Author: Big Cal

Undertaker Month – Review a Day #6

The Undertaker Vs Ric Flair – House Show 10/09/1992

Something nice and rare; Dead Man Undertaker Vs WWF Champ Ric Flair!

Undertaker just stands in the corner as Flair lets him know who the champ is, and proceeds to “wooooooooooooo!” in the Dead Man’s face and then push him. Which results in Flair getting shoved down and thrown around.

Plenty of stalling from Flair, then some attempts at chops and punches while The Undertaker just stands there lol. Amazing how protected The Undertaker was, even just 2 years into his WWF career, and in the ring with the WWF Champion lol.

It takes a missed leaping lariat from the Dead Man, and an attack from Perfect, followed by Flair coming from behind to FINALLY give the champ the advantage. Great seeing Flair work his stuff even at a house show.

The match is all about Undertaker being unstoppable, and Flair being the dirtiest player in the game, heeling his way out of a beating lol. So much fun to watch. We even get a glimpse of the future as Undertaker is put in the Figure Four, then sits up and grabs Flair by the throat to escape (for those not understanding what I mean… watch Flair Vs Undertaker from WM 18 lol)!

In the end, all the Flair stalling and cheating isn’t enough to take down the Dead Man, so it takes Mr Perfect and a steel chair to end the match on a DQ. Undertaker Tombstones Flair for good measure, and while he picks up the win, he doesn’t win the title.

Just pure fun. No big spots, no crazy moves or reversals, just two old school guys working their gimmicks to make the match as entertaining as possible. Flair stalled, he begged, he cheated. Undertaker ummm… no sold and looked powerful. Both did exactly as you would have expected them to do back in 1992 (and as far as Flair goes… 2010 even lol). It isn’t a masterpiece, and it’s certainly not as good as their WM 18 match (funny to think they could do so much better in 10 years time!), but its damn fun and far from anything bad too.

Rating: **1/2

Undertaker Month – Review a Day #5

The Undertaker Vs Muhammed Hassan – Great American Bash 24/07/2005

Talk about a controversial gimmick and angle with Hassan and his short lived feud with The Undertaker. Might not have been too bad if the London Underground hadn’t been bombed around this time (a segment on SD with 5 masked men attacking Undertaker and then Hassan choking him was removed from the UK version of the show due to the London incident), but unfortunately wrestling doesn’t control what sick bastards decide to do and when.

Anyway, I’ll try to keep going with the review without bringing up the real life stuff.

I don’t remember much of this feud other than the SD segment that got banned in the UK, so I have no idea WHY Hassan is going after The Undertaker. If this was still his American Bad Ass days, then the story would have written itself, but as the Dead Man, I honestly can’t think of an actual reason lol.

So, the match is a #1 contenders match as well, no doubt Hassan bitched and moaned about not getting a title opportunity, similar to what he did on Raw before getting drafted. The gimmick itself was pretty great, and Hassan played it brilliantly, it’s just a shame things had to end the way they did.

The same masked men that attacked The Undertaker on SD are on the outside surrounding the ring, almost like a lumberjack match, except they aren’t officially part of the match. Undertaker takes the fight to Hassan early on, but something happens to the ref (I’ve already forgot lol, and cba looking back), and Undertaker gets sent to the outside where one of the masked men chokes him.

Hassan has control for a few minutes, until Undertaker takes him down with a couple of right hands. Knowing that this is pretty much a 6 on 1 match with the guys on the outside, the Dead Man goes out of the ring and takes the fight to them. He levels one of them, but another comes from behind and chokes him with some wire or something, and Hassan is back in control.

Again The Undertaker fights his way back in control, and all 5 men from the outside come into the ring one at a time, and Undertaker takes them all out, then Chokeslams Hassan for the win. Wow. That’s it? Lasted less than 10 minutes lol. Then again, due to the SD segment that got banned, and the situation surrounding it, WWE were forced to take Hassan off of TV, and this would be his final match, so it makes sense that the match wouldn’t be too long and Undertaker would look unstoppable for the most part. Real shame, because this probably could have been great with another 10 minutes added to it, and more Hassan in control.

The match isn’t very memorable, but what they do in the short time they have IS good. However, it’s the aftermath that everyone remembers. Undertaker continues to destroy Hassan’s men one by one, including putting Davari through the announcers table… but through the bottom panel, which is something I don’t think I have ever seen before or since.

The Undertaker isn’t done yet though… Hassan is getting away. One chokeslam on the steel ramp and Hassan looks to be done… but Undertaker isn’t. He removes a section of the floor on the rampway, and gives Hassan a Last Ride through the hole to the concrete floor!

Rating: **

Undertaker Month – Review a Day #4

The Undertaker Vs Steve Austin – WWF Raw 24/06/1996

This takes place the night after the King of the Ring. Steve Austin won the KOTR tournament, and The Undertaker lost to Mankind after Paul Bearer “inadvertently” hit him in the head with the Urn, allowing Mankind to lock in the Mandible Claw.

For Austin, this match could be another stepping stone in his career. He just won the KOTR tournament, and now he had the chance to beat one of the biggest stars in the company.

For The Undertaker, this match would serve as a way to take out the frustration of losing the night before. Austin knows this, and makes damn sure to take the fight to ‘Taker before the bell. Despite this approach, Undertaker is able to fight off Austin, while The King gets up from commentary to question Paul Bearer over the incident the night before lol!

The match ends up on the outside, where Austin goes head first into the ring post and the steel steps. Not even the KOTR winner is able to slow down a pissed off Dead Man!

Not only are all the shots to the face a way for Undertaker to take out some of the frustration he has, but there is also a chance Undertaker can bust Austin’s lip open again, which required stitches the night before! Funnily enough, the one shot to the face, out of the ring post, steel steps and everything else, that looks the worst for potentially busted Austin open again, is a boot in the corner! I’m surprised that it didn’t cause the lip to bleed, regardless of the prior injury lol.

We go to a commercial break, and when we come back, The Undertaker is STILL dominating, until he makes one mistake by threatening a referee for telling him to get off Austin in the corner, and Austin charges out with a chop block to the knee. Time for some VINTAGE~! Undertaker/Austin match leg work!

During the leg work (which does get a little boring in places), Goldust comes out to do commentary. During the Mankind/Undertaker feud, Undertaker was also feuding with Goldust, and Goldust was getting the better of The Undertaker in the matches thanks to interference from Mankind. Always good when multiple feuds can be going at the same time between the same people, and they don’t turn into clusterfucks. It’s something that WWF did AMAZINGLY well in 1997 with Bret/Shawn/Undertaker/Kane for the second part of the year.

Finally The Undertaker is able to escape the grasp of Austin, hitting a chokeslam and going for a tombstone before Goldust gets involved and the match ends in a DQ.

Not too pleased with a DQ ending, but at least it makes sense. Austin couldn’t really afford to lose after winning the KOTR, and The Undertaker couldn’t afford to lose after losing at KOTR. With Goldust still involved in a feud with The Undertaker, getting involved in the match was perfect to continue their feud and not give either man a real win or loss. Aside from the DQ ending, this was a really good TV match for the most part. Undertaker looked strong and pissed off at the start, dominated Austin as if it was Mankind, and Austin looked awesome by dominating the second half. Just a shame some of the leg work got a little boring.

Rating: **3/4

Undertaker Month – Review a Day #3

The Undertaker Vs Mankind – King of the Ring 23/06/1996

This is the first match between these two, despite their feud starting almost 3 months before! And it’s not like there weren’t any PPV’s between Mankind’s debut/first attack on The Undertaker and KOTR either, so it was nice for a feud to have a slow build before going into a match! Also, despite the fact I have seen all their other matches before, this is my first time viewing this one!

Paul Bearer comes out alone, and The Undertaker doesn’t appear to be anywhere. Is Undertaker afraid of Mankind? Hell no! He’s lying in wait on the top rope, and once the lights come on, Undertaker launches himself into Mankind with a massive clothesline!

It’s not very often that The Undertaker needs to attack an opponent from behind like this, which just goes to show you how much of a threat Mankind was being made out to be, even against The Undertaker.

Undertaker starts off strong thanks to the clothesline, but it isn’t long before Mankind gains control and starts to beat down the Phenom with moves like his signature elbow drop from the apron to the floor. He tries to use a steel chair on the Dead Man, but this would be a mistake as The Undertaker kicks it back into the face of Mankind, and then back drops him onto the concrete! Awesome spot for WWF 1996.

His years as Cactus Jack allow Mankind to take this kind of punishment and still come back, even allowing him to go for the Mandible Claw for the first time, a move that has put down The Undertaker on a number of occasions leading up to this match. However, knowing how deadly the move is, Undertaker makes damn sure he blocks it, even if it forces Mankind to lock in another hold to wear him down.

Out of desperation The Undertaker goes new school with a flurry of rights and lefts to escape the hold and put down Mankind (get it? New school… moves he would do in his later years? Oh shut up, it’s clever dammit! :P). Mankind again shows his toughness by taking all of those shots and STILL coming back to regain control, which leads to an awesome running knee to The Undertaker’s face while he is leaning against the steel steps (Mankind runs around half of the ring to build up speed too lol). At this point though, both men are in another zone, and continue to take punishment while also being able to dish it out, which The Undertaker demonstrates by placing a steel chair in the way of Mankind when he goes for another elbow off the apron! Some really awesome stuff here, just a big, wild brawl while keeping within the rules enough for the match to continue. Similar to what they would do at the Revenge of the ‘Taker PPV in 1997.

When a monstrous Piledriver doesn’t put Undertaker away, Mankind loses it, screaming and pulling his hair out. Always loved the Mankind character for things like that. Since the big Piledriver didn’t work, Mankind attempts to use the Urn, but Bearer takes it off him, leading to a Mandible Claw attempt once again. Paul Bearer sets Mankind up to be hit in the head with the Urn, but Mankind moves, and Undertaker is levelled with the Urn, put in the Mandible Claw, and this one is over! Even with the interference of Paul Bearer, getting a win like this over Undertaker was HUGE back then, and would still be huge today.

Really awesome match, pretty much what I have come to expect out of these two men. Mankind was great for Undertaker’s career, finally giving him someone GOOD to work with instead of the usual giants and obese guys that couldn’t move or work. With Mankind, Undertaker got to unleash his true potential that rarely got the opportunity to come out. They mix the brawling perfectly into a standard match so it doesn’t come across as a street fight, but at the same time it’s not a regular match you would normally see with no stipulations or anything. Not their best match together, only around the 4th best, but that just speaks volumes of the series they had together. Glad I finally got around to seeing it thanks to Undertaker’s latest set, something I probably wouldn’t have done for a while until I got around to buying the KOTR DVD’s.

Rating: ***3/4

Undertaker Month – Review a Day #2

The Undertaker & Ric Flair Vs Hulk Hogan & Sid – WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event 08/02/1992

Damn, what a huge match this is on paper for 1992! The Undertaker beat Hogan for the belt a couple of months ago with the help of Flair, then Hogan won it back a few days later (booooo!) but there was still controversy involved in the finish. This caused the WWF Title to be vacated, and at the Royal Rumble Ric Flair lasted nearly one hour and won the title when Sid, Hogan’s “friend” helped Flair eliminate Hogan! On top of that, we have Hogan and Flair, the big feud that never really happened in WWF for whatever reason, and Sid/Hogan who would main event WrestleMania a month later, and The Undertaker/Sid who would main event WrestleMania 5 years later! Just plenty of interesting little stories that I like lol.

Hogan and Sid have apparently put what happened at the Royal Rumble behind them, and facing 2 opponents like Flair and Undertaker, they NEED to be on the same page.

Flair and Sid start, and Flair bumps around like only Flair can, before Sid tags in Hogan. Interesting to hear McMahon himself mention that this could be a prelude to WrestleMania. Anyways, more Flair bumping, followed by The Undertaker getting tagged in and taking his share of bumps too. Both heels are really putting over Hogan and Sid in the early going and the fans are loving it!

A mistake from Sid costs his team control, allowing Undertaker and Flair to dominate and double team the big man until Hogan has seen enough (after about a minute lol) and evens the odds. Sid doesn’t look too happy with Hogan essentially taking credit for cleaning house even though Sid was right there with him. Sid probably gains more hate for Hogan when it’s his constant interference that allows Undertaker to sneak up behind him and regain control of the match once again.

The structure of the match is a little odd, but nothing that makes me dislike it or anything. It’s just odd in the way that they keep trying to go into a good old Southern Tag Formula, but the babyfaces seem firmly against this as they continue to make comebacks and tag in and out lol.

Hogan takes his turn as the FIP, while Sid stands on the apron looking not so concerned and makes no attempt to help out or even reach out for a tag. Of course it doesn’t matter THAT much as Hogan keeps making comebacks lol, but thanks to Sid’s new found dislike for Hogan, Flair and Undertaker are still able to remain in control for the most part.

Aside from the structure of the match, we do get some decent action, but at this point Undertaker is still limited in what he can do due to his character, and Hogan limits what Flair can do to him because, well, Hogan sucks. Luckily it’s the story of Sid getting sick of Hogan that keeps me into the match despite a weird match structure and only decent wrestling.

Eventually Sid just walks out of the match just as Hogan was able to make a tag, leaving Undertaker and Flair to double team the Hulkster, causing a DQ. Holy crap, even Heenan mentions Hogan and Flair at WrestleMania, saying to McMahon something like “How crazy is it going to be at WrestleMania when Hogan and Flair face off in the ring for the title?”. Weird as hell that they were clearly wanting that match to happen, yet at the same time building to Sid Vs Hogan. Maybe (and this is based on internet rumours lol) Vince was hoping Hogan would finally give in and say yes to a match with Flair, but just in case, Vince was making sure he had a backup match (Sid).

So, the match is… ok. Nothing special at all, and while the angle with Sid and Hogan was interesting, it wasn’t really done that good. Honestly, and I know I probably sound like a broken record when it comes to talking about tag matches these days, if they had just gone with a good old STF for the entire match, and built up to that big hot tag at the end only for Sid to walk away, I think it could have been done really well. Unfortunately Sid walking away hardly got any heat as Hogan was constantly making comebacks in the match and looking strong against two men, and even had multiple chances at making a tag. The decent at best in ring action would have come off so much better too imo. Sigh, when will people learn that STF is the only way tag matches should be wrestled unless the teams involved really know what they are doing and can pull off a different formula :P.

Rating: *

Undertaker Month – Review a Day #1

The Undertaker Vs Mr Kennedy – WWE Smackdown 20/04/2007

Mr Kennedy and The Undertaker had a pretty great series of matches in late 2006, and while they were no longer feuding by 2007, they still had a handful of matches on Smackdown, both singles and tag matches. At this point in time The Undertaker was the WHC and in a feud with Batista, while Mr Kennedy was the MITB briefcase holder who could cash in at any time. Seemed like a natural fit to put Undertaker and Kennedy in the ring again during this time period. The previous week Batista and The Undertaker had teamed up together to take on Finlay and Mr Kennedy, and earlier in the night on this 400th episode of Smackdown, Batista took on Finlay in a singles match. So now it’s time for the other half of the tag teams to face off!

Remember when Mr Kennedy was set to be a World Champion? And he was actually, you know, good? Well, unfortunately for Kennedy, he would only actually be good and considered the next World Champ for about… 3 weeks? Basically, in a couple of weeks time, Undertaker and Batista would have a cage match on SD, which would end in a draw, and Mr Kennedy would come out to cash in his title shot and become the World Heavyweight Champion. As you will already know, Edge took Kennedy’s place, as Kennedy was misdiagnosed with an injury (was made out to be worse than it actually was). So, no title for Kennedy, and for whatever reason, during his time off to heal from the injury he actually had (and not the OMG serious one he was originally told he had)… he forgot how to be good. Seriously. From 2006 (when he returned from his first injury while being on the main roster) to 2007 (when he got injured again), around a full year, Mr Kennedy was awesome. Don’t believe me? Keep checking out my Smackdown 2006 project as I will be getting to a ton of Kennedy matches that made ME a fan of the guy (I only really remembered him from his late WWE run and his current, and awful, TNA run).

Lol, this is supposed to be a review for Undertaker Month, and I’m talking about Kennedy. So, best not piss of the Dead Man and start talking about him too. 2006 and 2007 was very good to The Undertaker too. Not in the same way it was for Kennedy (I already knew Undertaker was a fantastic worker), but it was during these years that Undertaker really stepped up his game and imo looked better than he EVER had (even in 1997 which was a fantastic year for him). I’d even call him Wrestler of the Year for 2007, despite being injured for a couple of months. That’s just how awesome his work was when he was in the ring.

What was I doing again? Oh yeah, reviewing this MATCH :p. Both men know each other really well thanks to their feud in 2006, so they don’t waste too much time feeling each other out. Hell, Undertaker goes for a Chokeslam in the first minute, but Kennedy knows all too well what that feels like and makes damn sure he avoids it, even if it means getting a boot to the face instead. Kennedy again scouts a signature Undertaker move (Old School this time) and manages to counter it, but The Undertaker, ever since winning the Royal Rumble a couple of months ago, has been on such a roll that nothing Kennedy can do in the early going is able to slow him down.

A missed boot in the corner finally gives Kennedy an opportunity to get back into the match, and gives him something to focus on (the knee) in hopes of keeping The Undertaker down long enough to win the match. One of the things I loved about Kennedy from watching his 2006 run was how well he sells, and even though he is controlling the match, he still does little things to show that his arm isn’t 100% after The Undertaker worked it over earlier in the match.

As much as Kennedy tries to keep The Undertaker down, the World Heavyweight Champion is too strong and has too much experience, and he uses everything he knows to create an opening for himself to get back into the match. Funny, normally with Kennedy matches it was Kennedy who would be the guy to create openings for himself (and it’s another of the many things that made me love his 06 run lol). From here on out, aside from a few shots by Kennedy, this is all Undertaker until Finlay shows up and the double team begins! It happened to Batista earlier in the night, and now it’s happening to The Undertaker.

This match only goes around 11 minutes, but they pack in a hell of a lot. Great selling from both men when it called for it (Kennedy with the arm, Undertaker with the leg), Kennedy looked good on offence, and Undertaker really looked like a veteran with the things he would do to keep himself in the match when Kennedy was in control. Finish was obviously done to help set up Kennedy’s big title win in a couple of weeks, but it never happened, thus making The Undertaker look a little weak when I look back on the match. Since I know what the original reason was, I can look at it in the way it was intended to be, so it doesn’t make me thing any less of the match :).

Rating: ***1/4

Undertaker Month!

20 years ago, November 1990, The Undertaker made his debut at the WWF Survivor Series. Since then, he has been on top of the company for 20 years, winning numerous titles, beating every big name you can think of, and constantly evolving his character and in ring style in order to stay at the top.

So, all through November, I will be celebrating 20 years of The Undertaker! All wrestling view videos this month will be Undertaker themed videos, and I will be posting a review a day for Undertaker matches I have never reviewed! There might be more things coming too, but even I’m not 100% sure what else I might do, so stick around for any surprises!

Week in Review #2 – Written Review

Ok, so I haven’t had any time to record ANYTHING this week, and since this weeks video was going to be the second “Week in Review” video, I figured I would at least write down my thoughts on the last week of TV that I would have talked about lol.

Bragging Rights 24/10/2010

The opener sees Bryan Danielson (or Daniel Bryan, whatever you want to call him) face off against Dolph Ziggler, in a Raw Vs Smackdown, US Champ Vs IC Champ match. I mentioned in my predictions that these two, given the time, could put on the MOTN, and holy FUCK did they deliver on my prediction. Not only was this an incredible contest between 2 great wrestlers that ended up being the MOTN, but its also a top 5 match of the YEAR for me. Just had exactly what I look for in a match; tremendous action without going spot heavy, a nice story (basic as it gets here, but basic is better than non existent), and some great false finishers without going into overkill. These two have some great chemistry, and I remember at the time thinking how awesome it would be if these guys could have a series of matches. Boy was I in for a surprise :D. Oh, and before I forget, to anyone in attendance at Bragging Rights, you were awesome. Hearing a crowd react the way they did to a great wrestling match made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Shows me that there ARE plenty of fans out there who can appreciate a great wrestling match when they see it, and don’t requite SPTOTZ~! and blood and weapons all the time (though they do break out a “we want blood” chant later in the night, but I’ll get to that). Since I haven’t reviewed this yet (I probably well at some point), I haven’t come up with an official rating or anything, but right now **** seems perfect for it.

Following such a great opener like that would be hard to do. And WWE failed. What do we get to follow up on that match? The tag titles being defended and raped as John Cena single handedly beats the TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS to make him and, of all fucking people, David Otunga, the new tag team champions (and the raping of the titles continues on Raw, but more on that later). I was happy that the tag titles were getting some PPV exposure… at first… but when Barrett announced Otunga and Cena as the opponents, I stopped caring and was no longer happy.

Ok, so the last match made me happy and then killed that happiness in seconds. I’d quickly get a smile back on my face as GOLDUST gets some PPV time! Goldust and DiBiase had one of the funnest matches of the year so far over on Superstars a month or so ago, and given how great Goldust is at carrying opponents, and the ability of DiBiase (that he does have but rarely has the opponent to show it), I had high hopes for the match. Once again, like the Superstars match, the commentary was funny as hell to listen to. For some reason whenever Maryse/Goldust/DiBiase are out there together, King and Cole decide to just have fun and be entertaining rather than forcing excitement like they normally do. When the commentators are clearly having fun like that, it helps ME have fun watching the match too. And while the actual wrestling isn’t as good as the Superstars match, its a solid midcard match and I’m glad both men and this feud got some PPV exposure. That and the fact the feud is continuing, with potential for more PPV exposure for Goldust, makes me extremely pleased :).

The WWE Divas title is defended next. It doesn’t change hands. Moving on…

Ahh, time for Buried Alive. The Undertaker Vs Kane for the WHC. I started off really loving this feud, and really enjoyed their NOC match too, but since then, aside from the return of Bearer, this feud has been going downhill faster than TNA in 2010. They had a pretty bad match at HIAC, which on paper I honestly felt had potential to be good, but it didn’t deliver AT ALL. So with this match being buried alive, which limits a lot of what they can do, and the poor build to it, not to mention Undertaker’s shoulder injury (which I am assuming is real after seeing this match), there was no way I was looking forward to this. That being said, I did kinda enjoy watching this match. I wouldn’t call it great, or even good, but the hot crowd kept me into the match. Its just a shame the match itself didn’t do a damn thing to warrant the fans being so crazy. Undertaker couldn’t do much other than kick and punch, and I don’t think he actually picked Kane up at ANY point due to his apparently injured shoulder. The fans chanted “we want blood” here, and while a chant like that would normally bother me, given the feud behind this match, and the match type, if this wasn’t a PG show it would have DEMANDED blood. But it is PG, and we don’t get blood. Not that it would have helped, but its not like someone bleeding would have been meaningless (like Flair bleeding in every single match and segment he is in these days seems to do). The finish is Nexus attacking Undertaker, allowing Kane to bury Undertaker alive and retain his belt while also “ending” his brother’s life. Except nobody believes that, especially when The Undertaker’s symbol shows up on the Tombstone. Not as obvious as his hand coming up out of the dirt like the first BA match in ’96, but lets face it, everyone knew 100% that Undertaker would be back when that happened (though most people knew 100% before that anyway lol).

So, how do we follow a match where one of the biggest legends of all time is buried alive? With the second half of the show! Seems kinda dumb that the buried alive match didn’t end the show. But whatever.

The match that DOES follow Undertaker “dying” is the Team Raw Vs Team Smackdown match. I was looking forward to this one ever since they announced it would be elimination. Plus there are a number of guys in the match I really like. Unfortunately this one didn’t turn out to be that great, rather it was only decent. Santino getting eliminated first was great, because he didn’t deserve to be in a match this big, but on the other hand it just goes to show everyone that Santino really didn’t deserve to be in a match this big lol. Was kinda pointless having him there. One thing I always hate about tag team elimination matches is when nobody on a team tries to break up a pin or submission. Are they fucking retarded? If this shit was real, I’d damn sure try and break up every single pin and submission attempt that I could to make sure my team didn’t fall behind. But no, this is wrestling, where logic seems to get lost along the way more often than it should. The finish was a big shock for me, with Smackdown actually winning. Given how much they had dominated Raw for the last week or so, I felt for sure that Raw would win. Not complaining too much, because Team Raw sucked for the most part, and all we need is The Jiz boasting every week how he was so awesome he single handedly made sure that Raw won or something.

With Raw Vs Smackdown out of the way, it leaves us with only one match; Orton Vs Barrett for the WWE title, and Cena in the corner of Barrett. Barrett had ordered Cena to make sure he won, otherwise he is fired from the WWE. One thing I am confused about with that stipulation, is how does the Raw GM have the authority to make sure Cena would be fired from WWE and not just Raw, and making it so SD couldn’t sign him? Again, just the lack of logic in wrestling. The match isn’t that good, but I wasn’t expecting it to be anyway. I was more interested in the whole Cena angle, similar to the HBK/JBL angle against Cena at the 09 Royal Rumble (which was done way better than this tbh), and in the end that seems to be what the focus was on for the finish. Cena gets Barrett the win via DQ when he attacks him before Orton can RKO him. Makes sense for the story and build up to Survivor Series nicely, but a DQ ending to a title match, and a main event at a PPV, is ALWAYS bullshit.

Overall, I did have a lot of fun watching this PPV, but in terms of quality and re-watch value, only the opener holds up.

Raw 25/10/2010

Raw starts with Nexus, where Wade talks about how Nexus won the tag titles at Bragging Rights, and how he won his match with Orton… but didn’t win the title, so he forces Cena to explain his actions. Yawn. The GM then decides to email Cole so he can tell us of a match tonight between Randy Orton and any member of Nexus, and whoever wins gets to pick the gust referee for Survivor Series in the title rematch between Orton and Barrett. Oh, I wonder who Barrett will pick… of course its Cena. John Cena. John Cena Vs Randy Orton. In a match. AGAIN. AARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I am fucking sick of WWE making matches with these two over and over again. They have only ever had ONE good match, and that was at NWO in 2008. The rest? They sucked. And yet they continue to book matches between the two. Over and over again. And they are never good. FUCK YOU WWE.

Remember how I mentioned WWE were raping the tag titles at Bragging Rights? Well, they continue it here, as Otunga brings up Cena F-U’ing him at Bragging Rights after they won the match. So Barrett decides that since they obviously can’t work together, they need to drop the belts to Gabriel and Slater. But since the Nexus don’t fight each other… Otunga is ordered to lay down. And he does (eventually). So we have new tag team champions. Again. In a bullshit match. Again. Did they watch Impact the other week and see how they were killing the KO title, and decide “Hey! We can outdo them when it comes to shitting all over a title! Not only will we shit on a title, we’ll shit on a title that already means fuck all so it means even less! Take THAT TNA!”. AAARRRGHHHH!!!

Again, remember what I said at Bragging Rights? This time about Ziggler and Danielson, and how I would love to see them have a series of matches. So what do we get on Raw? A fucking rematch between Ziggler and Danielson :D. Not quite as good as the Bragging Rights match, but fuck was this awesome. Probably the best Raw match of the year, and a top contender for TV MOTY (top 5 I’d say). And just when I thought things couldn’t get any better… out comes CM Punk for commentary during the match, and he then stares down Danielson at the end of it! Punk Vs Danielson? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YEAH!

Blah blah blah, lame backstage segments with some cowboy or something, followed by Cena and Barrett… followed by a divas match.

Oh god it gets worse. Out comes The Jiz. And what do ya know? He’s making bullshit excuses as to why Team Raw lost. Lame heel heat. So, things can’t possibly get worse than this, right? Out comes someone to interrupt The Jiz… and its… Eve? Of all people, its Eve? Urgh. This segment has hit rock bottom… right? Wrong. R-Truth comes out as well. Please, make it stop. Someone just make it stop. Raw GM sends an email, and its The Jiz Vs R-Truth. Whatever. Jiz wins. I’m struggling to care. Wait, that’s a lie, to struggle to care I’d actually be TRYING to care, and I just don’t.

That cowboy guy is back, only this time in the ring. This somehow leads to Sheamus Vs Santino. And WTF. Santino… wins? Santino WINS. Santino. The pathetic attempt at a “comedy” character. Wins. Against Sheamus. Former two time WWE chamption. Danielson, the US champion, couldn’t beat Sheaums, but SANTINO could? I… don’t know what to say. Ok, I do… why hasn’t my head exploded yet?

Backstage, its Nexus. And Otunga threatens to reveal why they attacked Undertaker the night before. Barrett then brings in Mr Charisma himself, Michael McGuilucutyrgfjfhty, and Husky Harris, and tells us they are now part of Nexus, and threatens Otunga right back, stating that Otunga is either Nexus or against us (them). Threatened by being bored to death by McGulihgdgfyt he gives in and bows to Barrett. Yawn.

Pee Wee Herman is the guest host next week on Raw. Again I ask the question “why hasn’t my head exploded yet?”.

Main event time, and its Orton Vs Cena for the 103843757626236737648584874576921757657657632657612110202000297th time. I just can’t bring myself round to watching anything involving these two any more. I skip to the end. Barrett essentially returns the favour, by attack Cena and getting him the win via DQ, so Barrett can choose the guest referee at Survivor Series. Despite the number of brain cells lost from watching this show, its still obvious to even me that Barrett will pick Cena. And he does, with the added stipulation that if Barrett doesn’t win the title (not just the match this time), Cena is fired. So, heel turn at SS for Cena?

Oh my god this show was awful. Aside from the wonderful Ziggler/Danielson match, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was fucking terrible. One of the worst Raw shows I have seen, and given how utterly shit some Raws have been, its really saying something.

Impact 28/10/2010

The show stars in the middle of a Tara/Mickie James brawl in the back, which brings in some more women (I don’t know who the fuck is who lol, and neither does Tazz apparenly), and the fight ends up in the ring where… Ric Flair tried to break it up? Why the fuck is Flair involved in this? He gets slapped a few times, threatens to fuck a couple of them, and tells them to stop because they will have a 6 women tag match later tonight. This whole thing lasted around 10 minutes. Too long for my liking, but the fans actually seemed to be into it, so that’s something I guess. Still don’t get why Flair got involved, and does being an “Immortal” give him the ability to make matches now? Is it just Flair than can do that, or the rest of Fourtune? Wait, never mind, its that whole logic thing again.

Backstage, the head trainer goes into Bischoff’s office to beg him not to let Anderson wrestle tonight. Surprise surprise, Anderson is still made to wrestle.

Pope promo in the ring, talking about Abyss, and something to do with a casket. Not really sure what I thought of this tbh lol. It wasn’t good, but I didn’t want to blow my brains out. I guess when it comes to TNA, and after Raw this week, not wanting to kill myself is a success.

More backstage stuff (20 minutes in after removing adverts btw) instead of matches, and this time Morgan is talking to Ric about his concerns with concussions and Anderson being forced to wrestle with a head injury. Flair tells him to forget this conversation.

Finally, a match. Shame it has that lame arse Jersey Shore gimmick guy than even the TNA fans don’t like. Yeah, TNA fans don’t like him. Can’t get any lower than that in wrestling. Anyway, the match is Lethal Vs Robbie E, and if Robbie wins he gets an X-Division title match. And its a street fight (Jersey Shore Street Fight to be more precise, which is just a street fight with Robbie’s lame gimmick attached to it). What I don’t get is that this match, should Robbie win, is just a lead up to another match between them for the title. So shouldn’t the title match be a gimmick? LOL, silly me, I shouldn’t be questioning the booking and writing of TNA’s fine creative team. An un-promoted gimmick match is bound to bring in the ratings as people will tune in to see it… except they don’t know its happening unless they are already watching the show!  After some hair spray or something to the face by the annoying women, and a rather great looking Neck Breaker, Robbie E gets the win and a title shot at the next PPV! I wonder if they will try to out-gimmick themselves by going one better than a street fight, or if the payoff match to a street fight will be a normal match…

More lame backstage shit, and its another Katie Lee aka Winter segment where she shows up from out of nowhere and we only ever see her in the mirror, then she disappears when anyone else shows up. Lots of annoying talking between the women before and after Winter shows up too. The fact that we get this on both TNA and WWE is just… AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!

Hey look, more in ring segments instead of matches! 30 minutes into the show now (not including adverts) and we’ve still only had one match. This segment includes… EV 2.0! Yeah! Has-been and never-was guys! Tommy calls out RVD to talk about RVD not trusting anyone after his BFF Jeff Hardy turned on him. Why is Raven wearing some old army style jacket? Looks like a General or something lol… with jean shorts… and make up. I always hear people praise Raven for his promos, and tbh I’ve never understood it. He uses big fancy words a lot, but I wouldn’t say that makes his promos good. Here he doesn’t even seem to try to make his short promo good, he just throws out words that rhyme. Old man Flair comes out to save us with his mic skills, announcing some matches, for tonight and the next PPV. One of the Fourtune guys (not Morgan) doesn’t seem happy. Fuck, are they trying to make as many people in Fourtune not happy with Fourtune? Backstage, its more talking (SHOCK~!), with lame English stereotypes creeping in as usual because one of them is English lol. Flair calms everyone down and makes a point to say he won’t get “iced” again. Don’t get me started on that who “iced” shit.

40 minutes in now, and its the second wrestling match of the night (guessing about 50-55 minutes in total after adverts?)! Its the 6 women tag match, and it starts off as a big brawl just like earlier in the night, but finally slows down and turns into an actual tag match. I skip through it, because I don’t give a shit about women’s wrestling. Kinda hard to care these days thanks to WWE, and as good as TNA’s division might be, I don’t know 99% of the women and I honestly don’t care enough to sit down and get to know them.

Next up, more wrestling! LOL, got ya! Backstage segment. Pope and Abyss. Pope gets stuffed in the casket, and Abyss beats it up with the board with nails.

A couple of kids are in the ring with a mic. Shouldn’t security stop them? Oh wait, its Generation Me. Its a triple threat tag match, but before any wrestling happens we have to have a promo! God forbid we waste precious talking time with than annoying wrestling! Plenty of moves in this one, and I didn’t really like the match. Why do the commentators make a big point of asking what one of Gen Me was doing by pulling the ref out of the ring? This match was for the tag titles. Gen Me weren’t about to win, Ink Ink was. I think it was pretty FUCKING OBVIOUS why he pulled the referee out of the ring; to stop the count so the match would continue and maybe Gen Me could WIN. Guns win, and Team 3D show up for more talking, building up to their “retirement” match at the PPV against the Guns for the tag belts.

BACKSTAGE SEGMENT~! Morgan is talking to Bischoff now about what he spoke to Flair about. Bischoff, like Flair, doesn’t care.

MOAR BACKSTAGE SEGMENT~! MOAR Morgan too. This time he’s talking to Anderson… except we don’t see him talking to Anderson, we just know he’s going there. Ok. LMAO at Tazz saying that Morgan being concerned about the well being of Anderson has gone too far.

Jeff Hardy has a… ummm… promo I guess. Not in the ring, instead its a pre taped segment. And its awful.

Tag Match next, with AJ and Doug Williams against RVD and Raven. Yeah, none of the matches that have taken place have been something I wanted to watch, but at least this show actually HAS matches this week. They tease Williams being upset with AJ to continue with what happened earlier in the night, and they made it so RVD thought Raven was trying to screw him and shit. Yawn.

Main event time (what? no talking in between 2 matches?). A steel chain match between Jeff Jarrett and Anderson. And Morgan comes out instead of Anderson. So much for a match talking place without any talking first. Morgan is continuing with the whole concussion stuff, trying to convince Jarrett not to go through with the match. Instead Jarrett tells him to fuck off basically, causing Morgan to take Anderson’s place… and he loses. Ummm… what? Why? Fourtune show up to beat the hell out of Morgan, so wouldn’t Morgan winning have been a more logical choice? Ooops, sorry. Logic. I keep forgetting that it has no place in wrestling.

Wow. Ummm… what a weird fucking show. It didn’t anger me as much as Raw did, but there was absolutely NOTHING worth seeing at all. Hell, without looking at what I have just written, I can barely remember anything that happened on this show except for the last 2 or 3 segments… and I JUST watched it. I’m not sure which is worse; a terrible show that I will remember, or a show that is just so “meh” I forget as soon as I’ve seen it.

Smackdown 29/10/2010

Didn’t get chance to see Superstars this week, so its onto SD, which starts with some very very very very very weird video of Undertaker being buried alive, and then walking in a dark empty room to a door, which he opens, releasing lots of light, and he walks through the door and into the light. I guess Undertaker really is dead then, if he was able to RECORD A VIDEO for the beginning of Smackdown! LOL, do they even have a reason for how/why that video happ… wait, more logic. Dammit.

SD officially starts with Kane and Paul Bearer talking about the last episode of CSI. Ok, fine, he was talking about The Undertaker being buried alive. Duh. He gets interrupted by Alberto Del Rio… who at the time I thought they were going to try and turn face, and I almost threw something at the screen. Until Rey showed up and it became clear it was just a way to build to a multi-man match for the title, or a match between Rey and Del Rio… and now Edge who also shows up. Kane gets taken out, Paul Bearer gets taken out, and Edge stands tall in the end. Great way to make Kane look like a pussy, getting his arse kicked on 3 separate occasions by Del Rio, Mysterio and Edge, after he just “ended” The Undertaker’s life.

Danielson and Ziggler had an awesome match at Bragging Rights, then on Raw they had a great rematch… and now on Smackdown we are getting a third match between them! Awesome. Just awesome. Thanks to Vickie Guerrero I am now deathly afraid of animals with spots. Match is good, but a big step down from the other two tbh. Not saying its bad, but the other two were way better. Being as good as this is though, being called the “worst” match of their series just tells you how good the series has been.

Jack Swagger and Kaval have a nice little match. Nothing amazing, but enjoyable for sure. Shame Kaval loses yet again.

The divas are out next, dressed like idiots, and they have a short match. The less said about it all the better.

Dashing Drewo are facing Big Show and Kofi next. Honestly I didn’t care enough to watch it. Show gets the win for this team with a massive chokeslam, and Drew ignores Cody asking for help, and lets him get slammed and pinned. In a backstage segment, they break up (Awwww… lol).

Main event time (what? no talking first?), and its Rey Vs Del Rio Vs Edge for the #1 contendership. Fun triple threat, but nothing more tbh. Triple threat matches for me are rarely “great”. Most of the time its just a one on one match with someone laid on the outside, then he comes in and send someone else to the outside and we get another one on one match, then some crazy moves towards the end. Triple threat matches are supposed to be one on one on one, so why do they ALWAYS insist on leaving a guy out most of the time? Sometimes it works, but most of the time it just kinda seems pointless. Very few triple threat matches do it right imo, and this wasn’t one of them. Some good stuff in it no doubt, and its far from a bad match, but its limited by the formula most guys go with for this kind of match. Shame really. Still, it was much better than anything I saw on TNA this week, and aside from all 3 Danielson/Ziggler matches, this one was of the best matches of the week too, so its not bad by any means lol.

Overall, a solid show. WAY different from TNA, and its even more apparent given the fact I watched them back to back. TNA is just filled with dozens of pointless backstage segments, and the matches are usually around 5 minutes max, whereas SD has one big main segment, one of two backstage ones, and 4 or 5 matches that are actually given around 10 minutes. Ziggler/Danielson, Swagger/Kaval and the triple threat matches are all worth seeing, which is more than I can say for anything on Impact and anything on Raw and even Bragging Rights (aside from Ziggler/Danielson).

So, that’s everything wrestling I watched this week. No ROH, haven’t watched that since the beginning of the year, and no Superstars as I didn’t have the time. Overall… aside from Ziggler/Danielson, it hasn’t really been a good week at all. Raw made me want to shoot myself, Impact was forgettable as hell, and Bragging Rights had one match worth seeing. Thankfully SD once again proves to be THE wrestling show of the week though :).