WWE SD 2-28-17

Shane and Bryan rewatch the finish of the battle royal - with AJ clearly landing second because he was suplexed. AJ points this out and they blame a bad camera angle. Luke is insulted and he's standing right behind him  - Brodie Lee vs. AJ Styles is a WWE main event. Awesome. Cena comes out for MizTV and Miz talks about beating Cena in the main event of WM and Miz says that Cena is jealous of him. Miz also calls him a hypocrite for knocking Rock for leaving for Hollywood before doing it himself. Well, he's not wrong. Cena says that he doesn't take away chances because he doesn't have a key to the kingdom. Cena buries Miz for stealing Bryan's moves, BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE - he also steals AJ's stuff. Maryse yells at Cena and cuts a nice promo on him before slapping him. Nikki comes down and there's our WM match setup. Nikki says that if you mess with her man, she'll "break ya, bitch!".

Becky vs. Mickie in their best of 9000 series. Best 2 out of 3. Mickie DT gets the first fall. Schoolgirl after a missing a Thesz press gives Becky a win. Becky locks on the disarmer after a cradle and wins. Harper cuts an intense Wyatt-esque promo in a lit room about having new eyes and seeing true evil. Bray says evil words in response. Alexa chats with robo Dasha about being the first-ever two time SD Women's Champion. AJ vs. Harper is the best showcase Harper has had yet. Eddie-esque outside-in senton gets 2 along with a big boot. Blitz is countered into a half nelson suplex for 2! Phenomenal Forearm hits, but they're by the ropes and Luke gets his foot on the rope before 3. Shane restarts it and AJ bitches at him before Luke accidentally superkicks Shane. AJ posts Luke and wins with the springboard 450.

Cena and Nikki make a match for themselves against Carmella and Ellsworth next week. Bryan congratulates AJ on being in the main event of WM. Dean and Corbin chat. Crews faces Dolph in a chairs match. Dolph crotches him and wins. Bray sez scary words mid-ring while Orton is in the shack and dressed in all-black. Orton says this is Bray's world - but it's not his and it never was. So Orton is just done with the Family now. Orton talks about Abigail being consumed by maggots and worms and he brandishes a pickaxe telling Bray that he's stripped of his power. Randy opens up the floor boards and douses the shack in gasoline. He burns the shack and burns the soul of Abigail inside. Well, this was dark - but good. Great ending to the show.

WCW Halloween Havoc 1998 Part 2 and 3

Well, this one sure wound up getting lost in the show - so now that I've got this show ready to roll, let's finish it up in one go. Buff saves Rick Steiner on Nitro and then the Nitro Girls dance. Disco comes out to face Kidman for the cruiserweight title. Disco hits a hiptoss, but misses an elbow drop. Back and forth kip ups by both men. I forgot that Kidman had an ankle tattoo. Swinging neckbreaker hits for 2 for Disco. Nice whip into the corner leads to Kidman taking a Bret-esque bump, but with his back. Kidman gets low bridged and flies down the aisle. Nice toss into the apron leads to Disco hitting chest-first and then eating a run-up bulldog off the steps - nice spot. A splash misses. Pat and Jim talk about Disco being very good - but being typecast in WCW and only getting a main event run in TNA, where Disco, main eventer didn't quite click. Powebromb counter hits and Kidman wins with the SSP.

Scott Steiner and Giant come out as tag champs. Giant is smoking and boy is that tag title small on him. Steiner shoves a camera guy after grabbing a sign from a fan. Rick Steiner and Buff come out. Buff throws some crotch chops Scott's way. Giant chops Rick in the corner before atomic dropping him. Scott tags in and clubs away. Jim and Pat talk about how Scott owns a Shoney's, Rick's in real estate, Big Show is ready to face Shaq, and Buff's a gigolo. Rick recovers and hits an elbow. They go for a double lariat, but BUFF KICKS HIM IN THE BALLS! Running ball kick by Scott. SCOTT HOPS AROUND A BIT! I'm shocked to see him moving quickly. Missile dropkick from Giant misses. Rick bulldogs Giant and wins the tag titles. Rick faces Scott for 5 minutes, Steinerlines him. Mid-air catch powerslam by Rick. Someone in a Clinton mask comes in through the crowd and it's Buff. Buff grabs the ref and counts 2 because Rick kicked out. Rick beats Scott. Got this was a mess.

Mean Gene narrates an NWO video and then they recap Hall turning on Nash at Slamboree before doing the Last Call gimmick. Hall comes out with a drink, because of course he does. Tony calls Nash Mr. Cool. A fan has a wacky red and gold hat on. Hall tosses the drink at Nash and jumps him. Hall hits him with a mic and chokes him before Nash bleeds from the mouth. Survey time! Edge attempt, but Nash shoves him into the ref, which isn't sold. Scott slaps him, but then eats a buckle and the side slam. Crowd is dead. Nash shoves him down, so Hall works the arm and slaps him. Corner knees by Nash. CAN WE GET ELBOWS!? YES! More corner knees. Nash, ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL MEN IN WRESTLING HISTORY according to Tony, fakes a drink and slugs Hall. Big boot. Jackknife hits and Hall takes a great bump for it. Second one hits. More crotch chops get a mild reaction. Nash just leaves and Mickey Jay helps Hall up. 

Bret comes out with the US Title and GOATEE STING IS OUT. God this is so weird. Pat and Jim talk about how Sting was Real Estate Steve and this is a dream match...with Bret as a heel playing a total chickenshit. Well, it's psychologically sound - but not what Bret vs. Sting should be. Walk 'n Brawl time. Corner punches. Bulldog. Legsweep. Bret fakes a knee injury but STING IS SMART FOR ONCE and stomps away. Bret has knucks and Sting knocks them off Bret, tries to use them, but gets Chyna punched in the balls. More brawling and Bret yells "fuck you" to a fan. Bret clubs the chest and then Sting elbows the ref. Sting lariats him, but a Stinger splash is avoided and Bret elbows the neck. Superplex onto the ref's knee. Sting misses the splash and hits the post before eating bat shots and losing via a flying elbow drop-style bat shot and a sharpshooter  EMTs come out for Sting. Jim and Pat talk about how this would about $2,000 in real life and how Kaufman wanted an ambulance for his Lawler match, but King nixed it because it was $800 - so Andy offered to pay it. I like them at least treating this like a real deal.

Semi-main event time. Hogan comes down first. Nitro recap with Hogan chairshotting Horace Boulder. A fan holds up a horribly un-PC sign about Bischoff. Warrior's ring jacket is nice and looks major league. Battle of the arm locks. Test of strength. Cross cross leads to a Hogan slam and then Warrior slamming him. Walk 'n Brawl on the floor. Wacky cartoonish post shot to Hogan. Hogan bonks the ref and slightly drops his knee on the ref. Giant jogs out and MISSES THE KICK, hitting Hogan. Warrior gets a visual pin. Belly to back by Hogan gets 2. So they've done a couple of homages to the '90 match - but nothing is close to it.

Cartoonish choke and then a weight belt shot by Hogan and then Hogan chokes him before the ref grabs Hogan by the throat to pull him off. Wacky log roll elbow drop misses a few dozen times. Warrior splash misses. Warrior grabs the weight belt and whips Hogan. He hits him with the belt buckle, busting him up and Hogan goes to the corner for the botched fireball. Hogan low blows him after eating two double axehandles off the top and hits the legdrop. Horace comes down and a second legdrop misses - and they basically miss the shot. Chain of lariats hit but Horace hits Warrior with a chair and Hogan wins. Wow was this even worse than I remembered. They cover Warrior in lighter fluid and they try to set him on fire, but security stops this. Just let Hulk try - he'll burn himself first.

 

Main event time, with Buffer doing intros. In a couple of minutes, this is where the show cut off for many. They showed this for free on Nitro the next time, and it was the end of WCW coming close to matching Raw. DDP is ungodly over and his shirt is all over the place. Goldberg's intro is so fucking awesome. We even get a shot of him through the tunnel. Tieup to start, just like Hogan-Warrior, but with intensity. Pat and Jim joke about making DDP Enzo's dad in a skit like they did with Jimmy Golden and Swagger. Goldberg backflps and DDP trips him. Fireman's carry pickup slam ala the FU leads to the cross armbar. Goldberg sends him outside and we see a fan with a purple and gold NWO shirt.

DDP DOES CHAIN WRESTLING! DDP snaps the neck before hitting a swinging neckbreaker and getting 2. Sloppy legsweep gets 2 so DDP goes for a front facelock and lands some knees, but eats that snap slipping neckbreaker. Butterfly suplex hits and a sidelsam gets 2. Rolling armbar, but DDP gets the ropes. Superkick sends DDP in the corner , but a charging spear misses and gets a huge pop. Heenan says YOU CAN BEAT HIM, finally selling that this could be it. Flying lariat off the top hits Diamond Dream DDT hits. Spear hits, but he can't cover! Jackhammer into the cutter! BUT DDP CAN'T COVER! It gets 2 and the crowd goes crazy - so after that dud of a semi-main, they got them back. DDP goes for a suplex, but Goldberg turns it into the jackhammer for the win. Short match, but a damn good one.

WWE SD 2-21-17

Bryan comes out and talks about the unexpected twists and turns on the road to WrestleMania. He talks about Naomi and how proud everyone is of her - but he has to do something that's very hard. Naomi suffered a knee injury and has to vacate the title. She says that when she comes back, EVERYBODY IS GONNA FEEL THE FREAKIN GLOW. Well, this made you care about her. Bliss vs. Becky is made and Alexa regains it with a shot to the throat and a schoolgirl using the shorts.

Dean chats backstage in a room about the battle royal tonight. Kalisto and Miz chat too. Astonished they let Kalisto speak after Good Lucha Things. American Alpha beats the Fashion Police with the Steiner bulldog. Usos cut an amusing promo on AA buying protein bars and not being able to go sleep due to the Usos. More geeks yammer about the battle royal. Nikki shakes her ass a bit backstage and chats to Renee.

 

Nikki comes out for her falls count anywhere match against Nattie by shaking her ass. They do every walk and brawl trick in the book, but a diving enzuiguri off the stage gets 2. We get an...amusingly shot scene of Nattie trying to powerbomb Nikki through a table off the apron, and Nikki falls and narrowly avoids hitting her head against a monitor. Alabama slam on the announce table gets 2. Snap suplex on the ramp gets 2. Nikki tosses her through a mirror backstage for 2. Maryse comes out and beats up Nikki with a pipe before Miz drags her away. Nattie wins this one. Battle royal comes down to AJ and Luke but a dual elimination leads to Bryan making a Luke vs. AJ match to determine the true winner.

 

Great shot overall. Loved all the geeks in the battle royal getting promo time. Nikki vs. Nattie was shockingly good - although Nikki almost had a nasty landing off that powerbomb counter landing on the floor near the monitor. I like them dragging out Harper vs. AJ until next week - they gave Luke a bit of credibility tonight and can parlay that into a true showcase match for him next week.

WWE SmackDown 2-14-17

Chamber recap leads to Bray coming out and one smartass yelling HUSKY HARRIS. Cena and AJ come out and want a rematch for the title. Bryan says that they're both owed rematches, so we'll get a triple threat tonight for the title. American Alpha struggles through another horrible match with the Ascension. They retain, thank God and the Usos cut a promo on them.

Ellsworth and Carmella are backstage and Dean tells James that Carmella is a gold digger. Bryan asks if there's a problem and Dean says that yes, he has a problem named Baron, and also James is dressed like a schmuck. Bryan makes the match. Dean vs. Ellsworth is a backdrop for a Baron asskicking. Deep Six through a ringside table! Nattie and Nikki bicker backstage.

Dolph is an asshole backstage. Becky vs. Mickie is solid, and Mickie wins after feigning a shoulder injury and Mick Kicking her to win. Naomi is all super-happy and Alexa says that she'll give Naomi a week to get her rematch. Cena vs. AJ vs. Bray starts with Harper beating up Bray. AJ hits a crazy legdrop off the barricade through  Bray on the announce table. Abigail hits Cena and Bray wins - cementing him as THE MAN beating the prior champion twice. Randy comes down and says that as long as Bray is his master, he refuses to face him at WM.

WWE Elimination Chamber 2017

Booker, Carmella, Renee, and Sam Roberts are on the panel. A nice piano intros begins the show itself. The all-new chamber looks like a giant black Cell in a chamber-ish shape. Becky comes out first to face Mickie. Super-long tieup spot to start. Otunga goes on about how Mickie has been off for seven years while JBL says no, she's actually been wrestling elsewhere. Flying seated senton gets 2 for Mickie. Her arm gets sliced up somehow and gets cradled to lose. Okay match, but nothing amazing.

Carmella and Ellsworth are in the skybox and I think she's a heel again now. She's not impressed by Becky and he agrees. Crews is out for his 2 ON 1 HANDICAP MATCH AGAINST THE HEEL. Dolph beats Kalisto's ass and tosses him into the LED boards smashing them. Good on Dolph for beating up that lucha stripper-themed bully. It's just Crews vs. Dolph, and Crews at least has slick new yellow, blue, and black gear. Dolph is rightfully cheered wildly - so this was a heck of a heel turn. After several minutes of boring action, Kalisto sadly returns. He destroys Dolph with flippy things, brings in Crews, and they win with the atomic powerbomb. The two faces (barely) managed to beat the one heel. Yay? Dolph kicks their asses in the post-match - SO WHY EVEN BOTHER WITH THE MATCH THEN? The loss is negated by the post-match ass-kicking. Why not just save everyone time and just have Dolph beat everyone's asses with a chair?

Nice of Raw to get ad time on an SD show while Raw is FIGHTING FOR ITS VERY SURVIVAL AGAINST SMACKDOWN LIVE! Rhyno and Slater come out for tag turmoil. The Fashion Police are here! We get a rundown of the various foreign announcers to show that WWE IS A GLOBAL JUGGERNAUT. Extended Aloha Arn spot for a sunset flip! I love Fandango. He eats a gore and loses. Vaudevillains come out. And they're gone. Usos are out. Fat Uso beats Slater before AA comes out - and I could see them losing since the Usos have lost literally every match against them to date. Usos lose to a victory roll and kick the faces' asses - so just like THE LAST FUCKING MATCH. Ascension has a new look. "Okay, we need to make them look like the LOD AND Luchasaurus!" AA wins this largely nothing of a match.

Nikki vs. Nattie is up. Nikki leads the revolution by shaking her ass and fake-flashing everyone. As ya do. Phoenix Suns-colored gear is right out of Cena's '02 local team playbook. Nikki goes for a shitty cross armbar. Long chinlocks here. Tons of "you can't see me" bits from Nattie. A few billion more. Awful spinebuster by Nikki. Nikki does the STF better than John. AFTER ALL THAT IT'S A DOUBLE COUNTOUT!? Are you fucking kidding me? Nikki spears her after eating a beating after the match. Carmella said the chicks had issues, Ellsworth repeated it. Riveting. Bray talks about the era of Wyatt and Harper vs. Orton is hyped up.

Randy does chinlocks. Poses. Back suplex on the table. Posing. Superkick party by Harper. RKO ends it. Wow was this nothing. Nattie and Nikki's ass crack brawl. Alexa faces Naomi in a very sloppy match. Dreaded...snapmare on the hair over the ropes. Snap DDT gets 2 for Bliss. Naomi hits the moonsault, it gets 2, Bliss cheats for 2, eats a sloppy moonsault and loses. Naomi wins the title during Black History Month. Because of course she does. Naomi is in tears over being SMACKDOWN LIVE WOMEN'S CHAMPION. Could they have come up with better names for these fucking titles? Everyone called them the Raw and SD belts eons ago to make things easily to follow - that didn't need to actually be done by WWE to make their braindead product easy to follow. Carmella insults interview robot and Ellsworth goes heel on her.

Chamber is up. It gets a video package and then we see the new chamber. It looks like the steel grating is gone. Dean gets a full intro, as does Baron. White and black gear on AJ tonight - he looks amazing. AJ dominates for a bit, but eats a code red for 2. The chamber now has NEW AND IMPROVED lighting stripes and a giant WWE logo when guys are chosen. Dean dives onto Cena from the pod to the flooring with the elbow.

 

 

 
DOUBLE GERMAN BY CENA! Bray is in.Cena and AJ fight on the new cage-esque walking area before AJ knocks him down and Cena just makes a thud. This new metallic surface doesn't sound nearly as devastating. Dean and AJ fight on top of a pod and smash each other into the pod. SUPER CHOKE TOSS SUPLEX BY BRAY TO AJ! STF to Baron, who then hits an END OF DAYS TO CENA! Miz is out, but won't come in and Dean uses this to cradle Baron and pin him. Baron tosses Dean through the pod to set up Baron and Dean in the IC Title scene. Miz pins Dean to keep that going. Slow motion Yes kicks to Bray and Cena. AA to Miz ends it for him.

 

 
A fan yells "DON'T KILL YOURSELF, CENA" as he climbs to the top of a pod and dives onto AJ and Bray. Abigail to Cena and he's out!Baisaku knee by AJ. LOL at AJ doing even more of KENTA's shit on the main roster. Foream is countered into Abigail for the win. Odd to have Bray win the title now, when he has no real momentum - but Bray went from literally nothing as Husky Harris to now a World Champion - so that's cool. I also love Bray beating the then-current champion in the match to make this a more credible win.

 

 

Screenshot gallery -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/v6t4ax480pf7fo0uzpys8qibf7dje7qa

WWE Network Hidden Gems Volume 2

A new batch of footage has been unearthed, with a lot of the new stuff coming from a fan who taped a lot of hings that were never released commercially before. The most interesting match is the Battle of the Nature Boys - Buddy Rogers vs. Ric Flair, which I'll start off with. This is film footage, so it looks quite rich. Flair runs wild with punches and eats a slam. Everything is clipped, so getting a sense for the match as a whole is impossible. Rogers eats a suplex and gets busted open by something. Punches in the corner lead to a Flair flop. Flair hits a series of hard elbows and punches in the corner before a kneeling slugfest. Figure 4 by Flair is reversed. Flair is on the floor somehow and Rogers wins via countout. Well, that was historical - but impossible to follow,

WWE SmackDown 12-7-17

Cena-Orton hype video. Then. Now. Forever. Bryan comes out with a "home" shirt on since they're in Seattle. A lot of fans cheer quite loudly - including one overweight, balding man in a Bliss shirt with his hair dyed like her. Okay then. He says that he had a hard time the last time he was here, because he had to retire - but he is grateful, and he likes being the GM of SD Live. He's even more grateful that soon, he'll be a dad.

Miz comes out and continues his incredible chemistry with Bryan, and tells him to be a stay at home dad because he can't wrestle anymore, so he really shouldn't even be in a ring. Bryan says not being able to wrestle never stopped Miz. Ha! They go back and forth and man is it amazing how well they work together. Baron comes down and then Dean comes down and says he's looking forward to the chamber. AJ says they're in a fantasy world because Baron thinks he'll be champion while Dean will be behind bars, which he might be used to. Bryan makes a fatal four way match next. HOLLA HOLLA!

Dean takes a tower of doom bump here in this TV match for some reason. Miz avoids the clash and does the knee plus for 2. Moonsault DDT gets 2 for AJ. AJ eats an End of Days to beat AJ - now that did for him what the Cena match should've. Harper cuts a creepy promo about cutting the head off the viper is too easy - he wants to hurt him. Nattie and Nikki's cleavage do weird side-by-side promos. Dolph loses via schoolboy to Crews, and then gets beaten up. Kalisto gets beaten up too. Well, this newfound push is not quite working out for Dolph.

Bryan makes Dolph vs. Kalisto and Crews at EC. Mickie and Alexa sign for their matches with Naomi and Becky. Mickie. Says. Another. Really. Slow. Pro-mo. Naomi hypes up WM being in Orlando and she wants to be SD women's champion and calls Bliss Lexi Boo Boo. A brawl breaks out and Naomi dives on the heels. The Ascension, Usos, and The Vaudevillains win a giant geek tag match. Chamber hype video. Orton vs. Cena is a standard TV match, but the RKO shockingly only gets 2. Cena gets the STF, but the ref's down and Bray comes in, but Luke counters him and the AA leads to the win. Okay match.

Screens -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/t27o4bx9a1ro8vz4asejf9h8i3s50g3t

WWE SD 1-31-17

Shane and Bryan brag about how great SD was at the Rumble. AJ will get a shot in the chamber, and a one on one rematch at some point too. Dean vs. AJ is made for the main event. Cena looks good with the WWE Title, and it's the first time he's held this variant of it. Wyatts come out and Bray says words. Harper teams with Cena against the Wyatts. RKO takes out Cena.

 Ellsworth comes out as a total heel in Carmella's wacky getup from last week. They skip down to the ring, which is glorious. "ELLSWORTH SHOULD BE DATIN THE BLUE THING!" JBL is great sometimes. Carmella gets the win with the Code of Silence. Dolph squashes Kalisto and goes to unmask him, but Crews saves him. Naomi and Becky team up against Bliss and Mickie. Naomi beats Bliss against with the moonsault. American Alpha wants competition and we get a giant cluster with every team on SD just fighting it out. Rhino and Heath stand tall, so I guess they'll get a shot. Dean vs. AJ is up. Dean gets a cloverleaf and a modified Rings of Saturn. Miz does commentary and then Baron joins him. Clash gives AJ the win. Miz hits the CCF on Dean and then Baron chases AJ off.