Written Reviews – Page 23

The Undertaker Vs Mark Henry – Smackdown February 10th 2006

The Undertaker Vs Mark Henry – Smackdown February 10th 2006

Apparently this is their first match together. Shame they would go on to have more :p. Its also The Undertaker’s first match on SD in 4 months.

This match hasn’t come out of nowhere, as Henry is pissed that The Undertaker is getting a title shot against Angle at NWO instead of Henry having a RR rematch with Angle.

‘Taker takes things slow at first, locking Henry in a side headlock. Henry powers out, and Undertaker runs into Henry only to be knocked back! They lock up again, and this time its Henry using the side headlock. With the failed shoulder tackle and now being put in a side headlock himself, Henry has to be impressing The Undertaker.

More bad luck for Undertaker, as Henry hits a shoulder tackle and sends ‘Taker crashing to the mat, something that The Undertaker was unable to do to him moments ago. Undertaker then attempts a hip toss, but the big man is going nowhere. Henry tried to hit his running… thing where the opponent is in the 619 position, but Undertaker moves and Henry leaps to the outside by mistake!

Undertaker finally gets in some effective offence, by sending Henry into the steel steps. Now its classic ‘Taker (Cole has ruined the word vintage), as he begins to throw lefts and rights at Henry’s face and body. Henry doesn’t really move, so ‘Taker boots him in the face for good luck.

Dammit, Cole just used the term “classic Undertaker” as well. Now that is ruined. Bastard.

Henry is getting dominated in the ring by Undertaker, but the guy either won’t stay on the mat for a 3 count, or simply won’t go down. Undertaker has some success by charging knee first into Henry’s face while in the corner, so he goes for it again, only for the massive Henry to catch him. All downhill for the Dead Man now, as Henry focuses on the body and back, setting up for his World’s Strongest Slam.

Believe it or not, its a headbutt to Undertaker that wakes up the Dead Man and starts his comeback. Nothing seems to put down Henry though, much like earlier in the match, until the leaping lariat and a Chokeslam are pulled out from ‘Taker’s bag of tricks. Before this one can end though, MNM run down to the ring and attack Undertaker. He holds his own for a little while, before getting triple teamed for a few moments until Angle shows up and cleans house! No doubt this is setting up to a match next week.

This one isn’t on the same level as Henry/Rey from a few weeks ago, but as far as Mark Henry matches go, its still one of his very best. Henry seems to do pretty well when he is focused on attacking the back/body of someone, and not having 20 minutes to do it. Its when his matches go on too long that he suffers, because he ends up doing the same shit over and over again while having to many rest holds. Undertaker sells for him nicely, and puts Henry over by hitting plenty of offence but rarely taking him off his feet.

Rating: ***

MNM Vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick – Smackdown February 10th 2006

MNM Vs Paul London & Brian Kendrick – Smackdown February 10th 2006

This was an open challenge match made by MNM… don’t think the titles are on the line though.

About 3/4 of this match is all Londrick basically making MNM look like fools as they utilise their fast paced high flying offence and cool double team moves. They transition into the FIP spot when Melina (who is probably one of the best booked valets/managers in the last 5 years, maybe longer) distracts the referee and allows MNM to take out Kendrick.

The heels in control only lasts a few minutes, but they do pretty well with the short amount of time given. London gets the tag but the referee doesn’t see it, and while the ref is getting him back into his corner, MNM put down Kendrick for the 3 count.

A nice TV tag match, and a good way to put Londrick over without having them actually beat the tag champs. Looking forward to their other matches in 06.

Rating: **1/2

WWE WrestleMania 28 01/04/2012

On paper, a pretty great looking card. Watching it live, it was a fun event mostly and I enjoyed most of the matches. Now to see how things hold up on a re-watch and after I’ve had some time to digest everything.

Daniel Bryan Vs Sheamus – World Heavyweight Championship

I was looking forward to this match. Out of the £15 I spend to watch WM live, £5 of it went on this match. What a waste of fucking money.

So the bell rings, and Bryan wants AJ to give him a good luck kiss before they officially get into it. They kiss, and Bryan turns around into a kick to the face and is pinned, losing the WHC. What a load of fucking bullshit.

Now, this MIGHT very well lead to something good, with Bryan’s character developing even more than it already has in the last few months. It might lead to somewhere truly great, and that’s, well, great. But that’s no excuse for doing this at WRESTLEMANIA. Do it on SD. Do it at a “B” PPV like Extreme Rules. But don’t do it at WRESTLEMANIA. Can I get my £5 back? And while I’m at it, I paid £7.50 to see this match last year too and it didn’t even fucking happen on the show. I had to buy the show again on Bluray to see it.

Rating: DUD

Kane Vs Randy Orton

Kane shook Orton’s hand last year so now they need to have a match at WM. Totally understandable…

I was actually surprised by this match; it didn’t suck. Kane since his return really hasn’t looked that good, but here at WM he looked better than he has in a while.

Orton kept trying to go full speed ahead but Kane would absorb everything thrown at him and then nail Randy with one big powerful looking move, allowing him to wear down the Viper and control the match.

This is WrestleMania though, and Orton just keeps coming back again and again, forcing Kane to take bigger chances such as attempting the clothesline from the top rope which doesn’t go as well as he’d hoped. Neither does the chokeslam, with Randy being able to kick out!

So if the chokeslam don’t work, what do you do? Super chokeslam! Was actually expecting Orton to reverse this into an RKO ala WM 21, but damn, Kane actually hit it AND got the 3 count! I legit thought Kane stood no chance of winning a WrestleMania match against a guy like Orton, but he did it. Which I guess means a re-match at Extreme Rules. Not fussed about this “feud” continuing, but it keeps Orton out of the title picture for a little while longer and with a stipulation they could have another good match.

All in all, solid stuff here. Kane actually looked good, Orton in a loss still looked good as it took a super chokeslam to beat him AND he never hit the RKO so we don’t know for sure if Kane would have been able to kickout of it had he landed it.

Rating: **3/4

Cody Rhodes Vs The Big Show – Intercontinental Championship

One of the few matches on this show with a decent build up, and honestly Cody was the one carrying the feud with his promos and the video packages of Show’s embarrassing WM moments lol.

This one goes exactly as I thought it would; Show starts dominant, Cody finds an opening for a little while, then Show mauls Cody and wins. I just hoped that Cody would find a way to retain the title because Show doesn’t need it in the slightest, and I don’t see Cody going into the main event scene just yet so taking the title from him was pointless. Unless he moves to Raw and does something with the US belt before that dies completely (Santino has it still, right? Urgh).

Best part of this match was Show spearing Cody in the balls.

Luckily this isn’t too long (though they might as well have had this go as long as the WHC match with Show just knocking out Cody, so the WHC match could have actually been a match). Its not BAD, but its short and there isn’t much to it so I can’t call it good either. Just kinda there, not annoying me, but entertaining me a little.

Rating: *3/4

Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos Vs Beth Phoenix & Eve

Literally had no idea what this match was happening or who Maria was going into WM. Luckily they showed up a video of how the match was set up. Was fucking awful lol. Such bad acting by everyone. And I still don’t really know who Maria is. Gotta love WWE getting someone with main stream appeal!

I will give Maria come credit though. Had I not watched WWE for a few months and then just randomly saw this match without seeing the “build up” video, I would have assumed she was a normal diva, because she’s about as untalented as everyone else.

Kelly Kelly and Maria win, because Maria is a “celebrity” and they can’t possibly have a celeb lose a match.

Rating: 1/4*

The Undertaker Vs Triple H – Special Guest Referee: Shawn Michaels – Hell in a Cell Match

Fuck. Yes. This is where another £5 went lol. Awesome that JR got to call the match, and they actually didn’t ruin it by playing up on all the shit between him and Cole. In fact, Cole was toned down a TON all night, which was awesome. He’s decent when he isn’t being a retard.

The build up to this one hasn’t been epic, but I have enjoyed it more than any other WM match build this year. The whole “uncertainty” angle with Undertaker was a great way to set up the re-match imo. I remember listening to a radio show with JR, and the host summed up this angle in a great way. Its just like Rocky II. Undertaker is Apollo Creed, and he wants the rematch because, and I quote “I won but I didn’t BEAT him”. And that’s just perfect for this. Undertaker got the win last year, but he was unable to leave the ring on his own and wasn’t able to return until a year later. So he wants another shot at HHH to prove that he CAN beat The Game and not JUST win the match.

Undertaker’s coat looks epic btw. And his new hair cut reveal isn’t nearly as bad as I was thinking. I was expecting him to be completely bald and clean shaven on top of his head, but its grown back a little and he even has a slight Mohawk going that actually adds to his new look.

The cell lowers to the sound of Metallica, and I have to wonder what shitty generic rock music they’ll replace it with when they release the show on DVD/Bluray. Seriously, why bother getting music like that for JUST the one night and not including it on the DVD/Bluray releases? They’ve done it before in the part, but now they replace anything they don’t already own the rights to.

Last year, Triple H ran straight into The Undertaker to start the match and would be the one to control the pace and the match for the most part. This year, Undertaker has something to prove to himself and to HHH, so HE starts the match on fire and takes the fight right to HHH, showing him that the beating he took last year isn’t going to happen again; at least, not to HIM.

I’ve been reading Mick Foley’s first book as of late, and there is a chapter where he talks a little about the best way to bust someone open “the hard way”. It involves targeting the spot just above the eyebrow… and about 3 minutes into this match I noticed that Undertaker starts targeting that exact spot with a couple of right hands and a few headbutts! Blood might be a big no-no in WWE these days, but hey, if someone is “accidentally” busted open, they can’t be punished, right? Besides, who the FUCK is going to come down to the ring and stop a Hell in a Cell match between HHH and THE UNDERTAKER? Nobody with a brain.

The match slows down a little for a while now unfortunately. The match is inside the cell so I guess they figure they should do SOMETHING with it, and that ends up as nothing more than throwing each other into the side of it a couple of times. There really was no need to put this contest inside HIAC. I think they did it just to say that HHH and Undertaker finally had a HIAC match.

Things pick up again when HHH tries to get himself back into the match with a quick DDT. He attempts a Pedigree on the steel steps that Undertaker brought in the ring, but a back body drop puts a stop to that. A nice little callback spot I guess you could say from their previous match, except last year it was a table HHH got back dropped.

Another callback spot from last year with HHH hitting a brutal AA Spinebuster, except its the steel steps once again standing in for the table and damn does it look and sound a hell of a lot worse than last year! A desperate Undertaker sees an opportunity to use Hells Gate, but HHH has it scouted and is able to power Undertaker up and set him crashing to the mat! Undertaker’s back has taken some punishment now, so its time for the cerebral assassin to do what he does best; go to work on an injured body part.

Time for the HBK factor to get involved in the match, with HHH brutalising The Undertaker with a steel chair, causing Shawn to show some concern for the man who ended his career. Triple H tells Shawn to end it, to ring the bell and stop the suffering of one of the biggest legends, or else HE’LL end it, and it won’t be as quick and painless as ringing a bell. Undertaker makes damn sure to tell Shawn not to end it, which just infuriates HHH to the point where he brings out his trusty Sledgehammer to finish the job.

HBK gets involved again, actually preventing HHH from smashing the sledgehammer down on the head of the Dead Man. Instead he looks like he’s going to ring the bell, a way he sees best to prevent HHH from not just beating HHH, but ENDING him. But its WrestleMania, and The Undertaker isn’t going to let a match end like this any time, never mind HIS show. And if Shawn is considering ringing the bell, Undertaker believes he needs to take out Shawn, and he locks in the Hells Gate! With Shawn gone, HHH is next to feel the pain of Hells Gate, and just like the end of last year’s match, HHH does his best to use the sledgehammer but he passes out from the pain! This one is OVER! Except… HBK is still out!

Another referee runs down as Undertaker levels HHH with a Chokeslam, and we get probably the biggest near fall a Chokeslam has gotten in quite some time, as HHH was still out from the Hells Gate and might not have been able to kick out. The referee suffers for only making a 2 count, and then…

SWEET CHIN MUSIC! SWEET CHIN MUSIC! HBK kicks Undertaker’s teeth down his throat, and sends him straight into a Pedrigee! Its over! Its over! NO!!! Undertaker WILL NOT DIE!

Triple H goes back to the trusty Sledgehammer, but Undertaker sits up and nearly scares HHH into submission! Its almost like Undertaker is remembering everything that happened to him last year, and its firing him up more than ever before! Tombstone! HBK makes the count… only 2! Shawn is GREAT here as he sits in the corner looking like an emotional wreck, knowing he almost screwed Undertaker out of his streak, and almost counted out his best friend in this “end of an era” match.

We get a great battle from both men as they throw big lefts and rights at each other to the “yey!” and “boo!” of the crowd, with them starting off on their knees before staggering up and continuing it on their feet. PEDIGREE! Another 2 count, and Shawn looks like he just wants this one to end so nobody has to get hurt any more.

With both men hurting badly, they begin to crawl to separate weapons. Undertaker goes for a chair, and HHH for his sledgehammer. A great visual as Undertaker has the chair in his hand, and stands on the sledgehammer before HHH can pick it up. All the chair shots Undertaker received earlier are now fresh in his mind, and similar to the HIAC match with Edge back in 2008, Undertaker looks now to give everything back to his opponent and then some. Chairshots the head have been outlawed in WWE, but the way these two have been swinging the chair for just back shots more than makes up for it. These are hard and every bit as brutal as a chair shot to the head would be.

The match now really is a reverse of last year; Undertaker has destroyed HHH with chair shot after chair shot and is screaming at HHH to stay down, but like Undertaker last year, HHH refuses to, even though he has almost nothing left. Another tremendous visual moment as HHH charges at Undertaker one last time with the sledgehammer, only for Undertaker to put a stop to it and shake his head. HHH, like his best friend HBK 2 years earlier, is defiant to the end and essentially forces Undertaker to finish him because there really is no other way. Another Tombstone, and this one is over. The Undertaker is able to put his year of uncertainty behind him as he not only won, but he BEAT Triple H.

The stuff that follows the match is really fucking great too. We have Undertaker and Shawn hugging, as Undertaker breaks away from his “Dead Man” character as much as possible without being Mark Calaway. And it was great to see Undertaker and HBK help HHH up and WALK him up the ramp to the back. Almost like Undertaker didn’t want HHH to go through what he went through last year. It might not have been on his own, but dammit, HHH WALKED out of WrestleMania. As JR put it, “That ladies and gentlemen, is respect”. This really was an end of an era, because its going to be a long damn time before anything like this is going to be able to take place in WWE.

This was incredible. Better than last year. If it wasn’t for the part near the beginning of the match slowing things down and not really going anywhere, I’d throw the full ***** at it. This is one hell of a way to finish the incredible story arc that in a way began at WrestleMania 24 with HBK ending the career of Ric Flair. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Rating: ****3/4

Team Johnny: David Otunga, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntyre, Mark Henry & The Miz Vs Team Teddy: Santino Marella, Kofi Kongston, R-Truth, The Great Khali, Booker T & Zack Ryder – Winning GM gains control of both Raw and Smackdown

Team Teddy is the worst team of all time. Not one guy worth a damn. Luckily Team Johnny has some talented guys who can take great bumps and hopefully make this match interesting.

I mentioned earlier about Cole on commentary actually being decent as he wasn’t playing up on his heel persona, and King wasn’t bitching at him much either. Unfortunately this match is where things go to hell a little bit as they start their bitching at each other because Cole is on Team Johnny’s side and Lawler is on Long’s. And from there we get the typical “Be a STAR, not a bully… unless it involves Vickie Guerrero” bullshit and some pointless arguing between the announcers lol.

The actual match is… well its not bad, and has a few fun moments. Too much talent involved and not enough time (though believe me, given most of the guys involved I wouldn’t want this to last half an hour lol) for them to really get things going and to have a full on match. But what they give us is pretty fun for the most part at least. Heart skipped a beat when Santino was left along in the ring with Miz and hit the Cobra. Thank fuck for Ziggler. Not just for breaking up the 3 count, but in general .

And thank fuck Team Johnny won, and LOL at Eve causing Zack to be the one to lose, then kicking him in the balls for being such a retarded fuck. He deserved everything he got tbh. She played him, was after Cena… then when Cena turned her down she went back to Zack and his cock took over his brain and he let her back in his life even though she was still shitting all over him. Moron.

So yeah. Fun mostly, but nothing much else. The right team won. Had low expectations for this so I was more surprised with how much fun it was than disappointed with the fact it wasn’t technically “good”. I’d rather watch this than a lot of WM 27.

Rating: **

CM Punk Vs Chris Jericho – WWE Championship

And here is where my last £5 went. Yep, I didn’t pay to see Cena/Rock. I’ll talk more about that when I get to it though.

Before the match, Punk is backstage and runs into Johnny, who adds the stipulation that if Punk loses his cool and gets DQ’d, he also loses the WWE Title. Punk does his best to look… pissed off? I dunno. His facial expressions as of late have been fucking horrible lol, making me want to laugh during this feud more than anything. Jericho added to that with his hilarious dick headed comments about Punk’s family. Wrestling needs more dick head heels btw. Been watching a bunch of ROH stuff from Joe and Danielson and KENTA in 06 when Bryan was a heel and the other 2 were… I dunno, tweeners maybe, and all 3 just act like complete DICKS to each other and it makes their matches, be it singles, tag or triple thread, so much fucking fun. So yeah. More dick heads in wrestling please! Austin Aries in TNA is one of the best things going right now because of the way he acts tbh.

The match begins with some nice little mat work, with both men wanting to prove that they are the best in the world. But Punk has more on his mind; he wants to beat the hell out of Jericho as well. Jericho sees this, and goes to work…

The new stipulation allows Punk and Jericho to add a little something more to their match here. Jericho gets to be a DICK and its just great to watch. With the title now being able to change hands on a DQ, Jericho decides he’s going to make Punk so mad he’ll get himself DQ’d and literally hand the belt to Chris.

It starts off with a couple of slaps, but that doesn’t seem to be getting the job done. So Jericho brings up Punk’s Dad, but again Punk is able to cool himself off and not fully lose control. Time to bring out the Sister card, and again Punk goes crazy but pulls himself together before before he does something he’ll regret. Jericho literally BEGS Punk to hit him in the head with a chair, and its just awesome. He’s so fucking happy as he does it too. Only Funk and Foley come to mind when I think about people smiling and begging to be hit with a chair lol.

When it becomes obvious Punk isn’t going to get himself DQ’d, Jericho has to out-wrestle Punk in order to win, and luckily for him all the things he has been saying has caused Punk to lose focus. Love the transition spot into Jericho’s “wrestling” part of the match. The suplex from the ring to the outside was a hell of a manly bump.

We get some really nice back work from Chris, and the spot where Jericho throws Punk off the ropes is great due to the slow motion replay and both Cole and Lawler just going “oh MAN” at the same time while watching it. Looked sick in slow motion.

Punk makes his comeback and the match becomes more of a back and forth even contest which fits in nicely with the story of both men claiming to be the best in the world. Only real complaint I have here is how Punk shrugs off the back work completely. Didn’t expect him to sell his back like death for the rest of the match, especially since Jericho doesn’t go back to it aside from the Walls of Jericho, but damn, one minute Punk is having his back worked over, and the next he’s fighting back and acting like nothing happened at all lol.

Anyone else for a moment thought that Jericho was going to hit the Styles Clash when he countered a Hurricanrana into a Walls of Jericho? Just me? Ah well lol.

I love how they transition seamlessly from the back and forth stuff into a finishing stretch, and do it without completely killing the concept of finishers too. I think Punk kicks out of a Codebreaker ONCE, and only because he had time to rest and recover before Jericho made the cover, and in a big match at WM that’s kinda to be expected, and in this match it really works into the story of both men being the best in the world and having what it takes to kick out of such things.

They really work their submissions beautifully in the match too. Jericho finding a way out of the Anaconda Vice by using his knees is great, and then Punk finding a way to counter the counter which results in Jericho having to tap is even better.

Totally loved this match. Great storytelling, starting out with Jericho trying to get Punk to lose his temper and get DQ’d, then moving onto both men just trying to prove they are the best in the world. Prefer Undertaker/HHH to it, but I’ve come to expect that I’ll like “big” Undertaker matches more than most people, and I can certainly see a lot of people thinking this was the best match of the night and other than my personal preference for Undertaker/HHH I’d find it hard to come up with much of a reason to disagree. Blew my expectations away, which were a little low as I didn’t want to be disappointed and I honestly doubted both men a little in their ability to have a truly great match with each other. Luckily they proved me wrong!

Rating: ****1/2

John Cena Vs The Rock

Urgh. It always sucks a little when they most hyped up match for WrestleMania doesn’t interest you in the slightest. I don’t like The Rock. Never have. I’m not one of those people who bitches because he left for Hollywood. I like that he left for Hollywood because it meant he wasn’t on my wrestling show any more. I don’t care much for Cena. I’m not one of those people who thinks he can’t wrestle in the slightest or have good matches, I just don’t enjoy his character. Even as the rapper. I’ve just never connected with Cena, but I’ve always at least been able to enjoy his matches when they have been good, and yeah, he’s got a bunch of them. Same can be said for The Rock, I like a bunch of his matches too.

Unfortunately I just can’t find any motivation to give a shit about this match. I don’t like either guy, I don’t like their characters, and the build up to this one has been atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. They had an ENITRE YEAR to build this one up, and it consisted of the same old shit from both men over and over again. Oh, The Rock left and I’m always here. Well, Cena is a fruity pebble and a *insert takeaway food here* bitch. A year of THAT. It wasn’t good, clever or funny the first time they did it. Why would it be any of that the next billion times they said it? I hear people say that feuds these days are too short and in the good old days they could last a year blah blah blah. Well in this day and age its impossible to keep things going for a long time because a) there is far more programming than there was 20 years ago, and b) creative struggle to come up with an interesting angle that last longer than a fucking week. And that’s all this one was; a week’s worth of ideas on repeated for a fucking year. As I write this, I haven’t had the chance to see Raw yet (Its Tuesday afternoon), so I don’t know what might have happened there, but I have to say, I fucking HOPE they don’t announce a rematch because I don’t know if I could take this boring, shitty, uncreative feud any more.

Nice to see that both guys get extremely long and shitty entrances from so called “singers” that I’ve never heard of and for good reason because they suck, while the WHC match got 18 seconds. Once again, FUCK YOU, ROCK. Your shitty boring pointless promo last year at WM prevented Bryan/Sheamus from happening on the show, and this year your shitty boring pointless entrance took away all but 18 seconds from Bryan/Sheamus. And fuck you too, Cena. And Vince McMahon.

Now I have that out of my system, time to watch the match. Urgh.

Collar and Elbow tie ups to start things off, with Cena powering Rock across the ring the first time, kinda like he was saying “LOL @ Teh Moviez Star”. Then Rock powers Cena across the ring with the second one as if to say “I may have been to Hollywood, but I’m as much of a wrestler as you as, so don’t take me lightly, bitch”. Then Rock busts out some ZOMGWRESTLING moves that shocks Cena and almost catches him off guard so much he almost gets pinned!

Cena is getting frustrated, but takes a time out and this allows him to regain his composure and when he gets back into the ring, he is able to take control of the match by targeting Rock’s ribs and utilises the bear hug. Unfortunately these bear hug spots are as dull as shit and damn, I know wrestling is “fake” but come on, if you are going to talk to each other in holds, try and do it quietly lol. Takes away from the match a little, and believe me, I’m not into the match that much to begin with .

After a while they take turns at hitting finishers, which breaks up the dull fest of bear hugs nicely, and then Cena goes back to controlling Rocky followed by a Rock control segment which involves his terrible attempt at a Sharpshooter.

Speaking of shitty attempts at submission holds… STFU! More god awful, dull and shitty submission spots from Cena. This match is way too long.

We go into the finishing stretch now, and its finishers for the most part, which I’m fine with because its a “huge” match and nobody is going to buy either of these being beaten by just ONE finisher. Rock goes to the ropes at one point, and in a nice throwback to his early days, lands a crossbody! But Cena rolls throw and hits the FU (or AA, whatever)! Legit thought this was it, but Rock kicked out and then I remembered something; movie stars always win! And yeah, Rock wins. Rock Bottom while Cena mocks Rock by attempting the People’s Elbow.

So its finally over. The whole “Once in a lifetime” stuff better be fucking true because I don’t want to see this match again as long as I live. It went on WAY too long, and if it wasn’t for the crowd I probably would have shot myself half way through. Rock/Hogan not only had a better atmosphere than this in all honestly, but the actual MATCH was better too imo. Watching it live I was able to keep with it and somewhat enjoyed it. Didn’t hold up on a re-watch. Kane/Orton was better as far as a MATCH goes. Crowd and Atmosphere were obviously better than anything Kane/Orton had, but that’s the ONLY thing this match had over it.

Rating: **3/4

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

For the most part I really enjoyed this show. Undertaker/HHH and Punk/Jericho were both fantastic, and while nothing else on the undercard really stands out, its all mostly FUN at least.

Big Cal’s Top 100 WCW Matches Ever!

Just finished a huge top 100 WCW matches project, similar to the WWF/E One from last year ( http://wrestlingview.co.uk/?p=270 ). I’m not 100% happy with my list unfortunately, as I was rushed to complete it due to my laziness for a few months lol, but for the most part its fine. Happy with my top 30ish matches, and the bottom 20ish, but its some of the middle stuff that I’d probably change if I had more time :p. Like the WWF/E List, this is simply MY personal list, and is made up of matches I think are legit classics and matches I just love even if they aren’t “technically” as good as others.

Ric Flair Vs Ricky Steamboat – Clash of the Champions VI 02/04/1989
Ricky Steamboat Vs Vader – Saturday Night 16/10/1993
Eddie Guerrero Vs Rey Mysterio – Halloween Havoc 26/10/1997
Belfast Bruiser Vs Steven Regal – Uncensored 24/03/1996
Ricky Steamboat Vs Steven Regal – Fall Brawl 19/09/1993
Ricky Steamboat Vs Rick Rude – Beach Blast 20/06/1992
War Games – WrestleWar 17/05/1992
Ric Flair Vs Ricky Steamboat – Wrestle War 07/05/1989
Vader Vs Ric Flair – Starrcade 27/12/1993
Ric Flair Vs Ricky Steamboat – Philadelphia 18/03/1989
Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko & Rick Rude Vs Sting, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat – Saturday Night 22/02/1992
Sting Vs Vader – Slamboree 22/05/1994
Ric Flair Vs Arn Anderson – Fall Brawl 17/09/1995
Ric Flair Vs Ricky Steamboat – Chi Town Rumble 20/02/1989
Ric Flair Vs Ricky Steamboat – Landover 18/03/1989
Hulk Hogan Vs Ric Flair – Halloween Havoc 23/10/1995
Southern Boys Vs Midnight Express – Great American Bash 07/07/1990
Ric Flair Vs Terry Funk – Clash of the Champions IX 15/11/1989
Brian Pillman & Barry Windham Vs Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas – Starrcade 28/12/1992
Eddie Guerrero Vs Chris Jericho – Fall Brawl 14/09/1997
Ric Flair Vs Terry Funk – Great American Bash 23/07/1989
Cactus Jack Vs Sting – Beach Blast 20/06/1992
Eddie Guerrero Vs Chris Benoit – Nitro 16/10/1995
Hollywood Blonds Vs 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell – Worldwide 08/05/1993
Vader Vs Sting – Fall Brawl 18/09/1994
Vader Vs Davey Boy Smith – Slamboree 23/05/1993
War Games – Fall Brawl 15/09/1996
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express Vs The Midnight Express – WrestleWar 25/02/1990
Vader Vs Ricky Steamboat – Worldwide 29/05/1993
Vader Vs Dustin Rhodes – Saturday Night 21/11/1992
Vader Vs The Boss – Spring Stampede 17/04/1994
Goldberg Vs Diamond Dallas Page – Halloween Havoc 25/10/1998
The Steiner Bothers Vs The Nasty Boys – Halloween Havoc 27/10/1990
Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne Vs The Nasty Boys – SuperBrawl IV 20/02/1994
Jake Roberts Vs Dustin Rhodes – Saturday Night 26/09/1992
Dustin Rhodes Vs Arn Anderson – Saturday Night 04/01/1992
Finlay Vs Steven Regal – Nitro 29/04/1996
Sting Vs Vader – Starrcade 28/12/1992
Ron Simmons Vs Vader – Main Event 02/08/1992
Eddie Guerrero Vs Ric Flair – Hog Wild 10/08/1996
Eddie Guerrero Vs Ric Flair – Nitro 20/05/1996
Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko Vs Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat – Clash of the Champions XVII 19/11/1991
Cactus Jack Vs Sting – Power Hour 16/11/1991
Ric Flair Vs Ricky Steamboat – Saturday Night 14/05/1994
Chris Benoit Vs Chris Jericho – Fall Brawl 15/09/1996
Diamond Dallas Page Vs Sting – Nitro 26/04/1999
Diamond Dallas Page Vs Goldberg – Nitro 19/04/1999
Steven Regal Vs Ultimo Dragon – Slamboree 18/05/1997
Diamond Dallas Page Vs Chris Benoit – SuperBrawl VIII 22/02/1998
Rick Rude Vs Dustin Rhodes – Worldwide 03/05/1992
Steamboat/Rhodes/Koloff Vs Anderson/Zbyszko/Eaton – Saturday Night 23/05/1992
Steven Regal Vs Larry Zbyszko – Clash of the Champions XXVII 23/06/1994
Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan Vs The Nasty Boys – Slamboree 22/05/1994
Ric Flair Vs Lex Luger – Starrcade 26/12/1988
Ricky Steamboat Vs Steve Austin – Clash of Champions 28/08/1994
Dustin Rhodes Vs Bunkhouse Buck – Spring Stampede 17/04/1994
Chris Benoit Vs Fit Finlay – Slamboree 17/05/1998
Ric Flair Vs Lord Steven Regal – Worldwide 01/05/1994 to 29/05/1994
Rick Rude Vs Ricky Steamboat – SuperBrawl 29/02/1992
3 Count Vs Jung Dragons Vs Jamie Knoble & Evan Karagias – Starrcade 17/12/2000
Sid Vicious Vs Chris Benoit – Souled Out 16/01/2000
Hak Vs Bam Bam Bigelow – Spring Stampede 11/04/1999
Ric Flair Vs Lex Luger – WrestleWar 25/02/1990
Dick Murdoch Vs Bob Orton Jr – WrestleWar 07/05/1989
Stars & Stripes Vs Arn Anderson & Vader – Saturday Night 15/04/1995
Dick Murdoch Vs Bob Orton Jr – Clash of the Champions VI 02/04/1989
Diamond Dallas Page Vs Raven Vs Chris Benoit – Uncensored 15/03/1998
Mortis & Wrath Vs Glacier & The Cat – Bash at the Beach 13/07/1997
Vader Vs Cactus Jack – Main Event 07/03/1993
Diamond Dallas Page Vs Bret Hart – Nitro 26/10/1998
Eddy Guerrero and Chris Jericho Vs The Faces of Fear – Nitro 24/02/1997
Sting Vs Steven Regal – Great American Bash 16/06/1996
Big Van Vader & Steve Austin Vs Ric Flair & Arn Anderson – Saturday Night 13/11/1993
Arn Anderson Vs Big Josh – Saturday Night 02/05/1992
Rey Mysterio Vs Eddie Guerrero – Nitro 08/09/1997
War Games – WrestleWar 24/02/1991
Goldberg Vs Scott Steiner – Fall Brawl 17/09/2000
Lex Luger Vs Ricky Steamboat – Great American Bash 23/07/1989
Sting & Ric Flair Vs Vader & Rick Rude – Clash of the Champions XXVI 27/01/1994
Steven Regal Vs Larry Zbyszko – Saturday Night 28/05/1994
Vader Vs Dustin Rhodes – Clash Of The Champions XXIX 16/11/1994
Steve Williams & Terry Gordy Vs The Steiner Brothers – Clash Of The Champions XIX 16/06/1992
Ric Flair & Sting Vs Great Muta & Dick Slater – Clash Of The Champions VIII 12/09/1989
Eddie Guerrero Vs Shinjiro Ontani – Starrcade 27/12/1995
Ricky Steamboat Vs Cactus Jack – Worldwide 22/02/1992
Chris Jericho Vs Dean Malenko – Uncensored 15/03/1998
Arn Anderson Vs Shane Douglas – World Championship Wrestling 17/02/1990
Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko Vs Barry Windham & Ron Simmons – Pro 09/11/1991
Chris Benoit Vs Mike Enos – Souled Out 17/01/1999
Cactus Jack Vs Paul Orndorff – Superbrawl III 12/02/1993
Vader Vs Hulk Hogan – Superbrawl 19/02/1995
Mean Mark Callous Vs Lex Luger – Great American Bash 07/07/1990
Arn Anderson Vs Hulk Hogan – Nitro 12/02/1996
Ric Flair Vs The Giant – Nitro 25/03/1996
War Games – Fall Brawl 18/09/1994
Brian Pillman Vs Jushin Liger – SuperBrawl 29/02/1992
Arn Anderson Vs Alex Wright – Slamboree 21/05/1995
Chris Benoit Vs Jeff Jarrett – Mayhem 21/11/1999
Terry Funk Vs Norman Smiley – Spring Stampede 16/04/2000
Kwee Wee Vs Jason Jett – Greed 18/03/2001

Belfast Bruiser Vs Steven Regal – Uncensored 24/03/1996

Belfast Bruiser Vs Steven Regal – Uncensored 24/03/1996

😀

Regal comes out with his most awesome theme ever (which I am now using in my videos lol). Just thought I’d mention it lol.

“One’s a Lord and the other’s a bruiser, and the bruiser is bruising on the Lord!”

Classic Dusty commentary.

I’m trying to think of a word to describe this match. Just one word. Ummm… oh yeah:

STIFF~!

We all know what these guys are capable of, both in general and against each other, so even if you haven’t seen this match, you can kinda know what to expect. And it’s just as awesome as you would expect.

Nice of them to show the Spanish commentary team randomly during the match. So… why are they relegated to the back of the area and not next to the proper commentary team? WCW IS RACISTS~!

I mentioned the awesome little things that Finlay does in that last match with Armstrong, but Regal ain’t no slouch in that department either. Arguing with the ref all the while leaning on Finlay’s throat with his leg was awesome. You probably need to see it to understand what I mean though lol.

“IRELAND! IRELAND! IRELAND! What is that, 5 miles from London?”

More funny shit from Dusty… especially considering he just randomly starts shouting “IRELAND” for no real reason.

Regal gets busted open, but damn WCW 96 wouldn’t let us see it from up close, so the rest of the match is shown from further back lol. Fuck me though on HOW he got busted open. Finlay punched the SHIT out of Regal twice, and I think it was the second punch that did it. Either way, the punches are about as real, stiff and awesome as you could EVER hope to see in a wrestling match. I had to go back and watch those shots a couple more times.

After nearly 20 minutes of fan-fucking-tastic shit, we get a damn DQ ending when the rest of the Blue Bloods show up. Disappointed with the finish, but it doesn’t take ANYTHING away from the rest of the match. This is going on my list, and atm I’m considering a top 10 spot for it too.

Rating: ****1/4

Big Van Vader Vs The Boss – Spring Stampede 17/04/1994

Big Van Vader Vs The Boss – Spring Stampede 17/04/1994

IT’S TIME!

IT’S…

ME WATCHING AND REVIEWING SOME WRESTLING FOR THE WCW POLL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MONTHS TIME~!

Sadly, the Boss isn’t Bruce Springsteen, but Big Boss Man. *sigh* I’d totally pay to see Springsteen get his face caved in by Vader…

Holy motherfucking SHIT at the bump on the rampway before the match even begins!!! Vader and Boss go at it straight away, and Race grabs Boss, allowing Vader to take one hell of a run up for a Splash… only for Boss to move and Vader to legit run Race down; and it looks terrific. Race takes a bump better than 90% of the young guys today.

MOAR Vader running and jumping! This time he has Boss down in the ring, and he takes another run up from the ramp way and dives over the ropes (!!!) for a splash that way! Fucking hell. Boss gets his legs up though, and all that running and jumping were wasted. Hate when that happens…

Boss really takes the fight to Vader, and Vader does that usual amazing job of looking vulnerable despite being 6ft whatever and over 400lbs and an all round bad motherfucker who caves faces in for a living.

After getting a taste of the old “cave in faces” Vader, its Boss’ turn to take one helluva bump. I mean Christ, what the hell is wrong with these guys? They should NOT be doing these kinds of bumps!

Since I haven’t seen any wrestling outside of current WWE for the last month or so at least, starting back with Vader is just… awesome. I almost forgot how great those punches were. Almost. Not quite. It’s still great seeing them again though :).

This baby is just a tremendous back and forth big man match that you HAVE to see for this poll, no question about it. You have to see it even more if you are a Vader fan… and I’m positive everyone on here is :P.

In the end Vader is the one able to take the most punishment and still come back, getting him the win, but not before having to resort to the Moonsault when the Vader Splash from the ropes doesn’t work.

I’m definitely reserving a spot on my list for this bad boy.

Rating: ***3/4

Sting Vs Lord Steven Regal – Great American Bash 16/06/1996

Sting Vs Lord Steven Regal – Great American Bash 16/06/1996

This is a grudge match of sorts… or something. Not quite sure what Regal did to Sting, mainly because Dusty is the one trying to explain it :P.

Sting is pissed and goes right after Regal, but those forearms and uppercuts (and maybe a thumb to the eye lol) of Regal are too much for even the Stinger. So much so that Sting’s face paint is almost all gone after the first couple of minutes lol.

Regal keeps in control for the most part with his superior wrestling skills, with Sting getting some hope spots in. Love the part where Sting goes for a sunset flip, and Regal starts punching at thin air to keep himself from falling over or something lol. Doesn’t work :P.

More awesomeness from Regal as he does his Lord Steven Regal pose, and kinda dances at the same time, as he waits for Sting to turn around so he can blast his face off with an awesome looking dropkick. He follows this up by striking Sting’s face a bunch of times while insulting America as the camera is in his face.

A lot of this match is Regal stretching Sting on the mat, but it is about as far from boring as Chavo is close to boring (that makes sense, right? 😛 ) thanks to Regal constantly doing something rather than just applying a hold. I’d honestly say that Regal is better at it in this match than I have EVER seen Arn. Yeah. Man is legit fucking awesome throughout the entire match.

Sting’s “superman” hope spot towards the end is really well done too. Regal has a wrist lock applied, and knocks Sting down, only for Sting to kip up and take a bunch of forearm shots to the face and not feel them, and then apply some force of his own to Regal via the wrist lock. Then Regal thumbs him in the eye and goes back to work lol.

The Regal Stretch is finally put on Sting, and Sting doesn’t even attempt to get to the ropes. He just sits there in it, not giving up, and Regal actually lets go of the hold as he is in such disbelief that someone can be in the hold and NOT give up or even attempt to get out! A pissed off Regal sends Sting into the corner and stiffs the fuck out of him, until Sting does his superman schtick again, and locks in the Scorpion Death lock for the win.

Man, Regal was beyond epic in this one. Sting took his entire offence as good as anyone I have seen, and it was amazing to see one of the company’s biggest stars get so dominated by essentially a mid card guy. I really liked how they didn’t just let Regal destroy Sting and have Sting do his superman comeback right at the end; they teased it a few times with Regal cheating his way back into control, before Regal dished out everything he had and still couldn’t put away Sting, giving Sting the perfect opportunity to end the match himself.

Really wanna vote for this one, but it might only end up in my bottom 10.

Rating: ***1/2

Vader Vs Ricky Steamboat – Saturday Night 16/10/1993

Vader Vs Ricky Steamboat – Saturday Night 16/10/1993

Already seen this match, and reviewed it, but fuck it, it was so awesome I wanna do it again!

This is a Human Cage Match, which is just a Lumberjack match. Why the stupid name? Fuck knows lol. Also, how come these two men didn’t have a PPV match? This is the 3rd title match between the two to take place on TV. Then again, I guess with only a couple of PPV’s in the year, they were just filling the time between them with something awesome, and then saving Cactus/Vader for the PPV.

The match starts much slower than their other matches, with Vader shoving Steamboat around but not causing any damage. One push sends Steamboat out of the ring to the heel side, and things nearly kick off as Steamboat wants to get back in the ring himself but the heels want to throw him back the hard way, causing the babyfaces to come to his aid.

Once back in the ring, Vader decides that playtime is over, and face caving time has begun! My god the shots Vader throws out are just so awesome. It has been said before, by me, Andy, and everyone else on here that watches Vader matches, but the shots in THIS match just seem so much better than usual.

I mentioned in my previous review about the Rocky movie similarities, and I still get that feeling this time around. Steamboat takes those shots in the corner, but keeps getting up and asking for more, and Vader is more than happy to keep them coming. The Dragon takes everything the champ gives him, and keeps coming back. He eventually moves out of the way of a Vader Splash on the outside, and Vader does his signature guardrail bump, and Steamboat finally gets a break!

Having already faced Vader on a couple of occasions, Steamboat knows he needs to throw everything he can at the champ if he even hopes to win. A sort of superplex (looks more like a DDT from the ropes lol), a DDT, a figure four and a huge back suplex are all high impact or highly painful moves, but not even those can keep Big Van Vader down!!! The booking of Vader as a beast and champion in 1993 was beyond epic. From what I have seen of his 1993 so far I’d probably consider him to be one of the better World Champions EVER. He dominated and looked unbeatable, but at the same time he could make you believe that his opponents would have a shot at taking the title from him when they were having a comeback etc.

Speaking of believable, it’s amazing that I can actually believe and accept and whatever other word for it you wanna put, that Steamboat can take Vader’s punches to the head and fire his own shots back, get to his feet and actually back Vader into a corner and out punch the guy! Again I go back to the Rocky similarities, with Rocky being out matched in power against guys like Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago, but managing to take their shots and come back with his own and even get the better of them as time goes on because he has more heart and more stamina too. Steamboat is the Rocky Balboa of wrestling.

The Human Cage stipulation comes into play for the finish which I really like. Vader is sent out of the ring, and everyone runs around to try and get him in, and the faces and heels get into it a little while doing this. Sid however, decides to let everyone else deal with Vader, and while the ref is distracted by all that, Powerbombs Steamboat in the ring, allowing Vader to get the 3 count!

Just an awesome match, and I’m really glad it made it on a DVD too (Rise & Fall of WCW I think? Or the Steamboat set? One of the two lol). Vader’s shots look better here than I’ve ever seen them look. Steamboat takes them like a man, and his selling is nothing short of incredible. Hard to believe that I like this more on a rewatch, because I fucking loved it the first time around lol. There is a spot in my top 10 for this match, no matter what else I watch!

Rating: ****1/2

Matt Hardy Vs JBL Vs Orlando Jordan Vs Chris Benoit – Smackdown February 10th 2006

Matt Hardy Vs JBL Vs Orlando Jordan Vs Chris Benoit – Smackdown February 10th 2006

The winner of this receives a US Title shot against Booker T. Here’s hoping that is isn’t Orlando Jobber/Pointless/Jackass/Stay in TNA so I never have to watch you wrestle again!

WWE put Booker on commentary WAY too much in early 06. The guy is fucking AWFUL. He makes Mike Adamle and Michael Cole sound like Gordan Solie or Lance Russell. Only funny thing he said was when he was mocking Orlando Jordan for always tapping out .

For the most of this match, its only really about JBL and Benoit, with Hardy and Jordan both being there to take some pretty stiff beatings. I want to write more about this, but fuck me, Booker T on commentary is killing it for me, and its not the same watching it with the sound down either lol.

Fuck it, I honestly am in no mood for talking about the match now. Booker has killed my interest in it. Its a decent match, anyway. Just hard to watch with the sound on. Stupid Booker C (the “c” standing for CUNT obviously).

Benoit wins. Who didn’t see that coming?

Rating: **

Rey Mysterio & Kurt Angle Vs Mark Henry & Randy Orton – Smackdown February 3rd 2006

Rey Mysterio & Kurt Angle Vs Mark Henry & Randy Orton – Smackdown February 3rd 2006

Earlier in the night, Orton made the comments about Eddie being in hell, so you know that Rey is gonna want to kill him. Angle looks to start the match off against Orton, but tags in Mysterio who goes postal on Orton.

Nice callback spot from the RR match earlier in the week, as Mysterio sends Orton over the top rope in the same fashion that he won the match. Unfortunately for Mysterio, his emotion gets the better of him and Orton capitalises on a mistake, then literally picks up Rey, carries him over to his corner and tags in Henry so his can crush him lol.

LOL at Orton hitting a dropkick on Mysterio btw. You know how Orton can hit a pretty fucking awesome dropkick? Well, imagine that, only this time Orton has to drop down about a foot compared to normal .

Angle gets the hot tag, and his typical “wrestling machine” stuff actually works well here, as the hot tag usually consists of the fresh guy coming in and destroying the heels. A low blow from Henry puts a stop to Angle’s offence though, and he plays the FIP for a couple of minutes.

Rey gets a hot tag next, and continues to try and kill Orton, until he runs into a massive clothesline. Angle and Henry get involved, and as Angle is chasing Henry on the outside, Davari gets involved, and all 3 end up running through the crowd. Rey is left alone with Orton now, which is probably what he wants… until Orton pins him .

This is a nice solid tag contest, with Orton and Henry working well as a team and giving us the usual Southern Tag Formula. However, there is just nothing special or standout about it. Its your standard stuff. Doesn’t make it bad though, just doesn’t make it a must watch.

Rating: **