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supersonic

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Everything posted by supersonic

  1. supersonic
    Really good stuff here, maybe not quite as epic as their PWG contests, but this was an obviously more polished version of their tremendous spotfest chemistry. ***1/2
  2. supersonic
    Another excellent multi-man match from WWE in 2013. I don't believe most die-hards like me would love this as much as me, as it was more focused on a story, but it's a story that got me excited for what would come down the line. The babyfaces were largely just bodies in this match, as the first third-to-half of this match was the heel trios' egos getting in the way of them being a cohesive unit for the night. I'm not kidding. The Shield just kept tagging each other in for the first several minutes, not allowing the Wyatt Family to have a chance to put in any work. But eventually the trios put their egos to the side and worked together, which was a surreal sight to behold. Seriously, who actually thought a few years ago that Raw would be headlined by a match featuring Jon Moxley, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Brodie Lee, Husky Harris, and Tyler Black, with no signs of John Cena or Randy Orton? You're lying to yourself if you say yes. The finishing stretch is when the babyfaces came into the focus, doing a great job of standing up to the temporarily aligned juggernaut heel group. There was good storytelling and psychology, plus an incredible pace. The Usos did their highspot thing to bring more spectacle to this contest, getting the crowd even more engaged in the process. And once again, what was most impressive is that because this is WWE and tag team rules matter, this 12 man tag match, despite how wild it got, came down to the legal men. Rey Mysterio also made his return after his millionth injury during the post-match melee. Tremendous Raw main event that IMO should at least be in the conversation with the DX/Radicalz vs. Rock/Sock/Rikishi/Cool tag from February 2000. ****
  3. supersonic
    Main event was the Shield vs. Punk & Daniel Bryan, which was a fun but meaningless match. What mattered was the post-match when the Wyatt Family came to attack the babyfaces, leading to the first ever collision between them and the Shield. Crowd was fucking NUTS for this, and it certainly had an aura to it that makes me look forward to such a trios match. Both trios realize they've been played and go after the babyfaces, only for Goldust, Cody Rhodes, and the Usos to show up to even the odds to an outstanding reaction to a wonderfully chaotic scene. Great closing segment.
  4. supersonic
    Even better trios match here, and again I can't recall too much. What I do remember is the heels doing a great job with their segments of cutting the ring in half and being engaging, while the babyfaces did their jobs too of getting sympathy heat with their hope spots and then delivering on hot tags. Excellent match. ****
  5. supersonic
    Really good trios action here, don't remember much about it unfortunately since there's a rematch just a few days later that I am of course going to review. ***3/4
  6. supersonic
    Good stuff here with Sandow attacking the still healing left arm of Cena that went under the needle just a couple months earlier and cashing in his MITB briefcase. Cena was really good as usual with his hope spots, however Sandow simply wasn't as engaging as I expected with being the dominant participant throughout most of this match. Perhaps that's why he's become an afterthought after cashing in his MITB briefcase here, or maybe he's one of the many guys Daniel Bryan referred to on CM Punk's biography, the ones who are content with being deep in the background collecting their downside guarantees and getting spare merch change. ***1/4
  7. supersonic
    ***3/4 (great job of incorporating the Usos' spotfest flavor into the Rhodes vs. Shield feud)
  8. supersonic
    Another excellent tag match from these two teams, with Triple H making the No DQ stipulation to give the advantage to the Shield, bitter that the Rhodes family proved him wrong and had the temerity to put a damper on his ego. Something that really stood out to me was the commentators forgetting who was legal when the match became wild in its finishing stretch, but in fact the referees and both teams still remembered who was legal. Little things like that are what I appreciate, because it's simply PROFESSIONAL. Ambrose of course would get involved, but the Rhodes brothers came fighting, having complete confidence after already defeating the Shield a week ago. Big Show, who had been fired in storytline, came down to the ring and knocked out Reigns, allowing Cody to get the pinfall and bring the Shield's Tag Titles reign to an end in the STL, where it had poetically begun six months earlier. Again, this wasn't a berrial of the babyfaces winning the titles because of outside interference - it was a story in which HHH's strategy to play favorites backfired on him. ****
  9. supersonic
    I don't recall the exact structure of the match since I've been churning out this rewatch since the go-home week for NOLA is next week, but this was an excellent tag match. From what I can recall, the Shield cut the ring in half as usual, in quick fashion after the Rhodes brothers had the advantage. Dean Ambrose of course would get involved, which Dusty Rhodes wasn't happy with and he took Ambrose out of the equation - no, this was not a berrial. Preoccupied with the outside activities, Rollins found himself taken out via the Cross Rhodes. This was tremendously built, getting better as the match progressed, with the crowd in a frenzy in the finishing stretch, and popping huge to see the Rhodes family get rehired by WWE. Afterwards the babyface locker room and producers come congratulate the family. Wonderful moment and this should've closed out the PPV. ****
  10. supersonic
    No review, just ***1/4.
  11. supersonic
    Likely to ever write a review, but I give this **** for the full version that's available.
  12. supersonic
    This was the Daniel Bryan Show, and major kudos to Cena for being so gracious yet again. Cena of course would use his size and strength to get advantages and avoid getting his ass handed to him on the mat. An early La Tatipia surfboard attempt by D-Bry was cancelled out when Cena lifted D-Bry out of position. I was actually openly criticizing D-Bry during this spot because he didn't use his fists on the rear shoulders region of Cena to get the leverage he needed on an opponent of this caliber, strength, and size. I also recall early in the match he gave D-Bry a vertical suplex on the floor. Hey, if you're going to take stupid bumps, this is the match where you fucking do it. D-Bry got to show the WWE fanbase what so many fans of independent wrestling had enjoyed throughout the 2000s decade. He was constantly finding new ways to get submissions locked on, including a beautiful and poetic STF on Cena. However, I must now mention that Cena came into this match with a torn tricep. It was severe enough that he had a mass on his left elbow because of it. Of course D-Bry took advantage of it, as well as Cena's respective shoulder that had collided with the ring post, getting the LeBell Lock clamped on at various points in the match, and Cena did a great job like Lesnar earlier in the night of making the audience wonder if he was really going to tap out. D-Bry also channeled Punk in that same match against Lesnar when he dropped Cena with a DDT reversal. Other great moments in the match include Cena blocking an attempted Frankensteiner with a Styles Clash that was almost botched very badly. There was also a spot near the end when D-Bry did his signature running dropkicks in the corner, but on the third one, Cena ran forward to deliver a vicious clothesline much like Cesaro had done to D-Bry the month before. Both times when this clothesline was delivered it brought back memories of D-Bry's series against his greatest opponent Nigel McGuinness. The finish of the match came when D-Bry reversed an attempted Death Valley Driver into a small package nearfall, then followed that up with a roundhouse kick to Cena's head. He then debuted the Busaiku knee in front of the WWE audience, and achieved his greatest career moment to date, pinning John Cena clean in the middle of the ring for the WWE Championship in the main event of SummerSlam, with Triple H, who had been fair, impartial, and allowed the combatants to be the focus of the match, counting the pin. The new finisher D-Bry used didn't get a huge pop, which I could see some pointing out as a flaw in the match. But it wasn't. D-Bry's new finisher debuted here and took out the biggest superstar in the industry of the 21st Century so far, to establish its lethal effect. And when the day comes on perhaps a much, much, much bigger stage, the crowd will fucking erupt if he so hits it in a certain main event match that will have the WWE Championship on the line. Post-match, Cena shakes hands and congratulates the new WWE Champion, as does HHH. D-Bry gets several minutes to celebrate his crowning achievement in front of an ecstatic crowd, with confetti falling throughout the Staples Center. This was such a sentimental and bad-ass moment, one that is so rewarding for fans of pro wrestling. This was just as fucking good as when D-Bry won the ROH Title from James Gibson eight years earlier. After several minutes, Randy Orton interrupts and comes to ringside, teasing that he will cash it in. He walks away but stops, still contemplating on what to do. HHH approaches D-Bry and suddenly gives him a Pedigree, which has the crowd in a stunned uproar! Orton then gets in the ring and gladly cashes in, to which HHH gleefully obliges. Orton gets the successful pin. I must mention here that D-Bry not kicking out of the Pedigree was a BERRIAL. Actually, no it wasn't. As I stated earlier, having that move take him out here after a grueling MOTYC against Cena will build the drama and have the crowd even more appreciative for when that special day comes that D-Bry does kick out of it. And that's why even though I wasn't as quite in love with this as I was with Lesnar vs. Punk, this segment couldn't have been executed any better. Cena did a great job in reminding the audience of his grit, love, passion, and SKILL for the business and championship. D-Bry did his thing that I'm guessing most who read this post have grown accustomed to over the past decade from him, this time in front of the largest audience possible outside of WrestleMania, and thus elevated the importance of the title with his performance while also elevating his stock in the company. Triple H was great in being in the background during the main event, making his heel turn, while many expected it, even more devastating. And Orton had finally turned heel too, because D-Bry was the only one the audience had both enough respect and sympathy for to be angry at him for being such a spineless opportunist. What an epic, epic season finale this show was. ****1/2
  13. supersonic
    Lesnar is of course accompanied by Paul Heyman. He gets the early advantage on Punk with his size and strength, but gets cocky. The starving-for-vengeance Punk capitalizes on that and gets some strikes in, only for Lesnar to manage to quickly gain the advantage again, telling the former WWE and World Champion that this is Lesnar's territory and he owns him. However, Punk was so fueled with anger and determination that he kept bringing the fight to Lesnar, and it took a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor for Lesnar to get some breathing room. Once they got back in the ring, they continued putting forth a jaw-dropping collision. Lesnar of course continued to rely on his strength, size, and power, but Punk would show his craftiness. Both men did a superb job of avoiding each other's finishers, and there was a reversal segment in the match that was truly something to behold. Punk had Lesnar lifted for the Go 2 Sleep, and as he dropped him, Lesnar landed on his feet and had the Kimura locked on. Punk found enough leverage to escape that and attempt to get an armbar, but Lesnar escaped that, only for Punk to get Lesnar locked in a triangle hold. I need to pause and explain why this segment of the match so far is fucking brilliant. Lesnar is a former UFC World Heavyweight Champion and NCAA National Wrestling Champion, and had said going into this match that Punk's MMA training was subpar and amateur. This was a great way for Lesnar to have to eat those words. Continuing with this outstanding reversal segment, Lesnar seemed to show serious consideration into tapping out to the triangle choke. However, he once again resorted to his power and lifted Punk to deliver a powerbomb. In a moment of sheer storytelling genius, Punk kept the triangle locked in, absorbing the pain because of his focus and thirst for revenge. This got Lesnar to undoubtedly consider tapping again, but he overcame the struggle and gave Punk a running powerbomb that would make Jushin Liger proud. That finally broke the triangle, and Lesnar followed up with Eddie Guerrero's Three Amigos suplex chain. This entire reversal segment was not only executed perfectly, but enhanced the story of the match and was captivating from start to finish. But this match wasn't over quite yet. Lesnar went to go get a chair, but had a struggle over it with Punk. Punk took full advantage of the rules and gave Lesnar a blatant lowblow that was timed perfectly and kept this excellent story going. After hitting Lesnar with the chair a couple times, Heyman finally stepped in to distract Punk (he had also done that earlier in the match to get Lesnar out of a jam). Lesnar took advantage to attack Punk from behind, and I liked that Punk didn't duck to have the heels collide with each other. Lesnar attempted another F5, but Punk held on to Heyman's tie. Punk would escape the F5 and land another GTS on Lesnar, and was clearly going to win the match until Heyman jumped on him. Punk got his frustrations out on his former best friend, mentor, and manager, including locking on the Anaconda Vise. But Lesnar hit Punk with the chair, then dropped him with an F5 on it, bringing this work of art to a conclusion. This is definitely better than the Rumble and Cena vs. Punk matches when discussing WWE's MOTY for 2013. This was phenomenally paced, told a fantastic story, and was genuinely captivating. It lived up to its storyline and hype. This was just as great of a babyface performance from Punk as his matches at Joe vs. Punk II, Death Before Dishonor III, and Money in the Bank 2011. He had Lesnar beat and his performance was so fucking excellent that had he won this match, there's nobody with a working brain that wouldn't have bought it. It was convincing. He got a well-deserved standing ovation afterwards from the L.A. crowd. This would have been a great way to end Punk's most recent tenure as an on-screen character, and it's VERY obvious why he was running on fumes throughout his next several months on the active roster. As for Lesnar, he earned his salary on this night. His selling was also amazing, allowing the much smaller Punk to look like a true star. But Lesnar didn't lose anything from this match at all, even with Heyman's help. He just came out looking like even more of a son of a bitch when this was over. It's too bad the crowd didn't give him a heated reaction, but perhaps the crowd was just in awe of what they just witnessed. To me, this is Lesnar's greatest match, better than his work with the Rock, John Cena, Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero. I'll be amazed if he can ever manage to top this. ****3/4
  14. supersonic
    These two men did a phenomenal job of building off of their previous two matches. In this one, Christian once again showed his craftiness, ducking an attempt by Del Rio to jump on him and use the impact to charge Christian as the future WWE HOFer was leaning on the second rope, leaving Del Rio to fall through the ropes and fall back-first on the floor. Del Rio also showed that he had learned from those earlier matches though, with my personal highlight being when Christian attempted to use the turnbuckles for a counter by jumping up, only for Del Rio to counter that with a lung blower. Crowd popped huge for that shit. Del Rio also stepped up his submission game, finding one way after another to work on Christian's left arm and shoulder to set up for the cross armbreaker. Christian didn't quite sell this throughout the entire match, but it actually did pay off. Christian found himself trapped in Del Rio's finisher and it looked like he was going to escape it to recapture the championship. However, Del Rio rolled and kept it locked on, leaving Christian no choice but to tap out after a tremendous effort. Arguably the best performance of Del Rio's career, and he came out looking like a million bucks. He's such a great in-ring performer when he's left in the mid-card where he belongs. ***3/4
  15. supersonic
    This is a non-title match, booked because Del Rio keeps being a douche-bag and undermining Vickie Guerrero when she gives him opportunities. This was some phenomenal shit, put in a position to be a PPV quality match and delivering. What made this great was the pacing, it kept building and building much like Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk a couple months earlier. Del Rio never got a true advantage, as while he looked like a million bucks in this, Christian wasn’t as devastatingly damaged as usual in his arm and shoulder region. But Del Rio was showing signs of learning from their match the week before, ducking Christian’s signature apron uppercut attempt. They had great counters, great nearfalls, and the finish was storytelling magnificence, with Christian showing off his veteran craftiness by rolling up Del Rio for the three count yet again. Christian now has two victories over the World Champion going into their World Title Match. Imagine an NFL team being swept by a division opponent in the regular season and then they faced each other one more time in the postseason. That’s the story of these two going into SummerSlam 2013. ****
  16. supersonic
    This was part of a gauntlet match laid down for D-Bry to prove himself worthy of headlining SummerSlam 2013. This was great stuff, with Cesaro being showcased to get D-Bry over, but getting himself over in the process too. He was vicious in this one, bringing back memories of his incredible 2011 independent run. But D-Bry of course wasn't gonna go down, as he had too much momentum. Highlights included D-Bry being pushed up and getting hit with a European Uppercut as he was falling, and also taking a fuckton of European Uppercuts. The crowd wasn't used to this kind of action, but for the most part showed a tremendous appreciation for the effort put forth by both men. ****
  17. supersonic
    The crowd loved this, so I may be in the minority, but I wasn't impressed with this. Jericho is no longer at a point in his life in which he's dedicated enough to be able to carry someone to a PPV quality match that is stretched out to three segments, especially if that someone is in his early 40s also and recovering 24 hours after a **** ladder match. RVD botched multiple spots in this match and Jericho couldn't manage to disguise them. This was just a showcase for RVD and went on for way too fucking long. This was similar to the bad side of indy wrestling that I hate, only it happened to include vets with each over two decades in the game and it was on Raw.
  18. supersonic
    Great main event here, although it couldn't live up to the opener, which is the usual for the WWE Title MITBs compared to the World Title MITBs. Crowd of course went apeshit for Punk and D-Bry, as well as the returning RVD. This one had more resting in it, perhaps intelligently since every participant had held the WWE and/or World Title in the past on multiple occasions. I liked early in the match when Punk and D-Bry actually did some brief technical wrestling, causing the original hometown of ECW and ROH to pop. Don't get me wrong - I said this was a great ladder match, and for good reason. Some noteworthy spots include: RVD kicking the ladder and Sheamus falling awkwardly on its side with his left knee hitting (well no shit he needed time off after this). Orton giving Punk a T-Bone Suplex on a ladder (again, no fucking shit the guy has felt broken down and might never come back.) Sheamus was also pushed off the turnbuckle and crashed through a ladder that was platformed using the apron and commentary table. I also liked that D-Bry got his kicking spots in the match, allowing the crowd to get their "YES" pops in. The most important part of the match was the finish, which while deflating, set up the third and final act for what was just an incredible summer for WWE. Curtis Axel came out and knocked out D-Bry, but he was then the victim of a Go 2 Sleep from Punk. Paul Heyman came out and gave a tongue-lashing to the unconscious Axel, saying he wants Punk to win. Punk climbed up with Heyman cheering for him, only for his best friend to come into the ring, grab a ladder, and repeatedly smash Punk with it, causing the future HOFer's scalp to bleed. Punk's facial expressions were fucking FANTASTIC here, his soul completely crushed by the betrayal of his best friend, someone that he stood up for despite being warned for a year to avoid him. This allowed RVD to come in and climb the ladder, only for Orton to take him out of the equation. He checked around for anyone else, and brought the briefcase down for victory. ****
  19. supersonic
    Perhaps his best match, this was the Mark Henry Show, just dominating the majority of the match with size and power. That's something Cena doesn't get enough credit for from supposed smart fans: the HOFer has never had a problem with putting someone over in matches and showcasing them. He doesn't have to do the job to get them over. Cena was also great in this one, failing on multiple occasions to lift the superheavyweight Henry, collapsing on those efforts. I must also mention again how INCREDIBLE this Philly crowd was, they got a great show and responded accordingly. Giving absolutely everything he had, Henry was still ultimately no match for the iconic Cena, who dug down deep and used his superior speed to lock on the STF for the tap out win. Very, very, very good match here. ***3/4
  20. supersonic
    Holy shit this was quite the spotfest opener, and the hot Philly crowd certainly helped. What worked so well to me in this one is that there was never a dull moment - once some parties were down, others stepped in, similar to the Dragon Gate trios matches when they first came to the States. I also liked that in this match, there was a damn good reason why guys would be down for minutes at a time. The bumps they took were fucking hellacious. It only made sense both in reality and kayfabe for them to nurse themselves and regain their energy. Some of the most noteworthy spots that I remember include: Swagger yanking down a participant, and that participant getting a beautiful European Uppercut from Cesaro before hitting the mat. Cody grabbing Cesaro off of the ladder and giving him a musclebuster style drop on a ladder. The Usos and the Shield being outside the ring with numerous other participants as Cody pushed the ladder over and Ambrose fell out of the ring. Great finish too, with the crowd fulling behind Cody but the intellectually superior Sandow taking his friend out of the equation, being the smarmy opportunist and rewarded for a good little feud he had just had with Sheamus. With both the WWE and World Titles since being unified, I wonder if the MITB events going forward will be able to have the killer opening matches that we've been accustomed to. ****1/4
  21. supersonic
    Very good stuff here, with the Shield yet again cutting the ring in half on Jey. Before they got the heat though, the Usos did a good job of trying to disrupt the champions' rhythm when the match started. But the Shield are just too fucking good for that to happen for very long. Jimmy was a house of fire when he got the hot tag (who's the fucking moron that had it happen during the pre-show commercial break?) and did a great job of playing off of a hot crowd. But to nobody's surprise, despite some trios losses, the Shield still got the job done when it mattered most. ***1/2
  22. supersonic
    Yet another good match for the summer of 2013. In this one, Sheamus tried using his size and strength to outmatch the red-hot D-Bry and his technical superiority. However, it did appear that Sheamus was losing his balance at times, which is a very bad situation to be in against D-Bry. The finish is great with Sheamus locking on the Texas Cloverleaf, but D-Bry using his technique to get out of it and win via small package. Sheamus shows respect and they shake hands. ***1/4
  23. supersonic
    Another fun little match between these two, good pacing and elevating Sandow's stock in defeat. He really took it to Sheamus in this one, but the Celtic Warrior had too much experience in this type of environment to be taken down. ***
  24. supersonic
    PPV quality match here, complete with both men taking stupid bumps, showing off their love for the business and entertaining the fans. This got pretty vicious at times, taking backdrops on the steel steps, multiple kendo stick shots, and going through tables. This had a particularly awesome finish. Orton used the kendo sticks to force D-Bry to break the LeBell Lock. Moments later, D-Bry locked it on again, but when Orton tried the same strategy, D-Bry grabbed the sticks and used them to pull back on Orton's neck, forcing a submission victory. Put this in front of a more vocal crowd than Charleston and this could've been a great match bordering on MOTYC. Orton congratulates D-Bry on the huge victory aftewards, shaking hands. ***3/4
  25. supersonic
    This is simply one of the greatest segments in Raw history. The first several minutes laid out the scenario perfectly. Cena says that he will be ready at any moment for his next challenger, especially with Money in the Bank 2013 coming up. He will no longer be taken by surprise going forward. Then Henry comes out, having left tweets earlier in the day that hinted at retirement. He left his boots at the entrance ramp, and walked down that aisle with a tremendous salmon jacket. He told Cena that he wasn't there to attack, to keep his guard down, and wanted the WWE Champion to stay for his major announcement. Henry then gave a tremendous speech, tears coming out of his eyes, the crowd completely hooked with chants such as "Thank you Henry!" and "One More Match!" He also put over Cena as a fantastic WWE Champion, and said his only regret was never winning that title. He then directly said he would retiring from the active roster, and that he was coming home to his family after all these years. Cena came back in the ring to give Henry a hug... Only for the World's Strongest Man to give him the falling powerslam to one of the biggest pops of the 21st Century!!! Henry then makes it very clear he ain't retiring and that he's coming for Cena's title. Why can't other wrestlers cut promos as convincing as The Rock, CM Punk, Mark Henry, and Paul Heyman? This was captivating from start to finish with a fantastic swerve that made 100% sense.
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