WWE Monday Night RAW Review // 5th March 2018

The first Monday Night RAW of March (and my first episode as a 25 year old) came five weeks out from WrestleMania XXXIV. No one storyline dominated the show this week, instead we saw a number of developments and matches made for 8th April's WrestleMania. The Miz hosted the 3rd annual Mizzies, before teaming with Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel in a 3-on-2 handicap match with Seth Rollins & Finn Balor, Kurt Angle called out Triple H in a segment also featuring Stephanie McMahon and Ronda Rousey, Braun Strowman battled Elias in a Symphony of Destruction match, John Cena addressed his WWE title challenge at Fastlane on Sunday and found himself in a match with Goldust, Nia Jax attempted to break Asuka's undefeated streak in a rematch from Elimination Chamber, Paul Heyman had a reply for Roman Reigns' promo last week before the two came face to face, Bayley & Sasha Banks issues continued as the former faced Mandy Rose, The Revival had a chance to earn a RAW Tag Team title match at WrestleMania if they could beat the champions Cesaro & Sheamus and Matt Hardy had a challenge for Bray Wyatt after the later took on Rhyno. But how did it all go down in Milwaukee? Lets take a look. 

Commentary - Michael Cole, Jonathan Coachman & Corey Graves
Ring Announcer - JoJo 
Interviewers - Charley Caruso

The Miz, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Seth Rollins & Finn Balor  segment

It was time for the 3rd edition of The Mizzies this week, as The Miz and his Miztourage had a variety of awards to give away. I'm not sure how WWE chose to present this was the best decisions as they cut away from the Miz in the ring for some pithy comments by a voiceover chap on the nominees of awards like "Superstar who is best at patting themselves on the back" and "Worst Decision by a RAW General Manager". The comment coming from the voiceover guy, instead of Miz himself hurt the segment for me, because the cut-aways felt longer than necessary, whilst Miz didn't really benefit in terms of heat. Obviously, the winners were current Miz rivals Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, as well as seemingly constant Miz feuder Kurt Angle, with Rollins and Balor coming out to interrupt and breathe a little life into the segment. Miz's performance on the mic throughout had been very good, full of character and showing good awareness by the performer in the lack of self-awareness from the character, but it took having Rollins & Balor present to allow him to really shine. Barbs like "Nobody makes losing look better than you" to Rollins and "To be over, you need more than just a hand sign, that's not even yours" to Balor were deliciously cruel and with elements of truth, delivered with flair. Miz would eventually challenge Rollins & Balor to a three on two handicap match against the Intercontinental Champion, Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel. 

then...

The Miz, Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel vs. Seth Rollins & Finn Balor 

Seth Rollins got a second pin in as many weeks on the Intercontinental Champion as a Curb Stomp was enough to get the pinfall victory for the Iowan. The match was mostly focused around the relationship between Rollins & Finn Balor as the pair playing a game of one up, despite being caught at three on two disadvantage. I think the match could've done more to build up the Miztourage as a threat, because of the numbers, as the match ended up signposting its intentions a little too early and I found myself tuning out for portions of it. There was a nice spot on the outside where Miz managed to taunt Balor into running a gauntlet of lariat before being caught by Bo Dallas, but apart from that the group struggled to look anything more than fodder. I'm not sure how well the babyface pair blind-tagging each other worked, because the original one where Balor tagged in as Rollins was about to go for a suicide dive got zero reaction from Milwaukee, although they at least seemed to catch up with the story by the time Rollins did the same for the finish, when Balor was preparing for Coup de Grace. Rollins & Balor both came out looking good because of the amount of offence they got in, but the match ended up feeling a little paint-by-numbers, whilst also lacking a certain energy. 

After the match - Kurt Angle booked The Miz vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania XXXIV.

Kurt Angle, Stephanie McMahon, Ronda Rousey and Triple H segment

The show opened with another good segment in the Angle/Rousey/Triple H/McMahon saga, as a match pitting RAW General Manager Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey against WWE COO Triple H and RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon was booked for WrestleMania XXXIV on 8th April. Whilst Rousey still has some rough edges, this was a well-booked piece of WWE theatre that had the crowd with it the whole way through, with a number of interesting twist and turns, as the physicality was upped between the two teams. Promo wise, McMahon was the real star here as she ran down Angle, attempting to keep him on side by reminding him how much he needed the job, referencing his two wives (which is mildly amusing considering Jeff Jarrett is going into the Hall of Fame two days before Mania!) and got some lovely heat when talking about the audience, "These people just take order and they get it done". I'd much rather watch this Stephanie, than the Stephanie that attempts to place herself as the leader of the Women's revolution, a role that actually ends up dampening the effect of her head bitch character. With Angle booking the match, because both Triple H and McMahon have contracts as "WWE Superstars" was a nice touch, that referenced McMahon's leaked talent contract from a few years back and got a good reaction, before some well choreographed scrapping concluded with Angle trapping The Game in an Ankle Lock and Rousey hitting a rough looking samoan drop on McMahon. Considering how they've announcing Ronda's first match will be at WrestleMania and its unlikely that Angle, Triple H or McMahon will compete, I'm intrigued to see how they manage to keep this feud going over the next four weeks without feeling repetitive, but it's definitely heading in the right direction.  

Elias and Braun Strowman segment

Before the segment - Elias tried to get his Symphony of Destruction match with Braun Strowman cancelled by Kurt Angle, but Angle just made the match Falls Count Anywhere to stop Elias from running away. - Braun Strowman cut a handheld promo, proclaiming that tonight marked the "Countdown to [Elias'] extinction"

The Elias vs. Braun Strowman feud continued to be a sleeper hit on WWE television, as Elias attempted to get out of the pairs Symphony of Destruction match. Presented like very little else of WWE, this began with Elias bringing a new version of his regular concert, by also playing the piano and drums, as well as his signature guitar, whilst running down Milwaukee. There was nothing particular new or creative to his concert, but its a formula that works very well with the live audience and therefore tends to create an enjoyable experience for the viewer at home. Doing the concert on the ramp, before asking for a proper introduction, only to leg it once the lights were turned down was a lovely moment, with the cameras quickly catching up with the Drifter backstage, giving the segment energy and a real sense of foreboding as everyone knew it was only a matter of time before Strowman turned up to cause some destruction. This came in the form of holding Elias's car by the back bumper so it couldn't drive off, which could have been much better shot in a rare moment of WWE's production letting down its performers. Either way, Elias escaped back into the arena and the match was still on...

then...

Symphony of Destruction Match // Elias vs. Braun Strowman 

The short Braun Strowman vs. Elias feud concluded with a dominant display from the Monster Amongst Men, as he pinned Elias after slamming a piano on him in a fun squash. Elias got very little offence in and what he did get in (guitar shot, jumping knee and diving elbow drop) resulting in a one count before Strowman smashed some more shit up. The crowd loved the big spots, like the return of the double bass, but wasn't all that enthralled about the action that took place in the ring. The final spot ended up looking a little underwhelming, mostly because the camera shot that was chosen showed Elias clearly safely rolling out of the way of the part of the piano Strowman had kicked away the legs from, before rolling back under once it had been rested on the stage and whilst its obvious to everyone that Elias wasn't going to have been allowed to be crushed by a piano, it would've been nice not to see so clearly how the magician did his tricks. Overall, this was fun way to end the feud, but was poorly shot and the idea behind having all of the plunder set up on the stage seemed a misguided one. 

After the match - Elias was carried out of the arena on a stretcher...here's hoping he's kept of RAW for the next four weeks for a big pop at WrestleMania. 

John Cena and Goldust segment

I have absolutely no idea what happened here. John Cena's promo was trotting along nicely, as he promoted his part in the six pack challenge for the WWE Championship on the SmackDown PPV Fastlane on Sunday, it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was doing a decent job of telling the audience what was happening and making a good use of the "free agent" gimmick that Cena's been given. The idea that Cena wanted to say this on RAW so he would be uninterrupted was a neat one, even if it made the 16 time World Champion look a little cowardly in kayfabe. It set up the notion that Cena could break Ric Flair's "record" and introduced the idea of triple threat match between Cena, Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles if Cena won the title on Sunday, two interesting concepts that will almost certainly be used to drive the Fastlane clash. Then Goldust interrupted and things got weird. The 48 year old Texan seemed really struggle with his promo, appearing to be actively trying to recall what his next line was and making what was already a bizarre promo filled with film references into some unintelligible garbage, whilst Cena look legit baffled by what was happening. Basically, it was a set-up to have Cena vs. Goldust for the first time ever, with the two only being opponents in Royal Rumbles, battle royals and triple threat tag team match on RAW from October 2014, where Cena tagged with Dean Ambrose and Goldust with Stardust, whilst The Usos were the third team.  

then...

John Cena vs. Goldust 

This was pretty much a squash for John Cena, with not a whole lot to talk about, as Cena hit his signature sequence and won clean with an Attitude Adjustment in a couple of minutes. The rest of the action was not good, including a poorly worked distraction low blow sequence that got zero reaction. Perhaps its time for Goldust to step down from active competition.

Asuka vs. Nia Jax

Asuka picked up another victory over Nia Jax this week, tapping out the Irresistible Force with an armbar, after a superb closing sequence. Based on the stretch alone this might have been the best match that the two have had together, as Jax spent an long arse time in both an cross-armbreaker and triangle choke, before eventually tapping out. This sequence made both women look great, as Asuka held onto the hold through powerbombs, buckle bombs and even managed to bounce off the ropes to roll through into another hold, whilst Jax took a silly amount of punishment and attempted everything possible to escape the move. A really sound piece of booking, that judging by the reaction from the crowd afterwards, did wonders for Jax's reputation with the audience and also seemed to set the wheels in motion for a babyface turn in the near future. The match wasn't without its problems however, the most obvious being a pretty awkward moment after Jax had nailed a samoan drop and then awkwardly backed into the cover in order to allow the Empress of Tomorrow space to put her foot on the ropes. Both women are still looking for their signature singles match on the main roster, but those last three minutes or so were wonderful to watch, with the commentary team doing a solid job of putting over both women in the closing stages.

After the match - Nia Jax sold her arm well, whilst receiving a round of applause for her valiant stretch in Asuka's submission holds - Jax was later seen with ie on her elbow as RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss manipulatively ripped into Jax under the guise of friendship, leading to Jax breaking down in tears in a backstage segment with wonderful depth and character.

Paul Heyman & Roman Reigns segment

The rivalry between Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns continued heat-up ahead of their WrestleMania collisions, without the champion even needing to be present this week as Paul Heyman returned to RAW for an impassioned promo. Heyman was on real real good form this week, initially calling "bullshit" on Reigns' comment about how little Lesnar defends the Universal title, pointing out Reigns' biggest career win came against a man who wrestled once that year (The Undertaker), before launching into a dramatic speech about what it means to be Universal Champion. Whilst I wasn't completely sold on the idea that it's not about how much you want the title, but how much the title wants you, Heyman did a massive job at making me believe that he believed it with a rich soliloquy talking about having to put the title before family, with what felt like real emotion in his voice. With references about the championship not being a prop or a belt, that would've popped hardcore fans and the sheer passion that would draw in absolutely anyone on the planet. The segment concluded with Roman Reigns interrupted with perfect timing, making Heyman pick the title up off the ground and telling Heyman to tell Lesnar to be ready for a fight next week when the two final go face to face. Like last week's show closing segment with Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle, this segment gave the audience a reason to tune in next week to see what goes down the two finally share the same ring, after two weeks of very good storyline build. With four episodes left to go, this story has been paced perfectly so far, lets hope WWE can keep this on course and peak it with a brutal clash on 8th April.

Bayley vs. Mandy Rose

Before the match - Bayley was interviewed about leaving Sasha Banks in the trios match last week, but was cut off by Absolution, with Paige cutting a horrible promo about Sasha changing Bayley's diapers. 

Despite debuting at the end of November and competing for the RAW Women's Championship at last month's Elimination Chamber match, this was actually Mandy Rose's debut singles match on RAW and whilst she did the honours for Bayley, she actually looked relatively competent in there on her own. There was a lot of rope running, but most of it looked passable, with Rose able to keep up with the much more experienced Bayley, with the match being highlighted by a big jumping knee strike from Rose for a near fall. The finish didn't do wonders for the already weak Absolution stable, as both Paige and Sonya Deville tried to get involved, only for Bayley to reverse a pinfall to pick up the win in around five minutes TV time. Rose is clearly in need of more time in the ring, but she seems to have a solid base on which to build upon if given the opportunity. 

After the match - Sasha Banks made the save for Bayley as Absolution laid in the boots, but Bayley refused to hug Banks after the save.

Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder

Cesaro & Sheamus put an end to The Revival's hope of a RAW Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania as Cesaro pinned Scott Dawson with a Neutralizer, after a curious tag team match. There was a lot of nice stuff going on in the match, but I'm not sure how effective it was to have two heel teams in there, with Cesaro & Sheamus taking on the psuedo-babyface role. The Revival's style is effective with an popular babyface team, as they cut off the ring and work over an opponent methodically, yet when the person they're doing that too is Sheamus, it doesn't quite have the same effect, either with the live audience or when viewing at home. The work was fine, The Revival have a number of nice ways to keep on top and focus well on various body parts, but there was the heel v heel element meant that the match was lacking the ingredient needed to be a compelling piece of TV. The Revival did get a good nearfall off a superplex and frog splash combination and the closing sequence had some nice energy as Sheamus cut off a Shatter Machine attempt with a Brogue Kick, so there was still enough to enjoy in what was a fairly short contest. Now the Revival are out of the picture for WrestleMania, that really only leaves Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for The Bar to defend the RAW tag straps against at Mania, unless a pair is brought up from NXT or a new team of singles guys is formed for the show of shows. 

Bray Wyatt vs. Rhyno

Squash match victory for Bray Wyatt, with Sister Abigail putting Rhyno away in a matter of minutes. 

After the match - Bray Wyatt claimed his issues with Matt Hardy were far from over, before Matt Hardy arrived on screen and challenge Wyatt to a match at the Hardy Compound, giving the match the name "The Ultimate Deletion"

Also this week 

- Hillbilly Jim was announced as the latest inductee to the 2018 Hall of Fame class, joining Goldberg, Jeff Jarrett, The Dudley Boyz, Ivory and Jarrius Robertson for the 6th April ceremony.

- Timothy Schriver discussed his mother, Eunice Kennedy Schriver's work with the Special Olympics, as part of Women's history month. 

- It was announced that WWE will be doing stadium shows in both Saudi Arabia and Australia later this year, with the Saudi Arabian event being main evented by a 50 man Royal Rumble match.

- It was announced that contemporary R&B duo CHLOE X HALLE will sing America the Beautiful at WrestleMania XXXIV. 

ATPW Scale Rating // 5.40 out of 10 

Written by James Marston // @IAmNotAlanDale 

WWE Mixed Match Challenge Review // 6th February 2018

The first round of Mixed Match Challenge continued in Kansas City, Missouri this week, as RAW's Goldust & Mandy Rose faced of with SmackDown's Naomi & Jimmy Uso. But how did it all go down? Let's have a look.

Mixed Match Challenge First Round Match // Naomi & Jimmy Uso def. Goldust & Mandy Rose // Pinfall

Naomi & Jimmy Uso became the first SmackDown tandem to make it through to the Quarter Finals of Mixed Match Challenge, as they picked up a victory over Goldust & Mandy Rose, after Goldust received the Rear View from Naomi and a Superfly Splash from Uso. Whilst hardly a wrestling classic, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this easy watch of a match, that pushed the comedy elements of the character, with Uso in particular getting a chance for creative, clearly enjoying himself in there with the veteran of laughs, Goldust. This was helped by a crowd who were happy to play along with the jokes, mostly regarding Goldust being unable to keep up with Jimmy. The wrestling that there was solid stuff and featured a fun sequence where both teams hit signature moves in tandem and a solid near fall for Goldie off a sloppy Final Cut. The highlight of the match was Rose hiding behind the Bizarre One on the outside to avoid Naomi, only for the former SmackDown Women's Champion to slingshot right over Goldust's head and flatten Rose anyway. The most off-putting part of the presentation was having Michael Cole tell us what Rusev and Lana were saying in the Facebook comments section on the feed, because surely the point is that if you're interested in what they're saying you'll be reading the comments. The Bulgarian Brute and the Ravishing Russian actually came out after the match, claiming to be the strongest husband and wife team and getting the crowd to sing a cute little song ahead of their First Round match with Bayley & Elias next week. Naomi & Uso will return to face Alexa Bliss & Braun Strowman in the Quarter Finals in four weeks. 

Also this week...

- Elias and Bayley cut a promo on next week's match with Elias not letting Bayley sing along and also refusing a hug.

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.5/10

Written by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale) 

DVD Review: WWE The Attitude Era Vol. 3 "Unreleased" - Match Compilation

WWE's latest home video release is the third installment in The Attitude Era series, available as either a 3 disc DVD or 2 disc Blu-Ray set. With never before seen matches from house shows, after TV and PPV tapings and unique settings like Kuwait City and Wall Street, featuring the likes of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker would the release be a festival of buried treasure or would it have been better off left in the vaults? Let's take a look. 

Disc One - Steve Austin v Shawn Michaels 

Corey Graves is an interesting choice to host, but if instantly starts to make sense as he brings an enthusiastic and energetic approach to his parts of the set, adding context to each and every match. There's also some GTV style skits, with Graves talking to various backstage hands, about either the upcoming or previous match, which whilst not always being a home run, does bring some variety to proceedings. 

The headline bout from Disc One is a superb World Heavyweight title match between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels (Kuwait Cup 1996 - Day 5), that is only harmed by the lights cutting out for a minute or so. The action is spotless throughout, with the crowd ridiculously hot for Michaels, helped along by some brilliant heel work from Austin. From the same show, The British Bulldog teaming with Owen Hart against The Undertaker and Bret "Hitman" Hart in a true spectacle, because if the crowd were hot for Austin v Michaels, they are nuclear for this. There's a serious amount of stalling here, but because the crowd are so into even the smallest moment it's fascinating viewing, with the competitors building the bout to a satisfying conclusion. 

Bret Hart and Austin put together an excellent house show contest in Germany, playing to each others strengths and taking the crowd on a nice journey. It's a shame that the only footage available is single ringside camera, as it's near impossible to do the action justice this way and like many matches on this set the viewing experience is heavily effected. Another Austin contest sees him in action against Undertaker in a good match from Madison Square Garden, with the pair taking on similar roles to the previous Austin bouts mentioned. The finish is a bit of disappointment however as Mankind, Shawn Michaels and Goldust all make run in appearances.

In a first-time meeting between the two, there's an instant spark in Undertaker's dark main event against Mankind from In Your House 7: Good Friends, Better Enemies. The audience is all about Undertaker, but the new-comer does more than enough to impress taking some bruising bumps on outside in the bouts final straight. Goldust challenging for Shawn Michael's World Heavyweight title is a bizarre bout, full of odd sexual stuff from both men, seen in the cold light of 2016 it's easy to question both the performance and crowd allegiance throughout (In Your House 11: Buried Alive Dark match). Owen Hart v The Ultimate Warrior, taken from the same MSG show as the infamous Curtain Call, is a frustrating watch as Hart bumps around for Warrior, whilst Warrior no-sells pretty much all of Hart's offence. Shawn Michaels and Mankind round of the disc, with a short dark main event from In Your House 12: It's Time, that has some clever moments but doesn't get the chance to reach top gear.

Disc Two - Hunter Hearst Helmsley v Steve Austin

After seeing Austin work heel on Disc 1, it's brilliant to see him flip the coin in a superb match with "Triple H" Hunter Hearst Helmsley in MSG, just a week before capturing the World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania. The crowd plays a major part once again, reacting to every little movement from Austin, Helmsley and Chyna, as Helmsley does his best Ric Flair impression en route to an electric finish. A triple threat dark main event from Monday Night RAW, with Shawn Michaels defending the World Heavyweight title against Sycho Sid and Bret Hart is much more of a curiosity than a classic encounter. There's some decent action, but HBK just seems to be dicking around and Sid was never the slickest of wrestlers, interference from Austin and Canadian professional boxer George Chuvalo add to the trippy feel of the fight. 

A decent Intercontinental Championship clash between The Rock and Ken Shamrock from a California house show, starts of strong and steadily heads towards being an utter mess by the time the finish comes. The two have enough chemistry in the ring to slowly build the crowds interest and the Arrowhead Pond goes nuts for Shamrock taking out Rock's fellow Nation of Domination members, but when the ending is head scratching once it's eventually explained by the announcer. The Nation are featured in an Eight Man Tag dark main event from RAW is WAR, Rock, Faarooq, Kama Mustafa and D'Lo Brown face Austin, Cactus Jack, Chainsaw Charlie and The Undertaker in a match that is everything you'd want it to be and concludes with a marvelous hot tag. 

Back at MSG, Triple H takes a limited Big Show to a surprisingly solid bout, that could've done without Show no-selling being pushed into the ring post! On that same note, a Falls Count Anywhere contest between Cactus Jack and "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn is wall to wall entertainment with an appreciative MSG crowd boosting the hardcore antics. Rounding off the second disc and the main feature is a standard tag match between The Dudley Boyz and T&A, that's boosted by taking place in the middle of Wall Street. 

Disc Three - Legion of Doom v D-Generation X

Legion of Doom v D-Generation X's Triple H & Shawn Michaels is a legitimate dream match, that only a handful of people got to see, however a Nassau Colliseum house show clash between the two teams is on Disc 3 and for the most part it's as glorious as you'd want it to be. The action is surprisingly slick for the time, with a red hot crowd helping to push Animal towards the eventual hot tag, after plenty of dastardly tricks from Michaels, Triple H and Chyna, it's a shame that this is a house show bout as the match falls apart in the closing stages thanks to some slapdash booking. A Sky Dome house World Heavyweight title clash between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker doesn't match the quality of the Disc 1 contest, with a crowd that seems to be neither here or there on either guy, probably not helped by Taker's odd relationship with manager Paul Bearer. There's some funny heckling from the crowd whilst Austin's got a headlocked cinched in and a slick finish, but most of the clash is disappointingly average.

There's shenanigans a plenty in an "Unsanctioned" six man tag match with World Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws & Intercontinental Champion The Rock going up against Cactus Jack, Chainsaw Charlie & Steve Austin from a house show at the Continental Airlines Arena. Lots of fun weapon spots and brawling and plenty of Stunners are unfortunately let down by the only footage coming from a dodgy ringside camera that spends far too much time being pointed at the ring apron. Another Triple H v Austin contest is included and it's easy to tell that the match is from the same run of house shows as the previous encounter, it's almost move for move identical. It's cool to see how the Arrowhead Arena pops differently to MSG, but some more weak ringside footage make for frustrating viewing at times.  

A Falls Count Anywhere tag bout pitting The Rock & D'Lo Brown against The Undertaker & Steve Austin at MSG is a solid main event style brawl, with plenty of antics, many weapon shots, as well as Faarooq, Kama Mustafa and Goldust all getting involved in the bouts conclusion. Again the ringside camera let's the action down, missing some important spots in the contest, including the finish itself! A third Austin v Undertaker clash over the World Heavyweight title at MSG has it's moments, including a superb false finish, but feels more than a little short, alongside poor footage that has big chunks missing. A lethargic match between Austin and Goldust from In Your House 12: It's Time is neither man's shining achievement, with a flat crowd barely lifted by Hunter Hearst Helmsley's involvement.

A short scrappy dark match from a Syracuse RAW is WAR with The Nation of Domination's Faarooq, Savio Vega and Crush against Goldust, The Undertaker and Ahmed Johnson is notable mainly for PG-13's awful pre-match rap. Yokozuna's last ever singles match is a cool inclusion and the only match to include commentary across the entire three discs, although the match with The Sultan in Sun City, South Africa is far from a classic. The set concludes with another tag bout from Wall Street with The Hardy Boyz having a solid encounter with the short-lived Lo Down pairing of D'Lo Brown and Chaz.

Finally...

ATPW Scale DVD Rating - 5.99/10 

Attitude Era Vol. 3 is a good home video release, with a number of fun and exciting matches, aided by the fact the bouts have previously only been seen by a relatively small audience. The first disc is the strongest of the three, housing Austin v Michaels, Bulldog & Hart v Undertaker & Hart,, Hart v Austin and Undertaker v Mankind, all of which are top drawer contests. There's gems to be found on the last two disc also like the two Austin v Helmsley matches and Legion of Doom v DX, but the good to great matches definitely become few and far between as the set draws on. The beauty of the set though is that even the average bouts have a novelty factor about them that draws you in. 

If you're expecting TV quality footage, then for the most part you're going to be disappointing, as while the dark matches tend to be produced well, the vast majority of the house show bouts (especially on the final disc) are filmed by a single ringside camera that seems to be operated by a gibbon. Other elements like no commentary may be an issue for some people. I'm surprised that no commentary was filmed especially for the set to help bring extra context to some of the encounters, beyond Corey Graves' introductions. 

In the days of the WWE Network, it's difficult for WWE Home Video to offer value for money in it's release, because a large portion of WWE's tape library is already available on demand. This is a neat way of getting around that, by offering a wealth of footage that will be completely new to most of the audience, about one of the most popular periods in the companies history, the fact that there is some great matches included across the set is a big bonus! Well worth part with your cash if you get the opportunity. 

This release is available from WWEDVD, Amazon, Base, Blackwell's and ebay.  

All content - James Marston 
Special Thanks - WWE Home Video UK and Fetch Publicity. 

TV REVIEW: WWE Thursday Night Smackdown #855 (Ambrose vs. Owens)

It was the first Smackdown of 2016 and the first broadcast on the show's new American home, USA and WWE took the opportunity to focus on two different titles. In the main event, Kevin Owens got a shot a Dean Ambrose's Intercontinental Championship, whilst earlier in the show, Charlotte put her Diva's Championship on the line against former friend Becky Lynch. With two promising bouts advertised, could Smackdown deliver and start 2016 with a bang?! 

Fast-Forward...The show begins with a recap of Roman Reigns retaining the World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus on Monday Night RAW #1180, despite Mr. McMahon being the Special Guest Referee, however no one involved actually appeared on the show...New announcer, Mauro Raunello introduced us to the first Smackdown of 2016, with his co-commentators, Jerry "The King" Lawler and Byron Saxton running down the card for the evening...

For the shows debut on the USA Network, WWE bought in 12 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, John Cena to lend the show some extra fire power. However, Cena didn't wrestle, as he simply accepted that Alberto Del Rio didn't want to wrestle him and called out Kalisto instead. The back and forth between Cena and Del Rio didn't quite hit the spot, as things seemed a little aimless and meandered about without a real purpose. I'm not quite sure it made much sense that Cena had Kalisto standing in gorilla, just in case Del Rio refused his challenge, but the crowd seemed happy enough with the replacement, even if they were much more vocal about a potential bout from Cena. Other highlights included Del Rio accidentally saying "Are you out of my mind?" and Cena saying repeatedly saying "Kalisto" and then dancing along to the Lucha chants.

The crowd was pretty hyped for the opener, with the United States Champion getting a decent amount of heat, whilst antagonising the crowd throughout. The action was decent throughout with a vicious Del Rio controlling most of the match, however this did mean that we didn't get to see a whole lot of Kalisto's flashy offence, but with Del Rio have the crowd already in hand it wasn't missed too much. WWE seems to be high on the former NXT Tag Team Champion, and it wasn't too much of a surprise to see him pulling out a flash pin victory following a hurricanrana, after Del Rio was distracted by Cena at ringside. With Cena now out injured, a feud between Del Rio and Kalisto seems to be on the card, I definitely wouldn't mind these two go at it again. After watching this I get the feeling that these two have the potentially to put on a memorable effort on PPV, if given a little more time and space than they were afforded here.


Fast-Forward...Kalisto celebrated with John Cena on the entrance ramp...

Miz TV was up next, with The Miz "scheduled" to look forward at 2016, but that wasn't to be as The New Day, Dolph Ziggler, Goldust, Neville and R-Truth all turned up to have their say. It was pretty run of the mill pre-Royal Rumble segment with everyone arguing about why they were going to win the Rumble. Obviously it got pretty boring pretty quickly as anyone who's watched WWE in the last twelve months knows how unlikely any of these 8 guys are to win the World Heavyweight Championship on the 23rd January. What did make this entertaining however was R-Truth's performance. His comedy character believed he was answering Alberto Del Rio's Open Challenge, Truth's vocals and facials when finding out that wasn't the case were spot on. Everyone else's reactions were also a change from the norm, with Xavier Woods pulling up a chair and beginning to eat popcorn as Miz and Truth argued back and forth. Things breaking into a brawl saw a return to the regular schtick.

R-Truth, Neville, Goldust & Dolph Ziggler then teamed to take on The New Day and The Miz in a throwaway eight man tag team bout. There was enough talent in the ring to take the opportunity and put on a belter of a contest, but unfortunately all eight guys seemed pretty content to churn out a match and get out of there. This perhaps wasn't helped by a lethargic crowd, who had no real reason to care. Neville worked well as the Geordie in peril, but I'd have picked him out of the four babyfaces perform the hot tag, with Goldust slotting into the other role. The closing sequence was the highlight of proceedings with Neville able to take out all of the New Day with a suicide dive, before Goldust and R-Truth set up Miz for a Superkick from Ziggler to give the good guys the win. 


Fast-Forward...Ziggler went on to take out R-Truth and Goldust with the commentators selling it almost like a full-on heel turn, but it'd seem more likely this is being used to put over the "Any man for himself" gimmick of the Rumble...Eden doing the in-ring announcement for Becky Lynch and Charlotte's Diva's Championship bout was a sound little touch and gave the bout a little more of an important feel, as the match topped the second hour...

I thought that Charlotte (with Ric Flair) and Becky Lynch put on a quality television bout here, that made each girl look like a star, whilst elevating the Divas Championship. The narrative of two former best friends is a simple one, but it's also easily relate-able and the two women used that well in the early parts of the bout, adding a little extra bite to the technical wrestling we've seen the pairs previous matches. Charlotte using her Dad to take control of the clash, by repeatedly rolling out of the ring and keep Flair in between the two, drove the bout forward well, working as a nice turning point for the middle of the contest. Whilst things got a little sloppy and rushed in final third, I thought the closing sequence, and especially Becky's near falls, was top class and having the call back to their bout on Monday Night RAW in November, with Flair distracting Becky, was the icing on the cake. Whilst they seemed reluctant at first, the crowd looked to be heavily invested in proceedings by the finish of things. With Charlotte retaining her title with her feet on the ropes, and Becky arguably having the match won if it wasn't for The Nature Boy, this feud is set up perfectly for a rematch at the Royal Rumble.


Fast-Forward...During an interview with Renee Young, Kevin Owens cut a belting promo about killing cockroaches to push his Intercontinental Championship bout with Dean Ambrose later in the show...The RAW Rebound focused again on Roman Reigns retaining his World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus and the aftermath with Mr. McMahon announcing Reigns would defend the title in the Royal Rumble match on January 23rd...Renee Young was on hand once again, this time allowing Dean Ambrose to shine in a cracking interview, with the Lunatic Fringe promising the viewers a fight in his main event with Kevin Owens...With Ambrose and Owens making their entrances and Eden Stiles making their announcements, there was a true big fight feel for this one, when was the last time you could say that about an Intercontinental Championship bout, or a match on Smackdown for that matter...

As television main events go, this was a high quality contest. In a fairly even bout, Owens and Ambrose showed they have heaps of chemistry, producing a series of wonderful reversals that go better and quicker as the match went on. A section that saw Owens hit a German Suplex and Ambrose hit a Tornado DDT after both attempting a number of other moves was particularly satisfying, as was the earlier brawl on the outside that saw Ambrose hit a Russian Leg Sweep into the barricade. It was a shame that we didn't get a clear finish, but this is TV and having the two brawling around the arena to a double countout made perfect sense to intensify their rivalry and build to a big match on a Royal Rumble show where the two could have a lot more time (especially with Rumble now being for the World Title) The commentators (especially newbie Raunallo) putting over just how important the Intercontinental Championship was to these men made me a very happy chappy indeed. 


Fast-Forward...The show closed with Ambrose and Owens brawling through the crowd, with a handful of big spots, closing with both men crashing through a pile of tables...

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.53 (Average-Good TV) 

In comparison to TNA's debut on POP TV two days earlier, Smackdown's debut on USA was a massive success. Both advertised matches delivered what I was expecting of them, being good quality television wrestling matches, that held my attention throughout and made me want to see more from everyone involved. Whilst a title change would have made the broadcast feel a little more important, I don't think it was the be all and end all here. The show was hurt by a bit too much filler in the form of Miz TV and the Eight Man Tag Team bout and having two recaps of Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns from RAW was unnecessary especially the one that aired at the beginning of the show. 

This was still a decent outing for the blue show, establishing itself well to new viewers on USA. I'm hoping we get to see the spotlight given to the Intercontinental and Divas Championship more often on the show, as it should give the show a real purpose, giving fans a reason to tune in, whilst elevated the titles themselves.

WWE Hall of Fame 2016 Predictions

This article is part of #ATPW24, in aid of MIND Charity. You can help support the cause by going to www.justgiving.co.uk/acrossthepondwrestling

Now, the title of the article might say predictions, but this is going to more like a random list of names than anything resembling a coherent argument for why these name will be in next year. So don't come running to me when every single one of them is wrong!

The Undertaker

It writes itself really doesn't it? Undertaker's hometown, one last hurrah at WrestleMania, preceeded by entering WWE's Hall of Fame the night before. Imagine Undertaker's speech, after being inducted by lil' bro Kane, shootin' the shit with all the decades of knowledge that he's built up. There is really only one headliner for next year's Hall of Fame, isn't there? And that is The Deadman.

Davey Boy Smith

If only so poor Michael Finney of "Team DBS" can finally relax! It's another long overdue induction for the Davey Boy and next year could be his year. It's always heart breaking to see someone inducted posthumously, but Davey's family would do a fantastic job with an acceptance speech, and Bret Hart would stand out as an ideal inductor for the former Intercontinental Champion!

Kamala 

Let's make this thing fully international, let's reach all the way to Uganda! The Ugandan Giant hasn't been seen for a good few years in WWE, but his belly smacking antics certainly made an impact during his run. Jerry Lawler stands out as a potentially inducter for Kamala. The only question would be whether Kamala would break character for his induction speech!

Baron von Raschke

Representing the old school, von Raschke shouldn't be held back by his limited time in the WWE, after seeing a number of dudes who never even wrestled for the Fed get inducted in recent years. He's a well known name with a recognisable gimmick, who held numerous titles through the seventies, eighties and even into the nineties. Surely von Raschke is due an induction into the HOF?

Goldust

Another Texas boy who's winding down his in-ring days after a tremendous return to the WWE. Is there a better way of capping off that return then having his father "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes cement his legacy by inducting him into the WWE Hall of Fame? An always entertaining character and an underrated in-ring performer, 2016 could be Goldie's year.

Chyna

Almost certainly the most controversial pick, but Chyna fits two categories WWE looks to fill. She's a woman and she'll add that shock value both for the announcement and the ceremony itself. Just who'd be willing to inductee her I'm not sure, but if it means she stops doing weird Youtube videos it'd make me a happy man.

Celebrity Inductee
David Arquette

Simply because someone has to go in. Let it be Arquette for the banter. He held the World Heavyweight title, that's more than Roddy Piper ever did and he's in.

So, there you have it, seven of the greatest ever names to grace the sport of professional wrestling...but how many will get inducted into next years Hall of Fame? We'll just have to wait and see.

Why I didn't write a Survivor Series 2013 Review!

Okay, I've been thinking about this one for a few days, and I even started to write up a review of this year's WWE Survivor Series, but then I thought against it. This article will hopefully got some way to explaining why this is the first PPV I haven't reviewed since this year's Wrestlemania.

Firstly, I'd like to say that I don't think this PPV was as bad as many people have been saying, with the highlight being the opening bout pitting Goldust, Cody Rhodes, The Usos & Rey Mysterio against The Shield and The Real Americans in a Traditional Survivor Series match, and neither did I think the main event was the worst thing I've seen this year, it told a story and did the best it could do with what is was given. My problem with this PPV was the distinct lack of effort that was put in across the board, from WWE Creative and some members of the roster, in both the build up and execution of the PPV and if there's no effort being put into the product, why should I put the effort into writing a 4000 word review? I'm happy to review a terrible PPV, if there's at least some effort going into it, but not this.

At no point during the build up was I made to believe that Alberto Del Rio could defeat John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship, with the same being able to be said about Big Show going after Randy Orton's WWE Championship, these were stop gap matches until something else came along, and whilst from time to time that may happen within the WWE, it should never feel that way when watching the programming. It's the job of the booking staff or “writers”, alongside the on screen talent, to make me believe that either man could head out of the PPV with holding the championship belt. However, after Cena defeated Del Rio on the previous PPV with an injured arm, how was I meant to buy into the possibility that Del Rio could defeat a Cena with a slightly less injured arm? Meanwhile, the focus on television had clearly shifted off Big Show and on to Randy Orton's relationship with The Authority, which is weird considering the focus had been on Big Show for months without Show featuring on a PPV!

The whole PPV seemed to focus and build towards the final moments, where John Cena came out to stare down Randy Orton with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon looking on. It was a big moment and the crowd certainly reacted to it, (although I think they were expected a match between the two straight away) but there was one problem...it wasn't advertised! It did nothing to help towards PPV buys, and whilst it could have contributed to a rise in the ratings for Raw this week, the PPV buyers should always come first, in my opinion, especially seeing as it's a much more direct form of revenue for the company.

The rest of the PPV was a mainly bland affair, with CM Punk & Daniel Bryan's bout with The Wyatt Family's Erick Rowan and Luke Harper being the only stand out in the middle of the pack, a dull Intercontentinal Championship match between Big E Langston and Curtis Axel that was only ever going to go one way and Mark Henry answering Ryback's open challenge both failing to produce anything of warrant, beyond the ill fate of both former Paul Heyman guys. The Diva's Tag Match wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be, and there were some nice moments in the match, but it was clear that most of the women weren't ready for a match like this one.

Okay, in explaining why I haven't written a review for this PPV, I kind of ended up writing a review of this PPV, although that was inevitable, I guess. I'm hoping that WWE begins to pick up it's game again soon and returns to the excitement of it's run of PPV early in the Summer (Payback/Money in the Bank/SummerSlam), especially as we get closer to WrestleMania. The Authority angle is quickly dying a death, as WWE botches another major angle, it can still be rescued, just about, and I'll be talking about that in this week's Across The Pond Wrestling LIVE