WWE Main Event 08/04/2014

The Shield vs The Wyatt Family

Bit of a C-show treat to have their feud blown off on Main Event. This wasn’t as good as the Elimination Chamber match the same year, but I preferred this to the Raw match. Dean Ambrose was really good here, kicking the bout off by smacking the sheep mask off Erick Rowan’s face. As the smallest man in the match, this made him look tough as fuck. Following a brief heat section on Rollins, the main heat of the match is on Ambrose, and he excels here. Loved his facial expressions as he sold Rowan’s squeezing of his temples, and as a wild, scrappy face, it allowed him to have hope spots naturally interspersed in the bout. You can buy Ambrose as a “going down swinging” type, and it felt totally in character when he’d make his comebacks. Rather than Ambrose actually making the hot tag, things instead break down when Rollins makes a save, as if this match was a powder keg just waiting to ignite. Loved Luke Harper’s wildman tope, which sent Reigns flying over the announce table. With Reigns down, Rollins does some great work as the face saviour, hitting back-to-back dives to take out Rowan and Harper. More chaos ensures before Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds on Rowan to win. Really great match. Also worth pointing out Reigns’ post-match promo, where he’s so natural on the stick and the crowd just eat it up.

Jack Swagger vs Dolph Ziggler

Really like Swagger, so it’s sad to see him weighed down by Ziggler, who is just wretched here. This started really quickly, to the extent that we saw the Swagger Bomb in the first 30 seconds. Things go to shit as Swagger tries to do some basic leg work to set up Ziggler for the Patriot Lock. Swagger chopblocks Ziggler’s leg from under him, but then Ziggler hits a load of offence that is totally dependent on the leg – knee up to block another Swagger Bomb, dropkick, Fameasser – just totally undermining any attempt by Swagger to prepare for his finisher. Thus, when Swagger does lock it in, plucking Ziggler from midair to grab the ankle, it has less impact when Ziggler taps out. Would have been a better match if Swagger has faced literally anyone else on the roster.

Rusev vs Sin Cara

This is days after Rusev was called up to the main roster, so he’s still called “Alexander” here. Sub-one minute squash, with the leaping kick and the Accolade finishing off Cara.

CMLL 23/08/2015

Still not going to pretend I fully "get" lucha, but I enjoyed some of the CMLL I watched last year, and wanted to try to keep on top of my lucha knowledge.

Dragon Rojo Jr vs Rey Escorpion

I liked elements of this match, but it did feel a bit brief, not helped by some clipping. The first two falls are rushed through, Escorpion winning the first after some brief matwork, rolling through a roll-up to lock in Rings of Saturn for the submission. Rojo equalised with a victory roll, before the third fall sees both guys rushing through a bunch of stuff. Lovely flip dive by Escopion, great running stage-dive dropkick from Rojo and a really nice finish with Rojo blocking a rana and turning it instead into a slingshot powerbomb, but it all felt a bit hollow. Momentum seemed to shift too easily, and the end saw both guys on their feet in the ring, seemingly shaking off the previous damage. I liked the move execution, less enamoured with the match layout.

Goya Kong, Marcela & Princess Sujei vs Amapola, La Seductoria & Zeuxis

This was a pretty fun deal following on from Sujei and Marcela claiming the mask of Seductoria in a tag match the previous week. Really enjoyed Zeuxis in this, she blasted Kong with some vicious knees in the corner and hit a lovely moonsault to the floor onto Kong. Actually, all the rudos looked good, with Seductoria hitting a nasty looking seated senton to Kong and Amapola planting Sujei with Angels Wings. This earned a pinfall and Seductoria tied up Marcela for the submission to complete the first caida. The rudos maintained control and I dug them using the size of Kong as a weapon against her partners by using her to sandwich them in the corner. However, Kong was strong enough to plow through the rudos with a corner clothesline and nail Amapola with a guillotine drop for the equalising fall. The rudos still controlled the third fall until Amapola hit the post on a corner charge and Kong followed up with a big apron dive, which looked great. The remaining technicos pick up the win, Marcela hitting a top rope stomp and Sujei hitting a Michinoku Driver for the falls.

Negro Casas, Shocker & Ultimo Guerrero vs Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara

This is a follow-up to Rush low-blowing Casas en route to winning a hair vs hair match the previous week. Casas actually jumps Rush during the entrances, but this is a poor decision as he gets outnumbered quickly. His partner try to help, but are at a disadvantage, and this puts them on the back foot throughout. With Casas eliminated, Rush hits a top rope senton to pin Shocker and a corner dropkick on Guerrero to earn the primera caida. Both falls go to Rush too, making him look great. The second fall sees the captains Rush and Casas face off and end up brawling all over the floor. With this going on, Guerrero gets knees up on a Sombra moonsault and Shocker hits an odd-looking pump-handle slam on Mascara to even the ties. While that felt a bit underwhelming, the third fall is actually pretty fun. Rush and Casas kick off, and it really shows off how good Casas still looks, with his strikes and kicks looking on point. He’s really fluid. As they brawl outside, we get a good bit of ring time from Shocker who, even if he’s bigger and less mobile than 10 years previously, still has some nice moments. Loved him dropping a hefty elbow drop on a drop down. Sombra hits a massive dive to the floor, sending him flying into the railings. The end sees Casas get retribution as he rolls up Rush with La Majistral, only for the ref to get pulled out of the ring by Rush’s teammates. However, this distraction lets Casas hit a low blow on Rush for the winning fall and a bit of karmic revenge. Didn’t really get going until the last fall, but this was ok.

WWF Raw 20/03/1994

The Bushwhackers vs the Quebecers

Oh, this was very much a poor match. This is non-title, the Quebecers still the champions following Wrestlemania X, and for a lot of the match you feel like they’ll put the Bushwhackers over, as they control the majority of the bout. There’s one bit where the tag champs have to stand around like idiots for 30 seconds as the Bushwhackers dance around the ring, then attack them. It feels like the heel/face divide is all wrong, with Jacques having to power out of a chinlock in order to make a “hot tag” to Pierre. Except that Pierre then also gets dominated. The Bushwhackers are an aged comedy tag team and they totally blitz the tag champs. FINALLY, when we get back from the break the Quebecers have control. We get a few nice Quebecer double teams, where Jacques uses Pierre as a weapon, and the champs work over Luke. The hot tag gets made and Pierre has to be saved by Jacques in order to keep from being pinned by a battering ram. It takes a Johnny Polo distraction and a knee to the back from Pierre to give the Quebecers the win. Ridiculous.

Tatanka vs Chris Hamrick

Pretty fun squash. When I saw Hamrick was the jobber, I wondered to myself if he’d take the Hamrick Bump, and I wasn’t disappointed. It comes in the first few minutes, and Vince near loses his mind over it. It even gets a mid-match replay. That aside, Tatanka’s offence looks really good here, more in line with grouchy stiff Tatanka from 2006. Big clotheslines, nasty stiff chops and a bit of added emphasis on all his moves. The End of the Trail gives Tatanka the win.

Diesel vs Ken Lucia

JIP after we watch Diesel’s entrance. Basic, nothing squash with Diesel slowly beating up Lucia. Powerbomb gets 3.

                                         

Jeff Jarrett vs Koko B Ware

Nice to see Koko still appearing in 94. Unlike the Bushwhackers earlier, Koko can still go and this is a good little bout. Jarrett’s character work is terrific, so cocky at the start just by virtue of hip-tossing Ware twice. Then, as soon as Koko takes over, Jarrett stooges about, dizzily putting over his offence. Koko misses a corner splash, and an angry Jarrett is all over him, viciously wearing him down. What’s great is how Jarrett slowly regains his arrogance as the bout continues. Ware gets a brief flurry of offence, but ducks his head to allow Jarrett to nail a DDT for the win. 

WWE Main Event 01/04/2014

Been away for a couple of weeks watching the Euros in France, so thought it best to get something posted quickly. Not coming back to the best episode of Main Event however, as most of the show is dedicated to WMXXX hype, with only two matches on the show. Not a banner episode, I'm afraid

Sheamus vs The Miz

Good dynamic between these two here, Sheamus being the big, overwhelming face and Miz being the smaller sneakier heel. Loved some of Sheamus’ offence here, like his catching a boot attempt from the Miz and just pushing him backwards. Miz takes a big bump as Sheamus fallaway slams him into the ringside barricades. Sheamus is dominant for the opening parts of this match, with Miz unable to gain a prolonged advantage, until Miz is finally able to post Sheamus and cause some real harm. Miz isn’t great offensively, but Sheamus sells it well enough to carry this portion of the match. Wasn’t a big fan of Miz going for a 2^nd corner clothesline in the match, as it pretty much telegraphed that he was going to miss. Sheamus wins a decent bout with the Brogue Kick.

Tamina vs Nikki Bella

This wasn’t so good. This is before Nikki got really good and started throwing big shots, whilst Tamina has never really put it together. Nikki’s offence looks shaky early on, with her leaping corner kick and a flying headscissors not looking crisp. I did enjoy Tamina on the outside attacking Brie Bella unprovoked, before getting in a pretty much squashing Nikki with a superkick and a top rope splash. The dominant clean win was a surprise, the match being bland was not.

WWF Raw 07/03/1994

The Smoking Gunns vs Owen Hart & Crush

All four guys cut quite a quick tempo to start, including Bart Gunn hitting a moonsault crossbody on Crush, which looked good. The Gunns do a few bits here that I really liked, with Billy trying to take Crush over with a crucifix and, when Crush proved to be too strong, transitioning to a sunset flip instead. Loved Owen tagging in, but his ego causing him to rush into a hiptoss right away. Owen takes over with a leg lariat on Billy, but we miss almost the entire heat section due to commercial break. We actually come back right on the hot tag. Terrific. The end sees Crush clip Bart’s leg as he has Owen up for a powerbomb, and Owen locks on the Sharpshooter for the win. What we saw was fine, but they really missed the heart of the match.

Virgil vs Jeff Jarrett

Man, whoever laid out this match deserved firing. Virgil takes 80% of this match, which is ridiculous considering which of the two was getting a push, and it’s not even compelling domination. It’s mostly Virgil working a wristlock on Jarrett with nothing to pop the crowd. The only entertaining thing about Virgil’s domination is Jarrett’s stooging: yelling “I got him” before Virgil reverses a hammerlock, and having this hilarious look of total shock as he goes over on a sunset flip. JJ breaks the wristlock and things speed up a bit….for 30 seconds before Jarrett DDT’s Virgil for the win. A match that helped no-one.

Doink vs “Iron” Mike Sharpe

In many respects, the comically loud Sharpe is the perfect foil for the hijinks of Doink. Sadly, there is very little of note to this squash, as a missed corner charge by Sharpe leads to the Whoopie Cushion for the Doink win. Missed opportunity.

IRS vs Matt Thomas

An IRS squash is not the exciting main event that would have kept me tuned in in 1994. Thomas looks in good shape, but isn’t much cop in the ring, as IRS holds his hand through an armwringer reversal before Thomas almost botches a roll-up. Not that IRS’ offence is much better. He works a dull abdominal stretch section that goes on too long, before pointlessly working over Thomas’ leg for about 30 seconds. I say pointlessly, as the very next move after releasing the leglock is the matchwinning clothesline. Not a good episode of Raw.

TNA Bound For Glory 2015

Those of you who were reading this blog in it's formative days might have noticed I used to review a lot of TNA. In the days when I had minimal internet access and way before I had a load of streaming channels available, I had to basically rely on what I had available which, due to Lovefilm and Challenge TV, was mainly TNA. But until today, I'd not watched any recent TNA in a couple of years. I'd recorded this back in October, but never gotten round to watching it. However, having the house to myself for the weekend meant I worked through some of the stuff on my Skybox, and I decided to give TNA another go...

Tigre Uno vs Andrew Everett vs Manik vs DJZ

This is an Ultimate X match for Uno’s X Division title. Uno actually looks really sloppy at the start, with an attempted tornado DDT on Manik barely connecting. The crack TNA camera crew manage to miss a DJZ dive, before Everett hits all four men with a springboard shooting star to the floor. I like that it Everett who was the first up from that and going for the title, made it look like a wise tactical move. I like that as all four guys have taken some offence, they start going for the title believing the others might be suitably worn down, though Uno deciding against going for the X to hit a 450 to the floor on DJZ seems a bit dumb. The end sees Uno and Everett both at the title and Everett taking a huge bump to the mat to let Uno retain. Nothing spectacular, but a fun opener

Number One Contender’s Gauntlet

This seemed to be basically a “get everyone else on the card” match, and really wasn’t up to much. Too many generic looking wrestlers in black trunks not really doing much. It gets to the point where the arrival of Aiden O’Shea and Robbie E boost things a whole lot, with unique looks and, in Robbie’s case, a sudden burst of energy to the match. You also get the likes of Tommy Dreamer and Al Snow turning up and getting better reactions than the rest of the roster. It’s most glaring during a mid-match comedy spot where everyone does the Sheera Shuffle and the audience simply doesn’t care. Pope entering the match, realising that the only wrestlers not down were Abyss and Tyrus, who were both looking at him, and immediately exiting did raise a smile. The final two are Mr Anderson and Tyrus, which sees Tyrus basically no-sell Anderson’s offence and hit a thumb to the throat to win. Totally skippable.

The Wolves vs Trevor Lee & Brian Myers

This started off pretty evenly, until Lee hits a swank looking moonsault slam on Richards to take control. A large part of this match was fought in classic tag team formula, and when Lee and Myers worked heat on the Wolves, it was really good. Myers isn’t a particularly flashy wrestler, but he’s good at working tag formula, be it grounding his opponent to reduce the chance of them tagging out, or luring Richards into the ring to allow a beatdown on Edwards, grinning over the refs shoulder at Davey. This also led to the second hot tag of the night, as the sight of a recovering Edwards led both Myers and Lee tried to attack Richards on the apron, who dropped down, causing the heels to turn round to a shit looking two person rana by Edwards. I also liked the build of Myers stopping Richards diving on Lee, before Edwards sends Myers outside and the Wolves hit a double dive. Nice pay off. Sadly things do break down a bit in the final minutes, with just a load of moves leading to Richards pinning Lee with a brainbuster, but the meat of this bout was really fun.

Bobby Lashley vs Bobby Roode

Bit of a disappointment this one. I actually thought Lashley looked better than I remembered him, had good movement and some of his offence looked really good. I also liked his game plan of ramming Roode’s shoulder into the ringpost  and concentrating on it with a repeated keylock. However, it was the layout of the match that didn’t work. After Lashley dominated (included impressively plucking Roode out of midair and hitting a powerslam), he then hit a spear for two. Right away, Roode gets up and hits a Roode Bomb for 2. No build, just hoists a massive guy onto his injured shoulder and hits his finisher. From there, we get some awkward submission trading, both guys hitting the other’s finisher then Roode hitting another Roode Bomb for the win. Real anti-climax.

Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong

Match of the night to this point. Kong just plays brickwall to start, with Kim bouncing off her. I liked Kim instead going to the knee of Kong, slowing her down to give Kim time to hit a moonsault. I loved Kim locking a leglock on Kong then, realising Kong might make the ropes, switching to a front facelock. Really great looking nearfall as Kong blocks a top rope rana and instead hits a 2^nd rope splash. On the outside, Kim takes a nutty bump as Kong hits the Implant Buster on some chairs. Getting her back inside means Kong only gets a two from it, so tries for a top rope Implant Buster, which Kim reverses to a top rope Eat Defeat for the win. Really liked this, all logical work.

Eric Young vs Kurt Angle

This is a no DQ match, and the first few minutes of this were really good, some nasty looking brawling on the floor. Then Young hits a piledriver on Angle and it all goes to shit. They work an injury angle, with one doctor telling the ref to call off the match. Instead of doing that, the ref watches Angle get walked to the back, before Young assaults all the medical staff and drags Angle back to the ring. For some reason, the ref decides not to call off this match and allows Young to keep working over Angle’s severely injured neck. Some of Young’s offence looks suitably dickish. Loved him hitting a top rope elbow, then flipping Angle over and hitting an elbow right to the neck. Angle’s offence seems to rely mainly on German suplexes. I did think the end was good, with Angle managing to lock on the Ankle Lock. Young managed to grab the bottom rope, but was told there was no DQ for Kurt holding onto the move, and Angle dragged him back into the middle for the tapout.

EC3 vs Matt Hardy vs Drew Galloway

Main event and match of the night. Really well worked triple threat, and thankfully contained the bare minimum of “one man lies of the floor whilst the other two fight” spots. What it did have was a succession of great looking bumps and big spots that paid off. EC3 started the trend by driving himself and Hardy through the ropes to the floor to reverse a Twist of Fate, before Galloway follows them out with a massive tope. Galloway then reversed an attempted powerbomb through a table by EC3 to a Celtic Cross on the ring steps. Absolutely mental spot. I didn’t like Hardy deciding to try a backslide on Galloway, as it seemed to only happen to allow Drew to reverse to the Futureshock DDT. Another nutty spot as EC3 suplexed Hardy from the apron to the floor, through a table that Galloway was laying on. However, the failure of his big spots to earn him the win would cost EC3. After a double 1%er failed to earn him the win, he snapped, trying to provoke ref Jeff Hardy into assaulting him with a chair. It worked, as Jeff nailed him with the chair, causing Galloway to boot him out of the ring, only for Matt to hit the Twist of Fate to win the title. Really fun three way, and crucially all the big spots hit.

WWE Main Event 25/03/2014

Pretty disappointing episode of Main Event here. Fuck knows what I did to deserve two Ziggler matches.

Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler

Christian had won a four-way on Raw to face Big E for the IC strap on this episode of Main Event, but had picked up his career ending concussion, so the other three from the match had this triple threat to see who got the match. Nice little one-show angle. The problem this match suffers from is that you’ve got two guys really laying in their blows, putting in a sense of struggle when trying to escape holds, and it clashes with the wrestling style of Ziggler, who’s offence looks milky in comparison and isn’t the kind of guy who puts in realistic touches. Compare Del Rio punching at Sheamus in a failed attempt to prevent the rolling senton with Ziggler hitting his “opponent holds me in the air until I slap his back to let him know it’s time for a DDT” DDT. With Del Rio being the only heel, he controls a good part of this match, working over Ziggler and keeping Sheamus on the outside (I appreciated ADR going back to make sure Sheamus couldn’t get back in, rather than Sheamus mysteriously vanishing for ages as in most triple threats). Sheamus’s comeback is great, he’s a terrific offensive wrestler and I love how he builds up momentum, hitting more and more moves from the ropes so he’s like a big block of muscle crashing into his opponents. The end sees a really hot sequence between ADR and Sheamus, before Sheamus misses a Brogue Kick and ends up stranded on the ropes. ADR hits the backstabber, but Ziggler comes in to hit the Zig Zag on him at the same time. Even though Del Rio landed in exactly the same way that he was going to, this earns the win for Ziggler. Dolph really was a subtraction by addition to this match.

Natalya, Naomi, Cameron, Emma & Eva Marie vs Layla, Alicia Fox, Tamina, Summer Rae & Aksana

AJ Lee is on commentary, as this is just a brief bout to showcase the entrants in the “AJ Lee vs the world” match at Mania. Being so short, no-one really gets the chance to stand out, bar Layla looking awesome as a stooging heel. She’s not afraid to look daft to put her opponent over, even doing a goofy version of the Robot to counter Emma’s terrible dance. Eva Marie becomes face-in-peril, and surprisingly working heat on the least popular and least sympathetic member of the face team doesn’t generate much reaction from the crowd. Naomi gets the hot tag and immediately hits a terrible rana on Tamina. She improved SO much on her heel turn. It all breaks down, leaving Tamina to nail a superkick on Naomi for the win.

Big E vs Dolph Ziggler

This match really doesn’t work, as both guys seem to have trouble clicking. They’re in a strange boat where the bigger face IC champ is taking on a smaller guy who wrestled a ten minute match earlier in the hour, so they need to find a way to make sure Big E doesn’t look like a bully. Seemingly the solution they choose is for Ziggler to sell zero exhaustion from his earlier match, which has the unfortunate side effect of making Big E look weak as he ends up selling more than Dolph in this match. There’s too many odd moments here that don’t work: Big E jams his shoulder on the ring post on a corner charge, but this doesn’t get worked over or sold again in the bout. Ziggler’s offence is reduced to just dropkicks, whilst Big E keeps on hitting clotheslines. It’s just not a very good match, though I liked the ending: Big E throws Ziggler up in the air, causing him to splat on the mat and grabs him as he bounces upwards to hit the Big Ending for the win.