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Reviews
WWE No Way Out (2005)
Mixed emotions
The No Way Out card looked like a lot of what we've been getting from WWE pay-per-views in recent months. A few good matches, a few bad matches, and of course some random non-wrestling stuff.
Match 1: Bashams vs. Eddie & Rey. WWE Tag Team Championship.
- An expected opener. Fast-paced but few highlights. Bashams in control for most of the time but their offense isn't too exiting. Rey plays the peril face and dodges away from the heels in a hilarious spot. Eddie picks up the pinfall victory when he hits one of the Bashams with the belt. Clearly better than the Rey/RVD vs. Kenzo/Dupree matches. Sadly I think this title win will be a cheap excuse for giving Rey and Eddie something to do at WrestleMania.
Match Rating: 3/5
Dawn Marie and Torrie join the announcers booth for the first part of the Diva Rookie Contest. I need to get some coffee
Match 2: Booker T vs. Heidenreich
- Simple maths folks; Heidenreich + Poems = Me switching the channel. I knew I was going to need the coffee for something and indeed I did. Very uninspiring bout that has been rushed into the card. Heidenreich hits a scoop slam, which is as much technical wrestling as we've seen from this man since he debuted. Match ends in a disqualification after seven minutes. Highlights: none.
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 3: 6 Man Cruiserweight Elimination.
- Disappointing! Being an elimination match, it meant that we were in for five singles matches. And let me tell you, singles matches that end in two minutes can do nothing but harm to the wrestlers and the division, not to mention the match itself. No time for the action to build up, we get five finishes in ten minutes. And what finishes! Screwjobs, roll-ups and an incorrect referee decision! Paul London basically saves the match on his own with some highly impressive spots, but eventually has to sell a weak finish when Chavo uses the ropes to get the pin and the title. The only good thing about this is that it increases the chances of a singles match (London vs. Chavo) at WrestleMania.
Match Rating: 2/5
Diva crap part 2. My cat walks into the room and yawns.
Match 4: Undertaker vs. Luther Reigns
- Another big men match, as we haven't had enough of them already. Reigns' selling is simply not good enough. Undertaker's current character is a mish-mash of his past gimmicks that doesn't make any sense at all. He is a routine man and works the same matches over and over again: Dominates the beginning with crappy moves like "old school", where he goes to the top rope while his opponent is just standing there in amazement. Slow-paced action follows before he kicks out of the opponents finisher and tombstones his way to another victory. While this match is far from terrible, I doubt anyone will remember it in a month. Painfully average, just like everything else involving UnderBiker the last two years.
Match Rating: 2/5
The divas once again head towards the ring for what is (thankfully) the final part of the contest. But the one who decided that this debacle should waste away 15 minutes needs to be fired.
Match 5: Cena vs. Angle. #1 Contenders.
- Now onto something better! An intense match with psychology, strategy and a clean finish. Angle is his usual crisp self while Cena steps up at least one level and varies his offense more than ever before. Angle tries to wear down the less experienced Cena. He kicks out of the FU and goes for the ankle. Cena escapes the Ankle Lock two times by reaching the ropes which frustrates Angle. Angle picks up Cena's chain but Cena overwhelms him and hits the FU a second time for the pinfall victory. Cena looks suddenly much more believable as #1 contender!
Match Rating: 4/5
Match 6: JBL vs. Big Show. Barbed Wire Steel Cage.
- Pretty good stuff here. Some brawling, some power moves. A little slow perhaps, but still an enjoyable contest. The barbed wire doesn't really come into play at all though. I wondered how they would book the finish. I knew Bradshaw was going to retain but since they have built up Big Show as an unstoppable monster it would be ridiculous to have him to do a pinfall job only one month prior to WrestleMania. After 12 minutes, Big Show Chokeslams JBL through the ring and then escapes the cage via the door after breaking the lock. As a columnist noted; even though Show seemed to be the winner at that time, the crowd was dead silent. No matter how good the booking was, the audience could not be fooled: Everyone knew Bradshaw was going to retain.
Match Rating: 3/5
The Good: Angle/Cena was by far the match of the night. The tag match and the main event were solid and entertaining. The WrestleMania promos were funny.
The Bad: It bugs me is that the awful Diva Contest so obviously stole the time from the cruiserweights. The priorities were not correct here, to say the least!!
The Ugly: Rochelle's joke. And if the Booker/Heidenreich feud drags into WrestleMania I am going to scream.
A side note: Batista's involvement hints that we may see a Triple Threat for WrestleMania. Though I've heard that this has got negative reactions from the fans. Well, of course! They have hyped up the Evolution split-up storyline so much that HHH and Batista can put on a headlock derby for 30 seconds and it will be called a classic. And now they're just going to drop it? If this is set up just to have Trips retaining at WrestleMania, it is going to suck!
No Way Out Rating: 2/5
WWE New Year's Revolution (2005)
The main event stood out in a forgettable event
Apart for the Chamber Match, is there any reason at all to care for this show?
Match 1: Eugene and Regal vs. Tomko and Christian. World Tag Team Championship.
- Well put together tag match, slightly above average. Starts off good with Regal against Christian. Eugene is tagged in but Tomko overpowers him. Tomko has been heavily criticized but I think he plays his role quite well. Regal gives Eugene the "Hot Tag" that we see in EVERY tag match nowadays. Eugene then blows his knee in a legit injury and pins Tomko with a poor roll-up when the match booking has to be changed.
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 2: Lita vs. Trish. Women's Championship.
- Lita injures her knee after a Lou Thesz press, making it two legit knee injuries in a row! Again the match booking is changed. Trish regains the title after The Kick That Barely Connects With The Opponent.
Match Rating: 1/5
Edge tells Bischoff that he doesn't want the match tonight because he has no chance of winning with HBK as referee. He wants to give it to Christian instead but Bischoff will have nothing of Edge's crappy ideas.
Match 3: Shelton Benjamin vs. Maven. Intercontinental Championship
- Maven comes out and taunts the Puerto Rican crowd. This audience eats up everything so he manages to get some heat for it. Then Shelton pins him with a roll-up in five seconds! Maven is beside himself. He rambles about Shelton beating him when it doesn't count and saying we have two women's champions. Even The Ultimate Warrior makes more sense on the mic. Shelton immediately pins him again with a T-Bone suplex. Two jobs in ten seconds! I wonder if Maven bothered to shower after this p.p.v.
Match Rating: 0/5
We see a Raw footage of Mohammed Hassan and Daivari beating down J.R. and King. In a backstage interview Hassan says the footage was typical for America it showed only one side of the story. Damn, funny stuff here.
Match 4: Jerry Lawler vs. Mohammed Hassan.
- Match begins with seven bodyslams! A good sign of how boring it's going to get. Hassan dominates but Lawler gets way too much offense in. After ten minutes, the match is still going (without any announcing!). The crowd is so excited, they're sitting. The King starts no-selling Hassan's punches! Me and my friends tap out hoping the match will end. It doesn't. More crappy booking and a messy finish follows.
Match Rating: 1/5
My cable's acting funny tonight. Could it be some kind of defense mechanism ?
Orton interrupts Batista's interview and asks if he's going to kick Triple H's ass tonight or kiss it. Good stuff.
Promo for the Kane/Snitsky feud. I have a hard time staying awake during these segments.
Match 5: Kane vs. Snitsky.
- An OK big men match. These guys work descent together but the angle is just painful. Some power moves, some action outside the ring and a bearhug from Snitsky that nearly puts the three of us to sleep. Due to the "Return Match Rule", Kane gets a clean win after a Tombstone Piledriver.
Match Rating: 2/5
Triple H is questioning Batista's loyalty and Batista says he has HHH's back. This story has been built up beautifully.
Match 6: Elimination Chamber World Heavyweight Championship
- I really like the idea of having Shawn Michaels as referee since he can possibly screw anyone here. Sadly they threw the unpredictability out the window with the Edge/Bischoff/HBK segment. HHH comes out to a huge face pop! Randy Orton has the next entrance and he tries so hard to get a bigger reaction he almost pisses his pants. Benoit starts of against Y2J and it's pretty intense but nothing fantastic. HHH is first to be released from the chamber. He dominates the other two. Crowd is into it. Edge joins the action and hits the Edgecution on Trips. Now it's going back and forth. A great match so far. I have to bring up the usual rant though: There are never more than two wrestlers active at the same time. WWE really needs to do something about this lazy match booking. Orton is in, still no eliminations. HBK gives Edge the Sweet Chin Music after being hit with the Spear by mistake. Edge eliminated. Benoit connects with a Diving Headbutt from the top of one of the chambers. Beautiful! HHH is put in the Walls and the Crossface at the same time but lasts an incredible amount of time so Batista can save the day. After dominating some more, Batista pins Benoit with a spinebuster. One have to wonder how a former champion and a wrestler who lasted out 29 men in the Rumble can be put away with that move. A Sit-down Powerbomb eliminates Jericho. HHH and Batista team up on Orton for a few minutes until Randy comes back with his secret weapon; the punch. Very boring performance by Orton in this match. He pins Batista after a low blow and an RKO but Flair interferes so HHH can hit the Pedigree for the win and the title (gee, I've never seen that ending to a HHH match before).
Match Rating: 4/5
The Good: Great main event, kudos to everyone involved!
The Bad: WWE showed the fans there is no need to take Hassan seriously since he needed help to go over an announcer! By having Eric Bischoff come out and welcome the people to the show when there was only one match left, they pretty much revealed how little importance the rest of the card had.
The Ugly: Maven's push: Didn't last too long, did it.
New Years Revolution Rating: 2/5
WWE Back in Black: NWO New World Order (2002)
nWo from WWE's perspective
The nWo (new World order) was the name of a stable that revolutionized professional wrestling. It originally consisted of Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall and it kicked off with one of the most remembered moments in wrestling history: The legendary Hulk Hogan's heel (bad guy) turn. Hogan had left the dominant wrestling promotion WWE (formerly known as WWF) for WCW. But WCW fans never really took Hogan to their hearts. At WCW pay-per-view Bash at The Beach in 1996, Hogan did the incredible. He dropped the big leg on (good guy) Randy Savage. It was stunning! Along with Nash and Hall, he formated the nWo. In the weeks prior to this event Nash and Hall had "invaded" WCW, saying they were going to take over the company. These two were also well-known stars from WWE, the company that battled with WCW over the fans. The angle was so well executed some people actually thought it was legit. With Hogan as the leader, nWo started a "war" against WCW and battled all their superstars. What made it so believable was that all three men originally came from WWE. What made it so special was that this type of storyline had never been done before. It felt much more real and intense than anything else. Another thing was that it had the fans to make a choice. Were you nWo or WCW? Hogan quickly became the most hated superstar but Nash and Hall remained pretty popular and the nWo vs. WCW storyline became a bigger success than anyone could dream of. WCW, who had always been the smaller promotion suddenly started to beat their big rival in the battle for the TV ratings in what was called "The Monday Night War". WWE would eventually turn the tables though. WCW were never able to follow up the successful nWo story. In 2001 Vince McMahon's WWE bought up WCW. It doesn't have anything to do with nWo of course, but it's important to know that this documentary is made by WWE and no one else.
I didn't know how much I should expect from a documentary from WWE about a creation that became one of the reasons they nearly went out of business. In one way this is a very easy story to retell. Hall, Nash and Hogan, three big names, came from WWE to WCW and started a faction that turned the wrestling business upside down. There isn't more complicated than that. But since nWo had such a big impact on the Monday Night War, you cannot really tell one story without telling the other. And here comes the big problems with this documentary.
It starts off great with presentations of Hogan, Hall and Nash and how they made names for themselves in WWE. Although I can't help being annoyed by comments like "Everyone knows WWE is the place to be, but I did what I had to do". Then we are shown Scott Hall's first appearance on WCW Monday Nitro and the build-up for the highly anticipated match at Bash at The Beach: Nash and Hall vs. "The defenders of WCW", Sting, Randy Savage & Lex Luger. Thankfully the match is given enough time, of course completed with Hogan's run-in when he shocks the wrestling world by revealing that he is "The third man". It is world-class booking and a moment in wrestling history that everyone simply has to see. After the match Hogan gives a shoot interview, which is considered by many to be the best ever, where he trashes WCW, WWE and the fans. Then some Nitro clips and Hogan's World Title win against The Giant follows. nWo beating down 4 Horsemen and Dungeon of Doom (both faces and heels!) on Nitro is awesome. And so is the backstage beatdown when Nash throws Rey Mysterio Jr like a dart. This is the first half of the DVD and so far it has been excellent.
But then all of a sudden we jump six years forward - to WWE! The year is 2002 and McMahon has signed Hall, Nash and Hogan to reform the nWo once again. Naturally they aren't able to start another revolution. There is no shock factor, all three wrestlers are past their prime and very much has changed with sports entertainment since 1996. When this DVD was made, nWo was still alive, but now, three years later, we know that it has died once and for all and that it died pretty quickly after its reformation. The problems with it were many but I don't have space to go through all of them here. What needs to be said though is that nWo in WWE had no importance to sports entertainment whatsoever and actually had very little to do with the faction that wrecked havoc in WCW and the entire wrestling industry six years earlier. Therefore, to let the present nWo take up half the time of this documentary is ridiculous. I'll go as far as saying it is disrespectful and it insults the intelligence of true wrestling fans.
On this DVD, there is absolutely nothing on important stuff like the nWo split-up, Sting, the "Fingerpoke of Doom" or any nWo members other than the original three. Neither is there any analyze on what impact nWo had on the Monday Night War or why the angle eventually got stale and died. The only thing this documentary is good for is to show how nWo was created. But then they just cut the rest of the story to make room for the lame attempt from WWE to reuse the idea. A horrible priority! Out of the total 84 minutes, WCW gets only 32!
I'll sum it up by simply saying that this story is told from the wrong perspective. While the DVD contains some great historical moments that every fan has to see, it is certainly not good enough as a documentary.
nWo Back in Black Rating: 2/5
Survivor Series (2004)
Pay-per-view of the year?
The Survivor Series card looked promising and it didn't fail to deliver. It kicked off with a great cruiserweight match. Here is the review:
Match 1: Fatal 4 Way Cruiserweight Championship
- A very good way to open the show. It doesn't contain anything we haven't seen before but the smoothness of the grapples and reversals and the well executed high-flying spots make this a very entertaining opener. Like every other 4 way match, there are always two wrestlers recovering on the outside, but I'll let it pass this time. Unfortunately Michaels Cole tries his best to ruin the match with his awful commentary; First he incorrectly notes that Chavo and Rey are friends. Then he says Chavo was ROBBED of the title, when Kidman breaks his cover so Spike can get the pin! What the f#ck?
Match Rating: 4/5
Snitsky confronts Heidenreich backstage and says he likes Heidenreich poems. Hilarious segment. Words can't do it justice.
Match 2: Shelton Benjamin vs. Christian. Intercontinental Championship.
- Nice mat wrestling to start. Shelton outwrestles Christian and shows some nice new moves. Very well built up match where every move make sense in context to the match. Shelton is a total boredom on the mic but I'm willing to accept him as a face only because of this bout. Fantastic performance by both men. It looked predictable and uninteresting on paper but turns out to be one hell of an exiting match. Tomko gets involved but Benjamin fights him off. In a nice booked finish, Benjamin hits the best Exploder Slam (T-bone suplex) I've ever seen for the three-count. Wrestling-wise this is a five star match.
Match Rating: 4/5
Kurt Angle meets Edge and Eugene backstage. I'm not even going to try to do this segment justice. Awesome!
Match 3: Angle, Reigns, Jindrak and Carlito vs. Eddie, Big Show, RVD and Cena. Elimination Match.
- Cena chases away Carlito to the back so it starts off with four men against three. Eddie's team clearly dominates this match. Reigns and Jindrak are quickly eliminated. With Angle left alone against Cena, Eddie and Show the result is obvious. Not exiting at all, but the booking is logical and every elimination match cannot end with only one survivor.
Match Rating: 3/5
Maven is interviewed by Coach, who doesn't think he deserves to main event. Maven doesn't get any time to answer because Snitsky comes from behind and destroys him. Snitsky looks and acts like a complete psycho. Another funny segment here.
Match 4: Heidenreich vs. The Undertaker
- Heidenreich's music hits. Heil Boredom! My brother predicts that the first one to pull off a wrestling move will win the match. Could be a long night. Surprisingly good start to this bout. It's going back and forth with no botched moves. Good booking makes the match about as exiting as a match between these two can get. A little too long though. Undertaker wins with the usual.
Match Rating: 2/5
Bischoff interview backstage. The Bisch looks better in his new haircut. Can we hope Booker T loses a Hair vs. Hair match too?
Match 5: Lita vs. Trish. Women's Championship.
- Match ends in one minute when Lita gets disqualified for using a chair. A story was told to this match as we actually saw a match promo before it started (how many times do we see a promo for a women's match?). Hard to rate.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 6: Booker T vs. John Bradshaw Layfield. WWE Championship.
- Match starts off great. Booker's offense looks more intense than usual and the crowd responds with a "Booker T" chant. I like how Orlando Jordan is used in this match. Booker goes for some classic WCW finishers like the Missile Dropkick and the Harlem Hangover. Nice. Jordan gets involved after the usual referee bump and in the end Bradshaw gets the pin after hitting Booker with the belt in 14:40. Overbooked, yes, but exiting and perfect match length. Bradshaw's best title defense?
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 7: Orton, Jericho, Maven & Benoit vs. Triple H, Snitsky, Batista & Edge. Elimination Match.
- Angle: The winning team gets control of Raw for one month. Interesting indeed. Maven is unable to wrestle due to Snitsky's beatdown. All seven men are tagged in early. Match fires up when Benoit takes out Triple H's team but eventually falls victim to the Pedigree. Benoit eliminated. Snitsky almost gets into a fight with Batista and Triple H. I really like the idea of the heel team having disagreements with each other. Batista is the next one to be eliminated and then Snitsky, via disqualification, when he uses a steel chair on a returning Maven. HHH then pins Maven and Edge takes out Jericho with The Spear, making Orton the only man left on his team. Orton gets way too much offense in for my liking. He eliminates Edge with an RKO when Edge accidentally spears HHH. And after reversing a Pedigree, Orton hits another RKO to pick up the win for his team. Certainly not a perfect match, but very entertaining and that's the reason we watch wrestling, right?
Match Rating: 4/5
The Good: A very solid show with Shelton/Christian as a stand out. Match was close to a 5/5 rating and definitely a match of the year contender. No failing matches, Survivor Series had a good mixture of everything. And last but not least, the backstage segments were hilarious.
The Bad: Undertaker/Heidenreich lasted too long. I was hoping for a new WWE Champion. The Elimination Matches (and the p.p.v. itself) were not quite as good as last year, but that's almost too much to ask for.
Survivor Series Rating: 4/5
WWE Armageddon (2004)
This is not good enough
At the previous SmackDown-only p.p.v. - No Mercy - the matches were good except for the main event. At Armageddon it's exactly the opposite.
Match 1: RVD & Rey Mysterio vs. Kenzo Suzuki & Rene Dupree. WWE Tag Team Championship.
- Can anyone remember the last time RVD had a singles match on a p.p.v.? This feud is so lame and uninspiring. In fact this is exactly the same match from exactly the same people that we've seen on SmackDown for months now. Only difference is that this match lasts 17 minutes, which only makes it worse.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 2: Kurt Angle vs. Santa Claus (?)
- If you are one of those who can't get enough of Angle squashing jobbers on SmackDown, here's a match for you. Some guy in a Santa dress comes out and Kurt makes him tap to the Ankle Lock. Angle may get some heel heat for it. Still feels like a waste of time though.
Match Rating: No Rating.
Puder and Mizanin get some mic time before their upcoming fight. Mizanin sounds surprisingly good for a rookie.
Match 3: Daniel Puder vs. Mike Mizanin. Dixie Dog Fight.
- What are these guys training to be? Boxers? Arm wrestlers? Seriously, I don't think any serious wrestling fan cares who is most successful in "Torrie Wilson's Sex Test" or such crap. We want wrestling and, just like the Diva Search, this Tough Enough contest has had absolutely nothing to do with wrestling. After three rounds of boxing, Puder is declared the winner via crowd decision! Lame!
Match Rating: No Rating.
We see Eddie and Booker talk about teaming up against Undertaker.
Match 4: Bashams vs. Hardcore Holly & Charlie Haas
- We are into the second hour and we've had one wrestling match. Great. Haas and Holly look nothing like a tag team and the lack of build up is what drags in this match. By the way, I can't believe we're actually supposed to cheer for duds like Hardcore Holly. Bashams look good though. Good to see these guys getting air time.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 5: John Cena vs. Jesus. US Championship Street Fight.
- Only purpose with this match is to make Cena's character look more intense. I think they could have a higher ambition considering this is a p.p.v. Zero wrestling moves here. That means five less than the usual Cena match
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 6: Dawn Marie vs. Miss Jackie. Referee: Charlie Haas.
- This feud has taken up too much time for my liking. Dawn wins after a fantastic example of creative booking: a roll-up! Charlie doesn't want anything to do with Jackie anymore. He says Jackie is like a dead wet fish in bed. LOL
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 7: Reigns, Jindrak & Angle vs. Big Show. 3-on-1 Handicap.
- The heels cheat as much as they can but Big Show keeps the upper hand. Show dominates Angle's crew for most of the time and wins with an F-5 (?) in 10 minutes. Not exactly terrible, but it puzzles me how Angle can beat Big Show at Armageddon 2002 and now lose to him, despite having Jindrak and Reigns to help him. They might as well kill off his heel stable now because nobody will take it seriously anymore.
Match Rating: 2/5
Funaki interviews himself backstage. Crap, just like every other Funaki segment.
Match 8: Funaki vs. Spike. Cruiserweight Championship.
- I never though I should say this but I miss the Dudleys at ringside. The Un-Body, Spike, isn't able to draw enough heel heat on his own. And why is Funaki in this match and not London? Hmm, while typing all that, I missed some of Funaki's offense. I promise you, it was nothing exiting. Fact of the matter is that this is the worst cruiserweight match I've seen on a p.p.v. in a long time. Slow and sloppy match. Funaki wins the title. Too bad Heidenreich is too heavy for the cruiser division.
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 9: Undertaker vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Booker T vs. JBL. Fatal 4 Way WWE Championship.
- For most part a very interesting match. Eddie and Booker team up, JBL hides and cheats and Undertaker is his usual no-selling self. As usual when WWE book 3 or 4 Way matches, there are never more than two wrestlers in the ring at the same time. This is very annoying once you start thinking about it. Booker T eventually starts doing things on his own. Eddie hits Undertaker with the belt and gives him TWO froggies. Undertaker kicks out. Great, there goes the credibility of Eddie's finisher. All because of lame booking and The Undertaker. JBL is about to get a Tombstone but, just like at No Mercy, Heidenreich interferes. Obviously Undertaker cannot even lose a Fatal4Way match cleanly, despite not being involved in the decision. If they at least could come up with a new original way to screw Undertaker. JBL then clotheslines Booker to win the match. Next month: Bradshaw goes over the entire roster to retain the title.
Match Rating: 4/5
The Good: The main event was really exiting and well booked apart for the finish.
The Bad: Crap like Kurt Angle vs. Santa Claus was almost impossible to rate. Three of the matches were pointless time fillers. Then we had a 10 minute squash, a stupid Handicap Match where Angle's stable came out looking terrible and the worst cruiserweight match I've seen in years.
Armageddon Rating: 1/5
WWE Taboo Tuesday (2004)
It sounded good on paper but turned out to be a very poor event
Taboo Tuesday has been hyped up as the first interactive p.p.v. For a week, I think, fans have been voting on wwe.com for #1 contenders to title matches, outfits, match stipulations, etc. Personally I didn't have very high expectations for Taboo Tuesday but I was curious on how they were going to pull it off.
Match 1: Chris Jericho vs. Shelton Benjamin. Intercontinental Championship.
- Shelton gets the title match after getting 37% of the votes. I voted for Rhyno. I mean, really, what's the point of voting for a guy who will get a title shot sooner or later anyway? Nothing to complain about here. Good workrate, descent finish, new champion. Nothing spectacular though and of course no build up. Now I hope Jericho can step up to the World Title division, it's in desperate need of contenders. Passable opener.
Match Rating: 3/5
Edge, Benoit and Shawn Michaels are interviewed.
It is shown that Shawn Michaels got 39% of the votes. Edge got 33% and Benoit only 28%! I can't believe how Edge, a guy who even got booed in his home town and is just about to turn heel can get five percent more than the extremely popular Benoit. Strange.
Match 2: Schoolgirl Outfit Diva Battle Royal. Women's Championship.
- The fans picked school girls outfit for the divas to wear. Whatever. For the record, I like beautiful women but I'd rather see the creative team taking time trying to make a descent match instead. Trish wins, who could have ever guessed?
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 3: Kane vs. Gene Snitsky. Steel Chain.
- Usual "big men doing big men stuff" type of match, but this is below average and it lasts far too long. The ending is the second biggest stinker of the night. After hitting Kane with a steel chair, Snitsky puts the chair on Kane and jumps on it from the top rope for the three-count. Since the chain was the weapon that should be used, why didn't the referee disqualify Snitsky for using a chair? So much for the "Weapon of Choice" stipulation. That means no matter what weapon the fans picked, the match would still have ended the same way. Annoying!
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 4: Eugene vs. Eric Bischoff. Hair vs. Hair.
- As soon as they said that they would reveal the results after the match I knew Bischoff was going to lose. Match is nothing if you couldn't guess. Eugene wins in a minute (a longer match would result in a 0/5 rating). Vince McMahon comes out after the match to make sure Bischoff gets humiliated. Like the Monday Nitro reference on Raw wasn't enough. We get it Vince, you won the Monday Night War. Now PLEASE spare us from crap like this.
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 5: Chris Benoit & Edge vs. La Resistance. World Tag Team Championship.
- Starts out as an above average tag match but gets more and more boring the longer it goes. I like how they use Edge though. The referee does not see the tag from Benoit and it totally pisses him off. He leaves and Benoit has to fight both La Resistance members alone. And here comes the next incredibly stupid booking decision of the night: Benoit wins! Yes, Benoit defeats the tag team champs by himself. Credibility for the champions, what's that?
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 6: Christy vs. Carmella. Lingerie Pillow Fight.
- Aaargh, is this wrestling? Honestly, I don't think I will be able to watch such crap on BOTH Raw and SmackDown in the future. This Diva Search has been an incredible waste of time and if it's going to result in more matches like this LORD HELP US!
Match Rating: 0/5
Match 7: Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels. World Heavyweight Championship.
- Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (who can barely walk) for the 1000th time. I think can live without seeing this match. Imagine if Edge would have won. Now THAT would have been interesting. Match starts. Triple H is overworking a body part. Just like his last title match against Orton. And the title match before that against Benoit. OK, there might be a good reason for it this time since Michaels' injury is legit. But it sure doesn't make the match better. Short match, HHH wins in usual screwjob fashion when Edge spears HBK.
Match Rating: 2/5
I guess I should mention that all the different match stipulations and voting results have given us loads of crappy segments that has been taking up way too much time.
Match 8: Ric Flair vs. Randy Orton. Steel Cage.
- WWE fans obviously want to see the same sh*t over and over again. We've seen 1000 HHH vs. HBK matches and we've seen 1000 Cage Matches, but yet this is what the fans vote for! A submission match could have been great and it would give Orton (and the writers) some serious problems. I wonder how he would pull that off. Anyway, this match is a little better than the usual Flair match. Pretty short, but I don't mind. RKO for the Orton victory to no one's surprise. I'm being kind with the rating here, mostly because it was a special feeling to see Flair main event one last time.
Match Rating: 3/5
The Good: Watchable opener, watchable main event.
The Bad: Taboo Tuesday simply put sucked. The booking was god-awful. Far too much time was wasted on stupid segments. An interactive p.p.v. may have sounded good on paper but it turned out to be a very poor event. Next to Great American Bash, this was the worst p.p.v. of 2004.
Taboo Tuesday Rating: 1/5
WWE No Mercy (2004)
An improvement
For once I was looking forward to a Smackdown p.p.v. The two cruiserweight matches looked promising, especially Kidman vs. London. I also was interested in Big Show's return. And when it was all said and done, No Mercy proved to be an improvement to previous SmackDown p.p.v.'s.
Match 1: Eddie Guerrero vs. Luther Reigns.
- It's obvious that Reigns is a rookie but Eddie makes him look good. In the middle of the match Reigns goes for a swinging neckbreaker but Eddie uses the ropes to counter it to an inverted DDT. Nice. After using a foreign object, Eddie hits the Frogsplash for the pin. Overall a good opener but some mistakes like a dropkick that wasn't near Reigns' head prevents me from give this match a higher rating.
Match Rating: 2/5
Josh Matthews interviews the legendary Dawn Marie. I'm getting ice cream... Sorry to anyone who cared what Dawn had to say.
Match 2: Nunzio vs. Spike Dudley. Cruiserweight Championship.
- Fast-paced and well worked match, despite these two having different wrestling styles. Spike is doing a great job as a heel. Good match except for the ending a poor screwjob, of which we have seen way too many in this division as of late.
Match Rating: 4/5
Promo for the Kidman/London feud. This is a nice angle.
Match 3: Billy Kidman vs. Paul London.
- Incredible match. London shows some fantastic spots like a slingshot off the top rope into a moonsault! Kidman hits a gutbuster and the old powerbomb counter he always did in WCW. Match ends when London tries the shooting star press and Kidman gets his knees up. Kidman then hits a Shooting Star Press of his own for the pinfall. One of the best matches of 2004. I want to see more matches like this.
Match Rating: 4/5
Bradshaw interview. JBL says that the only way Undertaker is going to win is over his... dead body. Pretty funny.
Match 4: Rene Dupree & Kenzo Suzuki vs. Rey Mysterio & RVD. Tag Team Championship.
- I can't believe WWE lets RVD rot away in the mid card like this. Smackdown's tag division is so pointless with these type of teams that make absolutely no sense. They need to drop the tag division and get Rey into the cruiserweight division, Dupree into the US division, RVD into the WWE Title division and release that no-talent jackass Kenzo Suzuki. The fact this guy is holding a title makes me sick. Match is not bad but not good either.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 5: Big Show vs. Kurt Angle.
- Nice and well worked match. Big Show tosses Angle around for most of it. Angle lets himself get counted out but Theodore Long comes out (what a surprise huh?) and demands the match restarted. After getting only brief offense in, Angle loses cleanly after a Chokeslam. So, if Angle was going to job anyway what was the point of making him look even weaker by having him running away through the crowd after five minutes? "It was a nice touch to the match" I read in a review. Hell no!
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 6: Booker T vs. John Cena. US Championship.
- Let's face it. These two don't have much chemistry in the ring and the feud itself isn't very good either. Booker gets the early advantage but Cena comes back with clotheslines and shoulder blocks. Bulldog from Cena and then the Five Knuckle Shuffle. 2 count. Since Cena has done all of his moves Booker T gets on the offense. Cena kicks out of The Bookend and decides to go for the only move he has left; The F-U. 1-2-3, new champion. Match was only ten minutes which felt very anticlimactic since it was the final match of the series. Basically this is what we can watch (and have watched) for free on Smackdown.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 7: Dudleyz and Dawn Marie vs. Charlie Haas, Rico and Miss Jackie.
- Man, Rico is a funny guy. He cracks me up every time I see him. It's hard to rate this match because there isn't much actual wrestling in it. You can tell than Haas is the best wrestler in the ring. Fairly entertaining as a time filler. Thank God for Dawn Marie's ass.
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 8: The Undertaker vs. Bradshaw. WWE Championship.
- Undertaker gets the first punches in. Has Undertaker ever been dominated in the beginning of a match? WWE has realized these two can't have a great wrestling match so this turns out to be more of a street fight. Personally I think JBL's character worked better when he feuded with Eddie. And Undertaker still looks and wrestles more like The Biker than The Deadman. Highlight: A Tombstone Piledriver on the steel steps. Otherwise it's nothing we haven't seen before. Incredibly poor and predictable interference when Heidenreich comes out from the hearse. Bradshaw retains. So, that match wasn't good to begin with and it ended up horribly.
Match Rating: 2/5
The Good: The cruiserweight matches lived up to their expectations. Nice to see two CW matches on the card. Big Show vs. Angle wasn't bad either. Compared to Great American Bash, this p.p.v. was definitely an improvement.
The Bad: RVD is inexcusably underused. The Booker/Cena feud will be forgotten in a month. Main event was a letdown. And honestly, are any of you interested in a feud between Undertaker and Heidenreich?
No Mercy Rating: 3/5
WWE Unforgiven (2004)
This will be unforgiven
After the disappointing Vengeance in July Raw follows up with another poor p.p.v. Uninspiring matches and an unhealthy focus on Triple H in the main event.
Match 1: Flair & Batista vs. Regal & Benoit
- I like the combination of Flair and Batista in a team. As for Regal and Benoit, I always expect much from them. But there is no heat in this match. Flair looks ridiculous with all his flops. Not even Chris Benoit impresses me. Benoit however, forces Flair to submit to the Crossface in 18:30. Benoit headlined SummerSlam last month and now he opens up Unforgiven. If you lose one title match you're immediately sent back to the murky depths of the midcard (the only exception is Triple H).
Match Rating: 2/5
We're backstage. Christian doesn't want Tyson Tomko to escort Trish to the ring. Tomko does anyway.
Match 2: Trish vs. Victoria. Women's Championship
- I'll cut this one short: Pretty dull match. Only highlight was Victoria's gutbuster.
Match Rating: 2/5
Post-match Tomko attacks Victoria but 'the mystery woman' from the last Raw episode makes the save. Tomko calls her out and apparently this is going to be a match. Tomko ain't happy. Me neither. I can feel the suck emanating from the ring already.
Match 3 Tomko vs. Steven Richards
- So, 'the mystery woman' is Steven Richards. Does ANYONE care? Though it's a complete squash, this god-awful match lasts almost ten minutes! Finally Tomko hits the modified swinging neckbreaker he uses as finisher. 1-2-3 and not soon enough. Not only was this the worst match of 2004, it was one of the worst matches I've ever seen as well.
Match Rating: 0/5
Promos for The Feud That Never Ends; Jericho vs. Christian.
Match 4: Chris Jericho vs. Christian. Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
- Usually I have a problem with Ladder Matches because the wrestlers take forever to climb the ladder, even in the beginning of the match. IC title is vacant here since Edge got injured and WWE decided to bring back the 30 Days Rule that nobody has cared for in years. Some high-risk moves here; Jericho hits a Lionsault on the ladder, looks very painful. Later Jericho removes the ladder and Christian hangs high above the ring, holding on to the title. Nice. A bulldog from Jericho from the top of the ladder finishes Christian off.
Match Rating: 4/5
Lita is interviewed. She says she hopes Shawn destroys her husband tonight. Kane comes out and says his match against HBK now is a No Disqualification Match. Man, this is getting boring. I'm sorry I have problems paying attention when this angle is involved.
Edge tells Jericho that he's taking back what's his (the IC belt) as soon as he's ready. I'm looking forward to an Edge heel turn because that guy sure is annoying.
We take another look back at the marriage of Kane and Lita and if I wasn't paying for this I'd be switching channel.
Match 5: HBK vs. Kane. No Disqualification.
- Comeback match for Shawn. Match is what you can expect from these two. I'll give credit to HBK for being 39 years old and still one of the most motivated wrestlers in WWE. Normally I'd give a match like this a 3/5 rating, but the build-up was poor, the match predictable and the Kane/Lita storyline is pathetic, so this match gets 2/5. Kane has been used three times now to put returning wrestlers over (Undertaker, Edge and now HBK).
Match Rating: 2/5
The master of burying talent Triple H, is interviewed. Trips says he made Randy Orton a superstar and then he says some crap that finishes off with him making Randy Orton a superstar. Stale and repetitive interview.
Match 6: La Resistance vs. Tajiri & Rhyno. World Tag Team Championship.
- Average tag team match with all the usual match clichés; The faces get the early advantage. The heels come back and dominate one guy. The heels take a cheap shot towards the other guy and when the referee stops him from running in, the heels double-team the legal man. The illegal heel enters without a tag but the ref allows it. The faces make the hot tag. One face clears the ring. The heels win via screwjob. Not a great match but I'm satisfied with the result. La Resistance is the best tag team right now.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 7: Orton vs. Triple H. World Championship.
- The fans aren't into this match and can anyone blame them? I don't know whose idea it is to have Triple H with his played out character in every damn main event while more deserving wrestlers are held back. Orton starts up the match with two sidelock takeovers and Trips with some half-assed counters. Orton has the advantage. He spits on HHH and slaps him in the face. Now Trips starts working on Orton's knee. A mediocre match so far. Later the referee gets knocked out. *Of course* Evolution interferes. Orton fights them off but HHH recovers and hits the Pedigree for the victory. Evolution celebrates. Be sure to read Triple H's new book: 101 Ways to Screwjob a Match.
Match Rating: 2/5
The Good: The Jericho/Christian match.
The Bad: The Tomko/Richards match was ten minutes of my life I will never get back. Kane is badly misused. It seems Triple H is the only heel allowed to be in the main event. Seeing the world's largest nose prancing around with the title for another six months doesn't do it for me.
Unforgiven Rating: 2/5
WWE Great American Bash (2004)
Worst pay-per-view of 2004
Did they use the name Great American Bash just to embarrass the former WCW because they knew from the beginning how bad this show was going to be?
Match 1: Cena vs. Booker vs. RVD vs. Dupree. Fatal Four Way Elimination.
- Why do they book a US Title match with four of the best wrestlers on the roster in an opening match? And can anyone tell me why RVD and Booker T is put into this division? Booker is a five-time WCW Champion and RVD is five-time Intercontinental Champion so why would anyone care? RVD and Dupree are eliminated early and Cena then beats Booker cleanly to retain the title and make sure the burial of Booker continues. A good match for most part. Cena turns up the crowd as usual.
Match Rating: 3/5
Backstage Angle tells Charlie Haas that he is disappointed in him and that he will have to face Luther Reigns immediately.
Match 2: Luther Reigns vs. Charlie Haas
- The crowd quickly dies for this. 'Boring' chants in the second match isn't a good sign. Haas carries this match. Highlight: Reigns finisher Roll of the Dice.
Match Rating: 2/5
Match 3: Chavo vs. Rey Mysterio.
- After giving the belt to a woman and an old man I guess there's nothing left to do but to give it to the default cruiserweight; Rey Mysterio. Rey and Chavo are excellent wrestlers and work well together but the match could be even better; Chavo spends too much time working on Rey's ankle and Rey sells the injury so much he can hardly move. What the f*** is up with that booking? Nice reversals and a great finish. Rey keeps the title.
Match Rating: 3/5
Backstage Torrie, Noble, Kidman and Funaki argue about which one of them should be cruiserweight champ, or something... Terrible segment.
Match 4: Billy Gunn vs. Kenzo Suzuki.
- Billy Gunn comes to the ring and maybe three people care. As for Kenzo Suzuki, he is one of the the worst wrestlers I have ever been seen. He is weak, has zero in-ring skills, zero charisma and a worthless gimmick there is a reason why gimmicks like these have failed in the past; nobody cares, plain and simple. What is even worse; it seems like they are actually going to push the guy. Hell, why not sign David Arquette as well? Match goes to a No Contest when everyone in the entire arena loses interest in what is going on.
Match Rating: 0/5
We see Paul Bearer and Heyman backstage.
Match 5: Torrie vs. Sable.
- Awful match! I honestly can't find the words to describe how sad this is. Torrie wrestling always equals extreme sloppiness. Torrie pins Sable despite Sable's right shoulder are nowhere near the mat. That was five minutes of my life I will never get back.
Match Rating: 0/5
Backstage Dawn Marie interviews Dupree but FBI interrupts. What the hell is FBI doing here? Another bad segment.
Match 6: Hardcore Holly vs. Mordecai.
- If they want to get Suzuki and Mordecai over (IF being the key word here) they shouldn't put them against Holly and Gunn. Mordecai beats Holly with the Crusifix Bomb and I did SO not need to see this match.
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 7: Bradshaw vs. Eddie Guerrero. Texas Bull Rope WWE Championship.
- Someone in the crew is sleeping on his job. The lights are off when they should be on and one light is consistently blinking. Anyway this is an unusual stipulation and a good exciting match. JBL hits a nice DDT and Eddie takes some hard bumps. Eddie seems to be the winner when he hits the final turnbuckle, but Angle comes out and reverses the decision. Replay shows that Bradshaw is the first to touch the last corner. I read in a review that the part where Angle used the instant replay sucked because it was cheap and it made the referee look incompetent. I agree 100%. As for JBL winning the title, I guess the bookers think that three face champions are too much. And Eddie is so over right now he doesn't need the title.
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 8: Undertaker vs. The Dudleys. Concrete Crypt Handicap.
- Is THIS the main event??? Heyman interrupts the match several times and bugs the living hell out of me with his ugly voice. Nothing worth mentioning here, which means it is a usual DUDley match. Undertaker does all the moves he gets pops for and nothing more and gets a clean win as usual. WWE shows how much the tag titles mean by booking the champions to lose a handicap match. I wasn't enjoyed by this match at all and I won't comment the post-match stuff because I really don't give a sh*t, but I can assure you that Paul Bearer won't be back in WWE.
Match Rating: 1/5
The Good: Rey/Chavo, but most of all the fact I watched it for free.
The Bad: This was the worst piece of horse-crap I've ever seen trying to pass itself off as a wrestling p.p.v. How can anyone book such half-assed sh*t? First we get some absolutely horrible backstage segments and awful promos for feuds that nobody cares for. Then we're treated to legends like Hardcore Holly, Billy Gunn and promising young talent like Kenzo Suzuki and Mordecai (who has already been sent back to OVW!). The booking of the card was stupid and so was the finish to the WWE Title match. Dreadful main event. Close to a 0/5 rating.
Great American Bash Rating: 1/5
WWE Judgment Day (2004)
Mediocre
Compared to Backlash last month, SmackDown's Judgment Day looks like crap. Well without comparing it, it still looks pretty weak. A mediocre event with few highlights.
Match 1: Rey Mysterio & Rob Van Dam vs. The Dudley Boys.
- RVD has been one of the most popular WWE wrestlers for years, but WWE keeps using him in opening matches. Rey and RVD are fun to watch, solid match to open the show. The faces win after a Five Star Frogsplash from RVD.
Match Rating: 3/5
Booker T is interviewed backstage. He sucks as a heel.
Kurt Angle comes out in a wheelchair and trashes Los Angeles for some cheap heat. Then he decides that Torrie will be fired if she loses against Dawn Marie tonight. Oh no... will the great career of Torrie Wilson come to an end?
Match 2: Torrie vs. Dawn Marie
- My God Dawn is hot! But the match is not. Biggest pop of the night comes when Dawn loses her pants and her ass is fully exposed for about one minute! Sometimes you just have to love WWE. Thankfully The Pervert (aka Jerry Lawler) isn't announcing. Torrie wins (if anyone cares).
Match Rating: 1/5
Bradshaw interview. Funny as hell. One of the best heel speeches in a long time.
Match 3: Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Mordecai.
- Very short debut of Mordecai. His music and clothes have much in common with Undertaker's. He don't get much time but he seems to have potential. Thank God he sells Scotty's offense, we've had enough of no-selling monsters. Mordecai wins via a Crucifix bomb, also known as the Outsiders Edge. Is it that difficult to come up with new finishers?
Match Rating 2/5
Match 4: Haas & Rico vs. Gunn & Holly. WWE Tag Team Championship.
- They don't have much time to wrestle because of all the gay references. Still I enjoy this match. Rico is entertaining and Gunn and Holly work much better in tag teams. Highlight: A nice dropkick from Holly. Holly later goes for the Alabama slam on Haas but Rico gives him a superkick. Haas counters and gets the pinfall. A good tag team match, we don't see that too often.
Match Rating: 3/5
Undertaker and Paul Bearer backstage. Bearer sounds weird as usual. Nostalgic moments here.
Match 5: Chavo vs. Jacqueline. Cruiserweight Championship.
- Jacqueline is a hottie, can't believe she's past 40. Chavo wrestles with one hand tied behind his back, so the hopes for a good match went out the window. If there ever was any. Jacqueline has the advantage, but Chavo Sr unties Chavo when the referee is distracted (really unexpected...) and Chavo then destroys Jacqueline with both hands free. Charles Robinson was distracted for about one minute, I think he missed half of the match. Why not just disqualify Chavo?
Good work, WWE, you have successfully buried what was left of the Cruiserweight Title. To give the belt to a woman (who should be on Raw instead), to have screwjob endings in each match and to focus on story lines over actual matches proves the fact that WWE cares absolutely nothing about cruiserweight wrestling. Fans want spectacular high-flying moves dammit, not this sh*t. What is wrong with Vince McMahon and this awful booking? Chavo regains the title, but this feud has made him look incredibly weak.
Match Rating: 1/5
A promo for WrestleMania 21 and then a VERY long and boring promo for the match between Cena and Dupree. Too bad I tuned in for wrestling and not promos.
Match 6: Dupree vs. Cena. US Championship.
- Cena continues to kiss the asses of the fans with his lame rhymes. In my opinion he has got stale as a face already. The match is a little slow, like it never really gets underway. Dupree shows some nice moves, but in the end Cena pins him after an F-U. OK match, but the finish was good. I was hoping for Dupree to win though.
Match Rating: 3/5
We look at some more promos. Too bad I tuned in for wrestling and not promos!
Match 7: Undertaker vs. Booker T
- Michael Cole: 'It is often debated, the question of whether The Undertaker is alive or dead'. Oh c'mon Cole, get back to the real world... Usual Undertaker stuff here. Great entrance, some no-selling, Tombstone piledriver and a clean victory. Booker is never even close. He deserves much better than this, no matter how popular Undertaker is. Match was not really good, not really bad, just average.
Match Rating: 2/5
We take ANOTHER look at promos. This time for the Eddie and Bradshaw match. Let's have an entire p.p.v. with only promos. That would win the ratings for sure.
Match 8: Eddie vs. Bradshaw. WWE Championship
- Bradshaw impresses me. I thought he would be awful but he is actually descent. Instead it is the old title match clichés that ruin what could've been a good match. Bradshaw wins by DQ (what an awesome finish to a main event), but Eddie beats the crap out of him afterward. I don't know for how long though because I finally fell asleep...
Match Rating: 2/5
The Good: The Haas & Rico vs. Gunn & Holly match had some nice moments. The opener and the main event were watchable too. No awful matches.
The Bad: The whole event suffered from crappy booking. There is so much on Smackdown that annoys me: Booker's heel turn, Undertaker's lame gimmick, the weak tag and cruiserweight division, the amount of underused talent... I could go on forever. This was a weak p.p.v and I am kind with the rating here.
Judgment Day Rating: 2/5
WWE Survivor Series (2003)
The best p.p.v. from WWE this year.
The card looked excellent from the beginning and it didn't disappoint. Fantastic booking and surprising endings. I'm really impressed.
Match 1: Angle, Holly, Bradshaw, Cena, & Benoit vs. Lesnar, Jones, A-Train, Morgan & Big Show. Elimination Match.
- Great opener! Jones, Morgan, A-Train etc may not be the greatest wrestlers but they work well in a team and their size is impressive. Smart move by WWE; the three worst wrestlers Holly, Bradshaw and A-Train are eliminated in less than a minute. This is a very intense match and all seven remaining wrestlers look good. Team Lesnar dominates in the beginning due to their size advantage, but when Team Angle fights back and Lesnar taps out, Big Show is left alone against Benoit and Cena. In the end Cena pins Show after the FU. Survivors: Benoit and Cena (who would become World and US Champions at WrestleMania XX).
Match Rating: 4/5
Backstage we see Stone Cold and Vince McMahon in a funny segment.
Match 2: Lita vs Molly Women's Championship
- Enjoyable enough match. The Molly Go Round looks impressive. Lita kicks out of it but only moments after Molly manages to get the pin on Lita after a drop toe hold onto the turnbuckle when the turnbuckle cover was removed. A little weird finish but a good match.
Match Rating: 3/5
Match 3: Kane vs. Shane McMahon
- If they wanted to build up Kane as a monster heel then why the hell does he have to go through a two month feud with Shane? Kane should have squashed Shane in quick fashion and then continue to the World Title picture. This long lasting feud has only made him look weak. Usual Shane McMahon stuff here; lots of sick bumps, but not much actual wrestling. Very predictable too. Shane bugs the hell out of me, but he was seemingly over with the crowd.
Match Rating: 3/5
Backstage Brock Lesnar is interviewed. He looks like a monster but talks like a mouse. Goldberg interrupts. The beginning of a new feud? Interesting.
Coach interviews Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who is boring as hell but manages to draw some cheap pop from the Dallas crowd. Eric Bischoff comes out and talks smack and is thrown out of the ring by Cuban. Then Randy Orton sneaks up from behind and nails the RKO on Cuban. Thank goodness...
Match 4: The Basham Brothers (with Shaniqua) vs. Los Guerreros. WWE Tag Team Championship.
- Amazing tag match. Los Guerreros is by far the best tag team in WWE. Very fast-paced match with many highlights, like a top-rope frankensteiner from Eddie. Seeing Shaniqua getting spanked is hilarious. Bashams retain the belts after a roll-up on a distracted Chavo. The beginning of a break up between Eddie and Chavo.
Match Rating: 4/5
Match 5: HBK, Booker, RVD, Bubba and D-Von Dudley vs. Jericho, Orton, Henry, Steiner & Christian. Elimination Match. Stone Colds career on the line.
- A fantastic match with awesome booking for the finish. When Christian eliminates Bubba, making Shawn Michaels the only man left for Team Stone Cold against Christian, Jericho and Orton it turns out to be one hell of a match. Shawn eliminates both Christian and Jericho and dominates Orton, but the referee is out. Shawn's just about to hit the sweet chin music on Orton when Bischoff interferes. Stone Cold takes out Bischoff and gives Orton a stunner for good measure. Both men down. Michaels recovers and goes for the pin, but Batista runs in and gives HBK the sit-down powerbomb while Austin's unaware. Referee recovers. King and J.R. are both screaming "Kick out Shawn, kick out!" Orton gets the pin. Match-of-the-year candidate!
Match Rating: 5/5
Austin has a retirement speech and gets a big pop - as always. This was definitely not expected.
Match 6: Undertaker vs. Vince McMahon. Buried Alive.
- The excitement has already been ruined by all the spoilers. Everyone knows Undertaker will be buried, have some time off and then return as the Lord of Darkness. Only question is who's going to interfere, because we can't have Undertaker beat clean, can we? Not a single grapple here but thankfully the match is short. Taker dominates with punches and more punches until Vince hits a low blow. Taker fights back and is ready to finish Vince off when Kane interferes and buries Undertaker alive! Match was way too high up in the card considering how bad it was. This story could have been told much better.
Match Rating: 1/5
Match 7: Goldberg vs. HHH. World Heavyweight Championship.
- Better than their match at Unforgiven. They do a great job of making Goldberg look like an unstoppable monster here. Goldberg overpowers Triple H until Trips starts working on Goldberg's injured ankle. But in the end Goldberg is the last man standing in the ring, despite outside interference from all Evolution members. Impressive booking. This was good!
Match Rating: 4/5
The Good: The matches went from good to top-notch. Both Elimination Matches were outstanding, the tag match was awesome and the main event did not disappoint. Great stuff here.
The Bad: The Undertaker buried alive story was very unspectacular, considering this was what caused the return of The Dead Man gimmick at WrestleMania XX. A cruiserweight match on the card would have given this p.p.v. a 5/5 rating.
Survivor Series Rating: 4/5