Ross' Raw Review 08/06/15

Ross' Raw Review 09/06/15 or 06/09/15



I'm gonna be honest and say that this is the first full Raw I've watched in a long time. I think the last time was in October last year. The three hour Raws were just becoming so tiring and since then I've only been watching the highlights on YouTube, but now that I'm reviewing again I'm gonna have to start watching the whole thing again.

I'm not expecting much from the show although it is the go-home show for Money in the Bank so we might get some desperate selling. I'm also hoping to see our Lord and Saviour, Kevin Owens taking someone out, whilst we wait for our other Lord and Saviour, Brock Lesnar to return.


Better get started.



And we're starting off with John Cena. Well it's better than the Authority anyway. Byron Saxton is replacing Booker T tonight. Oh joy. Trading shucky ducky quack quack for a boring bastard. Great.

The hard selling begins quickly with Cena promoting the MITB ladder match on Sunday as well as his rematch with Owens. We get the usual Cena schtick as he says he also fights for those who chant 'Cena sucks' which starts a half-assed chant from the crowd. Thankfully that brings out Owens. Why is Owens even in a rematch? He proved himself against Cena.


Owens says what we're all thinking and says that we're all tired of Cena coming out at the start of Raw. And he also wants to issue an NXT Open Challenge right now instead of a US one. Hell yeah! Cena agrees and tries to accept the challenge. Owens calls him delusional and Cena cuts a promo. Cena starts his US Open Challenge. Owens isn't interested and wants the next wrestler to come down to choose which Title he wants to fight for.

That brings out Neville. Neville's had awesome matches with both of these guys so I'm fine with either. Neville chooses Owens and it looks like the match is happening right now! The promos didn't really go anywhere but this match should be good.



Kevin Owens vs Neville
The NXT Title is on the line. This'll be Owens first official Raw match then. I'm pretty sure Owens was the one that put Neville out of commission in NXT so I don't know why they didn't use that as a small backstory that could have made it a bit more interesting. This was a great match with Owens getting to show his dominance while Neville got to show off his high flying skills. There was some great drama towards the end as it looked like Neville would hit the Red Arrow, but Owens got the better of him and retained the gold. ***1/2


Owens invites Cena into the ring and then leaves the ring holding the NXT belt up high. Great way to kick off the show.


We get a recap of the Ambrose/Rollins match at Elimination Chamber. I know I've not reviewed that show so here's the quick ratings.


Tag Team Chamber: ***1/2
Divas Title Match: *1/2
Cena vs Owens: ****3/4
Bo Dallas vs Neville: **
Intercontinental Chamber: *1/2 (Worst Chamber match ever, so congrats to the ECW Chamber finally being beaten)
Rollins vs Ambrose: ****


Rollins is backstage embarrassed by the fact that Ambrose is parading around with his WWE Title belt. Rollins is looking for help from HHH and Stephanie and they aren't interested in giving it due to what Rollins said last week about not needing anyone's help. Rollins is allowed to pick his own opponent tonight.


We get a recap of last week's Divas Title match with the stupid twin magic move even though Brie barely looks the same as Nikki anymore. Good god just bring in the NXT women already.

We're getting Nikki vs Summer Rae tonight. You can just hear my excitement can't you?


Summer Rae vs Nikki Bella
Nikki starts doing press ups in the ring for no reason. I've seen a lot of people praising the Bellas for improving but I don't see much improvement, and while the NXT girls exist, they are always going to look like low level workers in comparison. The match here was about a minute long and not much happened until the finish with Nikki hitting the rack attack. 1/4*


We get a recap of all three of Reigns' matches last week where Bray Wyatt took a completely unnecessary loss.


Roman Reigns is here but not for action, just to talk. Reigns once hated that briefcase but now it doesn't seem so bad and he wants to cash in against Ambrose once he beats Rollins. Yeah Reigns is totally winning this thing. This brings out Kane to explain his place in the MITB match. Why the hell is Kane in there? Wasn't there anyone more entertaining available? Speaking of entertaining, here's Dolph Ziggler. He's here to insult Kane with tool jokes.

After Kane talks back to Ziggler (more tool references) out comes R-Truth even though he's not in the match. Weird comedic moment there. And here comes the New Day. I love these guys. The power of positivity will lead Kingston to the top of the ladder to retrieve the briefcase. Before Kane can comment, out comes Sheamus. He's one Brogue Kick away from winning the briefcase.

Finally we have Randy Orton. And we cut to an ad break. Freaking weird segment. I'm not sure that it accomplished anything except to tell us who's in the MITB match on Sunday.


Randy Orton vs Sheamus
This is a rematch from last week where we got a shitty DQ finish. And in this rematch we yet again get almost the exact same finish except it's Orton hitting Sheamus with the chair. Up until that finish though the match was going good with some nice finisher countering towards the end. **1/4


We get more Instagram pictures from Ambrose going around the town with the belt.


J&J Security want to go back to Rollins but Rollins ain't having it. Jamie goes on a tirade about Seth and even calls the team Shield 2.0. Rollins picks J&J for his opponents tonight.


Kane vs Dolph Ziggler
Neither guy got entrances here. For goodness sake just let Kane have his mask and gear back. He looks ridiculous with work trousers on and I just cannot get used to it. The crowd's more interested in Lana than the match. Ziggler is distracted by Lana falling off the stage thanks to Rusev and takes a chokeslam from Kane to take the loss. Boring match. *1/2


God three hours is just way too long for this show. I'm bored already and next up we have Miz TV. Oh no.


Here's Miz TV with Ryback and Big Show. It has the potential to be a fun power match at MITB. Ryback says if he fought Miz last week he would have taken years off his career. Shoot comments that aren't supposed to be shoot comments everyone! I'm sure CM Punk would've laughed at that. Ryback's actually not too bad on the mic. I'm kinda looking forward to this match now. Miz is an idiot and tries to attack Show which earns him a beating, and Ryback hits an impressive Shell Shock on Show. Not a bad segment at all.


Harper & Rowan vs Los Matadores
Well I wonder who's going to be winning this one? Basically just a squash match here to put Harper & Rowan over here. When did they start using the 3D as a finisher? They need to bring the Dudleys back for a match with them. 1/2*


Kane is backstage with Rollins and tells him that he'll cash in his MITB briefcase on either Ambrose or Rollins to become the new champion. He's also going to be in J&J's corner tonight.


Titus O'Neil vs Big E
I like a good power match. By the way why is Xavier credited as one half of the Tag Champs? Is the Freebird rule a thing now? Pretty fun match while it lasted but it was only two minutes long. Big E hits the Big Ending after a distraction from the rest of New Day for the win. *1/4


No time to celebrate though because here comes Roman Reigns,


Roman Reigns vs Kofi Kingston
It feels like they're just trying to race through these matches tonight. Kofi's a good pinball for a big guy like Reigns. Xavier's reactions outside the ring are just awesome. Good match here as Kofi got in a lot more offense than I was expecting and I liked the finish with Reigns hitting the Superman Punch while Kofi was in the air. Good stuff. ***


Reigns grabs a seat and here comes Dean Ambrose as a member of the audience, with a huge bag of popcorn and a drink in tow.


Seth Rollins vs J&J Security 
I was kind of hoping that J&J would have found some ring gear, but their stuck looking silly in their suits just like Kane. Joey Mercury still has some moves! A weird match but it was kind of fun with J&J trying everything to beat Rollins, but it took the distraction of Ambrose to roll up Rollins for the upset win. **



This Raw started off amazingly well with Cena, Owens and Neville, but it took a major nosedive after that and didn't really become good until the Reigns/Kingston match and a surprisingly fun main event. Not a good Raw as there was just way too much crap and filler, and not enough good stuff.

NXT 13/05/15

NXT Review: 13/05/15 or 05/13/15



It's been a while since I last reviewed NXT, and it was at a point where I wasn't paying too much attention to it, whilst now I can never miss an episode and Raw's the one I'm not paying attention to.
All I do with Raw now is watch the highlights on YouTube the morning after. You guys should try it too. Only takes about twenty minutes to get the main points across.

Anyway let's see what's going on in NXT this week as we head towards Unstoppable.


We start off with a video package which shows us John Cena's US Open Challenge on Raw as it led to Zayn's injury which will keep him out for a while, unfortunately. Looks like he may still be facing Owens at Unstoppable though.



Solomon Crowe vs Baron Corbin
Holy shit. I have no idea who's winning this one. That's awesome! Crowe has a new hairdo and it sounds like he has new music too. Rhyming. I'm still waiting for him to really impress me, but I've only seen him a couple of times so I can be patient. I thought the fans were chanting 'boring' but it sounds more like 'Corbin'. This was really short but it was high impact and stiff while it lasted. I liked it. Corbin hits End of Days for the win. *

Here comes Rhyno. By the way I totally marked out when he came back. Definitely an underrated worker. Corbin accepts his challenge for Unstoppable and a brawl breaks out. Security comes to break it up and Rhyno gores a couple of them. Looking forward to that match.



Sasha Banks vs Black Shorts
I call her Black Shorts because that's what it sounded like the crowd was chanting, plus she didn't get an intro. Black Shorts and Blue Pants immediately need to become a team. It's really hard to boo Sasha because she's just so amazing at what she does. They better use her well when she eventually heads to the main roster. Just a squash match for Sasha here but it was fun to watch. 1/2*


Sounds like we're getting a women's tag match at Unstoppable featuring Charlotte & Bayley vs Dana Brooke & Emma. The more divas the better.



Carmella vs Alexa Bliss
Yeah I'm really not a big fan of Carmella. They need to get her away from Enzo & Big Cass as soon as possible. During the match, Blake & Murphy come down to watch Carmella. This was a bit longer than the last women's match, but this one was much sloppier. I think that was mostly due to Carmella and you could tell that Bliss was walking her through the match. 1/4*



I'll admit that I liked Carmella talking after the match as she sounds more natural when she's doing the Sawft spelling. Loved the crowd's 'Creepers' and 'No means no' chants towards B&M.



Finn Balor & Hideo Itami vs Tyler Breeze & Adam Rose
I believe this is tonight's main event. Great to see Balor in action again for what seems like the first time in a while. He's definitely my favourite talent at the moment and I can see him being a huge star in the future, as long as they don't fuck him up on the main roster. The triple threat match at Unstoppable should be awesome and if we don't see a GTS I'm gonna punch someone. Entertaining match with a nice finish as Hideo and Balor fight over the chance to win the match and show the other up and it cost them the victory. **1/4

Breeze takes out everyone afterwards, including Rose.


We get some comments from Sami Zayn after his match with Cena on Raw.



Sami Zayn comes down to the ring for a Face to Face confrontation with Kevin Owens. I think there was a little editing work done here as the camera totally focused on Owens while Zayn was talking about injuring his shoulder against Cena. I forgot that these shows are taped in advance. Zayn wants to know why Owens attacked him. Zayn mentions Owens' son and he looks very annoyed at that mention. He says his son would rather wear a Zayn shirt to school than an Owens' shirt. Ouch low blow. Owens' walks away and says that after Takeover, Zayn won't come back again.



Good show and the build up to Takeover has been awesome and I cannot wait for it. NXT is the place to be.

Random Network Review: Bad Blood 2003

Bad Blood 2003 Review


Here we are with the first of many Random Network Reviews. Before I start, I just wanted to say that I finally have my new laptop so the uploads will be way more frequent.

I thought I'd go with this show because it is one of the shows I remember having on DVD as a kid, but it has been such a long time since I've watched it. I don't remember it being a particularly good show but it has that nostalgic factor for me.

I believe this was the first Raw brand PPV, not including the UK shows like Insurrextion. Smackdown had the amazing Vengeance 2003, and Raw had this. Let's see if this show holds up at all.



The Dudley Boyz vs Rodney Mack & Chris Nowinski
I only remember Rodney Mack from the Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain video game and the fact that no one ever used him. This is a storyline I don't remember as it looks like D-Von is having trouble taking orders from Bubba and the fact that he's white makes it worse for him. Okay then. Pretty standard tag match that was good up until the deflating finish. The Dudleys were doing their thing and the crowd was solidly behind them until that weird storyline came up and Nowinski managed to hit Bubba with his metal mask for the win. Almost a good opener if not for the bad finish. **1/4


Coming up tonight we have the Redneck Triathlon between Stone Cold and Eric Bischoff. Oh God I don't have good memories about this!


The first event of the Triathlon is a burping contest. This was about as entertaining as you think it would be. Austin wins the contest.


Test vs Scott Steiner
The winner of this match wins Stacy Kiebler's managerial services. No matter who wins, she loses. I think the only thing everyone remembers about this match is Steiner's glorious botch as he tries to jump on Test outside of the ring and just completely misses and falls on his ass. It's worth checking out for that alone. The match actually wasn't that bad and was kept short. There was even a nice nearfall at the end. Test totally carried the whole thing though. Not a bad match and pretty entertaining. **1/4



Christian vs Booker T
The IC Title is on the line. This is the first IC Title singles contest on PPV since No Mercy 2002, when they removed the Title from the company. They eventually brought it back for Judgment Day 03 when they realised it was dumb not to have a midcard championship. This is also Christian's first PPV with his new haircut. This was a good match up until the crappy finish with Christian getting himself intentionally DQ'd. The fans were rightfully chanting 'Bullshit' at that one.Still though it was a good match up until that point and the crowd was red hot with Booker being in his home town. **3/4



It's time for round 2 of the Redneck Triathlon and it's a Pie Eating Contest. Not cherry pie or apple pie mind you, but poontang pie. I think we could all see where this joke was going. Of course it leads to Mae Young coming out and I won't write what she does. Austin gives her a Stunner and we're one a piece on the triathlon.


This show has just been like an episode of Raw so far.



Rob Van Dam & Kane vs La Resistance
The World Tag Titles are on the line. This would end up being Kane's last PPV with his mask on until the 2012 Royal Rumble nine years later. Just another standard tag match but it wasn't as fun as the last one and it deflated the crowd again with La Resistance getting the win and becoming the new champions. Not much to say about this one, just very forgettable. *3/4



Goldberg vs Chris Jericho
Well these guys certainly have a bit of history. In fact I think it was Jericho's feud with Goldberg in WCW was the catalyst that sent him to the WWE, as he hated the way that the booking staff at WCW booked the feud and thought it was PPV worthy. These guys also had a backstage fight in WWE that Jericho apparently won and I believe that took place before this match. Pretty good match here and the best of the night so far, but Jericho carried the entire match and it looked like Goldberg didn't know what to do at some points. At least Goldberg sold his arm injury well. This is probably one of Goldberg's better matches. ***



Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair
I think this was just about a dream match at this point and they were only five years away from putting on the most emotional match in WrestleMania history.The storyline here is Ric accusing Shawn of being a 'Ric Flair Wannabe' and turned on him on an episode of Raw. I was really digging this one up until the table spot which kind of came out of nowhere seeing as this match was built as the two best technical wrestlers ever going at it and it just felt out of place. The ending was fine though with Orton costing HBK the match and setting up their program for the next couple of months. Overall it was a fun match that probably should have been longer. The best of the night so far. ***



It's thankfully finally time to end this damned Redneck Triathlon. Eric Bischoff badly sings his theme song and Austin stops him because he sucks. Austin spins the wheel again and it lands on Pig Pen Fun. We all know how this is ending. That's what you get for WCW Eric. Of course Austin destroys Bischoff and throws him into the pig crap, finally ending this big pile of shit.



Triple H vs Kevin Nash: Hell in a Cell
The World Title is on the line. Mick Foley is the guest referee as they needed something to make this match seem interesting aside from the Cell itself. Foley was pretty much the main focus of the video package before the match and made Kevin look like an afterthought. The Cell really wasn't needed for a feud like this and that's probably why this one isn't as well remembered as others. If someone at this time said that HHH and Nash would have a Ladder match nine years after this, I'd consider them insane. It wasn't too bad of a match, as the weapons definitely helped it, and it got better as it went on. Foley did seem to be the main story here and how he would factor into the finish, but at least it kept the match a little more interesting. There was also an awesome nearfall towards the finish as HHH kicked out after taking a Jacknife Powerbomb. Better than I remembered and the best of the night overall. ***1/4


4/10. This was almost the definition of a mediocre show as there was nothing really terrible (outside of some of the Redneck Triathlon) but there was nothing worth going out of your way to see either and even the Cell match would be a stretch. Definitely not a show worth watching unless you're a Goldberg fan.

Extreme Rules 2015

Extreme Rules 2015 Review



I've never done a live review while a show is actually going on, but it should be fun so let's get started.

I didn't see the whole pre-show match between Neville and Barrett, but it looked like a **3/4 match to me.


Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper: Chicago Street Fight
We're in Chicago so the crowd is very hot tonight. A hot crowd is always awesome. This feud is continuing from WrestleMania when Harper put Ambrose through a ladder and took him out of the contest. This match was pretty awesome while it lasted and they took the fight all the way to the back where Harper hijacked a car and drove away with Ambrose inside as well. I have no idea if the match is over or not so I'm not sure if I should rate it. What I saw was about **1/2. Hopefully we'll see more.



Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus: Kiss Me Arse
I was really cringing when I saw the name of this match, but it turned out to be pretty damn good. At first I wasn't sure about Sheamus taking a loss seeing as he just returned, but I was fine with it once the aftermath took place. Hitting Dolph in the balls and then with a brogue kick to make him kiss his arse was a great moment for his bully character. So Sheamus looks good in defeat and Ziggler got a nice win. Plus it helps that the match was good with Sheamus dominating and the crowd begging for Ziggler to make a comeback. Good stuff all around. ***1/4



New Day vs Cesaro & Tyson Kidd
The Tag Titles are on the line. I'm actually starting to love New Day's gimmick of intentionally getting the crowd to boo them. It's entertaining and I hope it goes on for a while. Cesaro & Kidd get a face reaction from the audience. Cesaro managed to catch Big E in mid-air. His strength always amazes me. The fact that he isn't a star always amazes me. This was an insanely fun tag match with not one dull moment to be had and a hot crowd to go with it. Cesaro & Kidd work very well as a face team and I'm not mad that they lost the Titles here. I'm hoping the plan is for New Day to keep the Titles for a little while until The Lucha Dragons are ready to take them. Great tag match. ***1/2



New Day are interviewed backstage by Renee Young until Ambrose and Harper return to the building for their match.


Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper cont.
Both guys get back to the ring and about two dozen chairs are brought into the ring. After a bit of brawling and a nice nearfall with a powerbomb on a chair, Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds and gets the pin, and also his first PPV win in almost a year. I'll put the rating up to *** since it was a fun idea and a fun match overall.



John Cena vs Rusev: Russian Chain Match
The U.S. Title is on the line. I'd say Rusev has a 0,5% chance of winning this. I've liked Cena's run as U.S. champ so far as he's given a few midcarders a chance to show their stuff on TV, even in a losing stance. This is a four corners kind of match which I hate as they're rarely good. Unfortunately, this wasn't an exception. It was pretty dull all the way through up to the predictable ending with Cena hitting the AA and retaining. I have to wonder where both Cena and Rusev go after this. At least Rusev has still only been pinned once so he still looks like a monster. The first disappointing match of the night, although I wasn't expecting much to begin with. **



Nikki Bella vs Naomi
The Diva's Title is on the line. When the hell did the Bellas start getting face reactions? I can't wait for Charlotte to get called up to kick both of their asses. Naomi's heel turn kind of came out of nowhere, but the again so did AJ Lee's retirement. This was a pretty good match. I've always liked Naomi with her athleticism, and it looks like Nikki's been training and learning some new stuff. Looks the the 'Give Divas a Chance' movement is working out. Nice match. **1/2



Roman Reigns vs The Big Show: Last Man Standing
Oh please God let this be the last match that these two guys have together. It's getting to ridiculous Kingston vs Ziggler in 2010/11 levels. This was either gonna be surprisingly good or as dull as I expected. Fortunately it wasn't surprisingly good; it was surprisingly great. It was mainly a spotfest, but it was a fun one in which both guys were motivated and the crowd was hot for it. The table spots were all well done, especially the finish with Reigns lifting up the announcers table to bury Show. Great match and Reigns is really growing on me. ***1/2



Bo Dallas is here as I guess we need to waste some time. He basically just shits on the audience and it is glorious. This brings out Ryback for the beatdown. One Shell Shock later and this segment is over.



Lana and Rusev are backstage as she informs him that he will face Cena at Payback in an I Quit match. This feud is really continuing? Sorry Rusev but you have no chance. Cena never loses that match.



Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins: Steel Cage & RKO Banned
The WWE World Title is on the line. Oh yeah I've been looking forward to this one. I really enjoyed their WrestleMania match and Orton getting the win was the right idea as it immediately made him look like a Title threat and gave Rollins something to prove. Not sure how I feel about Kane being inserted into the story, but if it ends with him getting his mask and wrestling gear back then I'm all for it. This started off quite slowish, but once they started hitting the big moves things really got going. Orton hitting a pedigree was awesome and a great nearfall. The finish was dramatic as I couldn't tell who Kane was going for. Rollins hitting an RKO was a great ending and I'm sure the feud will continue. A great main event here. ***3/4



7.5/10. A damn good show here and much better than what I expected. The two main events delivered and the undercard was very good. The only disappointment for me was the Cena/Rusev match, so skip that one. All in all a very good show that's worth a watch. Nothing groundbreaking but it's a good waste of time.

WrestleMania XXXI

WrestleMania XXXI Review

It has been so long since I posted anything here, but I've got the bug for writing again and I thought the latest Mania was a good place to start on.

I'll also include the pre-show matches since I haven't watched them yet, and only saw the end of the battle royal.

By the way, I watched this event in a bar full of wrestling fans, and apart from being at the event itself, it is definitely the premier way to watch Mania, as the atmosphere is just electric and everyone has their own personal favourites. I don't think I could ever watch a PPV live from home again.

This Mania hardly had the best build but neither did Mania 19 and that's considered one of the best ever. So without further ado, here we go with the Showcase of the Immortals.


Pre-Show

The Usos vs Cesaro & Kidd vs Los Matadores vs New Day
The tag titles are on the line. Surely the Ascension would have been a better choice over Matadores? Cesaro & Kidd definitely got he best pop and reaction from the crowd. This started off like a simple tag match, but once everyone started getting involved, it turned into a a non-stop thrill ride. The action was all over the place and it was glorious to witness. The best spot of the match was the double electric chair into superplexes. I would say that this was good enough for the main show. A great tag match and good work from everyone involved. ***1/2



Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
This didn't feel like as big a deal as the last one was since it's on the pre-show. Everyone stopping to eliminate Curtis Axel was a pretty funny moment. Hideo Itami got a big reaction from the crowd and had a nice moment, but I was disappointed that he wasn't in there longer. Cesaro had another great
showing and had the crowd behind him. Mizdow's moment was amazing and received a huge reaction from the crowd. Big Show then ruined it by winning the thing. Good battle royal though. ***1/4


WrestleMania 31

Let's skip all the intro stuff and get to the matches.


Daniel Bryan vs Luke Harper vs Stardust vs Bad News Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler vs R-Truth vs Dean Ambrose : Ladder Match
The IC Title is on the line. I still have no idea what Truth was doing in there. I don't think I enjoyed this one as much as everyone else did. It's still a good match and the great thing about these kinds of matches is that you can go back and watch them over again quite easily. Bryan did seem like the obvious winner here, but I'd say that Ziggler and Ambrose were favourites too and Ziggler did come close with his awesome headbutt battle with Bryan at the end. The only moment that shocked me was Ambrose taking a powerbomb through a ladder which did look very painful. A good car wreck match which it was intended to be. ***1/2



Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins
I'll admit that I like Orton's new look with the elbow pads. Before the show I thought this would be the show stealing match and while it didn't exactly do that, it was still one of the better matches of the night. I think the point of this match was to make Rollins look good even in a clean defeat and I would say mission accomplished on that one. Rollins looked like a star here and that he belonged in
the ring with a veteran like Orton. Hell, he even got to kick out of an RKO and not many people can say that. Overall this was a great match with a great finish as Orton hit one of the biggest and best RKOs I've ever seen. Great stuff. ***3/4



Sting vs Triple H
As a fan of the Terminator movies, I did enjoy HHH's entrance no matter how cheesy it was. I freaking loved this match. It had that same feel as Rock vs Hogan, where the in-ring stuff wasn't that great but the atmosphere and the entertainment value was just off the charts. DX and the nWo interfering was awesome and just brought more entertainment to the match. The nearfalls were great and I love just about everything in this match except for two things: the ending and the aftermath. Sting should have definitely won this and I don't get the point of HHH winning and it just about deflated the crowd. Why the hell would Sting shake his hand afterwards too? Just some weird storytelling there. However I do love this match and I'm probably overrating it, but I'd call it must-see. ****1/2

We got a mini concert after the match and I'm skipping it because it's very boring.


AJ & Paige vs The Bella Twins
Does this count as AJ's final match? If so then I think it makes it quite historically significant for the future. The match wasn't anything special but it was better than most divas matches you see on tv (obviously outside of NXT). Why the hell was AJ knocked out for so long though? A weird part of the match. Anyway let's hope that the divas start getting more attention in the future because it could really do them some good. So-so match. **



John Cena vs Rusev
The U.S. Title is on the line. I loved Rusev's entrance coming in on a tank. Looked awesome. However I would call Cena's cringe worthy as someone who isn't American and I heard that a lot of American fans found it cringe worthy as well. The match was pretty good but I was disappointed that it wasn't as good as their Fastlane match which I found to be a great match. Plus Rusev only took one AA and it pinned him? Quite the anticlimactic finish but Rusev still looked like a beast up to that point. Cena's springboard Stunner was awesome and the bar I was in erupted in a 'Holy shit' chant until dying down and calling Cena a wanker once again. Still, a good match and I like Cena as U.S. Champ so good stuff all around. ***1/4



I won't go over the Ronda Rousey segment since everyone knows what happened, but yes it was great and everyone in the bar (myself included) went nuts as soon as Ronda jumped over the barricade. The Rock was in good form as well, as was Stephanie McMahon. A cool segment that will hopefully set up something for next year's Mania.



The Undertaker vs Bray Wyatt
Let me just pre-face this by saying that I am a huge Undertaker mark and a match between him and Wyatt is something I dreamed about for two years, so no matter how this went I was always gonna enjoy the hell out of it. And it actually wasn't a bad match at all. The match was only fifteen minutes so it didn't last too long and Taker was looking good for fifty and I have confidence that he'll look good next year too. A good match here with Wyatt looking good in defeat, and that moment where he did the spider walk and Taker sat up was just awesome. Good match and great to see the Deadman back in action. 22-1! ***1/4



Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar
The WWE World Title is on the line. This is a match I wasn't looking forward to up until the point when Lesnar signed a new contract. After that it felt unpredictable and that either guy could walk away with the belt. The match was fantastic with Lesnar living up to all the names that Heyman gave him and gloriously destroyed Reigns. Reigns looked good too, especially towards the end when he looked so close to winning. Rollins' cash-in was fantastic and I lost my voice from shouting too much when he pinned Reigns. A brilliant finish to an amazing match that made everyone look good coming out of it. A Wrestlemania classic and one of the better Mania main events in history. It's the Match of the Year for me. ****3/4



9.25/10. An amazing Mania event and I don't think anyone thought it would be anyone near as good as it was. It had just about something for everyone like the car crash Ladder match, entertainment matches like Sting/HHH and Taker/Wyatt, a brawl in the main event, good wrestling matches in Orton/Rollins and Cena/Rusev, a decent divas match, and even great non-wrestling segments outside of the concerts. Hell, even the pre-show was awesome! One of the better Mania's of the past decade and it'll definitely go down in history as one of the best. Highly recommended viewing.

Royal Rumble 1999

Royal Rumble 1999 Review


After last Sunday's very controversial Rumble event, I thought I'd go back to this one as it was originally well known as having the worst Rumble match in history. A lot of people have now named the 2015 Rumble as the worst one ever, so I wanted to go back and see which one was indeed the worst, and I thought I might as well review the rest of the show too.


Ok let's get on with it.


Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole are the announcers for the night. Weird to think that they're still there sixteen years later. Feels longer.



Road Dogg vs The Big Boss Man
Speaking of acts that for some reason still around today, here we have Road Dogg defending his Hardcore Championship. For some reason this isn't a hardcore rules match. What the hell is the point then? This was a mostly boring match with only Road Dogg's comeback being the most interesting part and that only lasted about thirty seconds, with Boss Man hitting him with the big side slam to win the Title. Bad opening match. *



Billy Gunn vs Ken Shamrock
The IC Title is on the line. I believe this is the first of many of Billy's failed singles pushes. Shamrock was pissed at Billy as he mooned his sister while she was in the crowd. I'm pretty sure mooning was all Billy was good at. This started off with an energetic pace but it slowed down considerably as it continued. Another boring match with Shamrock controlling almost the entire match and Billy didn't look that strong since he couldn't even beat Shamrock with Val Venis' help. Another forgettable bout. *1/4



Gangrel vs X-Pac
The European Title is on the line. Two minutes in and this one is already more entertaining than the last two matches. X-Pac was pretty good around this point and was always able to give us a good match. The only thing that really brought it down was a botched three count by referee Teddy Long. Better stick to making tag matches Teddy. This one was way too short though and I was really enjoying it whilst the last two matches were long and boring. A short but sweet match that could have been better with more time. Best of the night so far. **



Shane McMahon enters the ring so he can introduce Luna Vachon. He wants Sable to forfeit her Title to Luna and out comes Sable with a back injury. The match will go on.



Luna Vachon vs Sable : Strap Match
The Women's Title is on the line. Luna is looking very strange tonight. Just like every night. This is the kind of strap match you have to touch all four corners to win. I prefer when it's pinfall and submission rules. A short match that didn't really feature much except for the strap being used as a choking device. This ended like all other strap matches, with the face touching the corners after the heel, only to hit the last one and win. 1/2*



Mankind vs The Rock : I Quit
The WWF Title is on the line. This is one that is much harder to watch now that we know what chair shots do to people. If you think chair shots to the face should still be allowed in wrestling then just watch the Beyond the Mat documentary and you'll why it's a good thing that they're banned. The chair shots are just so hard to watch and I have no idea why Mick would bring his kids to watch this one. Although before all the chair shots began, this was a pretty fun match and still featured some big spots like Mankind's fall into the electrical equipment or a nasty fall on the announce table. Plus when Rock was on the mic it was never not entertaining. But then the chair shots arrive and things get uncomfortable. It's hard to rate this match like any other match, but I'd recommend it even just to see why safety measures are necessary in wresstling. I'll go with  ***1/2



One thing I can note at this point in the show is that laser pointers are a real pain in the ass.



The Royal Rumble Match
I only know of a couple of storylines going into this match like the $100,000 bounty on Austin's head or the fact that Chyna is #30 and will be the first woman in a Rumble match. Steve Austin and Vince McMahon are the first two entrants. I think Austin was the only likely winner of this one which did hurt things quite a bit even if he didn't end up winning which he probably should have. Austin kicking Vince's ass at the start was probably the funnest part of the match. Nothing much else happened in the match but it wasn't really boring as it had a sort chaotic feel to it. I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. McMahon as the winner was an awful decision but the entire match was pretty fun to be honest. It's still one of the worst but it's not bad. I'll give it  **1/2




4.5/10. Yeah this wasn't a very good show. The Rumble was pretty average overall, the WWF Title match was good but disturbing, and everything else was just completely forgettable. I did review this to compare this Rumble to the 2015 Rumble, so I'll say that the 2015 is the worst one ever. A bad show here.

Royal Rumble 2015

Royal Rumble 2015 Review


The last time I reviewed a show was for Night of Champions 2014. Since then my interest in the current product has sort of dwindled. Not that I haven't been watching wrestling as I still enjoy many classic shows and matches on the Network on a daily basis.


This event is easily the most controversial since last year's Rumble event, but how good was this one overall? Let's find out.


I won't completely review the pre-show match since I wasn't paying too much attention but it looked like a  **3/4 to me.



The New Age Outlaws vs The Ascension
WWE had such a great run of fun opening matches but that streak ended with this one. Hopefully after this victory the announce team will stop referring to the Ascension as wannabes. I really fear for anyone coming up from NXT after the way Ascension were treated. The match was nothing special with nothing particularly memorable about it and it probably should have just been a complete squash for Viktor and Konnor. Pretty bleh way to start the show. *1/4



The Usos vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow
The Tag Titles are on the line. I really hope the Ascension are fine after this show because if they're not then the Usos will have no challengers for their Titles. These two teams may have faced off far too many times in the past couple of months, but this was probably their best one yet. It featured some nice nearfalls and false finishes. I could never really tell who the winner was until the very end. It was kind of annoying that the Miz was in the match the entire time, but at least it keeps the fans behind Sandow. Good stuff. This probably should have been the opener. ***



The Bella Twins vs Natalya & Paige
What the hell is with all the tag matches on this show? This was one I wasn't looking forward to at all in the lead up to the show, but it actually wasn't that bad. It wasn't good but at least it wasn't terrible. It could have been pretty damn good if Paige had gotten the hot tag or if the finish hadn't terrible. A forearm for the pin? Really? Well at least it was better than most diva matches (not including the awesome NXT matches). A forgettable, overlong match. *1/2



John Cena vs Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar
The WWE World Title is on the line. It's weird to think that this is Lesnar's first defense since September last year. And now we'll probably have to wait another two months for the next one. This match was so much better than I was expecting. Everyone performed magnificently here, especially Rollins who looked very comfortable in the main event spot. If Lesnar's performance didn't turn you into a fan of his then nothing ever will as he looked like a complete tank here that looked as if he could take on a whole army of men. The nearfalls were fantastic and I was never sure of who would come out as champion as the nearfalls were very well done. A terrific match and an early MOTYC. ****3/4


The Royal Rumble Match
What the hell happened here? The sad thing is that this one showed real promise in the first 20 minutes and I was expecting it to be one of the best ever, but obviously that didn't exactly happen. Bubba's return and DDP's surprise entry were brilliantly done and DDP hitting a ton of Diamond Cutters was just awesome. The Boogeyman's return was pretty underwhelming outside of a funny staredown with Bray Wyatt. Speaking of the (literal) devil, he was a real highlight of this match and looked very impressive with many eliminations and managed to stay in the match for about a half hour. And then everything changed when Bryan was eliminated. It totally deflated the crowd and probably everyone watching at home including myself. That was followed by an influx of wrestlers than no one was interested in until Mizdow came in and then he was eliminated quickly, resulting in an even angrier crowd. Only Ambrose and Ziggler got good reactions from the crowd after that. The reactions turned venomous once it came down to Reigns, Show and Kane. I wouldn't call this the worst Rumble ever but it's definitely close as it seems that Vince decided to say 'Fuck you' to the audience rather than putting together a fun match. **



5/10. This one had it's moments like the fun Tag Title match and an amazing World Title match, but the rest was either bad or just forgettable. If it wasn't for the Triple Threat match then this would easily go down as one of the worst PPVs ever and possibly the worst Rumble event ever. I'm totally disappointed with the booking but not enough to cancel my beloved Network subscription. It'll be interesting to see how we look back at this one in one year's time, but I will say that this one makes the 2014 event look like Money in the Bank 2011.