Month: February 2011

The Undertaker Vs Batista – Survivor Series 18/11/2007

The Undertaker Vs Batista – World Heavyweight Title – Hell in a Cell – Survivor Series 2007

There have been feuds in the past where a Hell in a Cell match didn’t fit the kind of feud (DX/McMahons & Big Show, Triple H/Jericho, Triple H/Nash… damn, all Triple H matches lol), but this Hell in a Cell match was perfect for the Batista/Undertaker feud IMO.

Pretty much ever since their Last Man Standing match, I wanted to see these 2 in a Hell in a Cell match. Batista himself said in his book that a Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker was a dream match for him, I just wonder if he knew it would ever happen when he wrote that lol.

The Cell for this match was one of the new, taller cells, so nobody would be expecting them to go on top like everyone seems to fucking want in this type of match. It also meant there was a very good chance they wouldn’t leave the cell, and that isn’t always a bad thing. It worked for a couple of matches, but some of them just seemed like they were doing it for the hell of it.

Once again, the little thing at the start of the match is just awesome. The Undertaker enters the cell last, and just slams the door shut. He doesn’t fear Batista, and he certainly doesn’t fear the cell, and he is making sure Batista knows it.

Its not long before The Undertaker gets control and brings in a steel chair. He has been in many Hell in a Cell matches in the past, so he has the experience, and he knows that weapons are legal and can make this type of match that much easier. He continues to show his experience in this match type, by using the cell as a weapon when he grates Batista’s face on one of the cell walls.

One of my all time favourite weapon spots is brought back by The Undertaker here, when he places the steel chair under Batista’s throat, and smashes Batista, and the chair, right onto the steel steps! Batista is bleeding from his mouth now, and we assume its coming from his throat. Its very rare that The Undertaker brings out that move, which makes it seem more devastating.

Batista is hurt, bleeding, and seemingly on the edge of defeat. However, he still has that awesome power and strength, and he pulls it out when he needs it the most right here, catching The Undertaker with a Spinebuster from an Old School attempt to gain control for the first time in this match!

Pure power and strength can only take Batista so far though, and its not long before the better conditioned and less worn down Dead Man is back in the drivers seat. He continues to use the environment to his advantage, and Batista is busted open, bleeding from the head AND internally now.

Its Old School that is the downfall of The Undertaker once again, as Batista stops it again and lands a superplex! Batista makes a mistake though, just like he did at Cyber Sunday, by going for a cover starting at the legs, allowing Undertaker to lock in a Triangle Choke!

The Animal lives up to his name when he gets back in control and just annihilates The Undertaker with the steel steps in the corner of the cell, hitting him again and again with them. If you watch closely, you can also see The Undertaker pull out a blade from his gloves, cut himself, and pass it to the referee right before he takes a couple of shots to the head from the steps :p.

It seems that no matter what Batista does to The Undertaker, the Phenom is just unbeatable in this type of match. He takes everything Batista throws at him, and keeps coming back. The same can be said for Batista though, who continues to take the punishment from The Undertaker and still manages to come back too! Its just a very brutal back and forth match, more brutal than any of their matches before!

Batista Bomb through a table! The Undertaker looks to be beat finally, but he somehow kicks out, and just like Cyber Sunday, everyone at this point pretty much believes that The Undertaker is going to win. When he finally hits a Tombstone, that belief is pretty much confirmed… until Batista kicks out! Holy fuck! I’ve seen this match before and I didn’t remember THAT happening! Another throw back to Cyber Sunday, only with the roles reversed. The Undertaker is completely pissed that Batista kicked out, so he goes for another Tombstone, this time on the steel steps! NOW The Undertaker is going to win, right?

ITS EDGE! EDGE IS BACK! He levels The Undertaker with a camera, then uses the steel steps and a chair for a modified conchairto, and Batista retains!

This is a tremendous match, and like every other match so far, its better than I remembered it. The action, the pace, the brutality and the end all work perfectly to make this one hell of a match, and probably a top 5 Hell in a Cell match for me now. A great end to a great feud!

Rating: ****1/4

The Undertaker Vs Batista – Cyber Sunday 28/10/2007

The Undertaker Vs Batista – World Heavyweight Title – Special Referee Steve Austin – Cyber Sunday 2007

Since this was Cyber Sunday, some sort of voting system had to be thrown into this match. I’m just glad they didn’t go with another stipulation, since their last 2 matches weren’t ordinary matches. So they do the old “who will be referee” crap, and big surprise, Austin gets voted in :p.

Enough of that crap, its the MATCH I give a damn about. The video package before the match is more awesomeness from the WWE Video production group, who are probably among the best in the industry when it comes to making video packages tbh. It had been 5 months since their last match, so the video did a great job of reminding everyone of their past matches, and got me hyped to see them wrestle one more time.

Also, remember that at this point, The Undertaker has 1 victory over Batista (from WrestleMania), whereas Batista hasn’t beat the Dead Man yet! Their last 2 matches have both been draws, and Batista only won the title back AFTER The Undertaker got taken out with an injury. So this match is all about Batista proving to himself that he is the MAN, and he CAN beat The Undertaker to remain World Heavyweight Champion.

Man oh man, these 2 really know how to start their matches! WrestleMania replay with Batista charging towards the Dead Man with a spear, but this time The Undertaker dodges, and goes for the big boot (like Backlash) but Batista ducks! Then similar to their cage match, they lock up and fight for control! Little things, but they really make this match more enjoyable and better IMO.

Nothing fancy here, just a massive brawl, which is essentially all they have been doing for the entire series, and its been awesome all the way! Things slow down a bit though, with The Undertaker working over Batista’s back.

They keep going back and forth for a while, with both men controlling the match for a little while, before losing control and taking some punishment. Austin being the guest referee was most likely an attempt to get better buyrates, but thankfully he really doesn’t stand out in this match at all. He does nothing that a normal referee wouldn’t do, which is a good thing. They are taking nothing away from this huge match, which didn’t need a guest referee, and that makes me happy :).

One of my favourite spots in the match is when ‘Taker goes for Old School, but Batista catches him on the way down and levels him with a Spinebuster! But before Batista can possibly get a 3 count, Undertaker locks in a Triangle Choke!

That sequence of moves essentially starts the final stretch of the match, where we see ‘Taker hit a Chokeslam, Batista hit a spear, and both men fighting to land their finishers!

One thing that keeps coming back in this match is The Undertaker constantly losing control of the match by charging into the corner for different moves, only for Batista to move out of the way every time. He does it again during the final stretch, but this time it works in his favour as it allows him to hit the Last Ride out of the corner! Its still not enough though, and the match continues!

A Spinebuster and Batista Bomb are STILL not enough to keep The Undertaker down, and at this point you gotta believe that EVERYONE feels for certain that The Undertaker is going to win. So what happens? Batista gets royally pissed off, hits another Batista Bomb, and pins The Undertaker cleanly in the middle of the ring!!!

This match is without a doubt my second favourite of their series. It has the big match feel of their WrestleMania match, and the slower, more methodical pace of their Last Man Standing & Cage matches, and the same awesomeness from all 3 of those matches. Batista getting the clean win was a HUGE win, almost as big as his Vengeance 2005 win over Triple H. It was a nice conclusion to the story of Batista wanting to prove that he CAN beat The Undertaker, but it was certainly not the conclusion to this feud!

Rating: ****1/4

Competition Winner!!!

Well, I was going to make a video for this, but given the circumstances, that would have been completely pointless :cal:.

Anyways… the winner of the Wrestling View Royal Rumble 2011 DVD/Bluray Competition is…

*drum roll*

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

How am I the winner? Because I was planning on getting the DVD for myself anyway, and since NOBODY ENTERED THE FUCKING COMPETITION, I might as well use the funds for my own personal use instead :lmao.

Guess I won’t bother doing a competition again for a little while… Weekly Wrestling Roundup will be uploaded tomorrow though, and I’m working on the next Wrestling View video that will be online at the end of the month :).

2011 Royal Rumble Review

WWE Royal Rumble 2011

There is nothing in wrestling that I look forward to than the Royal Rumble Match, and this year its no different!

Edge Vs Dolph Ziggler – World Heavyweight Championship

If Edge uses the spear, he is DQ’d and will lose the WHC. Michael Cole loves it because apparently Edge not being able to use the spear makes it an even playing field now, as the spear gave Edge an unfair advantage. Damn those finishing moves! So, based on that logic, shouldn’t Dolph’s Zig Zag or Sleeper be banned? Oh wait, I’m trying to bring logic into wrestling :P.

So pleased that Dolph is getting a PPV title shot, just a shame there was pretty much no chance of him leaving. Even bigger shame because that means Edge will remain champion. And Edge has been stale for as long as Cena now.

Early in the match Edge goes after the mid section/ribs of the challenger, which is smart given the fact Ziggler has to be hurting after the multiple spears on SD a few days earlier.

More smart wrestling, this time from Ziggler who focuses his attack on Edge’s neck, which works on a couple of levels. Firstly, Ziggler’s 2 main finishing moves (Zig Zag and Sleeper) both target the neck. And secondly, Edge was out for over a year in 2003/2004 with a broken neck, so there is a good chance its never been the same since. Of course, the commentators don’t bring this point up because, well, it happened more than a week ago.

Ziggler on offence here isn’t anything to write home about (but perfectly acceptable to write a blog about :P ), but at least it makes perfect sense and isn’t a bunch of random shit for no reason (speaking of… Hi Kurt Angle! :) ). While it makes sense, it just isn’t that engaging. I’m not bored, but at the same time I’m not in awe of anything being done. The crowd not exactly giving a shit doesn’t help the viewing either lol.

One of the things I’ve been very disappointed about in this match is how they didn’t play up the “can’t use the spear” stipulation. The announcers make a huge deal out of it the entire match, but Edge doesn’t do much in the match. It was awesome to see him pull out the Education submission that he hasn’t used since like, 2002, and then hitting the Killswitch (or is it back to Unprettier? Pretty sure Striker called it that, but it IS Striker after all), but other than that he didn’t make it seem like not being able to use the spear was anaything major. Guy should have watched HBK/Orton from Survivor Series 2007. THAT is how you work a match with your finisher taken away.

As they go into the finishing stretch, Vickie gets on the apron to help her man, and… Kelly Kelly comes out? She beats up Vickie and knocks her out. So… is she with Edge? Did Vickie do something to her? Did I miss something? Makes her seem like a hypocrite after all those times she complained to Drew McIntyre about his random outbursts of anger :P.

Edge then proceeds to make Ziggler’s finishers look like shit by kicking out of one, and countering the other after staying in the hold for a period of time. During all of this, the ref is knocked down, and Edge hits a spear. Ziggler perhaps oversells it, but it looks awesome, and tbh Edge’s spear is complete shit anyway so it NEEDS someone to sell it like that.

Just to finish Dolph off, he hits the Killswitch for the 3 count. Unfortunately that’s probably as close as Christian is going to come to winning a WHC match :(.

Match is solid, but doesn’t really go into a high gear like I thought it might. Plus they hardly played up on the “no spear” stipulation like I was hoping, and in the end it didn’t even matter because he still hit a spear.

Disappointing, but not horrible. Would have made a good TV match, but not what you SHOULD expect from a PPV match (though what you should expect and what we actually get these days on PPV are 2 completely different things).

Rating: **3/4

The Miz Vs Randy Orton – WWE Title

Lol, second year in a row that Miz has been the second match on the card defending a title (last year Vs MVP for the US title).

I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so disinterested in a WWE/World Champion like I have with The Miz. Edge currently comes close, but that’s it. I’d rather Kane and Cena were champions tbh.

As for Orton… well, the guy IS talented, but for some reason he is unable to show that talent while also being a face. Give me 04/07 Orton back please.

So, the match. Good GOD is this dull. Like, really fucking dull. Its mostly a brawl with a few chinlocks here and there by Miz… and neither guy is good at brawling (Orton’s punches are TERRIBLE), and Miz can’t work a hold to save his life. Man needs to watch some Arn Anderson or Jake Roberts. In face, everyone should. Now. Would be better than watching this boring arse match again.

Ha, even one of WWE’s most loyal fans, The Sign Guy, went to get a beer during this match. Wise choice.

The end for this match sucks. Not just because Miz retains the title, but because Punk costing Orton the title means its most likely gonna be Punk Vs Orton at WM, instead of Punk Vs Cena. Which leaves Cena to face someone else… like Miz. Urgh.

That’s it. Not much else to say about this one. Its boring. Neither guy looks that good. Finish worked with Miz’s whole “I’m fucking useless and can’t win a match myself” title gimmick, but it completely killed the WM card.

Rating: *1/2

Natalya Vs Layla Vs Michelle McCool Vs Eve – WWE Divas Title

Oh boy, instead of 3 divas in this match, we now get 4! If there is one thing that can make a wwe divas match better, its MORE participants!

Urgh.

Started off as a handicap match, but got changed to a 4 way with Eve. When Eve’s music hits I had no idea who the hell it was until she came out. That’s how much I care about the divas division.

Eve wins. Random. As far as diva matches go, it didn’t make me want to slit my wrists, so that’s something.

Rating: 1/2*

2011 Royal Rumble Match

:D

A first for the RR this year… 40 participants instead of 30! Will more guys make it better though? Will it even matter that much? Time to find out!

CM Punk comes out at #1, but before #2 can come out, Wade Barrett and Corre show up to beat the hell out of him. Nexus come out, and they brawl. Nobody really cares. They finally stop, and everyone but Punk goes away.

Who is #2? Danile Bryan! Fuck yeah, Punk Vs Bryan!

Great to hear the fans reacting to Punk Vs Bryan, which makes a change from their general shittyness throughout the night.

OMG NUMBER 3 IS GABRIAL FROM TEH CORRE! CORRE VS NEXUS!!!

Yeah, nobody cares still. Thankfully Gabriel misses his delayed 450 splash and Bryan sends him packing.

The jobbers continue to come with Zach Ryder entering #4. Bryan takes care of him too. Go Bryan!

Regal is out at #5, and gets a nice pop and a Regal chant. About damn time! Regal in the same ring with Punk and Bryan is just awesome. He needs more matches with Bryan over the US title. Speaking of, we get a repeat from their match a month or so ago, as they trade European uppercuts. Bryan then proceeds to kick everyone in the head :p.

Awesome that Regal isn’t treated like Gabriel and Ryder, and actually stays in the match for a little while yet. More Regal = :D.

Damn, Regal is eliminated a few minutes later. Longer than Gabriel and Ryder, but not long enough. At least before he goes, he helps set up one of the best false eliminations in RR history. He shoves Morrison off the apron, and Morrison clings to the barricade, climbs up onto it, walks across to the steel steps and jumps onto them to get back in the ring. Fucking awesome. Not a fan of the guy but it was impressive as hell… plus I picked him to win the whole thing :p.

A few minutes later, Punk gets some help as Husky Harris shows up.

#10 is up next, and its… CHAVO! Bah. Waste of a spot. Chavo Guerrero: The only man to hit 11 suplexes in a row yet only do Three Amigos once. I miss Eddie :(.

The ring has filled up a bit now, and gets even fuller with Mark Henry, who does everyone a favour and eliminated Chavo.

Michael McGulluty… McGuuuillairty… Hennig shows up not too long after, followed by Otunga, and we now have 4 Nexus members in the match at the same time. This leads to a mass elimination with Nexus standing tall.

So, who is the first guy to take on the Nexus? Its… its… OMG ITS MATT HARDY! MATT HARDY IS BACK! Oh wait, its just Tyler Reks.

Guys come out, charge into the ring like retards, and get eliminated. Did nobody do their homework here? Bossman came out with just Rikishi in the ring in 2000 and he waited for someone else to come out. Unfortunately it was Test and Test didn’t like him, but Bossman didn’t get eliminated for quite a while still, something that probably wouldn’t have happened had he faced Rikishi alone!

The biggest threat to Nexus for quite some time is Khali, who takes everyone down and eliminates Harris, but the next entrant is Mason Ryan who manages to take care of the Punjabi Playboy.

Punk is awesome throughout all of this, acting so damn pleased when he and nexus are alone in the ring waiting for someone, and then being scared for his life when someone poses any kind of threat. Oh, and his “what’s up?” bit was great.

Booker T returns (hope its just for the one match) and starts picking everyone apart (while Hennig just stands around looking like a green rookie) before finally getting eliminated too. Take that Booker! Striker’s “I’m marking out, bro” comment was just horrible. Made him sound like a arse more than an excited fan.

So far this Rumble has been great. Like, really great. Nexus dominating has been awesome, but unfortunately the superman booking of John Cena ruins it all as he charges in and takes care of everyone but Punk. Yeah, leaving Punk alone with Cena was a good spot to do, but did Cena have to come in and do THAT straight away? Took momentum away from Nexus and made everyone who came before Cena that failed look like useless fucks.

Things get worse as some familiar Irish music plays… and Hornswoggle comes out instead of Finlay. BULL. SHIT. Oh, and then guess what? PUNK GETS ELIMINATED. Yey. Hornswoggle is still in, and Punk is gone.

As if Cena single handedly destroying Nexus wasn’t enough, they now decided that a Cena/Hornswoggle domination of the RR would be good. One man and a midget doing the job that 4 fully grown men were doing earlier.

Gotta admit though, I DID get a kick out of Heath Slater being dominated by a man and a midget. I hate Slater.

Oh, and I have just one thing to say: Cena and a Midget doing the 5 Knuckle Shuffle together. Its still PG, right?

Finally Sheamus manages to put a stop to Hornswoggle when he kicks him in the head and send him out of the rumble.

The ring keeps filling up, nothing amazing, but then… #32…

BIG DADDY MOTHERFUCKING COOL DIESEL. MARK. THE. FUCK. OUT. MOMENT. Amazing how dying his hair black makes him look just as young as he did in the 1994 RR lol. Also, Diesel gets the BIGGEST reaction of the night. Even Rey gets booed for 619’ing him. So fucking glad he showed up as Diesel too. Apparently he was supposed to be Diesel again in 2003 but didn’t want to dye his hair or something, so he just stayed as Nash. Always been a fan of the guy, but more so for his Diesel character because I grew up with the guy being Diesel, and he was probably my second favourite for a number of years.

Diesel lasts a few minutes, but gets eliminated by Barrett. Bah. At least the fans keep chanting his name because he’s awesome. Not awesome, however, is The Miz joining commentary while A-Ri joins the rumble.

Big Show comes out #35, and on his way to the ring stares down Nash who is making his way to the back. WM match between these two please.

:lmao, gotta love Barrett when Big Show is coming into the ring. Everyone still standing kinda stops and turn towards show… but Barrett has better ideas and smashes Riley’s head into the turnbuckle instead. Show might be a favourite to win, but they don’t need A-Ri to help them! :P

And A-Ri. What can we say about him. The guy BOTCHED his own elimination. And nobody seems to notice. Hell, I didn’t even notice until about 5 minutes later when the commentators mention it. Even funnier when you have MIZ talking about how great Riley is… only to realise he has gone.

Big Zeke is impressive when he shows up, single handedly eliminating The Big Show! Wouldn’t mind seeing those two go one on one as well.

Santino shows up, takes a shitty kick from Sheamus, then disappears under the bottom rope. I remember watching live and thinking that they probably forgot about the guy, but nope, he DOES return at the end!

Alberto is #37, and while I WANTED him to win, I didn’t think they would pull the trigger on him so soon. He doesn’t do much at first, just takes a beating from Orton who comes out next.

:lmao :lmao :lmao at Orton and Cena having not one, but TWO failed “epic stare downs” in this match. You can tell they were going for a “Hogan/warrior” or “Rock/Austin” moment where its just them left standing and the fans go apeshit because they want to see the top 2 babyfaces go at it. Of course, since we have seen it 1012398347892021893874889283213.2783 times already, NOBODY GIVES A SHIT.

Speaking of nobody giving a shit… Kane is #30. Disappointed that we didn’t get any Undertaker mind games or shit, instead Kane gets eliminated normally by Rey.

We finally get down to the final “4” with Cena, Orton, Barrett and Del Rio (and Santino outside somewhere). By this point I was half expecting Cena to win it again, but Miz does the only good thing he has ever done in his career by taking care of Cena.

In the end, its ALBERRRRRRRTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DEL RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO left standing after Barrett and Orton are gone! But wait… what about Santino?!?! He’s still alive! OMG COBRA! SANTINO! SANTINO! SANTINO! Nope. Del Rio eliminates him too.

AAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DEL RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAS WON… AGAIN!

Awesome. Wanted him to win, wasn’t sure he would, but so damn happy he did.

Overall, this was the most fun I’ve had watching wrestling since Undertaker/HBK WM 26. On a rewatch, it wasn’t quite as fun, but still very fun and enjoyable. A hell of a lot to like about it. There are though, a number of things to hate about this match. Cena’s booking against Nexus. Hornswoggle and Cena dominating for a while. No awesome surprises outside of Diesel (Booker doesn’t count because he isn’t good), as I was expecting a HHH return, something from The Undertaker (maybe similar to 2004), and possible an appearance from Jericho and Christian.

That being said, the positives FAR outweigh the negatives imo, and this still turns out to be one of the better RR matches. Amazing to think it could have been BETTER had some of the booking choices been different.

Rumble Match Rating: ****

Overall Show Rating: 4 out of 10

A pretty damn poor RR event unfortunately, but the Rumble match itself is enough reason to take a look at the PPV.