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| RDT PPV Reviews | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 25 2014, 01:46 AM (5,514 Views) | |
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Apr 16 2014, 02:23 AM Post #61 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WCW Starrcade ‘96 December 29, 1996 Nashville, TN Background: The Wrestlemania of WCW: Starrcade. WCW was absolutely rolling. The nWo angle was perhaps the hottest thing in wrestling ever. WCW was kicking the WWF’s ass in pretty much every way. And WCW looked to continue that trend with Starrcade, putting in the main event slot a huge main event of WCW World Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper. The WCW style was always awesome in-ring action at the top of the show, star power later. And it worked for a while. You really see all the pieces come together for this one. Temporary international stars such as Jushin Lyger. The international WCW Cruiserweights such as Ultimo Dragon and Rey Mysterio Jr. The workhorses from ECW in Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. Midcard WWF guys like Jeff Jarrett. And of course, the top guys. The Hogan, Nash, Hall, Luger, Giant tier. Amazingly WCW was missing a lot of guys for this one too (No Steiners, no Harlem Heat, no Jericho). So let’s see how the granddaddy of them all came together in 1996. The Card A lot of the hype for the main event (“the match of the decade”) is that Hogan never beat Piper (why did no one care here about that build-up but everyone shit on when the Warrior used that logic 2 years later). They must be just counting pinfalls, since Hogan beat Piper by DQ at the Wrestling Classic. J-Crown Championship vs. Cruiserweight Championship Ultimo Dragon (J-Crown) vs. Dean Malenko (Cruiser) Japan vs. America I The J-Crown is like 8 belts. Ultimo Dragon looked bad ass with them. Great hold for hold wrestling early on….makes sense since these two were both top 10 in the world as technical wrestlers at this point. Crowd solidly behind Malenko. Dragon was still a heel here. Funny announcer quarrel about a half-crab. I love it when Dusty and The Brian get on Schiavone. Nice STF/Crossface. It’s practically the opposite of John Cena’s STF in terms of how bad ass it looks. Dragon with the backflip fakeout to Suicide Dive. I love that spot. Shame no one understood it in Dragon’s WWE 2003 run. I blame the 619. Really enjoying this one. Match is slowly building the pace. Admittedly a little too much with the leg grapevine here. Kinda killed the crowd. Great series of reversals lead to a Malenko powerslam! Crowd popped for that. Tombstone from Malenko! Nice false finish! Ultimo Dragon pinned Dean Malenko to unify the titles in 18:30. Match gets really hot with big moves and reversals. A great sequence ends with Dragon hitting a trap Dragon suplex for the win. Gave this 18 minutes and other than the slow part in the middle, this was really good. Great way to start Starrcade. Also it is worth noting that Malenko was really over. WCW Women’s Championship Akira Hokuto vs. Madusa Hokuto is wearing a gas mask? Vacant title. Is this a tournament final? I have no idea. I don’t even remember a WCW Women’s Title. Lee Marshall is brought in as an expert on Women’s wrestling. Sure… USA vs. Japan II Hokuto busts out a Scorpion Deathlock. Odd finish steal there. Horrific floatover DDT from Madusa. Weird Tornado DDT from Madusa where Madusa landed on her feet first. No idea if that was intentional. Botched counter to a powerbomb…if it even was supposed to be countered. This match sucks. Akira Hokuto wins the title by pin in 7:06. Sonny Oono attacks Madusa with the American Flag…then Hokuto hits a sloppy brainbuster for the win. A lot of blown spots. Bad match. The title wouldn’t last either. And the Brian points out Japan 2, USA 0. Tough way to start with two heels winning. Piper with an insane promo. Sky Low Low and Jurassic Park made this promo. He goes on about Icons. Then we get into instruments. This is nuts. Roseanne Barr makes the promo too. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Jushin Liger Japan vs. USA III. This is a dream match I believe. Handshake. Liger really isn’t a heel like Dragon and Hokuto. This is a weird match that Liger just dominates. Jushin Liger pins Rey Mysterio in 14:16. Liger Bomb kills Mysterio’s comeback. Apparently this is a Japanese style, but it kinda killed the crowd. Rey basically got squashed. Dragon vs. Malenko was a lot better. This was okay I suppose, I mean it was wrestled well at least. No DQ Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit This spawned from Jarrett kinda being in the Horsemen but not really. I think Jarrett is supposed to be the face and Benoit the heel…but it surely isn’t working out that way crowd wise. Not really a lot happening. A lot of punching and kicking. I wonder if Benoit isn’t doing tech stuff because it’s a no DQ match. Schiavone makes it a point that Benoit doesn’t get DQed for throwing Jarrett over the top rope. That stupid rule was still in place? Arn Anderson walked by Benoit. Does that mean he’s pro Jarrett in the Horsemen? Big pop for Double A though. Dungeon of Doom out here. No idea what’s going on. Jeff Jarrett pinned Chris Benoit in 13:48. Anderson DDTs Jarrett…and Kevin Sullivan smashes a wooden chair over Benoit’s head! When Double A tosses Jarrett back into the ring, Jarrett’s hand ends up on Benoit for the pin. I actually that finish is a little creative, but the booking and people involved was all over the place. Match was pretty lame as well. Nothing happened. Strange. Mongo is out here to talk Horsemen or something. The Horsemen are unstable. Flair’s not even around anyway. Debra talks too. I don’t care. We get some insight into Sting, who just turned crow. No idea who’s side he’s actually on at this point. WCW World Tag Team Championship The Outsiders© vs. The Faces of Fear The Faces of Fear? Seriously? Nick Patrick is the referee. I’m sure that note will have no effect on this match whatsoever. So who do we cheer for here? The Outsiders? Meng and Hall with a solid start. Good physicality. Nash seems motivated here. Weird match to be motivated for though. Now we’re getting some slow Nick Patrick stuff. Weird legal man stuff. Meng was on the apron despite being the legal man. I’m sure that’s been broken tons of times. Syxx is out here. Takes Jimmy Hart’s megaphone then leaves chasing Hart. The Outsiders win when Nash pins Barbarian in 11:52. Jackknife for the win. Match made no booking sense. Outsiders were the faces for some reason…but had a crooked referee in their pocket. WCW announcers were rooting for the Faces of Fear. I would say wrestling wise this was a lot better than it had any right to be. Probably because it had a lot of Scott Hall, who was still trying at that point. Dibiase and Hogan promo. Just running down Piper here. Hogan doesn’t understand time zones though. Hogan mentions that the belt stays with the nWo. That’s important here. WCW US Championship Title Tournament Final Diamond Dallas Page vs. Eddy Guerrero Some story here…the nWo had been interfering and helping DDP win matches to get him to join. Nothing to do with Guerrero. It’s a bit weird to see DDP has a cocky heel and Guerrero as an underdog face in WCW. It’s also weird to see Eddy Guerrero dominating DDP in a WCW match. They were at two totally different levels 12 months later. Pretty solid back and forth match here. I do think DDP and Eddy’s styles don’t really click though. I assume solid back and forth is the best you’d get here. nWo is out here. Hall though hits Page with the Outsider’s Edge! Eddie Guerrero wins the title and pins DDP in 15:20. Eddie hits the Frog Splash after the Outsider’s Edge for the win. nWo beats up Eddy too, although he put up a good fight. Guerrero wrote in his book that he hated this finish as it looked like the nWo beat Page and not Guerrero…and he was 100% right about it. Match was fine. The Giant vs. Lex Luger Giant is nWo here…which I didn’t think made too much sense. Luger is now the face of WCW as Sting is off brooding and Piper is really Piper and not WCW. Really long lock-up to start, then punches and kicks everywhere. Luger brought his selling ability with him tonight. Which against the Giant, he should. I think it’s crazy how the Giant used to just throw dropkicks like it was nothing. Funniest ref bump I ever saw with Giant powering out of a pin and Luger landing on the ref. Nick Patrick interferes and kicks Luger’s leg when he had the rack! He’s nWo! Sting is here. But who’s side is he on? Syxx ruins another rack attempt. Sting drops a bat in the ring and tells both Luger and the Giant something, presumably that there is a bat in the ring. Lex Luger pins the Giant in 13:23. Luger gains control of the bat and beats the crap out of the Giant. Pin afterwards. Huge pop. This was WCW’s first win over the nWo…which storyline wise is fine…but it’s interesting of all people the Giant was the first nWo member to lose. Match could have been A LOT worse. Pretty solid considering who was involved. Giant looks angered as the announcer’s say the nWo left Giant high and dry. Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper Story matters here, because it’s a huge problem with the match. Piper showed up when Hogan beat Savage at Halloween Havoc. This led to the Eric Bischoff in the nWo reveal. In the match build, remember that Roddy Piper got to choose the terms of the match. Because he for some reason chose a NON-TITLE match. And WCW is hiding that by the way. Hogna mentioned the title earlier. The crowd thinks this is for the title. Crowd is really hot for this. As they should be. Hogan sells a lot for Piper. Match is very punchy-kicky of course. Not much else these two can do at this point. Really punch-kick-punch-kick. I mean, I guess this match wasn’t done for workrate reasons. Piper comeback…and the Giant is here! Ref clearly sees the Giant there, come on. Random fan in the ring! Piper somehow kicks Hogan while up for the chokeslam, then knocks Giant over the top. Roddy Piper beats Hollywood Hogan via sleeper in 15:27. Crowd erupts. And Piper doesn’t win the title. Because it’s non-title. Bizarre. Match sucked as well. Post match has Hogan and Giant arguing, and Hogan blames Giant for dropping the ball. Hogan the celebrates with the title. Um..he lost the match? Pretty disappointing Starrcade all things considered. It gets some extra credit for DDP and Sting developments, but loses a little for the non-title main event and general horribleness of the main event. Dragon vs. Malenko was great and Eddy vs. Page was solid, but everything ranged from disappointing to meh. Benoit vs. Jarrett and Faces of Fear vs. Outsiders were just flat out confusing. I’d say Dragon vs. Malenko alone had it in C+ territory, but the overbooked nWo stuff hurts the second half of the show. nWo interfered in the last three matches…is one clean finish too much to ask? I mean, this is supposed to be the big show of the year, right? Final Grade: C Edited by RDT, Apr 26 2014, 11:11 PM.
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| MPH | Apr 16 2014, 02:39 AM Post #62 |
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OMAHA!
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I remember watching this PPV and going nuts because I thought Piper had won the title, then on Nitro the next night they explained it was non-title. I don't remember anything in the build prior to the match being said about the title not being on the line, but I could be wrong. Also, I loved Ultimo Dragon in WCW. He was my favorite Cruiserweight by far. Oh, and the whole giant in the nWo thing. I remember reading somewhere that WCW was banking on Bret Hart and BUlldog jumping ship in the late summer of 1996, and the plan was they were going to be in the nWo. When both re-upped with the WWF, they went ahead and put The Giant in there. |
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Apr 18 2014, 12:32 AM Post #63 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image No Way Out 2004 February 15, 2004 Daly City, CA Background: Eddie fuckin’ Guerrero. I could end right there. This PPV is 90% about the rise of Eddie Guerrero. For the last year Eddie Guerrero was the most popular wrestler in WWE period. He’s a perfect example of a guy getting the World Title purely on how the crowd reacted to him. No one deserved it more at the time other than perhaps Benoit, who’d get it himself a month later. WWE had been in their Brand Extension format for nearly two years now. It seemed that Smackdown was the “wrestling” show where RAW was WCW-lite (HHH wrestled Booker T, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner and Goldberg in PPV main events in 2003…nevermind that Evolution is a Four Horsemen ripoff anyway). And Eddie Guerrero was the perfect guy to represent the wrestling part of the company. The other major thing to note is we do see a bit of the continued rise of John Cena here. Obviously, that would be important later. The Card Sable and Torrie kick off the PPV. They were not feuding here. They welcome us to the PPV. Nice waste of time. WWE Tag Team Championship-Handicap Match Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty© vs. The Bashams and Shaniqua I usually hate this idea. Rikishi gets a good reaction. To be honest…we are way past Rikishi being a guy that matters and in fact he’d be released a few months later. I swear Scotty would have been way more successful is he didn’t have the WORM. He gets attacked during it or after it every time. Nice slam from Shaniqua to Scotty. Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty retain when Rikishi pinned Shaniqua in 8:16. Banzaii Drop for the win. This was the end of the Linda Miles era I believe. Match was pretty boring, and perhaps the most formulaic tag team match I’d ever seen on PPV. I mean whoever put it together didn’t even try. Half Blindfold Match Jamie Noble (Blindfolded) vs. Nidia Ugh. Story here: Noble and Nidia’s relationship went to hell. Tajiri blinded Nidia with the Mist and she was blinded for weeks. Noble treated her like crap. Nidia got revenge by putting a $5k mink coat in a woodchipper. And she got this match. Noble takes off the hood early on and the ref says he would DQ him. Match goes as you’d expect it. Nidia with a lot of funny hit and runs. Nidia pants Noble. Jamie Noble beats Nidia by submission in 4:23. Noble cheats and peaks under the hood and tosses Nidia off the top rope. Then he locks in a Dragon Sleeper which seems a bit excessive for the win. Obviously this was absolute crap. Tajiri, Sakota and Akio vs. Paul London, Billy Kidman and Ultimo Dragon was bumped to the pre-show for this crap. Kurt Angle interview. John Cena interrupts. They had feuded and teamed in 2003. Cena slaps him and they go at it. The World’s Greatest Tag Team vs. The APA Someone want to explain why this isn’t for the Tag Team Titles but the earlier BS was? Even worse since these four teams would be against one another at Mania anyway. Story: Bradshaw’s arm was injured on Smackdown. He comes out with a soft cast. ONE OF THESE MEN WOULD BE WWE CHAMP IN FIVE MONTHS! Benjamin works the arm. Go psychology! Bradshaw basically ignores his injury after the hot tag. The World’s Greatest Tag Team win when Benjamin pinned Bradshaw in 7:19. Clothesline from Hell…but he hurt his arm doing it and Benjamin got a superkick for the win. Not good. APA didn’t seem to really try. I guess it was matches like this that people pointed to when JBL won the title. Goldberg is here. He has a front row ticket! Him and Lesnar had been feuding. Lesnar cost Goldberg the Royal Rumble match. Paul Heyman is out here. He’s pissed about Goldberg. Brock’s out here now too. Heyman wants to get Goldberg arrested. Goldberg gets in there and gets a Jackhammer! Time for him to get arrested. I like how his theme plays when he gets arrested. Hardcore Holly vs. Rhyno Story: None, this match was made on Smackdown. Actually, half this card was. Funny note about Hardcore Holly. Holly came back with that mini-feud with Lesnar. And once Lesnar beat him at the Rumble…that was it. Like they didn’t even think past that match for anything Hardcore could do. I don’t even think he’s on the Mania card. Holly does come out when Lesnar is still in the ring, so there’s that I guess. Not that it went anywhere since Lesnar was leaving next month. Cole tells us the match was made Sunday Night on Heat, so I gave WWE too much credit with the Smackdown origin then. (Cole says they wrestled on Smackdown though, so whatever). I like Hardcore Holly and Rhyno…but no one cared about either of them at this point. They are trying to do the whole smashmouth hard hitting match…but it just isn’t working here. Rhyno with a great spinebuster there. GORE…but Holly rolls out of the ring to avoid being pinned. Hardcore Holly pins Rhyno in 9:54. Bad looking Alabama Slam for the win. Bad match. Very boring. No one cared. Bad first hour of wrestling here. Rey-Chavo promo. UNDERTAKER PROMO! Crowd popped huge for that. He’s coming in 28 days! WWE Cruiserweight Championship Rey Mysterio© vs. Chavo Guerrero I feel like I just reviewed this match (I did, GAB 04). Story focuses on Chavo’s heel turn and alliance with Chavo Classic. Rey has famous boxer Jorge Paez with him. No idea why. Chavo Classic breaks up a West Coast Pop, and gets knocked out by Paez. Paez gets thrown out. Big pop for the KO though. Awesome Moonsault near the end from Rey. Nice West Coast Pop reversal into the half crab. Chavo Guerrero wins the title in 17:21 by pin. Chavo Classic comes back and knocks Rey off the top, and Chavo rolls Rey up and holds the tights for the win. I didn’t write a lot, but it was the standard Chavo’s mat game vs. Rey’s air game. A good match that this PPV dearly needed. Not Chavo’s best post-match promo. #1 Contender to the World Title John Cena vs. Big Show vs. Kurt Angle A lot of stories intertwined here to get to this point. Show and Angle had feuded in the past. Angle and Cena as well. They were all in the same match at Survivor Series where Cena pinned Show to win. A lot of 1 on 1 stuff early on. Angle actually tries to German Suplex Big Show off the apron. That would have been something. Pretty sure Cena has FUed Big Show in every match he ever had with him. Kurt Angle wins when he makes John Cena submit in 12:18. Angle dumps Show over the top rope…and he makes Cena submit to the Ankle Lock. Second half of the match was fun and the first half really wasn’t bad either. Surprised this wasn’t longer. Fans wanted Cena here to be honest. But, while Cena is hurt…Eddie chants start, so you know what the fans want. WWE World Championship Brock Lesnar© vs. Eddie Guerrero Story: Eddie won a Smackdown Rumble to get a shot at the title. Then, the classic underdog story. Lesnar owns early with power moves. Good start to this story. Lesnar just drops Eddie on his head. Sure that might have been a botch…but it looked damn sick. All Brock early. Man Lesnar does the Shell Shock a lot better than Ryback. Eddie gets some offense…but Brock takes him right back down. Love how this match is structured. Eddie works on the knee…before he’s stun gunned into the top rope. Really making it look like Brock is far superior than Eddie…which works VERY well here. STF from Eddie. Huge pop! People might have bought this as a finish as the STF wasn’t widely used yet. Lasso From El Paso! Then back to the STF…which again gets a nice pop. What a spinebuster! Ouch. Great psychology with Lesnar selling the knee everywhere, even when he’s doing a vertical suplex. Lesnar yells at Eddie to “JUST DIE”. Just a great match in every way here. “GIVE UP LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO!” Lesnar is awesome. Three Amigos to Lesnar! Frog Splash…misses! I think everyone thought that was hitting. F5…but Guerrero accidentally takes out the ref with his feet! Brock has Eddie beat, which was a great way to keep him strong (even though it wasn’t needed). GOLDBERG. SPEAR TO LESNAR! Amazing false finish as Lesnar kicks out! Time for Eddie to cheat! A great swerve as Lesnar actually ducks the belt shot and goes for a F5…the crowd loudly groans…but Eddie turns it into a Tornado DDT on the belt! Eddie Guerrero wins the WWE Title by pin in 30:07. Guerrero hits the Frog Splash for the win and MONSTER pop. Great celebration follows. Incredible match, arguable Match of the Year for 2004. Great story, great psychology, great moments, great false finishes, just wow all around. And it furthered the Lesnar-Goldberg feud (also great idea that the Goldberg spear wasn’t what beat Lesnar, Eddie beat Lesnar). Shame that Lesnar left at Mania, as Eddie vs. Lesnar could have been awesome to go through the summer with. I mean, this was basically advertised as a one match show, but wow did that match deliver. A lot can be forgiven when the main event is incredible. The first hour and fifteen minutes of this PPV sucked. Four bad (or awful) matches. Rey vs. Chavo helped, and the three way was good. Main event was of course, awesome. Something that hurts the PPV a little bit is that there’s no historical value here. Unfortunately, while it was great to see Eddie as champ, it didn’t last and it didn’t lead to an era of change for WWE. Cena and Batista were the champs 13 months later. Lesnar was gone. Cena had a role, but nothing big for him. Angle was a bit stale at this point. I mean the man who eventually beat Eddie for the title was pinned in a throw away tag match. Due to the awesome main and awesome moment, I wanted to go B+, but the really crappy beginning and lack of historical influence knock it a little bit. Without the main though, this is a C at best. Final Grade: B |
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| Baldwin | Apr 18 2014, 02:51 AM Post #64 |
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6x EBL Champion
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SuperBrawl 2001 |
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| MPH | Apr 18 2014, 02:58 AM Post #65 |
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OMAHA!
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Revenge! |
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Apr 18 2014, 11:45 PM Post #66 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image Summerslam 2002 August 25, 2002 Uniondale, NY Background: 2002 was all about change in WWE. After purchasing WCW in 2001 Vince had a virtual monopoly in the wrestling business. This led to some guys not getting pushed as there just weren’t enough spots. Even with the Brand Extension there was just not enough room at the top. Guys like Chris Benoit, Booker T and RVD…and to an extent Jericho still had to wait for their chance. There are three reasons why spots weren’t available, but one of those reasons was in the process of solving itself. This reason was top guys weren’t going anywhere. Triple H and Undertaker were going to be top guys however you looked at it. This was solving itself though, as The Rock had become a part timer and Stone Cold walked out after Vince tried to shunt him down the card a bit. The other two reasons are on full display on this PPV. The first is older stars coming back. Hulk Hogan grabbed a main event spot for a few months before this PPV. Here, Shawn Michaels was coming back. That’s another top spot gone (not saying the HBK return was bad, because it wasn’t). The other is Vince still went with his development territory. I’m sure tons of guys were downright shocked when Vince megapushed Brock Lesnar, heck some theorized that’s why Hardcore Holly was stiff with him (and Brock broke his neck). It’s interesting to point out though that Vince was on the money with both of these (even if Brock left two months later). But change is the theme. If you told me at Summerslam 2001 that Brock Lesnar and Shawn Michaels were going to be in the top two main events at Summerslam 2002…I would have asked who Lesnar was and reminded you that Shawn’s career was over. Summerslam 2002 is also a great example of just how much talent Vince McMahon actually had of his disposal here. WCW guys, ECW guys, legends, rookies with huge potential, top WWF Attitude guys, it’s all here. The Card It is worth mentioning that the theme for Summerslam, Fight, is pretty awesome. Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio Story: I don’t quite remember it, but I recall Rey getting a couple of pins on Angle in tags, and Angle being angry about it. The circumstances of this match are far more interesting anyway. Mysterio had just debuted in WWE about six weeks ago. It was cool that instead of just putting him in the Cruiserweight Division, they gave Rey a top tier storyline right off the bat…which led to the incredible Tag Title matches later in the year with The Guerreros, Edge, Angle and Benoit. Rey attacks Angle with a springboard headscissors from behind as his music still plays! Fun opening sequence with leads to Angle almost getting the Ankle Lock. Mysterio goes for his bodyscissor bulldog, but Angle turns it into a German! There’s a good story here as Rey had been doing a lot of high flying stuff that we may be accustomed to now as we’ve seen 12 years of WWE Mysterio matches…but at the time was absolutely awesome. But Angle had scouted many of them and comes up with great counters for a lot of it. It was like this way Rey’s first chance with the big leagues, if that makes sense. Awesome spot where Rey was gonna fly over the top but the ref stopped him…then Rey just jumped over the ref instead! Great stuff. Rey flips off the top to counter Angle, then hits a springboard dropkick! Kurt Angle makes Rey Mysterio submit in 9:20. Top rope hurricanrana, but Angle counters by landing on his feet…then getting the Ankle Lock for the win! Incredible opener. Like I said earlier it loses a little luster as we’ve seen these Rey Mysterio matches for years now, but at the time it was something new in a WWE ring. It’s one thing to have that match with Juventud Guerrera. It’s another to have it with a main event guy like Angle. This match is also an example of putting a guy over even as that guy loses. Rey looked great here. Looks like Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon have to share the General Manager’s office. What an early waste of Eric Bischoff this was. Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair Story: Flair attacked Jericho during a Fozzy performance. They went at it for weeks, and Flair ended up destroying the set in a Fozzy performance. Flair does not make his flip here. Pretty much all Jericho early on. Pretty stupid idea where Jericho had Flair in the Figure Four, but Flair grabbed the ropes and tapped out at the same time. Kinda confusing. Ric Flair makes Chris Jericho submit in 10:22. Flair gets the Figure Four and someone actually taps out! Match was pretty disappointing considering who was involved. Just a lot of punching and chops. This was during Flair’s no confidence in himself part of his career. Flair going over also seemed odd, but according to Jericho he thought it was a great way to re-establish Flair. Heyman pep talks Lesnar. THE ROCK IS THE UNDERDOG! Eddie Guerrero vs. Edge I believe this rivalry spawned from when Rock and Edge fought Guerrero and Benoit. They went the jealously route then, Edge looks handsome, got everything, etc. etc. Edge hurts his shoulder on missing a spear and landing on the outside, and the psychology of the match begins. They even tie in the whole Edge’s shoulder was injured months ago, so good storytelling here. Eddie with a top rope leap into an arm DDT. Nice! Eddie is twisting Edge’s arm in every way available. Good stuff. Edge hits a flying press from the top to the outside, and Eddie takes this awesome bump where he just bounces off the barricade. Just looked cool. Frog Splash on the arm! Nice idea! Edge pins Eddue Guerrero in 11:47. Edge gets a Spear out of nowhere for the pin. Finish is lame as it came out of nowhere…and Edge’s arm was suddenly just fine. But the match itself was really good, with great psychology all around. World Tag Team Championship Lance Storm and Christian© vs. Booker T and Goldust Un-Americans in the house! I never liked Booker T’s delayed kneedrop. Goldust gets thrown over the top turnbuckle onto the floor, crazy bump for Goldust. Good heel spot where Booker gets the tag but the ref didn’t see it cause of Storm. You just don’t see that anymore. Another good heel spot where Storm pulls Booker off the apron, and Goldust gets there and tags no one. Un-Americans retain when Christian pins Booker T in 9:36. Storm bumps the ref, and Booker hits a double Scissors Kick. He has it won. Test comes down and hits Booker with the big boot for Christian to get the win. Decent match with some good heel stuff. Finish sets up a rematch. A little too much Goldust for my tastes, at least 2002 Goldust. Makeout contest in WWE New York. Winner makes out with Nidia. Highlight being JR saying he entered the contest a couple of time. Intercontinental Championship Chris Benoit© vs. Rob Van Dam Benoit beat RVD for the title…then jumped to Smackdown. Rematch here. Truthfully I wish there was more story here, as this was one of the few interpromotional matches at the time of the early Brand Extension. There was some part with Dawn Marie and Stacy Keibler messing up paperwork or something, but come on, one RVD attack on a Smackdown could have been cool. Benoit is another example of someone who deserved to be in a higher spot, but there was no room at the top. Benoit just came off of a year long injury and got no hype coming back and then just got slotted in the IC level as he always did. What a shame. This was actually kind of a dream match for me when I was kid. Even before I got all smarkish, I knew Benoit and RVD were awesome in the ring. Benoit has dominated this match, and while it’s been a hard hitting affair it’s a bit disappointing. I believe this is the only show ever where RVD loses his ponytail. Benoit with one of my favorite submissions, the double self choke. Benoit is doing some awesome technical wrestling and really working on the arm…shame that RVD hasn’t sold any arm damage. Of course now RVD is selling the arm. At least he finally did it. Rob Van Dam wins the IC Title when he pinned Benoit in 16:30. Five Star for the win! It’s a good match, but really disappointing when you consider these two should have been having incredible matches. RVD seemed a bit out of it. This match was supposed to lead to a Unification match vs. HHH (RVD has unified the Hardcore and European titles earlier in the year), but it didn’t end up quite going that way. Steph with some creepy laugh to Bischoff. Crazy what a better performer she is now. The Undertaker vs. Test Story: Test is the muscle for the Un-Americans, Taker is the American Bad Ass. This had a Taker face turn in it, which was done out of necessity as Lesnar, HHH, Angle were all on the heel side. Pretty boring match here. JR saying Oh My God when Test kicked out of the chokeslam was a sign of everyone just trying too hard to get Test over. The Undertaker pinned Test in 8:18. Storm and Christian show up, but Taker takes them out of course. Taker finishes Test with a Tombstone (what made this match special enough for that?) Taker goes all American out (continuity from Survivor Series 93?!?!). Anyway, match sucked. I feel like this was Test’s last chance to have a good match (see Billy Gunn vs. Benoit at Armageddon 2000), as his career nosedives after this. To be fair though, the booking is the kinda stuff we hate about John Cena today. Did Taker have to bury all three UnAmericans? Weird crowd shots. I wonder what WWE was censoring there. Un-Sanctioned Match Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels Storyline: HBK brought HHH to RAW. HHH and HBK were going to recreate DX…but HHH turned on HBK. Now, the standard young guy thinks he surpassed the older guy story. HHH is the ungrateful star. HHH thinks HBK used him to stay on top five years ago. Real life story: HBK’s career ended at Wrestlemania XIV. His career was as good as over…but his life turned for the better. HBK changed from the pill popping jackass he was to a born again Christian. HBK also said in his book the more he worked out, the better his back felt. He wanted to do a Streetfight because it was easy to do, and his back wouldn’t take damage (and he was originally gonna do it vs. Vince). This was a HUGE deal. I’m actually shocked it didn’t go on last. It was also supposed to be a one time thing…but as we all know he lasted 8 more years. I think it’s insane that HBK just went all out right away. I mean 40 seconds in and we already get an over the top rope bodypress. HBK dominates the first few minutes. Great way to show he’s still at a main event level (kayfabe). HHH uses the obvious psychology available: Backbreaker from the Game. HHH continues working on the back, and HBK sells it like a million bucks. Also worth pointing out that JR is amazing here…talking about how he wants to see HBK’s arms moving to make sure he isn’t paralyzed. Great heel spot with HHH holding the top rope right in Earl Hebner’s face while HHH had HBK locked in the abdominal stretch. The HHH-Hebner history comes into play here too. Brutal chair shot to the back. Just awesome psychology. Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere…which is actually a bit disappointing as it’s the first SCM in a match in like 4 years. HBK with the nipup and HUGE pop. Bulldog on the steps! We’ve got a ladder. Still crazy how HBK went all out here. Table! HBK didn’t even use tables in his prime. Splash from the top rope through HHH through the table! What was Shawn thinking?! (Of course, I assume he thought his back was still fucked at this point). Shawn Michaels pins HHH in 27:20. Elbowdrop off the ladder! Time for SCM…no, blocked! But HBK counters a Pedigree into a pin, 1…2…3! Huge pop! HHH nails HBK in the back with the Sledgehammer, and HBK is carried out. Amazing match, purely five stars. Crazy how HBK just comes back and owns right away. Arn Anderson told HBK before the match, “You need to practice, it’s not like riding a bike”...and then afterwards said “I guess for you it is like riding a bike”. Match of the Year for 2002 Contender for sure. Absolutely random Howard Finkel banter. This is the first PPV he has announced since Wrestlemania II in this arena! And baseball may be going on strike…but they will always have the Fink. Here comes Trish! Finkel compares her to other Long Island skanks. Trish apologizes for anything she’s done to the Fink…and tells Fink she loves his sexy voice! Now he points out that Trist has the puppies and Finkel has his weiner. Trish then brings out Lillian Garcia and she beats Finkel up. Random fun I guess to serve as a buffer between the two main events. Poor Fink. WWF Undisputed Championship The Rock© vs. Brock Lesnar Story: Brock won this title shot after winning KOTR 2002. Rock won the title in a three way with Angle and Taker. Brock retained his title shot when he took out Hogan on Smackdown. And here we are. Did anyone look like a superstar from the beginning more than Brock Lesnar? You can tell they are a little short of time. I assume HHH and HBK went extra. Lesnar gets a really quick belly to belly and a 2. Fans are AGAINST The Rock here…they knew he was leaving for a movie. Double nipup was cool. Weird selling from the Dragon Screw there. Let’s Go Lesnar chants! Worst Sharpshooter ever. Bearhug spot actually works…as Brock established it when he killed Hogan. You can tell Brock still didn’t know how to sell correctly at times…he clearly oversells a punch when he flies over the top rope. Rock drives Paul Heyman through the Announcer’s table with a Rock Bottom! Lesnar survives a Rock Bottom! Rock survives a…Brock Bottom?! Brock Lesnar wins the WWE Title in 16:10. People’s Elbow…but Brock gets up before Rock finishes it and hits a huge clothesline. Finisher reversal sequences ends with a F5 and the title. Big props to the Rock here, not only did he just put over Lesnar clean, but he got a good match out of him (Lesnar was still quite raw here). This match and Lesnar’s HIAC with Taker solidified him as a top guy for good. Well done. And well done is what you can say about this PPV. But there’s a hidden shame in here. This PPV had A+ potential. You had a match of the year candidate with HBK-HHH, a solid main with Lesnar-Rock. A great Rey-Angle match. A very good RVD-Benoit match. A very good Edge-Eddie match. Historically the show mattered two, Brock Lesnar would be an over main event staple for the next two years…and HBK of course was on the top of the card for the next 8. Rey also showed he could hang with top guys too…and that the idea of being too small didn’t really apply to him (Finlay said it in a shoot once that small guys would hurt the title…except Rey because he was THAT good). What brings it down? While decent, it’s a shame Jericho and Flair didn’t click. Taker vs. Test was whatever and the tag title match, while solid, also seemed a little off (too much GOldust, not enough Booker T). But I mean, there’s some great shit here. And The Fink was pretty funny! Final Grade: A |
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| MPH | Apr 19 2014, 12:09 AM Post #67 |
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OMAHA!
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I might be wrong, but I think there were some American flag shenanigans post-match for Taker and Test. They probably edited it our for the Network. Don't quote me on that though. |
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Apr 19 2014, 05:11 PM Post #68 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image TLC 2009 December 13, 2009 San Antonio, TX Background: While there were new guys coming along…Vince just wouldn’t allow his top guys to not get the main event money. Not that it was really his fault. Vince had been burned once again by pushing someone to the top, as Jeff Hardy didn’t immediately resign with WWE once his contract expired. WWE had put three world titles on Jeff in the 9 months before this and he still would jump to TNA in January. For all those who complain that Vince keeps guys like Cena, HHH, Taker, Orton etc. at the top, it’s because he knows these guys won’t just leave him in the smoke. Ever since Bobby Lashley kinda did the same in early 2008, Vince had begun this holding pattern of rocket pushing someone, then burying them for a while (I guess to establish that WWE is responsible for their success) and then determining what to do from that point. We see two stages of this here: the burial (we don’t actually see it, but the World Champion two months ago, CM Punk, loses the dark match to R-Truth) and the mega push (Sheamus, who would be in the burial stage about 10 months from this point. Interesting note, you can argue Vince was somewhat right about Punk, as he did walk out four years later. Anyway, there is one new guy who may become a star tonight: Sheamus. Other than that, your main events have Undertaker, Batista, Cena, HHH, Jericho, Big Show and HBK in them. Not exactly building the next generation. Another point, 2009 was the first year of just theming events (Hell in a Cell was two months earlier) and it’s always going to be disappointing. Gimmick matches should fit the feud, not be forced upon because so and so PPV is coming up. Oh well. The Card ECW World Championship: Ladder Match Christian© vs. Shelton Benjamin This actually sounds like an awesome idea and exactly what the ECW Title should be about. Story: Christian wants to steal the show! Michael Cole owns Matt Striker on commentary. Good stuff. Nice knee to the spine from Shelton there. Shelton lands on his feet from a monkey flip. He almost botched it, but it was good enough. Christian gets busted open as a ladder falls on his face. Ouch. We get an official tending to Christian. I don’t understand why this is happening. Shelton, just go get the belt! Stupid idea. Benjamin hits a somersault plancha on Christian on the floor from the ladder…but that was a stupid spot as well. Christian wasn’t staggering or anything and even tried to climb the ladder to stop Shelton. How about running away Christian? Think of that? Reverse DDT off the ladder. Nice. Something you don’t see every ladder match, Christian actually stopping midclimb as he saw Shelton was gonna do something to him. Nice psychology. Shelton follows it with some awesome athleticism, which leads to this ladder falling clotheslines. Powerslam off the ladder. Some really nice spots in this one. Awesome spot where Christian hands from the belt holder…and lands on Shelton who powerbombs him into a ladder in the corner. Shelton gets the sunset flip over the ladder spot and Christian counters into a hurricanrana into the corner! Christian splashes Benjamin through a ladder! Christian wins in 18:05. After the splash, Christian goes up and grabs the title. What a fun opener. Some underrated psychology with the spots looking natural instead of contrived (which is why the first MITB is better than the others, for the record). The middle part where Christian was bleeding hurt it a bit, but a fun match is a fun match. Good chance at being the match of the night. Intercontinental Championship John Morrison vs. Drew McIntyre This was pre-good music for McIntyre. McIntyre was McMahon’s chosen superstar, which in hindsight, is hilarious. Could have tied that into a Vince is losing his mind at an older age gimmick. Although I’m probably higher on McIntyre than most, he was not nearly ready for the big time yet. Really nice tilt a whirl into a DDT counter from Morrison. Reverse Alabama Slam was pretty cool from Drew. Morrison with a Disaster kick off the apron. Nice. Horrible Starship Pain there. Drew McIntyre pins John Morrison to win the title in 10:19. Scot Drop, or Future Shock DDT for the win. Morrison carried McIntyre here as Morrison did anything entertaining in this thing. Decent match overall, but no one cared about who went over. WWE Women’s Championship Michelle McCool© vs. Mickie James I think this was part of the Piggy James storyline. Ok it was. Honestly I would have been fine with the whole angle…if James wins at the end of course. This is a pretty good Diva’s match. Michelle McCool retains in 7:31. Layla shoves Mickie off the top rope…but she spin kicks Layla off the apron. Roll up gets 2, but then McCool hits a brutal kick to the face for the win. Pretty good Diva’s match, a lot of hard hitting and a nice finish. WWE World Championship: Tables Match John Cena© vs. Sheamus Story: Sheamus won an up and comer battle royal. He destroyed everyone on ECW. He put Mark Cuban through a table. He ended Jamie Noble’s career. He was a legit bad ass. So CAN CENA OVERCOME THE ODDS?! I know the general idea is everyone is better as a heel, lol. But…Sheamus was a real bad ass as a heel. This should be his character now. Fans want Sheamus to win. Can Cena be cheered against anyone? At least this match has been 50:50, and not Cena just killing Sheamus. Match really picks up when Cena and Sheamus brawl on the outside. Sheamus throwing the table out of the ring when getting beat up by Cena was a great spot. Sheamus wins the title when he “shoves” Cena through a table at 16:19. They tease a superplex spot…but Sheamus shoves Cena off the top and falls off himself, but Cena crashes through the table in the ring. Awful finish. Many thought it was a botch as Sheamus lands near a table on the outside. I don’t think so though as they act naturally afterwards. Nonetheless, finish sucks because it doesn’t put Sheamus over! It looks like a mistake, that Sheamus got lucky! If you are gonna go with him, GO WITH HIM. Cena can take a loss here. Jeez. Sheamus’s reign goes horribly too, as he’s an undercard champ and a transitional champion…and his reign meant NOTHING in terms of historical value. Whatever. The match itself wasn’t bad though. World Heavyweight Championship: Chairs Match The Undertaker© vs. Batista Batista turned heel on Rey Mysterio and it was damn refreshing. Batista as always, wanted the title. So here we are. I have high hopes for this, as Taker and Batista had oddly great chemistry in 07-08. In a Chairs match, the only legal weapon is a chair. I do like how Batista didn’t waste time and went right for a chair. Batista uses a chair shot and a low blow to win the title? How weak was that? The Undertaker retains the title by pin in 13:14. Teddy Long comes out and says the low blow is still illegal, so the match is restarted. Boot and Tombstone for the win. The finish somehow got worse! I thought Teddy Long was a heel at this point? No wonder neither World Title match was the main event, both finishes blew. Also, this match never connected and was slow the whole way. Ah well. Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston There was a Kofi-Orton segment right before this where Kofi calls Orton a coward. Ok then. Weird timing for that. This was the trying to get Kofi Kingston over as a top guy attempt. Never stuck. Randy Orton pins Kofi Kingston in 13:11. RKO! Not much to say here. I guess Kofi wrestled Orton 50:50, which was nice to push Kofi, but some guys are just meant to be midcard fun babyfaces, and one of those guys is Kofi Kingston. Match was completely uneventful. Batista confronts Teddy Long. He says he was robbed (he was) and Long better make it right. WWE Unified World Tag Team Championship: Tables, Ladders and Chairs Chris Jericho and Big Show© vs. Triple H and Shawn Michaels You know I laughed that this was main eventing and neither World Title matches were (same happened at HIAC), but with it being in San Antonio for Shawn and the fact that both World Title matches had bs finishes, I’m okay with it. DX was probably the hottest act in the company at that point too, so I guess that helps justify it. Odd portion near the beginning where Big Show and Chris Jericho fight HHH on the rampway…then HBK joins then, HBK…GO FOR THE BELTS! Dueling chairs! Suplexing a ladder on Jericho. Ouch. Pretty cool spot where they hang HHH in the tree of toe in the ladder, then send Shawn flying into him…where Shawn does his corner flip. That had to be the best punch to the chair I’d ever seen. Looks like it killed HHH. Big Show actually takes the flying off the ladder hanged on the top rope spot, nice. Pedigree right after looks terrible though. Big Show breaks a ladder for no reason. Odd. A DX ladder sandwich…and Big Show breaks another ladder. DX wins the Tag Team Titles at 22:32. Pretty funny ending. Show takes out DX, but there’s no ladder in the ring since Big Show broke them. Jericho tried to balance himself on Show’s shoulders…but this fails as Jericho can’t free his hands to grab the belts. DX comes back in, and Show and Jericho are stuck. Sweet Chin Music to Show…and that sends Jericho flying to the outside and he hits a table face first. Another SCM, then HHH holds up the half ladder and HBK grabs the belts. Not bad. A little slow at times but it was pretty good otherwise. It was a ladder match disguised as a tornado tag match, which was quite refreshing actually. Kinda tough to review. Most of the matches were good…but none of them were great (maybe Christian vs. Shelton was close). Both World Title matches having bs finishes sucked. Main ended the right way though. Historically, this show probably hurt Sheamus more than helped him, which is crazy since he won the World Title. DX winning the tag belts didn’t mean a whole lot, they lost them to Miz and Show a couple of months later. Maybe I could get this into the B range had Taker vs. Batista not sucked. Or if Orton vs. Kofi mattered at all. But they didn’t. Can’t ignore the mostly good wrestling though. Final Grade: C+ |
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Apr 19 2014, 09:14 PM Post #69 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WWE Royal Rumble 2012 January 29, 2012 St. Louis, MO Background: The Summer of Punk is in full gear…but sadly it already lost some of it’s luster (really, once HHH pinned Punk at Night of Champions the angle was never the same). While based off the guys holding all the belts (your champs after TLC 2011: Punk, Bryan, Ryder, Rhodes, Bourne, Kingston), we all knew The Rock was coming back soon and John Cena would be in the Mania main and HHH and Undertaker would be back. A lot of change that ultimately didn’t matter and the WWE didn’t really feel all that different until Wrestlemania XXX (and we need to wait and see how that turns out). The Summer of Punk kicked off the Reality Era…but some storylines remained old and dated. I was all for Kane coming back with the mask and all, but it already turned out to be rather comical. The result of the John Cena-Kane feud was the exact opposite of The Rock vs. Mankind in early 1999. Anyway, the Royal Rumble is one of the most fun events in the WWE calendar year, but last year WWE took a misstep with the 40 man match. This year though the roster is WAY too thin for something like that to work, so back to 30 we are. We are in a period where change was clashing up against the old guard. Let’s see how the Rumble works through that. The Card World Heavyweight Championship: Triple Threat Steel Cage Daniel Bryan© vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry Story: Henry and Show had feuded over the title in 2011. After Show finally won it at TLC 11, Bryan cashed in for the belt. This made Bryan a heel. Bryan hasn’t established “YES!” yet and was a legit heel here. Note: Mark Henry was reportedly injured here. Apparently he was getting pissed a Vince for making him wrestle. I call bs on that. I mean he was injured. But I’m sure the Rumble and Mania payoffs were just fine for him. Big Show was an energetic face here, and it actually worked for him for a while. Daniel Bryan chants. I guess he was getting cheered afterall. Smart booking early on with Bryan trying to be sneaky and escape whenever possible. Henry yelling at a ref to close that door was epic. Tornado DDT on Show from Bryan! Daniel Bryan wins in 9:08. Weird finish. Show Kos Henry, but Bryan breaks up the pin. Bryan runs up the cage but Big Show is on his tail. This ends up with Bryan hanging from Big Show’s arm…then finally dropping to the floor. I guess they were going with the Bryan is a fluke champion angle…which is ridiculously lame. Right guy went over, but the match and finish sucked. A lot of people thought the finish was a botch. We get some career review of Cena. How can anyone care? I mean we know he’s John Cena, WWE legend/icon already. Whatever. Eight Diva Tag Team Match Natayla, The Bellas, Beth Phoenix vs. Eve, Tamina, Alicia Fox, Kelly Kelly Matching attires for the heels! Eve was actually a pretty good wrestler. Hey Kelly, how about when you do a flying headscissors you don’t let go of the scissors before the bump? Kelly with the standard fly into everyone else on the floor spot. Team Phoenix wins when Beth pins Kelly. Actually a good finish where Beth hard tags one of the Bellas, tells her to get out of the ring and Glam Slams Kelly. Anyway, nothing special here, I guess it wasn’t horrible or anything. Certainly not good though. Big Johnny wheels Zack Ryder into his office or something, and Ryder’s back isn’t broken anymore. Kane had chokeslammed him through the stage on RAW. This whole feud was awful…but could have worked had Ryder actually pinned Kane at the end. Big Johnny was being nice just because his job was in jeopardy and HHH was gonna fire him the next night…which didn’t happen cause of Undertaker. Kane vs. John Cena Huge boos for Cena. Good thing that video earlier worked. Five minutes and a chinlock. Woo. Totally forgot about the Claw! Awful idea for a finisher. Double Countout in 10:56. Do I even need to explain why this finish is horrible? Kane beats the hell out of Cena in the back, then finds Ryder. Tombstone to Ryder. Eve cries. Cena’s back. Chokeslam to Cena. Kane standing tall at the end was actually nice, but otherwise, horrible all around. Really bad start to this PPV. Thank goodness it is the Rumble, so the Rumble can save it. Now a Rock video. Yay? Brodus Clay vs. Drew McIntyre Clay had just debuted as the Funkasauras. I liked it at first, but this got old by Mania. Clay pins McIntyre in 1:05. What the Funk for the win. Nice waste of PPV time. WWE Championship CM Punk© vs. Dolph Ziggler Story: Really Punk vs. Big Johnny. Laurinaitis was intending to screw Punk at the Rumble until he was informed he might be fired as GM of Raw. He was the ref for this, but decided to become a side ref instead. Ziggler had been a hot heel as it was though. Laurinaitis forces Vickie Guerrero to the back. Damn Cole saying Johnny was a better worker than Booker T. Using the word worker was what was surprising there. Punk with some great mockery of Ziggler. Ziggler actually trips Punk on the top rope and Punk takes a back bump. That was a little nuts to be honest. Fameasser countered into a spinning powerbomb! Nice by Punk! Hell nice by both. Punk beats Ziggler three different ways, but Laurinaitis misses it for legit ways (well the 3rd one was questionable). Punk calls Johnny “clownshoes”, which is awesome. GTS into a Fameasser! Crazy false finish that the fans bought hook, line, sinker. CM Punk retains by pin in 14:33. GTS for the win. Ref and Big Johnny make the count. Great match, absolutely saved this show so far. Furthered the storytelling. For anyone who thought it buried Ziggler…look at the rest of Ziggler’s 2012. He looked great. Royal Rumble Most people’s favorite match of the year. Money favorite this year is on Chris Jericho, who just returned all cryptically with the end of the world stuff. There was a gimmick for this Rumble…ANYONE can enter. Remember that. #1 is The Miz. I think he lost a match to end up here. Miz promo. Gonna prove everyone wrong tonight. I would have marked. We are literally at the Miz’s last great days here. #2 is Alex Riley. Hard to believe this was a main event duo at this point last year. Sorry, but Alex Riley sucks. Riley is gone. Whatever. #3 is R-Truth! Just getting the Miz’s rivals out of the way I see. #4 is Cody Rhodes! #5 is Justin Gabriel. #6 is Primo! R-Truth is gone! #7 is Mick Foley! Finally time for some fun. Foley’s knee is shot, that run wasn’t pretty. Huge Foley chant! Foley gets rid of Primo. #8 is Alberto Del Rio. Wait…a broken down car comes. It’s Ricardo! Amazing! Ricardo goes after Cody! Foley and Ricardo send Gabriel out. Ricardo does all the ADR mannerisms. Good stuff. #9 is Santino! Even more nuttyness. Some weird rolling from Ricardo and Santino. What? Santino sends Ricardo out. Cobra vs. Socko! #10 is Epico. Yay? Foley with his 3rd elimination! Bye Epico. Miz and Cody break up the Cobra vs. Socko war. Santino and Foley are out thanks to Rhodes. #11 is Kofi Kingston. Got a Riddler theme going here. #12 is Jerry Lawler! Really fun so far. Cody quickly dumps Lawler out. Gotta like Rhodes getting rid of all the fun entrants. #13 is Ezekiel Jackson. #14 is Jinder Mahal. Must mean Khali is soon. #15 is The Great Khali. There goes Mahal. Jackson is gone too from Khali. #16 is Hunico. #17 is Booker T! Cole is upset! Kofi with an awesome spot of handstanding on the floor and avoiding elimination. This started a trend. #18 is Ziggler. #19 is Hacksaw Jim Duggan! Crowd is HOT for Hacksaw! Duggan, Khali and Booker are all gone. #20 is Michael Cole! #21 is Kharama! Huge surprise! Lawler and Booker pull Cole out. Muscle Buster to Ziggler! Kharama gets rid of Hunico…but Ziggler takes her out. #22 is Sheamus. Time for the serious portion of the Rumble. Good bye Kofi. #23 is Road Dogg! Hard to believe he’d have a tag title run in his future still. #24 is Jey Uso. Did not care about the Usos at this point. #25 is Jack Swagger. #26 is Wade Barrett. #27 is David Otunga. #28 is the hometown Randy Orton. Huge pop. There goes an Uso and Barrett. Poor Barrett. #29 is Chris Jericho! No one knows who #30 is. Otunga is gone. #30 is Big Show. Huge groans from the crowd. Very disappointing #30. Swagger is gone. Show just dumps Rhodes and Miz. Horrible. Show, Sheamus, Orton and Jericho. Orton gets rid of Show, Jericho gets rid of Orton. Best possible scenario there. Sheamus wins the Rumble in 54:55. They have a great match for five minutes before Sheamus Brogue Kicks Jericho off the apron for the win. Fans were 70-30 for Jericho here…but Sheamus got a good pop for the win, probably because it was pretty damn surprising he’d win when Jericho was the smart money. There are two trains of thought for this Rumble: Not good because of the thin roster and amount of silliness, or really fun with a good finish. And I am with the latter. I’ll take fun and a good finish as long as there was no ridiculous stupidity involved. I do think what holds it back from being a top tier Rumble is the first argument, but this is very good, no doubt about it. So…. First half of the show blew. Absolutely blew. It was D quality. But then Punk and Ziggler had what had to be an A world title match, and the Rumble was a solid B+. Historically Sheamus would win the title…but how he did it killed him. It also made Bryan. And Punk-Johnny continues. We also say Ziggler shine again in a PPV title match. So some historical significance, even if not a lot. Tough to call. Can’t be in the As obviously, too much crap. B+ is even pushing it due to the lack of history and again, the first half was crap. So… Final Grade: B |
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| MPH | Apr 19 2014, 09:52 PM Post #70 |
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OMAHA!
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whenever you can get to them, these are some of my favorite WCW PPV's of all time: Starrcade 1995 Halloween Havoc 1989 WrestleWar 1992 Great American Bash 1996 Spring Stampede 1994 Spring stampede 1999 |
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Apr 25 2014, 02:37 AM Post #71 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WCW Superbrawl Revenge February 18, 2001 Nashville, TN Background: I wrote a little about where WCW was status wise in the Greed review. Basically it was on its last legs and were relying on Scott Steiner to get them out (actually not the worst plan, and I’d argue that it’s even a good plan). But it was too little too late. While WCW was actually showing signs of life in 2001, the damage of 2000 was just way too much for WCW to live through. Vince McMahon was about six weeks away from buying the promotion at this point, although I assume as of this date people still thought Fusient and Eric Bischoff were going to get it at this point. Maybe that’s why there was some motivated stuff going on here. Alas, the dying days of WCW present Superbrawl REVENGE! The Card What a strange opening video. Hard to explain. I don’t like the Revenge part of the title. Superbrawl is the 2nd biggest WCW PPV of the year. It’s like calling a PPV Summerslam Revenge or something. Road Warrior Animal attacked Billy Kidman earlier in the show. Apparently he’s out of the Cruiserweight Six Man Match. Cruiserweight Six Man Four Corners Elimination Match Jamie Knoble vs. Evan Karagias vs. Shannon Moore vs. Shane Helms vs. Kaz Hayashi vs. Yun Yang Um…this is just Three Count vs. The Jung Dragons. Although I guess neither of these groups are together at this point. There’s no reference to the history though, except a bit for Hayashi and Yang. Shannon Moore is still introduced as a member of Three Count. Maybe I’m wrong. Helms and Moore are still in Three Count. I guess Karagias just isn’t. And Knoble was masked before, so they probably just pretend he wasn’t part of the Dragons. Helms replaced Kidman in this. Winner gets a shot at the Cruiser title at Greed. Nice double team leading to a powerbomb from Helms to Knoble. Awesome camera work getting Moore going flying out of the ring. All the history is being brought up now, even with Knoble. My mistake. Not used to WCW referring accurately to history. What an awesome springboard Tornado DDT from Yang. Awesome portion when everyone goes to the top and misses a huge move. Pretty cool. Shannon Moore with an Asai Moonsault…but he springs off the TOP rope. Just amazing spot after amazing spot here. What a great match and no one’s out yet! Screwed up kick and Russian legsweep from Yang to Karagias. Yang pins Karagias for the first elimination. Knoble tombstones Yang to get rid of him. Shannon Moore takes an awesome bump off a dropkick off the apron from Knoble! Top rope Rocker Dropper (Bottoms Up from the Top!) from Moore to Knoble gets rid of him. Three Count vs. Hayashi here. Backslide into Guillotine Legdrop. What? Crazy innovative. Moore turns on Helms! Nightmare on Helms Street takes out Moore. Down to 2! Shane Helms wins when he pinned Hayashi in 17:30. Vertebreaker for the win. Wow. Just wow. Incredible match. Probably a top 10 all time PPV opener, that’s how good this is. Awesome dynamic having three teams with history be in an every man for himself match. Led to a lot of great double teams. Just amazing. Also makes me wonder if Helms could have been a bigger deal. And what the hell happened to Shannon Moore? Video camera catches Chavo Guerrero striking a deal with Ric Flair and Animal. Kevin Nash was hurt on Monday. WILL HE MAKE IT TO THE MAIN EVENT TONIGHT. Er…don’t they always? Hugh Morrus promo. Ugh, whatever. This is the fallout of the MIA I think. Apparently Hugh Morrus is back TONIGHT. Um..woo? Flair gives Scott Steiner an envelope. Now Lance Storm and Kronik have a confrontation about doctors. This was Commissioner Lance Storm. I don’t remember that. Hugh Morrus vs. The Wall Couldn’t we just have given the Cruisers 30 minutes? Morrus kicks the steel steps into the Wall’s head. Interesting spot which would be great…although it kinda shows the steps are a lot lighter than you’d think. Somehow we’ve gotten to the laying down part of the match. We’re only like 4 minutes in. Nice screwup on the stun gun. Not sure which that was on. Hugh Morrus pinned The Wall in 9:43. No Laughing Matter for the win. I actually though this had a solid start, but then turned into a boring “brawl” with a lot of laying down. But I mean, this could have been a lot worse I guess. Konnan attacks Animal because of what he did to Kidman. Security runs in to break them up…although it was implausible how all those security guards were just around the corner. WCW World Tag Team Championship Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire© vs. Mark Jindrak and Sean Stasiak I know these teams were matches differently at one point. Four green guys in one ring, although there is loads of potential here. Who’s better anyway, Stasiak or Curtis Axel? Stasiak makes fun of the Tennessee Titans not winning a championship. Um, wasn’t that 2000? I actually forgot how solid of a team O’Haire and Palumbo were. Shame the APA buried them as fast as they did. Mark Jindrak is pretty awful tough. Just got catapulted into his partner…and totally forgets to sell it. Palumbo is your future Chucky in peril. Palumbo and O’Haire win when O’Haire pins Stasiak in 11:37. Senton Bomb! Really well done tag match. I’m shocked. Put Palumbo and especially O’Haire over nicely. I know everyone says O’Haire was wasted in 2003…but he was wasted here too. There was huge potential here and he was someone WCW could have built the company around 2-3 years from this point. A shame. Pretty solid start to the PPV. Dustin Rhodes trashes Rick Steiner and Ric Flair. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Chavo Guerrero Jr.(c) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. While Chavo’s peak as a wrestling character was 1998…he was probably as his peak as a wrestler in 2001. Ugh, Rey with devil horns. A hard clothesline knocks the horns off. Best think Chavo ever did. Tony says Rey has had four major knee operations. No wonder he can barely walk now. Rey telegraphs a counter while in the tree of woe. Come on Rey. Gory Special is a cool submission. I don’t like the Gory Bomb though. Rey seems off, just not smooth climbing Chavo’s shoulders and the telegraph earlier. Rey is even a bit low on the moonsault. He’s just off. Maybe I’m just biased again non-masked Rey. Really digging Chavo here. Nice heel stuff from him. Chavo puts a Rey Jr. mask on Rey Jr. I expect a comeback now. Rey now puts the mark on Chavo. Nice over the top somersault from Rey. We have a chair in the ring! Rey with a cool Hurricanrana off the apron from a wristlock…but he unfortunately screwed up the setup twice. Chavo Guerrero Jr. retains in 15:53. Rey tries to use the chair…but ref takes it and Chavo uses that distraction to hit Rey with another chair! Brainbuster wins it. Good match…but Rey actually brought it down a bit by being sloppy. Solid heel finish. This set up Chavo vs. Helms. WCW US Championship Rick Steiner© vs. Dustin Rhodes Somehow Kevin Nash made this happen storyline wise. Dustin had problems with Owner Flair here. Rick actually drops the US title on the way to the ring. Real nice Rick. Rick actually sells some punches here. Already more than the Greed match with Booker. I think it’s weird that 2014 Goldust is in twice the shape 2001 Dustin was. Probably the worst looking jawbreaker ever by Dustin…it looked like Steiner hit a Rear Naked Choke Drop. Rick Steiner retains in 9:11 by pin. Steiner slams Rhodes into an unexposed turnbuckle…then uses the ropes for the pin which is a good heel finish. Match sucked though. Expected from Rick Steiner at this point. Post Match Shattered Dreams owned though. Sorry Dustin, unless you are Goldust, no one cares. Flair tells Commish Storm Dustin needs to get kicked out. Winner of Totally Buff and Kronik gets a tag title shot. Page and The Cat are left from team non-Flair I guess. What about Nash? Page says they need the Cat to win back the Commissionership. Totally Buff vs. Kronik Luger rambles. Great. He even begins to imitate Flair. Bagwell buries our Tag Champs. Although…the champs get their revenge at Greed. Apparently Bryan Clarke isn’t medically cleared. So we have a handicap match. Clarke comes out anyway. So what’s the point of the storyline? Hey a fake Bryan Clarke. It’s Mike Awesome. I gotta say, that’s nicely done. He attacks Adams of course. Totally Buff defeats Brian Adams when Bagwell got the pin in 6:45. Match sucked, but I admit I liked the finish. Put over Adams I guess. Lance Storm tries to kick Kronik out of the building. Lance Storm does seem like an awesome Commissioner actually. WCW Commissionership On the Line Lance Storm© vs. The Cat The Cat calls Lance Storm a fake Power Ranger. I don’t get it. On one hand I feel like Storm deserves better…on the other it’s cool to have a storyline instead of just having matches. They do tell a good story with Storm working on a knee he attacked on Thunder. The Cat pins Lance Storm in 8:07. Mike Sanders causes a distraction and the Cat hits the Feliner for the win. Total mismatch of ability here. Okay for what it was. We are supposed to get DDP vs. Jeff Jarrett…but Jarrett makes Page go through a warm-up. Oddly remixed video of DDP challenging Kanyon. Anywhere, anytime! So Jarrett says now. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kanyon Kanyon attacks Page from behind and here we go. Kanyon with a Rocker Dropper on the steel steps. Unique I guess. Page is bleeding. Cool suplex where Kanyon was standing on the 2nd rope and Page was on the apron. Kanyon then suplexed him. Creative indeed. KANYON CUTTER! Page survives! Jarrett’s here. Ref is out. Stroke! Kanyon pins DDP in 8:15. Flatliner for the win. I think that’s an odd choice since Page is gonna fight Jarrett now…but I guess the idea is that Kanyon wore down Page for Jarrett. Anyway, solid match. Pretty good back and forth. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jeff Jarrett Kanyon introduces the next match….a good line here here: “Scheduled for one fall, I don’t know, two hour time limit.” I like how Jarrett just redoes his whole entrance. Scott Hudson says “we’ll stay with this as long as we can”. Um..what? I guess this is no DQ…since we have blatant chair action. This is a pretty basic match with Jarrett beating on DDP and DDP coming back, but at least it is well done. Page takes a straight chair shot to the head…but Page kicks out. DDP pins Jarrett in 8:30. Jarrett accidentally nails Kanyon with a guitar…and Page gets the Diamond Cutter for the win. Another solid basic match. Told the story of Page having to go through two matches well. IS KEVIN NASH HERE? CAN HE WRESTLE? WCW World Championship Scott Steiner© vs. Kevin Nash President Flair comes to ringside! He’s on commentary! Wow we get the Sid broken leg spot in a video. Was that necessary? Flair makes it a retirement match! Those are always legit! That was what the envelope was all about. Here comes Nash! Wheelchair with two hot nurses. Lol Kevin Nash is cool? Scott Steiner can’t pronounce sympathy. Nash is faking. Nash hits Steiner with the WCW Title and pins Steiner, 1…2…3! What a load of bullshit that is. Scott Steiner is supposed to be a MONSTER heel you know. Flair turns this into best 2 out of 3 falls. It’ll take more than 2 falls to save Steiner’s credibility here. Also, wouldn’t it have made more sense for Flair to have DQed Nash there? Totally Buff randomly attacks DDP in the back. Ok? Steiner whacks Nash with a lead pipe…but Steiner can’t get Nash’s dead weight into the ring. So Flair says it’s Falls Count Anywhere. Steiner ties it up. Kevin Nash just escapes the Steiner Recliner like it’s nothing. I don’t even like Steiner that much and I know that’s awful. Pretty sure Midajah misses her cue on taking out the ref when Nash had a pin attempt. That was funny. Jackknife but Midajah and Flair take out the ref. Flair takes out the ref a second time. Scott Steiner retains by ref stoppage at 12:29. Steiner Recliner after a chair shot gets it done. Horrible match, horrible booking. It’s crap like this that killed WCW. Not only did Nash pin Steiner in 16 seconds, but he then survived and escaped the Steiner Recliner with little struggle and had Steiner beat twice and got help to kill the count. Horrible main event ruined what was a pretty decent show. I defend Nash at times, but here is just indefensible. The effort was there. It really was. WCW did some good stuff at the end. It’s too bad guys like Nash were still around hurting the product. WCW was missing some top guys here (Sting, Booker) and still put on a decent show. The first half of it sans Morrus-Wall had some awesome wrestling, especially the opener. I was ready to give WCW the benefit of the doubt and a B, B- for effort and some legit good stuff, but Kevin Nash just had to come in his wheel chair and fuck that up. Still, for the first half and the DDP stuff, this is a decent PPV. A C+, C ending for WCW isn’t bad considering what 2000 was like for them. Final Grade: C+ |
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Apr 27 2014, 09:02 PM Post #72 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WCW Starrcade ‘95 December 27, 1995 Nashville, TN Background: There’s little point in going over the background of WCW 1995 leading up to this event. While yes, WCW was coming on strong with Nitro doing well against RAW earlier on, and Hulk Hogan had given them the national recognition they were looking for (the short term gain that eventually turned into a huge long term loss) none of that really matters for Starrcade 1995. How does that make sense? Because Starrcade 1995 is a war between New Japan and WCW. You’ve gotta give Eric Bischoff credit. He did everything he could to make WCW different that the WWF and it couldn’t be more evident here. The New Japan vs. WCW war was a really cool idea that actually serves as the prototype for the nWo later in 1996. Here’s what you need to know: Seven New Japan vs. WCW matches, best of seven. Winner gets a big Cup. The Card World Cup of Wrestling Match 1 Chris Benoit (WCW) vs. Jushin Liger (New Japan) I’m hyped for this. Benoit was just named as a Horseman. I like Liger’s rolling spinning heel kick. Surfboard from Liger. One of my favorite holds. Crowd randomly erupts on a Benoit superplex. Not sure why the crowd went crazy there. Jushin Liger pins Chris Benoit in 10:29. Kevin Sullivan provides a distraction, and Liger gets a botches hurricanrana for the three. Good match, although it was getting really good right as it ended. I guess considering who was involved it could be considered disappointing. 1-0 New Japan. Mean Gene with Eddy Guerrero. Talking about the Benoit-Liger match. This is bland face Eddy. World Cup of Wrestling Match 2 Alex Wright (WCW) vs. Koji Kanemoto (New Japan) I guess WCW didn’t want to bring out their best seven. I mean, how else does Alex Wright get a spot? We get a USA chant. You know Alex Wright is German. It’s kinda clear early on that Wright isn’t in Kanemoto’s league. Nice kick combo with a spin kick from Kanemoto. Definitely a botch there with Alex Wright running from an over the top bodypress…which Kanemoto just hit where Wright stopped running. Nice moonsault from Kanemoto. That dropkick that not hit as Kanemoto came off the top. Koji Kanemoto pinned Alex Wright in 11:44. Jackknife pin for the win. Alex Wright was still pretty raw here and it showed. Not a bad match though, pretty decent. New Japan leads 2-0. WCW HOTLINE! World Cup of Wrestling Match 3 Lex Luger (WCW) vs. Masahiro Chono (New Japan) Luger’s a heel here…but people are cheering him I guess because WCW is down 2-0. Which is smart match placement to be fair. What a boring match. Chono and Luger skipped the importance of selling somewhere in their career. That’s not fair I guess. Luger looks like he’s trying at least. Ha, the famous Dusty and Heenan getting on Schiavone about the Mafia Kick call. Great stuff. Lex Luger makes Masahiro Chono submit in 6:41. Torture Rack for the win. Commentary owned. Match did not. A whole lot of nothing happens with Chono and Luger selectively selling movies. 2-1 New Japan. Sting interview. Okerlund brings up that Kensuke Sasaki beat Sting for the US Title a few months ago, which Sting hilariously responds too. They also talk about the Triangle Match later for the World Title shot. World Cup of Wrestling Match 4 Johnny B. Badd (WCW) vs. Masa Saito (New Japan) Sonny Oono trashes Kimberly, which ends with him telling Badd to control his woman because we (the Japanese) do. Good heel stuff, I laughed. I think it’s interesting that two Johnny B. Badd valets in a row did Playboy. Kimberly here, and Sable later. Johnny B. Badd wins by DQ in 5:52. Saito tosses Badd over the top rope to get the DQ. Pretty much a waste of time. A lot of choking and chopping…then of course a finish with the dumbest rule in pro wrestling. Series tied at 2. Luger interview. More hype on the Triangle Match. World Cup of Wrestling Match 5 Eddy Guerrero (WCW) vs. Shinjiro Otani (New Japan) Really cool variation of the monkey flip from Otani. Really nice fold up powerbomb from Eddy on Otani. Awesome height on the springboard dropkick from Otani! Sick German from Otani. Eddy busts out the Flying Edge into a Sitout, which is really nice. Springboard corkscrew press from the top from Eddy to the outside! Nice! Shinjiro Otani pinned Eddy Guerrero in 13:43. Some crazy pinning combinations lead to Otani holding Eddy down for one. You don’t see that finish a lot, and I liked it. Really good match that was a bit slow at the beginning, but picked up perfectly. 3-2 New Japan. Savage interview. TO INFINITY AND BEYOND! World Cup of Wrestling Match 6 Randy Savage (WCW) vs. Tensan (New Japan) Savage is the Champ. Probably one of the more obvious results you’ll ever see here. Randy Savage pins Tensan in 6:55. Savage seemingly botches a suplex or some attempt of one into the ring…then hits the elbow off the top for the win. Finish came out of nowhere and I think was Savage’s only offense. Just a boring 7 minutes of Tensan beating up Savage before the quick comeback. Bad match. Anyway, we are tied at 3! I think Bobby Heenan is drunk. Ric Flair interview. Weird that he’s not part of the WCW team here…but Alex Wright is? World Cup of Wrestling Match 7 Sting (WCW) vs. Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan) There is some history here. Sasuke is the US Champ…and he beat Sting for it. Sting makes Sasaki submit in 6:52. Scorpion for the win. Had the exact same formula as the last match, which is pretty lame. Crowd popped huge for the Scorpion. WCW wins 4-3. Triangle Match: Winner gets a WCW World Championship Match Sting vs. Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair Interesting dynamic in this match as only two are in the ring, and someone will be on the apron and needs to be tagged in or out. Not nearly sure on this, but this has to be one of the first type of three way matches on a national stage. I know WWF didn’t have one until 1996. We start with Sting and Flair. Typical good Sting vs. Flair stuff. This is probably going to be three matches in one, which I am fine with. Flair shoves Sting into the corner and Luger gets tagged in. Interesting that we get 1991 face Luger here. Flair works on the leg, of course. Flair always got the best matches out of Luger. Kinda similar to Bret Hart and the British Bulldog. Flair tags in Sting and I like the logic, forcing “best friends” Luger and Sting to go at it. Ric Flair wins by countout in 28:03. Flair sends Luger and Sting to the outside when they were the legal men…and gets the countout win when Luger “inadvertently” pulls Sting back outside. Finish furthered the story at least. The match is pretty good though, as it’s basically three one on one matches. Very well done. I really like the tag dynamic for the three way for whatever reason. WCW World Championship Randy Savage© vs. Ric Flair Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage: The only match to be a world title match on Wrestlemania and Starrcade. There’s a Jimmy Hart dynamic here too. He hates the Horsemen. He was aligned with Luger, but when Flair won he came to ringside. So I guess he’s just gold digging and will align himself with the Horsemen if needed. Fine I guess, lol. Flair had to be the best heel in the business at this point. He’s just cheating everywhere and it’s awesome. Chaos begins with Jimmy Hart tossing the megaphone in…but Savage gets control and hits him with it…and Flair is bleeding everywhere! Ric Flair wins the title by pin in 8:41. The Horsemen show up and cause all kinds of problems. Arn Anderson nails Savage with brass knuckles and Flair gets the pin. Crowd pops huge for the pin, showing that WCW is still Flair country even if he’s a heel. Not a bad match, even though Flair himself hated the finish (“I didn’t win the title, they won the title”), but I thought the finish was okay, although disappointingly not clean. Match was decent. A little short. Starrcade 1995 is a strange show. Let’s break it up in parts. The concept: The USA vs. Japan War seems out of place. I get WCW was trying to maximize their agreement with New Japan, I just don’t think this concept works in 1995. It doesn’t help that we don’t get the best Japanese guys either. No Great Muta? The WCW team is pretty random too. Why didn’t Flair wrestle in it but Alex Wright did? Was there really no one better than Alex Wright? Also, no surprise that Guerrero, Benoit and Wright all lost and Luger, Savage and Sting won (Badd won through BS). I think this idea works perhaps in the early 90s, but 1995 was pushing it. Starrcade only had 90k buys, which had to be disappointing. Of course, no Hogan was probably a factor there too. But, you have to give WCW credit for trying something new. Especially since this idea was the prototype for the ultra popular nWo later. No point in shoving out the same old formula if you don’t have to. The matches are hit or miss. Benoit-Liger, Guerrero-Otani, Triangle are hits. Tensan-Savage, Sasaki-Sting and Saito-Badd are misses. Main event was okay for what it was. Unfortunately, this show has almost no historical value at all outside of the idea that this served as the prototype for the nWo. The Flair-Savage-Sting-Luger main event scene sounds awesome…but Hogan would overshadow them all in the coming months so it wouldn’t matter. And while Evil Japan still had a presence in WCW (Starrcade 96 even began that way), this invasion didn’t really lead to anything significant. Mostly a well wrestled show, but the concept doesn’t work enough for me. Would have preferred a clean finish in the main event of the biggest PPV of the year too. Final Grade: C+ |
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| Baldwin | Apr 29 2014, 05:02 PM Post #73 |
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6x EBL Champion
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How about Unforgiven 2005 |
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May 12 2014, 12:36 AM Post #74 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image WCW Great American Bash ‘96 June 16, 1996 Baltimore, MD WCW was coming on strong now. WCW had more than held its own since launching Nitro opposite of RAW every Monday Night. Eric Bischoff used every tactic he could to get the upper hand on the WWF...and it worked. Reveal RAW taping results? Did it. He even put the show on at five minutes before the hour…just to get the lead-in advantage. But the biggest change happened when Scott Hall showed up on Nitro in late May. Hall was one of the WWF’s top guys from 1993 through 1995. Kevin Nash showed up a few weeks later…and in 1995 he was THE top WWF guy. Let history show that the Nitro right before this show, the June 10th edition, would be the last victory in the Monday Night ratings war for the WWF until April 13th, 1998. WCW had more than Hall and Nash though. It had the best matches. It had some of the biggest stars in wrestling (Hogan, Savage, Flair etc.). It had fresh main eventers (The Giant). Overall it was just a more compelling company at that point. Vince had several lawsuits going on against WCW, even some involving Hall and Nash, but it didn’t matter (although it would matter for a segment on this show). The 1996 edition of the Great American Bash was the first PPV that was a part of 83 weeks of dominance from WCW. The Card There’s a lot going on with this show. Bobby Heenan has a team going up against a Randy Savage team tonight. I actually forgot about this. The Steiner Bros.(c) vs. Fire and Ice Fire and Ice is Scott Norton and Ice Train. Norton would gain some fame for his run in the nWo and Japan. Ice Train…actually I have no idea what he did after feuding with Norton. An okay power match so far. It seems like Ice Train is WAY out of his league here though. Yikes Scott Steiner drops Scott Norton on his head with a suplex. That was almost a broken neck. Admittedly a great spot where Norton locks in an armbar. When Rick Steiner tries to break it, Norton no sells a bunch of kicks to the face. It was pretty bad ass. The Steiners win when Scott pins Norton in 10:29. Flying Bulldog…then a horrible Frankensteiner for the win. Not a good start when the first finish is botched. Match…was okay. A good point was that it was non stop action, not one rest hold. The bad point is several botched moves. Some hype for the Falls Count Anywhere match between Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit. Not really digging the promo though. Somehow Sullivan is making it NOT about Benoit, but more about Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. WCW United States Championship Konnan© vs. El Gato Seriously? This is the best we can do in WCW 1996 for WCW’s 2nd biggest singles title? El Gato is Pat Tatanka. Konnan is wearing the stupidest mask. There’s some good Konnan offence to start. I don’t say that often. Konnan retains in 6:03 by pin. Ugly sunset flip to the outside to El Gato. Konnan then got a jackknife pin in the ring for the win. It had a good start…then sucked the rest of the way. Not really a good start to this show. Sting mocks Steven Regal…and it’s pretty funny to be fair. Lord of the Ring Match Diamond Dallas Page vs. Marcus Bagwell This is for Page’s Battlebowl ring…I think? It’s jarring to see Page as the chicken-shit heel and Bagwell as the good guy. Page hilariously misses? a kick and sells it like a mullion dollars…even if it wasn’t a million dollar move. DDP pins Bagwell in 9:39. Diamond Cutter for the win. Okay back and forth match…but three okay matches isn’t the way to start a PPV. Jimmy Hart is questioned about his allegiance to The Giant or Lex Luger. He’s with the Giant here. Giant’s early promos were pretty funny. He does look badass as World Champion here though. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Dean Malenko© vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. Rey Jr’s debut here. I like that Rey began with the technical wrestling…and not Malenko. Really good sequence to start with a double nip up. Nice over the head sunset flip from Rey. Malenko expertly works on the arm. He does a hold I never seen that I can’t explain, pulling the arm then kicking it away. Malenko traps Rey’s arm in the guardrail then kicks the guardrail. Ouch! Malenko counters the hurricarana by flipping Rey back to his feet then leveling him with a clothesline! Nice! Malenko with my favorite hold, the surfboard! Then he turns it into a pin! Only two though. Malenko is dominating this match…but it’s a great way to put over Rey’s resilience. Perfect springboard somersault to the outside from Rey! Dean Malenko retains by pin 17:50. Mysterio is on a roll hitting a lot of high flying spots…but a hurricanrana turns into a stiff powerbomb! Malenko uses the ropes as well for the pin. Great match that has kicked this PPV into high gear. Malenko looked great and Rey looked great. This match is also the match that kicked the Cruiserweight division into high gear. There were talks of ending the division before this. Lex Luger interview. He’s already a tag and TV champ. Will he add the World Title tonight?! Big Bubba vs. John Tenta Enzugiri from Big Bubba! Awkward fall from Tenta that had Bubba land on him. John Tenta pins Bubba in 5:24. Big slam to win. Basically the opposite speed wise of the match before. Match was slow…and not good. Tenta can barely move here. We get an interview with Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene. I always thought it was weird Greene became this part time wrestler, but he wasn’t horrible. Falls Count Everywhere Kevin Sullivan vs. Chris Benoit A blood feud spawning from the Dungeon of Doom vs. the Horsemen. They don’t even get into the ring, as Benoit attacks in the aisleway and they end up going through the crowd. In the men’s bathroom now! HE PUT HIS HEAD IN THE COMMODE! Now out of the bathroom, Sullivan knocks Benoit down the steps in the crowd. Really entertaining brawl. Benoit and Sullivan both try spots on the table…but it doesn’t break either time. Clearly a non-gimmicked table. Chris Benoit pins Kevin Sullivan in 9:58. Benoit hits a superplex off the top using the table to stand. Pin gets three. Arn Anderson comes down to stop Benoit from beating down Sullivan…but then attacks Sullivan, showing allegiance to the Four Horsemen. That gets a huge reaction. Really good brawl here, even if some of the bathroom stuff was kinda funny. Even though this match wasn’t the first WCW Falls Count Anywhere match, it has a lot of influence on the later WWF Hardcore division. Still, at the time some people called this one of the greatest matches they’d ever seen…but I wouldn’t go that far. Just a really good brawl with some originality. Reunited Horsemen interview. But there are only three of them! Bobby Heenan managing the Horsemen kinda owns. Sting vs. Lord Steven Regal Story here: Regal thought the WCW Championship committee overlooked him and he wanted to make a statement. Here’s someone who got lost in the shuffle when the nWo showed up: Steven Regal. Regal was such a good unique heel even then. He just had a style no one else used. Regal had some awesome heel taunts as well. Match has had a great story, with Regal working on the arm and using cheap tactics anytime Sting makes a comeback. Sting makes Steven Regal submit in 16:30. Sting superman comeback…but it had a nice small varation. Regal actually counters the Stinger Splash by getting his knees up…but falls to the Scorpion anyway. Pretty good match here, it definitely made Regal look like he was at a comparable level to Sting. Too bad Regal wasn’t pushed much later in the year. Legends of the Gridiron vs. Legends of the World of Wrestling Ric Flair and Arn Anderson vs. Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene This was an extension of the Flair vs. Randy Savage feud. Savage was suspended for something and couldn’t wrestle…but was in Greene and McMichael’s corner here. This might be Debra McMichael’s debut. Sorry to spoil the ending, but there is some great commentary here. Tony talks about a story that Mongo signed with the Packers of the Bears for money. I like forshadowing. There’s some funny stuff with Flair and Greene in here. Flair tricks Greene into the three point stance before stepping on his hand. Greene later tosses Flair out and does the Flair strut. It’s kinda jarring to see Steve McMichael put a Figure Four on Ric Flair. All the women at ringside chase each other to the back. This also will be significant soon. Watching this re-enforces the idea to me that Kevin Greene would have been a decent full time wrestler. Some expert heeling from Anderson and Flair…but Savage attacks Anderson. Benoit comes out to attack Savage. Debra is back out here with a briefcase! Ric Flair and Arn Anderson win when Flair pins Greene in 20:51. Debra shows Mongo that the briefcase is full of money and a Horsemen shirt! Of course Mongo accepts, and smashes the briefcase over Greene’s head and Flair gets the pin. Very well done, and there’s your 4th Horseman! Match wasn’t good, but it had entertaining moments and Greene isn’t even a wrestler, so it’s all good. But the finish was what mattered, and it was good. Ok this next segment is one of the most revolutionary segments in professional wrestling history. Eric Bischoff comes out and talks about the interruptions that’s taken place on Nitro, that being Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. Nash and Hall come out. Nash and Hall made a challenge for a three on three. Bischoff says it will be at Bash at the Beach. Bischoff asks them both if they work for the WWF, which they both say no. That ended some lawsuits right there. Bischoff refuses to tell Hall and Nash who team WCW is, that it will be revealed on Nitro. Hall gets pissed and nails Bischoff. Nash then powerbombs Bischoff through a portion of the stage. This was HUGE at the time. Nothing had been seen on national wrestling TV like it. WCW as we knew it would never be the same, as the nWo era had been in full gear now. WCW World Championship The Giant© vs. Lex Luger Seeing the Giant with the WCW World title makes me think about what a waste it was when the nWo just buried him. Match starts with Luger running into a big boot of the Giant. I don’t know why, but I thought that owned. Sting chases Jimmy Hart away…so it’s a real 1 on 1 now! The Giant retains by pin in 9:58. Luger goes for the Rack, and has him up…but collapses (and Giant lands on his head…that could have been a lot worse). Chokeslam for the win. Um…I mean it’s obvious this match was boring and sucked right? I mean that’s the ceiling for Giant vs. Luger (I liked their Starrcade match better to be fair). Right man went over though, Giant was the man at the time. This show constantly gets brought up as one of the greatest PPVs ever and in that first hour I wasn’t sure why. Then Malenko vs. Mysterio practically created the Cruiserweight division. Then Benoit and Sullivan had their great match. Then Sting and Regal had a good match. Flair and Arn did entertaining stuff. Nash and Hall changed the business. A lot of damn good stuff happened here. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives…but this still isn’t nearly the greatest PPV ever. It’s very good, but there was too much crap to really get there (Big Bubba vs. John Tenta? Page vs. Bagwell?). I don’t think Sullivan vs. Benoit is the five star classic people said it was (still, it was very good). Maybe if the main event was better, it would be close to the elite, but Giant vs. Luger was pretty bad. I would normally say this is in the B, B+ range…but the historical value of this show is quite high. The Hall and Nash stuff alone just blew everyone away at the time. And that Rey Mysterio guy kinda became a big deal. Final Grade: A- |
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May 18 2014, 01:31 AM Post #75 |
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Tyler
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Posted Image AAA When Worlds Collide 1994 November 6, 1994 Los Angeles, CA I’m not going to pretend I really know anything about AAA in 1994 (or now, really), but this show did have some significance in regards to the future of American professional wrestling. I figure this could be a fun special project. There are two things of significance that drew me to doing this show. The first is the WCW connection. AAA and WCW had some type of working relationship here (Mike Tenay’s commenating debut!) and WCW helped AAA in regards to securing the deal for an American PPV. WCW handled the American broadcast. A lot of the guys on this show (Rey Mysterio Jr, Eddy Guerrero, Psicosis, Chris Benoit) would eventually get to WCW when Eric Bischoff moved forward in acquiring talent…although they all would go through ECW first. Guerrero specifically wrote in his book about how this PPV was key in getting noticed by ECW and hoped he and tag team partner Art Barr would get picked up. This was because the peso had crashed, and Mexican wrestlers were not making as much as they were before. This leads to my second point of significance: Los Gringos Locos, Eddy Guerrero and Art Barr. One of the true pioneers in tag team wrestling. They were actually called La Pareja del Terror as there was a bigger stable called Los Gringos Locos, but Eddy make it clear in his book that the stable version was watered down…that Eddy and Art were the real deal. It was rumored Paul Heyman was already planning on bringing in Los Gringos Locos to ECW to feud with Public Enemy, but Art Barr passed away two weeks after this show. Of course, Heyman still brought Guerrero in, and the rest is history. This show has a well-regarded two out of three falls Mask vs. Hair match between Los Gringos Locos and El Hijo del Santo and Octogon. The Card The opening hype package talks a lot about the IWC (International Wrestling Council). I think it is one big heel group that had its own titles, but I’m not sure. Mini-Match Espectrito and Jerrito Estrada vs. Mascarita Sagrada and Octagoncito There’s history between these four, but Sagrada had made Espectrito unmask, which is one of the biggest things in Mexico. A lot of cool armdrag sequences to start…but some of them do look pretty damn fake to be honest. This match (and probably the whole card, since this is a Lucha Libra promotion) is Lucha Libre rules. That means tags aren’t necessarily required, if someone gets thrown out, their partner can just come in. This usually is a lot of fun. Some really fun high flying moves, including a perfect suicide dive from Oct. Mascarita Sagrada and Octagoncito defeated Jerrito Estrada and Espectrito when Sagrada pinned Espectrito in 8:30. Cool double team that led to a top rope moonsault for the win. Referee was out of place though and the count was awkward. Shame it ended as it was just picking up. To be fair though, this was just a string of spots with a billion armdrags. I would call it decent, leaning towards good. Whoever the announcer is with Tenay is awful. He just got all the names confused. Fuezra Guerrera, Psicosis and Madonna’s Boyfiend vs. Heavy Metal, Rey Mysterio Jr. and Latin Lover Guerrera is Juvi’s father. We know Psicosis. Madonna’s Boyfield is Louie Spicolli. Heavy Metal and Latin Lover each made Royal Rumble 97 appearances. We all know Rey. In Lucha Libra there are “captains”. Guerrera and Metal are the captains. Team Guerrera are the rudos, or heels. They are part of Los Gringos Locos I believe. Rey is 19 years old here. Nice Rey vs. Psicosis early on. Spicolli feels like such a weird member of this match. We get some Spicolli and Latin Lover dancing. I bet Spicolli was pretty over in AAA. Awesome sequence between Psicosis and Heavy Metal. Man Rey was awesome even at 19. Spicolli just tosses Rey from over his head into the crowd. That owned. Heavy Metal no sells a trip kick from Psicosis by springboard backflipping. That was pretty awesome. Left the announcer that’s not Tenay speechless. Damn to the outside Swanton from Rey to Spicolli. Team Guerrera wins when Guerrera makes Metal submit in 12:46. Lame neck hold/armbar finishes. Match had some good stuff and some bad stuff. The good stuff was really good. Rey and Psicosis are in their own tier, but Metal and Lover were pretty good too. Spicolli is clearly the odd man out, but he wasn’t bad. My question is, is it generally accepted that Fuerza Guerrera sucks Mil Mascaras style? Or did he just have an off night? Guerrera no sold things, and generally looked awkward in the ring. The finish was also pretty bad. Overall though, this is a fun match. Tito Santana, Pegasus Kid and 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Blue Panther, La Parka and Jerry Estrada Interesting combination of guys here. Only one without an extended USA run is Panther. Santana is a famous WWE wrestler. Kid is Benoit of course. Scorpio was good in ECW, a WCW World Tag Team Champion and Flash Funk in WWE. La Parka was the chairman of WCW. Estrada was part of Savio Vega’s Los Boricas. Captains are Pegasus Kid and I think Parka. Team Benoit is IWC, so they are the rudos here. The technico team (faces) are having problems. 2 Cold Scorpio was really good at one time. I think I found one of the errors this show did. The whole conversation is about how Tito Santana is the weak link of his team because he hasn’t wrestled Mexican style a lot. If you are trying to appeal to an American audience, Santana was WAY the most accomplished of his team at this point. La Parka and Scorpio with a funny meeting in the middle of the ring. La Parka is awesome. Estrada and La Parka clearly not getting along. Estrada and La Parka argue about who pins Scorpio. It will probably cost them the match. Benoit, Scorpio and Santana win when Benoit pinned Panther in 14:58. Benoit counters a powerbomb with an ugly hurricanrana to get the pin. Crowd didn’t see that as the finish, and this is the third underwhelming finish out of three matches. Match was unfortunately hurt by the La Parka-Estrada storyline. There was some good stuff from Scorpio and Benoit though. Okay match. Hey a Starrcade advert! Chris Cruise, the other announcer, actually says “I would guess Hulk Hogan would be at Starrcade” right after a video that promoted Hogan. Perceptive. Two Out of Three Falls – Hair vs. Mask Match La Pareja del Terror vs. El Hijo del Santo and Octagon There is a lot of history here, as these two had feuded for a year. Back in July, Guerrero and Barr won the tag title from Santo and Octagon. Weird thing here too. A fall only counts when both guys are defeated. Chris Cruise tells us there is a 30 minute time limit, but that can be changed later. Why have it then? Guerrero and Santo with some basic wrestling early. First fall comes very quickly. Awesome doomsday device type move, with Eddy doing a hurricanrana instead of a clothesline to Santo. Art Barr frog splashes (Eddy took it from him as a tribute) Octagon shortly afterwards. 1-0 Gringos. At first I thought the quick fall was stupid, but it works out great. HUGE heat for Gringos. Eddy with a floatover fall away slam. Never saw that before. This is the first match I’ve ever seen of Art Barr. But he seems awesome. Top rope hurricanrana by Eddy, and he pins Santo! We are one pin of Octagon away here. Barr backdrops Octagon into Guerrero…and Octagon hurricanranas him for the pin when Barr was playing toward the crowd! Octagon then traps Barr in some crazy octopus hold and Barr taps, and we are tied! Crowd is super hot now! The logic kinda sucks for the beginning of the third fall. Each team separately breaks up submission holds at their leisure…without the opposing illegal man trying to help. Whatever. Ok, quick history lesson here. Earlier in the card Cruise and Tenay talked about how the only move banned in Mexico is the piledriver because it severly injured someone. This matters because… Behind the referee’s back Barr spikes Octagon with a Tombstone Piledriver and gets the easy pin. You heard the crowd gasp. AND Octagon gets stretchered out. Talk about great heel heat here. We have a handicap match left. Santo survives the Barr frog splash. Santo chant breaks out. Heel miscomminucation….and Santo goes crazy! Blue Panther, who was in Santo and Octagon’s corner, attacks Barr from behind without the ref seeing…and spikes him with a piledriver! Crowd is going crazy. Santo gets the pin on Barr. Santo and Octagon win when Santo pins Guerrero in 22:29. Guerrero hits some suplexes and hurricanranas, but Santo counters one and gets the roll up for the win! Huge pop! I think technically the match wasn’t perfect…but Los Gringos Locos were just awesome heels here. The whole pin both guys idea worked out great, as it allowed two big comebacks for Octagon and Santo. Great match overall. Barr and Eddy could have made big money in the future had Barr not passed away. Guerrero and Barr get a haircut, of course. Steel Cage Match Perro Aguayo vs. Konnan Konnan was the biggest thing in Mexico. Aguayo is a legend. They were friends at one time, but Konnan turned. I believe this is the Mexican equivalent of the of Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant, only if Hogan was the one who turned instead of Andre. Aguayo defeated Konnan to make Konnan lose his mask. Konnan beat Aguayo in a Hair match. Three years later after an alliance, this is the rubber match. Aguayo gets a side slide pin, and the ref actually counts on the outside…even though it’s been said the only way to win is via escape. A lot of sloppiness early on. The pin. Konna selling a dropkick that missed him by a mile. An ugly electric chair drop. Aguayo’s is busted due to getting sent face first into the cage. Aguayo goes for another pin for some reason. Cruise says the ref will count it, but it won’t count for anything. Pretty damn stupid if you ask me. ANOTHER pin for Aguayo. What the hell? The ref isn’t even counting anymore. We see a bald Eddy Guerrero backstage watching this match. Konnan is part of Los Gringos Locos I believe. Guerrero and Spicolli come out and Guerrero throws some liquid in Aguayo’s eyes when he was climbing the cage. They throw brass knuckes to Konnan as well. Konnan beats the crap out of Aguayo and he’s bleeding everywhere. Los Dynamite Brothers (I don’t know who they are, except for Cein Caras) come out to chase away Guerrero and Spicolli. Cein Caras knocks Konnan off the top of the cage! Perro Aguayo escapes in 17:50. One more double foot stop, and Aguayo wins it. Long celebration afterwards. I would say this is a good match wrestling wise (even though it was the best Konnan match I’ve ever seen), but the crowd was super into it and it did its job. The celebration with the legend is a nice touch and reminds me of the end of ECW Barely Legal. An interesting Pay-Per-View. Only had one killer match, which was Octagon and Santo vs. Los Gringos Locos. The main event was fine for what it was. Everything else ranges from decent to good, although I would actually say that’s disappointing as I sense all three undercard matches could have been better. In regards to American pro wrestling, a lot of guys on this show would get jobs indirectly because of this show. Mysterio, Psicosis, Guerrero, Benoit and Spicolli would all show up in ECW shortly after this, and Spicolli specifically said this show was the reason he got a job in the USA. Not a bad show. Some great stuff. A cool look at some future superstars. Admittedly some disappointing stuff too though. Final Grade: B |
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