How I Would Book… Scott Steiner in WWE (2003)

You know they say all men are created equal. But when you look at yourself and you look at Scott Steiner, you can see that statement is not true. See normally if you go one on one with another wrestler, you’ve got a 50/50 chance of winning. But Scott’s a genetic freak and he’s not normal, so you’ve got a 25% chance at best at beating him. And then you add good booking to the mix… your chances of winning drastically go down.

Unfortunately, WWE did not add good booking to the mix when booking Scott Steiner’s return to the company in 2002. Despite being one of the big free agents available after leaving WCW, Scott’s return just didn’t hit the heights of his run in the dying days of WCW and even some of the highlights of his TNA run. Scott as a star in WWE seemed to not be on the cards.

However, was there a chance to redeem Big Poppa Pump in the post-WCW WWE? Well I think, if handled right, Scott could have been a valuable asset to the company. In fact, I’m going to try to turn his run in WWE into something actually respectable enough where Scott Steiner could potentially become a star again rather than a joke. Here’s How I Would Book… Scott Steiner in WWE.

I’m not going to lie… I have a soft spot in my heart for Scott Steiner. This is a wrestler that was an incredible athlete during his peak WCW days with such charisma in every promo he ever cut. It’s no surprise that he stood out as a star during the later years of WCW as its champion and how he’s garnered this legendary status as a wrestler.

And yes… his wrestling promos have made me laugh over and over again so you can’t help but want more for the Genetic Freak. After all, throughout his career, he’s wrestled a lot of countries…

However, Scott’s career never saw him become a major star in WWE. Scott had world title programs, he won the WWF Tag Team Championship during the early 90s and is fondly remembered. However, even when he was given a major program as a top babyface, Scott seemed to fall flat and was never able to be picked back up again until his release from the company in 2004. Despite the charisma, talent and look Steiner had, it just didn’t work.

Let’s go into his career and see where things didn’t work out for Freakzilla…

Scott Steiner debuted in Madison Square Garden at Survivor Series 2002, where he attacked Chris Nowinski and Matt Hardy to a huge reaction in New York. He was pushed as the biggest free agent that General Managers Stephanie McMahon and Eric Bischoff both wanted to sign for SmackDown! and RAW respectively. Stephanie seemingly had Scott secured for her brand, with a promise of a “signing bonus” if Scott had signed with her. Because Scott was not willing to wait for quality time with Stephanie, the deal fell apart and Scott signed with Bischoff instead. He really was the wrestling version of Johnny Bravo… at least in his mind!

Scott showed up on RAW and challenged new World Heavyweight Champion Triple H for a guaranteed title shot. Triple H and Scott proceeded to have multiple contests to determine who was best between the two of them including push-up contests, pose-offs and arm wrestling contests… yes, this is all true. This led to one of the worst world title matches in WWE history at the 2003 Royal Rumble which ended in a disqualification. To make matters worse, the fans booed babyface Steiner throughout the match and cheered for heel Triple H. Yikes.

WWE inexplicably attempted a rematch between Steiner and Triple H which led to the formation of Triple H’s Evolution stable. Triple H retained the title at No Way Out to end the feud which was never brought up again.

Scott didn’t even appear at WrestleMania XIX and such highlights on RAW included a debate between himself and Nowinski about the Iraq War, with Steiner delivering such a debate points like comparing France to Hell. Yes, that is true. Go look it up.

Scott started a program with Test and his manager Stacy Keibler, with the two forming a tag team. The team didn’t last long as Test turned on Steiner and started mistreating Stacy. Scott and Test fought over Stacy’s managerial services. Scott won her services in a hilarious match at Bad Blood (which we did cover on the Armbar Express many year ago (link available here)) before losing the services back to Test in August. Oh, and Stacy did a lap dance for Steiner on the stage during this storyline. Again, this was a bizarre time for wrestling and Scott Steiner.

Test won Steiner’s services at Unforgiven, with Steiner himself become a servant to Test too. Scott eventually got sick of this and attacked Stacy, as he turned heel and became better friends with Test. They both started mistreating Stacy and I believe it was implied that they were planning to use Stacy as a sex slave. Remember… this was shortly after the whole Katie Vick storyline so anything appeared to be on the table.

Mick Foley eventually fired Steiner and Test, ending the storyline and freeing Stacy from her servitude. Scott was an entrant in the 2004 Royal Rumble match before he was released from his contract.

What a hot mess this was.

When you look at everything I just recapped about Scott Steiner’s WWE run, it’s easy to crap all over the writers for just pure lackluster and disgusting storytelling. Even before the storyline with Stacy, they had Steiner doing push-ups, posing contests and debates which were all just recipes for disaster.

However, Scott was also extremely sloppy with his in-ring work during a lot of his big matches with the company. His match with Triple H at Royal Rumble 2003 was voted the “Worst Worked Match” in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards and if you’ve ever watched the match, it’s understandable as to why. Scott in particular just had a horrendous night.

Therefore, it’s not like you can push him as a great wrestler where he just destroys people and have him wrestle in the main-event each night. To be honest, he simply wasn’t good enough and was just limited in the ring at the time.

However, that doesn’t give the writers a pass with the storytelling either. Even if Scott was limited, he was still wrestling at this time and still demonstrated great charisma when he had the chance. He just needed simple direction that didn’t involve misogyny and stupid competitions.

Here’s where I’ll come in and attempt to re-book Steiner’s WWE career myself. When it comes to booking better than WWE, I’ve got a 141 and 2/3 chance of doing it better!

Scott Steiner’s debut at Survivor Series 2002 stays as it is. It was a really cool moment and you don’t really need to change it. The fans ate up Steiner that night so you keep that segment in tact.

Scott Steiner is still a free agent at this point, who GMs Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon are trying to sign. Steiner initially rejects both RAW and SmackDown! and quits WWE all together. He doesn’t appear again until the 2003 Royal Rumble. The World Heavyweight Championship match is defending champion Triple H wrestling Booker T. Booker seemingly has the match won when Scott Steiner blindsides Booker T and helps Triple H win. Scott Steiner appears on RAW and announces that he’s signed with RAW for a guaranteed title shot. This was the same storyline like in real life so we’re just tweaking the timeline just a little. Triple H has promised Steiner a title shot at WrestleMania XIX by helping him take out Booker T.

Scott feuded with Booker in tag teams and in singles action during their time in WCW so there’s that history there to use as well. Booker responds by challenging Triple H and Steiner to a tag team match. Let’s say it’s Booker and Shawn Michaels against Triple H and Steiner at No Way Out. If Booker wins, it’s a triple threat match for the title at Mania between HHH, Steiner and Booker. If Booker’s team loses, Booker will not be at WrestleMania at all. The match is agreed and Booker’s team win by Booker pinning Triple H. With this finish, you protect Steiner as he didn’t get beat. You put over Booker T heading into WrestleMania XIX by having him pin the champion and it builds a great dynamic. Not only does Triple H have to defend the title in a triple threat, but he’s against a man who has pinned him in a tag team match and a man in Scott Steiner that he’d never wrestled before.

The match is set for WrestleMania XIX – Triple H defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Booker T and Scott Steiner. No, we will not be including the original racial storyline as part of this build-up. Booker T as the underdog against Steiner and Triple H is enough. Booker T wins the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XIX, as he should have done in real life and all is right with the world up to this point!

After WrestleMania, Booker and Triple H can continue to feud over the title. Meanwhile, Scott Steiner is disturbed by the debut on another ex-WCW wrestler on RAW… Goldberg. Scott can cut these promos for months about how he beat up Goldberg in WCW and decides to create his own streak which is just as good as Goldberg’s was in WCW. Yes, I am copying the angle that WCW did where Sid tried to emulate Goldberg’s streak. However, I am convinced Scott Steiner would be able to make it entertaining in his own right!

This goes on until Bad Blood, where Steiner finally has his match with Goldberg for the first time since WCW. Goldberg beats Steiner and we continue to build Goldberg up ahead of his first World Heavyweight Championship reign in the Autumn. They ended up doing Goldberg vs. Scott Steiner anyway on an episode of RAW. Why not build a program going into Bad Blood and actually try to make some money out of it?

I guess we should finally address the elephant in the room… Scott Steiner’s feud with Test about Stacy Keibler. I am going to try and re-write this but I’m going to try and tell somewhat of a compelling romance story. So here goes….

Test was being managed by Stacy Keibler at this time and was somewhat of a tweener. I think Test was technically a babyface but the fans mostly liked him because of Stacy. They LOVED Stacy at this time. Therefore, we can still initially treat Test as a babyface at first. Test gets interrupted by the new World Tag Team Champions in La Resistance. La Resistance try to recruit the Canadian Test to their cause, with Rob Conway being a Canadian that was a French Sympathiser too. They try to get him on their side as Test was part of the Un-Americans stable in the past. Test says no but he gets attacked by the stable. Scott Steiner makes the save for Test against La Resistance. Stacy is elated by Scott teaming up with Test while Test is initially suspicious. Scott’s still a heel (following on from the WrestleMania and Goldberg storylines), Test is a tweener and Stacy is a babyface which sets up a very interesting dynamic.

This leads to a World Tag Team Championship match at SummerSlam, where Scott Steiner and Test defeat La Resistance to win the tag titles. Stacy hugs Steiner after the match and leaps into his arms, with Test watching on and taking issue with this.

The team defends the titles in a rematch against La Resistance, where Scott is presumably getting cheered more and more and Stacy is being more happy with him than Test. They defend the titles against the Dudley Boyz on RAW, where Test shows some heel tendencies by actually cheating to help their team win the match. This grabs the attention of Eric Bischoff, who recruits Test and Steiner into his team for a Survivor Series match in 2003. It was Team Bischoff vs. Team Stone Cold, with Stone Cold’s career being on the line. Test agrees to join the team but Scott and Stacy are reluctant. The match sees the team start to implode, with Test getting himself disqualified. Scott gets pissed off at Test and Test pushes Scott back into a Sweet Chin Music from Shawn Michaels, leading to Scott getting pinned.

The problems with the team continue going into Armageddon, where they lose the tag team titles to Evolution members Batista and Ric Flair. Test starts blaming Scott Steiner and accusing him of going after his woman in Stacey Keibler. This leads to a grudge match between the former partners to take place at the 2004 Royal Rumble. Scott Steiner wins the grudge match, which leads to Scott, Test and Stacy all going their separate ways.

That about wraps things up for this How I Would Book. It feels a bit of a premature end but Scott did get released after the 2004 Royal Rumble. If I’m being honest, I probably would have continued the feud into WrestleMania if he was still in the company by that point. However, I think we’ve actually created interesting stories with Steiner which were more appealing that goofy debates, love triangles and athletic competitions. Scott Steiner is seen more as a star and even gets a Tag Team title reign out of it.

I honestly can’t imagine a scenario where he could win the championship and it would have made sense to put the title on him. Guys like Booker T, Goldberg, Shawn Michaels and Rob Van Dam were just far more over than him and most of those guys were just better workers at this time. However, I still think a World Heavyweight title match at WrestleMania was easily do-able and it certainly beats having Scott not being at WrestleMania at all

See WWE… the booking doesn’t lie and spells disaster for you.

Next week, we’ll be looking into another storyline from the Ruthless Aggression era of WWE. We’ll be looking at Triple H’s feud with Kevin Nash from 2003 and seeing if we can do a better job in telling the story between two Kliq members fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship.

That post will be going up on the 18th of May 2024 at 2PM UK time. See you there and remember…

…HOLLA. IF YA HEAR ME.

How I Would Book series

#1 – How I Would Book… Rey Mysterio vs AJ Styles

#2 – How I Would Book… Batista vs Brock Lesnar (Part One and Part Two)

#3 – How I Would Book… Wrestlemania 29 (Part One, Part Two, Part Threeand Part Four)

#4 – How I Would Book… Eddie Guerrero’s Road To Wrestlemania 22 (Part Oneand Part Two)

#5 – How I Would Book… The nWo 19th Anniversary Special (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Final Part)

#6 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs Undertaker

#7 – How I Would Book… The End Of The Streak (Part One, Part Two (John Cena), Part Three (CM Punk), Part Four (Randy Orton), Part Five (Bray Wyatt), Final Part)

#8 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs The Rock

#9 – How I Would Book… Kurt Angle’s Return To WWE

#10 – How I Would Book… John Cena vs The Rock III

#11 – How I Would Book… Kevin Owens as Intercontinental Champion

#12 – How I Would Book… Christian’s World Title Run In 2011

#13 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs John Cena

#14 – How I Would Book… Dean Ambrose Winning The WWE Championship

#15 – How I Would Book… Batista vs Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker

#16 – How I Would Book… Roman Reigns vs Undertaker (Wrestlemania 32)

#17 – How I Would Book… AJ Styles’ Road to WrestleMania 32

#18 – How I Would Book… CM Punk As Nexus Leader (Part One and Part Two)

#19 – How I Would Book… WrestleMania 32

#20 – How I Would Book… Who Ran Over Stone Cold?

#21 – How I Would Book… Rusev in WWE (Part One, Part Two and Part Three)

#22 – How I Would Book… Wade Barrett in WWE (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four and Part Five)

#23 – How I Would Book… The 2018 Bayley vs. Sasha Banks Feud

#24 – How I Would Book… Samoa Joe in WWE (Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four)

RETRO EXPRESS: WCW NITRO #45 (JULY 22ND 1996) – NEVER MIND THAT SHIT, HERE COMES MONGO!

Welcome to the Retro Express. This is where we’re taking a stroll down memory lane at wrestling history. This post is part of an ongoing series where we’re reviewing every episode of WCW Nitro from start to finish. Links to the previous posts are at the bottom of this post. We hope you enjoy.

Hollywood Hogan re-appeared for the first time since his big heel turn at WCW Bash at the Beach as he was now aligned with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. The Outsiders and Hogan interrupted an exhilarating Lex Luger vs Big Bubba matchlast week to kick their arses and send them packing. Hogan cut another money promo about the fans turning their backs on him after he showed their children the right path. He said again that the New World Order would rule the professional wrestling world. He issued out the challenge to the WCW World Heavyweight Champion The Giant for a world title match at Hog Wild, vowing to rename it the nWo Championship.

 

Date: July 22nd 1996

Brand: WCW

City: Disney/MGM Studios at Orlando, Florida

Rating: 2.6

Commentators (First Hour): Tony Schiavonie and Larry Zbyszko

Commentators (Second Hour): Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan

 

Squire Dave Taylor vs Scott Norton

I guess Scott Norton was the “heel” in the break-up angle between himself and Ice Train, which they revealed has led to Scott Norton vs Ice Train being booked for Hog Wild. In case you aren’t caught up with this storyline, they showed last week that Norton and Ice Train were having issues. So seeing Norton vs Squire Dave Taylor in a heel vs heel match seemed kind of odd. As much as I appreciate that not every match is typical good guy vs bad guy match and I appreciate how every match is not the same as the next one, two bad guys just having a nothing match is really not the best way to open Nitro as a means to get people excited.

Meng vs Arn Anderson had this same problem last week. As good as those two men were, they put them in the ring together and there was barely any reaction from the crowd because they were both heels. In response to that I guess, they take Taylor and Norton, who were two decent workers, and had them open the show with a nothing match.

Norton knocked Taylor down with a shoulder tackle. Norton shrugged off uppercuts and dropkicks and floored Taylor with a clothesline. Taylor tried again with uppercuts and shoulder tackles but Norton instead threw Taylor over the top rope for the disqualification. Those are all of the notes I have on this match. They brawled, Norton threw Taylor’s arse over the top rope and the referee called for the DQ.

An absolute waste of time and all the more reason why they needed to get rid of this over-the-top-rope rule. I kinda appreciate the concept but not the best way to get the crowd excited when you could get disqualified for throwing someone over the top rope. In essence, you’re disqualified for kicking too much arse.

Taylor smashed Norton into the ring post. They brawled and then Norton tried a powerbomb but Taylor rolled off of him as Norton relented his assault and walked to the back as Taylor was declared the winner.

 

Mean Gene Okerlund interviewed the Four Horsemen. There’s Steve “Mongo” McMichael, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit as well as the ladies in Miss Elizabeth, Woman and Debra McMichael. However, there’s no Ric Flair. Arn said Ric would be here right on queue. Mongo said it was his chance to beat up the real “pretty boys” in Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting and things would not be pretty after tonight. Beauty is subjective by its very nature but the one thing I do not associate with “Macho Man” Randy Savage is being a pretty boy! This was certainly a weird promo from Mongo! Benoit said we were gonna experience the crippler, silent but violent.

 

VK Wallstreet vs “Konan”

Konnan came down to the ring and was billed on the TV screen as “Konan”. One of the n’s were dropped from his name for whatever reason.

Konan took Wallstreet over with an arm-drag. They were feeling each other out and Wallstreet bounced Konan off the turnbuckle, and Konan bounced off this turnbuckle with quite the oversell.

Konan wrestled Wallstreet to the mat. Wallstreet smashed Konan into the steel steps. There were buffering problems galore during this match for me on the WWE Network. Wallstreet took over and worked on the leg, stomping on it and wrenching on it. The fans booed as not a lot happened in this match.

Wallstreet then locked on a chin-lock and there was suddenly a “Konan” chant as the fans tried to urge him back into the match to bring some energy to the match. Konan tried to get back into the match and he just ran at and missed Wallstreet, smashing into the corner and Larry Zybsko made fun of him for just trying to run at Wallstreet.

Konan hit a lariat. Konan fought back. Wallstreet hit a sloppy Samoan drop which I think Konan screwed up as he fell down too early. The timing was just not there for the finish. Konan reversed the lazy pin into a cradle of his own for the win. I was very much not a fan of this match. I felt it was very quiet, clunky at times and it really never did anything for me. Thumbs down from me.

 

Mean Gene interviewed Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger. Luger said Flair was probably in a big fat limo or hotel but he, Sting and Savage came here to make a statement. Luger explained Sting and Savage were in Japan last week but now they were all here to make a strong statement of where they were all at. Sting said he felt like chomping on horsemen tonight. Savage wanted Hogan, the Outsiders and Flair and suggests they get it all over with in one night. Savage went crazy wanting them all to come out and sort it all out tonight.

They showed Glacier whipping out some martial arts to hype up his debut… again.

Then they aired the following video package – it was four geeks walking together side-by-side at a beach. It was Alex Wright, Joe Gomez, Jim Powers and The Renegade. I think Gomez and Renegade teamed up against the Four Horsemen on Nitro but other than that, this was the first time we’ve seen them as a faction.

Now in order to highlight how much of a geek stable they looked, I want to bring up the stable called Evolution from WWE in the Ruthless Aggression era. The WWE Network have been releasing documentaries about this era and one of the episodes was about Evolution. They explained that when Batista was injured and while it was just Triple H, Flair and Randy Orton together, they were considering bringing in Mark Jindrak as the 4th member. They tell the story about how they were filming the four men walking side-by-side while they were filming their titantron or something. It’s how we got the infamous image of Jindrak walking alongside these guys.

Anyway, so WWE did that in 2003 to try and show them off as four cool dudes in suits walking down the road. You had the past in Triple H and Ric Flair flanked by the future in Randy Orton and… in this case, MARK JINDRAK. In WCW 1996, they have these four nothing guys in sunglasses individually all take their Nitro shirts in the most uncool/un-hot manner. They have these four MEN then walk down the beach Evolution-style with this long hair and posing up a storm. These hot-throbs were not looking hot… at least not me. Maybe some women in 1996 fainted at the sight of these four hunks.

And then….

 

The Renegade, Alex Wright, Joe Gomez and Jim Powers vs “The Dungeon of Doom” Taskmaster, Hugh Morrus, The Barbarian and The Leprechaun w/Jimmy Hart

So the Dungeon of Geeks faces the Dungeon of Doom in an eight man tag team match. Joining the Dungeon of Doom at this time was a man called “The Leprechaun”, as he ran around and harassed everybody like a mad man. In case you were all wondering, I watched this episode of Nitro on St. Patricks Day. And of course, they show THE LEPRECHAUN on the episode of Nitro I happened to be watching ON ST PATRICK DAYS OF 2020!

Renegade ran wild and then they cut away from this match to show disruption in the production area. They show Barbarian smashing away at Wright, with Wright coming back into the fight with a moonsault. Then they cut to the backstage area for about 90% of the match.

They showed “The Outsiders” Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in the control room. It turned to black and Nash joked they shouldn’t have bought that cheap TV. Nash yelled “IT’S THE BRAIN CENTRE” as he hijacked a headset. Hall told one of the production geeks to pan to the crowd as he got a headset. The production crew did what the Outsiders said as they pleaded with them with the geekiest voices imaginable. Hall threatened to sue the security for throwing him out and then forced the production to pan to the crowd. They then get back to the action as Gomez was battling with Taskmaster. As a wrestling fan watching this almost 25 years after it happened, this came off so bad. I guess it worked with the fans as they started to love the New World Order but this came off so corny to me.

All they really did was pick on a bunch of geeks on the production screen and play around with the cameras, with Nash cutting dad jokes. With this as well as the scene last week of Nash and Hall getting blankets and covering the WCW sign, this really hurt the seriousness of this angle. Nash and Hall came off as such dorks rather than an actual threat to WCW. This is a little bit of a spoiler for next week, but they are presented in a much more formidable force in WCW which we will cover on the Armbar Express.

Meanwhile, how pissed off must the eight men in the ring (and Jimmy Hart at ringside I guess) have been with how this match was literally hijacked by their own company? Teddy Long came down to inspire and amp up Powers. Powers actually got a power boost if you will as he fired away at Hugh Morrus. Powers started actually smashing guys. The good guys ran wild and then WCW World Champion The Giant ran down as smashed every babyface in the ring with chokeslam, one after the other. The fans were actually going nuts for all of this because when you have one man dominating and conquering all, the fans take notice as this was a force to be reckoned with. Sucks to be the babyfaces (and the rest of the Dungeon of the Doom for that matter) but the goal was to put the WCW World Heavyweight Champion over to fight Hogan which I had no problem with.

Giant raised his arms and the fans cheered. Mean Gene interviewed The Giant and Jimmy Hart. Mean Gene said: “Jimmy you scare me especially when you’re behind me like that.” The Giant said his mission when he arrived was to win the title which he did. He said he’d defend it wherever he was, whether it was Japan or here in the US. Giant said while Hogan was trying to make movies and win Oscars, he was dominating WCW. The Giant said WCW wanted him to take care of Hogan and he was going to chokeslam him in the middle of the ring as the fans roared with approval. Jimmy said The Giant would be ready for Hog Wild. This was good promo from The Giant to hype up the main-event of Hog Wild. A thumbs up from me!

 

DDP vs Prince Iaukea

DDP hit a Diamond Cutter and got the win. That is pretty much all you need to know about this match.

….Moving on….

 

Dean Malenko vs Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Making his WCW Nitro debut this week was Chavo Guerrero Jr. He cut an inset promo saying Malenko had fought many men but he hadn’t fought him. I thought this was a fun match. It was the most fun match of the show up until this point.

Chavo started off very fast and Dean cut him off with a gutbuster. Dean threw him up and splattered him down to the mat. They announced Dean Malenko vs Chris Benoit for Hog Wild as Dean cost Benoit his match with Eddie Guerrero last week. The irony that Dean helped Eddie last week and is now facing Chavo in a match this week!

Dean dropped Chavo right on his head with a teardrop suplex. Dean hit a fallaway slam with 30 seconds left before hour two. Dean and Chavo battled for the superplex as the fireworks went off, with Bischoff sounding like he was on a walkie-talkie as he welcomed us to the second hour. This came off very low-rent to me as the fireworks seemed to have a really bad affect on the audio eqipment.

Dean smashed Chavo with a clothesline and went to work with a headscissors submission. Bischoff asked for Bobby Heenan on commentary and we got no response and then… we just heard a crash. It was like something had been knocked over and then Bobby started talking and we went on as normal. Weird technical difficulties at Disney/MGM Studios.

The front row showed a family of three going crazy during this match and then there was a girl to their right just backing away while looking at them with disgust!

Dean locked on a bow and arrow submission I think and then locked on the STF as Chavo refused to give up. More fireworks went off as Dean continued to go to work. Chavo got out of a submission with a dropkick. This family was still continuing to have a ball in the front row!

Dean hit a brainbuster. Jimmy Hart made his way down to the ringside and cheered on Dean. Dean hit a big powerbomb and Jimmy yelled that he wanted Dean as part of the Dungeon of Doom. As Dean is distracted with Jimmy, Chavo almost caught him with a roll-up and then later on nearly pinned him with a small package.

Dean caught Chavo off the top rope and locked on the Texas Clover Leaf as Chavo tapped out for a submission victory for Malenko. A fun match I think. Not as good as the Kidman match from last week but a fun match nevertheless. This gets a thumbs up.

 

Ice Train vs Meng

This, to me anyway, became the newest funnest match of the episode. Meng vs Ice Train had a hoss battle! Two big dudes smashing into each other. It was sloppy in parts but a fun train-wreck nevertheless!

I love Bobby putting over the fact that Ice Train started a year ago but stopped when he realised he wasn’t ready but now he’s back and seemed ready to go and that made him a smart man. It made him seem like a mature wrestler and I appreciate that. As I talk about Ice Train being smarter and mature, Ice Train was playing to the crowd and Meng just started kicking his arse!

Ice Train hit a massive crossbody on Meng as the two big behemoths crashed into each other.  Ice Train and Meng messed up a sunset flip where Meng was just stood there was Ice Train waited for him to keel over for the spot.

Ice Train did a small package for a two count TO MENG. Meng was a tall frame but he was willing to do spots involving small packages and roll-ups! Meng dropped Ice Train with a head butt. Ice Train tried a scoop slam but Meng was too big. Meng snarled as he went to work on Ice Train!

Meng locked on a double never hold but Ice Train eventually shook off the abuse. Ice Train hit a running shoulder tackle. Meng dropped Ice Train to his knees with two headbutts and then Meng tried a camel clutch but Ice Train broke free. Ice Train fired up with big chops in the corner with sweat being splashed into the camera as he ran wild. I don’t know why, but I thought that was cool. This was such a hard-hitting match that sweat got all up the corner and in the camera lens as Ice Train hit these chops with such ferocity!

Ice Train hit a big power slam for a 2 count. Meng murdered Ice Train with a superkick as Ice Train came off the middle rope. Then Scott Norton beat up Meng for the disqualification. Norton yelled that he’s got Ice Train’s back as he doesn’t want Ice Train to have no excuses as Ice Train’s worst nightmare is about to come true.

I figured this disqualification was coming but when you think about it, both Ice Train and Scott Norton lost their matches on this episode leading to them having a match on pay-per-view. It’s a feud of two losers costing themselves or each other to lose all the way to the pay-per-view. I get why they did it but it didn’t make either of them good. Other than that, I was OK with this battle between Meng and Ice Train.

 

Eddie Guerrero vs Psychosis

I thought it was kind of cool to see Pyschosis spit green mist into the air for his entrance. It was visually great and added more to this luchador to the casual viewer.

The two luchadors grappled on the mat for control with Psychosis eventually gaining control with a spinning toe hold and then slapping Eddie in the face. Bobby Heenan talked about the Guerreros and Eddie would have been the one that would become the very best Guerrero. If we’re talking about name recognition, Bobby Heenan ended up being right on the money about this!

Eddie ran wild and hit, and I mean HIT, a top rope crossbody. Eddie landed right on top of Psychosis and was stood back up cheering with the crowd. Eddie lifted Psychosis up who either was not willing to go up for the backdrop or Psychosis was just too tall for tiny Guerrero.

Psychosis eventually took control and hit a top rope wheel kick which actually looked very slick. I love how Psychosis did a dive and sent Eddie crashing to the feet of the fans and the fans in the front row yelled down at Eddie and encouraging him to get up!

Psychosis did a top rope leg drop. Eddie did a victory roll for the 2 count. Eddie turned things around and hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. There was a sweet exchange which nearly turned to Psychosis getting the roll up win.

Psychosis hit a powerbomb and a corkscrew with Eddie kicking out at two. Eddie eventually fired back and hit a hurricanrana and hit a frog splash for the win. This was an awesome match but again… Eddie was looking to rush to the finish for some reason like he did during their first match two weeks ago. He got the moves done so quick and then power-walked to back saying “WCW.” It was weird. However, this was the best match on the show by a huge margin.

 

“The Four Horsemen” Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit and Steve “Mongo” McMichael w/Woman, Debra and Miss Elizabeth vs Sting, Lex Luger and “Macho Man” Randy Savage

As I watch the career of Steve “Mongo” McMichael progress as a WCW wrestler, there’s a part of me that really does not want to think that he was as bad as people made him out to be. When I watched his big tag team match at the Great American Bash and the odd Nitro match, I figured that maybe he wasn’t that terrible. There was some promise and he was doing things right in terms of taking things slow, focusing on the stuff he was good at. In this six man tag team match, he did a nice shoulder tackle for example.

However, other than that one spot I just mentioned, this Mongo was so horrible and please take into consideration the men he was in the ring with. Lex Luger isn’t particularly great but think about everybody else. You have Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit, Sting and Randy Savage in the ring and Mongo made this match completely fall apart. This isn’t even like the Four Horsemen eight man tag from 3 weeks ago where he did very little. Everything he did in this match, minus one spot, was some of the dirt-worst of professional wrestling.

Arn was shown in a white limo I guess looking for Flair but he wasn’t there so I guess Arn was taking Flair’s place in the match. Sting ran wild on all three Horsemen but it was Mongo that stopped him in his tracks with a middle rope shoulder tackle, which I mentioned earlier.

Savage chased the women around as Arn choked Sting. Benoit hit a suplex as he urged Sting to give up. Then Mongo got tagged in and hit a neckbreaker for a 2 count. Sting went for a crossbody and smashed right into the head of Mongo. Sting over-shot his target so I’m not entirely sure I can blame Mongo on that one. However, Mongo didn’t really seem to welcome a flying Sting coming at him… for a former American football player! That was only the beginning of miscommunication between Sting and Mongo in this match.

Sting fired back to his feet but Arn kept Sting down on the mat by trapping his legs as Sting tried to reach for the hot tag. Sting fired away at the heels and for some reason, Mongo grabbed Sting’s arm and then they fell down and Mongo went for the cover. The botch looked so bad but in storyline, if you really think about, Mongo wrestled Sting to the ground. WHAT?

And then, oh then the highlight of the match, Mongo lifted Sting from his leg and barely supports Sting’s body as he initially tried to do a back suplex. Sting was not willing go up for this back suplex and grabbed the top rope. So Mongo’s just got Sting in the air and Sting is grabbing the rope. Mongo’s idea to recover the spot is just to fall back, drop Sting and have it turned into an in-adverted sit-out powerbomb where Sting fell on his arse. Yeah this was terrible stuff from Mongo. Mongo was gassed as well on the apron so he got blown up from this point!

Lex Luger eventually got the hot tag. Luger did a scoop slam to Mongo and somehow, they pulled it off with no issues. Lex Luger and Mongo did a spot together! It broke out into a six way brawl. It turned into a mess of a match as they tried to synchronise spots. Debra and Woman argue over the briefcase allegedly with Randy Savage’s money inside but Savage intercepted it and got his money back to a monstrous pop from the crowd. After all of this time, Savage finally got his money back from the heels.

It does make you wonder though about this storyline with Randy Savage’s money… are the heels in storyline just completely moronic with how they use it? One week, Elizabeth is throwing around Savage’s money and is apparently the “sugar mamma” of the Four Horsemen, funding everything they do. Then, they give a briefcase of Savage’s money to Mongo who just carried it around. Mongo sold out for money and then he just carried the money around in a briefcase. Then Savage intercepted the briefcase and somehow, he’s got all of his money back. For some reason, the Horsemen had all of Savage’s money in this briefcase which Mongo didn’t even spend! Which begs the question… why did he join the Horsemen if not for the money which was apparent early on in the storyline? To WCW’s credit, Savage getting his money back did get a big pop from the crowd but this storyline was tricky to keep up with.

Then my review notes just read -” What the fuck” most because of the finish. Sting went for a roll-up on Mongo but Mongo kicked out. Mongo stayed on the mat and the referee distracted himself with Sting and Mongo as Savage hit Benoit with the briefcase and Luger pinned Benoit so I think this was the fault of the referee. Benoit and Luger were already the legal men so I have no idea what the referee was doing counting the pin for Sting and Mongo. I think Sting was yelling at the referee afterwards as they showed the replay of the spot. Then the referee saw Luger in the match pinning Benoit and counted to three. So it appears Sting, Mongo and the referee all lost track of who the legal men were in this match. This match, and the finish,… sucked.

Bobby just said let’s get out of here.

 

Mean Gene interviewed Sting, Luger and Savage again. A woman threw something in the ring and Mean Gene told the young lady not to throw her underwear in the ring! Macho Man, who clearly didn’t care one bit, said “that’s OK!” Savage was totally OK with women throwing their underwear at these handsome men. Maybe Mongo was on to something with that “pretty boys” line from earlier on in the show!

Sting said that they were not feeling down, they were feeling mean. Sting said he doesn’t read horoscopes and apparently it was gonna be a bad day for Leos and called the Outsiders “Leos”. Luger said the Outsiders were pushing all the wrong buttons. Luger said they’ve done a good job of pushing them over the edge and they’re gonna lose it. Luger said they mocked WCW but he said they were gonna shove their teeth down to their throat to wipe the smirks of their faces. I actually though Luger did a great job with his promo. Savage said nothing was gonna stop him from kicking Hogan’s ass. The fans were going nuts for this big promo. This was a fine promo to close the show.

Generally, I thought this was a good show with bumps on the road here and there. The train-wreck of a main-event didn’t help but it was saved by a good promo from the babyfaces. There were some fun matches on the show and the fun stuff outweighed the bad stuff so this show gets a thumbs up from me! Maybe I’m being generous but during a time like this for the world with coronavirus, maybe we need some positivity here and there. I’m also a believer in giving credit where credit is due, so I’m gonna go this show a whole bunch of credit today!

 

WCW Nitro Reading Order

• #1 – September 4th 1995
• #2 – September 11th 1995
• WCW War Games 1995 – September 17th 1995
• #3 – September 18th 1995
• #4 – September 25th 1995
• #5 – October 2nd 1995
• #6 – October 9th 1995
• #7 – October 16th 1995
• #8 – October 23rd 1995
• WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 – October 29th 1995
• #9 – October 30th 1995
• #10 – November 6th 1995
• #11 – November 13th 1995
• #12 – November 20th 1995
• WCW World War III 1995 – November 26th 1995
• #13 – November 27th 1995
• #14 – December 4th 1995
• #15 – December 11th 1995
• #16 – December 18th 1995
• #17 – December 25th 1995
• WCW Starrcade 1995 – December 27th 1995
• #18 – January 1st 1996
• #19 – January 8th 1996
• #20 – January 15th 1996
• #21 – January 22nd 1996
• #22 – January 29th 1996
• #23 – February 5th 1996
• WCW Superbrawl VI – February 11th 1996
• #24 – February 12th 1996
• #25 – February 19th 1996
• #26 – February 26th 1996
• #27 – March 11th 1996
• #28 – March 18th 1996
• WCW Uncensored 1996 – March 24th 1996
• #29 – March 25th 1996
• #30 – April 1st 1996
• #31 – April 15th 1996
• #32 – April 22nd 1996
• #33 – April 29th 1996
• #34 – May 6th 1996 (Nitro)/May 6th 1996 (RAW)
• #35 – May 13th 1996
• WCW Slamboree 1996 – May 19th 1996
• #36 – May 20th 1996
• #37 – May 27th 1996
• #38 – June 3rd 1996
• #39 – June 10th 1996
• WCW The Great American Bash 1996 – June 16th 1996
• #40 – June 17th 1996
• #41 – June 24th 1996
• #42 – July 1st 1996
• WCW Bash At The Beach 1996 – July 7th 1996
• #43 – July 8th 1996
• #44 – July 15th 1996

Retro Express – Bad Blood 2003

Once upon a time, WWE used to be pretty big on building up interesting storylines for their wrestlers. From the opening act to the main-eventers, everyone involved in the show had a reason for being there. On Bad Blood, as amazing as it is, everyone on this show had a reason for being there. Everyone from Theodore Long at ringside for the opening match to Mick Foley as the special referee in the main-event. As simple as this show was put together, did the storyline work pay off with RAW’s first brand-exclusive US pay-per-view of 2003?

 

WWE Bad Blood 2003

Date: June 15th 2003

Brand: RAW

City: Houston, Texas

Attendance: 10,000

 

The Dudley Boyz vs Christopher Nowinski and Rodney Mack w/Teddy Long

As mentioned earlier, this was a heavy storyline time for WWE. Every little program on Monday Night RAW in 2003 did its best to tell a storyline, including this simple tag team match with the Dudleyz facing Rodney Mack and Christopher Nowinski. Teaming up the Harvard graduate Nowinski with the new up-and-comer Rodney Mack, combined with the black supremacy advocate Teddy Long as their manager, was a bizarre combination to say the least. However, at least they got something. Not that I’d want to do an angle like this or anything, as I wouldn’t, but at least it gave the audience a reason to take notice once they got on television.

They did a backstage segment on Heat where Teddy Long pestered D-Von Dudley, questioning why his brother Bubba always told D-Von the get the tables. At least there was more to this match than just throwing two tag teams together. Giving D-Von an angle going into this match at least gets fans interested in him. Rodney Mack was also undefeated going into this event.

Mack and D-Von began angry lock-up before the match even began. We got early “we want tables” chant. Mack had a seriously hard time selling for the Dudleyz. The Dudleyz started off well and Bubba was a great babyface but then the distraction came from Teddy. Teddy was on the apron distracting Bubba and Bubba began waiting for Mack to jump him. He waits and waits and waits until Mack came in to throw a horrible clothesline.

We got a “Harvard sucks” chant directed at Nowinski. Mack hit a pretty decent spinebuster. Bubba got the hot tag, which included the big man hitting a top rope crossbody onto Nowinski! Keep in mind, this was not the slimmest guy in the world! A big man flying like that is very much a joy to see!

Nowinski, who was wearing a metal face protector worth $30,000 according to Jim Ross, tried to use it to no avail. Mack went for the “Black Out” submission but it was countered. The Dudleyz hit the “Wassup” while Teddy was yelling on the apron. Bubba told D-Von to the table but Teddy got in his way, tying into the segment from earlier. Mack attacked D-Von from behind while Nowinski hit Bubba with the metal mask and pinned him.

This was a slightly-below average tag team match with Mack being rather sloppy while the Dudleyz tried their best to get a good match out of him. Nowinski seemed to just be there. In terms of promoting new talent, the right team won. In terms of who the better workers were however, the wrong team won.

Match Rating: *1/2

 

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler talked about the Redneck Triathlon scheduled between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff. The Redneck Triathlon would consist of three rounds, with the first round being a burping contest and the second round being a “pie-eating” contest. Jerry was excited for the pie-eating contest. Now, I remembered the beginning and the end of this Redneck Triathlon. The pie-eating contest was what I couldn’t remember and it did strike me as odd regarding Jerry’s comment about the pie-eating contest. In hindsight, I should have known what that pie-ating contest was ACTUALLY about. More on that later.

We began with the burping contest, with JR claiming to have once won a burping contest in the eight grade. Both gladiators were stood with Terri Runnels doing the introductions while Stone Cold drank beer. Terri went over the rules as Stone Cold did starfish jumps, which is the perfect way to prepare for a burping contest. There would be three rounds of burps, with the loudest combined burps winning the contest. Bischoff went first and delivered a weak burp. This was probably the only legitimate burp in the whole thing. Then it was Austin’s turn. Some may have been upset that the majority of the burps were all sound effects pipped in by the production group and it that it was not a legitimate burping contest. However, this burp was delivered so well that you just couldn’t not laugh at it. Jim Ross’ and Jerry Lawler’s laugh after Austin “unleashed” this burp was great! This was exceptional delivery by production and by Stone Cold’s expressions.

Austin demanded another beer as Eric did his second burp. It was a decent attempt by Eric but Terri was disgusted.  Austin had a pretty weak second burp, which the Texas crowd loved. Eric was also disgusted by this and then delivered his third burp, which was slightly above average. Austin got the last laugh as he unloaded with a long final burp, with the later part of it sounding like a toilet was being flushed!

Austin won and then delivered a post-contest promo, congratulating Eric on being a good competitor and himself for winning such a competition. His UFC-like promo was actually pretty funny! Eric told Austin to see a doctor and that was that. Austin was 1-0 up in the Redneck Triathlon.

Moments like this really made me love the Austin and Bischoff co-general manager deal, with Eric almost coming off as likeable as he was involved in these funny angles with Austin. The crowd loved this burping contest as did I.

 

Test vs Scott Steiner for the managerial services of Stacy Keibler

A lot of you reading this might not believe your eyes but Scott Steiner is probably one of my favourite wrestlers of all time. This guy was just one-of-a-kind in terms of his in-ring style, his promos and just the character as a whole. I ALWAYS paid attention whenever this guy was around.

In WWE around this time though, he hadn’t had the greatest of starts since his return at Survivor Series 2002. His program with Triple H, including a truly devastatingly bad World title match at Royal Rumble 2003, had seen Steiner’s stock drop significantly. Now he’d been put with Test and Stacy Keibler, as the two vied for the affection of the lovely Stacy.

This match was by FAR not one of the greatest technically gifted matches I’ve ever seen. I can’t even consider this a good match as far as the in-ring side of things is concerned. As far as the entertainment however, this match was in a league of its own and mostly because of Steiner.

One of the other highlights of this match was Stacy Keibler, who looked amazing on this particular show. Stacy tried to get in the ring but her “ex” Test yanked her off the apron to berate her. As amazing as it sounds, the spot that followed was one of the highlights of the entire pay-per-view and it was the mother of all botches! Scott got onto the apron as he had to save this love interest, who was in peril at the hands of the bad guy. This was Mario saving Princess Peach from Bowser. Mario would jump in and save the day. Scott Steiner ALSO decided to jump in and save the day! He leaped off the apron but didn’t have his balance right, so he slipped and plummeted down. He landed on the floor but at least he had the instinct to put his hands up for the double axe handle that had obviously been the original spot. He drops down, hits Test in the knee and Test slips as if he slipped turning around in the shower. This was one of the all-time great botches in the history of wrestling and it was actually a lot more entertaining than if he had just successfully pulled off this double axe handle!

So Scott Steiner beat up Test and when they got into the ring to start the match, Test begged off Steiner. Now, there have been many babyfaces that have fallen for this obvious trap set by the heels to lure him into trouble. These spots make the heroes seem like such fools. Scott Steiner was not like that as instead of backing off, Steiner said “Nah. Fuck You!” and beat up Test some more! Not that I’d encourage wrestlers to swear as they’re on the rampage but I laughed so hard at this. I’m just amazed that my DVD didn’t censor this moment as Steiner unloaded with swearing throughout this match. Steiner wasn’t having any of Test’s shenanigans.

Steiner did some press-ups and began yelling at the referee. Test used Stacy as a human shield to gain the advantage. Test then threw Steiner into the steps. I know a lot of people had mixed opinions about Test as a performer, who sadly passed away in 2007. All I’ll say is that he was effective in making people hate him! That’s a key part to be a good villain, having an unlikeabillity factor that even “great” in-ring work can’t get around. The douche level of Test’s character was high as he mocked Steiner and yelled “wait until tonight” at Stacy as he blew her a kiss. The fans chanted “you suck” as Test got the heat. Test did a sleeper hold as the fans rallied behind Steiner with “lets go Steiner” chants. Jim Ross had a very nice line about Stacy when he said that her heart was as beautiful as her face. He was… damn on point.

Steiner damn near killed Test when Test came off the top rope and Steiner caught him by the waist, and dropped him over his shoulder which I think was meant to be a belly-to-belly suplex. I like Steiner but Test must have been fearing for his well-being when Steiner caught him by the waist! Jim Ross called this a Northern Light suplex turned into a slam. Steiner ran wild. Test bounced off the rope and it appear that he was going up to take a back drop but he leaped up, and Steiner caught him in a powerbomb position. Steiner simply threw him over his shoulder and continued to run wild. This was NOT the best night for Steiner in terms of his in-ring wrestling.

Steiner kicked out of a Full Nelson Slam. Test missed a big boot but Scott hit a sloppy reverse DDT. This got a near fall and Steiner’s reaction was to simply yell “HUH?” at the top of his lungs! That was very funny. Steiner hit a pumphandle slam for a near fall. Test undid the turnbuckle when Stacy popped up on the apron. Test grabbed Stacy and said some very non-PG and not nice things about Stacy, calling her names. Stacy slapped him and Steiner almost bumped into Stacy. Test hit a big boot out of nowhere which I honestly thought was the finish! Steiner kicked out. Test grabbed the chair and pushed Stacy away with it. Test went to hit Steiner with the chair and instead hit the ropes, bouncing the chair back to hit his own head. Steiner hit the flatliner and won the managerial services of Stacy. Stacy was happy and leaped onto Steiner in celebration. Stacy got off Steiner and then began selling her backside, implying that Test’s chair push was a lot more mighty than we realised.

This was an entertaining match to watch but not by any means a good one! We had some very noticeable botches from Steiner but the heat was there for this match. Test was a good heel. The match picked up with the finish and the bully Test was in the end overcome as the two babyfaces stood up against him. Even Stacy was being brave as Test eventually let his cockiness get the best out of him and paid for it. This was fine, simple story-telling.

Match Rating: **

 

Bischoff and Stone Cold talked backstage. Stone Cold described burping as being an “art form” in Texas, which was a great line. Eric vowed to win the pie-eating contest. Eric said he did some research and invited Austin to meet some ladies, that were set to take part in the pie-eating. By taking part, I don’t mean actually eating real bakery. Apparently, THEY were the pie. In case you were wondering, this show was NOT PG in the slightest.

Eric wanted first dibs on eating the “pie” and Austin allowed this, as long as he decided what pie Eric was going to eat first. I can’t have been the only one that could see where this was going, and I’d never seen this pie-eating contest before.

 

Christian (c) vs Booker T for the Intercontinental Championship

Picture this in your head. RAW had just recently reinstated the Intercontinental Championship that they inexplicably retired at No Mercy 2002. Christian won the title in a battle royal. Christian made his first defense of the title in a promising match between himself and Booker T, who happened to be from Houston, Texas where the Bad Blood pay-per-view was being held. You had all the potential in the world to make these two actual top stars on the red brand. The fans were going nuts for Booker T in one of the most heated moments in the entire show. This could have been something really special. Not like in the level of Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat from WrestleMania III but a memorable match that’ll be remembered through the ages. Well, spoiler alert, but that didn’t happen.

On a show which included MANY non-wrestling segments featuring Stone Cold and Bischoff, Booker and Christian got SEVEN MINUTES of wrestling which resulted in an incredibly rushed match between these two great workers. Lawler did have a great back-handed compliment when he claimed that “there’s a lot of suckas in Houston.” Jerry Lawler in 2003 had some of the best crack in all of WWE in 2003! With that said, Lawler was pretty bad for the large majority for this match on commentary which we’ll get to. Jim Ross claimed that Christian leaving as the champion would be a miracle, which I think probably did Christian more harm than good.

The match started off very well, as these two worked well together. Christian sold one particular back drop from Booker very well as he was thrown HIGH into the air. Lawler was hardly paying attention to any of this as he constantly made jokes about Booker’s previously convictions. Booker T was once a criminal and Lawler mentioned this ALL THE TIME while on commentary during this time. It’s not like if Jim Ross mentioned it and praised Booker for overcoming it. No, Lawler made joke after joke during this match. Did NOT make Booker come off well either.

Christian tried winning by putting his feet on the ropes. JR completely ignored Christian hitting Booker with the Book End, in Booker’s hometown. Booker hit an axe kick on the ropes. Booker hit a top rope dropkick and followed it up with a spinaroonie. Booker went for the Scissors Kick but Christian ran away and took the title with him. I was initially pretty upset at this as this would have been a match that ended in a count out in the challenger’s hometown. Then the referee Jack Doan got a microphone and told Christian that if he didn’t get back in the ring, he’d forfeit the title. This announcement got a big reaction but when I think about it, how did Jack Doan have the right to make this call that Christian would lose the title if he walked out? He’s not like an on-screen authority figure or anything.

So WWE teased the count out finish but the referee put a stop to that. The fans got excited at the thought of seeing a clear winner in this match. Instead, Christian runs into the ring and runs right back out. Booker chases him around the ring and they get back into the “squared circle” of WWE. Christian then grabbed the belt and hit Booker in the face, causing a disqualification.

The fans were irate with this finish, chanting “bullshit” and these chants were pretty much justified. They teased a count-out finish only for it to end in seven minutes via disqualification. THIS was a let down.

Match Rating: **1/4

 

We had an advertisement for Jim Ross’ cook book, which I’ve got to get a hold of one of these days! Kevin Nash was taping up his wrists as he was set to challenge Triple H for the World title in a Hell In A Cell match.

Jerry Lawler was in the ring for the pie-eating contest. He brought out Eric and commended him for his selection of “pie” for this event. Austin came out to a BIG POP in Texas. Austin reminded Eric that he would select Eric’s pie as agreed to earlier. Austin talked about Eric being into “mature women” which further solidified that I knew what was coming. Austin questioned Eric’s ability to please a woman with Eric insisting that he would be fine. Austin called Bischoff “Eric Jerk-Off” which the crowd popped for. Austin complimented Eric’s choice of women but Austin said that Eric would not be having any of their “pie” as he brought his choice for Eric. It was revealed to be Mae Young, who was accompanied by  Fabulous Moolah. Eric had a disgusted face which almost looked like he was about to sneeze. Austin just smiled with an awesome grin on his face.

Jerry protested this decision as he claimed it was supposed to be a pie-eating contest and not “cheesecake” that would be eaten. Disgusting, Jerry. Mae stuck her tongue out and Eric insisted that Mae put her tongue back in her mouth and called her a nasty old hag. Pretty mean words from Easy E. Eric refused to eat the pie but Austin called him a chicken. Mae tried to grope Eric but he told her to get her hand off his ass. Austin called Eric a piss-ant and demanded that Lawler declare him the winner. Eric cut him off and decided to go through with it. As shocking as it was, the fans started chanting “eat the pie” to which Eric responded by kissing her. Eric thought this was enough but Austin told him that this was a pie-eating contest. Mae low-blowed Eric and she was instructed to make Eric eat the pie. Mae gave Eric the stinkface while wearing a thong. Jim Ross called this as if he’d just watched Mankind being thrown off the Hell in a Cell. Austin was laughing, with Eric being furious and demanding that Austin goes next. Austin gave Mae Young the stunner, with Mae selling this possibly even worse than when Vince McMahon sold the first stunner that Austin gave him in 1997. Austin forfeited this contest and demanded beer. It was 1-1 in the redneck triathlon.

The times certainly have changed in the “tastes” of wrestling fans! This was a NUTTY angle but I guess nothing else could be expected considering that this was an angle involving Mae Young who, god bless her soul, was willing to do ANYTHING to entertain the fans. She probably loved doing this kind of stuff and the fans seemed to love it to a degree, especially when they chanted “eat the pie” at her. Mae was an entertainer to say the least!

As for the rest of it, it’s funny how Eric won the contest but Austin still seemed like the real winner of that contest in the end. Eric won but Austin still found a way to outsmart Eric Bischoff. The fans loved it and I guess that’s all that matters.

 

We got a vignette for Gail Kim, who would be debuting soon. As a matter of fact, she actually won the Women’s Championship in her debut a few weeks later. I hope I do get to review more of Gail Kim’s matches in the near future of this Retro Express as she was a great female worker.

Jonathan Coachman interviewed La Resistance, who were Rene Dupree and Sylvain Grenier at this time. They were challenging Kane and Rob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship next. Sylvain said that this was a big night and that he hated Texas. They buried then-US President George W Bush, which got a lot of boos in Texas. They dedicated the match to then-French President Jacques Chirac. This is actually amazing when you think about the political situation for the likes of US and the UK in 2016. It was amazing that the countrymen of the US and the French actually liked the people that ran their country at the time. Meanwhile, the US currently have a president-elect that they apparently don’t want in the White House anymore. It’s amazing.

 

Kane (c) and Rob Van Dam (c) vs “La Resistance” Sylvain Grainer and Rene Dupree for the World Tag Team Championship

As far as putting the new heel tag team over, this was NOT the way to do it. La Resistance came out and Jim Ross called them jackasses, which was actually pretty funny. La Resistance got some serious heat. There were some seriously angry fans in the front row. Funnily enough, they showed the graphic for the old World Tag Team title design from the Attitude Era but the champions came out with the new belts that had been around since 2002! As I watched this DVD, I was rather annoyed at WWE for editing out the original theme songs that RVD and Kane came out too. Kane actually had been coming out to “Slow Chemical” from Finger Eleven at that time, which is one of my favourite wrestling theme songs of all time, so seeing that not make the DVD very much upset me.

RVD and Kane beat up La Resistance, with the storyline going in being that the champions were not on the same page. RVD did a great springbroad crossbody as he took over early. La Resistance turned the tide for a bit by planting RVD with a DDT. Kane got the hot tag and ran SERIOUSLY wild on the two french men. I mean Kane was DESTROYING these men all on his own as his partner had been beaten up by these two. Kane was having to contend with the heels on his own while RVD simply WATCHED from the apron. He eventually got the tag while Kane was still getting the better of these two heels. He’s doing fine on his own and then RVD got in. As Kane is battling these men on the outside, RVD goes for a dive and hits Kane accidentally when there was no need for him to go for the dive at all. RVD was attacked and hit the Double Flapjack for the pin as La Resistance won the World Tag Team titles.

The booking of this match caused steam to come from my ears. The whole angle was that Kane and RVD were having issues but here in this match, Kane was completely doing fine on his own while RVD cost them the match by getting involved when Kane was coping fine. The fact was Kane could have beaten these men by himself and he would have retained the title. How could La Resistance possibly have been taking seriously at this point? I guess La Resistance are remembered nowadays so I guess they became somewhat of a memorable tag team. However, this match was pretty lame and pretty perplexing.

Match Rating: *1/2

 

Goldberg vs Chris Jericho

A common trope of mine is immediately looking up Dave Meltzer’s rating for the match I just saw during a Retro Express. Mine and Meltzer’s ratings are usually right in-line but for this match, I noticed that he gave this match three and a half stars out of a max total of five. Maybe it’s a mistake to watch old matches with modern eyes but I have NO IDEA what type of match he was watching. In case you were wondering what made me un-optimistic about the actual Goldberg/Brock Lesnar match for Survivor Series this year, THIS was the match.

I know these two had heat with each other around this time but even so, the wrestlers with the biggest heat with each other can usually put together some really good matches. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart had some sublime matches back in the day. This Goldberg/Jericho match was NOT sublime.

Goldberg went for a lock-up and it was one of those lock-ups from a women’s match, that sees both wrestlers tumble out of the ring. Goldberg hit a World’s Strongest Slam as the fans chanted Y2J. Goldberg dominated early on, even gorilla pressing Jericho onto the ropes. Goldberg went for a spear through the wall but Jericho moved out of the way as Goldberg drove himself through the barricade. This actually played into the storyline going in, which Jericho claimed that he’d win the match by making Goldberg angry and sloppy. This was actually pretty good story-telling.

Jericho tried to get at Goldberg but referee Charles Robinson stopped him. I’m not sure why he did this as it wasn’t like the doctors came out to check on Goldberg. Jericho drove Goldberg into the ringpost. Goldberg was bleeding and his arm had been hurt from the spear, which Jericho took advantage of. Goldberg was working with one arm, actually selling the injury. Now, Goldberg rarely had to take the heat in many of his WCW matches. The idea was that Goldberg would destroy the opponent, hit his finishers and beat him early. In WWE however, he was not booked in this manner. He had to sell for Jericho so he tried to work with one arm. While he did this, his ring-work with one arm was pretty bad. If in doubt, DON’T HAVE GOLDBERG SELL.

Jericho locked on a Fujiwara Armbar. Jericho was caught off the top with a high knee. The fans started booing. Goldberg was not able to pull off working with one arm, struggling with an one armed hip toss. “Goldberg sucks” chants began to roar from the crowd. Jericho hit a dropkick and Goldberg waffled to the ground. We got more boos. Jericho hit the lionsault on the face of Goldberg for a near fall. Jericho went for a Lionsault and Goldberg was supposed to catch him but it went ALL WRONG. Goldberg hit the spear and we got even LOUDER “Goldberg sucks” chants. Goldberg went for the jackhammer but Jericho caught Charles Robinson in the eyes and hit a low-blow on Goldberg. This got a lot of cheers and big Y2J chants. Keep in mind that Goldberg was supposed to be the face and Jericho was supposed to be the heel!

Jericho tried the Walls of Jericho but Goldberg powered out, hit the spear and jackhammer, and won the match. And to put a cherry on top, Goldberg slid outside of the ring and got in the face of a fan that booed him throughout the match. A wonderful way to put over Goldberg as a babyface.

To be fair, Goldberg did actually get cheers when he won the match and Jericho tried ALL that he could but even he could not get a good match out of this man. Jericho’s on my list of greatest workers of all time as he had a reputation, in my mind, of being able to have a good match with everyone he wrestled. I remember him having a good match with Ryback at Money In The Bank 2013 for crying out loud! Ryback was mocked as being a “copy” of Goldberg, yet Goldberg couldn’t even have a good match with Jericho. This will be hard to hear for a lot of fans but Goldberg had a HORRIBLE night here.

Match Rating: *1/2

 

They showed a pig pen and Lawler questioned whether Jim Ross had brought his relatives along to the show. Terri was with Austin and Eric again. They spun the wheel for the third round and it landed on “sing-off” which Austin was upset about. Austin asked Terri if she thought that Steve was any good. She said no. Eric vowed to beat Austin in front of these rednecks.

 

Shawn Michaels vs Ric Flair

This was probably tied with the main-event as far as the best match for the show, with these two legends going out. Despite that, I was still a little bit let down. This was certainly not at the level of their WrestleMania 24 match but I did expect something special and I really didn’t get it to be honest.

Shawn got a HUGE reaction from the Texas crowd. The two legends messed with each other with taunts but that came to an end when Shawn slapped Ric and mocked him. There was some nice mat wrestling between the two. There was a very old school feel to this match. Shawn slapped Ric and Ric came close to doing the Flair Flop but was able to keep himself up with one foot! Michaels dove onto Ric. Remember when Steiner was able to see through Test’s attempts at begging him off? Well Ric tried to beg Shawn off in this match… and it worked. I can at least accept the possibility of Shawn being conflicted as he was wrestling his idol that he respected, and not to mention that Ric is older and more experienced than Shawn so FINE.

HBK and Flair chopped the hell out of each other. Flair did the chop block. Flair worked on the legs and locked on the Figure Four Leg Lock, that Shawn was able to get the ropes for to break it up. Flair shoved referee Earl Hebner but Earl shoved back. The second time on this show where a referee stepped over his boundaries when calling a match, three if you count Charles Robinson holding off Jericho when he shouldn’t have. Ric got cocky and Shawn made him pay with an enziguri. Flair went up to the top and of course, Shawn threw him off the top turnbuckle.

There was a great exchange when Shawn went for the Super Kick but Flair countered it into the figure four leg lock. Shawn countered this into a small package and then locked on his own figure four. This was some solid professional wrestling right here. Flair poked HBK and they traded roll-ups. HBK hit a superplex and it looked like Shawn struggled to get Flair up for this superplex. HBK got a table and set it up. Flair teased suplexing Shawn through the table but Shawn got out and ended up laying Flair onto this table.

NOW, I personally was taken out of the match a little when they brought out the table. Firstly, it’s supposed to be a regular singles match. Since when are TABLES allowed in a normal match? Yes, Shawn didn’t HIT Flair with this table but he still tried to “cheat” by using a weapon to his advantage. That, to me, should be DQ but Earl let this happen. Secondly, I was very much into the regular singles match and the old-school wrestling behind all of this. Instead, when Shawn introduced the table, it just seemed so out of place to me. I just don’t think this was the time for a spot like this.

Shawn super-kicked the interfering Randy Orton and then jumped off the top and onto Ric, going through the table. Flair bled from the back. Flair was able to take the ref out by low-blowing Earl and Shawn at the same time. HBK fired back and dropped the elbow. Shawn superkicked Flair, Orton hit Shawn with the chair and RIC FLAIR PINNED SHAWN MICHAELS.

Maybe I’m in the small minority here but the table spot just completely took me out of this match. It was a great match up until that point but to me, it just negated the point of the match which was just to see who was better. Instead, Orton and the table got involved and it just became another shenanigan-filled match on RAW. I wanted a clear-cut winner and instead I got this. I think a few fans that were in that building felt a little cheated out of this finish. It was nice to see Flair get the victory over Shawn though.

Match Rating: ***1/4

 

The time had come for the sing off. Eric came out to literally NO REACTION as we’d seen him more than anyone on this show, so the fans were kind of uncaring when he came out. Eric said he’d sing his own theme song but he instead lip-synced his own theme song which I thoroughly enjoyed, as did he based on the way he “sung” this! Austin cut in and called him out on his lip-sync. They went back-and-forth on this like they were kids arguing about the smallest things. Austin told Eric that he sucked and ordered him to do it again. Eric sung badly and Austin called him pathetic. Austin suggested they re-spin the wheel and it came up with “Pig Pen Fun” which involved the pig pen from earlier on. Austin said that whoever threw their opponent into the pig pen would be the winner. Austin deputised the crowd to stop Eric from leaving. Someone threw Eric back in from the crowd.

Austin beat up Eric, stomped a mudhole and hit a Stone Cold Stunner. Eric actually sold this pretty well, with his selling of it probably being around 5000% better than Mae Young selling it earlier on in the night. Austin took Eric to the stage and threw him off it, with Eric landing in the safest way possible. Austin was declared the winner by Lilian Garcia as he drank some beer. Jim Ross had an awesome line in which he claimed that “those pigs may need counselling being so close to Eric Bischoff!” That was a serious contender for line of the night. Austin celebrated for about 30 hours but the fans didn’t seem to mind.

The fans loved all this and to be fair, I enjoyed a lot of the moments from this Redneck Triathlon. However, this went on way too long for me to care at the end. The burping contest was good and Austin had some brilliant banter but in the end, it was way too long. The ending made me feel as if this were a house show, which I don’t think was the purpose. This did not feel like it should have been on pay-per-view and it does rather upset me at how long this went, considering that Booker and Christian only went seven minutes.

 

Triple H (c) vs Kevin Nash in a Hell in a Cell match for the World Heavyweight Championship with Mick Foley as the special guest referee

I have to say something about the video package they did for this match. They had the video package where they recapped the rivalry and did an amazing job at selling you on the idea that this type of match was important, rare and dangerous. The music, which was Headstrong by Trapt, fit right in as HHH, Foley and Nash beat the hell out of each other during a RAW segment and it was wonderful stuff. The video packages back in the “ruthless aggression era” used to be quality stuff.

I actually went through a phase with a mate of mine where he used to rave at me everyday about this song, and actually serenaded me with it everyday! And you know what… I had no problem with this. If you’ve never heard of Headstrong by Trapt, PLEASE go and listen to it. It’s fantastic stuff.

The special referee Mick Foley actually got the biggest reaction out of everyone, which should tell you how much the fans cared about Triple H and Kevin Nash. Triple H tried to poke the bear that is Mick Foley but Nash clobbered him. Nash smashed HHH’s with elbows. Nash slowly beat up HHH by driving him into the ringpost and the cell wall, as well as the corner of the cell. The fans cared little for Nash at this point. Nash threw HHH into the steel steps. Nash tried throwing the steps at HHH but thank got that Hunter ran out of the way as that would have been bad news.

In a pretty creative spot, Nash went for a Jackknife Powerbomb but Triple H used the cell itself to get out of it. HHH got out a toolbox and smashed Nash in the knee and the head with a hammer. Foley took the hammer from Triple H and pushed him down. Foley challenged HHH but HHH backed off. HHH grated Nash’s head with the cell wall. After a struggle, HHH wedged a screwdriver into Nash’s head. Foley yelled at Triple H. Triple H grabbed a bat wrapped in barbed wire and hit Nash in the gut. Nash fired back with punches and smashed Hunter in the head with the bat which got a big reaction. HHH was busted open. Nash wedged the bat into the turnbuckle and did a snake eyes onto it for a near fall.  There was a “big lazy” sign in the front row.

HHH smashed a wooden create over Nash. Triple H grabbed a sledgehammer but Foley tried to wrestle it away which got some boos. It made sense why, as it seemed for all the world at this point that Foley was screwing HHH in a no disqualification match. HHH attacked Foley which got some cheers. Nash did the drop toe hold spot onto the steel steps which felt slowly done. This got a near fall. Triple H hit Nash and Foley with a chair. Foley was bleeding as he whipped out Mr Socko. He locked on the Mandible Claw, with Triple H responding by kicking Foley below the belt. Nash accidentally hit Foley and HHH with the steel steps somehow. Nash went for the cover but Foley was out.

Nash tried to revive Foley. Foley was on the apron when HHH knocked Nash into Foley, who bounce back first into the cell wall. A very risky spot if you ask me. HHH went for the pedigree but Nash catapulted HHH into the barbed wire bat still stuck in the top turnbuckle. Nash hit the jackknife, Foley made the count but HHH kicked out. This was actually a GREAT near fall. I think a lot of people in that crowd thought that was the finish.

Triple H crawled for the sledgehammer and instead of pushing away the sledgehammer that he can see or grabbing it himself, Nash simply grabs Triple H by the hair. HHH made him pay with a sledgehammer shot to the head. HHH hit the pedigree and that was that.

The first part of this match was very much boring. Nash beating him up forever got no heat it seems but it picked up a little in the second half. The thing that was weird to me was that Nash and Foley both tried to screw Triple H, and Triple H is supposed to be the heel. In the end, the right man won. Judging on the crowd reactions, a Nash title run would not have gotten a great amount of interest from the RAW audience.

I thought this was a good match considering it’s a long match involving Kevin Nash and I personally thought this was the best match on the show.

Match Rating: ***1/3

 

This was definitely a memorable pay-per-view to say the least. Every match seemed to stand out to me, for many different reasons. I felt that the booking for a lot of these matches were really flat, although the main-event ended up being much better than I thought it was going to be. There were a lot of disappointing matches that struggled for time due to the Redneck Triathlon which took up way too much time. The Texas crowd loved this one for whatever the reason was but I can’t say that I’m too keen to watch it again.

WWE Night Of Champions 2013 Review – WWE Give Us The Worst Pay-Per-View Of The Year As Daniel Bryan Wins The WWE Title Off A Fast Count!

Wrestling fans, I am “Big Hungry” Tom Robinson here again. We’re coming off Night Of Champions with a lot of controversy coming off the main event and a lot of things to address because I really wasn’t impressed by last night’s event. Nothing really stood out for me, other than the main event. There was only one title change and all the matches seemed really flat to me, as did the fans for all but two of the matches. Let’s get to it…

An Impromptu Intercontinental Title match sees Curtis Axel FINALLY defeat Kofi Kingston

We start off the show with COO Triple H addressing the WWE universe and stating that the WWE Championship match between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton would have ZERO interference, making it a fair one on one encounter. This was interrupted by Paul Heyman and Intercontinental Champion Curtis Axel, with Heyman making a last-minute plea to Triple H to cancel his and Axel’s handicap elimination match against CM Punk later on. Triple H started to mess with Heyman and Axel by questioning Heyman’s trust in Axel’s ability and refused to cancel the match. Curtis Axel then got the mic and suggests that Triple H is still holding a grudge over his defeat to Axel on May 20th 2013. Yes, Axel actually stated when his first victory over HHH took place. Axel’s talking got him into trouble as HHH would then put Axel in an IC Championship defence to start the show against the first person he sees when he goes to the back (which just so happens to be Kofi Kingston, the guy Axel has lost to a couple of times in the last few weeks. How convenient). Two things were really off about this segment I believe….

1. Triple H still having a grudge with Heyman and Axel sort of makes the new corporation seem sort of face if you will. It takes away the heat that the corparation has when he messes with fellow heel Paul Heyman.
2. I hated that the fans were chanting “BORING” during Axel’s promo. For god’s sake, give the guy a chance to talk. Yeah, Axel’s not the greatest talker but at least give him the chance at least without unleashing a “BORING” chant.

The match itself was really good in comparisons to their matches on RAW and SmackDown! over the last couple of weeks. Some really good near-falls during the match, including Axel kicking out of the S.O.S. Axel got the victory and gives himself confidence ahead of going up against CM Punk in the handicap match, which was actually upgraded to a No-DQ Elimination Handicap Match. Good way to start off the show.

 

Awkward Botch Ruins An Already Awkward Divas Title Match

Before AJ Lee’s Divas Title defence against Naomi, Natalya and Brie Bella in a fatal four way, Alicia Fox and Aksana both ended their alliance with AJ, with Layla possibly doing the same. This was like the shortest stable in WWE history! It lasted like 2 weeks and it could have actually been a decent stable if they didn’t lose their first match together last week on RAW. Anyway, it appears AJ will have no back-up against the 3 divas from “Total Divas” that she slandered on RAW 3 weeks ago.

To be honest, it was a decent effort by all 4 women. They tried to make the match as interesting as possible and you’ve got to commend them for that. All 4 women had their fair share of time to show their stuff. But to be honest, this never seemed to get the fans interested one bit. It felt so awkward and out of place. The only time the fans popped during this match was then Natalya locked in the double sharpshooter. Also, it didn’t help when the referee made a HUGE error near the end of the match…

Right, Natalya scoop-slammed Brie Bella onto Naomi who was taken out before. Anyway, Brie Bella’s laying on top of Naomi for about 20 seconds, Naomi’s shoulders were down, and the referee did NOTHING. He was supposed to make the count and all he and Natalya were doing was just staring at both women. Sure, it’s nice to stare at two women on top of one another but he should have made the god-damn count. Even the commentators were even yelling at him to make the count. It was one of the most awkward botches of the year in my opinion. Anyway, the one thing to take as a positive from this match was that AJ Lee retained the championship.

 

A disqualification sees RVD’s World Title Hopes Shattered By Alberto Del Rio

To be honest, this match was nowhere near as good as Del Rio’s recent title defences against Dolph Ziggler and Christian in recent pay-per-view, but it was at least a decent effort. The only thing that was off-putting about this match was the fact that it ended in a disqualification. When RVD got to the ropes after being locked-in the Cross-Armbrearker, Del Rio refused to break the hold and was disqualified. This hurts Del Rio’s credibility a bit as this is the second time in 3 PPV World Title defences that Del Rio’s retained the title on a disqualification. Del Rio should have made RVD tap out. Maybe their setting up a rematch at Battleground for all I know. At least I hope so because I think will a bit more time this match could be a lot more improved at Battleground.

 

The Miz and Fandango Are Given A Match On A PPV… why?

The Miz vs Fandango has been like the least appealing rivalry of the year and for some absurd reason they were given a PPV match. Really? I mean it’s bad enough that Fandango showed up to ANOTHER PPV but he has to go up against The Miz of all people? Two guys who I can’t stand right now and their match was such a bland match. I hope this is the end of their feud because the fact that I had to sit through that match just really wound me up. -.-

 

Ryback Helps Heyman Against CM Punk And Becomes The New “Paul Heyman Guy”

This match went exactly as I thought it would. Axel fights Punk. Punk beats Axel. Beats Up Heyman A Little Bit. Taken Out By A New “Paul Heyman Guy”. While I didn’t like the predictability of it all, I like the way it was executed. It was a really brutal exchange between Axel and Punk, with kendo sticks and chairs being used in the fray, as well as a table being set up. However, CM Punk would make Axel tap out, leaving Paul Heyman to Punk. After chasing him around a little bit, Punk finally got his hands on Heyman and beat the crap out of him with the kendo stick. He event handcuffed him and then unleashed a fury of kendo stick shots on Heyman. Just as Punk had finished the beatdown, Ryback made his way to the ring and speared Punk through the table. This proved to be enough to put Punk down for the count to three as Heyman picked up the victory over Punk.

I do feel that CM Punk should have took a lot more damage from Ryback before getting pinned. I think it should have been more than a spear through the table to put Punk away considering how resilient he was against Brock Lesnar during their feud. It seems a little bit unbelievable that Punk can take a beating from Lesnar and still keep fighting, but one spear through the table from Ryback and he’s done. However, this was a good way to introduce Ryback as the new “Paul Heyman Guy” though. Ryback does need Paul Heyman as his manager. Ryback’s bullying gimmick had to stop and with Heyman on board he could actually go places. But the question is, with Ryback supposedly on board, where does that leave Curtis Axel?

 

The Shield Retain All Their Gold At Night Of Champions With Dolph Ziggler and The Prime Time Players Getting A Taste Of “Justice”

Yep. The Shield still have all the gold they won back at Extreme Rules in May. Dean Ambrose defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the US Championship and Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defeated The Prime Time Players to retain the tag titles.

Let’s talk about the US Championship. It’s clear that Ziggler is still not sitting well with WWE right now just because the manner of his loss. No screwjob. No Shield-interference. He flat-out LOST to Dean Ambrose. It’s sad to see Ziggler being punished by WWE. I mean it’s not like the match was a great match anyway. It sort of felt like a TV match. It’s was OK, but it didn’t deserve to be on the card if it was going to be just… OK. If Ziggler was going to lose like we all knew he would, he should have at least had a great match with Ambrose which we know he’s capable of. But of course, when you’re in the WWE Dog House, the chances of you getting to look good goes right down the drain.

And the Tag Team Championship match. A very decent match and the fans were all over the Prime Time Players. Both guys looked strong against The Shield and I actually thought they’d beat The Shield near the end. But I think this might be just a prelude to their title win in weeks to come. I think after this match, the PTP look in a strong position to win the gold despite not winning in Detroit, Michigan.

So, up until this point, every champion has retained their championship. Only one champion remains to defend their title… WWE Champion Randy Orton…

 

Randy Orton Vs Daniel Bryan For The WWE Championship

It was not the greatest of main events. In my opinion, Daniel and Orton have had plenty of better matches than this one was. It was really slow paced and it ended abruptly (I’ll get on the ending in a bit). It was one of Orton’s better matches and it’s good to see Orton’s been developing his wrestling as of late. He’s had a couple of stellar matches in the last few months. But, of course the thing that annoyed me about the match was the result. Daniel Bryan won of the flying kick he used to win the title from Cena at Summerslam… oh and a FAST 3 COUNT BY SCOTT ARMSTRONG!

Really? The night ended with a fast count? I read somewhere after the match that the commentators were not meant to mention the fast count, but they should have said at least something about it, especially JBL. The Heel Commentator JBL would have PLENTY to say about a fast count. I mean yeah – if Daniel won of the fast count and Triple H came out and reversed the decision that night, it’d make sense. But we’ve got to wait until RAW to find out the fate of the WWE Championship? I

All I’ll say is this… if Daniel’s title win stands, then it was a daft way for it to go down, and his regaining of the title came WAY too soon. I mean what does that say of the heel regime when they don’t have the WWE Championship anymore? I hope Triple H reverses the decision of the match on RAW. Because a face winning the title of a FAST COUNT makes zero sense. And Orton would have gotten royally screwed if the result of the match stands. Let’s just hope for the best, because I am not happy with how that “title change” took place.

Overall it was a really under-whelming PPV. I think it was the worst PPV of the year so far. While the WWE, IC and Tag Team title matches were all decent matches as was Punk vs Axel and Heyman , the Divas match was EXTREMELY AWKWARD, the US Title match was such a disappointment and the World Title match ending made Del Rio look weaker as a champion. The crowd weren’t into half of the matches, and that’s worrying and really decreases how good a show is when the crowd isn’t into it? With Battleground only 3 weeks away and Hell In A Cell only 3 weeks after that, PPVs are coming in thick and fast and WWE are going to have a hard time building up each one. I just hope that RAW can recover a badly-delivered PPV.

That was the Night Of Champions review. I’m Tom Robinson!

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