The Scottish View: New Year's Revolution 2007

Weirdest Poster Art Ever?

New Year's Revolution 2007 Review


Well we're quickly coming up to the end of 2013, so I thought this PPV was appropriate. I've never watched this one at all, so everything will be new to me, except for maybe a few winners and losers. So how did WWE start what is possibly their worst year ever? Let's find out.




Jeff Hardy vs Johnny Nitro : Steel Cage
Sounds like a great way to start off a show, and it's for the IC Title. These guys were having some great matches around this time, including a great Ladder match on Raw. I think Nitro wanted some revenge for Joey Mercury's smashed face at the previous month's Armageddon Ladder match. I knew that the pace wouldn't be as quick as their other matches, but that didn't stop them from having a very entertaining match with some nice spots. The finish was awesome too with Nitro being crotched on the cage door while Hardy escaped. Great stuff to open the show with. ***1/2



Tag Team Turmoil
These matches can either be fun or dull. This is apparantly a late Christmas present and the winner will get a future shot at the Raw Tag Titles. The World's Greatest Tag Team and the Highlanders start. (Can I just say that Scotland needs a wrestling representative. We had Roddy Piper and he wasn't even Scottish! Drew McIntyre came close but he's been buried with 3MB. I don't even remember these Highlander guys. Anyway back to the review). Highlanders are out and out comes Super Crazy..... and Jim Duggan? Ok then. Crazy is pinned to bring out Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. Both teams are heels so the crowd doesn't know how to react. Haas is pinned to bring out Cryme Tyme. This one was dull at times and seemed to drain the crowd, but it did have it's fun moments. Cryme Tyme wins the match. *1/2


Backstage, Vince McMahon plants the seed for his feud with Donald Trump. I think this also set up a match featuring 'Rosie O'Donnell' vs 'Donald Trump'. It's an extra feature on the DVD along with Cena's match with Kevin Federline, but I ain't reviewing those pieces of crap.



Kenny Dykstra vs Ric Flair
Kenny came out wearing Flair's robe for some reason. At the time, Kenny was meant to be the star from the Spirit Squad tag team. Turns out that Dolph Ziggler was the much better choice. This wasn't a very interesting match and felt more like a long TV match, rather than something you'd want to see on PPV. It wasn't bad due to the crowd's love of Flair, but it wasn't all that good either. The fact that Kenny had to cheat to win probably didn't make him look too good in the long run. *1/2




Victoria vs Mickie James
The Women's Title is on the line. I didn't realise that Victoria was still in the WWE at this point. I thought she'd already made her way to TNA. This match already has extra points for Mickie's ridiculously short skirt. The match didn't start off too well, but it had an exciting finish that incorperated Victoria's storyline of beating every diva on the roster. *



DX vs Rated RKO
The Raw Tag Titles are on the line. A hell of a lot of star power in this match. These two teams had been feuding for a while, and reached it's peak with the assault on Ric Flair, which angered DX. This match is mainly remembered for HHH tearing his second quad and missing eight months of action. I liked the brawling start to the match. Always a fun way to start a match. The match did a great job of making the feud look very personal, and it really got the crowd into it. Either that or because HBK is an amazing face-in-peril. The match did lose it's pacing once HHH tore his quad, but that's completely understandable. Orton had a blade job that was very reminiscent of Eddie Guerrero in 2004. Overall a very good match even though it didn't have an official finish. ***1/4. Hard to watch though thanks to the injury.



Carlito vs Chris Masters
These poor guys are stuck in the cool-down spot where the crowd doesn't really give a shit. These two guys were fighting becasue Masters put Torrie in the masterlock and Carlito is her boyfriend. I think. Strange to think that both guys were in the main event at the previous year's New Year's Revolution PPV. The match wasn't too bad, but the dead crowd definitely hurt it. Masters wins by pulling the tights on the pin. *1/4. Afterwards, Masters puts Carlito in the Masterlock.



John Cena vs Umaga
The WWE Title is on the line. At this point Umaga had still not been pinned or made to submit, so he had a very good chance of winning here. I love the Last Man Standing match from the Royal Rumble between these two. This wasn't nearly as good as that match, but it was still a good match, and was one of the first times we saw that Cena could have a good match with just about anyone. Umaga looked great here as he dominated Cena for most of the bout and looked pretty unstoppable. I really enjoyed this one. Cena rolls up Umaga to retain the Title. ***1/4



5/10. Hey at least it wasn't as bad as No Way Out a month later. Three matches over three stars is pretty good, but apart from that there's really nothing else to enjoy. A forgettable PPV overall.

The Scottish View: Royal Rumble 2008

Royal Rumble 2008 Review


I've seen this show quite a few times as I've had it on DVD for a while, but I'm still gonna watch it all the way through again to make sure that my opinion is still the same. Let's begin.


This show takes place in the greatest wrestling arena of them all, (at least in my opinion), Madison Square Garden.



MVP vs Ric Flair
If the Nature Boy loses this match, his career is over. Vince McMahon made that stipulation about a month previously. It was pretty obvious that Flair's career would not end against MVP in an opening match. Wrestlemania seemed much more appropriate and ended up being the best choice. This didn't seem like much of a match as Flair looked way too old in there, and MVP seemed limited with what he could do with him. The superplex was pretty good though, and the crowd was into it thanks to Flair. Overall it was a pretty solid match as MVP tapped to the figure four. **1/2




Chris Jericho vs JBL
Jericho had only been back for about a month, and this was the feud they had waiting for him? Seems a little strange. It wasn't much of a feud as this was their only real match together. The main reason as to why I didn't like this feud was because it JBL away from the announcing table, which is where he worked best in my opinion. The botched running bulldog is edited out. Jericho was pretty badly busted open here. The match wasn't bad, but the DQ finish was an abrupt ending that kind of ruined it. **




Edge vs Rey Mysterio
The World Heavyweight Title is on the line. Mysterio was really just the challenger to keep Edge busy until he faced Undertaker at Wrestlemania. That didn't stop this from being good though. The crowd was really against Mysterio and they were cheering for Edge. They must have still been pissed off about the Eddie storyline. Anyway this was a great match, as there was some great offense from Mysterio, Edge was a great heel as always, and Mysterio sold the leg very well. This feud wasn't over yet. ***1/2




Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton
WWE Title is on the line. Usually when people order this PPV, they have the Rumble match mainly in mind, but on this occasion, I think most people ordered this show to see if Hardy could win the big one. Hardy looked like a great underdog, and that's why he was in the same kind of storyline towards the end of the year and got great reactions from the crowd. I think most would have been disappointed by the outcome, but it was still a very good match. Not as good as the World Title match, but I'd say it's worth a watch. Orton reverses the twist of fate into the RKO to retain. ***1/4



The Royal Rumble Match
MSG is a great place for a Rumble, as the placement of the entrance area means that the camera can stay on the action in the ring, while a superstar is coming out. I loved the beginning of the match as it started with the last two entrants of the 2007 Rumble: Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Once again they showed their amazing chemistry and put on an entertaining show while the first few entrants arrived. Seeing Taker and Batista stare each other down after a year long rivalry was pretty awesome. They continued the Jamie Noble vs Chuck Palumbo feud here (I don't remember it either). Seems pretty small-time for the Rumble. One of my favourite Rumble moments is the surprise entries of Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper. Sure they couldn't work properly but it was a ton of fun. Although what everyone remembers from this match is the very surprising entry and return of John Cena who was meant to be out for another few months. He seems to have a habit of doing that. The final two of HHH and Cena was fantastic, and you didn't know who was going to win. One of my personal favourite Rumble's and overall I would say that it's great. It was never really boring and reached a fever pitch towards the finish. ****



7.5/10. Very good Rumble show here, as the Rumble was awesome and the two World Title matches were very good and worth a look. The first two matches weren't great but they were still entertaining. The stuff with Maria and Santino brought it down a bit. I never mentioned that stuff because it wasn't worth mentioning. Anyway overall it was a very good show worth watching.

The Scottish View: Royal Rumble 2009

Royal Rumble 2009 Review



The road to Wrestlemania has begun, so with the Royal Rumble on it's way, I thought I'd review some Rumble's of the past (and maybe re-doing some I've already done)




The opening video package was awesome, showing moments of Rumble history and then moving onto the then-hot storyline of Randy Orton punting Vince McMahon in the head.



I had to watch the opener twice as I lost focus while my cat was trying to chew on the laptop cable.


Jack Swagger vs Matt Hardy
The WWECW Title is on the line. Matt Striker says that Swagger is undefeated. Definitely can't say that nowadays. For some reason people seem to love the silver version of the WWECW Title, but I've never gotten why. Looks pretty ugly to me. Swagger had only won the Title two weeks previously, so there wasn't much of a chance of him losing it. This was a good opener, with a nice nearfall towards the end, and the crowd was into it. Good stuff. ***




Melina vs Beth Phoenix
Women's Title is on the line and with the talent here, this could be pretty good. The crowd wasn't really into it, but when are they ever into a divas match? The way Beth bent Melina's leg and used it to beat her head with it was awesome. Melina did botch a few moves in there, but Beth managed to make it work. Solid divas match I'd say. **



John Cena vs JBL
World Heavyweight Title is on the line. This match was mainly about the JBL/HBK storyline. JBL told Shawn that he'd set him free and give him a place in the Rumble if he became World Champion. Cena and JBL really need a gimmick for their matches, otherwise it's just dull as this matched proved. The HBK/JBL storyline made it a bit better towards the end but not by much. Outside of the I Quit match, it's one of the better Cena/JBL encounters I've seen. **1/2



Edge vs Jeff Hardy: No DQ
WWE Title on the line. Ok what was the point of taking the belt off of Edge only to put it back on him a month later? 2009 was filled with these Title changes. This whole match was here basically to start off the brother vs brother feud that worked about as well as it did in 2001. Matt's just not a good evil heel, he's much better as a funny heel like when he was Version 1. I think it was meant to originally be Christian that cost Hardy the match, but the crowd was too smart and saw it coming, so they changed it to Matt. Good choice guys. This one was a bit slow at times, but it was still entertaining and the twist of fate on the apron looked cool. It did get much better after the table spot, as the crowd really got into it and so did I. Good match. ***1/4




Royal Rumble Match
I love how they didn't edit out the part where Jerry Lawler says that Orton needs to be the winner of this Rumble and basically ruined it. Anyway this one started off well with some high-flying action, featuring Rey Mysterio, John Morrison and Carlito. Things slowed down when Khali arrived. Seeing Kozlov going against Khali was interesting for all of two seconds. Santino beating the Warlord's record for fastest elimination was fun. One problem with this rumble is that there are too many guys in the ring at one time, so there guys just filling time with punches and kicks. It did have good moments though like Orton going on an RKO frenzy only to be stopped by a pedigree. Everyone's reaction to Undertaker's entrance was awesome too. The Brothers of Destruction reuniting was a nice moment too. Rob Van Dam's return got one of the biggest pops I've heard in a while. Overall I'd say that this was a damn good Rumble and not as bad as some people make it up to be. Not the best Rumble but nowhere near the worst either. ***1/2



6.5/10. There's nothing wrong with this show, it's just the fact that it's pretty forgettable outside of the Rumble match. The opener was good, as was the WWE Title match but they just weren't very memorable. Don't get me wrong, this was a fun show and is a good choice for when you wanna watch some wrestling, it's just that you won't remember most of it. Aside from that, I'd recommend it.

The Scottish View: TLC 2013

TLC 2013 Review


I haven't really been looking forward to this since there hasn't been a good WWE PPV since Summerslam, but I get it for free on Sky Sports so I might as well watch it. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.



HHH and Stephanie come out to tell us about the importance of both World Championships. Wow great way to start off a show.




CM Punk vs The Shield
Like most other people, I wasn't a fan of the idea of two 3 on 1 handicap matches on one show, but I'd say they managed to surpass my expectations, starting with this fun opener. I know there will be people that will say that the Shield was buried because they lost to one guy, but they weren't, as it was done very well with the Shield making big mistakes and Punk capitalising on them. Plus it starts the inevitable storyline of Roman Reigns becoming his own man, which should be fun. Good opener. ***1/4



AJ Lee vs Natalya
I knew that these two could have a good match given the chance, and that's exactly what they did. AJ and Natalya are definitely the best divas in the entire division, and they proved it here with a solid match. Given an extra five minutes or so, this could have been something great. I look forward to the rematch. **1/4



Big E Langston vs Damien Sandow
If they stick with the whole 'one world champion' thing, then I would say that the IC Title has elevated in status, and in turn, Big E Langston as well. Don't know where that leaves the US Title, but that hasn't been defended in months anyway. I was surprised that these two guys had good chemistry together, and gave us a solid match. This is another match that could have used more time, and once again, I look forward to a rematch. **1/2



The Rhodes Brothers vs The Real Americans vs The Ex-Heyman Guys vs The Mysterious Show
I guess they had nothing for Show and Mysterio, but they do make a good tag team so I'm fine with it. Elimination rules apply here, and I will admit that I was wishing for a ladder match to be made here like at Armageddon 2006. What the hell is with the lack of gimmick matches in this show though? Anyway this match, quite frankly, stole the entire show. They were given plenty of time with twenty minutes and it was so much fun. When it came down to the final two teams, I had no idea of who was going to win, and that made it so exciting. Match of the Night. ****



Brodus Clay vs R-Truth
This was more of an angle advancement than a match as it was basically the heel turn for Brodus Clay. No reason for it to be on PPV though and it was pretty damn boring. 1/2*



Kofi Kingston vs The Miz : No DQ
This was an impromptu match made on the pre-show after Kofi attacked Miz. Nobody really cares about this feud and that was made evident with the live crowd chanting 'boring'. It wasn't too bad and started off quite well, but it was pretty boring in the middle. Just make Miz a full heel already! **



Daniel Bryan vs The Wyatt Family
A lot of people seem mad about the fact that Bryan was beaten here, but he was beaten by three huge guys, so it's not like he's been buried. This did have it's slow moments when the Wyatt's were in control, but when Bryan was in control, it was a ton of fun. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the opener, but it was still good. ***



John Cena vs Randy Orton : TLC
I'm still shocked by the fact that a Cena/Orton match was given a 'this is awesome' chant from the audience. This is the 'biggest match in WWE history' and to be frank, it was pretty damn awesome which I really wasn't expecting. This was never going to be the usual high-flying TLC match that we're used to, but they still managed to make it work with some stiff chair shots and table spots. The slow climbing was a little annoying but you always get that with these matches. I even loved the throwback to their I Quit match with the handcuffs. I don't think anyone expected this one to end cleanly with no interference at all, but that's exactly what we got and the match was all the better for it. Great match. ***3/4



8/10. Finally for the first time since Summerslam, WWE have given us a good PPV, and it wasn't just good, it was great! There was nothing really terrible outside of the Brodus/Truth match. The main event definitely delivered, we had two very good handicap matches, a good divas match, a fun IC Title match, and a must-see Tag Title match. A recommended show for sure.

The Scottish View: No Way Out 2007

No Way Out 2007 Review



Once again we have a Smackdown vs Raw main event, but who will come out on top as it's Mania Main Event vs Mania Main Event? Let's find out.





The Hardy Boyz & Chris Benoit vs MNM & MVP
Sounds like a fun way to start off a show. MNM were still in their long feud with the Hardys, and Benoit and MVP were gearing up for their US Title match at Wrestlemania. Mercury still had his face mask on after his incident with a ladder in December. Good choice for the opener as it got the crowd fired up and had a fun, chaotic finish. Crossface makes Mercury submit to end the match. ***1/4



Backstage, Finlay gives Hornswoggle a pep talk before putting him in a trash can that the Little Boogeyman was also inside. Yes that just happened.



Cruiserweight Open
Cruiserweight Title is on the line. There were a lot of these multi-man cruiserweight matches during this time period, probably because creative didn't have anything for them. Scotty 2 Hotty and Daivari start things off. The Worm eliminates Daivari to bring in the champ, Gregory Helms. A codebreaker-like move eliminates Scotty to bring out Funaki. A very quick pin (just like at Mania XX) takes out Funaki and brings out Shannon Moore. Moore out, Jimmy Wang Yang out next. No one's really getting a chance besides Helms. That is until the champ is eliminated. Jamie Noble out next and a new champ is guaranteed. Noble out and Chavo in. Chavo hits the frog splash to win the Title. Entertaining match, but there were way too many guys in there. **3/4



Finlay & Hornswoggle vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman
Yes this match took place on PPV. No wonder they got rid of the single-brand PPVs if this is the kind of match creative comes up with. I couldn't tell you why this feud is happening, but apparently Hornswoggle is afraid of little people. Oh god. For some reason the crowd went wild when the little guys were in the ring.I can't even expalin this match, but it probably shouldn't exist. DUD



Kane vs King Booker
This feud started at the Royal Rumble when Booker was eliminated by Kane, and Booker decided to eliminate Kane and attack him. That's about it. Apparently that warrants a PPV match. The crowd wasn't really into this, but who can blame them? It just wasn't very interesting and these guys didn't really have chemistry. Booker was trying, but Kane didn't seem to care until it came to his comeback. It was also a bit too long for my liking. *1/2



Paul London & Brian Kendrick vs Deuce & Domino
WWE Tag Titles are on the line. I never really liked Deuce and Domino as their gimmick was silly. Deuce was mainly famous for almost killing the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 25, as he just about failed to catch him for his big dive. This was a match that seemed more like a TV match. Deuce and Domino got most of the offense, and only a lucky roll up gave the champs the win. *3/4



Bobby Lashley vs Mr Kennedy
WWECW Title on the line. So Kennedy went from challenging for the World Title at the Rumble, to challenging for the WWECW Title a month later? Tough break. Smackdown seemingly didn't have enough talent for one PPV, so they needed a match from another brand. Doesn't help that the main event is the same. Good god this was a boring contest. The crowd didn't care for either guy, especially Lashley. I never want to see this match again. Yes it was that awful. And it ended on a DQ. Terrible match. Fifteen minutes of mind-numbing boredom. DUD. And there I thought the midget match would have been the worst of the night.


How long until the damn main event? Man this show went south very quickly. What's up next? Divas? Oh fuck.

And it's not even a match!




This is the Divas Talent Invitational. The Miz is hosting. Well at least the divas are looking sexy, even if it's totally pointless. Jillian comes out to ruin things and sing. I don't know what happened next because I skipped it before my head exploded.


Finally it's time for the main event.



Undertaker & Batista vs John Cena & Shawn Michaels
Nothing on the line here except for maybe pride and trust. Yes it's the Smackdown Mania Main Event against Raw's Mania Main Event. This is also one of the only times you can see Taker going against Cena while he's the face of the company. Hopefully not the last time either. I think everyone was expecting HBK to turn on Cena, but it turns out that the Smackdown guys would turn on each other. It's always great to see Taker and HBK go against each other. One hell of a tag match and I enjoyed every second of it. Easily Match of the Night and one worth watching. ***3/4



3.5/10. This looked like a one match show going in, and that's basically what we got. The opener was fun, but almost everything between that and the main event was either average, mediocre or terrible. Outside of the main event, I wouldn't watch this one.

The Scottish View: Royal Rumble 2003

Royal Rumble 2003 Review


One of my earliest wrestling memories is receiving this PPV on DVD for my 10th birthday and watching it with all of my friends. Even though I still loved everything to do with WWE, I knew that the World Title match was awful. So how does this PPV hold up eleven years later? Let's find out.



Brock Lesnar vs Big Show
The winner of this match advances to the Rumble match. Lesnar was still trying to get his revenge on Paul Heyman after he betrayed him at Survivor Series. Strange how we had the same kind of angle ten years later. The matches between these two were always entertaining because Lesnar was able to suplex Show around the place. Entertaining opener that got the crowd fired up as Lesnar heads to the Rumble. **1/2



The Dudley Boyz vs Lance Storm & William Regal
The World Tag Titles are on the line. I think the Tag Titles had just recently changed their design, but I could be wrong about that. Not much to say about this one as it was just a generic tag match with the Dudleys hitting all their signature moves and winning the tag titles. It was an enjoyable match though. **1/4



Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson
Good god not this awful storyline. This didn't belong on TV nevermind a PPV. There was nothing good about this story and it didn't even lead to anything or do anything for anybody. Pointless and the match was awful too. DUD


And speaking of badness, it's time for the World Title match.



Triple H vs Scott Steiner
Do I really have anything to say about this match that hasn't already been said? The buildup was awful due to the pose down contests and the arm wrestling matches and the pushup contests. I hope the person that decided to give this eighteen minutes was fired shortly after. Horrific World Title match and probably one of the worst if not the very worst. DUD


Time to get this show back on the road.



Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit
The WWE Championship is on the line. I'm still pissed off at the fact that the HHH/Steiner match was given a rematch, and this one didn't happen on PPV again. No wonder 2003 was an bad year for the WWE. Anyway enough of the negativity, because we just came out of hell and into heaven with this bout. An absolute technical masterpiece that has to be seen. Easilyy the Match of the Year. This might be their best contest together, and that is saying a hell of a lot. This one match easily made up for the last two blunders. I didn't want this to end, but unfortunately it had to as Angle retains with the ankle lock. After the match Benoit gets a well deserved standing ovation from the crowd. Unbelievable stuff. *****



Royal Rumble Match
There weren't a lot of storylines going into this rumble, but I did enjoy Jericho trolling Shawn Michaels at the start of the match, which would end up leading to their awesome Mania match. Overall I'd say it was a very fun Rumble that also featured the return of the Undertaker. Brock winning was kind of obvious but it was still a great Rumble match. ***3/4



7/10. Man those two DUDs almost brought a halt to the whole show, but the Angle/Benoit classic brought it back again, along with a great Rumble. The first two matches were pretty enjoyble, but definitely skip the two matches after them. The WWE Title match is must-see.

The Scottish View: No Mercy 2007

No Mercy 2007 Review


This is quite the interesting PPV and quite unique. Shortly before this show took place, John Cena suffered an injury that kept him out for three months, and there was no time to make a new match on TV. So what did WWE do? Let's find out.




Vince McMahon comes out with Raw GM William Regal to make an announcement. He says that Cena is no longer the WWE Champion. He's gonna give the people what they want. The fans chant for Y2J but Vince says no. He brings out the new WWE Champion: Randy Orton! What is it with authority and handing over Titles to Orton? HHH comes out to challenge Orton for the Title right now! Holy crap that's big.



Triple H vs Randy Orton
Aside from the Elimination Chamber match in 2012, I can't remember another time when a WWE Title match opened up a PPV. When's the last time HHH opened up a PPV as well? 1998? Anyway this was quite the exciting match and the crowd was really into it. Orton and HHH seem to have a mix in quality with their matches, but they showed their chemistry in this one. Good, quite surreal match to open the show. HHH rolls up Orton to win the WWE Title. ***




Brian Kendrick, Paul London & Jeff Hardy vs Trevor Murdoch, Lance Cade & Mr Kennedy
Apparently this is special bonus match of the night. Usually impromptu PPV matches aren't such a great idea, but this was a fun little six-man tag match. The high-flying face team made things very entertaining as they were just all over the place with their athleticism. Kennedy gets the win for the heels. **3/4



Vince tells HHH that he still has his scheduled match with Umaga later and the Title will be on the line.



CM Punk vs Big Daddy V
ECW Title is on the line. Ok what the hell was this? Punk was in his hometown and they gave him a match that lasted a minute, which also contained one of the shittiest DQ endings you will ever see. Striker cost his own guy the match for no reason at all. Just dreadful. It doesn't help that Punk was destroyed afterwards. DUD



Matt Hardy and MVP have a pizza eating contest. Just skip it because I did. This show has gone off track.



Triple H vs Umaga
The odds are really against HHH here as he goes against the Samoan Bulldozer. This was a short match and not their best since it was mostly dominated by Umaga and HHH got the quick win, but they'd have a better match at the next PPV anyway. Umaga was quite awesome heel. HHH hits a quick pedigree to retain. **




Rey Mysterio vs Finlay
I know these two were feuding, but I have no idea why. There's not even a clip or video package to tell us. I also remember their pretty good stretcher match from Cyber Sunday. These guys had surprisingly good chemistry and it shows here. The match was solid and could have used more time. The ending was inventive with Finlay feigning a concussion to sneak attack Mysterio. The match had no definitive finish. **3/4



Backstage, Vince makes the main event of Orton vs HHH in a Last Man Standing match.



Beth Phoenix vs Candice Michelle
Women's Title is on the line. I figured that this would have been placed between the World and WWE Title matches, but they must have known that no one was gonna be excited about a Khali match. I think Beth was still pretty new and was destroying all of the divas. Not a bad match. Beth pins Candice to win the Title. *1/2



Batista vs The Great Khali : Punjabi Prison Match
World Title is on the line. At Unforgiven, Batista (thankfully) won the World Title from Khali in a triple threat match. I've never seen this kind of match before so I'm not sure how it works. I imagined that it would be like a Hell in a Cell, but it's really not. More like a cage match with bamboo as the cage. This is a Khali match, so obviously it's not very good, but Batista tried hard to make it entertaining, including an awesome leap to the outside cage. Not great, but not too bad either. **



Triple H vs Randy Orton : Last Man Standing
This is now HHH's third match of the night. He didn't have much of a chance after already facing Orton and Umaga. These guys have had three Last Man Standing matches together, and this is easily the best of the bunch. This is also probably the best HHH/Orton match, and believe me there have been plenty! HHH had a lot of sympathy from the fans after they had seen how exhausted he was from the earlier matches. A very well paced Last Man Standing match here, with even some great storytelling, as Orton tried to punt HHH like he had punted HBK, and HHH wouldn't end it like that! Awesome match that made you feel sympathetic towards the Game. ****



7/10. A good show here that was pretty unique with the three WWE Title matches that are worth a look, especially the great main event. The crappy ECW Title match and the pizza contest bring it down, but the rest of the card was quite solid. I'd recommend this one.

The Scottish View: Survivor Series 2005

Survivor Series 2005 Review


On this night it was Raw vs Smackdown. Probably to promote the game series. Also coming up is a Last Man Standing match, the WWE Title will be on the line, and we get the epic finale to the feud of the year, Bischoff vs Long! Let's see what the show is like.



Booker T vs Chris Benoit
This was their first match in their Best of Seven Series for the US Title. The feud wouldn't end until No Way Out in February, so it lasted a while which wasn't a bad thing since they had chemistry in the ring. Good choice for the opener as it was an exciting contest that built well towards the finish, and the crowd was solidly behind Benoit. Booker cheats to get the pin to go 1-0. ***



Backstage, WHAT THE HELL DID VINCE SAY? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nn-x6tMm-M



Melina vs Trish Stratus
Womens Title is on the line. This is an interpromotional match as Melina was on the Smackdown roster and Trish was Raw. Mickie James accompanied Trish, as she was in her awesome psycho bitch stage. Melina wasn't really an established wrestler at this point, but she performed well here. Very solid divas match and one of the better ones I've watched. **1/2



Triple H vs Ric Flair : Last Man Standing
Wasn't the IC Title on the line at Taboo Tuesday? Why wasn't it here? Oh yeah I forgot: HHH would never dream of holding a midcard Title. It's a shame as it could have given the Title a bit more prestige. The match is pretty damn brutal, and it's amazing that Flair was having these kind of matches this far into his career. Unbelievable that it took three pedigrees and a sledgehammer shot to put Flair down. Only Undertaker has survived through that. Flair looked like the ultimate underdog here and the crowd got right behind him because of it. Good luck to the match that has to follow this. One hell of a war. ****



Edge comes out to announce the debut of the Cutting Edge on Raw the next night, and makes fun of the Detroit Tigers. Well that riled the crowd up. Kind of a pointless segment, but it was fun so I can't fault it.




John Cena vs Kurt Angle
Daivari is the guest referee in this match for the WWE Title. These two have had dozens of matches together and I think this may have been their last one, so hopefully their chemistry in the ring was at it's peak. They kept trying to make Cena an underdog, but it just seemed to make the fans hate him even more, leading to his 50/50 fan reaction you even hear today. This was a good match, but the referee shenanigans did water it down a bit. Still good though. ***1/4




Eric Bischoff vs Theodore Long
And this show was going so well. Who in the name of hell thought that this was a good idea? Why did it need two referees as well? Boogeyman comes out to attack Bischoff and that gives Long the win. Well at least it's the only bad thing tonight. DUD



Carlito / Chris Masters / Kane / Big Show / Shawn Michaels vs Batista / Randy Orton / JBL / Rey Mysterio / Bobby Lashley
Here's the traditional Survivor Series match for the night, and it's Smackdown vs Raw! There's nothing on the line except bragging rights for the winners, and shame for the losers. Well for one night at least, it'll probably be forgotton about in a couple of weeks time. The commentators were annoying as they argued the entire time, but that didn't stop this from being a great little Survivor Series match. It did start off a bit slow, but it was tons of fun once Lashley had been eliminated. Great stuff here. Team Smackdown leaves with the win. ***3/4


After the match the lights go out, the druids appear with a casket, and here comes the Undertaker to kick the asses of some jobbers and William Regal. Orton escapes as we wait for the Hell in a Cell match to end the feud.



8/10. Well this was a nice surprise! Quite the gem here as I really wasn't expecting this show to be great, but it managed to exceed my expectations by some margin. The only bad thing was the general managers match, but that was pretty short. Everything else was entertaining at the least, including the divas match and even Edge's in-ring promo. The Last Man Standing match and the main event are matches that are definitely worth a watch. Check this one out.

The Scottish View: Armageddon 2004

Armageddon 2004 Review


I first saw this event the day after it aired when I was just ten years old. I loved it because I loved everything WWE related at the time. I see that Raw was quick to drop this PPV after their bad 2003 event, and shove it over to Smackdown. Would they do a better job? Let's find out.




Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio vs Kenzo Suzuki & Rene Dupree
The Tag Titles are on the line. Dupree and Suzuki really didn't look like threats to the Titles, mainly because RVD and Mysterio had only just won the titles, so there was no way they were losing to these guys. The match was going well until the heel heat segment that almost sucked the life out of the crowd and myself. It got back on track afterwards. A solid opener that did it's job and fired up the crowd. **3/4


Daniel Puder gives a pretty shitty promo for his match later.


Kurt Angle invites Santa Claus to come out and fight him. Angle calls Tazz one of Santa's elves and I'll admit, it made me laugh. Angle's pissed that his daughter would rather write to Santa rather than spend time with her dad. The bell rang but I'm not rating it. Kurt beat Santa immediately. Santa looked like Domino from the Deuce N' Domino tag team.


Mike Mizanin gives a decent promo. Better than Puder's anyway. They show a video of all seven competitors and I didn't realise that Ryback was one of them.

Teddy Long comes out to tell the fans about the Tough Enough match, but they are pretty much silent, and Teddy looks like he's really struggling out there. Suddenly I really don't feel like watching the rest of the show, but I'll press on.


Daniel Puder vs Mike Mizanin : Dixie Dogfight
This really doesn't deserve to be on PPV and the fact that it's a boxing match makes it worse. I think if you told someone at the time that Mike would become a WWE Champion and a Grand Slam Champion, they would think you were on some strong drugs, but here we are. Puder won this but he wouldn't go onto anything except for a PPV appearance in the Rumble in which he was basically a punching bag. The crowd started booing after the second round. Just awful. Big fat DUD. WWE should be refunding anyone who had to watch this. There was really no point either as the fans still had to vote for who won. This took up WAY too much time.


Hopefully we'll get back to some wrestling.



Charlie Haas & Hardcore Holly vs The Basham Brothers
This is an impromptu match that wasn't even mentioned on the back of the DVD case. Haas would reappear later on in the night as a special ref. Really just a filler match and not a good one at that. It even received the dreaded 'boring' chants from the crowd. Dawn Marie comes out to help Charlie and Miss Jackie comes out to yell at here. This leads to a bad small package to give the Bashams the win. Just bad. 1/4*


Hilarious ad for the 2005 Royal Rumble plays.



John Cena vs Jesus : Street Fight
US Title is on the line. This is the only match I can remember Jesus ever participating in (not a religious joke, I was genuinely talking about Carlito's bodyguard). He's not much of a bodyguard and even got his ass kicked easily by Cena at Survivor Series. This was another ass kicking for Jesus except that this time it was a proper match and for some reason the Title was on the line. Just a very boring match in which Jesus got basically zero offense in and looked like a complete jobber. 1/2*. Afterwards Cena takes out Carlito with his chain.



Four matches in and we've only had one match that was over one star. And we have a divas match next. This isn't looking good.



Miss Jackie vs Dawn Marie
Charlie Haas is the special referee for this one. Jackie and Charlie were engaged and Dawn kept hitting on Charlie, so this match was made. At least I think that's the story. I think it started two months before this show. How does Dawn Marie keep getting put in awful storylines? Anyway another awful match for tonight. DUD. Afterwards Charlie dumps both of them and no one cares.



Good god this show sucks. Luckily Kurt Angle's on next, so hopefully the show is back on track.



Big Show vs Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak & Kurt Angle
Couldn't this just have been a one-on-one match between Show and Angle? No one cares about the other two. This feud had lasted for a couple of months after Angle and company decided to shave Show bald, into the look that we all know today. It's hard to make a handicap match a good match, and this one fell into that same pitfall. It was decent when Show was on offense, but dull when he wasn't and even Angle couldn't make it fun. Show wins with an F5. When did he start using that? Ok match. *1/2



Spike Dudley vs Funaki
Seriously? Funaki was the only challenger for the cruiserweight title? Wasn't Chavo Guerrero a face at this point? The fans weren't into this one with another 'boring' chant. I was hoping that the cruiserweights could somehow have a show-stealing match here, but alas, we have yet another borefest. Funaki actually manages to pin Spike and win the Title. No wonder the Title wasn't considered anything special. *


I'm gonna have to watch Summerslam 2013 after watching this show to remind myself that wrestling is actually good. The main event would need to be Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels from Mania 25 to save the show.



JBL vs Undertaker vs Booker T vs Eddie Guerrero
The WWE Championship is on the line. What made this pretty cool is that JBL had a history with all three of these men throughout 2004. It was pretty unpredictable as it was hard to tell who would win the match. Everyone was sick and tired of JBL as the champ and winning every match unfairly. So how does this match end? Unfairly with JBL still champ. Goddamn it. It didn't help that the finish also continued the boring Taker/Heidenreich feud. This match started off slowly, but got a little better as it went on. It was thanks to Eddie that the match wasn't too dull. Good match to end this horrible night. ***



2/10. Holy hell what a bad show. Easily one of the worst PPVs I've ever watched and maybe the worst. All you have is a solid opener and a good main event, but neither one is worth going out of your way to see. Nothing really changed on this night except the whole Charlie Haas thing. Whoopdy doo. God I need a drink after that. Stay away from this one.

The Scottish View: Armageddon 2003

Armageddon 2003 Review


I've heard that this PPV is pretty awful, so of course, I'm looking forward to it. Let's see how it is.




Lilian Garcia sings the American National Anthem. I'm not sure of the occasion or why they're putting it in the show, but Lilian does a great job as usual.



Oh right Saddam was caught, that makes a lot of sense now. And now for some wrestling. Hopefully.




Booker T vs Mark Henry
I'm not sure why these guys were feuding, but I think it was because Henry pinned Booker a couple of times. Bit of a sore loser then. Unfortunately this is the Henry that hadn't figured out how to be an awesome monster heel yet. Not a bad match here, and it even had a nice nearfall towards the end. The finish did seem a bit out of nowhere though. **



Backstage, Eric Bischoff tells Jericho and Christian to embarrass Lita and Trish.


Co-GM Mick Foley enters the ring and gets a cheap pop. He does a Dr Evil impression and says that the petition to bring back Steve Austin has one million signatures. Way to make the Survivor Series match look pointless. Stacy Kiebler comes out as a sexy cheerleader to brighten up the place. And just when I thought this was all pointless, Randy Orton comes out to further the soon-to-be-awesome feud between himself and Foley. Foley reveals himself as the guest referee and starts the IC Title match.


I've already reviewed this match in my Evolution of a Predator Blu Ray Review, so I'll just re-do it. Here's the original match review:



Randy Orton vs Rob Van Dam
From Armageddon 2003 . Big moment and match for Orton here as this was the contest in which he won his first and only IC Title . Mick Foley was the guest referee for the bout .This was a good match and it made Orton look good as well . Orton hits a sick looking RKO to win the match . ***1/4


(Well this is certainly a historical match thanks to Orton's first Title win that would help him on his way to stardom. He did look very good coming out of the match, and even made the IC Title look prestigious, as you could tell that he was overjoyed to win it. This might have been the first time that Orton used the rope DDT. Orton's sleepers were boring, but apart from that this was a very good match. I'll keep the rating at  ***1/4)




That's enough of the re-doing for this show.



Chris Jericho & Christian vs Trish Stratus & Lita
This was billed as the Battle of the Sexes. This story would have it's culmination at Wrestlemania when (SPOILER ALERT) Trish turned on Jericho. Jericho didn't want to fight, but Christian had no problem fighting the women. Jericho was fine with fighting Lita, just not Trish. The match was good at getting the guys heat from the crowd. This was never gonna be a technical classic, but it was entertaining, especially when the women had the advantage. **1/2




Shawn Michaels vs Batista
This feud started at Survivor Series when Batista cost Shawn the match with a powerbomb. Batista was still green at this point and hadn't had a lot of PPV matches, but if one guy could give him a good match, it would be HBK. HBK has a good record of great matches with big guys. This was quite slow due to Batista's offense, but Shawn made it as good as he could. Solid match. The ref did seem to ignore the fact that Shawn's shoulders were down during the pin. Still, it was a good effort. **3/4



Maven comes out as he was scheduled to face Matt Hardy, but Batista is still in the ring, so they fight outside the ring. Hardy tosses Maven into the ring and Batista takes him out, so the match doesn't take place. I don't think anyone is really disappointed.




Tag Team Turmoil Match
Tag Team Titles are on the line here. For some reason I like these kind of matches. La Resistance and Hurricane & Rosey start the match off. The Frenchmen are eliminated by a big frog splash, and that brings out Jindrak & Cade who sneak attack the Superheroes to get a very quick pin. Val Venis and Lance Storm are out next. Crowd didn't seem to care about either of these teams. Venis eliminated and that brings the Dudleyz out. The 3D takes out Jindrak & Cade, and that brings out Scott Steiner and Test. This match is WAY too long. Team 3D seemingly win, but Bischoff comes out and adds Batista and Flair as a team. Batista hits the powerbomb to win. This match was too long and only decent at best. *3/4



Molly Holly vs Ivory
Womens Title is on the line. I didn't even know that Ivory was still in the WWE at this point. This match was basically just here as filler until we got to the main event. JR and King's commentary during this match was just atrocious. The match wasn't too bad, but it was too short. *1/2



It's time for the main event and hopefully it can save the show.



Goldberg vs Triple H vs Kane
World Heavyweight Title is on the line. I think Kane was just added because the HHH/Goldberg feud was boring, and they had to give him something to do after that silly feud with Shane McMahon that lasted for three or four months. Pretty good triple threat match, and I liked the power-move style of the match. HHH wins to put himself back on top, and to give Evolution every Title on Raw. ***




4/10. Damn this was a pretty dire show. There's nothing truly terrible here, but the only thing going out of your way to see is Orton's first Title win, which you can find on his DVD anyway. Give this one a miss guys.