out with a Spear, Tama throws Jey into the cage, Sami hits him with a Blue Thunder Bomb. Jimmy climbs to the top of the cage and unlike Bronson, he hits what he was going for. A splash to Jacob through the table. All 3 Usos go help Punk and Roman back up and Jey tells Roman, “lets finish this shit.” Solo stands back up to find himself the only one from his team on his feet as Roman's surrounds him. And this ending makes Solo look cool because you can see he knows his goose is cooked and he goes “I'm still the damn Tribal Chief.” He goes to attack, but he's hit with superkicks from The Usos. A Helluva Kick by Sami. A GTS from Punk and finally a Spear from Roman. OG Bloodline take it in a great match! Roman and Punk shake hands after the match.

My Rating: ****1/4

Cagematch Rating: 6.81

My Rating: 7.5/10

This got off to a very rough start. Those first two matches were exhausting all on their own and the fact the the first match is so long is worse. But everything after that was good stuff. IC Title Match got us back on track and the main event, even though my expectations were a bit higher, was fantastic.

 

[Jarf]

Night of Champions 2025

Match 1: King of the Ring Tournament Final Match - Cody Rhodes def. Randy Orton (19:48)

I think this night got off to a good start. I’d say it matched my expectations. I was expecting a good match but not a 5 star classic. However, the direction they went in this match surprised me. I thought it would've been Orton to work more like a heel, but it wound up being Cody. And it started with a suplex off the top rope by Randy, but it ends up doing more damage to himself. And Cody doesn't even hesitate to go after it. Randy's selling in this match is very good. Cody goes right after Orton's back, working a surprisingly heel style. Even after moves that Orton hits on Cody, he clutches his back. Cody hits one Cody Cutter and after Orton kicks on that, Cody hits an Avalanche Cody Cutter for another 2 count. Orton hits a draping DDT and goes for an RKO, but Cody counters it to hit a Cross Rhodes, which gets him a 2 count. Cody gets back to his feet and gets dropped with a surprise RKO by Orton. Cody kicks at 2. Orton steps back into a corner. He obviously is setting up for the Punt, but he hesitates. He stops himself from doing it, but then decides, screw it. Orton goes to punt Cody, but Cody moves out of his way and sweeps his legs, before locking in the Figure 4. Orton is in the hold for a solid minute, but manages to roll them both over to the ropes. Both men start exchanging blows. Cody runs off the ropes, springboards back into another RKO from Orton. 1, 2, kickout again from Cody. Orton decides to get a little dirty now and goes outside to grab a steel chair. The referee takes it out of his hands and starts yelling at him. He says “you know better than that” like he's Randy's mom. Randy surrenders the chair without much of a fight and then as the referee is getting rid of the chair, Orton takes the pad off one of the turnbuckles. He goes to ram Cody's face into it and when that doesn't work, he tries another RKO, but Cody pushes him off, Orton hits the exposed buckle ribs first and then gets hit with another Cross Rhodes. Cody is the King of the Ring. Woopty doo. I was expecting a handshake after the match. But Orton leaves. And he looks pissed as Cody is giving his speech. Someone is turning heel at SummerSlam. I've got a feeling something big is going down in the SummerSlam main event.

My Rating: ****

Match 2: Street Fight - Rhea Ripley def. Raquel Rodriguez (14:04)

So I guess the whole “all titles defended on one night” gimmick is dead huh. Whatever. Fun match. This followed the opener nicely. Its not really put into perspective how big Raquel is until she's standing next to Rhea. Raquel pushes her around pretty easily and ties Rhea's arms up in the ropes. Raquel grabs a kendo stick and a chair from under the ring. She beats Rhea with thr stick but then she tries to use the chair and Rhea kicks it back into her face. Rhea heads outside and places the top of the announce table across the barricade. It backfires because she tries a head scissors off the table, just for Raquel to catch her and powerbomb her through the table covering. Raquel grabs the top half of the steps and sits them on the apron. Rhea slams her face off them and takes off her belt and she relentlessly whips Raquel with it, and backs her into a corner. Rhea uses the ropes to help her get Raquel up for a Razor's Edge. Rhea locks Raquel in the prism trap. But Roxanne Perez saves her. Rhea takes Rox out on the outside by kicking a trash can into her face. Raquel heads outside and picks Rhea up and lawn darting her into the post. Raquel throws Rhea back in the ring, and then head first into the steel steps on the apron. Raquel sets the table up on the top turnbuckle. But it helps Rhea take the win in the end as she hits a Riptide off the top rope. Rhea wins, as predicted.

My Rating: ***3/4

Match 3: Sami Zayn def. Karrion Kross (13:32)

Okay… lets get this out of the way. I'm glad that Karrion Kross is kinda getting a push, but I can't understand why this guy is so over. I've never thought this guy was interesting. And this match really doesn't help in changing my mind. This was such a snore. I watched the way Kross moved in this match and he is piss poor. Its a typical TV match. Some moves, other moves. Kross would beat down Sami. Sami makes a comeback. The one bit of this match that I did enjoy was Kross beating up Sami. He laughs and pokes him in the forehead. So Sami gets pissed and starts to punch up at Kross. But other than that, this is a very boring match. Not offensively bad, just boring. Sami goes for a Helluva Kick in the corner, but Kross comes out and sidesteps into a sleeper, which is how I was feeling during this match. Sami is in the hold for a while, but eventually reaches the bottom rope. Kross starts talking shit to Sami in the corner and twice hits the opposite corner to hit a clothesline in the corner. And this speed is like the opposite of Bron Breakker. This is slug speed. Thankfully, Sami gets him on the third time with a Helluva Kick to end the match.

My Rating: **1/4

Match 4: United States Championship Match - Solo Sikoa def. Jacob Fatu (c) (12:08)

An overlooked match honestly. Not a great one, but I kinda liked it. Before the bell can even ring, Solo knocks Jacob on his ass and beats him down, but he takes time to taunt the crowd which gives Fatu time to get up and now he starts to beat down Solo. He hits a clothesline from the steps and the referee is telling him to get back in and he goes “shut yo ass up.” Jacob goes for a suicide dive, but gets stopped in his tracks by Solo who hits him with a uranage on the apron and then another on the floor. My only gripe about this match was how much heat Solo got on Fatu. You can't just build this guy like an unstoppable beast and have him be worn out with a chinlock. I don't know, maybe thats more of a me thing but it just doesn't make a lot of sense. Solo hits a german that flips Jacob and nearly makes him land on his head. Solo was feeling good about that until he ended up getting germaned by Jacob who got up immediately. Fatu hits a superkick, an impaler DDT and a senton off the top rope. After Solo kicks at 2, Fatu heads up again, but JC Mateo heads down to distract the referee So a returning Tanga Loa can hit Fatu with a spinning neckbreaker. Solo gets an arm over his chest, but Fatu kicks out. Solo goes for the Samoan Spike, but Jacob ducks it and drops Solo with a superkick. Fatu dives onto JC & T'Loa on the outside. Fatu gets back in the ring, hits a Samoan drop on Solo. JC comes in to eat a superkick before Fatu hits a Moonsault to Solo and covers him. But the referee must have been trying to get JC out of the ring, because the brief distraction allows Hikuleo pull Jacob out of the ring and chokeslam him on the announcer's table. He tosses Fatu back in the ring. Solo hits a Samoan Spike to win the US Title.

My Rating: ***1/4

Match 5: Queen of the Ring Tournament Final Match - Jade Cargill def. Asuka (8:34)

I don't hate this as much as others, its just an average match. But I think thats mainly because Asuka is just talented. I was unimpressed with Jade in this match. I think Asuka really carries it. Asuka is smaller and weaker than Cargill, but Asuka uses her speed and technical prowess against her. She hits a dragon screw on the middle rope and goes after Jade's knee. Jade goosles Asuka and goes for a chokeslam, but Asuka counters it in the air to lock in a kneebar. Jade escapes by standing up, and lifting Asuka off the mat by her waist and hits a german suplex. Jade starts hitting every powerhouse move, fallaway slam, chokeslam. But a kick from Asuka gives her some breathing room. The two start exchanging blows, with Asuka getting the upper hand there. Asuka tries to get Jade in the Asuka Lock, but Jade counters it, goes for the Glam Slam, but Asuka counters it into a victory roll pin but gets a 2 count. Asuka goes for a kick to her head, but Cargill catches her and picks her up to drop her with a powerbomb. Jade goes to pick her up, but Asuka, gets her on her back from the mat to lock in an Armbar. Jade turns it into a pin to escape, hits a bicycle kick and then picks Asuka back up for a Glam Slam, but Asuka switches behind her and brings her down in an Asuka Lock. Jade counters it into a pin again, again forcing Asuka to let go of the hold. Asuka gives her a kick to the head and goes for the running hip attack, but Jade catches her and finally hits the Glam Slam and (sort of) pins her to win Queen of the Ring. So its her vs Tiffany Stratton at SummerSlam, a match that was drained of its intrigue once Naomi cashed in the briefcase.

My Rating: **1/2

Main Event: Undisputed WWE Championship Match - John Cena (c) def. CM Punk (26:17)

Holy overbooking Batman. First of all, this should've been the Money in the Bank match. The historical significance would've been there. Punk was even wearing the same gear he was for their match at MITB, like come on. Secondly, doing it on a random Saudi show also irks me. Now that I've got that out of the way, I'll talk about the match itself. Its alright, but I don't see what people liked about this finisher spammer match. I guess my first clue that this match was going to have everybody on the roster do a run-in was when Punk hit all his shit in the first 10 minutes. He hits everything but the GTS of course. He goes for it, but Cena counters it into an STF, which Punk counters into an Anaconda Vice. Cena escapes it by rolling Punk on his shoulders. Both men get up and Cena drops Punk with the first AA of the match. Punk kicks out after that. He drops Cena with a DDT and rolls Cena over to lock in an STF. Cena reaches the ropes to escape. Cena counters a neckbreaker into another AA that Punk kicks out. Cena catches Punk out of a crossbody and lifts him up for a third AA that Punk again kicks out of. Cena heads outside to grab the title and it looks like he might hit Punk with it, but he hesitates. He looks as if he's having second thoughts and throws the title back outside. But Punk has now recovered and hits a GTS on Cena that Cena kicks out of. The two get into a strike exchange and Cena accidentally takes out the referee with a shoulder tackle. Punk hits Cena with another GTS and has the title won. Punk realizes the referee has been taken out and calls for another one to come down. But Seth Rollins’ music hits and he comes down in casual attire, and thats how I knew this man wasn't cashing in a damn thing. He heads down with Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed & Paul Heyman. Seth sends his boys to beat on Punk. Punk takes the worst table bump of all time. Seth calls for another referee now as he holds the briefcase. Charles Robinson runs down to the ring, a moment that gave me flashbacks from 2008. He gets to the ring and Cena pounces the hell out of Charles. Cena gets in the ring, starts arguing with Seth and gives him an AA. Then Bron and Bronson get back in and start beating up Cena. They place Cena in position for the Tsunami, but then Penta's music, which obviously means they have to stop what they're doing. Its only polite. Bron runs up to meet Penta and then Sami Zayn runs down a moment later and he starts brawling with Bron. They brawl below the stage and Penta takes them both out with a dive. Bronson, who apparently had been watching the whole time like a dumbass, only now climbs the buckle. Punk has finally recovered and pushes him off. Cena moved out of the way and drops Bronson with an AA. Cena and Punk are given a standing ovation. They look the other down and then hug it out… psych. Cena gives the camera the “I know what kind of man you are” look as he's hugging Punk. Cena goes to kick Punk in the balls, but Punk saw it coming and picks Cena up for the GTS, but Seth makes it back up, clocks Punk in the head with the briefcase and Curb Stomps him. Cena tosses Seth to the outside and covers Punk at the same time the first referee conveniently wakes up and beats Punk. Cena retains in an… well, interesting match. And I don't mean that in a good way.

My Rating: ***

Cagematch Rating: 5.50

My Rating: 5.5/10

Probably an unpopular opinion, but a slightly better show than Money in the Bank. However, if I were a promotor, I don't know if I would feel much confidence about selling this card. This went about as well as I expected it would. As expected, the KOTR finals and the Street are what stole the show. The rest of the show… meh.

 

[Jarf]

Hey guys, I've been thinking lately about the way I handle newer shows. I think I'm far enough in this thread that I shouldn't need to wait a month anymore to see if the rating improves. Especially given how piss poor every event now does on Cagematch. At most I'll probably be giving them a week to improve from now on.