NXT 19th July 2013: An Opener turns into a Main Event

Last week’s NXT saw a new NXT champion crowned in the form of Bo Dallas and after that a lot of people’s online reaction has been “What the hell? NO!” not big fans of one Bo Dallas. Let’s see how they follow that this week.

My show opens with a “Don’t Try this at Home” warning which after this past week’s news I’m not surprised to see, what is surprising is it’s in Spanish! That’s what I get for watching online thankfully the show is in English. Show officially starts with a video highlighting the title change last week and the awful contract signing the week before. I still find it funny that Big E said he’s the biggest guy in NXT when he’s not even 6 foot. After that we get the opening and I have to say I love NXT’s theme. Sadly Brad Maddox is back on commentary this week no connection to the last point but it brought me down a little.

Adrian Neville vs. Bray Wyatt w/The Family: Neville aka PAC is a great flyer and he’s taking on a man who quickly became one of my favourites in Bray Wyatt. Neville eliminated Wyatt in the battle royal to crown a no. 1 contender a few weeks back. What a beard on Wyatt and the entire family. Neville ducks a clothesline and hits some kicks but Wyatt gets the clothesline after Neville runs off the ropes. A nice bodyslam by Wyatt, Neville fights back with kicks but is cut off with a sharp punch. Wyatt taking his time and this leads to Neville being able to fight back but is constantly cut off. Wyatt hits 2 elbow drops and goes for the pin but as if he’s tea bagging him, rather unique I guess. Wyatt attempts to throw Neville out but he stays on the apron and hits a kick, he jumps up to the top rope to hit his flippy splash (the Red Arrow) but Luke Harper pushes him off and the family attack leading to the DQ. Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno then come out for the save, they send Harper into the steps and then Eric Rowen into the post leading to them going after Bray but he escapes. Out comes the American Dream Dusty Rhodes (baby) the general manager of NXT and he makes a 6 man tag for the main event. Winner: Adrian Neville

Angelo Dawkins vs. Sami Zayn: I love how the jobbers in NXT get music. Sami’s music sounds like the Beastie Boys. Tie up to start and Angelo shoves after they get in the ropes. Chain wrestling to start ending with Sami hitting a number of armdrags including his around the world one. Sami runs into an elbow and gets bodyslammed leading to a chinlock. Angelo looks like Donald Glover that’s how long the chinlock was on. Sami fights back and gets a float over and a leg clothesline leading to his hand hold DDT for the win. I guess that’s his new finisher in NXT but would have made more sense to keep the Brainbuster in my view as it’s easier to hit out of nowhere. Honestly for my liking this match should have been more Sami on offence I know he’s the babyface and all but it’s obvious they don’t have anything planned for Angelo. But Sami is better when fighting from behind. After the match he yells out for Cesaro so they’re obviously going to continue that feud Winner: Sami Zayn

Sasha Banks vs. Summer Rae in a 1^st Round Match in Women’s title tournament: A rarity a divas match where both women have 2 names! Rae is being compared to Stacey Keibler and you can see why they are very alike. Short tie up to start another one with Rae pulling Banks to the mat and putting the boots in. A choke on the rope and then a nice dropkick by Rae. Rae throws Banks into the corner and then uses her long legs to choke Banks and follows with a hairmare. It’s at this time Brad points out George Clooney dates blonde girls with long legs aka Keibler. Rae does the pull up out of the corner move for a 2, she then yells endless insults to Banks face and does a face plant for a 2. I was going to say Rae is great as a heel but after that 2 she did a weird scream of frustration that just made me laugh. More choking with her long legs, she pulls Bank across the mat but falls on her butt, don’t think that was planned. She does a seated surfboard and as Banks tries to reverse she’s caught in a pin. They both get up and Rae gets into a standing guillotine that leads to a DDT which looked nice but she floats over and the 2 do a typical cat fight spot which took me out of it a bit. Banks hits some chops to start fighting back, followed by a climbing arm drag for a 1. Rae comes back quickly though with Evan Bourne’s standing leg drop thing, imagine a reverse DDT combined with a leg drop for the win. This was pretty good even with the odd flaw here and there. Rae is really good as a heel and I can see why they have more hopes for her over Fandango. Winner: Summer Rae

We go backstage to Xavier Woods who looks like he should be in 70’s porn film. He talks about the previous episodes he was on and that he’s going to return tonight. He ends with got to go morphing time. A little weird but I like weird. This is followed by a vignette about CM Punk just showing how far he has to come I guess.

Xavier Woods vs. someone: The guy he’s facing must be bad as he’s not even keyed. Woods is a dancer I guess I have no clue but he starts by doing a dance move towards his opponent, I’ve never danced so I have no idea what this is. Start with a tie up into an arm ringer then arm bar. Jobber pulls some hair and whips Woods off but gets a shoulder block for his trouble followed by a tilt-a-whirl head scissors. Apparently this jobber is called Jake. Jake has Buff Bagwells tights and he gets the Mr. Perfect neck snap for a 1. Jake gets a punch in the gut after trying an axe handle. Woods gets some punches, a flying forearm and a dropkick. He does a front flip into a clothesline and then hits Chuck Taylor’s Sole Food for the 3. Woods has a nice style but I think if he gets called up that gimmick will have to change otherwise he’d get thrown with Brodus Clay & Tensai. He celebrates by dancing. Winner: Xavier Woods

Backstage with Sami Zayn being interviewed by Renee Young. He glosses over the fact he beat Angelo earlier (take that jobber guy) and says that it was a message to Cesaro, he says their one for one and he wants a round 3. Good promo by Sami. We the go to the French guy (whose name I forgot) with his 2 rednecks. He says they should be the no.1 contenders for the tag titles, here comes Dusty who makes fun of the French guy’s name which is Sylvester something, so many accents it’s hard to understand. He makes a No.1 contenders match with those guys against Ohno & Graves for next week, my money’s on Ohno/Grave. We then get a video of Bo Dallas from his car thanking the fans and then photos of him at Disney world, then announces he’ll be back next week. He sings a song with BOlieveing in there. God make this guy shut up he’s awful and that BOlieve should never have been made up. Also announced is Big E Langston so a lot is set for next week.

Neville, Ohno & Graves vs. Wyatt Family: Luke and Graves to start, tie up into the corner but Grave gets some punches and hooks onto the beard, he gets a float over and tags in Ohno. Luke gets a punch and tags in Eric but Ohno gets some punches. A knee by Eric and a club to the back leads to a whip with Ohno doing his nice flip over to the apron, he delivers a big boot between the ropes and comes in to hit his drop down boot for a 1, a lot of 1 counts tonight. Tag to Neville but his kicks are ineffective leading to Bray being tagged. Neville jumps onto him with punches but Bray runs him into the corner and into a spinebuster, he attempts a slingshot into the turnbuckle but Neville grabs the top rope and rebounds into a double stomp in a beautiful transition between the 2. Neville follows with some kicks but doesn’t even get a 1. Bray gets a punch and tag to Luke who comes in while stepping on Neville, I love the minor things he does in a match. Neville ducks 2 clotheslines and gets a running head scissors leading to a tag to Graves, back to where we started. Graves gets his boot up and does a hanging headscissors over the ropes, he goes for Bray but that lets Luke hit his big boot. We go to break and we see our 3^rd “Don’t Try this” advert, they’re taking this seriously since that incident.  We come back with Luke hitting a back elbow on Graves for a 2. Tag to Bray who hits a headbutt and then a seated senton off the ropes leading to a chinlock with the arm trapped. Graves quickly fights back and goes for a sunset flip, Bray attempts the same senton from earlier but misses leading to Eric and Ohno getting tagged. Ohno with his jumping elbow but gets whipped over the corner to the outside, Luke gets tagged and rams him into the apron. Tag to Bray who stomps onto and over Ohno. Eric and Luke fight for the tag in the corner but Luke gets it and hits a European uppercut when he comes in follows with 3 elbow drops. Back into the Wyatt corner and Luke whips Ohno into Eric’s knee. Eric hits another knee into a pumphandle back breaker for a 2. Luke back in, a lot of work from him tonight. Ohno stops himself from going into the corner but the 2 hit heads, Bray gets the tag and knocks Graves off but he fails to do the same with Neville who does get tagged and hits a gorgeous springboard dropkick followed by a leg clothesline and a standing shooting star for a 2, he then dropkicks Luke and goes for a dive but he stops when Eric gets in the ring. Ohno then dropkicks Eric out and hits a baseball slide. Neville hits the Fosberry Flop (I believe) which is him jumping over the top rope to the outside into a moonsault to take out the 3 people. He goes back in to Bray where he hits a jumping kick and attempts the Red arrow but Luke pulls Bray out leading to Bray getting the pin on Neville. Show ends with the family posing on the ramp. A really solid main event and while I wasn’t the biggest fan of the finish it helped to show that high risk is exactly that. Also prepare for this to become clear when RVD comes back and oversells that Frog Splash every time out. Winners: The Wyatt Family

I did find it odd that Neville/Bray opened the show and that they did so little but seeing it was to set up the main event which they made up for their earlier match I’m fine with it. This also really showed me how good Summer Rae can be, a really good heel and not bad in the ring she had to be the stand out on this show to me. Like the past couple of weeks a good show I think NXT is the show to watch at the moment. While I didn’t like the Bo segment at least they had something to say “Our Champ isn’t here but here’s why” he was still a part of the show and I think that’s a key to a champion. This show also set up a lot for next week the no.1 contenders tag match with Ohno/Graves against the rednecks with a French guy, Bo will be back as will Big E but I imagine all that will equal most of the 45 minute show.

http://www.webvideoshare.com/videos/dailymotion.php?id=k6gy6fohCvpZOu4djDB

NXT July 12th 2013: A show of suprises

Last week’s NXT saw the contract signed for this week’s main event which is Bo Dallas challenging Big E Langston for the NXT championship. We also saw Sami Zane and Antonio Cesaro set up a rematch from a few of weeks ago, it goes without saying which one I’m more hyped for.

Show opens with a video highlighting how Bo won his title shot for tonight winning a 18 man battle royal and hyping up the main event, it did its job ok. Tony Dawson and William Regal on commentary meaning this won’t be painful to listen to.

Sami Zane vs. Antonio Cesaro: Sami has much better music this week. Video showcasing Sami’s debut night where he beat Cesaro and Curt Hawkins on the same night plays. Cesaro is wearing plain blue tights tonight which make him look a bit like Bruno Sammartino. Antonio attacks as soon as he gets in the ring and drops Sami on the rail on the outside, follows that up with a pumphandle into the post which looked nasty. Sami struggles to get up and the bell rings leading to Cesaro hitting a sick running European in the corner for a 2. A strong start between the 2. Zane gets some chops but Cesaro cuts him off quickly. Sami gets a back body drop and mounts for some punches but Cesaro comes back with a spinebuster, it’s at this time that fans are chanting “Ole” which I don’t see stopping for the foreseeable future. Cesaro grabs a chinlock and it’s at this time I’d like to note in honour of Cesaro I have a coffee while I watch this. Chinlock doesn’t last long as Sami fights back within seconds. Sami ducks a clothesline and hits a leg lariat but Cesaro over powers him into the corner. Zane keeps getting little bits of offence but is always cut off. Cesaro goes for a Euorpean but is caught in a backslide this leads to Sami attempting a leap frog but it’s turned into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker is a great spot for a 2. We come back from the break seeing Sami get a sunset flip but Cesaro hits a mean looking double stop for 2 two counts. Back to the chinlock but this time Cesaro pulls Sami back down to put it back on. Fans are into this match, I can’t blame them. Cesaro won’t let go of the chinlock leading to Sami hitting a Blue Thunder bomb for a 2, more Ole chants, and Cesaro hits a mean European and then a deadlift Gutwrench for a 2 he’s such a beast before everyone on the indies was. Sami fights out the corner by locking on a body scissors and moves to a head scissors throwing Cesaro over the top he follows with a beautiful heelio dive to the outside. Back in Sami goes to the top but jumps into a European uppercut for a 2. Cesaro goes back to the chinlock but Sami fights out and does an amazing float over into a sunset bomb pin for a 2. Sami runs into a mean sounding boot in the corner and Cesaro tries a deadlift suplex but Sami gets a school boy for a 2 that’s how he won last time, back to the chinlock but is arm dragged out and again the chinlock is locked back in and he transitions into the neutralizer for the win. This was fantastic from the go and shows how much WWE are missing out on Cesaro. Also by just lasting with all this punishment Sami looked great it was the battle of Sami’s speed against Cesaro’s strength. Winner: Antonio Cesaro

Baron Corbin & Travis Tyler vs. Scott Dawson & Garrett Dylan: We come back from the break to see Baron Corbin (sounds a lot like Darin Corbin who is a wrestler on the indies) and Travis Tyler in the ring. A French guy comes out he says his name but that accent is terrible so I don’t know what he said apparently according to the key it was Sylvester Lefort, he introduces Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan who are just rednecks who drink BBQ sauce they even stole Stan Hansen’s yell. Dawson and Tyler start with a tie up with Tyler getting a headlock. Dawson fights out and hits a back elbow and the tag with Dylan just booting some times and tagging out, Dawson comes in and hits some strikes and tags out for another repeat which ends with Dylan hitting a bodyslam. A tag and a double team hair slam which looked dreadful since both men were smaller than Tyler. Another tag after nothing happens but strikes. Granted their staying in their corner and tagging a lot but not much is happening. Dawson hits a leg drop and knee drop, another tag and Regal compares Dylan to Arn Anderson I would disagree. A double team with a boot to the gut and then a boot to the head. Tyler gets a clothesline and the tag to no reaction, Corbin hits several shoulder block but he gets reversed into a spinebuster by Dawson and Dylan jumps off the 2^nd rope with a double axe handle to Corbin who is laying on the ground. Not a great deal to talk about here, I’m not a fan of Dylan/Dawson and that double team finisher needs some serious work and it looks dreadful right now. Also Corbin comes off as extremely weak as he didn’t even last a minute before being pinned, if I was Tyler I’d be pissed. Winners: Dylan & Dawson

A promo about Punk’s return at Payback plays, I’m hyped for this match but look who’s in it how can you not be?

1^st Round match in the Women’s title tournament-Bayley vs. Alicia Fox: Oh this will be a classic he says as his eyes roll. To be fair I’ve not seen Bayley work but Fox is Fox. Regal’s niece loves Bayley apparently. Match starts with Bayley shaking hands and grabbing a hug, Fox runs out with an elbow and then throws Bayley into the corner twice. Hits a nice looking Northern lights for a 2 and grabs a chinlock, that didn’t take long. Fans get into it and Bayley tries fight out but Fox drives her back down. Fans chanting for Bayley, look at that women getting reactions on WWE TV who’d have thought it. Bayley fights out with some forearms and then a monkey flip to start coming back, hits a couple of running forearms and an iffy knee drop for a 2. Bayley hits an Exploder for a 2, even Regal sounded surprised to see that. Fox hits a kick to the head off the ground and a scissors kick for the win. This wasn’t bad at all to be honest, really shows what the women are capable off. This means Fox will face Paige in the next round. Winner: Alicia Fox

Big E Langston vs. Bo Dallas for the NXT title: The same video that opened the show plays again, it was a good video but not THAT good. Bo is getting even more boos than last week and yes he’s still the happy smiley babyface character he’s not officially turned heel, if he did it was the Alberto Del Rio turn and no one realised. If you mixed Monty Brown with Faarooq and gave him King Kong Bundy’s gimmick you’d get Langston but fans are into Langston and his “FIVE”. We get the main event announcements aka when they’re in the ring. Langston is undefeated going in. Bo tries to grapple but Big E overpowers him early. Bo can’t knock Big E down, Big E gets a high leap frog and knocks Bo down with a shoulder block. Bo starts fighting back with strikes and boos, what a heel and he’s not even one, oh my God he’s NXT’s John Cena! Bo jumps on Langston as he tries to get back in the ring but he just chucks Bo into the corner which looked nasty. We come back from the break with Big E ramming Bo into the apron on the outside, Big E hits some gut punches well 5 as that’s his gimmick after all. For a babyface he sure is a dick but WWE seem to promote all their babyface’s as dicks look at Sheamus right now. Big E hits a harsh clothesline for a 2 and then he does a running splash, one thing Big E can do is jump man that guy can get some height. Bo starts fighting back to boos but Big E cuts him off to cheers. Big E attempts the splash again but Bo moves and Bo starts hitting clotheslines and boots but he can’t take Big E down. A running corner Bulldog from Bo for a 2. Big E hits a nice looking belly to belly after blocking something from Bo, he probably tried his finisher for all I know. Big E starts hitting clothesline then 5 knee lifts and then just runs Bo over with the Vader running splash (best way I can describe it). The straps come down so it’s business time. Bo fights off the Big Ending but while doing so they’re in the corner and he pulls off the top turnbuckle pad, he throws Big E into it twice and hits a Belly to Belly suplex for the 3. We have a new champion and he’s doing the babyface reaction to winning. This was better than I was expecting and it was a nice subtle way of starting a heel turn which we know is coming for Bo or at least we hope is coming. Winner and new champion: Bo Dallas

Show ends with Bo celebrating with the title, Renee Young comes out to ask him some questions. Bo tries to cut a promo to boos and uses the typical “I’m going to Disney world” line probably could have done without him trying to speak. Honestly this was a really good show from start to finish, no promos but the wrestling did the talking. You had a fantastic match to open the show and everything else was either passable (the tag) to above my expectations. I don’t know where they go from here in terms of the title picture you could do brother vs. brother with Bray Wyatt or you could turn Bo full-fledged heel, which would be my move as he’s already getting tons of boos. I imagine Big E won’t be on NXT that much more as they seem to want him in WWE so they might do a rematch but they might not.

http://www.webvideoshare.com/videos/dailymotion.php?id=k1d7s9LoS5f9Q74bLON

NXT July 5th: Beards, Belts and BO!

After the recent debut video for the Wyatt family I wanted to check out some of his work in NXT, this has lead me to watch pretty much the last 3 months of the show just because each show had something I wanted to watch. I decided that I’d do a weekly review of the show as it can be hard to track down and watch, plus it really deserves some love in my view. So let’s review this week’s NXT which aired on the 5^th July.

Shows starts with good old JR heading to the ring and all I can think is “they brought JR here for this?” this is a contract signing for Bo Dallas and Big E Langston for next week’s NXT title match. JR talks about how the title has led to success, only 2 men have held it and both are on WWE so I guess he’s right. Bo comes out and is booed, he looks like a kid whose parents dressed him for an interview. Bo won an 18 man battle royal the week before to get this title shot, Langston was on commentary for that and was worse than Brad Maddox who was also there, tells you how bad that was. Langston comes out looking like Monty Brown and the fans chant 5 which has got over even if it is stupid for a babyface. At this point I’d like to add that the NXT title looks stupid, WWE have some terrible belt designs. Anyway Langston signs and before Bo signs he grabs the mic and “talks”, he’s so awkward and comes off as a little kid who can’t stop smiling while trying to be serious. He talks about how Langston is working with Dolph Ziggler and he was on Wrestlemania, he wants that. He forgets to mention that he was in the Royal Rumble and would have worked with Wade Barrett at Mania if he wasn’t dreadful, hell Miz replaced him so that proves how bad he is. Langston picks up the mic and begins to talk as well, he comes off a bit better than Bo but still not great. He says Bo so many times it’s like repeating a word to make it sound weird but it was already weird, he tries some John Cena level jokes and talks about Bo smiling for everything. Bo signs and leaves and that’s that. Not a good segment as both are not good talkers at all.

We head backstage with Renee Young who is with Corey Graves aka Sterling James Keenan. He’s teaming with Kassius Ohno to challenge the Wyatt family for the NXT tag titles in the main event. He talks about how he wants to take out the family all by himself, he doesn’t care about teaming with Ohno but he wants the titles more than not wanting to team with him. He ends the promo by showing his “stay down” tattoo on his fingers which is his pose, a good promo especially after those 2 that opened it.

Tamina Snuka vs. Paige-NXT Women’s title tournament 1^st round: Tamina comes out in a blue one piece that covers her body but has cuts in it, sounds weird and looks disgusting Tamina really needs to work on her look. A great contrast is Paige who looks great and so does her gear. Tie up to begin and Tamina shoves her off Paige then goes for a headbutt but Tamina no sells it as Samoan’s can’t feel pain in their heads we know this to be fact since the 70’s in WWE. Tamina gets the advantage pretty much from the start. Paige attempts a school girl which goes to hell after Tamina falls on her ass. She quickly grabs a chin lock and cuts off Paige after she fights out of it. Drops a knee for a 1 and grabs a chinlock again. Brad Maddox, who’s on commentary, picks the winner of this to be the favourite and we are than all reminded that Alicia Fox was Divas champion, there have been some horrible Divas champions. A body slam by Tamina for a 2 who somehow thought that could be a 3. Tamina struggles for an overhead wrist lock. Paige is constantly getting cut off after fighting back, Tamina hits a big superkick on her which looked good and goes for her iffy looking superfly splash, Paige gets the knees up and a roll up for the 3. Paige really comes off as barely surviving here to keep Tamina strong but man does Tamina need some work, her look and that splash. I feel they gave her that splash and she just doesn’t want to do it. Winner: Paige

Renee is now with Ohno who is in a Mitsuharu Misawa shirt which is pure awesome. He talks about attacking the family head on and taking the titles. Very slow and serious talking here which I like. He says tonight is not a match it’s a war. Good promo from Ohno aka Chris Hero. I’m going to be doing a lot of aka’s I think.

Colin Cassady vs. Mason Ryan: Colin is already in the ring telling you how this will go, he also has a song that sounds like they mixed Jeff Jarrett’s old WWE theme with the Smoking Guns one. Ryan, who was in WWE for a bit, has long hair now and is as jacked as ever! He poses and screams a lot. Tie up to start and Ryan hits knees in the corner. Cassady gets a back elbow and hits some great punches but Ryan no sells a club to the back and then hits a big boot. Lots of strikes from Ryan, feel like he can’t do much else here. Fans don’t care one bit and I don’t blame them. Ryan puts on the torture rack and spins into a neckbreaker. I know WWE loves guys like him but he’s got nothing and no one cares. Winner: Mason Ryan

Renee is now with Sami Zane aka El Generico without a mask. They talk about his debut night where he beat Curt Hawkins and then Antonio Cesaro aka Claudio Castagnoli. He gets interrupted by Cesaro who says it was a fluke, after speaking French. The 2 do a back and forth which ends with Sami making fun of Cesaro’s bag leading to a slap and the 2 attacking each other. It’s weird for me to listen to Sami talk mainly because I thought he only spoke Spanish (of course that’s a joke) but even so I think he’s got to get used to this as he’s never really done much in terms of promos.

Alex Riley vs. Conor O’Brian: Oh hey it’s Alex Riley. The commentator (Tom Phillips) talks about how Alex has high prospects in WWE, yeah maybe back in 2011. Conor freezes in a set off to run position and stays like that until Alex runs at him where he gets a headlock, they mess up a shoulder block spot not a great start. Conor does a headlock take down but brings him up and over 3 times while staying hooked which is different. Alex floats over a slam attempt hits a back elbow and a top rope clothesline for a 1. Alex goes for something but is sent off, attempts a float over but is hung up on the top rope. Conor hits a flapjack and locks a version of the Octopus Stretch for the submission. Outside the first botch this was fine my main problem is that Conor really shouldn’t be so scientific in his style, he’s being pushed as a monster yet is wrestling like a pure wrestler. Winner: Conor O’Brian

Kassius Ohno & Corey Graves vs. the Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Eric Rowen) w/ Bray Wyatt for the NXT Tag titles: We see the Wyatt’s attack on Ohno after he apologised to William Regal and this was followed up by Ohno coming to make the save after a match where Bray beat Corey leading to this tag match. Bray comes out with a mic, he says he isn’t afraid of anything but he’s scared of himself. He re-introduces himself to Corey & Ohno as an leader of worlds and sends down his boys. Wyatt sits in a rocking chair during the champs matches. I’ll add here I love this gimmick so much. Before this match my video cuts to an advert for hair loss which is funny as Harper aka Brodie Lee is seriously losing his hair which is sad as his look is awesome right now. Ohno and Rowen to start. Harper does this thing where he says “YEAH” during everything he does, a little thing like that can go a long way. Ohno gets a headlock and then a kravate once that is broken. Rowen knocks him down with a shoulder block but Ohno moves quickly and tags in Graves, this leads to Harper getting the tag. Harper grabs Graves after a crossbody attempt, Graves floats over a body slam and does an impressive looking rollup following by him flipping through a hip toss attempt and straight into an armdrag which looked beautiful. He tags to Ohno, so much for I’ll do this alone, Harper gets a shot to the gut and tags out this leads to them getting the heat. We get a vignette for Paige about how she’ll destroy everyone which would be fine if she didn’t just barely survive her match earlier that night, also on this past week’s Wyatt family vignette many noticed a girl in the video and have assumed it’s Paige who will be added to the family which I think could work as she’s the anti-diva after all. We come back with Rowen striking Ohno and tagging out, Harper hits some nice European uppercuts and tags out. Ohno escapes a bodyslam and hits a weird reverse jawbreaker to get the tag. Graves comes in with some nice punches and goes for Rowen’s legs, Graves gets sent to the apron where Harper hits a nice looking big boot to get the advantage back. Harper back in with a knee drop looking crazed after a 2 count. Harper whips Graves into Rowen’s kitchen sink knee, Rowen does it again and then a pumphandle back breaker for a 2. A Canadian back breaker to Graves, a rarely seen move. Graves slides out but gets clubbed and is than headlocked into the corner. Graves reserves a suplex into a small package, what I really liked after this was Harper (who got tagged in) moves from behind Graves to in front of Ohno making Graves go for a crucifix instead of getting the tag. it’s a little thing like that I find adds to a match and Harper knows this as everything he does has a little thing to it that adds a lot. Harper attempts a powerbomb but is back body dropped and this leads to a tag. Ohno hits a great looking flying clothesline and a jumping elbow into the corner leading to a drop down boot and a senton, a great series of moves. Bray jumps onto the apron, Ohno hits a rolling headbutt which looked weird to be honest, I know they probably changed it because Barrett is using an elbow finisher now but Ohno’s was so much better. Rowen breaks up the pin leading to Graves coming in to clothesline him out, the ref is distracted leading to Bray punching Ohno in the back of the head and Graves does a twisting plancha to take Bray out but back in the ring Harper hits a discuss clothesline for the win. The show closes with the family leaving with the belts. I really liked this match I think everything flowed well and it built up great especially the ending. I don’t know where you go from here maybe add someone for a 6 man or continue doing the reluctant tag team going for the family either way you have a winning program in my view with these guys. An added note is all those rotations reminded me of John Zandig who would do 2 or 3 spins before hitting a clothesline, he looked ridiculous and childlike when doing it.

Thought this was a good show overall, outside the opening being pretty awful and Mason Ryan getting time for some reason I think everything had a purpose and moved things along storyline wise. Next week see’s Bo Dallas vs. Big E Langston for the NXT title and will be the first time I’ve seen Langston wrestle a longer match as a babyface, my hopes aren’t high especially since he’s working who to be fair is a better wrestler than talker.

 

WWE NXT 6/5/13 - Full Show (HQ) - Film Dailymotion

A Truly Ravishing Career

On April 20th 1999 we lost one of the biggest legends in pro wrestling in Richard Rood aka Rick Rude. Rude truly had an amazing career and is still remembered to this day as one of the greatest of all time. So in honour of his passing 14 years on I'm going to look at the career of one of my all time favourite wrestlers.
Rude was born December 7th 1958 in St. Peter, Minnesota he went on to attend Robbinsdale High School that saw other wrestlers like Tom Zenk, Nikita Koloff, Road Warrior Animal, Mr. Perfect and Barry Darsow attend. Minnesota really did produce some of the biggest names in wrestling history. Rude would be trained by Eddie Sharkey who trained some of the names mentioned above as well as many others including independent wrestler Arik Cannon and by train I mean was watched by Sharkey as by all accounts all he did was watch guys practice and would never get physical with them. That showed in a handful of guys he trained but to be fair no one was truly horrible in my view. Rude would begin wrestling in 1982 as a babyface jobber called Rick Rood. He would work in the NWA mid-Atlantic company, Georgia Championship wrestling and Memphis. He would evolve into a winning wrestling when he debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling. Like many guys at the time Rude would bounce from company to company in hopes of learning more and to find the right fit for himself it was the perfect time & place for someone to learn about the business. Speaking of which a good side story here early in his career Rude would wrestle against the original Midnight Express, Rude was tagged in and tied up with Dennis Condrey the 2 walked around the ring for 2-3 minutes until they broke up and Rude tagged out what happened was Dennis explained what he wanted Rude to do and he had to constantly re-explain it because Rude never understood it. A far cry from the talent he'd become.
In 1984 Rude would return to Memphis this time officially called "Ravishing" Rick Rude a arrogant heel managed by Jimmy Hart. Rude would win his first championship ending Jerry Lawler's 38th reign as Southern heavyweight champion on June 11th the title wouldn't stay on him long as Tommy Rich would win the title on July 16th. In October of 1984 the Southern tag titles became vacant when then champions Tommy Rich & Dutch Mantell split up, the titles would be decided in a tournament won by Rude & King Kong Bundy (defeating the Fabulous Ones). Once again the title reign didn't last long  the duo won the titles on the 8th and lost them on the 22nd to the Fabulous Ones.

In December Rude would move over to Championship Wrestling from Florida where he would be managed by the recently passed away Percy Pringle. On January 1985 just a month into his return he won the NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight title defeating Paz Whatley and this title reign was a little more successful as he held it to April 10th where he lost it to Brian Blair. But he wouldn't go long without a title as the team he was in with Jesse Barr would win the NWA Florida United States Tag team titles beating Jay & Mark Youngblood. They would feud with Wahoo McDaniels & Billy Jack Haynes, who by the way is completely out of his every loving mind. They would lose the titles to that duo on July 9th. Again it wouldn't be long until Rude would have a championship again. Hercules Hernandez had to vacate the Southern heavyweight title after a backstage argument with then booker Wahoo McDaniels, on July 21st Rude would beat Mike Graham in the finals of a tournament to regain the title. He would hold it until October 2nd where he would lose the titles to McDaniels, I wonder if McDaniels gets the complaints that Triple H or Dusty got for this?

In late 1985 Rude would move to World Class Championship Wrestling aka the Von Erich's company and he would take Percy with him and like many heels he would immediately feud with a Von Erich's (in this Kevin) and also Chris Adam (a main babyface within the promotion). On November 4th 1985 he defeated Iceman King Parson, who you probably won't know of unless you followed WCCW, for the NWA American Heavyweight title. While Rude held the belt the company officially left the NWA and was renamed World Class Wrestling Association in the process the title became known as the WCWA World heavyweight title making Rude a World champion. Well in a way like many companies who split from the big names at the time it was hard to accept such guys as the main champion, Rude was really seen as the number 2 at best behind the NWA World champion so to claim him as the best in the world was a stretch. This would be one of Rude's first long title reigns as he would hold the title until July 4th 1986 where he lost it to Chris Adams. Rude also had a short reign of WCWA TV champion defeating Lance Von Erich (the fake Von Erich) on May 5th 1986 and lost it to Brusier Brody on May 17th. After losing the World title Rude fired Pringle and was briefly managed by his sister Raven. For a short time he would team with the Dingo Warrior but the Warrior turned on him becoming a face (epic foreshadowing).
In September of that year Rude would return to the NWA Mid-Atlantic, which was the biggest NWA company and arguably one of the biggest companies at the time. He would team with Manny Fernandez being called the Awesome Twosome (pretty horrible name) and was managed by Paul Jones. The 2 would defeat the Rock 'n Roll Express for the NWA World tag titles on December 6th, the two teams would feud until April of 1987 where Rude would leave for the WWF. The tag titles would become vacant as the company used footage of a house show match between the teams and claimed Rude was injured.
Rude debuted in the WWF becoming part of the Heenan Family, he first feuded with Paul Orndorff because Heenan kicked him out to pick up Rude. It was in WWF that Rude perfected his gimmick, he would include his now famous intro where he would disrobe and insult the fans. He would also introduce his airbrushed tights which is something I love to this day, he would seemingly have special tights for every big match he had something that many others have copied. One of Rude's most infamous feuds was with Jake Roberts which started when Rude hit on Jake's wife Cheryl, not knowing it was Jake's wife. Rude would go as far as to have Cheryl airbrushed on his tights leading to Jake attacking and striping them off. The 2 would get to wrestle at Wrestlemania 4 in the title tournament, the 2 went the time limit in a pretty bad match. At Summerslam 1988 Rude wrestled the Junkyard Dog in a match where he would have JYD painted on his tights but during the match JYD pulled the tights down to show a second pair with Cheryl on this lead to Jake attacking causing the DQ. The feud ending at Survivor Series 1988 where Jake beats Rude after a DDT.
Rude moved on to a familiar face in the now called Ultimate Warrior (formerly Dingo), Warrior was the Intercontinental champion at the time. The feud started with a pose down at Royal Rumble 1989 when Rude attacked with a metal bar after losing. At Wrestlemania 5 Rude, with help from Bobby Heenan, won the title from the Warrior. He lost it back to Warrior at Summerslam that year. Both matches were some of Warriors best and we're just great matches overall. Rude blamed the lost to Roddy Piper who mooned him near the end and the 2 feuded for a very short time. Rude had seemed to drop a far bit as by the next Wrestlemania he was in a brief 4 minute match against Jimmy Snuka, which he won. At the same show the Warrior became WWF champion and the 2 began feuding again, they would meet in a fantastic cage match at Summerslam 1990 where Rude would lose. By October of that year Rude left the company after they teased a program with the Big Bossman. Now the story here is that Rude was having legal trouble with the WWF, the company had advertised Rude on shows but he wasn't on them and wasn't paid for them, he felt he should have been and you can see why.
Rude would do some indies and a tour of All Japan before going to WCW in October 1991. He debuted at Halloween Havoc as the Halloween Phantom but he revealed himself on the same show, this lead to the formation of the Dangerous Alliance lead by Paul E. Dangerously. A bit of an odd selection of guys were part of that group but it goes down as one of the best groups in wrestling history. On November 19th (under a month after debuting) he defeated Sting for the WCW United States championship. The 2 feuded and he would move on to Ricky Steamboat, the matches between Rude & Ricky are known as some of the best in wrestling history (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1tTtti5E0). Rude held the title for over a year before having to give up the title due to injury. During his title reign he would challenge then World champion Ron Simmons but he failed to win the title. Rude would come back from injury and feud with Dustin Rhodes, the guy who won the title but he didn't regain the title. During this time Rude would go solo for the first time in years as he had improved massively as a talker. At the time WCW had a relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling and Rude became one of only 2 foreigners to get to the finals of the G1 Climax tournament losing to Masahiro Chono for the vacant NWA World title (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a71nDazSKi4)
On August 28th 1993 on a segment of Ric Flair's "Flair for the Gold" Rude made his new goal be known as he set his sights on the NWA World title. Rude defeated Flair for the title at Fall Brawl 1993 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0fzf9sqa0) in a so-so match. WCW then lost the right to the NWA World title so the title was renamed the WCW International title. Rude lost the title to Hiroshi Hase on March 19th 1994 in Tokyo, Japan. He won it back 8 days later but would lose it to Sting on April 17th and regain it on May 1st making him a 3 time champion. However in that match he suffered a back injury that would end his in ring career.
Rude had a Lloyds of London insurance deal which he claimed on after his injury but like many wrestlers he didn't stay away from the business. He would work with ECW in 1997 working a feud with Shane Douglas while doing Colour with Joey Styles a role he was truly awful in, I love you Rick but that was just bad and you could tell he didn't care one bit about being there. He would return to WWE as the insurance policy for Degeneration X, he did nothing but stand by their side and interfere when he had to. Now according to Bret Hart Rude left the WWE after the Montreal Screw job stating that Rude watched the backstage fall out and had called Eric Bischoff about it. Rude was not signed to a contract at the time for WWE so this allowed him to talk and make a deal with WCW. This lead to an infamous moment in the Monday night wars where Rude would appear on both Raw and Nitro on the same night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChfWHf2w95o). He was on the pre-taped Raw and the live Nitro where he cut a promo cutting down the WWE. Rude began managing Curt Hennig and the 2 jumped from NWO to NWO until Rude would just disappear from TV, he was rumoured to be training for a comeback in 1999. Sadly like I mentioned from the top it would be April 20th of 1999 where Rude would pass away due to a overdose of mixed medications, he left behind his wife and 3 children.
When Rude got into wrestling there was a big focus on bodies and having "the" body for wrestling, Rude had the body and is know for having one of the better bodies in history but he was so much more than that. Rude got it all he had the body, he could talk, he could grab the crowd and could wrestle a great match. He could even pull out good matches from some guys you thought couldn't go like Warrior. Rude has become one of the most copied wrestlers in history from the robe removal, the airbrushed tights, his hips taunt or just his overall aura many have tried to copy him I think the best was Larry Sweeney who was just the ultimate throwback.
When it comes to Rude's career I feel that it was a case of he never got what he deserved. Yes he is seen as a multiple time World champion but if you look at those belts no one treats them as actual World titles. Rude was a big star, one of the greatest ever and he deserved to have a true World title run in my view. It seems the story of his career was a guy who never got what he deserved. My personal memories of Rude are mostly about his airbrushed tights, it just grabbed me so much that he went so far out of his way to put that extra importance into his matches I would love to see the archive of his wardrobe and all the tights he left behind. Now you may think it's silly to be so grabbed by tights but that lead me to focus on Rude and see his overall greatness. It's stunning to me that it's been 14 years since he passed it doesn't feel it at all and that may be because we lose far to many wrestlers far too often and Rude could come off as just another dead wrestler but he surpassed so much as is seen as a true legend in the eyes of fans. One of the best wrestlers in the ring, on the mic and overall. How could you not love Rick Rude?

The Best of the Biggest Stage!

My last list looked at the worst so now here's the best matches (in my opinion) in Wrestlemania history and in honour of this I've picked 20. Again can't embed the videos so will just put the links up if available.

20) Undertaker vs. Triple H-Wrestlemania 27
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwVmSnjE_Ds
I've not watched the rematch so don't know if that was better than this but this was a good match. I think it was over hyped much like their last match just because of who was in it but it was still a great match. I also loved Triple H's entrance, as I've covered before.

19) Edge & Christian vs. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz in a TLC match-Wrestlemania 17
These 3 teams really made tag team wrestling important again in 1999-2002, no matter what combination you put these guys in they worked great and put on great matches. But it was these high risk matches e.g. ladder matches and TLC matches that made them all superstar. This was the 2nd TLC match in WWE history and they would set the standard extremely high for the future.






18) Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock-Wrestlemania 18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp6gW2MIhb0
Icon vs. Icon was one of the biggest matches at the time you could argue a dream match, although many would say Hogan/Austin was the dream match. In the ring this match was the typical Hogan affair but both guys were extremely over and the fans ate everything up which made this match something special.

17) Batista vs. Undertaker for the World title-Wrestlemania 23
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHBw88T81KM
On paper this match looked awful, Batista wasn't good in the ring and Taker had to be in there with the right guy but these 2 gelled great. Batista was arguably at his best in 2007 put on some of his best matches and Undertaker helped bring that out of him. These 2 always had great matches and their series of matches was fantastic in my view.

16) Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior in a Retirement match-Wrestlemania 7
Shawn Michaels became known as Mr Wrestlemania but in my view Randy Savage was that before him, if you look at his body of work at the Mania's he worked he got way better matches out of guys he shouldn't have like this match. The small things like Warrior walking to the ring to show how serious this was and the extreme extent both men went to beat the other were great. The aftermath with Randy & Elizabeth was something special and just added that little bit to a great match. My only negative was that Randy was technically on his feet on the outside before Warrior pulled him in to pin him making Randy look a little weak.



15) CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PyoLdNJgv0

 

This may have only happened last year but I love this match partly because I am a Jericho fan and a massive Punk fan. These 2 are some of best in ring wrestlers going today and they were really over but that's not surprising. It program between the 2 started over who was the "Best in the World" and the promos were incredible between the 2, it later went into alcohol vs. straight edge but it was still great.

 

14) Edge vs. Mick Foley in a Hardcore match-Wrestlemania 22

In my opinion I think Edge should have entered this Mania as WWE champion against John Cena, he had won the title and lost it within a month. I think he took some of that anger and put it into this match with Mick, who also looked like he had something to prove. I don't think anyone expected Edge to go as far as he did in this match but I think he had the mind set of "I'm going to steal the show tonight" and in my view he did.

 

 

 

 

 

13) Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels in a Career Threatening match-Wrestlemania 24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVQRirSaljE

This is probably the most emotional match in Mania history. Going in we all knew this would be Flair's last match but even so Shawn was able to put some doubt in the fans minds at parts. I think Shawn was the right guy to "end" Flair's in ring career and he did it well.

 

12) Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho-Wrestlemania 19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCtJKAaP8U8

2 of the best of all time showing why they are so good. Shawn had only recently came back to wrestling and had a point to prove, Jericho was a long time fan of Michaels and wanted to show that he deserved to be looked at as a main eventer. Wrestlemania 19 is seen as one of the best ever and this was the best match on that card so that says a lot.

 

11) Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior: Champion vs. Champion-Wrestlemania 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9lt__ACbFY

Much like Taker/Batista this match looked awful on paper but it blew everyone away on the night. It was a great face/face match and it really helped make Warrior a main event, sadly Hogan let his ego get in the way and stole focus away from the new champion. But this was the one time (I can think off) where the Hulk up/leg drop was dodged and it lead to Warrior winning.

 

10) Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels in an Iron Man match for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 12

This is called one of the best matches ever and it's hard to argue that. When the debate of "Who is the greatest wrestler of all time" is brought up you will often find these 2 names put in there. This was an hour long match and in their Rivalries Bret talked about how perfect this match was to him, saying that they planned for a spot to happen at the 45 minute mark and Bret looked at the clock during the spot to see it was around the 45 minute mark. These 2 would go the hour and then overtime leading to Shawn Michaels winning his first WWE title. Now sadly this match was so long that many members of the crowd actually left and they must have been kicking themselves after.

 

9) Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels-Wrestlemania 25

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piOOrMyRz2o

This would be called the greatest match in Wrestlemania history I don't know about that but it was pretty damn good. They would do a rematch the next year which I really liked as well but I think this was the better of the 2. This was near the end of Shawn's in ring career, he would only go one more year, but he was as good as ever and the chemistry between these 2 was always something magic. Now again like the Taker/HHH match this is often over hyped but it's still great.

 

8) Triple H vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels for the World title-Wrestlemania 20

This was the night for Benoit to become champion and what a better match to do that in. I remember watching this live and being so sucked in to what was happening, every little thing grabbed my attention and the in ring action was amazing. Now sadly this can't be looked back on by many because of what happened at the end of Chris Benoit's life but that shouldn't take away from this spectacular match.

 

 

 

 

7) Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair for WWE title-Wrestlemania 8

This was one of the first Mania's I ever watch I rented it from a video store and this match stayed with me. I loved it from Flair's incredible promos, Savage being Savage, Flair's hair turning red from blood or just the action in the ring. These 2 were outstanding in the ring and have put on some of the greatest matches ever so you knew this was going to be special. It should have gone on last but Hogan's ego didn't let that happen and we got one of the worst matches ever closing the show. Also if you haven't seen it check out Flair's post match promo it's just something else in a good way.

 

 

6) Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels-Wrestlemania 21

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsoKfLcB0Ow

You could rename this list "Why Shawn Michaels is so great" because he's all over it but this is the last time I swear. Kurt was and is a machine, it's scary to think how bad of shape he's in physically and how good he still is in the ring. This feud was built great it started with a simple elimination at the Rumble and it built from there including Kurt saying "When I won an Olympic Gold medal in 1996 all I was hearing was how some guy called Shawn Michaels came from the rafters and put on a clinic at Wrestlemania". Kurt would try to out do everything Shawn did towards the match. On the night these 2 were magic and they saved Mania 21 in my book, it was one of the worst I've seen. They tried to repeat this in rematches but never really got the same feeling as they did here.

 

5) Chris Jericho vs. Christian-Wrestlemania 20

In my view this is one of the most overlooked matches in wrestling history. These 2 were so great and this could have been a main event feud, why Christian hasn't gotten a real run in the main event is beyond me. Built on Jericho falling in love with Trish Stratus and Christian turning on Jericho because he felt Jericho had chosen her over him. Wrestlemania 20 had a very stacked line up and this to me stand outs from the rest. On a side note I brought the massive Wrestlemania 20 collectors pack when it came out and in there is a freeze fame from this match, there's a ton more but that stand out to me right now.

 

4) Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart in a Submission match-Wrestlemania 13

Many talk about this match as being pretty much perfect and it's hard to argue. They were able to do the double switch and tell a great story throughout. It was the little things like Austin coming in with the glass breaking and Bret having to walk over that glass, he was annoyed at what WWE was putting him through and this was another example of that. It's amazing to think this match almost didn't happen as the original plans was for Bret to face Shawn in a rematch but Shawn lost his smile and I think Bret took his anger towards that situation and added it to his work ethic for this match. The finish with Austin bleeding in the sharpshooter is one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history and this was the making of him in many people's eyes.

 

3) Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage for the Intercontinental title-Wrestlemania 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBtNBC9J-AU

Not much more can be said about this match, it's known as one of the greatest of all time. This took place in 1987 and in my view it still holds up today some 26 years later. This could have made Ricky a big time star in WWE but for some reason he requested time off soon after this match and the company didn't appreciate it, I can understand why. Randy would go on to win the WWE title the next year even though he was meant to win the Intercontinental title but Honky Tonk man vetoed that so in many ways we should thank Honky, that's the only time we should thank him.

 

2) Steve Austin vs. The Rock in a No DQ match for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 17

In my opinion these are the 2 biggest stars of the attitude era and this was the biggest match in years and years. The arena looked incredible and these 2 had that something special when they wrestled. Now the only downfall to this match was the Austin heel turn at the end but I don't think it hurt the match that much overall. This match main evented Mania 3 times, only Triple H/Taker have done 3 matches at Mania but WWE like to forget that first one. Much like 19 this Mania is seen as one of the best of all time and this being the best match on there shows how good this was.

 

1) Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart-Wrestlemania 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZvUBTHXdT4

A opener at Wrestlemania 10 is my favourite Mania match ever and if you've seen this match I think you'll agree. This was Brother vs. Brother and this match helped launch Owen into a high profile picture. These 2 were doing moves that others weren't in 1994 and the fact Owen won shocked everyone especially when you consider that Bret was going on to win the WWE title later that night but it was done to set up a program between those 2 for the rest of the year. I think Owen is seriously overlooked in terms of his in ring talent, many have said that if he took it more seriously he would have been better than Bret as his in ring talent was already slightly better than Bret's. Wrestlemania 10 should not be gone back to at all except to watch this match over and over again.

 

Hopefully this has helped hype you up for Wrestlemania. I apologise for some of these videos being in different languages but you get what you can on Youtube. Now my question is will any matches on the upcoming Wrestlemania be put into this list? I think Punk/Taker has a shot but not much else., sorry Mania you still haven't grabbed me.

 

A pile of Garbage on the biggest stage of them all!

Wrestlemania is creeping up on us day by day and I for one am still not excited about  it, outside of one match (Punk/Taker) nothing grabs me we're getting 2 rematches that we didn't ask for and a uninspiring undercard. Regardless Wrestlemania is meant to be the stage where wrestlers show how great they can be but that doesn't always happen hence this list, I'm highlighting my personal top 15 worst Wrestlemania matches of all time. Now a quick warning for some reason I can't embed the videos in this article so the best you get are the links but hey if you can't click a link 1) you wouldn't be here and 2) you're a whole other level of lazy and I'm impress but you wouldn't know that.

15) HHH vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXEmYr3GZZs
This match had many problems. The first was that it had been done to death already at the time WWE were obsessed with putting Cena, HHH and Orton together in some combination as the top feud, sadly no matter the combination these guys often found it hard to get on the same page. Not saying they always had bad matches but the majority of the time the matches were lacklustre to me at least. The second problem was going in HHH could lose the title by DQ which would have worked if he was the heel but he was the face. The biggest problem though was the fans were spent, this went on last after Shawn Michaels and Undertaker put on a classic. But having said all that it was really a match that lacked that main event classic feel rather than a bad match.

14) Eddie Guerrero vs. Test-Wrestlemania 17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYrtPv1cY24
Wrestlemania 17 is seen as one of, if not the best, Wrestlemania ever and it was a fantastic show. This match would come off as probably the worst on the show surprising to see Eddie's name on a Worst of list but it really wasn't his fault. The match was fine up until Test trapped his foot in the ropes and that killed the match. Test was once pencilled in to be the WWF champion and it's stunning to see how far he fell, this would be his last Mania even though he was on the roster till 2007/2008.

13) 10 Diva Tag-Wrestlemania 26
This match is really an example of the Wrestlemania problem. WWE want to put so many people on Mania to give them a pay off but we get matches like this. Huge tag matches that last a matter of minutes and is literally everyone hitting their finishers, in a recent interview Kofi Kingston said "I've literally had a Wrestlemania match were the entrance lasted longer than the match". The reason I put this on the list is because of Vickie Guerrero's disgusting frog splash, Eddie would be ashamed.

12) Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel in a Blindfold Match-Wrestlemania 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXkpHpAByE8
Blindfold matches are never good, this gets a break for me as it was the first one and the crowd were so hot it worked well but it was still a pretty bad matches at the end of the day. For those who don't know Martel "blinded" Roberts with his arrogance and they built for months to this match so at least it had a reason and my guess is that Jake killed it in promos leading up, I mean come on he's Jake Roberts and that guy could talk.

11) Great Khali vs. Kane-Wrestlemania 23
Wrestlemania 23 was meant to see Hulk Hogan vs. the Big Show to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hogan's bodyslam on Andre the Giant they planned to recreate that spot in the same city. Sadly Hogan had a falling out with Vince and was never brought back to WWE and by sadly I mean thankfully, so instead we got this train wreck and the slam was inserted here. It didn't come off as special as Kane wasn't that much smaller than Khali. Combine that with the fact Khali has always been awful in the ring and Kane isn't that great either it results in well this.

10) Boogeyman vs. Booker T & Sharmell-Wrestlemania 22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNNFTYNzf7A
This was really a one on one and I still don't get why they added Sharmell outside the end freak out. Boogeyman at best was a stupid gimmick that lasted too long he was awkward in the ring and while Booker has put on some great ones he has to be in there with the right guy. Little story in one of their matches Boogeyman broke Booker's nose during a tie up spot, that shows how bad he was and thankfully he's gone.

9) Undertaker vs. Kane-Wrestlemania 14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksXvZwAHt4Q
These 2 have never had good chemistry and yet this is a program that WWE kept going to. I still don't understand the people who want to see one more from them at Mania because it would "tie up the story" while there is no story left to be told. Anyways to this match it was built great it must have been a year plus of story but sadly the match didn't do well in the ring, they tried protecting Kane a bit too much and this really came off as a feud ender instead of their first match.

8) Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice-Wrestlemania 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kENNhkSslmA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQTPefRwqM
In 1992 Hulkamania was really beginning to die fans were turning on him and in fact at the Royal Rumble near the end the fans were booing Hogan and cheering Sid. But he was Hulk Hogan so his ego wouldn't let that be, this was the main event when it shouldn't have been and this was both men's last match with the company for a big period of time. The 2 just didn't click and there was a spot near the end that shouldn't have happened, Sid kicked out of the leg drop and Papa Shango missed his cue and ran down late. So the main event was a DQ for some reason and the only highlight was the Ultimate Warriors return after the match.

7) John Cena vs. JBL for the WWE title-Wrestlemania 21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDWeMEum7GU
This got voted by the fans of Powerslam as the worst match of that year. Cena at the time was an awful wrestler, I give him credit he's improved a great deal from these days and while JBL was a great heel he wasn't a great worker. These 2 just didn't click and I don't think they ever did outside of their I Quit match a couple of months later. But regardless of the match Cena was over and this was his first title win, watching him collapse into the crowd was a great moment looking back, if he did that these days he probably wouldn't come back without injuries.

6) HHH vs. Booker T for the World title-Wrestlemania 19
This match was based around racism, only HHH could get away with that. No one believed in Booker as a challenger, no one really wanted to see this match and it was during the time when Triple H was the champion and he was facing the most random names and just beating them. What really hurt this match was the finish as Booker looked insanely weak, HHH would hit the Pedigree from out of nowhere and it took him about a minute to crawl over and pin Booker. Wrestlemania 19 is another one in the line of greatest Mania's ever but this isn't brought up in those arguments.

5) Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole with Steve Austin as Special Referee-Wrestlemania 27
At the time Cole was being pushed as a big heel sadly he was just more annoying than an effective heel. Lawler is one of the greatest of all time but he couldn't save this match as Cole was just a chubby announcer at the end of the day, no matter what you added to the match it couldn't help. Combine that with the anonymous GM reversing the decision and having Cole win made this match ridiculous.

4) Sable vs. Tori for the Women's title-Wrestlemania 15
Imagine if you will 2 models being thrown out there to wrestle and that's pretty much what this match was. Sweet lord this was awful, so much was botched and the heel was more over as a face than the face was. They even messed up a ref bump. It stuns me to see how far women's wrestling has come when compared to these 2. It came off as 2 women who didn't even want to wrestle (Sable especially) and they just wanted to be that hot women on TV.

3) Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez-Wrestlemania 9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT-oS79P-9Q
The streak is now this holy grail in wrestling terms but Taker had another streak when it came to Mania and that was having the worst match on the show. Taker has had some really bad showings at the biggest stage of them all and it's amazing to see how drastically he's improved over the years. Gonzalez on the other hand was literally a case of "Wow he's big" he got signed because he was a legit giant who couldn't play basketball. I would have loved to see him vs. Khali as that would be so bad it becomes good.

2) Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar with Steve Austin as special ref-Wrestlemania 20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BXFVvUGkDw
This was a big match at the time but it didn't live up to the hype. Outside the crowd being awesome this match sucked. Both men were leaving WWE after this show and the fans knew so they expressed their opinion and most pros could ignore that but for some reason these 2 let the crowd take over. Lesnar was a fantastic worker at the time and it's amazing to see the crap he dished out for his last match (at the time). Both didn't want to be out there and the only saving grace was Austin stunning both after.

1) Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon in a Street Fight-Wrestlemania 26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5P3_VRrdFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XxTNV4z_M
This was basically a one sided squash and one that didn't work. It was meant to be Bret finally getting revenge but you began feeling sorry for Vince as everyone (most of the Hart family were out there) took shots at him and killed him. And when you add that to the fact Bret physically couldn't bump you have to question why would you book this match? You should have had both managing someone, hell the Hart Dynasty team were out there have Bret manage them. The only time the fans cared was when Bret teased the Sharpshooter, probably because they knew when it was on this match would end. Thankfully Shawn Michaels and Undertaker had their rematch on this show otherwise I would have switched off the show.

Well that's my top 15 worst. Let me know what you think and what yours are as everyone's should be different. Keep an eye out as next time I'm doing the best matches in Wrestlemania history and you'll be glad to hear there's more good than bad.

Now that's an Entrance

It's Wrestlemania season and the general view is "What again?" as this years top matches are all rematches including a "Once in a Lifetime" match. Anyways to get into the mood I'm going to do a few lists about Wrestlemania this one looking at the best and worst entrances in Wrestlemania history (in my view). At the Grandaddy of them all certain matches/superstars get extra attention put in to them by doing flashy entrances so here are my 5 best and worst.

Worst
5) Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 19-I love Shawn Michaels and it wasn't that the entrance itself was too bad but it was the fact that some of the machines in use decided not to work. Shawn was set to come down the aisle while picking up confetti guns and shooting them into the crowd, sadly a couple of them didn't work. But this being Shawn Michaels he played off it and moved on. The problem was quickly forgotten when he got in the ring and the massive firework display for him began around the top of the stadium which looked awesome.
4) Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania 22-Now I should put all of Mysterio's entrance at Mania in mainly because he always tries to pull off a special outfit, usually comic book or movie related, and you end up just asking what it is or why did he chose thatt. But at Wrestlemania 22 they got P.O.D to perform his entrance theme and he came out in a head dress, he proceeded to said next to the band and do nothing until he headed to the ring. It just came off as awkward and odd, I also didn't get the head dress at all was he saying he's an Indian chief because I don't think that's true.
3) Triple H at Wrestlemania 22-Wrestlemania 22 was a pretty bad show in terms of entrances. The main event was Triple H challenging John Cena for the WWE title so for his entrance Triple H came up onto the ramp in a throne dressed like Conan the Barbarian (he's often been called a Conan wannabe), he just sat there while Motorheads "King of Kings" played which was the songs debut and then his normal music played. Triple H just looked awful in that outfit and it played no part in the rest of his entrance as he stood up and removed the outift and walked to the ring like normal.
2) The Miz at Wrestlemania 27-Remember when Miz main evented a Wrestlemania? Now look at where he is, he can't even do a Figure 4 leglock correctly. The entrance started with a video showcasing the Miz's life and rise to the WWE title, which would be great if he wasn't walking in as the heel! But the entrance was killed when he came out to inflatable Miz letters which looked so cheap. Not only did they give him a video with the wrong message but they also made him look like a pile of crap when he actually came out. Lucky for him he was already being overshadowed that year by Rock & Cena, the former not even being in the match.

1) John Cena-Yep I pretty much hate every entrance he gets at Wrestlemania. They always give Cena a big entrance at Mania and they either come off as just sucking up to the crowd/city or just bad. Whether it was the Gangster entrance at 22, the car driving which he wasn't in until the end at 23, the copy cats at 25 (which WWE must have drooled over) or the several marching bands/choir singers he gets, they're all bad in my book. This isn't a shot at Cena it's a shot at WWE for choosing these entrances, Cena is just the guy who gets given them.

Best
5) Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13-I'll be honest I was struggling to find good entrances at Mania, I find a lot of them just come of as goofing and bad. This one was pure and simple as the glass breaks in Austin's song a panel of glass that was filling the entrance with "Austin 3:16" written on shatters, something WWE did several times with him. It was nice and simple, the added effect of Bret Hart having to walk over it after was a nice touch as well.
4) Triple H at Wrestlemania 27-To be fair I'm just a fan of Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and it worked great here. There were soldiers surrounding him and he was all dressed up with a mask and everything, now like the 22 entrance it was removed when he actually walked to the ring but his appearence on the ramp was awesome.
3) Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12-Probably the most iconic entrance in WWE history. We've all seen the zipline and Vince McMahon's call of "What a ride!". It just looked awesome I can't think of many people who didn't watch and think "I'd love to try that". It did give away the ending of the match however as Bret Hart, who was defending the WWE title, just came out normally so he didn't look like the focus of the company one bit but since they were doing the switch I'm ok with it.
2) Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 24-Going into Wrestlemania that year we all knew this would be Flair's last match, how wrong we were but we believed that he was retiring. So to see him walk that aisle in a gorgeous robe (personally think his robes looked awful while in WWE but this one looked amazing) he did his usual Ric Flair thing and when he reached the end of the aisle he slowly did a full turn and the fireworks began. This entrance was all about aura and that special feeling of "End of an era" throughout it. The match itself is one of the most emotional I've ever seen and this entrance only helped that.
1) Undertaker-Much like Cena I'm including all his Wrestlemania entrances here. WWE put special effort into his entrance and they come off as incredible, much like Flair's it's all about the aura that comes off and it's just awe inspiring, at points you lose the fact you're at a wrestling show when he enters. Whether you like him or not there's just something special about his entrance, even while he was the American Bad ass his entrances stood out above anyone else.

The line up for this years Mania has 4 matches announced and out of that I'd say the top 3 have potential to put on special entrances especially since 3 out of the 6 have been mentioned here.
Now this may seem like a silly list to do but you should never overlook a wrestlers entrance. How they come out can make them look like true superstars or just another guy. Regardless of if I think these are good or not the fact is that these guys try to come off as bigger than life and when you look at everyone else who usually just come out normally they succeed in their goal. It also shows the the company has faith in them for going that extra mile for them at the biggest show of the year.