WWE Main Event 09/09/2014

Jack Swagger vs Seth Rollins

Liked the opening stages of this, with Swagger overpowering Rollins, sending him from the ring with a shoulderblock and slamming him into the barricades. Rollins takes over, including an odd spot where Swagger was perfectly in place for a curb stomp, but Rollins opted to dropkick him in the face instead. We get a decent spot where Swagger tries breaking a chinlock by twice ramming Rollins backwards into the corner, only for Rollins to side step the third attempt, sending Swagger crashing into the turnbuckle. The Rollins control is pretty uninspiring, but things pick up with Swagger back in control – nice big boot to the face and a huge overhead slam. Liked Swagger countering an enzuigiri by catching it into the Patriot Lock, but Rollins blocks a superplex by hitting a diving knee from the top and hits the curb stomp to win. Pretty impressive Swagger performance, he looked good in there.

Cesaro vs Zack Ryder

Short, but decent match. Ryder hurts his leg early, so Cesaro focuses his early offence on the knee, slamming it into the concrete floor and working a kneebar in the ring. Cesaro misses a corner dropkick and hits the post instead, which not only looks nasty, but also puts him in place for the Broski Boot in the corner. Ryder does a good job balancing selling the leg and trying to hit some big offence, tilting his dive slightly on a pescado so as not to land as heavily on the leg. However, inside he leaps into a Cesaro swing and an inverted cloverleaf causes Ryder to tap. Really good stuff from both guys.

Titus O’Neill vs Adam Rose

This is a waste of time really, and a waste of Titus. Titus looks really good here, nice big boot and a decent dropdown  backbreaker, but then Rose’s bunny comes down, distracts Titus by bouncing on the ropes, beats up Heath Slater and Rose gets the pin by ramming O’Neill into Slater during an O’Connor roll. Only goes two minutes, hard to find Rose and the bunny at all likable.

Los Matadores vs The Ascension

The Ascension are still NXT tag champs here, and it’s odd to hear them talked about as so dominant when they’re barely a factor 5 years later. I like Los Matadores a lot, but this is mainly them selling for the Ascension, and it’s not very exciting. The Ascension cut off the ring on Fernando, and I liked the crossarm clothesline they hit on him, but that’s it. Diego at least looks good on the hot tag (that the crowd barely react to), hitting a clothesline with more meat than anything the Ascension hit, before missing a top rope dive and getting finished off with the Fall of Man. The least exciting Matadores match on 2014 Main Event, and I guess that shows why the Ascension fell by the wayside – if you’re having less interesting matches with a team than Slater Gator are, you probably aren’t deserving of a decent push.

WWE NXT Takeover: Phoenix

The War Raiders vs Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong

Loved the big elaborate Viking introduction for the Raiders. This was a really neat opener, the two teams really worked well opposite each other. The Raiders were allowed to look monstrous, often no-selling the Undisputed Era’s offence, but only when it was suitable to do so. They picked the right moments to sell and look vulnerable, and it really helped the believability of the match. The Era were very smart on offence, distracting the Raiders from the apron to gain control and working lots of quick double teams when they had the advantage. Lots of fun spots in this – Rowe slams Hanson onto the Era from the ring apron, and Hanson later takes another big spill to the floor, this time trying big dive with no-one present which causes him to land with a huge splat. The UE work a nice heat section on Rowe after this, as he’s isolated without his partner, and they continue to keep Hanson at bay with a big Strong dropkick on the floor. When Hanson does get in, he’s insanely fun as a hot tag, a big unit in motion. He finds interesting ways to hurl his mass at his opponents. Hanson survives the High-Low and avoids a second with an unlikely cartwheel. The Raiders hit the Viking Fallout to win. Great stuff.

Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno

Thought this was excellent stuff. Ohno has a poor win/loss record at the moment in NXT, but he was made to look like a beast here. His stomp to the face of a downed Riddle was a thing of violent beauty. Ohno gets a few nearfalls early, including a neat back elbow to the face. I also loved him breaking a German suplex attempt by stomping the bare feet of Riddle. Ohno also goes for some full bodied offence, putting his weight into a moonsault and a full-on senton. This weight makes it more impressive when Riddle hits a big delayed German suplex, just holding Ohno in the air before slamming him down. The end is pretty neat too, as Ohno decides he’s in over his head and tries for a fistbump from Riddle. Instead, Riddle is incensed, dumping Ohno on his head with a sleeper suplex, before reigning down a flurry of big shots for the tapout.

Ricochet vs Johnny Gargano

There were bits of this I liked and plenty that I didn’t. It was neat to see Gargano ramping up the aggression here, like slipping out of the corner and sending Ricochet face first into the corner, which kickstarted the match after a rather nothingy start. Ricochet countered some of Gargano’s signature offence in interesting ways, sidestepping the slingshot spear to hit a standing moonsault to the back, and catching Gargano on the slingshot DDT attempt and hurling him to the floor. However, the bad bits were really terrible. Ricochet landing on his feet from a top rope rana and looking back smugly at Gargano was physically impressive, but played up stupidly. Gargano eating a reverse rana on the floor, followed by a 450 splash in the ring should have been the finish, kicking out at two is just ridiculous. At least the end was decisive, with Gargano hitting a suplex on the concrete floor, followed by finally hitting the slingshot DDT for the win. Not really my cup of tea.

Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair

This, on the other hand, was very much my cup of tea. Just smartly worked, with everything making sense. It starts with Belair downing Baszler with shoulderblocks, highlighting her power advantage, but Baszler very quickly uses her smarts to take over, yanking Belair into the ring post by her hair. This gives Bianca an injured shoulder, and Baszler is like a shark smelling blood. Some nasty limbwork follows, with Baszler torqueing the arm in interesting ways. Belair’s selling is excellent, wincing after hitting a spear and rolling into a cover on her back so she can hook a leg with the good arm. Loved how Belair used her unique weapon of her hair to launch a comeback, slicing Baszler open with a hair whip. We get a ref bump to give Belair the visual pin after the KOD, and some horsewomen interference which she avoids, before her 450 splash attempt sees her caught in the Kirafuda Clutch. Loved Belair powering to her feet, almost breaking the hold before her body fails her and she passes out. Really good match.

Tommaso Ciampa vs Aleister Black

This is one of those matches that is absolutely fine in a vacuum, but suffers from the fact that no-one really believed that Black would win. This can be overcome with the right layout – the Velveteen Dream match had me on the edge of my seat, convinced Dream would win – but here Black spends a good chunk of the bout on the defensive after Ciampa attacks his knee and it never feels like he’s going to win. The offence on the knee was nicely done by Ciampa, really liked the suplex on the floor that sends Black’s legs into the ring steps. There were just nice little touches like Ciampa hanging Black in a tree of woe from the bad leg before pounding him in the corner. Black sells the leg pretty well too, allowing himself the odd flurry of offence, but finding himself contained by what the leg would let him do. Liked the smarts of Ciampa when he gets hit with Black Mass, tumbling to the floor, but just about rolling over onto his stomach to avoid being pinned. As I said, the work is good, but this feels like a match you have on TV to try and build up the show. No drama. The end sees Black trying another Black Mass, but hurting his knee again, leaving him prime for the Fairytale Ending from Ciampa. Overall, this was good enough.

ECW Hardcore TV #37 21/12/1993

Tommy Dreamer vs Shane Douglas

This is set up by Dreamer calling Douglas out for costing him the tag titles, but by the time we join the match Douglas is already in control following a neckbreaker. This is still a good match though, logically worked and with a neat ending. Dreamer has a taped up torso, and Douglas targets it nicely. He rams Dreamer into the apron back first, hits a nice stomach buster and locks in a bodyscissors on the mat. All targeted on Dreamer’s injury. Dreamer makes a comeback by throwing Douglas to the floor and hits a few big shots to turn the tide – Douglas gets thrown over a table and takes a big chairshot. Dreamer manages to knock the ref down with a slam, leading to a gloriously shitbird bit of cheating from Douglas. He levels Dreamer with a loaded punch, a chain wrapped round his fist, then wraps the chain around the unconscious Dreamer’s fist, before falling to the mat. This leads to the ref coming round and DQing Dreamer, Douglas walking to the back cackling.

Tazmaniac & Kevin Sullivan vs Mike V & Mike Norman

Just a demolition of a squash. V is sent to the floor right away, and Sullivan liquidates Norman’s insides with a big stomp. Sullivan’s running knee with Norman in a tree of woe looks nasty. Norman is just getting ruined in the corner, and V throws in the towel from ringside to save his partner. Rarely seen, but a nice touch.

IWA Mid-South Crowning of a Champion 1997

War Machine #1 vs Tower of Doom

Tower of Doom is a big lad, but he’s managed to dress in a way that makes him look totally unthreatening, with a big baggy black t-shirt and shorts. Everything feels like it’s at 2/3 speed, with strikes being thrown slowly. War Machine barely gets ToD up on a back suplex before hitting the worst side Russian legsweep I’ve ever seen. ToD at least has a nice elbow drop, full weight. ToD gets the win after War Machine helpfully jumps into a sky high powerbomb.

Kip Morris vs Mike Simpleton

Simpleton is a fat guy in a black t-shirt and a generic mask. Morris amusingly has “Winner” and “I’m Winning” emblazoned on his tights. This is utterly shit though. Morris controls with some plodding generic offence, apart from the amusing moment he suplexes Simpleton, who lands on top of him. Simpleton is really bad, he can’t even get thrown from the ring without getting embarrassingly caught up in the ropes. A side slam looks terrible as Simpleton basically slips from Morris’s grasp. In the end, Simpleton misses a corner splash, gets tripped and Morris gets the win. So bad.

War Machine #2 vs Chris Kidd

This was better. Not perfect, as War Machine really struggled to get Kidd over for a suplex, but some of Kidd’s offence looked decent. Nice leaping clothesline, good spinebuster, perfectly decent execution. War Machine BARELY gets Kidd up for a powerbomb that looked really dangerous, but gets distracted by #1 at ringside, and Kidd rolls him up for three.

Mad Man Pondo vs Ox Harley

Hark at young Pondo coming out with long hair and a Superman shirt, looks very different to the man he’d later become. There’s lots of mic work to start this, and the sound quality isn’t great. Pondo kicks us off with some really shitty armdrags. Harley looks better, nice kicks to the face and a decent clothesline. Pondo does some token legwork but eats a DDT on the floor and a Harley moonsault wins it. Nothing much to this.

Ian Rotten vs Tarek the Great

This is a big step up in match quality. They both look super comfortable working the mat, with the strange image of a fat scarred-up hillbilly and a skinny, balding man going through really neat exchanges on a tatty piece of shit mat. They up the tempo, with Rotten hitting a neat Full Nelson suplex and a really nice top rope rana by Tarek. Tarek does a few moves you really wouldn’t expect, a top rope twisting corkscrew and a nice moonsault press both get two. However, he ducks his head and Rotten hits a huge implant DDT for the win. This was really neat.

Bull Pain vs Justin St John

This was also fun, though Pain never really looked like losing. Pain just beats St John down, but St John does look capable, getting a few nice takedowns. Pain hits a DDT that looks great and, after St John hits a shitty leaping elbow into the corner, Pain swiftly puts him away with a neckbreaker and a top rope splash. Short but effective.

Kip Morris vs Tower of Doom

Into the second round now. ToD looks better in this match, hitting a nice running clothesline and a big legdrop. However, he’s got really lazy covers, barely leaning on top of Morris. Morris takes control on the floor, ramming Doom into the ringpost, hitting his head on the floor and nailing a nice short elbow to the head. ToD is soon bleeding, but hits a killer piledriver that really should have been the finish. ToD sells being too exhausted to cover, so at least there was no kickout. Like in the opener, ToD gets the win after his opponent helpfully leaps into a sit out powerbomb.

Ox Harley vs Chris Kidd

Another very short match, Harley mainly hits punches to control, with a chop to the face looking hilariously nasty. Kidd’s offence is pretty generic, but he too throws some nice punches, so this is at least watchable. Kidd hits a powerslam but misses a moonsault, allowing Harley to hit a reverse DDT and hit a moonsault for the win.

Ian Rotten vs Bull Pain

This starts off awesomely, as Pain throws Rotten to the floor and hits an insane suicide dive for the win. He follows this with a pedigree on the concrete, and I’m totally into this already. But then, we get disaster. The ringside camera seemingly stops working, leaving us with just the hard-cam, and at one point a member of production crew stands in front of it for at least a minute. They’re brawling in the crowd, and it’s impossible to see what’s going on. Ian hits a cannonball from the apron which looks great. We miss more floor brawling, before Pain gets him back in and hits a top rope splash for two. Ian hits his DDT, but is unable to cover and eats an RKO for the Pain victory. I really wish we’d been able to see all this, was hard to really enjoy.

Tower of Doom vs Bull Pain vs Ox Harley

Triple threat elimination for the title here. I liked how there was a constantly switching series of allegiances, with one person getting double teamed at all times. There’s a lovely big double chokeslam on ToD early doors, and we get a few nice spots. Really like Pain and ToD teaming to hit a Hart Attack into a sitout powerbomb, which eliminates Harley. It gets a bit dull from that point, felt like just two guys exchanging moves having used up their inspiration in the previous bouts. ToD hits two powerbombs without going for covers, and some Ian Rotten interference allows him to hit a big legdrop on Pain for the win. Really felt like everyone going through the motion.

WWF Monday Night Raw 26/09/1994

Tatanka vs Razor Ramon

This is the first match we’ve seen of Tatanka since his heel turn, and there’s a notable difference in his in-ring style. He’s much more aggressive, and it makes him a more interesting wrestler. He’s exceptionally happy to lay in his stuff here, nailing stiff blows, a nice short clothesline and a nice series of big slams. Nothing fancy, just breaking down Razor with deep blows. Tatanka takes a big bump to the floor when Ramon sidesteps a chop, and I dug Ramon punching Tatanka back down every time he tried to get back on the apron. There’s an overlong abdominal stretch sequence, but this is good fun besides. The end sees a melee on the floor after Ted DiBiase lures Ramon to the floor, with Bam Bam Bigelow and Lex Luger getting involved, and Ramon beats the count for the win. Good stuff.

Kwang vs Rich Myers

Always nice to see squash king Kwang in action. He side steps Myers to start and hits a nice thrust to the throat. Myers gets a nifty high flying head scissors, but that’s his only bit of offence as Kwang casually sidesteps a crossbody attempt, and a lovely leg lariat gives Kwang the win.

1-2-3 Kid vs Kenny David

The match is really just a backdrop for some Bob Backlund shenanigans, giving Randy Savage a dictionary complete with verbose letter. That said, we do get to see a few neat kicks from Kid, with a lovely overhead one in the corner, and some nice running legdrops, followed by a top rope version for three. Plus Vince insulting David’s physical appearance, the perks of being the boss.

Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs Chris Kanyon & Bob Starr

Fun squash, with Kanyon bumping like a boss for the tag champs, Diesel ragdolling him repeatedly into the corner. He at least looks competitive against Shawn for 30 seconds, as Starr gets nothing, eating a delayed suplex and second rope elbow from Shawn and the jack-knife from Diesel. Loved Shawn tagging in after the jack-knife, just for the honour of pinning Starr. After, the new Headshrinkers of Fatu and the fucking BARBARIAN come in and clean house. I remember the new Headshrinkers essentially being lower midcarders, but Barb looked like a beast here.

NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool

Moustache Mountain vs James Drake & Zack Gibson

Super hot opener that was probably the best match on the show. Some nice early sequences, including Tyler Bate bridging ridiculously out of a double-knucklelock and rolling through, just insane strength. I loved Zack Gibson pulling Drake out as he got fired into the ropes to break the Moustache Mountain momentum, just a lovely bit of heeling that drew monster heat. Moustache Mountain remain in control, until Trent Seven hits a low tope, hurting his shoulder in the process. Drake & Gibson work a nice control, not always focused on the injury, but not neglecting it either. Loved Drake hitting a pescado to land a double team backbreaker on Seven on the floor. A big Drake forearm to the back of Seven’s head seems to open him up, looks nasty. Trent gets the hot tag, and Tyler is tremendous in the roll, just so entertaining. He hits a ludicrous but entertaining  double airplane spin on Drake and Gibson, takes both men out by hitting an exploder on Drake to the floor, landing him on Gibson, then follows up with a shooting star press. Great nearfall as Gibson stops a MM double team with a codebreaker from nowhere on Bate, and a Drake 450 on Seven gets two. They work a neat double Shankley Gate spot which I really loved – Gibson locks Seven’s injured shoulder in the move, and when Bate tries to break it up, Drake downs him and locks HIM in the move, putting both MM members in jeopardy. However, because it’s not Drake’s move and because Tyler’s shoulder wasn’t already injured, Bate is able to power up and drop Drake onto Gibson, saving Seven in the process. Bate is taken out with an insane Doomsday Device tope on the floor, and a Seven dive sees him getting laid out. Back in, with Bate still down, the Ticket To Mayhem gives Drake & Gibson the win. Great stuff.

Finn Balor vs Jordan Devlin

This is to replace a Devlin/Travis Banks match that gets called out due to a knee injury Devlin inflicts on Banks. Strange one this, I think Banks/Devlin would have been a better match (they had a banger at Fight Club: Pro in Sept 17), but as a big marquee match, this has the edge. It’s worked really evenly, which allows Devlin to look good going head-to-head with a former Universal champion, looked very much on Balor’s level. A good chunk of this match is based around Balor going for the Coup de Grace, but Devlin having it scouted and avoiding the move, including dropkicking Balor to the floor in an early big bump. Devlin works Balor’s torso nicely, slamming his back to the apron, hitting a double stomp in the ring and locking in an abdominal stretch. Every time Balor takes control and plays to the crowd, Devlin is ready to cut him off, and even gets a great nearfall with his feet on the ropes. Ultimately, Balor is just too much and the fourth attempt at the Coup de Grace finally hits, giving Finn the win.

Eddie Dennis vs Dave Mastiff

Had big hopes for this going in, and it was really fun. It worked as a showcase for Dennis’s often-overlooked raw strength and for Mastiff’s ever-surprising agility. Early on, Mastiff hits a lovely crossbody at top speed, like a freight train hitting Dennis. Liked Eddie going for a kendo stick under the ring, keeping it hidden from Mastiff until the last moment and striking him. Eddie starts with the impressive power spots, catching another Mastiff crossbody and hitting a swinging slam onto the steps (loved him selling the effort by trembling his knees too). The Severn Bridge looks insanely impressive, especially as there’s a little extra lift he has to do to get Mastiff over his head for the drop. The fact Dennis also hits the Next Stop Driver makes this a really impressive show of power. Mastiff hitting the Finlay Roll on the exposed concrete was a nasty looking bump and his attempt at a split legged moonsault looked neat. In the end, Mastiff avoids a second Severn Bridge, hits a German suplex and hits a cannonball to plant Eddie through a table for the win. Loved this.

Rhea Ripley vs Toni Storm

Ripley is pretty cagey to start this, spends a bit of time leaving the ring, so it’s nice to see Storm take her out with a tope out of frustration. Loved Ripley grabbing Storm’s hair as she tries to get back in the ring, kicking her in the head whilst she’s stuck on the apron. The commentary brings up Storm’s prior back injury, and a lot of Ripley’s offence focuses on this – neat looking body scissors, big delayed suplex and a pair of slams. Ripley does oversell getting pushed into the corner by Storm’s legs from the floor and an in-ring punch sequence looks pretty terrible, but this is decent on the whole. Ripley’s inverse Texas cloverleaf looks great still. Storm gets Storm Zero for the victory.

Pete Dunne vs Joe Coffey

This goes over half an hour, and just about manages to fill that time without it falling off a cliff. This starts cagily, worked on the mat, with Dunne throwing in a few nice touches, punching the exposed torso of Coffey in order to distract him and lock on submissions. Both guys play to their strengths, Coffey uses his power advantage by hitting a big pop-up powerslam on the ramp and locking in a big bearhug. Dunne, in contrast, knows he’s quicker than Coffey, thus he evades him via running moonsault in the corner, flips out of a back suplex then hits a big moonsault to the floor. Dunne keeps locking in a range of subs, but Coffey plans him with a sitout powerbomb on the apron. Great nearfall after Coffey hits a discus clothesline for two. Dunne locks in another submission, but Coffey breaks it by climbing to the top rope and throwing Pete off. Great spot. We maybe get a few too many kickouts near the end, drawing things out when it could have happily ended 5 minutes earlier, and the spot where they seemed to tumble from the top rope doesn’t look too good, but they do convincingly make you think Coffey has a chance of winning and also make him look good by surviving so much. The Bitter End only gets two, but Pete locks in one last submission, wrenching the fingers for the submission. Big main event that just about delivered.

WWF Monday Night Raw 19/09/1994

Lex Luger vs Executioner Agony

Feels like Lex should have run through Agony, rather than having to resort to small packages and (briefly) getting heat worked on him. Like Lex leapfrogging over a backdrop attempt before hitting some clotheslines and the torture rack to win.

Jerry Lawler vs Duke “The Dumpster” Droese

Super fun Lawler performance here, just totally entertaining schtick throughout. Right from the start, he locks a simple headlock on Droese, shit talks to the crowd, gets picked up and thrown across the ring, then cowers behind the ref. Droese hits a string of ten punches in the corner, which Lawler sells by faceplanting. Lawler takes over by luring Droese into a test of strength, then punching him with a foreign object from his tights. Absolutely loved Lawler peppering Droese with punches, then jumping to the second rope to celebrate. Such a dick. Lawler hits the 2^nd rope fist drop and a piledriver, but his ego gets the best of him and he decides to empty Droese’s own bin onto him. However, inside is Dink, who squirts Lawler in the face with a water pistol, and the King chases him, getting counted out in the process. Total King showcase, he was superb here.

The Heavenly Bodies vs Mike Bell & Steve King

We’re joined in progress, and the Bodies just demolish King, Bell never even gets in the match. The Bodies are such fun offensive wrestlers, everything looks so good. Del Ray nails a lovely Northern Lights suplex and a huge clothesline, Pritchard hits a great gutwrench powerbomb (baffling the Macho Man on commentary, who claims never to have seen that before) and Del Ray finishes with a moonsault.

Bob Holly vs Richie Rich

Interestingly, the commentary and match graphic both say “Bob Holly”, but you can clearly hear the Fink saying “Thurman Sparky Plugg” in the background. This followed an angle where Bob Backlund had brutalised a WWF magazine writer with the chicken wing, so this is sub two-minute filler while the crowd recovers. Holly throws some awful armdrags, but hits a lovely dropkick and a top rope crossbody to win.

Yokozuna vs Phil Apollo

Yoko interestingly doesn’t use any of his usual moves here – no belly-to-belly, no legdrop, no running corner splash. He just viciously beat away on Apollo, trapping him in the corner and punching him down. Boots and chokes follow, leaving Apollo in a prone position for the Bansai Drop for three. Different edge to Yoko, made a nice change of pace.