Category: Written Reviews

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

Jake Roberts Vs Brett Sawyer – Georgia 03/09/1983

Jake Roberts Vs Brett Sawyer – Georgia 03/09/1983

So… its it Brett Sawyer or Brett Wayne? Announcer says Wayne, listings say Sawyer :p.

Anyways, this Jake really does look like the Jake that everyone will remember. He doesn’t look like the skinny kid with a moustache any more, he looks like Jake The Snake Roberts.

Its not just his appearance either, its how he moves around the ring, and the little things he does before the match starts. The referee explains the rules, and asks if anyone has a question, and shows the belt (not sure which belt it is), to which Jake responds with “No, I don’t have any questions, and I see the belt”. Ok, I guess that doesn’t sound like anything remotely interesting lol, but when Jake says it, its… good :p.

Wayne controls early on, while Jake is constantly doing something to turn the tables in his favour. Things like attacking the knee of Wayne as he is in a headlock, forcing Wayne to take the hold to the mat where Jake reverses it into a pinfall. The leg looks to become a target of Jake, as its taped up. Loved how Jake took Wayne down and had hold of the leg, and when Wayne would try and kick Jake off, Jake kept hold of the bad leg and dodged the kick a couple of times before finally taking the shot. I’ve seen that spot a million times and I don’t think I have seen anyone do what Jake did with it.

Wayne continues to try and keep Roberts away from him and the knee by using a headlock, but Jake continues to be fucking awesome as he keeps turning any offence from Wayne into something that benefits him. I know Andy keeps going on about Arn and all the little things he does being amazingly awesome, and I’m right there with him, but based on what I have already seen from Jake, and just this match alone, I have a sneaky feeling that I’ll be placing Jake right up there with Arn.

I find it odd that Wayne keeps using the headlock no matter how many times Jake counters it, I guess he feels its the best move to use to keep Jake away from the knee… except it doesn’t :p. Makes him look a tad retarded tbh lol.

Jake finally gets full control of the match, and while he doesn’t do anything spectacular (like, at all), everything looks vicious and painfull.

Ok, screw the whole “nothing spectacular” shit. Loved the move he did, kinda like Mark Henry’s slam, only he didn’t lift Wayne up anywhere near that high, but when he dropped him down he slammed his knee onto the midsection that looked fucking awesome. This leads to plenty of nice midsection work from Jake rather than leg work, which I can only assume is because Jake didn’t have much luck going after the leg in the beginning of the match. It helped him escape some holds a few times, but was never the big turning point for Jake.

Wayne gets a good hope spot in, but is quickly cut down. Paul Ellering, Jake’s manager, takes a shot at Wayne in the corner, causing Buzz Sawyer to take out Ellering, and then go after Jake who won’t stop punching the fuck out of Wayne’s face :p.

Aside from the crappy ending (NO FINISH~!), I fucking loved this match. Its not anything I would call great, but its so much fun to watch, and everything Jake does is awesome. Give this an actual finish and it might be great, but as it stands, it “just” good.

Rating: ***

The Undertaker Vs CM Punk – WWE Smackdown 10/09/2010

The Undertaker Vs CM Punk – WWE Smackdown 10/09/2010

Not often I get the “big match feel” from a TV main event these days, but they managed to do it here thanks to the great promo at the start of the show between these two men, and the fact that Punk sent the SES to the back so he could do this on his own.

Punk is determined to make a statement tonight against The Undertaker, while The Undertaker is here to show his brother Kane that despite not being 100%, and having not wrestled for a couple of months, he can still go. Pretty high stakes for both men in terms of storylines (Undertaker) and character (Punk).

Pointed this out in the SD thread, but I gotta mention it again; the pop Undertaker gets for doing nothing more than taking off his hood and rolling his eyes back is EPIC.

Undertaker is taking things slowly, not rushing into anything straight away, because he realises he isn’t at his best, and Punk IS a dangerous man. Despite a slow start though, Undertaker gets in control as he begins to work over the arm, setting up to Old School and then something bigger. However, in his weakened state, Undertaker isn’t able to keep his balance and falls on the ropes. Punk looks a little shocked at what just happened, but doesn’t waste much time in taking advantage.

The awesomeness that is Punk comes out now, as he starts working over the arm and screams “how do you like it?” at Undertaker. Undertaker makes Punk look like a million *insert currency here* with how he takes Punk’s offence and how he sells it too. Not often you see Undertaker getting dropped from a single punch, especially not from a smaller guy, but it happens here. Undertaker knows exactly how his character should be acting due to the circumstances, and he plays it better than maybe anyone else in the world could. Going back to what Clique said about Undertaker being the best seller ever, matches like this prove that he might very well be the best seller in the world RIGHT NOW at the very least.

We get a few Undertaker hope spots, but between Punk cutting him off, and Undertaker simply not being able to follow up, Punk continues to control this match and looks certain to win.

Punk continues to look extremely strong in this match even when Undertaker is making a comeback, mainly during the part where he goes punch for punch with the Dead Man in the centre of the ring for longer than anyone Punk’s size should, and also kicking out of a Chokeslam!

The finish keeps Punk looking strong too, as he finally hits the GTS, but can’t follow up straight away due to taking the Chokeslam a few moments ago. When he finally crawls over for the cover, Undertaker pulls out THAT SUBMISSION HOLD and gets the victory. Like I said, keeps Punk looking strong due to kicking out of the Chokeslam and managing to hit his finisher, and then showing us that The Undertaker can still pull out the quick win when it comes down to it. Helps with the build to the NOC match with Kane too.

This is one hell of a match. Undertaker sold his “condition” incredibly, and Punk looked fantastic with his offence and how he controlled 90% of this match, and came sooooo damn close to actually winning. Kept both men looking strong, and continued the great build up to Kane Vs The Undertaker. Not sure if I would call it the current TV MOTY, but its real close.

Rating: ****

20 Man Battle Royal – WHC – Smackdown January 13th 2006

20 Man Battle Royal – WHC – Smackdown January 13th 2006

As mentioned in my previous review, Batista had vacated the WHC earlier in the night, so this match was set up to decide a new World Champion. 19 men enter the ring, leaving one more, and its… KURT ANGLE! Angle was a Raw superstar, but had jumped to SD apparently.

Love how this thing starts, with JBL telling the rest of the guys to “leave Angle to him”. JBL has always thought of himself as the face of SD, so it made sense that he would want to take out the “Raw” superstar Angle. Unfortunately for JBL, Angle is fired up and quickly eliminates the Wrestling God! Vito is next to go, then the rest of the SD stars decide to gang up on Angle!

Typical battle royal stuff, with people fighting everyone and guys going over left and right. We then start to get a story between Angle and Henry, when Henry knees Angle in the back and sends him out of the ring (under the ropes), and then slams him through the announce table. With Angle out of the match, or so it seems, Henry is now considered the favourite alone with the young powerhouse Bobby Lashley.

Henry and Lashley go head to head while the rest of the superstars watch, which makes what is essentially a small face off in reality, something really big. Henry gets the better of Lashley, and continues to be the favourite to win the title now.

Final four is Henry, Mysterio, and MNM. MNM both get eliminated by Mysterio, who is fighting for his fallen friend Eddie. Once Rey eliminates MNM, he realises what stands before him, and so does the crowd. Some actually Royal Rumble matches don’t capture the feel of this match when its down to the final two lol, which should give you an idea of how good this match is turning out to be.

Rey fights with everything he has got, 619’ing Henry over and over, but not being able to send him over the ropes. He goes all Benoit in 04 on Henry, trying to headlock him over the ropes, but the power of Henry sends Rey to the floor. New champion? Nope, ANGLE is still in this thing!

He’s back up now, and pissed off. Angle is a fucking lunatic normally, but when he’s pissed off? I wouldn’t want to be Henry lol. But as pissed as he is, Henry is still a monster of a man, and his awesome power quickly comes into play.

They go back and forth in the ring for a little while, with Angle nearly eliminating Henry a couple of times, but Henry is still too strong, so Angle has to wear him down some more. Henry’s powerbomb to Angle is markout worthy too. They don’t take their time with this finish either, and in a lot of ways its similar to Benoit/Big Show in 04, with how they have plenty of time to really build to the smaller guy finally taking out the bigger, stronger opponent. Just like in 04, the smaller guy wins, and as such, Angle becomes the NEW WHC! The finish was almost fucked up though as Angle landed on the floor too :p.

Now this is a pretty great battle royal, right up there with the 2004 Raw one probably. The start is great, with Angle and JBL, then the story of Henry in the middle is really good, and the battle between the final two is better than most Royal Rumbles tbh. Yet another match to add to my ever growing list of matches that could make my list lol.

Rating: ***3/4

Chris Benoit Vs Randy Orton – Smackdown January 13th 2006

Chris Benoit Vs Randy Orton – Smackdown January 13th 2006

Last week, Benoit got a DQ win over Orton who replaced Booker T in the best of 7 series for the US Title. That win for Benoit made it 3-3, so this would be the final match. If Benoit wins, he gets the US title. If Orton wins, then BOOKER wins the US Title.

Should also be noted that Batista gave up the WHC at the start of the show after Henry injured him. Orton wanted in the Battle Royal to get his shot at the WHC, but was forced into this match as he has already agreed to replace Booker. So Benoit would be fighting for the US Title, while Orton would be fighting for pride and to prove that he is one of the best, and no doubt to gain momentum going into the Royal Rumble which is a couple of weeks away.

They spend the opening few minutes just fighting for control, and you really get the sense that both men are doing their absolute best to fight for that position. This is an important match for both men, and for different reasons; Benoit wants the title, Orton simply wants the win for bragging rights (and no doubt to prove to Teddy Long that he should have been in the WHC Battle Royal).

Benoit ends up on the outside, and sees Booker T coming towards him with the crutch. So what does he do? Channels Eddie Guerrero of course! He holds his knee and tells the referee that Booker hit him with the crutch, and Booker gets sent to the back! Smart by Benoit to get any outside party sent away so he can be fully focuses on Orton, who he knows CAN beat him, as he proved in 04 for the WHC.

With Booker gone, and a commercial break, nothing has really changed in the ring. Both guys are still fighting for control, and its probably done in a way that Andy would describe as “gritty”, so you know its probably good lol.

Benoit turns things up a notch when he gets tired of fighting with Orton on the mat, and just chops the fuck out of him. Orton’s facial expressions when he gets chopped are just priceless too, which makes his attempt to stop Benoit even more meaningful.

Even with Orton in control of the match, he has to fight with Benoit every step of the way to keep control, and sometimes very nearly loses it. Benoit has to be right up there as one of, if not THE best opponent Orton has ever had. Its basically a lite version of the Benoit/Regal and Benoit/Finlay matches, so I think its safe to assume that everyone on here will pretty much adore this match.

Benoit’s big “comeback” spot is awesome too, something that you probably wouldn’t see from ANYONE else; its a headbutt while both guys are on the ropes, and Orton gets headbutted off the ropes to the guardrail. Its probably one of the best comeback spots I have seen lol.

I’m struggling to think of something to say now lol, without going all play by play :p. I guess its best to just reiterate what I have already said; this match is a fight. You can tell who has control of the match, but there is never a part of the match where someone is completely dominating as the other guy is constantly trying to fight out of whatever hold he is in. Screw calling this a lite version of Benoit/Regal and Benoit/Finlay, this is pretty much the full thing now.

I think highly of a small handful of Orton matches, but I don’t think I have seen anything quite like this from him before, even with Benoit. Most likely Orton’s best singles match, and probably his best match singles or otherwise.

My ONLY complaint with this match is the ref bump and interference. Orlando showing up was pointless (like always, even when he has a match), and with the performance Orton put on for this match, I think it would have been better for him to win this one clean rather than with Booker’s help. Everything else before that though was fan-fucking-tastic. This is going to make my top 50.

Rating: ****1/2

The Undertaker Vs Shawn Michaels – In Your House 18: Badd Blood 05/10/1997

The Undertaker Vs Shawn Michaels – In Your House 18: Badd Blood 05/10/1997

Here we go! The first ever Hell in a Cell match. The Undertaker, fighting for revenge. Shawn Michaels, fighting to survive. Also, something that is often forgotten about this match, the #1 contendership for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series is on the line too!

Before the match starts, we see referee Earl Hebner padlock the cell door shut, as Shawn pleads with him to let him out. No chance Shawn. You danced with the devil, and now you are about to get burnt!

With the door locked, the match can begin. HBK circles the ring, as The Undertaker slowly stalks his prey. After everything Shawn has done to him over the last couple of months, The Undertaker wants to put Shawn through a lot of pain, and is going to take his time doing it. He sees no need to rush, no need to run after Shawn, because unlike Ground Zero, he has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no one to save him.

After playing a bit of cat and mouse, The Undertaker catches up to Shawn in the ring, and here we go! Nothing fancy, just ‘Taker grabbing Shawn by the back of his head, and ramming him into numerous turnbuckles. Shawn sells them like he just hit concrete, which some people would state he is overselling, but personally I loved it, and felt it made The Undertaker seem like a vicious powerful monster, which WWF were really turning him into at the time.

Shawn takes a beating for a couple of minutes, with ‘Taker working over the arm, hitting Old School, and even going for a cover at one point. Was The Undertaker trying to win? No, I don’t think he was. He gave Shawn a beating a month ago at Ground Zero, and Shawn never gave up, so he knew it would take more than what he had done so far to put HBK away. So why go for a cover? Because he can. He is showing Shawn that HE is in control, not Shawn. Also, kicking out of a pin attempt with a 300+ pounder on top of you wastes energy, and just helps The Undertaker more. A question some of you may be thinking is “why did Shawn kick out?”. Good question, because let’s face it, if Shawn didn’t kick out, the match would be over and he would escape the possibility of worse pain. Going back to what I said earlier, this match is for the #1 contendership. Shawn, like everyone in the WWF, wants the WWF Championship. Winning this match will place him in a title match, where he is one step closer to being champion once again. Then there is the fact Shawn is an arrogant heel, and beating The Undertaker will feed his ego, and give him bragging rights forever more.

The Undertaker decides to step things up a bit, as he grabs Shawn by the throat, seemingly going for a Chokeslam! Shawn senses this, and desperately fights his way out, sending ‘Taker into the corner. He mounts him, and begins to punch ‘Taker in the head. The Undertaker throws Shawn off, and he flies half way across the ring, again perhaps overselling, but IMO putting The Undertaker over even more. Shawn is a resilient man though, and he quickly gets to his feet and charges over into the corner to mount the Dead Man once again.

Every time Shawn attempts any offence, The Undertaker just shrugs it off and continues his epic assault on the “Sexy Boy”. The fight goes to the outside, and things are about to get brutal. ‘Taker imposes his will on Shawn, using his size and power along with the deadly cell walls to inflict more pain and damage. A couple of spots I always enjoy are when The Undertaker picks up Shawn, then smashes him back first into the ring post, turns around and smashes him back first into the corner of the cell, turns around again and smashes him in the ring post once again, then turns around one last time to send him back first into the corner of the cell. The other is when ‘Taker goes for a powerbomb, but Shawn seemingly reverses it, punching The Undertaker repeatedly in the face, only for The Undertaker to turn around and repeatedly smash Shawn into the corner of the cell again! When Shawn drops to the floor, you can see the marks on his back left by the cell, showing you that he really did hit the cell, and he hit it hard.

The underlying story of this match continues, with Shawn using the cell to attempt an escape from the pain and destruction The Undertaker has on his mind. He tries his best to climb up the cell wall to get away, but The Undertaker is tall enough to reach up and drag Shawn back down, back to hell.

Again the cell comes into play in this match, this time providing Shawn with an opening he so desperately needed. ‘Taker whips Shawn into one of the cell walls, then comes running at him, only to smash face first into the cell himself! I’m unsure if it was Shawn being able to dodge the attack, of if the sheer force of The Undertaker’s Irish Whip caused Michaels to bounce off and dodge the attack, but either way it created an opening, and HBK took it!

Just as Shawn appears to have the advantage, The Undertaker fights back. But as quickly as he re-gained control, he loses it! Shawn knocks The Undertaker off the apron, and sends him into the cell, then follows it up with a suicide dive, again driving The Undertaker into the cell! He isn’t giving ‘Taker time to recover, as he climbs the cell once again, this time to drop an elbow! Shawn is looking strong in this match now. He has used his speed, quickness and high flying ability to gain control, and is now using dirty tactics to keep that control. One of my all time favourite spots (not just from this match, but in general) right here, as Shawn hits a Piledriver to The Undertaker, ON THE STEEL STEPS! It makes one hell of a sound, and just looks incredible.

But even after all of that, The Undertaker crawls back into the ring. Again, this is putting over The Undertaker as an unstoppable monster, while at the same time, showing how resilient and CREDIBLE Shawn Michaels is when he is in the ring with the bigger, stronger opponent. Shawn doesn’t like the fact The Undertaker is still coming after him, so he pulls out a steel chair! This epic feud all began with a steel chair shot, and Shawn hopes to end it with one. I say one, but Shawn hits ‘Taker twice for good measure, and makes the cover! 1…2… NO! The Undertaker is not going out like that again. He still needs to extract his revenge on Shawn, and a steel chair isn’t going to do it this time.

The match starts to change from this moment on, as The Undertaker back body drops Shawn over the ropes, and onto a camera man. Shawn begins to beat the hell out of the camera man, laying him out on the floor. Why did he do it? I believe because he knew it would force the referee to open the door for EMT’s to attend to the guy, and the open door would allow Shawn to escape.

Until then though, Shawn must keep The Undertaker at bay. HUGE elbow drop from the top, followed by Sweet Chin Music! While all of this is happening, the door has been opened too! This is the part where I now feel the door being opened was a contingency plan, IF his superkick was not enough to put down The Undertaker. After all, what would be better than pinning The Undertaker in this match, instead of running away?

Of course, things don’t quite work out for HBK, as The Undertaker sits right up from Sweet Chin Music! Shawn is shocked, and makes a run for the door before it’s closed again! The Undertaker follows him out and catches him, sending him into the cell wall on numerous occasions, and busting him open too!

Shawn is lucky once again to find a small opening, but what is he going to do with it now? Inside the cell, he was unable to put the Dead Man away with his finisher. Outside of the cell, he was still unable to get away from the monstrous beast. The only thing left, if for him to CLIMB to the top of the cell! Unfortunately for Shawn, The Undertaker, even at 330lbs, near 7 feet tall, is able to follow him up there too!

Both men are now on top of the cell, and Shawn attempts a Piledriver up there, but instead gets a back body drop onto the steel! If that wasn’t bad enough, The Undertaker lifts him over his head, and slams him from over 7 feet in the air to the steel! Right hand now by The Undertaker, and Shawn nearly falls off the edge! He holds on, while The Undertaker has something sick on his mind. He stomps on one hand, he stomps on the other hand, and…

“Incoming!”

Shawn Michaels has nothing to hold on to, and falls back from halfway up the cell, through the announcer’s table! It crashes under the weight, and Shawn is a bloody mess on the concrete floor! It’s not over yet though, as The Undertaker climbs down, and slams him onto the floor!

While the majority of this match has been about The Undertaker being an unstoppable, almost un-human DESTRUCTION MACHINE, it’s also all about Shawn showing off just how damn resilient he is. After everything The Undertaker has done to him, he is STILL able to get up, and following the story of the match, does his best to get away from The Undertaker.

The Dead Man catches up to him once again, and throws him back into the cell, and the referee padlocks it shut one more time! Shawn is bleeding even more it seems, as it is flowing from the head of the Heart Break Kid.

The Undertaker has complete control now. He senses the time is right to put away the man who cost him the title, and starts it all off with a Chokeslam from the ropes! WOW! That isn’t enough though, as ‘Taker goes to the outside, and brings in a steel chair! As I’ve said before, this feud started with a chair shot, and The Undertaker wants it to end the same way. SICK chair shot to the bloodied head of Shawn Michaels, and payback is a BITCH! Undertaker signals that the end is here, but the lights go out, and we hear the eerie music of the man we discover to be… KANE!

Kane RIPS open the cell door, takes out the referee, and then stands face to face with his brother The Undertaker. He raises his arms, then brings them down to release fire from all 4 corners, just like The Undertaker has been known to do! The Undertaker is distracted, allowing Kane to hit a Tombstone!!!

Paul Bearer wakes the referee up, Shawn raises his head from the pool of blood he was lying in, and covers the Dead Man! A slow count, but The Undertaker is OUT of it. Shawn Michaels has WON!

Holy Shit! Every time I watch this match, I love it more and more. I love everything about it. From the way they build off the Ground Zero match with Shawn trying his best to simply get away, to the epic debut of Kane, which gives Shawn the big win, making him more credible going into the Survivor Series to fight for the title, while at the same time keeping The Undertaker credible from this loss, and further building The Undertaker/Kane feud that had been slowly boiling for months now.

People have been talking about Hell in a Cell matches for years, comparing them, ranking them, praising them and dissing them. I’ve seen people make excellent points as to why another cell match is more brutal, or why another cell match has more action, or why another cell match has better storytelling ect ect. That’s all good, people have different opinions, and that’s what makes us individuals. However, I do disagree with their opinions. I strongly believe that no other Hell in a Cell match has better storytelling, action, or even brutality. Sure, it might not be as straight up brutal as Brock Lesnar/The Undertaker, but it doesn’t have to be IMO. The fact that it’s built around one man just destroying the other makes it brutal to me. Then the blade job from Shawn, the fall from the cell, and the puddle of blood in the ring where Shawn is makes it just as brutal to me. It is only one of two cell matches that combines those three factors into the match (the second being The Undertaker Vs Edge, SummerSlam 2008), instead of just using two of the three, or in some cases, one.

This was the first ever Hell in a Cell match. I strongly believe that is has never been matched, and probably never will. It set the standard, and is the measuring stick not only for Hell in a Cell matches, but every other gimmick match too IMO. It shows perfectly how to combine storytelling, action and brutality into a single match, as well as how you put over both men involved, and even put over a completely new wrestler that has never been seen before the match (Kane). This was the first ever Hell in a Cell match, and I strongly believe it is the GREATEST MATCH OF ALL TIME.

Rating: *****