The Wrestling Thread

[DomDom]

Did Sammartino not have a bust up with Vince?

You're right actually. No idea what it was about, but they had a bust up.

WWE Over the Edge 1999

I actually found a link for this which has the whole thing ! Which means you lot are getting my review of it.

Kane and X-Pac © vs. D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry- WWE World Tag Team Champions

Quite a spirited match between the two teams, and JR described it well when he called it a "war". All four men went out there and kicked ass big time. The only gripe I have with it is that it went on far too long and there were also spells of awkwardness, but the match did what an opening match is supposed to do. **3/4

Al Snow © vs. Hardcore Holly - WWE Hardcore Championship

JR : "Holly drove Al Snow over the edge, and let me tell ya, it was a short trip !"

The problem with the final stretch of this match is that they had a table set up, so the fans knew that before the match ended that table was going to be used. Which meant they were dead for the nearfalls. It wasn't a bad match though. Not quite as hard hitting as earlier matches and by this time it was getting a wee bit tiresome to see the same thing over and over again. **1/4

Next.

JR : "We've got big problems out here."

Yup. After all of that, we go to ...

Jeff Jarrett and Debra vs. Val Venis and Nicole Bass

Not much of anything going on here I'm afraid. There certainly wasn't any dead spots in the match but I just wasn't feeling it. I kinda feel bad rating the stuff after what happened but I'm gonna do it anyways, just incase something comes out and surprises me. *1/2

Billy Gunn vs. Road Dogg

This was almost a direct opposite to the last match, the action was few and far between but the emotion was obviously there between the two guys and that made the match a wee bit easier to get into. **

Acolytes, Viscera and The Big Bossman vs. Mankind, Ken Shamrock, Test and The Big Show - Elimination Rules Match

Yup, it's a Survivor Series style match. This is Corporate Ministry vs. The Union. This is the same as the mixed tag match. Plenty of action but it still managed to be boring, but thanks to the number of people in the match, I managed to keep some level of interest in it. **

Triple H vs. The Rock

This fued really didn't stop, did it ? They kept it going with this match and actually kept going for some time during that summer as well. Probably the most obviously affected match of the show when it comes to the guys not being in the match, as this was the very definition of "going through the motions". **

Steve Austin © vs. The Undertaker - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

The best match that happened after you know what, as both guys really brought the intensity and seemed to actually go out there and do what they would have done. Problem was that Undertaker around this time was really, really bad and it wouldn't be long before he took some time off. **1/2

OVERALL

********

Lets call this the two star show. Rare to see that many matches having the same rating, but I guess that the circumstances aren't exactly normal. Recommendation to avoid this show.

[DA Baracus]

The Ultimate Warrior was a flash in the pan bag of shite who should never be in the hall of fame. Perhaps he might be added for nearly killing WCW when he turned up there.

[DomDom]

He never nearly killed WCW. The idiocy of WCW when he was there was what made Warrior's run shite. Expecting him to be able to still do 25 minute matches was stupid on every level.

He was decent when he was in WWE, and certainly maintained the fanbase for a while. Wasn't the worst wrestler, as he could have good - great matches so long as someone good was in there with him. The booking of his title run was idiotic on every level, and only served to give Hogan the belt back at the next Wrestlemania.

Of course, this never diminished his popularity and he went on to have the biggest and most memorable match of that Wrestlemania as well as being one of the most memorable things about the next year's Mania as well.

[DomDom]

EDIT NEVERMIND

Edited March 27, 2009 by DomDom

[DomDom]

TNA Impact 26/03/2009

Jim Cornette explains Lethal Lockdown to open the show and says that the team captains will be decided tonight in a 20 man Six Sides of Steel Gauntlet. Main Event Mafia are now heading for the ring. Well, it's the MEM without Sting. He says nothing of note and here comes Jeff Jarrett. This leads to a battle between the two men and it gets split up. Another boring opening promo from Impact.

Kurt Angle is backstage and he says he's gonna pipe Jeff Jarrett.

Suicide vs. Kiyoshi - TNA X Division Championship

Suicide's finisher is absolutely shit, and is actually worse than the F-U. Fact. The match itself was just there. Christopher Daniels really isn't very good, is he ? He was average without the mask and is even worse with it. The sooner TNA believe he isn't the darling of the X Division, the better.

Backstage, we have The Beautiful People and they are cringeworthy as usual. Fast forward for these idiots.

Next backstage are Beer Money Inc. and Team 3D. "You could feel the intensity". No you couldn't. Yet another meaningless and boring promo on this show. This show needs some life to be added to it.

Backstage we have Sting and Mick Foley and they are basically hyping the talk that they are gonna have.

Raisha Saeed and Awesome Kong vs. The Beautiful People

Oh dear lord, this is absolutely dire stuff. They decided to have the heels dominate and never have they been exposed as badly as they were here. Bad, bad, bad.

Mick Foley and Sting - The Showdown

Why does Sting have to say the name of the guy he's talking about approx. 1000 times in the space of one promo ? TNA show their bush league by Foley referring to "that other show in April". Ugh. Foley's part in this showdown is really really good apart from that though.

20 Man Six Sides of Steel Gauntlet

This was looking like it was about to be a super match, but as more people came into the match, it went further and further into mediocrity untill it became one big disappointment. Poor show. **

OVERALL

********

What a terrible terrible show. This was the worst TV show of the year so far. Mick Foley on the microphone was the only highlight.

[YER SISTERS YER MAW]

That was a cracking promo by Shawn Michaels on Smackdown, nobody usually gets the better of 'taker' with mind games but certainly this far it's a duel he's winning and it seems to be getting at 'taker.

[DomDom]

I'll get the chance to see this for myself now, but if it's anything like his RAW promo, it'll give wrestling a red face.

WWE Smackdown 27/03/2009

Finlay, Christian, Shelton Benjamin and Kane vs. Kofi Kingston, CM Punk, MVP and Mark Henry

Kane has been getting pushed big recently for this Money in the Bank stuff. The ending of this match was as abrupt as hell, and it felt as if the match never really had a chance to kick off. Regardless, this match was fun stuff, if a little boring at times.

Christian tries to go for the case early, and gets pushed off the ladder onto everyone. Cool beans.

Jesse and Festus vs. The Big Show

Ugh. Handicap matches. How much do I not like this type of match ? Remember when Festus fought Kozlov ? That was great fun. They just beat the shit out of each other. Far too long for what they were going for here ? Why not just have The Big Show destroy these two guys and be done with it ?

Backstage and we have Matt Hardy with a dog. Yet another laughable promo from a Hardy Boy, and even more laughable because he has a dog with him.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

These two have had matches of varying quality in the past, but most of them have been very, very good. This one wasn't quite on that standard, but it was still a pretty decent match from the two guys.

JBL attacks after the match.

John Cena is out for a promo. He basically says that he's going to win the title and The Big Show comes out and challenges Cena to a match on RAW, which Cena accepts. Cena dumps Show to the floor when he's heading to the back, which angers Show quite a bit. Bog standard promo there.

Matt Hardy vs. R-Truth

I liked Hardy when he was the hard working guy who won all of the titles that nobody cared about. The only problem with this match was that nobody gave Truth a hope of winning so that sort of took away from the match, but it was still good stuff while it lasted.

Bree, Primo and Carlito vs. Miz, Morrison and Nicki (?)

Don't care about the Bellas enough to remember both of their names. FANTASTIC ending to this match. Absolutely phenomenal counter from Carlito which made me cringe when I seen it. The match was really good as we have come to expect from these guys. Thankfully the women didn't have much on it.

More backstage promos, this time we have Jeff Hardy, who actually cuts a pretty passionate promo, albeit short. A wee bit better that time.

Maryse © vs. Michelle McCool - WWE Diva's Championship

GAIL KIM !!! The Divas division just took a step up. As well it should. Maybe they made this match so shit because they wanted to make sure people were looking forward to the return of Gail Kim.

Shawn Michaels tribute to The Undertaker

First off, the entrance. Wow. Just ... wow. After that, the promo wasn't actually that good. He basically came out with a bunch of boring crap before leading to saying that The Undertaker was going to lose his undefeated streak. The Undertaker comes out at the end and Shawn Michaels gets the hell out of Dodge.

OVERALL

********

Bog standard episode of Smackdown this week with not much happening. The highlight was the six person tag.

[DomDom]

I'm gonna start a Wrestlemania thread soon. The last PPV thread for the Rumble went down an absolute storm the last time and I'm sure that it'll be even better for Mania.

Speaking of next week, there's a double bill of wrestling goodness from the Sports Cafe for Wrestlemania Sunday.

First off, there's the After Hours SWA show. I'd tell you the card but it's not relevant. The point is the atmosphere. There IS a couple of good looking matches. You'll just need to take my word for that.

Then there's the Wrestlemania party in the same venue. 300 people already showing up. It's gonna be awesome.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

No doubt I'll be in the sports cafe. Went last year and it was a great night and I wnet to the after hours show at the Royal Rumble which as also not bad.

[MTJ]

Anyone got any shoot interviews they could recommend or anywhere that stocks them in the UK?

I quite fancy seeing the Outlaws one after watching them dish the dirt on Triple H on youtube.

[stuart.]

Anyone got any shoot interviews they could recommend or anywhere that stocks them in the UK?

I quite fancy seeing the Outlaws one after watching them dish the dirt on Triple H on youtube.

I watched the Outlaws one last night - shoot interviews are really interesting.

[DomDom]

Straight Shootin' with CM Punk and Samoa Joe is great fun.

There's loads of Kevin Nash shoots out there and every one of them are super. Also worth getting is any New Jack shoot.

[MTJ]

Anywhere I could get these in Britain? I don't fancy having to pay extra shipping costs or putting money in a paedos pocket.

[DomDom]

Not sure where you can get them. I got them from the official places.

[DomDom]

ROH on HDNet 29/03/2009

Last week was underwhelming to say the least.

Eddie Edwards vs. Kevin Steen

I'm really not liking the generic theme music for each wrestler. As they point out, Kevin Steen is one half of the ROH Tag Champs with El Generico. Davey Richards is the usual tag partner of Eddie Edwards. This is more like it ! Really good hard hitting and physical opener and you really bought the fact that these two have a dislike for each other. **3/4

Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Ray

Sara Del Ray had a cracking match on the last ROH PPV which has made it onto my 2009 Match of the Year list. This was a decent showcase of women's wrestling. Certainly better than most of the stuff we've seen on free TV in the US for the last couple of years. **1/2

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Alex Payne

Alex Payne is a graduate of the ROH wrestling school, which hasn't exactly turned out some classic wrestlers. Infact, it's probably got the worst track record of any wrestling school that I know of. Claudio ... HEY !!! I love Claudio's caption. "Hated by the fans.". Payne's offense in this match consists of poorly executed pinfall attempts. This guy is really not very good. Claudio Castagnoli is great, but even he isn't good enough to do anything with this crappy kid. 1/2*

Nigel McGuinness vs. Jay Briscoe

These guys are certainly no strangers to each other, as they have faced each other in both tag and singles matches over the years. This was a quality free TV main event. Both guys provided a wee bit of everything in this match and what followed was a very physical match. It also had an absolutely vicious Lariat at the end. Really good match which is worth downloading the show for. ***1/2

OVERALL

********

Much better than last week's show ! This show had two decent showcase matches and a great main event and showed a lot more of what ROH has to offer.

Next week has Austin Aries vs. Bryan Danielson. Jesus.

[DomDom]

The two darlings of Scottish wrestling right now battling in February of this year in what was an absolutely brilliant match. This is well worth a look.

[Mo Wonderboy]

Anyone up for the last RAW before 'Mania then?

[RussellV1]

as i write this Santino has just come out in a robe......this can't be good

[KilliePie]

Santino in a Mankini, what a start to Raw. I thought they would be wanting ratings on the last Raw before mania.

[djchapsticks]

I can answer some of them, but maybe they are keeping names for the coming years ?

Macho Man Randy Savage

Randy Savage and WWE just do not mix these days so don't expect the man EVER to be put into the HoF.

Wonder if it's anything to do with Savage pumping a jailbait Stephanie McMahon?

I know those rumours have persisted for years and probably aren't true, but let's be honest, it has to be something deeply personal. Vince has forgiven EVERYONE who has ever crossed him in the name of furthering his business. But not Savage....