The Best of Times…The Worst of Times // Royal Rumble

The brainchild of Pat Paterson and everyone’s favourite PPV: as the Rumble hits 30, I look at the best and worst of the show’s history.

Best Rumble Match // 1992

I lose points for originality here but 1992 is the default pick for the vast majority of wrestling fans for good reason: it featured arguably the last great performance of Ric Flair’s career (complete with classic post-match promo); allowed Bobby Heenan to channel his comedic talents to great effect; featured possibly the greatest cast of WWF characters ever assembled in one match; and was the best example of babyface icon Hulk Hogan getting away with being a bit of a dick (why you gotta play Sid like that, Hulkster?) This was probably the night the Royal Rumble truly established itself as appointment viewing on the WWF calendar: now more than just a novelty battle royal, this match, with its drama, unpredictability and moments of consequence and significance, overtook SummerSlam and Survivor Series to become the number 2 show for Vince and the boys.

Honourable Mention: 2007

Worst Rumble Match // 2000

WWF was red hot in 2000 so bringing its greatest gimmick to its home arena of MSG should have been a sure-fire hit, Whilst the undercard was superb, the Rumble match flattered to deceive. In fact, it remains the dullest Rumble match in history, its one fun spot an impromptu dance off between Rikishi and Too Cool for which the crowd came unglued (I remain steadfast that most wrestling fans secretly favour dancing over workrate). All this match is really known for is Road Dogg hanging onto the bottom rope for an eternity and Rocky and Big Show botching the finish. Avoid.

Honourable Mention: 1991

Best Title Match at a Rumble PPV // John Cena vs Umaga (WWE Championship, 2007)

I struggled with this category: I really enjoy the Triple H and Cactus Jack's street fight at 2000 and Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit at 2003 is a wrestling classic. But fans expected those matches to be great: this title bout from San Antonio, contested under Last Man Standing Rules, vastly exceeded expectations. Featuring an innovative spot in which Umaga charged across the announce desks, a mighty juice job from Cena and a frankly mental finish in which the champ used the ring ropes to render his foe unconscious, this match had a bit of everything. It also secured the late Umaga his spot in the huge Battle of the Billionaires match at ‘Mania 23. A true classic and one that doesn’t always get the props it deserves.

Honourable Mention: Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (2003)

Worst Title Match at a Rumble PPV // Kurt Angle vs Mark Henry (World Title, 2006)

To be honest, the worst title match in Rumble history is probably Triple H vs Scott Steiner from 2003  but as I literally wrote about that last month, I feel I should vary things up. And Angle and Henry sucked so it’s fair game here.  This match, positioned last on the card, therefore going on after the Rumble and a worthier Cena vs Edge encounter, secured said slot simply because the show closing visual was to be Undertaker interrupting the pedestrian action so that he could destroy the ring. That this odd angle led to a belter between Taker and Angle is some consolation but on that fateful night in 2006, this was not Rumble worthy.

Honourable Mention: Triple H vs Scott Steiner (2003)

Best Rumble PPV // 2002

This show featured one of the best Rumble matches ever: Tripe H was a popular winner; Steve Austin had a blast delivering Stone Cold’s greatest hits; Mr Perfect returned and Maven eliminating Undertaker feels even more shocking years later than it was then. The show also had a great undercard: Jericho and The Rock tore it up in the Undisputed Title match and Vince McMahon and Ric Flair had a surprisingly solid street fight. The opening tag is innocuous fun if you watch it now on the Network but I have a soft spot for it based on the DVD release: for some reason, Taz and Spike Dudley delivered commentary on their match and seized the opportunity to mock Stacey Keibler for blowing her slapping spot; as Taz noted, the slap she sent his way would only have connected if he’d been a couple of feet taller.

Honourable Mention: 2007

Worst Rumble PPV: 2006

I’ve already buried the title match but the rest of the show wasn’t up to much either… The undercard featured JBL vs The Boogey Man which was as bad as it sounds and the Rumble itself was uninspiring. Triple H and Rey Mysterio tried to repeat Shawn Michael’s and Davey Boy’s gimmick of surviving the field from the 1 and 2 spot. 11 years may have passed but it still felt too soon to repeat this scenario; about half way through the match it became too clear this was the direction they were going in and the contest suffered accordingly. The pop for Rey after his win probably wasn’t as passionate as expected; sadly, things would only get worse in this regard…

Honourable Mention: 1991

Article by Sean Taylor-Richardson

PG Tips #1 - Edge apologises to Vickie Guerrero and a Fatal Four-Way for an ECW Championship shot (22-25/07/08)

On 22nd July 2008, WWE's television output went from being rated TV14 to TVPG. 

This series plans to take a week by week look at how the RAW, SmackDown and ECW on Sci-Fi developed under this new rating, as well as the quality of the PPVs. The era hasn't been particularly romanticised, especially by the older generation of fans, but considering that those who were ten years old when WWE turned PG are now old enough to be attending University, it's certainly time to look back and re-evaluate just how good or bad for WWE the shift was in terms of quality. 

This week's edition see's us feature a Fatal Fourway for a shot at the ECW title at SummerSlam and Edge attempt at an apology to Vickie Guerrero following his affair with their wedding planner, Alicia Fox! 

We join the Universe just a few days after the last TV-14 PPV, The Great American Bash 2008/ Just to lend some context, here's the results from that PPV.

This week's trip to the "Land of Extreme" brings us a main event of The Miz, John Morrison, Matt Hardy and Finlay battling it out for a shot at Mark Henry's ECW title, which whilst sounding like an interesting match, makes little sense considering all four men lost on the PPV...but was the show any good?

Mark Henry received a new ECW Championship belt in Philadelphia 

An eventful opening segment to begin the show, as we get a new ECW title belt, a promo from Tony Atlas and Colin Delaney (who Atlas calls "Collars Delaney" for reasons) explaining his heel turn from two days earlier. It's not a good segment by any stretch of the imagination, but there was something persevely entertaining about watching Teddy Long and Atlas stumble through their awkwardly worded promos. Considering the show is in Philadelphia, the home of the original ECW, Atlas gets very little heat for mentioning that fact and then telling the crowd "for all of you all, who tired to hold onto yester year, you're going to get squash". I would've expected the comparisons between the two ECW brands to met with at least some kind of derision, but this crowd is almost completely apathetic towards Atlas and his charge Mark Henry. Perhaps by after two years of WWE's version of ECW the crowd had gone past the point of caring that it bore zero resemblance to the rebellious company that Paul Heyman used to run. However, they do come alive once Colin Delaney starts burying Tommy Dreamer, eating up Delaney's burial, before Long gets a nice pop from announcing we're getting Dreamer v Delaney next! 

• Tommy Dreamer def. Colin Delaney. An almost complete squash match for Dreamer here as he gets his revenge on Delaney with a flurry of offence, before picking up the victory with a Dreamer DDT. 

• Backstage - The Miz and John Morrison are upset about dropping the WWE Tag Team Championships two nights earlier, but both put each other and their clothing over, before shaking hands and wishing each other luck in the main event. 

• Promo - Actress Jenny McCarthy will be at Saturday Night's Main Event on August 2nd, to promote the organisation, Generation Rescue. This was an organisation that advocated that autism was caused by vaccinations, which is total utter trash and should never have been promoted on WWE's television product or anywhere else. 

• Evan Bourne def. James Curtis [KC James]. Bourne looks pretty good here, even if extended squashes for high-flying babyfaces don't really work all too well, we did get to see Bourne landing on his feet out of a snapmare early doors, as well as a rana out of a pop-up from Curtis, before a shooting star press got the three count. Bourne was then able to dodge a post-match attack from Chavo Guerrero and Bam Neeley, who had been on commentary. 

• Backstage - A weird backstage segment where Assistant General Manager Tiffany [Taryn Terrell] told Ricky Ortiz about her education, before Teddy Long placed Ortiz in a match next week after Ortiz had claimed her was undefeated after just one match on the brand. 

Matt Hardy def. The Miz, Finlay and John Morrison to earn an ECW Championship match

Despite a shaky start and some terrible commentary from Mike Adamle, this ended up being a more than competent television main event. The opening played up the partnership between The Miz and Morrison, but lacked any notable action as we got the four repeatedly splitting off into pairs and not a whole lot else. The action in the first third was dull and slow and despite all four men being in the ring for an extended period of time, not much actually happened. However, once the action spills to the outside things begin to pick up, as Morrison and Finlay brawl on the outside, before Miz & Morrison are able to hitting their catapult into a forearm smash and then elbow drop/backbreaker combination using the barricade on the Irish man. After this things are much better, with Miz and Morrison trying for victories on Hardy, whilst trying to outwit each other at the same time, before we get a couple of sequences with all four men involved that are particularly well-done. The finish is a frenzied affair with Finlay nailing Miz with a Shillelagh, before getting knocked to the outside himself with a roundhouse kick from Morrison, leading into Morrison springboarding into a Twist of Fate from Hardy to take us home. Despite the early awkwardness and the lack of any convincing near falls, the last five or six minutes featured some really good TV action and provide us with the first recommended match of the PG Era. 

• In Arena - Mark Henry comes out to the ramp for a stare down with his SummerSlam opponent. 

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.83/10 

A good main event, but beyond that there wasn't much on this episode and it's clear that WWE isn't putting a whole lot of effort into the brand or anyone on it. Colin Delaney cut a strong promo in the opening segment, but was surrounded by bumbling speeches from Teddy Long and Tony Atlas and then had his feud with Tommy Dreamer almost immediately put to bed. The build towards Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry at SummerSlam begins next week so it shall be interesting to see how that is handled and where the likes of Finlay, John Morrison, The Miz, Evan Bourne, Chavo Guerrero and Tommy Dreamer find themselves fitting onto the hour long show.

The episode aired on 25th July 2008 on the CW Network, having been taped on 22nd July at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia. The episode included Edge's apology to wife Vickie Guerrero after the previous episode revealed he'd been cheating with wedding planner Alicia Fox and an edition of The VIP Lounge (hosted by Montel Vontavious Porter) with Jeff Hardy, but was it any good? Let's take a look. 

The VIP Lounge with Jeff Hardy

I didn't enjoy this segment at all, but the Philadelphia crowd was massively into both men. The main thrust of it was that MVP was being a massive dick to Jeff Hardy, bringing up his suspensions, issues with drugs and the death of Hardy's dog, Jack, whilst Hardy looked uncomfortable with the content, delivered his lines with very little enthusiasm or believability and looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Some of the dialogue was terrible here, when MVP bought up Hardy saying in WWE Magazine (remember that?) that he wouldn't get suspended again, Hardy replied with "I wouldn't, I'd be released", which, whilst in line with WWE wellness policy rules, is hardly the most inspiring babyface line. We close with Hardy pushing MVP over and shouting "You make me sick", for reasons I'm not quite sure. They'll both be involved in the "Biggest Blockbuster of the Summer" Battle Royal later on for a shot at Triple H's WWE Championship at SummerSlam. 

• United States Champion Shelton Benjamin def. Jimmy Wang Yang - A swifty victory for the US Champ with Paydirt, after cutting an uninteresting promo.

• A nervous Edge congratulated Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder on their Tag Team Championship win, before awkwardly looking at his hands for a bit. 

• Festus def. Curt Hawkins - This went under two minutes with Festus winning with a the one man flapjack, before his lame gimmick of going into a vegetative state when the bell rings for a pinfall allowed Hawkins and Zack Ryder to hit a double-team DDT on the Corn-Fed Colossus. 

The Biggest Blockbuster of the Summer Battle Royal for a shot at Triple H's WWE Championship at SummerSlam 

So when I saw the lineup for this battle royal and knowing the time period, I thought this was going to a car crash and it wasn't. Was it a classic? No. But it was well-booked and made the most of its components. We had Mr. Kennedy, The Great Khali, MVP, Umaga, Jeff Hardy and The Big Show; six men who didn't make it onto the Great American Bash card in an unusually thin over-the-top affair. This took away part of the spectacle of a battle royal, but also negated those early stages where a bunch of no hopers are thrown out. The opening portion was kept interesting with a couple of nice spots, like a Poetry in Motion to Khali from Hardy using Kennedy, a Khali and Show face-off being interrupted by a pair of thrust-kicks from Umaga and a Whisper in the Wind from Hardy to Umaga. The match built well towards its conclusion as Hardy eliminated Show by turning a powerbomb into modified hurricanrana that sent the World's Largest Athlete over the top rope, leaving The Charismatic Enigma alone with The Great Khali. The crowd was super hot for Hardy, with Philadelphia desperate to see the underdog overcome, however despite a Swanton Bomb and a low blow to escape a vice grip, Khali picked up the win, dumping Hardy over the top after a Khali Chop. We get a staredown between Khali and Triple H to end the segment and I am already dreading this match. 

• R-Truth is coming to SmackDown soon and we get a package of him in North Carolina talking about his time in prison. Truth had been having dark matches since March, included one before this episode with Sheamus O'Shaunessy.  

• Michelle McCool def. Maryse - Another quick bout as the first ever Diva's Champion picked up a submission victory with a MADT Heel Hook.

• The Brian Kendrick def. Shannon Moore -  A quick promo from Kendrick about his new persona, as he let the roster know that if anyone had a problem with him they should take it up with his bodyguard Ezekiel [Jackson]. This was followed up by Kendrick quickly going over Moore with The Kendrick. 

Hell Hath No Fury Like Vickie Guerrero

Edge and Vickie Guerrero were both brilliant in this segment as Guerrero took revenge for her husband's infidelity by reinstating The Undertaker and placing Edge in a Hell in a Cell Match with the Deadman at SummerSlam. Edge trying to explain away the footage claiming that "No means no, but she wouldn't listen" in regards to Alicia Fox and then explaining he only got involved with Fox in order to make sure the wedding went smoothly was played perfectly by the Rated R Superstar. Edge gets the cowardly cheat act just right, remaining entertaining and getting a couple of laughs, but also being utterly contemptible as a character and someone who you look forward to seeing getting what they deserve. Vickie seemed to relish getting to say something that the crowd would pop for and paced her lines wonderfully getting a huge pop for almost every word that came out of her mouth. The crowd went nuts for The Undertaker coming back, leaving Edge having to let them get on with it whilst looking terrified and trying to come up with a way out of facing his rival again. The segment could have done with a better conclusion as once the announcement has been made there was a lack of a climax or conflict, perhaps just playing Undertaker's music and a few special effects would've rounded off the segment perfectly. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.29/10 

Not a terrible episode, but not a great one either. This is pretty much saved by the strength of it's closing segment as Edge and Vickie Guerrero shone in an emotional climax that both played wonderfully, as the opening segment was dire and the Battle Royal was okay. Elsewhere the show was filled with short, inconsequential matches, that did very little for anyone. 

An interesting start to the PG Era as ECW and SmackDown took the leap first. The ECW Four Way main event producing the strongest action of the week, whilst the closing sequence of SmackDown was a great example of the chemistry between Edge and Vickie Guerrero and just why that feud involving the pair and The Undertaker worked so well. Across the three hours there was a lot of talking, with three of the five major segments being promo based and I noticed that the matches were a lot shorter than what we are used to seeing in 2017. When we begin to include next week, a show that is known to include more talking and entertainment segments, it will interesting to compare that to what the other two brands were offering, as the company moves away from the adult and teen orientated programming that caused it's late nineties boom and more towards the family and children market. 

Next week - RAW features a Tag Team main event pitting John Cena & Batista against John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Kane, ECW sees John Morrison and The Miz take on Finlay & Hornswoggle, SmackDown features a classic segment between Edge and Mick Foley, before the Rated R Superstar faces off with one of his signature foes, Jeff Hardy, on the final Saturday Night's Main Event.

TV Review: WWE Monday Night RAW #1185 (Daniel Bryan's Retirement)

Airing on the 8th February 2016, the 1185th episode of WWE's Monday Night RAW featured Daniel Bryan's retirement speech, Chris Jericho and AJ Styles on Miz TV and The Usos & The Dudley Boyz teaming up to take on The New Day and Mark Henry in an Eight Man Tag Team Tables match...but was it any good?

match card

1 - Singles - Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler

2 - Singles - WWE Diva's Champion Charlotte w/Ric Flair vs. Alicia Fox

3 - Singles - Bray Wyatt w/The Wyatt Family vs. Ryback

4 - Singles - Titus O'Neil vs. Adam Rose w/The Social Outcasts

5 - Tag Team - The Lucha Dragons vs. League of Nations (Alberto Del Rio & Rusev) w/King Barrett

6 - Singles - Becky Lynch vs. Tamina w/Naomi

7 - Eight Man Tag Team Tables - WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day & Mark Henry vs. The Dudley Boyz & The Usos

fastlane main event contract signing 

A contract signing was a novel way to kick off the show this week, and despite loathing the cliche's that usually come with these types of segments, I thought this was a great example of how to do them right. Firstly, I feel that the segment benefited from not having three hours of hype and being in the main event slot, it meant that every entrance felt fresh and the Seattle crowd had a wonderful energy. Stephanie McMahon starting the show alone in the ring allowed the crowd to get out their frustrations as a loud "Daniel Bryan" chant rang out, before Stephanie was able to turn it straight into heat for her character, by talking out her husband and WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H. The rest of the segment kept the energy coming with Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and then Brock Lesnar (flanked by Paul Heyman) all interrupting Stephanie. Little touches like Ambrose's desperately wanting to fight Lesnar after he received an F5 last week and Stephanie cutting off Heyman as he went to say his catchphrase and getting a tonne of heat for it, made this a very entertaining watch indeed. With Lesnar managing to over power both Ambrose and Reigns and deliver another F5 to the Lunatic Fringe, the segment ended with a stare down with Triple H on the entrance ramp.

fast-forward...The commentary team spoke briefly about Daniel Bryan announcing his retirement via Twitter earlier in the day

dolph ziggler defeats kevin owens

For the third week in a row, Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler faced off on Monday Night RAW and this was arguably the best match of their series so far. Both guys have managed to take something from nothing and create a feud, based pretty much entirely off of in-ring work, which is something pretty special in WWE in 2016. Owens shouting "Hey Dolph, what's funnier than you?...EVERYTHING" whilst delivering a beat down to the former World Heavyweight Champion got a little chuckle out of me, but also added a little extra depth to the feud. After an impressive Ziggler comeback, done whilst selling a shoulder injury, the match became a much more back and forth affair with the two managing to reverse a number of each other signature holds to produce a couple of lovely near falls. Owens blocking Ziggler's big DDT attempt and hitting a picture picture superkick springs to mind as an example of this. The finish saw their storyline advance further as Ziggler evaded a cannonball from Owens and got the pin with his feet on the middle ropes. Could we be seeing the beginning of a double turn for both men? A heel turn for The Show Off would definitely freshen up his character, whilst Owens is popular enough that a babyface turn would be accepted almost instantly. 

fast-forward...The Dudley Boyz asked The Usos if they could join in on their Table Match with The New Day later on in the night, in an awkwardly scripted backstage segment...

divas champion charlotte defeats alicia fox

It was a shame that Alicia Fox was placed in the babyface role here, as the fans haven't been given a reason to cheer for her and therefore things were a little flat here. The action that the two produced was all good stuff, with the two seemingly connecting early in the ring, as they run through a series of nice moves. Alicia looked at her best in short bursts, her Bridging Northern Lights Suplex continues to look great every time she hits it. With a bit more time and thought into the action, it felt like the two could have produced a high quality match with each other. Charlotte regained some momentum after losing to Brie Bella last week, by picking up a clean submission victory with a Figure 8. 

chris jericho turns miz tv into the highlight reel 

I've been pretty vocal in my criticisms of Chris Jericho's on-mic performance since his return to WWE, however he managed to hit a home-run with this segment. Helped by a game The Miz who played his part perfectly, as Jericho turned an episode of Miz TV into the Highlight Reel (complete with set change and potted plant), as the A-Lister worked the crowd and managed to get some decent heat, with simple tricks like "When my hand goes up, your mouth goes shut". Having them both show each other clips from their matches with AJ Styles, managed to put the Phenomenal One over without him even being present, by having two recognisable WWE guys argue over who he hurt more. Styles interrupting Jericho as soon as he bought back his "Best in the World at what I do" catchphrase was a nice touch and them teaming up to take out Miz, before Jericho backed down from a fight, worked very well to set-up the Styles vs. Jericho rematch that will take place on this week's Thursday Night Smackdown. 

bray wyatt defeats ryback

I was pleasantly surprised by this bout, as both guys really bought it and put on a decent, if not entirely forgettable, TV bout. With Ryback sporting the new look he debuted on last week's Thursday Night Smackdown, dropping the Rob Van Dam style singlet for black trunks, I was impressed with the former WWE Intercontinental Champion's athleticism, especially on his comeback sequence, which was some of the crispest in-ring work I've seen out of the Las Vegas native. The crowd seemed to get into Ryback quickly, which produced a sweet finish, where Bray Wyatt silenced the "Feed Me More" chants by reversing a Meat Hook clothesline attempt with a Sister Abigail to pick up the victory. 

fast-forward... A backstage segment with The New Day "working a table" certainly raised a smile, as Renee Young found out that they'd still to choose a tag partner for their tables match later on...In another backstage segment we saw some storyline advancement as Dean Ambrose told Roman Reigns that he didn't want his help when calling out Brock Lesnar....

adam rose defeats titus o'neil

The thing I took away most from this match was that Adam Rose is some kind of mongoose. Because the rest of the match was the drizzling sloppy shits. Neither man seemed to be able to hit a move correctly and if they did the other guy didn't seem to know how to take it. Add to this the fact that the crowd literally couldn't have given less of a shit and you ended up with a pretty painful watch. Undoubtedly the weakest match on the entire card, as Rose picked up an upset victory with a roll up, as the haphazard booking of the Social Outcasts continued.

fast-forward...Throughout the night highlights from Daniel Bryan's WWE career aired, with his SummerSlam 2013 WWE Heavyweight Championship victory over John Cena getting the most coverage...

dean ambrose calls out brock lesnar

With Dean Ambrose promising to fight Brock Lesnar in numerous backstage segments throughout the show, he was out in the ring at the top of the 3rd hour. Ambrose's put in a superb character promo, as he tried everything he could to get Lesnar out to the ring. For me this promo and the beating that Lesnar dished out to Ambrose (who continued to get up and ask for more) turned The Lunatic Fringe from a third wheel in the Fastlane main event, to perhaps the bouts most important element. Yes, Lesnar beat the shit out of him, but Ambrose continuing to ask for more punishment, seemingly gives him an edge at Fastlane, especially when he doesn't necessarily have to do all the damage himself with Roman Reigns also in the bout. I did, however, not feel that Roman Reigns interuption was particularly necessary here, as he caused the distraction that allowed Ambrose to level the Beast Incarnate with a low blow (in scene reminscent of the Might Boosh episode, "Killeroo"), as I feel the low blow on it's own would have been more impactful and given the commentary team time to focus on the No DQ elements of a Triple Threat bout. 

fast-forward...Highlights of the previous Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns segment aired for reasons...

the league of nations defeats the lucha dragons

With Sin Cara returning to television for the first time since the end of December, he logically worked the Luchadore in peril role with Rusev and Alberto Del Rio of the League of Nations faction taking turns to work over the former NXT Tag Team Champion. Obviously, this also meant to we got a hot tag from the popular United States Champion, Kalisto, which was pleasure to watch as he hit a series of exciting flippy moves on his opponents. After what was a decent tag bout, it was a shame that the finish was slightly botched, as after an enziguiri to the back of the head by Del Rio, Kalisto fell from the top rope, rather than falling into the tree of woe position for The Essence of Excellence's Double Foot Stomp finisher. 

fast-forward...This week's Goldust and R-Truth segment failed to hit the spot as the two did a weird Jimi Hendrix skit that saw Goldust get arrested for breaking a guitar...

tamina defeats becky lynch

Thanks to Sasha Banks' brilliant turn at the commentary desk and lots of cool action on the outside, the second women's match on the show turned into an engaging contest. Sasha showed off a great understanding of her character and got over her current relationships with Becky Lynch and former Team B.A.D. partner effectively, managing to add to the upcoming tag team match between the four at Fastlane. The crowd was into Becky and the Lass Kicker got a reasonable couple of chants going, and got a big pop when hitting Naomi with a Lass-Plex on the outside to help out Sasha. Tamina pulling out the victory after catching Becky with a surprise Superkick, gives Team B.A.D. the momentum they need to look like anything other than roadblocks for Becky and Sasha on the road to WrestleMania at Fastlane. 

fast-forward...Mark Henry joined The New Day's side for the main event Tables match, because reasons...

the dudley boyz and the usos defeats mark henry and the new day in a tables match

So much happened here! Mark Henry quickly worked out on his new found New Day pals, because no one tells him what to do apparently. The crowd went nuts for the tables, there was a double Whazzaaap by the babyfaces, The Usos hit shit loads of superkicks, and the Dudley Boyz put Big E through a table with 3D to win the match. The bout itself was lots of fun, but the biggest talking point came after the bell had rung. The Dudley Boyz turned on The Usos, finishing off Uso #1 (or maybe #2) with a Powerbomb off the top rope through a table. The heel turn might be exactly what the Dudley Boyz needed to make them relevant for a while again, however the crowd cheered the turn and chanted "ECW", so how successful the execution of the turn was I'm not quite sure, perhaps a promo would have helped things out just a little.

fast-forward...An emotionally charged video detailing Daniel Bryan's career and it was almost time to grab for the tissues...

daniel bryan's retirement speech

How on earth am I supposed to go about reviewing this? Daniel Bryan's retirement speech was pretty much perfect. It was sad, it was funny, it was incredibly entertaining, sometimes all at once. The crowd hung onto his every word, as the 3 time WWE World Heavyweight Champion looked just as emotional as the fans in attendance as he explained the reasons for his retirement and told stories about his family. The story about his Dad watching the infamous Championship Ascension ceremony was particularly touching as Bryan struggled to recall the night at times. Thanking the fans for making him feel like a star, and allowing his Dad to see that reaction, just a few months before his death, was seemingly typical Bryan, as he humbly missed that it was his own performances that made the fans treat him like star and rightly so. 

I think what I found most touching about Bryan's speech was how much his love for pro wrestling came across in his words and mannerisms. It seemed like with every word that came out of his mouth his heart broke just a little bit more. It was relatable on a level that WWE rarely is anymore, if they could find a way to tap into this feeling, then perhaps WWE's ratings wouldn't be struggling so much. Of course, the show ended with Bryan looking to the future, conducting one last Yes chant with the entire arena, before sharing a moment with his wife, Brie Bella, as he moves onto the next chapter in his life. Best of luck with everything Bryan, thanks for giving us everything that you could. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 6.02/10

This was the best episode of Monday Night RAW in 2016 so far, as the "treading water" feel that the show has had for the last two weeks had gone, as it felt like almost everyone stepped up their game to build toward the Fastlane PPV in two weeks. Obviously, Daniel Bryan's retirement speech to close the show was a highly emotional piece of television, and WWE should be commended for allowing Bryan the opportunity to talk on TV for almost 25 minutes. Whilst the sloppy Titus O'Neil vs. Adam Rose bout dragged the show back a little, but the two segments involving Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho and AJ Styles on Miz TV (or The Miz and AJ Styles on the Highlight Reel) and the third match in Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler's series all provided more than enough entertainment to make up for it.

WWE Survivor Series 2014 DVD Review

 WWE Survivor Series 2014 is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now, available from www.wwedvd.co.uk. Broadcast live on Pay-per-View (and the WWE Network) from the Scottrade Centre in St. Louis, Missouri, USA on 23rd November 2014, the show features John Cena, Ryback, Erick Rowan, Big Show & Dolph Ziggler battling Seth Rollins, Rusev, Luke Harper, Mark Henry and Kane in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match, Bray Wyatt taking on Dean Ambrose, Goldust & Stardust defending the Tag Team Championship against  Los Matadores, The Miz & Damien Mizdow and The Usos and three other matches. The special features include one other match, the return of Bad News Barrett and two interviews. 

The Pay-Per-View

The show begins with a vignette detailing that this is a one match show, the main event featuring Team Cena vs. Team Authority is all that get's a look in. Things continue as Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and John Bradshaw Layfield welcome us to the show, reminding us of the importance of the main event. A completely superfluous in-ring segment featuring Mr. McMahon telling Triple H and Stephanie McMahon that if their team loses tonight, John Cena is the only man who can bring them back follows, and the shows theme of filler is introduced early on.

The first bout see's Los Matadores, Miz & Mizdow and The Usos challenging Gold & Stardust for the Tag Team Championship in an average, slightly sloppy bout. The finish raises the quality of the bout, with an exciting series of moves that get's everyone in the match involved well. Backstage, Adam Rose and The Bunny challenge Slater Gator to a match later on, because reasons. A four on four Survivor Series Elimination match pitting Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi and Natalya (accompanied by Tyson Kidd) against Layla, Summer Rae, Cameron and Paige features some questionable booking and clumsy wrestling, although at least it does attempt to tell some sort of story.

Highlights from the Kick-Off show are shown next, including Fandango taking on Justin Gabriel and the return of Bad News Barrett. The Kick-Off panel also get involved, as Renee Young asks Booker T, Alex Riley and Paul Heyman about the upcoming main event, because there's no other matches on the show. Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt put together a good solid bout, but there's clearly more than an eye on next month's TLC pay-per-view. It's let down slightly by teasing a big spot and not delivering it, but still an entertaining watch.

Backstage, Triple H gives Team Authority an impressive pep-talk, whilst Stephanie continues to steal the show with her performance. Adam Rose and The Bunny takes on Slater Gator in a match that happened. Roman Reigns returns to our screens in an awkward interview with the commentary team. John Cena decides his team also needs a pep talk, although he can't quite deliver the intensity of Triple H's promo and most of his team don't seem that arsed anyway. AJ Lee defends the Diva's Championship against Nikki Bella (accompanied by Brie Bella) in a super short match, as Sheamus and Daniel Bryan's WrestleMania 28 match is referenced for the umpteenth time. 

The main event of Team Authority's Seth Rollins, Rusev, Luke Harper, Mark Henry and Kane (accompanied by J&J Security, Lana, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H) taking on Team Cena's John Cena, Ryback, Erick Rowan, Big Show and Dolph Ziggler in a story-driven, character-based epic. Ziggler is the stand out of the bout, looking like a star throughout, with fantastic selling and some great sequences opposite Rollins and Harper. Throw into the mix the surprise WWE debut of a wrestling legend (spoiled on the box art) and you've got a masterclass in sports entertainment. One of the strongers matches from the latter half of 2014, this match makes the rest of the show just about bearable.

Special Features

Fandango (accompanied by Rosa Mendes) takes on Justin Gabriel on the Kick Off show match, that is essentially a squash that's good while it lasts. Bad News Barrett's return is used to push the main event even further, and brings plenty of Bad News in an entertaining promo. Byron Saxton interviews Dean Ambrose, with Ambrose continuing to nail his character, whilst furthering his feud with Bray Wyatt nicely. Saxton also speaks to Nikki and Brie Bella, in which nothing is actually revealed about Nikki's match earlier in the night, a rather pointless inclusion.

Finally...

 

 

There's no doubt that WWE saw this as a one match show, with almost all the focus landing on the main event. Whilst that main event does deliver in spades, the rest of the show lacks any real attention and the performances are mostly flat. Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt give it their best shot, but the finish would have been more fitting if there was anything else going on elsewhere on the show. Certainly not a classic Survivor Series, but the fact that the Best PPV Matches of 2014 DVD release stopped at October, means this is currently your only way of physically getting your hands on a slice of sports entertainment gold.

WWE SummerSlam Kick-Off 2013 Review

The Kick-Off show has began to take on a bit of a life of it's own. Originally the bouts would be about four minutes long, and there really was no much point tuning in early. However, in the last few shows there's been a noticeable shift to longer matches, usually longer than most of the matches on the PPV. I think WWE has realised that this is a great platform to push for the last few pay-per-view buys and a long impressive match may just change someone's mind.

United States Championship Match: 

Rob Van Dam 

vs. 

Dean Ambrose ©

The Shield are apparently chasing The Miz's former title of Mr. Kick-Off, after making appearance on the last two shows. They are a good choice for this role, as they almost always have good and exciting matches, and usually wouldn't get this amount of time to show what they can do on pay-per-view. Rob Van Dam has only been back with WWE just over a month, and after WWE made such a big deal over his return with some good hype videos, I was a little surprised to see him only make the Kick-Off bout this time round. WWE really could've done with giving Van Dam a story heading into the show, as it took them til the final Raw before this pay-per-view to even book him in this match. He even could have been added to the Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio bout, to give that match a bit more pull.

The opening part of the match was strong with Ambrose working well in grounding Van Dam. There was some exciting back and forth with both men doing a great job at getting the crowd involved. The crowd were redhot from the outset of the battle and of course that really helped Van Dam's performance. With Van Dam taking control of the bout, after reversing Ambrose's Headlock Driver, with a series of kicks, it looked like it might be over early with Van Dam heading to the top rope for a Five Star Frogsplash, only for the Shield's music to hit and Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns to make their way down to ringside. I didn't really understand the logic behind this move, as Rollins and Reigns took so long to get down to the ring, that Van Dam could of hit his finisher and won the United States Championship in the time that it took them to get down to the ring.

When we returned for the break, Van Dam was in full control again, so with The Shield trying to get involved, Mark Henry and Big Show made came down the aisle to even up the numbers. The in ring action continued to be strong, with Van Dam continuing to have the upperhand for the most part, with Seth Rollins' distraction not allowing Van Dam to hit the Five Star Frog Splash for a second time. However, Van Dam did finally manage to hit his finishing move a few minutes later, this time over the other side of the ring, however when he went for the cover, he ended up on the receiving end of a Spear from Reigns, giving Van Dam the disqualification victory, but allowing Ambrose to retain the United States Championship. We've seen a lot of similar endings from The Shield lately, and it's beginning to make Ambrose look like a weak United States Champion after originally being booked so strongly, with no need for Rollins and Reigns to interfere in his match, he could really do with a clean win soon.

After Show and Henry had chased off The Shield, the three veterans celebrated in the ring, with The Shield taunting them from outside. Obviously WWE wanted to keep Van Dam looking strong here, without actually giving him the United States Championship, therefore I wouldn't expect to see a rematch between the two anytime soon, especially not for the title. However, I do expect to see Show and Henry get a title shot at The Shield's Rollins and Reigns, possibly at the next pay-per-view, Night of Champions. It will interesting to see how the dynamic of the two big men plays out in this kind of battle, as WWE hasn't really had two big men team together in quite some time.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on the show, Paul Heyman had an announcement to make about Brock Lesnar's match with Paul Heyman at SummerSlam. After a beautiful analogy comparing Punk vs. Lesnar to David vs. Goliath, with some classic Heyman changes to the story. Then Heyman, announced that both parties had agreed that the bout would be No Disqualification, before talking about how Lesnar was going to dismantle Punk. It was a nice addition to the pre-show and the news of a change in the match might have helped people who were previously unsure about buying SummerSlam dip into their pockets.

The addition of the No Disqualification rule was certainly a good move in my opinion. We've seen a lot of weapons used in the build up to this one, and therefore if they'd have gone for a straight up wrestling match it might not have felt as impactful as the build-up had been. Also, we've seen Lesnar in a number of No Disqualification match since his 2012 return, and it certainly is the best enviroment to have The Beast Incarnate do his work, as it can make him look even more vicious and dominating. It would also give Punk an oppurtunity to get his hands on Paul Heyman without getting reprimanded by the referee!

The panel for SummerSlam Kick-Off was hosted by Josh Matthews, who was joined by WWE Hall of Famer's Shawn Michaels and Booker T, as well as Smackdown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. Michaels and Booker were informative and entertaining bringing a nice insight into the rivalries and matches that would be going on during the show, with Vickie occasional chipping in, but for the most part she was simply there to make up the numbers and give her something to do. I'm not a massive fan of Josh Matthews on commentary, but here he was at least tolerable, setting up conversation points for his panel well.

Renee Young also got invovled in the show, as we occasional visited her in what was termed “The Social Media Lounge”, what this meant was a sofa and a television screen that would occasional show tweets. Renee is good as a host, she's likeable and her tone makes her easy to listen to as she lead us through what the WWE fans were thinking on various forms of social media, however where she came undone was when she had to speak about how own opinion on wrestling, especially when talking about her favourite SummerSlam moment. It was clear she was being fed the lines and didn't really know what she was talking about.

Throughout the show we were also joined by Tony Dawson who was outside the arena talking to fans. This was a nice touch, even if Dawson was a little close to the camera a number of times, which I'm sure will give children nightmares for weeks to come. The fans interviewed were excitable and clearly a little taken aback at being aproached to be on television, however their answers were good and helped to get a sense of how the crowd would be in the arena once the show had started.

Finally...

What did I learn from SummerSlam Kick-Off?

1. WWE has bigger plans for Rob Van Dam than the United States Championship.

2. A little addition to the card on the Kick-Off helps to build anticipation.

3. These Kick-Off shows really get me pumped for the real thing.