In Your House

[MonteCarl]

On a whim, decided to watch the 2011 Elimination Chamber show. Really good show with a hot crowd from beginning to end. Even the opening match with Kofi and del Rio had the crowd really going. Both Chamber matches were really good. This was peek heel Michael Cole, but it wasn't really too bad in this show other than the Miz/Lawler match. I remember being totally against Miz as Champ back then, but he held his own and was great on the mic in his pre-match interview. I always gave Miz props for his mic work, but didn't think he had it in the ring until recently. Was I just too involved in my own "smarkiness" at the time to give Miz his due in the ring? Or was this match an anomoly? I mean, I do remember the ladder match with King on RAW being good as well. Kind of makes me want to revisit some of The Miz's other matches from around this time. Any recommended matches of his from then, or should I not bother?

[DreamBroken]

49 minutes ago, MonteCarl said:

I always gave Miz props for his mic work, but didn't think he had it in the ring until recently. Was I just too involved in my own "smarkiness" at the time to give Miz his due in the ring? Or was this match an anomoly? I mean, I do remember the ladder match with King on RAW being good as well. Kind of makes me want to revisit some of The Miz's other matches from around this time. Any recommended matches of his from then, or should I not bother?

Miz/Morrison falls count anywhere from 1/3/11 RAW is the best as far as during his title reign outside the Lawler feud.

As far as post-title reign but still around that time, Miz/Rey from 7/25/11 RAW was pretty good stuff, Miz/Swagger vs Riley/Rey from 6/23/11 RAW is a lot of fun. I recall liking Cena/Miz from 10/31/11 RAW the most of the Cena/Miz 2011 matches, it's a shorter under 10 min match but solid from what I remember.

[John from Cincinnati]

The main event from Extreme Rules that year was also some high quality Miz material. And I believe the Miz-Cena match from the following night on Raw (in Miami I believe) was my favourite of their matches that year, but I haven't seen it since it aired.

And he was in a couple number one contender triple threats that year where he was pretty dang good.

WWE TV can make you under-appreciate a guy if they go all in on him or don't go in on him enough. Miz has suffered a lot of that. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Elimination Chamber 2015.

Stardust Vs Zack Ryder (kickoff match): Standard meaningless kickoff match, with Stardust picking up the win. 

The New Day Vs The Ascension vs The Lucha Dragons Vs Cesaro and Tyson Kidd Vs Los Matadores Vs The Prime Time Players: The first ever tag team chamber match, with the New Day defending. All three members of New Day are in the pod, I guess as a reward for doing some dirty work for the Authority or something. Seemed like such an easy thing to get right, but they get it so very, very wrong. Not even Cesaro and Kidd can make this watchable, which is something. Kalisto spends half the match doing something on top of the New Day's pod, then takes a really long time to climb to the top of the chamber, then seems to have second thoughts about whatever he was going to do, leaving everyone underneath him to just stand there waiting like idiots. Then when he finally does drop, he pretty much misses them all. King says it was awesome. JBL can't even lie, and says it was stupid. Torito, who was also hanging out in the chamber, makes a much easier job of scaling the chamber (though not as high), and diving onto the Ascension (who catch him and throw him at the Matadores). The Ascension get rid of the Dragons and the Matadores, before being eliminated themselves. It comes down to the PTP and the New Day. I think the crowd deflated when Cesaro and Kidd went out. They were the favourites here. The New Day retain the belts. Incredibly disappointing match.

Nikki Bella Vs Paige Vs Naomi: This is not a good match, but it isn't for the lack of trying from these girls. In fact, there's something commendable, if not stupid, about the way they approach this 6 minute filler match. First Nikki Bella starts taking bumps that have me wondering if that's where her neck problems come from. I always wondered about how someone like Nikki, who seems to work such a low-risk style, ended up with a fucked up neck (while obviously acknowledging that it can happen to anyone). Then Paige decided to up the ante. First she takes a German suplex off the top rope. A German suplex off the TOP ROPE. And now I'm thinking, well that HAS to be where her neck problems come from. Then she takes a reverse rana from Naomi and lands straight on the back of her neck. Okay, so THAT's where her neck problems come from. Reverse ranas have to be the stupidest move ever. I've never seen a reverse rana and thought, wow, that looked awesome. I've seen multiple reverse ranas where I've thought, okay, so that person is dead now. Nikki retains.

John Cena Vs Kevin Owens: Big match feel for this one. I know this got a lot of praise, but am I the only one who doesn't care for this period of John Cena at all? I mean, this was pretty good as a showcase for what Owens can do, but Cena's stuff just seems so samey at this point. No nuance. Take a beatdown from the opening bell until it's time to bust out the big moves. Then it's just trading bombs and kickouts. I'll take Cena fighting from underneath against Umaga or Brock over this any day of the week. KO winning was a nice shock though.

Neville Vs Bo Dallas: Seems like a filler match, but they have decent chemistry and make the most of the time they have. This is the best I've probably ever seen Bo look at any rate. It always seemed like they were building Neville to something, but never really moved him to the next level.

Sheamus Vs Ryback Vs Mark Henry Vs Dolph Ziggler Vs R-Truth Vs King Barrett: For the vacant IC title. Rusev was supposed to compete but got hurt so was replaced by Henry. Maybe Rusev being in there could have saved this match. Maybe nothing could. I don't know. It was a bit of a disaster. Henry's pod got accidentally busted open, and nobody seemed to really know what to do for a minute, until Henry finally decided (or was told, more likely) to just come in. The idea behind Sheamus locking himself into his pod and pretending it was a malfunction was a good one, but again everyone was just standing around like 'what do we do?'. Sheamus, when he finally got in, was the best performer in the match, which isn't saying a lot. It was mostly just very blah. No real cool spots, no violence. Ryback ended up winning and then Bryan presented him with the belt and led the crowd in a yes chant for him. That bit was kinda weird too.

Seth Rollins Vs Dean Ambrose: Rollins comes out with J&J and Kane, but Reigns is banned from ringside. This is another Rollins snoozefest special. Best moment of the match was Ambrose diving on Rollins and both going flying over the announce table. For that moment things threatened to get exciting. Ambrose's offence is super weak. At least 5 rebound lariats were attempted/hit, at least 2 flying elbowdrops. He's lucky he can sell and has charisma. Maybe if you combined Rollins and Ambrose you'd get a great pro wrestler, but maybe not since even Rollins' offence was boring as shit here. There was a ref bump and a second ref came out and counted Rollins down after Dirty Deeds, declaring Ambrose the champ. Crowd popped big, but they had to know that original ref was coming back and DQing Rollins for shoving him into Ambrose. The beatdown on Ambrose commenced before Reigns came out, to a decent-sized pop, to make the save. I did like Ambrose and Reigns taking the belt and leaving through the crowd.

Match of the night: Erm, oh, Cena and Owens. Not the great match I'd been led to believe it would be, but it had enough to make it at least good. 3 stars.

Show rating: Pants. Is that a rating? Because that's what this show is. I don't know, 1 star? 1 and a half for the girls' commitment to killing themselves. Yeah.

[(BP)]

This Owens/Cena match was hurt for me in retrospect by them having the exact same match the next two months in a row.

Bryan was always a really good sport about giving the rub to guys that were going to get shredded by the crowd just for not being him. 

[John from Cincinnati]

You're read on Cena is spot on. And I feel that with a few exceptions, that assessment is still valid all the way to the present. I'll get excited to see a fresh opponent get their chance for some spotlight against Big Match John, but it's been a while since I've been excited for John himself. Which is incredibly disappointing, because his tippy-top best work still holds up. 

[Brian Fowler]

The third Owens/Cena match was especially bad in that "didn't we already see all of this" way.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Money in the Bank 2015.

R-Truth Vs King Barrett (kickoff match): Barrett has full king regalia. Truth is claiming to be King What's Up. Standard 5 min match with Truth scoring an upset win.

Dolph Ziggler Vs Kane Vs Kofi Kingston Vs Sheamus Vs Roman Reigns Vs Neville Vs Randy Orton: Kicking off the show with the MITB ladder match. This is laid out like dogshit. Completely lazy 'everyone lay around on the outside while 2 guys go at it in the ring' structure. Each guy gets their little turn trying to climb the ladder, only for someone to come in and stop them. The only time the match has any dynamism is during Reigns' shine period. He looks head and shoulders above everyone else in the match, in terms of being an exciting, fresh presence. I liked New Day trying to help Kofi too. So, Reigns is about to grab the briefcase when Bry Wyatt comes out in his apron and costs him the match, starting that feud that made no sense. Kind of a bummer moment. Sheamus eventually fights off Neville to win the case. Personally, I'm fine with Sheamus winning as I liked his heel act at this point, but he clearly wasn't the right choice for the wider fanbase. I think the Money in the Bank match has eaten itself.

Nikki Bella Vs Paige: Paige cuts a good promo before the match about how the Bellas have had the divas division on lockdown for too long, and she needs someone else in the division to back her up. She and Nikki then have a pretty good match. This is the best Paige has looked in this project by quite some way. Certainly the best babyface performance she has given. I liked the finish with the Bellas trying twin magic, but Paige pinning Brie. Brie then showing the ref and Paige that she isn't Nikki by pulling tissue out of her top was great, and should have resulted in a DQ win for Paige, but somehow the ref let the match continue and Nikki blindsided Paige with a forearm, before putting her away with the Rack Attack. The commentators called out the ref for his bullshit decision.

Ryback Vs The Big Show: Ryback defending the IC title. Miz is involved in the build here, and is doing commentary on the match. This is pretty wank after the opening flurry by Ryback, and ends prematurely when Miz interfered, attacking both guys with a microphone. I like the idea of Miz's weapon of choice being a mic.

John Cena Vs Kevin Owens: The match where transitions go to die. This match still has a big match feel, and actually the crowd are gobbling this up, with numerous 'this is awesome' chants, and pops for all the nearfalls. But all it is is two guys taking turns to hit big moves and kicking out at 2. The first match had the narrative of Owens taking it to Cena to prove that he was on his level. You could generously say this had the narrative of Cena raising his game and busting out new stuff to put Owens away. It might have worked better if he didn't make a dog's dinner out of the code red and the springboard stunner (which is one of the worst moves I've ever seen anyway). Again, crowd was legit organically molten for this, to their credit. I did like Owens being a dick and beating Cena down after a post-match handshake.

The New Day Vs The Prime Time Players: Here's your cool down match. I guess it says a lot that they didn't put the women in this spot. Not a terribly good match. No shine for the faces, just a beatdown on Young until he tags O'Neill, and O'Neill ends up putting Woods away to win the tag belts. 

Seth Rollins Vs Dean Ambrose: Ladder match for the world title. This match is long. Really long. Like 35 mins long. When they said it was main event time with 50 mins left in the show, I assumed they had some angle planned for after the match. But nope. They just let these two go for 35 minutes. The story is that Reigns conned Rollins into competing in this match with no Authority interference. Long Triple H promo in the back where he psychs Rollins up to show everyone why he, Triple H, chose him. I can't blame them too much for not being able to work a compelling 35 minute ladder match. I can blame them a bit though, because Rollins is a bore, and Ambrose's offence is shit. Ambrose has gone down quite a bit in my estimation with this project. The finish saw Rollins methodically demolishing Ambrose, Triple H stylie, with the story being that Ambrose kept getting back up. In the end they both pulled the belt down together, but Rollins was the one who hung on to it, so he was declared the winner. Triple H came out to celebrate with him and make sure everyone knows that he's the reason we have Rollins as champion. And the death march continues.

Match of the night: Gonna give it to the women. It was no great shakes, but it didn't actively piss me off like most of the other matches did.

Show rating: This is the worst show for quite a while. Nothing hits the 3 star mark. The 3 big matches all hugely disappointed, mostly due to unoriginal booking/layout, and annoying tropes. I'll go 1.5 stars.

[(BP)]

Even when they gave Sheamus the briefcase here, I would've bet my life on him never winning the unified belt. I couldn't believe they'd go back to him in a post-brand split era. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Battleground 2015.

King Barrett Vs R-Truth (kickoff match): So this feud is still going on. This match is for the title of King. If I was Barrett I'd probably want to get rid of it. Decent little match with Barrett winning with a royal Bullhammer.

Randy Orton Vs Sheamus: This match seemed to go on forever. Not that it was particularly bad. I would call it blandly effective. What stood out was just how over Orton was in this match. Like, crazy over. It actually worried me how over it was, and it was only at the end of the match that I realised we were in St Louis, which made me feel a bit better. I can't handle Orton being that over in just any city. An RKO out of nowhere sealed the deal.

The Prime Time Players Vs The New Day: Tag title rematch, with Big E and Kofi on duty. Better than the last match between the two teams. They got a little more time, so could build things a bit better. PTP had the tools. Young was an effective enough face in peril, and Titus is a hell of a hot tag. Actually, both Titus and Young got a chance to play hot tag here, and did well in the spot. They retained, which caught me off guard as I thought they lost them right back.

Bray Wyatt Vs Roman Reigns: This was a decent big man match. I still think Wyatt usually brings it between the bells during this period. Reigns is having a great run. Goes much longer than it needs too, but I like the finish with Luke Harper coming in to help Bray win. It was a feud we didn't need to see happen, but this first match was decent at least.

Charlotte Vs Brie Bella Vs Sasha Banks: So, here's the Women's Revolution beginning in earnest. I'd never seen the segment that began this angle, but watching it in the promo video for this match, it's pretty terrible, with Steph basically taking all the credit for herself. I mean, it's blatant, and more sickening than her announcement of the women's rumble match. Nevertheless, the in-ring quality shows a sharp uptick here. Sasha particularly looks great in this match, and already looks head and shoulders above all the other women in terms of star power. Charlotte looks good too, but was miscast as a generic babyface, which everyone knew at the time. Brie keeps up just fine. Charlotte makes Brie tap to the figure-8.

John Cena Vs Kevin Owens: Boy, you guys weren't kidding when you said this was basically a retread of their previous matches. There are spots and sequences in this one lifted directly from the previous match, to the point I actually wondered whether I'd seen this one before. They basically just ramp up the finisher/big move kick-outs. Once again, the crowd is absolutely wolfing this down. So at the very least you can say these guys were playing to their audience. Cena wins via tap out, but Owens gets to kick out of a lot of stuff, including a top rope AA. Yeah, it's not for me, but I do wonder why (from memory) opinion was so split on this, whereas the Cena/AJ matches were hailed almost universally as classics, when to me they are worked with the same philosophy.

There was a thing with Miz coming out in some ridiculous outfit and getting knocked out by Big Show. I think this might have been Show turning face again. It was meant to be Ryback defending the IC title in the triple threat, but he was injured.

Seth Rollins Vs Brock Lesnar: Rollins neck is so thick, he looks like a thumb with a face drawn on it. Lesnar, I guess, looks like the most terrifying economy bag of potatoes imaginable. This match was worked pretty perfectly, and is easily Rollins' best title defense to date. It's basically just Lesnar kicking his ass, with Rollins getting in a couple of believable flurries of offence. Just when it looks like Lesnar has the match won, The Undertaker comes out, looking like a jar of apricot preserves that someone has screwed the wrong lid on to. He uses a low blow to put Lesnar down, which was a nice way to show that he isn't sure he can handle Lesnar in a fair fight anymore, and then gives him a couple of tombstones. If you're gonna do a non-finish in a main event title match, it better be for something big like this.

Match of the night: I'll take that main event at 3 stars as the best match of of the night. Reigns/Wyatt at just about 3 stars too.

Show rating: A pretty decent show. I can see people really liking it if they're big fans of WWE big match style. I'll say 2 1/2 stars.

[John from Cincinnati]

On 3/17/2018 at 8:02 AM, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

The Undertaker comes out, looking like a jar of apricot preserves that someone has screwed the wrong lid on to.

Yowza.

Man, that Ambrose-Rollins match just wouldn't end. And I'm sorta with you on the Cena-AJ matches. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Night of Champions 2015.

Stardust and the Ascension Vs Neville and the Lucha Dragons (kickoff match): Solid but unspectacular 6-man. The 'Cosmic Wasteland' pick up the win.

Ryback Vs Kevin Owens: So I've turned a corner and am now willing to admit that Ryback is a decent worker. This was a really solid match. Owens still looks motivated, and feels like a fresh act, and Ryback sells well and has some impressive strength spots, like press slamming Owens over the top rope. Owens wins the IC title after a rake to the eyes.

Rusev Vs Dolph Ziggler: This whole angle is pretty much a mess, but I think Rusev and Ziggler have good in-ring chemistry. I'm still seeing Ziggler as a good worker at this point, although he's getting stale. Rusev just goes from strength to strength. I think the Summerslam match they had was better than this, but this was good in its own right. Ziggler pulls off the upset win after Summer Rae's interference backfires. Crowd is hot for this too, with loud 'we want Lana' chants. 

The New Day Vs The Dudley Boyz: New Day are turning a corner here from annoying heels to entertaining heels, and you can see this is only going to end one way if they continue down this path. Xavier, in particular, is getting a lot of love for his outside the ring antics, including the use of Francesca. The Dudleys look old and kind of shitty. The Dudleys win by DQ after Xavier gets involved. The post match sees Xavier get put through a table. This kinda reminded me of when the Outlaws were feuding with LOD.

Nikki Bella Vs Charlotte: This felt like a big marker in the change of attitude towards women's wrestling. The match was presented as a big deal, with a detailed video package and in-ring introductions, and they were given quite a lot of time. Unfortunately, the match was quite dull. Nikki controls most of the match, working over Charlotte's leg, which is fine, but not terribly exciting. Charlotte is miscast as the underdog face here, and is pretty bland in the role. The story seems to be Nikki destroying the leg to take the figure 8 out of the equation, but Charlotte ends up locking the hold on without any problem to get the tap-out win. Naitch is out to celebrate, and I do appreciate Charlotte still selling the leg while doing the Flair strut. 

Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman Vs Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho: Jericho is the mystery partner of the Shield guys, and is the worst performer in the match. Strowman looks effective for the little bits he's in there. I love the chemistry Reigns and Ambrose have as a team. This is fun stuff, especially when it breaks down. Strowman gets the win over Jericho, which leads to Jericho sulking and walking out on Ambrose and Reigns. I'm guessing that leads to the awful Ambrose/Jericho feud.

Seth Rollins Vs John Cena: Rollins defending the US title. Cena is shit. There, I said it. This is just another exhibition of moves, and it lacks even the sense of violence that Owens brought to that feud. Rollins is a great athlete, but he's a pretty clueless worker. No way he should be doing insane strength spots like rolling through on a cross body and deadlifting Cena up to an AA position, no matter how impressive it is. Cena regained the US title with a single AA.

Seth Rollins Vs Sting: Rollins tried to escape with his belt, but Cena stopped him, giving him another AA on the floor, which seems a bit unfair. This was much better than the Cena match, probably because you had Sting working a more restrained style than Cena, and Rollins was mostly bumping around and trying to escape. Rollins pushing Sting through the announce table was a nice simple transition. It's a shame that this quickly got derailed by the real injury Sting suffered. He looked like he got hurt off the first buckle bomb, or at least took it awkwardly, but it was the second one that did him in, and he really struggled through the rest of the match. After the match Sheamus ran in to cash in his contract, but the Demon Kane! returned and put paid to that.

Match of the night: Probably the Rusev/Ziggler match- 3 stars. I also give 3 stars to Ryback/Owens, the Wyatt 6-man, and the Rollins/Sting match.

Show rating: A quite solid show, even if there's nothing on it you'd call a classic. 2 3/4 stars.

 

 

[(BP)]

I always liked Ziggler and Rusev together. They had a match in NXT, which was when I was first impressed by Rusev back when he still wore that leather apron to the ring. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Hell in a Cell 2015.

Cesaro, Neville and Dolph Ziggler Vs King Barrett, Sheamus and Rusev (kickoff match): This is a lot of fun. Look at the cast list. How could it not be? Why did the League of Nations suck so much? Great mix of personalities and workers. Was it just booking? Crowd is hot for this, and the workers respond. Cesaro gives one of his awesome hot tat performances to set up the win for the babyfaces.

John Cena Vs Alberto Del Rio: This is really odd. Was Cena carrying an injury or something? The match is really short, and Del Rio goes over in pretty dominant fashion. Cena doesn't seem to give much of a shit either. I guess Del Rio coming back was a cool surprise, but he quickly stopped giving a shit, if he ever did. They did nothing with the Colter relationship either.

Roman Reigns Vs Bray Wyatt: This is the first cell match of the night. A bit long, but I thought this was pretty good. These two work well together. They don't do a lot with the cell, but there are some big spots. The finish has Reigns sending Bray throat-first into a kendo stick sticking out from the corner, which looked pretty violent.

The New Day Vs The Dudley Boyz: Woods is on the shelf after being put through a table by the Duds on Raw. I still don't get New Day's deal with unicorns. The Dudleys can fuck off. They suck and they're lame. Crowd doesn't really care about them either. New Day retain.

Charlotte Vs Nikki Bella: This is a good match, carried by a strong heel performance by Nikki. She really is vicious here beating the shit out of Charlotte, including a Booker T-style spinebuster on the ring apron that looked awesome. Charlotte is a piss poor babyface. Horrible punches and the worst spear ever. It's just a weak clothesline to the tummy. Once again Nikki taps to the figure-8.

Seth Rollins Vs Kane: Crap match with Rollins going over. Seth's title reign is definitely on the shortlist of all-time worst championship reigns. I'd say this is at least not as bad as it could have been. I can't imagine anyone wanting to see this match.

Kevin Owens Vs Ryback: Real nothing match for the IC title. They fail to tap into whatever made them have such an entertaining match the previous show. Owens retains with the popup powerbomb.

Brock Lesnar Vs The Undertaker: Hell in a Cell match billed as The Final Chapter in this rivalry. A rivalry which they only acknowledge as starting at WrestleMania 30, ignoring their 2002/2003 feud. This is quite the spectacle. It's equal parts shit and amazing. It's shimazing. Taker brings the shit, first by looking like David Brent in the 'If you don't know me by now' music video, and proving that it's not only the women who get to come out looking like they've been shot in the face by Homer Simpson's make-up gun. He looks really rough here, which to be fair they work into the match by making him more of a desperate man making his last stand. But he really does look bad, his timing looks off, and there are moments where he seems to not know what he's supposed to be doing. Some of that could be on Brock too, but Brock at least covers it with his aura of danger and unpredictability. The worst moment is Brock going to hit a prone Taker with the steps, and Taker missing his cue to kick them into his face, not once, but twice. Brock gets busted open like a minute into the match, and is bleeding buckets, so then you have the doctor sneaking around the ring like the fucking Repo Man trying to get a look at him. Taker is busted open too, and the blood definitely adds something to the match. A mix of violence, like Brock laying into Taker with chairs, and standard big Brock match, shitty suplexes and kicking out of F5s. What takes it up a notch is Brock ripping up the ringmat to expose the wooden boards, which is a really cool visual, and actually looks really dangerous in a world where you become sanitised to people safely going through announce tables and taking unseen bumps on crashmats. Brock kicks out of a tombstone on the wood, and then low blows Taker, which is a really cool call-back to the low blows Taker has used on Brock to stay competitive. A third F5 later and it's all over. Then the commentators, JBL especially, go into overdrive trying to sell us on the enormity of this, with ridiculous proclamations about how Brock has now learnt his final lesson to become an unbeatable warrior, the final intangible. Taker's warrior-fallen-on-his-sword act is so lame. Then the Wyatt Family come out and deliver a really weak beatdown on Taker before carrying him away. I don't know what that was about other than to maybe give Taker something to do at Survivor Series for his 25th birthday party which they've also been going on about all night. 

Match of the night: Really hard to judge that main event, but I want to say it was probably the 'match of the night' for just how over the top it was. Maybe 3 1/4 stars. Reigns/Bray, the pre-show match and the women's match were 3 stars.

Show rating: Definitely a memorable show. Some bad stuff, but I think the good stuff overrides it. 3 stars.

[(BP)]

Cena was taking time off, but I think it was just personal leave and not injury related. Whatever was going on, I guess he wanted to drop the title quickly at the beginning of the show and be out. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE TLC; Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2015.

Sasha Banks Vs Becky Lynch (kickoff match): Good match. It's good to see these two get a bit of time on a ppv, albeit on the pre-show, and they certainly made the most of it. Sasha continues to look like the star of the "Diva's Revolution", and does some great heel work. Team B.A.D get involved to help Sasha pick up the win.

The New Day Vs The Usos Vs The Lucha Dragons: Ladder match for New Day's belts. Big E and Kofi on New Day duty, natch. Wow. This was fucking crazy. Why does no-one ever talk about this match? I loved it. When one of the Usos doing a splash from the top rope to a guy on the outside underneath a ladder isn't even the craziest spot in the match, you know you're watching some shit. The most insane spot was Kalisto's Salida Del Sol on one of the Usos off a ladder and through a ladder. Absolutely breathtaking. This is just spot, spot, spot, but everything is hit so cleanly, and, importantly, looks like it hurts. Yeah, you can question the gameplan of the challenging teams in particular for taking so many crazy risks, and you could even ask why Xavier (doing commentary) waited so long to get physically involved (it was worth it when he did, as he threw the trombone at Kalisto who was about to grab the belts), but really for this match type, I thought this was on a par with the ladder/TLC matches featuring the Hardyz et al. It's a shame that this was really on a nothing show, and not a grander stage that might allow it to be remembered more fondly, because these guys surely deserve it.

Rusev Vs Ryback: So, Rusev and Lana are back together. For some reason, Ryback doesn't like that. This is a fun match. Rusev and Lana are so fun together. Here they outsmart Ryback, allowing Rusev to pick up the win with the Accolade. I love Rusev destroying punks who disrespect his woman.

Alberto Del Rio Vs Jack Swagger: Chairs match for the US title. Del Rio and Zeb have split up now, which gives this match the awkward dynamic of babyface Swagger defending the honour of unsympathetic Zeb. I really thought Swag had gone by this point anyway. It's so hard to have a good chairs match. These guys give it a good go, and it certainly isn't bad. Just doesn't really click to the next level. I do like the finish, which had the best possible set up to the double stomp, delivered on a pile of chairs to boot.

The Wyatt Family Vs The Dudley Boyz, Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer: Certainly wasn't expecting to see Dreamer and Rhyno on this show. This was a tables elimination match, and was really just a showcase for the Wyatts. Strowman looked so green out there- noticeably fucked up a couple of spots. Rowan was the first to be eliminated, but then the Wyatts ran the table. Decent chaotic garbage match. Teased a flaming table, but didn't deliver. 

Kevin Owens Vs Dean Ambrose: Owens defending the IC title. Another decent match. A bit too indie-ish maybe, with some questionable selling/blowing things off to move to the next spot, but these guys have big enough personalities to keep it interesting. The crowd was solidly with Ambrose, and popped big when he won the belt, reversing a pop-up powerbomb into a hurricanrana. Ambrose celebrated in the crowd with the fans. 

Charlotte Vs Paige: I watched the match these two had at Survivor Series a couple of weeks ago, and thought it was really good. Certainly the best Charlotte match to this point, and by far the best Paige match. I wanted to point that out, since I've been down on both of these. Well, as it turns out, I liked this one quite a bit too. Charlotte is pretty much a heel here, cheating to win and with Ric in her corner, but still keeping the pretense of being a face. Paige is I guess a babyface keeping the pretense of being a heel? Kinda hard to gauge the dynamic here. My gripe with the match is that Charlotte really doesn't need to be doing the Ric Flair tribute act. I mean, taking a couple of his signature moves is one thing, but doing the Flair flop and the constant struts is taking it too far. It just doesn't really match her character as I see it anyway. Paige seems to have found her niche as an aggressive asskicking babyface. So Charlotte gets a screwy win thanks to Flair- that got old real quick. But pretty good match. Also, I really hate old man Flair as a character. Constantly strutting and slapping his arms. Get your melting carcass off my screen.

Sheamus Vs Roman Reigns: TLC match for the world title. My big gripe first- Rusev and Del Rio interfering at the end of the match, just as Roman is about to win. I guess I can understand Sheamus wanting to win the match alone, but keeping his League of Nations buddies as an ace in the hole if things don't go to plan. What irked me is that Ambrose didn't come out to try to help Roman, especially as they did a backstage bit together earlier in the night about ending the show celebrating together with their belts. Unless I missed Reigns saying he didn't want Ambrose out there. But even then that's pretty weak, and it actually would have added a lot to the finish if Dean had come out to try to make the save, but got outnumbered. Anyway, that aside, this was a really good match. No frills, just two big dudes trying to beat the shit out of each other, using weapons as and when they come to hand. The story was that Reigns just won't stay down, and their were echoes of the Lesnar match as Reigns responded to his beating with a smile. White Noise through a table from Sheamus. Powerbomb on a ladder from Reigns, and then the big spot was a Samoan Drop from Reigns off the apron through a ladder that was straddling the apron and the announce table. Crowd was interesting. Dueling Cena chants, Daniel Bryan chants, but they seemed to be won over by the end, fully booing Sheamus' cheap win. I was really surprised by the result, as I thought Reigns got the belt back here. The post-match is something else. Reigns lays a beatdown on Sheamus, Rusev and Del Rio, which brings Triple H and Steph out. Reigns then proceeds to lay the most prolonged beatdown on Triple H that I can ever remember him taking; beating him down with a chair, powerbombing him on the announce table, elbowdropping him through it, and then, my favourite, spearing him as he is being helped out. The fans were lapping it up too. Reigns looked so badass, just not giving a shit. This should definitely be his character. My question coming out of this match it; what happened? I was at the Raw in Detroit when Hunter did his Triple H special long beatdown on Reigns to set up the Mania match, and the fans were loving it, complete with 'yes' chants to the rhythm of Hunter slamming Reigns' head into the barricade. I don't get how they can get the fans behind Reigns, and then screw it all up again to this extent.

Match of the night: Lots of choices on this one, but I think I'm gonna go with the tag match. Such a fun match. 3 3/4 stars. 3 1/2 for Sheamus/Reigns. 3 stars for Banks/Lynch, Rusev/Ryback, Charlotte/Paige and Ambrose/Owens.

Show rating: To me, this seems like a outside 'best show of all-time' candidate. The only things working against it really are that the product was so cold around this time, and the lack of maybe a classic match or angle. 'Pound for pound' though, I thought this was really, really good. 4 stars.

[John from Cincinnati]

Strong positive take on this one. Cold product is a fair assessment too.

Yeah, that ladder match was nuts. And I like both Sheamus and Roman, so I dug the main. The rest is kind of a blur though. I remember Ambrose-Owens from the Rumble, but not much from this one. And I think the Wyatts-ECW rematch from the next night was a little better too. 

I may need to rewatch this show soon. 

[DJ Hero Morganti]

Best part of the ladder match was Xavier going "oh yeah. This is no dq" on commentary first then throwing Francesca at kalisto.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Fastlane 2016.

Alberto Del Rio Vs Kalisto (kickoff match): 2/3 falls for Kalisto's US title. It was an interesting idea having Kalisto as US champ. I'm not sure why they didn't keep him in the mix more after his reign ended. This is a pretty good match. Del Rio gets intentionally DQ'ed in the first fall, but then quickly wins the second to force the decider. Kalisto with the flash pin to retain the belt. Kalisto is looking the part here.

Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks Vs Naomi and Tamina: Good match let down a bit by some shoddy execution, from both teams. The heels work quite well cutting off the hot tag, and both Becky and Sasha get to play fip. The faces get the win.

Kevin Owens Vs Dolph Ziggler: KO defending the IC belt. They work a fast paced workrate-style match, that goes a little too far for me with dueling superkicks. It got over with the crowd though.

The Big Show, Kane and Ryback Vs Braun Strowman, Erick Rowan and Luke Harper: Pretty standard match from these guys. I could say the Wyatts shouldn't be taking losses like this, but we're well past that point now. 

Charlotte Vs Brie Bella: When you realise this is the closest we'll get to Ric Flair Vs Daniel Bryan. Actually, Charlotte seems to have dialed back a bit on the Ric impersonation. Poor Brie is now stuck doing a tribute to both her husband and her sister, though she actually looks best just doing her own stuff. Funny that. Another cheap win for Charlotte.

AJ Styles Vs Chris Jericho: Jericho looks a million bucks here. I mean, a million books. Each of them titled 'How to have a bad match with AJ Styles'. Yeesh, get some self-awareness, Chris. You ain't in your twenties anymore. Styles gets the win to set him up for jobbing at Mania.

Next there was a long segment with Edge and Christian and the New Day, which was basically set up to turn New Day face as they get into it with the League of Nations. It was also at this point in the show that I realised that I'd seen this show before. At least, I know I'd seen this segment before, and I can't imagine I would have specifically sought this out. So either this show is just really forgettable, or I'm getting old. It's both.

Curtis Axel Vs R-Truth: Impromptu match for whatever reason. The Social Outcasts really annoyed me, just because none of them should have considered themselves social outcasts. These are the things that bug me in wrestling. They should have been called The In Crowd and told everyone else that they weren't cool enough to be a part of them. Anyway, Goldust inadvertently costs Truth the match to continue that storyline.

Roman Reigns Vs Brock Lesnar Vs Dean Ambrose: This show needed the main event to deliver, and it did. I really enjoyed this. Man, Brock is booked ridiculously strong, isn't he? He pretty much dominates two of the top babyfaces on the roster like this is a handicap match for the opening few minutes, throwing both Reigns and Ambrose around at will. Both are really good at taking a beating, so this was cool. Then they finally get the upper hand and powerbomb Lesnar through the announce table. Ambrose and Reigns then went at it until Lesnar recovered, at which point they powerbombed him through another announce table. In the end Reigns hits a spear on Ambrose after Ambrose had taken Lesnar out with a chair, and picks up the win for the honour of facing Hunter at WrestleMania. In hindsight, they should have just gone with Ambrose winning the title shot, and rematched Reigns and Lesnar from the previous year. But here we are. As I said, the match was really fun. Lots of asskicking, and worked pretty logically too. 

Match of the night: The main event is the only sensible choice really. 3 3/4 stars. I liked ADR/Kalisto to the tune of 3 1/4 stars.

Show rating: I think forgettable is the right word for this really. Both women's matches are decent, and the IC title match is okay too, but it very much feels like the filler show that it is. 2 1/2 stars.

[(BP)]

This was only a few months before the infamous Good Lucha Thing promo, so it's not a stretch to assume that's what killed Kalisto's momentum in the upper midcard. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Payback 2016.

Dolph Ziggler Vs Baron Corbin (kickoff match): This was a decent little match, with Ziggler getting what was sold as an upset victory. I like Corbin. He's the type of ugly, sleazy-looking guy wrestling needs more of. He should be paired with a hot chick that he treats like shit.

Kalisto Vs Ryback (kickoff match): Kalisto's US title run continues. Not as good as his work with Del Rio, but this was still pretty good, and worked pretty logically. I liked Ryback doing a gorilla slam off the top rope.

The Vaudevillains Vs Enzo and Cass: New Day are out at ringside to watch this, as this decides their next challengers. This show is being sold as the start of the new era, so it makes sense that we start with these two new teams. Of course, this only goes a few mins before the injury to Enzo ends it. I assume Enzo and Cass were going to win this. Do we think the Vaudevillains were punished for this, as they pretty much became jobbers after their match with New Day? Or was that more Gotch getting into fights with everyone? I liked the team. I like a bit of silly in my wrestling.

Kevin Owens Vs Sami Zayn: This was a good match, but not really my kind of match. I think anyone who's read through these reviews knows I'm not a big fan of the modern indie style. But Zayn sells really well, and I think Owens is a good heel in bursts. I just think they go a bit too far in these matches. Owens won clean with the powerbomb, and then continued the assault on Zayn. He then demanded Saxton come into the ring to interview him, and said that he was going to reclaim his IC title. That led to him joining the commentary team for the next match.

The Miz Vs Cesaro: Miz defending the IC belt here. He has Maryse with him. I think Maryse added a lot to Miz aesthetically, but I never thought she was a good second otherwise. Cesaro is great in this match. Has to be one of the most rounded offensive wrestlers they've ever had. He can pretty much do it all, and I'll never not be impressed by his feats of strength. Sami Zayn ended up coming back out and attacking Owens at ringside, and that ended up causing a distraction which allowed Miz to retain. A donnybrook then broke out with ended with Owens standing tall after another pop-up powerbomb on Zayn. This whole segment was really well done, with my only criticism being that I didn't like Owens being so dominant without cheating at all. I don't mind him beating Zayn clean so much, but then to dominate again here just seemed a bit much. But a good angle nonetheless.

Dean Ambrose Vs Chris Jericho: This was really long. It went nearly 20, but felt nearly 30. Neither one of these guys should really be working this type of match, as it doesn't play to their strengths at all. Ambrose won with Dirty Deeds.

Charlotte Vs Natalya: Nattie has Bret in her corner to counter Flair. This is shortly after Bret had beaten his cancer. I'll never, ever not be happy to have Bret on TV. My all-time favourite. This match was going okay, but man, I can't believe they did a Montreal finish here of Charles Robinson calling for the bell as Charlotte puts Nattie in a sharpshooter. Terrible and pathetic to bring Bret in for this (thought clearly he could have refused). But terrible and pathetic that they're using this finish at all. Really the match existed just to have the visual of Bret and Nattie putting Charlotte and Ric in dual sharpshooters. 

Next they did a segment with Vince McMahon announcing who would run Raw. Nothing says new era like a fucking McMahon family angle. Seriously, I can't imagine why anyone would give a shit whether Shane or Stephanie McMahon runs Raw. Sure, Shane is popular so he got a pop, and Steph got boos, but I don't think anyone cared about the segment otherwise. Actually, when Vince announced that Shane and Steph would run Raw TOGETHER, like this was some big shocking announcement, it was met with mostly crickets. The commentary team putting this over like it was a landscape-changing turn of events was just sad. I went to Raw shortly after this where the main event was Vince announcing who the GMs of Raw and Smackdown would be, and it turned out that it was, yes, Shane and Steph. So fucking annoying.

Roman Reigns Vs AJ Styles: This has a nice big match feel, because it actually feels like the two best/biggest stars in the company going at it, with both men really wanting to be champion. Really, really good match too. The restarts hurt it a bit (yeah, more McMahon nonsense), but they recover the situation nicely with a hot closing stretch. That table bump was "phenomenal", and very unique. I like the angle with the Club too. Crowd was very pro-AJ. Loud boos for Roman, though we got some dueling chants too. Good stuff all round. They have to get the McMahons in one more time announcing a rematch for Extreme Rules.

Match of the night: Reigns/AJ at 4 stars. I give Owens/Zayn 3 1/4 and Miz/Cesaro 3 stars.

Show rating: Pretty good strong overall, although the bad stuff is really bad (the tag match finish- not their fault, Ambrose/Jericho going on forever, the Montreal tribute, McMahon bullshit). Yeah, a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde show I guess. But a strong main event hides a multitude of sins. 3 1/2 stars.

[John from Cincinnati]

I think this was one of Ryback's last matches in the company. Is this the one where he had the weight belt that said Pre-show Stopper? That was too good.

You're complaining now about Owens going over too strong, sure. But just wait for his Universal title reign. You'll have no such concerns.

I liked the Ambrose-Jericho match just fine, but I'm partial to both guys and enjoyed the storyline. Their match at the next PPV though? Even I was crying for the sweet release of death. It ran long because something else ran short, IIRC. It's got to be an all-time great example of a match that was way worse than it should have been. 

AJ and Roman had great chemistry. Those two PPV matches are among my favourite of the year, and are probably my favourite AJ matches in WWE. Roman's reign in general was fantastic till it was cut short. And I don't think they ever busted out that AJ table bump again, which sucks because it looked amazing. 

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

Splash Mountain should be Reigns finish. It just looks awesome.

[PetrolCB]

Thought that the moment he started doing the move. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

WWE Extreme Rules 2016.

Baron Corbin Vs Dolph Ziggler (kickoff match): No DQ. Another decent match from these two. Loved the finish of Corbin low-blowing Ziggler to set up the End of Days. Got some proper heat.

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson Vs The Usos: This was a pretty boring match. Wrestled under tornado rules, but didn't really have any sense of violence or chaos. I don't rate Gallows and Anderson. They pick up the win here. The crowd is favouring the Club, as the Usos pay the price for their association with Roman Reigns, and probably for being a bit stale at this point.

Kalisto Vs Rusev: This is a lot of fun. Rusev wins the US title. They have good chemistry- probably the best of Kalisto's US title defences. Kalisto has some really good hope spots, before Rusev crushes him with one of the most vicious Accolades you'll see.

The New Day Vs The Vaudevillains: Big E and Woods representing the New Day. That's my favourite pairing. I always like seeing Woods get some shine, and he was kind of the star of this match. I don't think the Vaudevillains were really presented as a viable threat to the belts, but they looked okay here.

The Miz Vs Cesaro Vs Kevin Owens Vs Sami Zayn: Here's another match that I thought was good, but seemed to be a lot less positive on than the majority of people. I was expecting something to elevate beyond just the standard WWE multi-man match, and I don't really think it had that. I did really like Zayn Helluva kicking KO right off the bat, and thought, again, Cesaro was really strong in this. Some fun nearfalls too. The Miz retains the IC title in sneaky heel fashion, which I appreciate.

Chris Jericho Vs Dean Ambrose: Ah, the infamous Asylum Match. Man, this is a bag of wank. These two just don't match up well at all. Goes way too long, is really boring, and the crowd is mostly dead for it, which doesn't help. They did come alive for the thumbtacks at the finish, which is always a great visual. But otherwise this was bad.

Charlotte Vs Natalya: This was pretty bad too. Submission match with Ric Flair banned from ringside. The two of them are just applying submission holds without anything really tying it all together. And again, no heat. This Charlotte title reign has been really poor. Definite shades of Triple H in 2002. Another garbage finish too, as Natalya has Charlotte in the sharpshooter, but releases the hold when Flair's music hits. Then she just stands there gawking as Dana Brooke comes out dressed as Flair, allowing Charlotte to lock on the figure-8, forcing Nattie to tap out. Nattie was shit in this too, by the way.

Roman Reigns Vs AJ Styles: Extreme Rules match. More quality stuff here from these two. This might be even better than the Payback match. Maybe. Styles takes two announce table bumps here, one a back body drop, the other a powerbomb. The latter is a really great spot. Again, the Club and the Usos are out to run interference. It probably would have been nice to see no interference in this one. They probably go a bit too far with the kick-outs too. Reigns kicks out of a Styles Clash, and then a Styles Clash on a chair, although the Usos provide a slight distraction for the second one. Wicked finish with Reigns catching Styles with a spear as the latter comes off the ropes for a Phenomenal Forearm. These two just work really well together, and it honestly feels like a dream match. Kinda feels a bit like a Cena/Punk scenario, where you have the company man and the indie darling, with both being really good at what they do, and providing excellent foil for one another. These two should main event a WrestleMania one day.

Match of the night: The main event is the only choice. 4 1/4 stars. I'd put the 4-way match at 3 1/4 and Corbin/Ziggler and Kalisto/Rusev at 3 stars. 

Show rating: Another enjoyable show, with really only the Asylum match bringing it down. Seems like a very tame Extreme Rules though. 3 1/4 stars.