supersonic

Raw - September 22, 2014 IC Title Match The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler - ***3/4 SmackDown! - September 26, 2014 Tag Titles Match Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos - ***1/2 Raw - October 6, 2014 The Rock interrupts Lana's anti-American promo to a huge pop. donning a nice Mike Tyson jacket to suck up to the Brooklyn crowd. He then lists all the different boroughs he visited in NYC that day, all of it sounding legit with the exception of him claiming to swim to Staten Island. He then laid into Rusev & Lana, but still managed to put them over without being underhanded and emasculating like the Authority tend to be with those who oppose them. Rock got some phenomenal zingers in here that only work for someone as charismatic as him, ending with fisticuffs that had Rusev taking a powder. Fantastic surprise segment from the Rock, on par with the ones involving Mick Foley, La Resistance, Randy Orton, Eugene, and Jonathan Coachman a decade earlier, that gave Rusev vulnerability while managing to raise, rather than hurt, his stock. HUGE breath of fresh air during such a shitty period. SmackDown! - October 10, 2014 Raw - October 13, 2014 Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) NXT - October 16, 2014 Sami Zayn, kicking off his road to redemption after losing so many big matches, defeats the cocky Tyson Kidd in a *** main event. SmackDown! - October 17, 2014: The Good Shit Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Sheamus & The Usos vs. Goldust, Stardust, & The Miz - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Raw - October 20, 2014 In the main event chaos, the biggest news is that Seth Rollins left fellow Authority golden boy Randy Orton laying with an SR curb-stomp. While certainly not a bad direction to have planned and I'm all for a phenomenal in-ring hand like Rollins getting the spotlight, this only further marginalized Dean Ambrose's chase of Rollins even more after a month of John Cena involvement taking the focus away from him. SmackDown! - October 24, 2014: The Good Shit Dean Ambrose cuts an awesome promo to kick off the show, doing everything he can to make up for the creative team's failure to make him the star he should've been ever since returning at Night of Champions 2014. Totally looking forward to the Hell in a Cell match against Rollins now. IC Title Match Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro Cesaro has earned a title shot after beating Ziggler clean earlier in the week. Good match that would be much better if Ziggler could manage to not allow himself to be pigeon-holed as underdog always looking to hit a home run to gain heat. The counters in this one were a sight to behold, including Ziggler doing a sit-up in the Giant Swing like Cena and turning it into a small package near-fall. But nothing shined quites as much as the ending, a spectacular finish in which Ziggler evaded a power-life and European Uppercut, then used the split second with Cesaro's back turned to finish him off with a Zig-Zag. ***1/4 Later in the evening, Cesaro wants one more match, to poetically make it 2/3 falls since they're even this week. I fully approve of this direction. Seth Rollins finishes the build to Hell in a Cell 2014 with one of the best promos of his career, only hindered by the fake evil laughter that would get him laughed out of any acting studio that has the slightest bit of acceptable standards. His delivery was fluid, not flubbing his shit as he can be prone to do, although this being a taped show likely protected him. But beyond his delivery, his use of all the weapons he brought to ringside really added to his condescending demeanor, pleased that he'll be putting his issue with Ambrose behind him. The show of course ends with Ambrose coming to ringside and they have a brawl, ending with J&J Security getting their asses kicked while Rollins has taken a powder. Also of note: Bray Wyatt split up the Wyatt Family, setting Luke Harper & Erick Rowan "free." Looking forward to seeing how meaningful that turned out to be for his cult followers. Hell in a Cell 2014: The Good Shit IC Title - 2/3 Falls Match Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro Fantastic choice for an opener here and I'd love to see these two in a best of seven series at some point. Cesaro dominated much of this match, but Ziggler got the chance to truly showcase his legitimate amateur background as they had some great matwork to kick off the match. Cesaro just truly kicked all kinds of all in this one, yet the results still weren't there for him,thanks largely to Ziggler damaging the left arm and targeting in whenever Cesaro would pause on offense, or just whenever the opportunity would come up. The finish is just as spectacular as their match a couple days earlier, but that's not what ultimately matters. While I appreciate Ziggler getting a sweep to emphasize and create an expectation of sweeps going forward for drama in the future for 2/3 falls matches, Cesaro could've used a third fall to help his stock and it would've likely made this come incredibly close to being a MOTYC. I certainly would've gone for three falls in light of how this should would close, that's for sure. ***3/4 WWE Title Shot - Hell in a Cell John Cena vs. Randy Orton - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Hell in a Cell Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins Fantastic pre-match here on top of the Cell with the crowd totally into it and J&J Security just getting their asses handed to them by Ambrose. He and Rollins would both take bumps off the side of the Cell onto commentary tables, but Ambrose would regain mobility first on his stretcher, not letting Rollins go out on one either. Ambrose forces Rollins inside the Cell after a hot 10 minutes and gets it locked to officially kick off the match. At this point, I could see the match was largely based off of the masterpiece between Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker that cemented this gimmick match. Ambrose played Taker's part, laying into the cowardly Rollins, finally giving him a taste of his own medicine for the events of the past few months. But Kane on the outside would use a fire extinguisher to help Rollins gain the advantage, and from there it was a bit more even, but ultimately Ambrose had the mentality to be simply a better, more determined fighter than Rollins at this time. After a poetic chairshot to the back of Rollins from Ambrose earlier, Ambrose went for a poetic finish, about to give his former friend an SR curb stomp onto cinder blocks in the ring. As he stepped back against the ropes for momentum, the lights went out and someone started blabbering in tongues, completely with a hologram in the middle of the ring. Then Bray Wyatt is seen in the ring and attacks Ambrose, giving Rollins a shady win just like HBK 17 years earlier. After his theme briefly plays in victory, the focus goes back to Wyatt and Ambrose, ending with a Sister Abigail. This was a fun, old-school brawl to close out the show, only to get shoe-horned with a finish that completely sucked the air out of the crowd that will ultimately not be a historic necessary evil like the Kane debut 17 years earlier. Rollins again leaves without an A+ singles victory, Ambrose doesn't get his vengeance for what happened, and their program is shoved to the wayside for the next Wyatt experiment. While Wyatt vs. Ambrose is psychologically interesting, there was no reason not to allow Rollins or Ambrose to be left alone to finish off their feud here, UNLESS of course the plan is for them to eventually boomerang back to each other at some point, maybe for a certain triple threat match in front of a record attendance for the top prize in the business. Wyatt certainly didn't need to taint this match in order to gain heat, as Ambrose would've been white-hot leaving this one with a victory and could've passed on the rub to Wyatt in the end. But I'll detail that as this project continues. ***

Raw - September 22, 2014 IC Title Match The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler - ***3/4 SmackDown! - September 26, 2014 Tag Titles Match Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos - ***1/2 Raw - October 6, 2014 The Rock interrupts Lana's anti-American promo to a huge pop. donning a nice Mike Tyson jacket to suck up to the Brooklyn crowd. He then lists all the different boroughs he visited in NYC that day, all of it sounding legit with the exception of him claiming to swim to Staten Island. He then laid into Rusev & Lana, but still managed to put them over without being underhanded and emasculating like the Authority tend to be with those who oppose them. Rock got some phenomenal zingers in here that only work for someone as charismatic as him, ending with fisticuffs that had Rusev taking a powder. Fantastic surprise segment from the Rock, on par with the ones involving Mick Foley, La Resistance, Randy Orton, Eugene, and Jonathan Coachman a decade earlier, that gave Rusev vulnerability while managing to raise, rather than hurt, his stock. HUGE breath of fresh air during such a shitty period. SmackDown! - October 10, 2014 Raw - October 13, 2014 Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) NXT - October 16, 2014 Sami Zayn, kicking off his road to redemption after losing so many big matches, defeats the cocky Tyson Kidd in a *** main event. SmackDown! - October 17, 2014: The Good Shit Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Sheamus & The Usos vs. Goldust, Stardust, & The Miz - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Raw - October 20, 2014 In the main event chaos, the biggest news is that Seth Rollins left fellow Authority golden boy Randy Orton laying with an SR curb-stomp. While certainly not a bad direction to have planned and I'm all for a phenomenal in-ring hand like Rollins getting the spotlight, this only further marginalized Dean Ambrose's chase of Rollins even more after a month of John Cena involvement taking the focus away from him. SmackDown! - October 24, 2014: The Good Shit Dean Ambrose cuts an awesome promo to kick off the show, doing everything he can to make up for the creative team's failure to make him the star he should've been ever since returning at Night of Champions 2014. Totally looking forward to the Hell in a Cell match against Rollins now. IC Title Match Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro Cesaro has earned a title shot after beating Ziggler clean earlier in the week. Good match that would be much better if Ziggler could manage to not allow himself to be pigeon-holed as underdog always looking to hit a home run to gain heat. The counters in this one were a sight to behold, including Ziggler doing a sit-up in the Giant Swing like Cena and turning it into a small package near-fall. But nothing shined quites as much as the ending, a spectacular finish in which Ziggler evaded a power-life and European Uppercut, then used the split second with Cesaro's back turned to finish him off with a Zig-Zag. ***1/4 Later in the evening, Cesaro wants one more match, to poetically make it 2/3 falls since they're even this week. I fully approve of this direction. Seth Rollins finishes the build to Hell in a Cell 2014 with one of the best promos of his career, only hindered by the fake evil laughter that would get him laughed out of any acting studio that has the slightest bit of acceptable standards. His delivery was fluid, not flubbing his shit as he can be prone to do, although this being a taped show likely protected him. But beyond his delivery, his use of all the weapons he brought to ringside really added to his condescending demeanor, pleased that he'll be putting his issue with Ambrose behind him. The show of course ends with Ambrose coming to ringside and they have a brawl, ending with J&J Security getting their asses kicked while Rollins has taken a powder. Also of note: Bray Wyatt split up the Wyatt Family, setting Luke Harper & Erick Rowan "free." Looking forward to seeing how meaningful that turned out to be for his cult followers. Hell in a Cell 2014: The Good Shit IC Title - 2/3 Falls Match Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro Fantastic choice for an opener here and I'd love to see these two in a best of seven series at some point. Cesaro dominated much of this match, but Ziggler got the chance to truly showcase his legitimate amateur background as they had some great matwork to kick off the match. Cesaro just truly kicked all kinds of all in this one, yet the results still weren't there for him,thanks largely to Ziggler damaging the left arm and targeting in whenever Cesaro would pause on offense, or just whenever the opportunity would come up. The finish is just as spectacular as their match a couple days earlier, but that's not what ultimately matters. While I appreciate Ziggler getting a sweep to emphasize and create an expectation of sweeps going forward for drama in the future for 2/3 falls matches, Cesaro could've used a third fall to help his stock and it would've likely made this come incredibly close to being a MOTYC. I certainly would've gone for three falls in light of how this should would close, that's for sure. ***3/4 WWE Title Shot - Hell in a Cell John Cena vs. Randy Orton - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Hell in a Cell Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins Fantastic pre-match here on top of the Cell with the crowd totally into it and J&J Security just getting their asses handed to them by Ambrose. He and Rollins would both take bumps off the side of the Cell onto commentary tables, but Ambrose would regain mobility first on his stretcher, not letting Rollins go out on one either. Ambrose forces Rollins inside the Cell after a hot 10 minutes and gets it locked to officially kick off the match. At this point, I could see the match was largely based off of the masterpiece between Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker that cemented this gimmick match. Ambrose played Taker's part, laying into the cowardly Rollins, finally giving him a taste of his own medicine for the events of the past few months. But Kane on the outside would use a fire extinguisher to help Rollins gain the advantage, and from there it was a bit more even, but ultimately Ambrose had the mentality to be simply a better, more determined fighter than Rollins at this time. After a poetic chairshot to the back of Rollins from Ambrose earlier, Ambrose went for a poetic finish, about to give his former friend an SR curb stomp onto cinder blocks in the ring. As he stepped back against the ropes for momentum, the lights went out and someone started blabbering in tongues, completely with a hologram in the middle of the ring. Then Bray Wyatt is seen in the ring and attacks Ambrose, giving Rollins a shady win just like HBK 17 years earlier. After his theme briefly plays in victory, the focus goes back to Wyatt and Ambrose, ending with a Sister Abigail. This was a fun, old-school brawl to close out the show, only to get shoe-horned with a finish that completely sucked the air out of the crowd that will ultimately not be a historic necessary evil like the Kane debut 17 years earlier. Rollins again leaves without an A+ singles victory, Ambrose doesn't get his vengeance for what happened, and their program is shoved to the wayside for the next Wyatt experiment. While Wyatt vs. Ambrose is psychologically interesting, there was no reason not to allow Rollins or Ambrose to be left alone to finish off their feud here, UNLESS of course the plan is for them to eventually boomerang back to each other at some point, maybe for a certain triple threat match in front of a record attendance for the top prize in the business. Wyatt certainly didn't need to taint this match in order to gain heat, as Ambrose would've been white-hot leaving this one with a victory and could've passed on the rub to Wyatt in the end. But I'll detail that as this project continues. ***

Night of Champions 2014: The Good Shit Tag Titles Match The Usos vs. Goldust & Stardust Hell of an opener as usual for the Usos. They found themselves often getting double-teamed, something they hadn't really experienced since working against the Shield. But after the first act of Dust Brothers dominance, it became more back-and-forth, by the third act the crowd going apeshit for simple nearfalls. The Usos, as a receipt for what had happened during the events leading up to this match, even clipped Stardust from behind, and the redneck Nashville crowd booed the Usos for that, I assume since the Rhodes are Southerners too. The finish was red-hot to boot (little did we know it would be topped in the next match) with Stardust countering a high-risk move with a schoolboy and grabbing the tights for leverage to victory. ***1/2 US Title Match Sheamus vs. Cesaro The classic these two always had together finally got delivered here, and this was one of my anticipated matches on this project as well. They beat the shit out of each other after starting off with an unfriendly lock-up, and Cesaro was an awesome troll, slapping Sheamus to get in his head. Later on, Cesaro would block the apron chest drubbings and used the position as leverage for a counter-attack. There were just all kinds of excellent counters here, including Cesaro ducking the lethal Brogue Kick and dropping Sheamus with an Alpamari Waterslide for a hot nearfall. But nothing could compare to the finishing stretch, in which they continued to beat the fuck out of each other. Cesaro got the advantage and forced Sheamus into a corner, just pounding the shit out of the champ. The ref pulled Cesaro back and Sheamus got an adrenaline rush, telling Cesaro to bring more of that shit. As Cesaro charged at him, Sheamus finally landed the Brogue Kick for a fucking awesome finish. A fantastic match between two great hands that had no qualms getting physical, showcasing great psychology, teasing finishers, displaying all kinds of intelligent, beautiful counters, and then delivering with a finisher that actually ended the match. These two men certainly did their homework and studied the critically acclaimed 2014 G-1 Climax tournament several weeks earlier. I hope this isn't the last we've seen of this rivalry. **** Roman Reigns is out of action for a few months due to last-minute emergency hernia surgery, so Seth Rollins gloats and takes a forfeit victory, then lays down an open challenge. Dean Ambrose makes his anticipated return and the crowd goes APESHIT as they brawl through the seating, taking some heavy bumps in this one. And unlike the brawl two months earlier on PPV, this one got a bit more time before the Authority stepped in and had Ambrose zip-tied to pry him off of Rollins. Excellent segment. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton Jericho ended his most recent (televised) in-ring run with a bang here after wasting his time in a heatless feud against Bray Wyatt. This was kick-started when Jericho talked shit to Orton during a Hightlight Reel segment, then Orton retaliated by ambushing Jericho later on, who was getting his knee checked out after the cage match against Wyatt. Like Sheamus vs. Cesaro, this had some great counters in it. After backdropping Jericho on the apron and commentary table to have the early heat, followed by the usual fantastic powerslam false-finish, Orton then countered a Quebrada, with Jericho landing on his feet, and Orton using the positioning to land a back-cracker. However, Jericho would block an Ace Crusher to gain the heat. Later, Jericho would go shoulder-first into a ring post, allowing Orton to position for a punt. But Jericho countered that with a schoolboy pin false-finish, then did a double leg takedown to lock on the Boston Crab. Jericho dragged Orton after getting near the ropes, but Orton still managed to get out of it. Orton planted Jericho with a draping DDT, leaving Jericho prone. Orton psyched himself for a finish, but Jericho was playing possum, dropping Orton at the last second with the double knee facebreaker for an excellent near-fall. Jericho goes to the top rope and waits for Orton to get up, only for Orton to deliver a receipt for what just happened, countering whatever Jericho had in mind for an Ace Crusher for the win. Not quite as physical as Sheamus vs. Cesaro, but a very satisfying match, and an important one to show that Jericho, despite lousy programs the past couple years, is still a great in-ring performer when he has a genuine opportunity to showcase it. ***3/4 WWE Title Match Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena A better match than the month before, but obviously not as memorable. Cena wastes no time going after Lesnar early again, but blocks Lesnar's blows and gives the champ a taste of his own medicine, dropping him with an early Death Valley Driver for a near-fall. Lesnar would still dominate most of the match the rest of the way, even finding ways to drop Cena with more devastating German Suplexes despite Cena's best attempts to hold onto the ropes to prevent them. As it got to the finish though, Cena evaded yet another F5 (after going through 1 or 2 of them earlier) and tripped Lesnar forward to lock on the STF. Lesnar reached the ropes and Cena pulled him back (I still don't understand why a hold is not FORCED to be broken once the ropes are touched, but whatever) to lock it back on. It appeared Lesnar may tap or pass out, but Rollins attacks Cena with the MITB briefcase for the DQ. He then drops the fallen Lesnar with an SR curb stomp, then announces a cash-in, only for Cena to go after him before the bell rings. Rollins scurries away and Cena eats an F5 from Lesnar in the ring, no title change for the evening. I wonder how Lesnar will feel about the decisions made by Rollins on this evening. ***3/4

Raw - August 18, 2014: The Good Shit Dean Ambrose interrupts a backstage interview by Seth Rollins, doing the ice bucket challenge that was such a hot social media bandwagon at the time. Ambrose is great doing quick comedy before going changing his tune in yet another pull-apart brawl between the two. Moments later, Triple H books the rematch tonight with the fans voting for their choice of stipulation. The Authority debut the new logo WWE Title and pose with new champion Brock Lesnar and his agent Paul Heyman. Great smug shit from the top four heels in the company, putting together all of their issues since they're all willing to work together to hold other talents down and pocket profits. Heyman then cuts another splendid promo detailing Lesnar's dominance over John Cena the night before. There is nobody more engaging as a grating heel, not even the Authority. What helps with him is that his takes are both hurtfully factual, but he still manages to put over Lesnar's opponent, only making Lesnar's accomplishment mean even more. Hardcore Match Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins Excellent brawl and the best match on Raw in many months. They brawled all over ringside and took some hard hits in this one. After brawling inside the ring with numerous weapons as well as Rollins logically sniffing out the rebound lariat (as he should based on his series of matches against Nigel McGuinness), it went to the entrance stage. They teased powerbombs but it becomes the standard snap suplex bump. Once they got back to ringside, it got even crazier with Ambrose jumping around just like the night before. With Rollins now taken significantly more punishment, he's unable to avoid the second rebound lariat attempt, with Ambrose going head-over-heels to display that he was giving everything he had. Words cannot express just how much the crowd was rallying behind him at this time, and I hope he does find the opportunity to be a true money player in the company. Crowd goes apeshit when Rollins later pulls out a table, but I don't recall that being used. Kane comes out and pulls Ambrose off after what would surely be a victory with Rollins down via a headlock DDT, and Ambrose refuses to die until he eats a chokeslam on a commentary table. Kane reveals cinder blocks and Rollins drives Ambrose's head through them via an SR curb stomp, writing Ambrose out of the show while he filmed a show. An absolutely fantastic main event that elevated both men's stock as well as their program. **** Raw - August 25, 2014 Raw - September 8, 2014: The Good Shit Cage Match Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt Easily the hottest match of their trilogy as both men now found their chemistry and the cage certainly didn't get in the way. They took some hard hits in this one, highlighted when Jericho did a crossbody off the cage and hurt his left knee. This played into the finish when he went to escape, as Wyatt worked on the knee to sabotage him and then Wyatt fell out to win. Post-match, Wyatt slams the cage door on Jericho's left knee for good measure. If Wyatt spends the rest of his career only involved in a combination of squashes, smoke-and-mirrors, or just working with top-notch ring generals, he'll have an incredible legacy. ***1/2 The Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton rematch is fine stuff that is hurt by Kane interfering, but the post-match brawl with Rollins being the shining heel and the cage being brought down is good stuff. Good to see Reigns show some more vulnerability, even though he's not as sympathetic as John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, or Daniel Bryan. NXT Takeover: Fatal 4Way: The Good Shit KENTA debuts and changes his ring name to Hideo Itami, then is interrupted by the Ascension. He beats the shit out of both of them by surprise since they weren't expecting it. NXT Title Match Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd Phenomenal match here that reminded me of the X-Division's golden age. It really helped that it was a free-for-all, no tagging in and out. It splits into Neville vs. Kidd and Zayn vs. Breeze at first, then goes to the entrance ramp, with Breeze and Kidd giving Neville a double-team suplex that looked painful for all involved. Kidd would take control of the match for the next several minutes, unleashing an arsenal on Zayn in the ring and cutting off Neville on the outside anytime he looked to recover. Breeze would break up Kidd's momentum and the excellent crowd started getting insane at this point, knowing they were watching something special unfold. Breeze would go for the spinning heel kick on Zayn, but Kidd shoved Zayn out of the way and grabbed Breeze's feet to put him in the Scorpion Deathlock. Neville regains consciousness and grabs Breeze's arm to avoid a tap out, then Zayn used the chance to force Kidd to break the hold. We then got Neville and Zayn going at it, with Neville busting out an awesome Shooting Star Press and his feet getting a glancing blow on Kidd's head, who was in the same corner kneeling down. Breeze breaks this up for an incredible false finish. Moments later, Zayn takes control, hitting an Exploder Suplex on Kidd and then following up with a tope suicida on Neville that had the champ bouncing back into the front row. Zayn looks to have Kidd down to finally claim the top prize in developmental, but Neville pulls the ref out. Totally legal but Zayn can't believe it, allowing himself to be taken off-guard and Neville knocks him out with a superkick on the outside, then preys on the fallen Kidd to hold onto the title with a spectacular Sky Twister. As mentioned, a piece of excellence and MOTYC that was a total breath of fresh air, truly nail-biting, and a fantastic alternative ending to what had been a fucking god-awful PPV buildup on the main roster during this month. This holds up even better months later and really reminded me of the jaw-dropping Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles classic at TNA's Unbreakable almost a decade earlier. ****1/2

SummerSlam 2014: The Good Shit Cesaro vs. Rob Van Dam Nice little preshow match here with Cesaro of course being the star despite losing. He was vicious to RVD in this one, carrying the former WWE Champion to the lone good match of his 2014 run. There were all kinds of evasions, but most of all Cesaro was very creative with all the European Uppercuts he used to cut RVD off. But since this was his semi-burial period, RVD had to go over. ***1/4 Winner Gets to Raise His Nation's Flag and Play His Nation's Anthem Rusev vs. Jack Swagger Excellent performance from Rusev here. He attacks Swagger before the match starts, so Swagger retaliates with an ankle lock. Rusev's selling of the left ankle was a sight to behold. For whatever limitations he may have that viewers outside the business cannot see, many of the supposedly better performers owe it to themselves and their audiences to study Rusev here and learn how to fucking sell an injury. In no way did his selling make him any less of an asshole. Swagger was great here in going after the left ankle over and over again, while every time Rusev did anything to put pressure on that left ankle, he winced in pain, whether it was a spinning kick or not getting enough leverage to fully apply the Camel Clutch. I especially enjoyed them channeling Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels when Rusev used his left leg for a superkick attempt, only for Swagger to catch it and lock the ankle, right in the same arena as the first Angle vs. HBK classic. But Rusev was too vicious and determined to go down, getting Swagger in the Camel Clutch finally, as the former World Champion passed out. Post-match, a giant Russian flag is displayed as its anthem plays, and Rusev kicks Zeb Coulter in the face to Lana's approval. Awesome atmosphere for this match. What a crazy concept, build up a heel carefully and he gets over. ***1/2 Lumberjack Match Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins Off-the-charts atmosphere here neutered only by an ending that ultimately never led to an emotionally satisfying conclusion to date, but that's to detail later in this project. These two tore the house down with Ambrose refusing to allow the circumstances to keep his hands off of the turncoat Rollins, who was happy to try to escape any way he could. Ambrose even jumped over the lumberjacks to feed his hunger for retribution on Rollins, and they continued brawling deep into the arena seating. Kane came out to chastise the lumberjacks, so the heels went to ply Ambrose off of Rollins, who then was gonna take the loss, only for the babyface lumberjacks to force him back into the ring. While Rollins was being carried to the ring, Ambrose got on the turnbuckle and launched himself on the pile, drawing what had to objectively be the biggest pop of the night. Inside the ring, Ambrose gets the clear upper hand, showcasing that Rollins doesn't have the fortitude to withstand his anger, only for Kane to get involved. Goldust gets in his face and Kane attacks him, causing a lumberjack brawl in the ring that ends with Ambrose giving Luke Harper a tope suicida. This allows Rollins to use his MITB briefcase to attack Ambrose for the win. Had the finish not been cheap, this is a possible MOTYC. ***3/4 Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon Quality woman's match here even though it won't get a special rating. There were all kinds of great cut offs in this one, including Steph blocking a tope suicida from Brie. But since Brie is a full-time athlete while Steph had spent the last decade being a mother and executive, it was obvious Steph would ultimately be no match for Brie, no matter how devious she could be or how much of a size advantage she had. With the Lebell Lock applied on Steph (an ugly one at that), Triple H comes out and is followed by Nikki Bella. HHH pulls out the ref as Steph is about to tap, then he eats a strike to the face from Brie. Nikki goes on and teases she'll help Brie double-team Steph, only to go after Brie, allowing Steph to win via Pedigree. Entertaining match overall and no complaints here. I will NOT be detailing the Brie vs. Nikki feud. Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton Good match overall but it was obvious Reigns has some work to do to make sure the first 2/3 of his matches are a bit more engrossing. Nothing during that portion of the match was bad, but it did lack energy and thus so did the crowd. But once it got to the third act, this became some quality and very creative shit. Having too much respect for Orton, Reigns opted not to go for the pin after a Superman Punch, instead following it up with a spear. However, Orton countered that with a gorgeous bodyslam for a hot nearfall, and Orton's surprised reaction is priceless. Moments later when Reigns went for another Superman Punch, Orton used the momentum to deliver an Ace Crusher for another awesome nearfall. But this was Reigns time, finishing off the multiple time world champion and beginning what looked to be a trail of destruction on his way to the top. ***1/2 WWE Title Match John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar Spectacular squashing here that had to have been inspired by Super Bowl XLVIII. And just like the Broncos managed to squeak in one touchdown in that laugher, Cena did find ways to get some offense in and get a nearfall on the superior Lesnar with a Death Valley Driver. Other than that and his attempts to make comebacks though, this was the Brock Lesnar Show. Sixteen German Suplexes, numerous knees to the gut and ribs, and just nonstop shit-talking from Lesnar made this an uncomfortable sight to witness. Some idiots, having zero instinct on what the ultimate purpose of this match was, even get bored because this is such a one-sided ass-kicking. Lesnar has enough and conquers the face of the company for the last decade, winning the WWE Title for the first time in that time span as well. Like Brie vs. Steph, no special rating from me, but a special match with historic value that may have an ever greater legacy depending on what happens when WM31 closes.

Raw - July 21, 2014: The Good Shit Fantastic segment on here with Stephanie McMahon putting Nikki Bella in a handicap match and talking shit to Brie Bella, who has a ticket in the front row. Stephanie can't take the fact that she has no leverage on Brie, so she attacks her and then Brie attempts to retaliate. Nikki of course loses in quick fashion and Stephanie continues talking shit. Cesaro attempts to suck up to Triple H backstage, revealing in an extremely anticlimatic fashion that he is no longer a Paul Heyman client. So what the fuck was the entire point of making Cesaro a Heyman guy, when he spent most of the time jobbing and allowing Heyman to verbally masturbate to Brock Lesnar without a single indication of an ascending direction for Cesaro coming out of it? How was this supposed to elevate Cesaro at all when he wasted his time in the mid-card as a Heyman guy? I gotta go on a rant here, as this was the first sign that Vince McMahon was truly beginning to lose it. I revisited early 2014 prior to this Road to WM31 project, and Cesaro was over as a motherfucker. The crowd absolutely loved him, they bought him upsetting Randy Orton, going toe-to-toe with John Cena, being in the Elimination Chamber, winning the first ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale, and becoming a Heyman guy. Then the company managed to waste Cesaro's time having nothing matches with Jack Swagger and Rob Van Dam, then going on to lose the feud against Sheamus over the US Title without a major blowoff, and being just another guy in the vacant WWE Title ladder match. Then the company does nothing of creative substance with him to capitalize on whatever momentum he may have still had left. If you hate fantasy booking, skip the next two paragraphs in parentheses. (Booking Cesaro to be a top star not only was a risk worth taking seeing how hot he was when he first paired with Heyman, but would've been both incredibly easy and beneficial for the company when the difficult post-SummerSlam period arrived. Have him reveal Heyman as his new agent in NOLA. He wins a tournament to challenge D-Bry for the title in a classic match for Extreme Rules 2014. He loses that but his stock is elevated due to his excellent performance. Follow that up with a great mid-card win over Dolph Ziggler at Payback 2014 to keep Cesaro busy and re-elevate Ziggler in Chicago. You still have D-Bry vacate the title due to injury and Cena wins it at Money in the Bank 2014. Heyman manages to get Cesaro a shot against Cena for the title in another classic match for Battleground 2014, losing but leaving major damage on Cena to soften him up for Heyman's top client Lesnar. Lesnar demolishes Cena for the title at SummerSlam 2014 while Cesaro stays steady beating Chris Jericho in another ****ish match. Next night, Cesaro requests out of respect to have a shot against Lesnar since he softened up Cena and they're both Heyman guys, but is laughed at. Cesaro finally makes the full babyface turn everyone's wanted, attacking Heyman and giving Lesnar a reason for a title shot. Lesnar defeats Cesaro in a career-defining match at Night of Champions 2014, a brutally physically war that makes puro fans pay attention, only making Cesaro hotter since he's able to take the Beast to the limit a month after the face of the company had been utterly squashed. But even in defeat, Cesaro sees his stock raise again, especially since he has the moral victory of unleashing the giant swing on Heyman. Since Heyman's still pissed but Lesnar has fucked off with the title, Heyman announces Sheamus as his newest client to keep Cesaro busy the rest of the year. Meanwhile, everyone involved in the Shield and Authority are doing their own thing in the other top program throughout the summer. In fact, if you're smart, you hold off on that Shield vs. Evolution match until SummerSlam 2014 as I had mentioned earlier in this project to entice Batista to stick around a couple more months, with Shield winning that one and then doing the Rollins heel turn the night after, off-setting Cesaro's babyface turn on the same night. This could possibly lead to a white-hot heel Rollins vs. white-hot babyface Cesaro heading into WM31 should their paths have crossed under these circumstances. This allows for two fresh but separate directions on top heading into the fall, with the chance they may eventually interlock.) After Flo Rida performs a couple of songs in front of his hometown MIA crowd, Stephanie ends up being arrested for slapping Brie in one of the best segments of the year. There was no commentary to make this heavy-handed, as the audience both in attendance and watching on TV got to witness this unfold organically. We need more segments like this with the Authority showing ass; not every week, but just a bit more frequently to keep them from getting so much of an upper hand that it sucks the wind of the audience. Triple H, with Joey Mercury explaining the tough spot he was in, is about to go be with Steph at the local jail, but since he knows she'll be there awhile due to red tape, stays to announce who will challenge John Cena for the WWE Title at SummerSlam 2014. Randy Orton is attacked by Roman Reigns before getting the nod. Out comes Paul Heyman and he convinces HHH to grant the shot to Lesnar. The COO shakes both men's hands and leaves to attend to his wife. Heyman cuts yet another excellent promo, finally having the Streak-ending Lesnar present to rub it in for the first time in months. An excellent video package airs emphasizing the historical importance of Lesnar's accomplishment at WrestleMania XXX, then Heyman does a masterful job of telling both Cena lovers and bashers why they need to watch this upcoming fight, for he details exactly what Lesnar has in store with great terminology not normally used on WWE TV, and promises not only will Cena be demolished, but that it will be Cena's finale. Gonna be a sad day when Lesnar & Heyman eventually retire. Raw - July 28, 2014: The Good Shit WWE Champion John Cena comes out to cut a furiously passionate promo, detailing why he cannot afford to allow Brock Lesnar to dethrone him. Out comes Paul Heyman who does a great job of trolling Cena, but then Cena busts out the lack of passion criticism on Lesnar, saying that Heyman at least loves the business. Then Cesaro comes out and gives Heyman an awkward hug, saying he still considers Heyman a friend and that Cena sucks at wrestling. Cena is just fucking phenomenal in this segment, not cracking any jokes about the challenge that awaits him and saying he'll be happy to wrestle circles around Cesaro while dressed like a walking billboard. John Cena vs. Cesaro This just couldn't measure up to their Denver classic. For one, Cesaro was a much colder character here, rather than on a red-hot ascension earlier in the year. And while this was a good match with Cesaro leading the way, it also suffered from looked to be a bad landing for Cena when he ate a tornado DDT counter. He was lethargic the rest of the match, with Cesaro carrying a huge majority of the energy. If Cena did actually get hurt here, it's understandable that Cesaro got cooled off for a bit for the safety of the top guys, even though it was clearly a fluke accident. Cena did pull out a head-scissors and eventual giant swing, but nothing before countering the first giant swing by doing a sit-up, putting Cesaro in position to eat a DDT, and using his momentum for a sunset flip powerbomb. Awesome spot. Later on, Cesaro gave Cena the standard shove up in the air to eat a European Uppercut, a visual I'll never get tired of seeing as Cena looks so perfect being victim to that. Cena also ate what I like to call the apron superplex that Michael Elgin also uses as a signature. In the end, Cena countered a splash, catching Cesaro and lifting him up for the Death Valley Driver. ***1/4 Another great verbal battle between Lana and Zeb Coulter, with the obvious direction being a Flag Match between Rusev and Jack Swagger. Nice brawl to close it out too as usual. Randy Orton demolishes Roman Reigns during his match with Kane. I love this, as it not only gives Reigns vulnerability without looking like a bitch, but shows that Orton is still incredibly dangerous and not to be considered an afterthought, and his motivation: Reigns screwed him out of a WWE Title shot. What a crazy concept, someone cares about the top prize in the business. Brie Bella uses her leverage to make Stephanie McMahon re-hire her and grant a match between them at SummerSlam 2014. Brie wasn't bad here at all and Steph was great transforming going from self-pity to sociopath. Raw - August 4, 2014: The Good Shit An excerpt of Cena vs. Lesnar: Prelude to the Biggest Fight of the Summer airs twice throughout the show. I'll be reviewing the documentary to close out this post, so no comment here. Beat the Clock Challenge Dean Ambrose vs. Alberto Del Rio Very good performance from both men here, and maybe it's just knowing that this was the WWE finale for Del Rio, but he seemed to be the bigger star of this match. He looked to have cut much of his body fat and appeared highly driven to impress someone with his efforts in this one. He was vicious in going after Ambrose's damaged left shoulder, perfect storytelling since Del Rio uses the cross armbreaker for his finish. Ambrose fought his ass off in this one to combat Del Rio's attack, including boots to the fact, the rebound lariat, and reversing Irish Whips into the barricade. But he took a beating in this one, with the match going more than 15 minutes, not looking likely he'd win this challenge over Seth Rollins to pick the stipulation their highly anticipated showdown at SummerSlam 2014. Ambrose evaded the arm bar at the end, then used his right arm to put Del Rio down with the headlock DDT. I don't see Del Rio ever returning to WWE in light of the circumstances and that he didn't live up to his absurd push, so if this is truly the end of him in WWE, he went out with a performance to be proud of on his final week in the company. ***1/2 Yet another great segment between Lane and Zeb Coulter, the flag match being announced a few days earlier for SummerSlam 2014. Rusev uses his flag pole to get the upper hand on Jack Swagger. Loving this feud when it doesn't blatantly exploit a tragedy. Later in the show, Ambrose distracted Rollins by vandalizing the MITB briefcase, causing the future WWE Champion to get upset by Heath Slater. In the close of the show, Brie Bella has good material in her contract signing with Stephanie McMahon, but can't measure up with her delivery and conviction, despite the fact that Steph is clearly just trying to get in her head. With HHH's help (not misogyny), Brie is forced to watch Steph ambush Nikki Bella and drop her with a Pedigree, then Steph uses the position of Brie being cornered to plant her face on the table, then also leaves her with a Pedigree. This got good heat, Steph was great, and the fact that she's a ratings draw does justify this getting quite a bit of spotlight going into one of the top shows of the year. SmackDown! - August 8, 2014 After some mildly amusing humor, and in light of what happened at Battleground 2014, Dean Ambrose exercises his right to pick the stipulation against Rollins for SummerSlam 2014, and it's a Lumberjack match, which should be fair to both of them due to what they did to the roster as the Shield. Raw - August 11, 2014: The Good Shit Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman kick off this stacked show in terms of star power. Heyman cuts yet another great promo, although not quite on par with his very best, but that's like saying Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit can't measure up to Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. He once again did a great job in putting over Lesnar, detailing how we're just days aways from the title and face of the company being conquered, then busts out a clever rhyme that also takes a dig at the Portland crowd. Awesome and worth the little road trip I went on to attend this show. After defeating Ryback & Curtis Axel in a handicap match, Reigns cuts a pedestrian promo, but the audience eats it up. And that's what ultimately matters. After defeating Rob Van Dam, Seth Rollins is around the enlarged birthday gifts on the stage for Hulk Hogan's party tonight, and senses something's off. After reaching a peace of mind that he was wrong, Dean Ambrose of course pops out of the biggest box and causes Rollins to run away, a perfect go-home segment for their Lumberjack match just days away. John Cena cuts another great passionate promo, daring Lesnar to show up again. If Reigns doesn't click on top, there's gonna be a whole new appreciation for Cena's performances on the stick and in the ring in the next couple years. Hulk Hogan's 61st birthday celebration, attended by numerous legends, is crashed by Lesnar & Heyman. "Party's over, grandpa." Lesnar of course leaves when Cena shows up. SmackDown! - August 15, 2014 Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro Much better than I had remembered live at KeyArena. Cesaro dominated the match, indicating a good sign that although he lacked creative direction, he wasn't gonna get the Zack Ryder treatment and be taken six feet under. He was vicious to Ambrose in this one, giving him a superplex on the floor that made me wince since this is the TV B-show. I did appreciate early on when Ambrose used the momentum for a big boot to attempt a rebound lariat, only for Cesaro to evade it. Makes perfect sense since Cesaro took I don't know how many of those from Nigel McGuinness over the years, so he should be able to spot it when it's coming. Cesaro also pulled out a Burning Hammer, but like Cena's version of the Death Valley Driver, it was a safe one so it managed to be a logical nearfall. Ambrose puts him down with the headlock DDT in the end of course since he's the one with creative direction. ***1/4 And now I do my rare review of a documentary, since it is actually part of the creative buildup, rather than a career video biography. Cena vs. Lesnar: Prelude to the Biggest Fight of the Summer We really do need these more often. I know they cost money, but I can't imagine these wouldn't help draw interest and money for the top shows each year as well as the occasional important match on a PPV B-show. I was really glad I rewatched this, as the excerpt made Cena look like a guy who wasn't focused on what really mattered, which was who had the actual advantage, not who does and doesn't love the business. What caused Cena to go that route was that Lesnar said Cena would've been nothing had he never left a decade earlier, so Cena then pointed out that Lesnar left the business because he didn't have the mental wherewithal to keep up with the responsibilities of being a pro wrestler in WWE, saying Lesnar would've burned out eventually anyway, while Cena still would've been the face of the company in the long run. It was great to see Lesnar's Diverticulitis scare brought up for those who paid zero attention to his MMA career, with him using it as an excuse for Cena upsetting him in his WWE return in that ****1/2 classic war (a match I wrongly took a shit on a couple years back) they had at Extreme Rules 2012. Then again, Lesnar said he knew he'd break the Streak, so who am I to doubt that being fully healthy will give him the advantage over Cena this time, especially after what he did to him not at 100%? Cena is still respectful of Lesnar's abilities, knowing he's gonna leave with some serious bumps and bruises, but is determined to get the victory yet again, this time with the burden of making sure Lesnar doesn't take the company's top prize hostage on his vacations. Meanwhile, Lesnar & Heyman are absolutely adamant that "this is gonna be ugly," with Lesnar showing no respect for Cena, completely cocky after breaking the Streak. He threatens to leave Cena in a pile of blood, urine, and vomit. Damn, THIS is how to promote a match and fight. As bonuses, here are the two awesome commercials advertising this big rematch:

Raw - June 30, 2014: The Good Shit Seth Rollins vs. Rob Van Dam - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year). After the match, Dean Ambrose cuts an awesome backstage promo promising to thwart any MITB cash-in attempt by Rollins. We get a white-hot segment involving Jack Swagger & Zeb Coulter against Rusev & Lana. The crowd heat is off-the-charts in support of Coulter's excellent pro-USA promo, ending with Rusev having to walk away from the fight after an arm-drag. Phenomenal segment. Sheamus & The Usos vs. The Wyatt Family - ***1/2 Chris Jericho returned and got targeted by the Wyatts. Elsewhere, AJ Lee returned and quickly dethroned Paige of the Divas Title. Just throwing this in here since most will consider these lackluster returns/runs of both stars to be part of the The Good Shit. SmackDown! - July 4, 2014 US Title Match Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Raw - July 7, 2014: The Good Shit Roman Reigns is the showcase of the opening segment against the Authority, and it's nice to see a fresh act clicking, regardless of what his limitations still are. The Usos vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Dean Ambrose once again sabotaged the cash-in of Seth Rollins in the main event. Main Event - July 8, 2014 US Title - Last Man Standing Match Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio - ***1/2. Fun but totally unnecessary hot-shotting of a gimmick match that had zero provocation and a blatant attempt to get people to tune in during the free week, just nine days after both men were still recovering from a ladder match. SmackDown! - July 11, 2014 Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Raw - July 14, 2014 The Great Debate Lana vs. Zeb Coulter - Easy heat with a hot finish, Rusev needing to bail again when Jack Swagger has the upper hand. NXT - July 17, 2014 Sami Zayn vs. Tyson Kidd Kidd had used his wife Natalya Neidhart's bump to get the pin on a concerned Zayn the week before. Good match in front of a tired crowd due to the lengthy tapings, with all kinds of great moves, including multiple topes, tornado DDTs, a Blue Thunder Driver, Buff Blockbuster, and finally ending it with Zayn pulling something of the playbook of Christopher Daniels, using the Downward Spiral and making Kidd submit to the Koji Clutch. ***1/4 Battleground 2014: The Good Shit Tag Titles - 2/3 Falls Match The Usos vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan Really good match with a fantastic third fall that made up for the first two falls being quite pedestrian. The Wyatts got the first fall thanks to a Harper big boot, then the Usos tied it up. The third fall as mentioned was off-the-charts with the crowd going apeshit for obvious nearfalls, showing that these four men were definitely doing something right. The best segment was a battle between Jimmy and Harper, just pulling out all kinds of spectacular cut-offs, highlighted by a sit-down powerbomb nearfall. Jey would superkick Harper during a tope suicida attempt, but that was just another great nearfall for Jimmy. The Usos would eventually get the upper hand for victory, but not before forgetting that it took TWO back-to-back splashes to put Rowan down in Boston, as they only pulled out one on him here and were surprised it was a nearfall. After double superkicks on both Wyatts plus a double splash on Rowan, they were the victors, cementing themselves as the top tag team in the company. Had the first two falls not been wasted away and if one or two spots hadn't looked a bit indyriffic, this would be a potential MOTYC. ***3/4 Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose gets an incredible video package, then the match never takes places. Ambrose interrupts a backstage Rollins promo and is thrown out by Triple H. When Rollins later takes the forfeit victory, Ambrose shows up anyway to brawl with him, but it's too short to be a make-good for the bait-and-switch technique pulled with this match. In a time when the company was cutting costs and talent to make ends meet due to Network expenses, I'm not sure why anybody thought this was a great direction. Later in the show, Ambrose is waiting in the car of Rollins, who manages to escape his beating. First of all, the people of Tampa Bay paid their hard-earned money for their tickets to this PPV event. This wasn't an episode of TV, in which this segment would've been a great buildup for the obvious PPV match. The people live in the building, and many who don't have the proper utilities to order the Network, instead having to order this on PPV, deserved much better than this. It's not like this B-show had much going for it on top to offset this bait-and-switch either as a make-good. I reflect back to SummerSlam 2008, in which we had an excellent talking segment between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. Here's why that worked, while this bait-and-switch didn't: there was no advertised Jericho vs. HBK match on that show, it was significantly better and hotter than this Ambrose vs. Rollins pull-apart brawl. In addition, that was a card with HUGE depth at the top to make up for Jericho vs. HBK match happening, with the Batista vs. John Cena dream match and Hell in a Cell feud-ender for Edge vs. Undertaker. When Rollins and Ambrose do eventually boomerang back to each other, there are two markets that I hope get to witness the hot matches that will close their feud. Dallas is one of them as I'll detail later in this project, and with what happened on this show, Tampa Bay is the obvious other one. They deserve a genuine make-good for this bullshit.

Money in the Bank 2014: The Good Shit On the preshow, Daniel Bryan shows up. He completely confirms Dave Meltzer's second-to-none reporting and tells Bo Dallas that he's being a boner when he shows up. Tag Titles Match The Usos vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan Damn good opener here to kick the PPV portion off properly. Everyone worked incredibly hard, with all kinds of great back-and-forth shit that usually gets annoying on the indies, but completely clicked here. Harper in particularly truly shined, showcasing why his basement is to be the next Kane, and potential ceiling would be to fill Undertaker's void. He was flying all over the place as much as the Usos, pulling out multiple tope suicidas. The finish itself was climatic and protected everyone involved. Harper got hit with a few strikes, ending with a kick that knocked him off the apron. That left Rowan, who was laying on the mat, victim to back-to-back top rope splashes for the win. The Usos were the better team, but it took an incredible arsenal to put down Harper & Rowan, with the latter needing two finishers to make sure he'd be down for the three count. ***1/2 Money in the Bank Contract Ladder Match Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Rob Van Dam Spectacular spotfest with an awesome angle to add some sizzle on top. The match starts with the angle in question, as Ambrose heads straight towards Rollins to a fantastic crowd pop. Ambrose would get the old-fashioned worked injury deep in the match, having to be taken backstage, making it obvious he'd return. That left everyone else to do dangerous spotty shit, often making me wince when considering how payoffs reportedly nosedived with the launch of the WWE Network. Standout spots include: Kingston falling off a ladder, landing feet-first on the top rope, and springboarding onto opponents on the outside; Ziggler giving Kingston the Zig-Zag onto a ladder, fucking both of them up; Ambrose giving Rollins a superplex off of a ladder that brought back memories of the CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave finish in their cage match at ROH's Nowhere to Run; and of course one of the dumbest bumps I've ever seen on any level in the business, with Rollins falling onto a ladder set up horizontally across the top rope and standing ladder's rung, his body bouncing up, the horizontal ladder going out of place, and landing on his shoulder area, coming dangerously close to having his head hit one if not both of the ladders. And remember, the payoffs for these guys went down significantly enough to be a contributing reason to one of the top stars in the business fucking off. So Ambrose returns of course to sabotage Rollins and the crowd is ecstatic. He's about to obtain the briefcase, only for the predictable deflation to occur, when Kane shows up to mug Ambrose, allowing Rollins to win. Really proud to see how far Ambrose and Rollins have come since their days on the indy scene, and this was certainly a spectacle to enjoy, even though so much of it was an unnecessary stunt show and not quite up to snuff with the all-time classic ladder matches. ***3/4 Ladder Match for the Vacant WWE Title Sheamus vs. Kane vs. John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Cesaro vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio Extremely tedious excuse of a main event and ladder match. There was so much dead air in this match, with many paint-by-numbers segments that did little to stand out. Sure, the crowd popped for signature moves, but that was offset by a horrendous spot in which everyone was climbing up and yanking each other down early in the match. A complete waste of time segment that added no drama and the crowd didn't give a single shit about. This was another stunt show in which these men often killed themselves for the lowered payoffs as mentioned for the other ladder match. I can't imagine Cesaro almost tearing an ACL could've possibly been worth the trouble though, nor was this match anywhere near to being anything memorable to help offset the more pain for less pay dynamic of this match in 2014. The finish itself, in which Cena notices nobody else present in the ring and quickly climbs up to grab both belts, is properly anticlimatic, perfectly summarizing what a waste of time this match was for the guys involved and the paying viewers.

Raw - June 2, 2014: The Good Shit This episode is all about the important storyline shit. John Cena stands up for Daniel Bryan against Stephanie McMahon, showing a possible transition in direction at the top. Poetic for this to have taken place in Indianapolis, the location that saw the birth of the Shield. Raw - June 9, 2014: The Good Shit In the opening segment, it's announced that Daniel Bryan will be unable to defend the WWE Title in the near future, so the title is now vacant, and will be up for grabs in a main event ladder match at Money in the Bank 2014. Alberto Del Rio is inafter qualifying for the MITB Ladder Match, and Orton is in because HHH says "he is who he is." How about the fact that Orton wasn't the one who submitted to D-Bry at WrestleMania XXX, and was entitled to a title shot? In addition, the remnants of the Shield face the Wyatt Family in a trios match to close the show. WWE Title Match Qualifier Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett - ***1/2 Ambrose & Reigns cut an exceptional promo, with Ambrose detailing what he will do to the face of Rollins. Reigns has a cheesy phrase or two but is otherwise really good. Rollins is great in his first post-Shield promo, completely smug and sociopathic while being interviewed in the ring by Michael Cole. He stuck to his strengths promo-wise, utilizing what appears to be a real-life arrogance that he carries off-screen, rather than be Diet HHH on the stick. It completely worked, channeling his heel run in his final month in ROH. He dares Ambrose & Reigns to come after him, then the lights go out and it's the Wyatt Family in the ring. Rollins takes a powder and Cena comes out to help Ambrose & Reigns, obviously volunteering through his actions to be their partner tonight. Paul Heyman does a masterful job of trolling the Minnesota crowd, duping them into believing their hometown Beast would appear, only for it to be Cesaro. Awesome. The Wyatt Family vs. John Cena, Dean Ambrose, & Roman Reigns - ***1/2 Main Event - June 10, 2014 Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year) NXT - June 12, 2014 NXT Title Match Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd - ***1/2 SmackDown! - June 13, 2014 Sheamus vs. Cesaro - ***1/2 Exceptional promo work yet again from Ambrose on Rollins, calling out Rollins for being all talk and a coward. WWE Title Match Qualifier Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt - ***1/4 Main Event - June 17, 2014 Sheamus & The Usos vs. The Wyatt Family - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) SmackDown! - June 20, 2014 Sheamus, John Cena, & Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, Randy Orton, & Alberto Del Rio - ***1/2 Raw - June 23, 2014 IC Title Match Wade Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler Many of these TV matches don't hold up months, especially years, later. This isn't one of those matches. This was nailbiting shit with all kinds of crazy bumps and crowd-popping transitions. This match was never dull, and in the third act, the crowd was apeshit for the near-falls. And what a finish for Barrett, channeling Chris Hero and knocking Ziggler out with a rotating elbow as Ziggler flew at him! I'd love to see these two get a chance to shine on PPV, and it's a shame Barrett got hurt again right as he was gaining momentum. ***3/4 Sheamus, John Cena, & Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, Cesaro, Randy Orton, & Alberto Del Rio - ***1/4. Kane appears post-match and HHH announces him as being the WWE Title Ladder Match main event at Money in the Bank 2014. Other notes: As mentioned, Rollins started off really well character-wise, showcasing his arrogance and incredibly condescending entitlement, while playing the cowardly role well enough to make Ambrose such a lovable babyface, going insane because someone he loved could become so cruel towards him. Reigns turned his focus on winning the top prize in the company, telegraphing the company's plan for him several months down the road. Heyman & Cesaro, while they don't have their chemistry down pat yet, are only getting better as a pair, with Heyman doing a stellar job of bragging about Brock Lesnar, then also putting over Cesaro's accomplishment as well. This looked to have some potential.

Payback 2014: The Good Shit US Title Match Sheamus vs. Cesaro Very good physical match here that built off of their previous match a couple weeks earlier. I must of course mention Paul Heyman's masterful trolling of Chicago, telling them CM Punk was at the other building getting to witness the Kings eliminate the Blackhawks, comparing it to Brock Lesnar conquering The Streak. They start off with physical exchanges early, and the transitions are great shit. Whether it would be turning a running charge into a traditional backbreaker, unleashing another European Uppercut (including Cesaro scouting the diving springboard shoulder charge of Sheamus with that), or busting out submissions to work the appropriate body parts, this was an excellent choice to open the PPV portion of the show. I love the finish too of Sheamus winning with a last-ditch small package after being the victim of a giant swing, surprising Cesaro in the process. Easily the best of their 2014 series up to this point. ***1/2 Daniel Bryan refuses to hand over the WWE Title to Stephanie McMahon, who is masterful at using the chants for CM Punk to add to the segment, saying the audience must want D-Bry to be a quitter too. Brie Bella quits rather than get fired and slaps Steph. Steph mentioned during this arc that Brie would be punished for putting her hands on the boss, so why didn't D-Bry remind Steph that he had assaulted him a few months earlier during the law enforcement impersonation and false imprisonment segment in San Antonio? Last Man Standing Match John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt Excellent smoke-and-mirrors match that appeared to be the end of this saga that nosedived rapidly after WrestleMania XXX. They took some serious hits in this one, not just with physical strikes, but bumps all over the place, be it on the floor, through tables, or onto steel steps. Speaking of the steps, the obvious highlight had to be Wyatt being on the outside, and then Cena throwing the steps towards him from inside the ring, causing Wyatt to get a visible gash on his right arm. Wyatt would get up from that, giving him some genuine bad-ass credibility that had been lacking since Elimination Chamber 2014. Now let me get one problem with the match out of the way: booking-wise, the company put itself into a corner. The Usos and Luke Harper & Erick Rowan twice had smoke-and-mirrors segments that were of course off the charts chaotic. So why not have the Shield and Evolution face each other on this night in a series of hot singles matches, and allowing this to just be a trios gimmick match to conclusively and logically close out the Cena vs. Wyatt with the maximum climax? Those Usos and Harper/Rowan segments led to the other problem, one I had with a couple trios matches earlier in the year. Rather than do his job, which was to count down Cena and Wyatt anytime they were not standing on both feet, the referee allowed the smoke-and-mirrors to distract him, allowing Wyatt plenty of time to lay around. Even Michael Cole pointed this out, and when does he ever really notice details like that? The finish was definitely a hot one, as Cena and Wyatt brawled to the entrance area. Cena took a bump over some production equipment, causing fireworks to go off on the stage to startle the audience. They brawled a bit more, ending with Cena giving Wyatt a Death Valley Driver through a production equipment box, then dropping another one on top to ensure Wyatt stayed down for the ten count. Why the company didn't follow up properly with this excellent finish that showcased Cena's creativity and adaptability to his surroundings, as well as what it took to put down Wyatt, I'll never know. But this was a quality match, one that got the most out of the corner it was placed in to protect the trios main event later on. **** Hardcore Survivor Series Style Elimination Match The Shield vs. Batista, Triple H, & Randy Orton Batista is in blue this time to showcase that at his core he is about himself, not Evolution. Love him growing out his balding hair too to make look even more off-putting. They have a nice brawl early, then it breaks down to a regular trios tag match. Now this was quality traditional tag wrestling, although was illogical considering the gimmick stipulation of the match. That the referee also enforced tag legalities against the babyfaces for the sake of building drama only makes his performance later on in the match even more flawed. During this segment though, Evolution did a great job of getting heat on Rollins & Ambrose, although not as much as the month prior, and the Reigns vs. HHH showdown definitely felt like a clash of titans as indicated by the audience reaction. The match became a brawl again in the second act, much like their previous match's final act. But this time this portion was a bit cleaner. Batista and Reigns didn't lay around this time, as they kept doing their work in the ring and adding to the brawl too. HHH hit Rollins with what appeared to be a laptop or somewhat larger piece of electrical equipment, knocking the former Tag Champ unconscious. Ambrose is also left laying by Orton elsewhere near ringside. HHH & Orton come help Batista take out Reigns, and they give him the Shield's trademark triple-team powerbomb through a commentary table. We then get to the third act, as Ambrose has regained consciousness and dives at Evolution, which is then followed up seconds later by Rollins doing an over-the-top rope dive onto HHH to regain the heat and get the crowd back into it. It becomes a 3-on-2 brawl to the entrance, as Reigns is still selling the powerbomb and slowly crawls back into the ring, not having the energy to come help his team. Rollins is knocked down, while HHH gives Ambrose a side slam onto a chair onto the floor. This is where Evolution pissed away the victory that was in their hands. Due to their vindictive egos, they chose to use this opportunity to make an example out of the Shield, rather than eliminating them in the ring (the only way to do so per the rules of the match, which would've been nice to hammer home before this match started.) They went into the ring and mugged Reigns 3-on-1, tearing off his shirt and battering his body with kendo sticks. They then went back to the entrance to pick on Ambrose, only to see Rollins had climbed the entrance set and he dove onto them for the highlight of the match, kicking off the third and final act. Batista and Rollins crawled to the ring, and now the referee forget that Batista and Reigns were actually legal, and I'm not sure why. While this was chaotic, it wasn't as chaotic as similar matches involving the Wyatt Family or Generation Next. Very poor level of officiating for the #1 pro wrestling company in the entire world, on par with the shite performance in the Cena vs. Wyatt match. With that said, this was a hot finish, with Batista being pinned by Rollins after taking multiple finishers; Orton being pinned by Ambrose after a chair to the back and followup headlock driver on a chair; and then HHH, despite a spear by Batista and Orton handing him a sledgehammer, being pinned by Reigns after a Rollins springboard diving knee and Reigns spear. Clean sweep and I appreciated the post-match very much, with everyone selling the beating they took, and then the Shield a couple minutes later standing over HHH, having conquered the boss and his buddies, united and on top of the world. ***1/2

Raw - May 5, 2014 The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family Fun trios match but the weakest of their series, largely thanks to this being just a plot device for Shield's program with Evolution. I definitely would've loved to have seen Evolution work a program with a babyface Wyatt Family at WrestleMania 31, and seeing the two factions both at ringside only further reminded me of that. ***1/4 SmackDown! - May 9, 2014 The Usos & John Cena vs. The Wyatt Family - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Raw - May 12, 2014: The Good Shit Good opening segment with the Shield being pissed off about Evolution mugging them the week before, and Reigns cuts what has to easily be the best promo of his career to date, a complete bad-ass oozing confidence and taking this shit seriously. The Usos & John Cena vs. The Wyatt Family - ***1/2 WWE Champion Daniel Bryan has to break the news that he's undergoing neck surgery, and the timetable for his return is unknown. But he vows to make a return. Huge punch in the gut creatively and business-wise for the company. Main Event - May 13, 2014 Sheamus vs. Cesaro - *** (no rewatch - original rating from last year) Raw - May 19, 2014: The Good Shit Sheamus vs. Cesaro - *** (highlight being Paul Heyman's prematch promo when he gave an A+ effort to troll the crowd but they loved his shtick too much to hate him) Stephanie McMahon one-ups Heyman's trolling later in the show, threatening to strip Daniel Bryan of the WWE Title and teasing she may just hand it to one of her favorites instead. The real zinger though was her showcasing a Wade Barrett video, causing the London audience to expect an appearance by him during the segment, but it's just her being a cunt. Awesome. NXT Takeover: The Good Shit NXT Title Shot Match Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze Really good match here and Breeze's breakout performance. This match served its purpose beautifully, showcasing Zayn's struggles to win the big one despite phenomenal efforts from him. There were a number of amazing cut offs and highspots in this one, including an over-the-top-rope cannonball, Exploder suplex in the corner, and of course the finish. Zayn went for the Yakuza kick but Breeze placed his hands in front of his own face to protect its beauty, inadvertently causing Zayn's crotch to get harmed from landing on his hands. Breeze doesn't give a shit though and hits a spinning heel kick for the win. ***3/4 Vacant NXT Women's Title Tournament Final Charlotte vs. Natalya Neidhart The title has been vacated due to Paige becoming Divas Champion on the main roster. Charlotte is accompanied by her father Ric Flair and Natalya is accompanied by her uncle Bret Hart. They have a great showcase early of technical wrestling, establishing an even matchup. But Charlotte is a cocky troll at times, oozing the swagger genetically passed onto her by her father, who was great in his role as her cheerleader during this classic. Bret was great as well, but his laid-back flavor of enthusiasm couldn't measure up to Flair's flamboyant passion and emotion. These ladies took some hits on this one, the most painful being when Natalya was leg-whipped off the apron and onto the floor. This was ingenious on Charlotte's part, as it weakened Natalya's right knee to soften her up for the figure four leglock, and caused severe pain to the back to sabotage Natalya's arsenal of suplexes and her Scorpion Deathlock finisher. Having already had an amazing sequence earlier in the match involving their finishers, this moment further enhanced the story that was wrapped up neatly in the finish, as Natalya had too much pain in her back and legs to apply her finisher. Charlotte shoved her off and then finished her with a standing inverted Buff Blockbuster. Post-match, Flair is in tears seeing what his daughter has accomplished, and Bret shakes his hand as the ladies embrace, having earned each other's respect and knowing they tore the fucking house down. This right here is best for business. **** NXT Title Match Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd They had quite the nailbiter to follow, but these men got the job done with another excellent match to close out this stellar event. Kidd is a dick early, trying to get in the younger Neville's head. But like the show-stealer before this, it's an even matchup early, having a stalemate influenced by the classic series of matches between Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero two decades earlier. This match also has it fair share of dives, including a tope con giro from Kidd and then later my favorite moment, that being Neville going for a springboard kick off the second rope, only for Kidd to jump up and counter that into a Russian Leg Sweep. There was also a point in which Neville went for a dive to the outside, but Kidd cut him off, building up and teasing when Neville would bust out the flippy shit. That would be delivered in the finish, when Kidd was knocked down enough for Neville to finish him off with the Sky Twister. Not quite emotionally on par with the prior match, but this was just as technically impressive, with a sour Kidd refusing to shake hands afterwards to offset his wife's good sportsmanship. ****

Extreme Rules 2014: The Good Shit The Shield vs. Batista, Triple H, & Randy Orton Good trios match but not the classic that many classify it as being. Batista was great wearing red to stand out from his partners, showing that deep down he only cares about his own direction. Nice Air Jordans he has on too. They brawl early to the crowd's delight, with Rollins playing the FIP as usual during the Shield's babyface run. After several pretty good minutes of getting the heat on him, he gets a hot tag to Ambrose, who also plays the FIP in another pretty good segment. After Ambrose has been put through pain by Evolution, HHH gloats and mocks the Shield, but Ambrose manages to hit a DDT to give Reigns a hot tag. This would lead to the third and final act of the match, which had plenty of brawling and finishers galore. HHH evaded a tope move from Rollins, who crashed head and shoulder-first in the barricade. HHH evaded a Superman Punch in the ring and hit Reigns with a Pedigree, then placed Batista on him. Reigns kicked out, grooming him for his obvious future. But because this company still had a clue, an Ace Crusher on Reigns by Orton wasn't kicked out of, but had its pinfall attempt saved by the recovered Rollins. See what happens when someone isn't shoved down the audience's throat? The brawling outside pitting Ambrose & Rollins vs. HHH & Orton is great stuff that pops the crowd, ending with a climatic splash from Rollins from the top of a seating entrance. It was adrenaline-rushing shit. But this is where I ran into a problem with the match, as the ref just let Batista and Reigns lay around WHILE HE HIMSELF STAYED IN THE RING, instead focusing too much on the brawling that was happening almost a football field away from him. That's bad officiating and was my lone nitpick in The Shield's jaw-dropping work of art against The Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber 2014. But unlike that instant classic, this match lacked a truly electric crowd that was giddy before the bell even ringing. This match actually summarized this direction quite well: it was good, but not one that audiences felt a NEED to see unlike Shield vs. Wyatts a few months earlier. When the brawling ended with that Rollins splash, the cameras' focus went back to the ring, and now all of a sudden Batista and Reigns regain consciousness. There's no super finishing stretch that we had been accustomed to in Shield matches. Instead, after one spear, Reigns gets the pin on Batista. It resulted in a good trios match, but not a total show-stealer that'll leave the crowd with memories etched in their minds for years to come. ***1/2 WWE Title - Hardcore Match Daniel Bryan vs. Kane Fun match, the best it could be with the storyline it was given, its structure, and the fact that both men were severely broken down at this time. D-Bry went after Kane with everything he had, using weapons, speed, and furious kicks, but due to Kane's massive size, Kane would be able to land one blow and regain the heat. This was pretty much the story of the match until they brawled to the back, and I couldn't believe the unnecessary risk of having Kane throw an electrical item into a garbage can filled with water. There was no point to that and many people could've gotten severely harmed. There happened to be a forklift backstage, so when D-Bry knocked out Kane with a tire iron, he placed him on the pallet and drove the machine to ringside, showcasing he could probably get a decent factory worker salary should he ever desire to earn his income in that field. He titled the pallet over the ring to dump Kane and hit a diving headbutt off the pallet for a nearfall. They had a few more decent minutes, highlighted by the finish. Kane set a table at ringside on fire and then went to battle with D-Bry on the nearby apron. With Kane's balance off, D-Bry shook the ropes violently, forcing Kane to land on the table and get doused with a fire extinguisher. Kane went into the ring, his mind not being right for obvious reasons, and ate a Busaiku knee for the finish. As D-Bry leaves in celebration, Kane gets up and poses with fire being lit at the entrance and on the ringposts. Fun match with limitations and unnecessary risks, and I'm not particularly saddened we didn't get to see this program continue. ***

THE AFTERMATH OF A MAGICAL WEEKEND~! Raw - April 7, 2014 EASILY the most entertaining Raw of 2014, which is both a compliment of this show and the crowd as well as a fair criticism of what the overall product would become later in the year. Every segment on this show clicked, even the jabroni filler thanks to the outstanding audience that I was so fortunate to be a part of this time. Daniel Bryan's promos to open and close the show (the latter being on Backstage Pass) only further emphasized how rewarding this weekend was as a longtime fan of independent wrestling. I also loved the Authority failing so miserably to undermine his happiness in the opening segment, and I laugh at anyone above the age of 10 years who thought we'd be getting the actual rematch on this night. Big E, Sheamus, & John Cena vs. The Wyatt Family - ***1/4, a fun trios match that gets an extra boost thanks to the electrifying crowd. Paul Heyman's promo with Brock Lesnar present, bragging about the destruction of the Streak, will continue to be a standard-bearer, and could very likely be the greatest promo of Paul E's career. His trolling was magnificent of the smark audience and he did a second-to-none job of detailing the significance of Lesnar's accomplishments, emphasizing what a one of kind fighter his client and best friend is. This is easily the greatest promo I've had the privilege of experiencing live to date, even better than the Championship Ascension Ceremony in Seattle a few months earlier, and I say that with the SEA segment having incredibly strong sentimental value due to its location and what it did to ensure D-Bry stayed as a truly top player on the roster. Batista and Randy Orton want a title shot, but the Authority say there may be another problem coming up for them. They decimate the Usos, not giving a shit about winning the Tag Titles. Rob Van Dam returns after a six month absence to defeat Damien Sandow. In the next match, Wade Barrett makes his long-awaited in-ring return as well as the crowd pops huge, booing Rey Mysterio out of the building, in what would turn out to be the first-ballot HOFer's final match in WWE. In what would tragically and poetically be his final public appearance, the Ultimate Warrior makes his first appearance on Raw in 18 years. Had I known this would be it for him, I'd have paid more attention live rather than toying with my phone. In addition, the retrospective eye can't help but notice that simply talking for a couple minutes made him look like he was sweating as profusely as Davey Richards during a match. No assessment is needed, as his words speak for themselves: "No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe a final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend markers of Ultimate Warrior. In the back I see many potential legends. Some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. Ultimate. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run forever!" Hulk Hogan congratulates Cesaro for his victory the night before and presents him the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale Trophy. Coulter cuts off Cesaro to talk, but Cesaro intervenes and reveals that he's now a Paul Heyman guy, which was a massive pop live! My assessment of that pairing will come later on in this project. Jack Swagger lets Cesaro win by countout, having no answers for his white-hot former tag partner. AJ Lee brags about her Divas Title reign in the same fashion as her spouse, but gets interrupted by the debuting Paige to the smarky crowd's delight. Lee is a complete cunt to the polite Paige and demands they collide right now for the title. In less than two minutes, the unprepared Paige breaks out of the Octopus hold and then hits the Gonorrhea (which she calls the Paige-Turner) for one of the all-time biggest upsets in the show's history, on par with Sean Waltman over Razor Ramon and Shelton Benjamin over HHH. The crowd is ecstatic as Lee is boiling with embarrassment. Kane reveals in an argument with the Shield that HHH ordered the hits on them a few weeks earlier. One of the greatest episodes in Raw history. Star power, a fun trios match, sentimental moments, game-changing turns in direction, an epic audience, one of the greatest promos EVER, stars returning to provide mid-card depth, Mysterio's in-ring WWE finale, and Ultimate Warrior's final public appearance of his life. This had everything for everyone and was a hell of a close to a truly magical weekend of professional wrestling in the Big Easy. Main Event - April 8, 2014 The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family I severely underrated this since it was thrown on this C-show at the last minute, rather than organically get built to a climatic, feud-ending gimmick match for Extreme Rules 2014. But on its own, this was off-the-charts shit, with all kinds of great cutting off from the Wyatts. Rollins was once again the star of this match, flying all over the place similar to Daniel Bryan. His selling was also excellent when the Wyatts got the heat on him. Ambrose also had a segment in which the Wyatts got the heat on him, which was very good too. Every time Reigns was in the ring, he was a house of fire, perfectly suiting his role and protecting him. And the closing minutes were just crazy shit, bodies just flying everywhere, rapid changes in momentum, complete with tag legalities being remembered to make this truly polished unlike many trios matches on the indy scene styled like this one. The Shield get their win to build them up for Evolution, cutting a promo on them in which Reigns is the clear star, showcasing all the marketable traits he's been blessed with. **** Raw - April 14, 2014 Raw - April 21, 2014 IC Title Shot Tournament Semifinal Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett - *** Main Event - April 29, 2014 Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt - ***1/4 (no rewatch - original rating from last year) If you think I'm gonna discuss the D-Bry vs. Kane feud, think again. Now's the time to quickly go over the two creative directions of value. Shield vs. Evolution, while I would've STRONGLY preferred for it to wait until the summer to go in that direction (that way we could've gotten D-Bry vs. Batista and the conclusive finale of Shield vs. Wyatts), was a very nice program to give the face-turned Shield some vulnerability and give them fresh top stars to work with too. It was also nice to see Orton dress like a man at ringside for the first time in years, and of course Batista was masterful with his business attire, making sure to have a Kanye-like flavor to it to make sure he was an off-putting heel. Rollins also got the most mic time of the Shield, which felt pleasantly strange since Ambrose is a significantly superior talker while Reigns was the obvious future face of the company. The Heyman & Cesaro pairing got off to a good if not decent start. While Cesaro's time was wasted feuding with Swagger, it did allow for a genuinely scintillating debate between Heyman and Zeb Coulter, a true dream verbal confrontation between two of the greatest talkers ever. While Heyman got his Lesnar bragging shit in, he was also putting over his new client, and it appeared there was some kind of substantial plan for this pairing. I'll detail more on this as the project continues.

The Road to WrestleMania XXX: The Good Shit - http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/33558-the-road-to-wrestlemania-xxx-the-good-shit/ WrestleMania XXX HUGE kudos to the production crew. Fantastic stage setting and appropriate lighting for a venue that is generally an eyesore for those watching on TV. Tag Titles - Elimination Match The Usos vs. Los Matadores vs. Real Americans vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel Fun match with all kinds of crowd-popping spots, including El Torito getting his shit in. Cesaro was of course the star of the match, continuing his momentum that had been ongoing since CM Punk's abrupt vanishing from WWE. Every time he got on offense, the crowd became hotter. Any time someone cut him off or got offense on him, extremely audible jeers. What matters most obviously is that Cesaro lost the final fall to the Usos, which live at the time seemed puzzling since he was clearly ascending to a substantial position on the roster, while Jack Swagger was an established mid-carder after multiple attempts at various pushes. But the Real Americans had come into this match with tension, an angle I had failed to mention as I reviewed the journey to this event. Swagger therefore shit on Cesaro much to Zeb Coulter's dismay for the loss, then placed the ankle lock on the former King of Wrestling. After Coulter convinced Swagger to stop and shake hands to apologize, Cesaro finally gave into the crowd's demand, delivering the anticipated giant swing to the former NCAA All-American as the audience popped huge. This had been building for several weeks and was perfectly timed and positioned on the card, as this was part of the free pre-show as a final way to entice anyone on the fence about ordering. *** The Three Icons of the WrestleMania Era The actual PPV portion of the event kicks off with the greatest, most charismatic talking segment in WrestleMania history, as host Hulk Hogan comes out to fire the crowd up and twice mistakenly refers to the evening's venue as the Silverdome, then catches himself when the crowd gives him a hard time over it. Minutes into this, his promo is interrupted by Steve Austin, and they have a staredown, making all long-time and lapsed fans sad we never got that dream match. Austin cuts his own great promo to fire up the crowd, giving Hogan a hard time for the Silverdome flub. He also puts Hogan over huge, showing a side that had significantly mellowed out since his big-leaguing of the fellow HOFer a dozen years earlier. But we're not done here, as the Rock interrupted to further electrify the crowd. Rock went through his routine that always works because he knows what the fuck he's doing when he grabs a microphone. He then says we have two icons in the ring that truly paved the way for two of the biggest babyfaces for tonight's event. Before John Cena was telling kids to live and die by hustle, loyalty, and respect, there was Hogan telling the previous generation's kids to take their vitamins and say their prayers. Before Daniel Bryan faced his oppression at the hands of corrupt power figures, there was Austin raising hell every week on Vince McMahon and company. They close out the segment putting each other over, each doing their promo-closing routine one at a time. This is a segment I will never forget experiencing live, one truly deserving of being placed on the grandest stage. WWE Title Shot Match Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan The PPV matches kick off with the primary match of the evening, obviously to make sure the winner would have time to rest for his earned spot in the main event. Stephanie McMahon introduces her husband, who has an awesomely OTT entrance, sitting on a throne and dressing like Shao Khan, just completely saying through this sequence that he thumbed his nose at his scheduled opponent for the evening. In contrast, D-Bry came out with the long hippy hair, bushy beard, and just regular gear, truly setting the story for anyone not familiar with the events that led to this dream match. D-Bry's left shoulder is heavily taped due to the damage inflicted upon it the past couple months. Before the opening bell, the Authority have an intimate kiss, completely rubbing it in that they're happy and successful, then HHH looks at the former WWE Champion ever so smugly. The Game offers a handshake, which D-Bry obviously rejects by kicking the hand and trying to get this matchup over early with a schoolboy pin. D-Bry goes on a fury, but HHH takes a quick powder to ensure no momentum is built. HHH looks to cut off D-Bry's superior technical wrestling and striking, but D-Bry cuts him off to regain momentum, making HHH's cut off merely a hope spot and then gets a headlock takedown. He easily gets out of HHH's head-scissors as fans of the indy scene during the 2000s had the pleasure of seeing him do on a nightly basis. HHH during a headlock gets D-Bry in a corner and goes after the left arm, but D-Bry doesn't allow that to go on long at all, unleashing more furious kicks to the crowd's delight. But HHH catches the left leg and drops it STO style, showing off why he has such a cerebral reputation. However, even that doesn't really go anywhere for the time being, as D-Bry prevents HHH from dragging him into a corner for more limb work. He charges at the first-ballot HOFer multiple times, including doing a front flip off the top rope which looked to be a bad landing for someone with a well-documented injury history. As D-Bry continues owning HHH, Steph attempts to verbally troll him, knowing damn well her husband is getting his ass kicked so far. HHH crotches D-Bry as he goes for another top-rope move, finally gaining some significant heat over the former multi-promotional champion. He follows that up with a charge to knock D-Bry down to the floor in front of the commentary tables. He attempts a Pedigree on one of those tables, but D-Bry blocks it and fights back, only for HHH to grab the severely pained left arm and slam it onto the table! At this point the commentary team, which has often been justifiably criticized, did a phenomenal job in selling HHH's craftiness. JBL in particular really put over the brilliant bluffing HHH pulled on D-Bry, going after the left leg early to make it seem like he wouldn't target the left arm. This was critical in showing that while the stakes were incredibly high and the emotions going into this even higher, this was also a matchup of two of the most gifted in-ring psychologists in the history of the business. HHH of course became merciless on D-Bry's left arm, slamming it down with various moves and locking submissions aplenty, including a modified London Dungeon. But even THAT is short, as it looks like D-Bry is about to regain momentum when he throws off HHH to the outside and goes for a tope suicida, only to get cut off by the Game before flying through the ropes. HHH gives him a Hammerlock Backdrop Suplex on the apron, and D-Bry's audible screams of pain are sensational just like his classic against Randy Orton in Dallas a few months earlier. Stephanie chimes in with "you mess with the bull, you get the horns," then kisses her gloating husband. Awesome. D-Bry of course follows up his sensational screams of pain with sensational selling outside the ring, struggling to get up and break the ten count. In yet another highlight of the match, one that shows what an excellent student of the game HHH is, D-Bry finds himself in one of his own established finishers, that being the Crossface Chickenwing. Fantastic poetry while also causing further pain to the damaged left arm and shoulder. As D-Bry is losing consciousness, the crowd rallies behind him, hoping to not see him pass out. HHH then further shows off his experience and studying habits, locking on the Crippler Crossface, reminding all technical wrestling fans of an even sexier dream match we sadly never got to witness. D-Bry reaches the ropes, only for seconds later to get that left arm slammed down with an arm twist on the mat. The Game goes to work with punches in the corner, and D-Bry attempts to fight back to no avail as the audience is trying to give him adrenaline. They exchange more punches, with a crowd reaction reminding me of Rock vs. Hogan and Austin Aries vs. CM Punk, and this time D-Bry is able to regain the heat with a running forearm straight to the face. That though is also short-lived, with us bearing witness to yet another display of brilliance from HHH. When D-Bry goes for his turnbuckle backflip spot, HHH stays in the center of the ring, not allowing D-Bry to get behind him. I can't recall any of D-Bry's most reputable opponents on the indies ever scouting this out, nor any of his prior opponents in WWE either. That moment of brilliance doesn't get much though, as D-Bry blocks a German Suplex and unleashes a couple of his own. HHH blocks a third and goes for the Crossface Chickenwing, but D-Bry intelligently sees it coming this time and blocks it, only to get dumped on his head and shoulders via a release Butterfly Suplex. Hey, if you're gonna do head drops and other risky shit, THIS is the show to do it on. D-Bry blocks a Superplex attempt to the crowd's delight, landing a Sunset Flip Powerbomb for a great crowd pop and slowing down the Game's momentum. HHH goes to recover in a corner, so D-Bry goes for this routine three running heel kicks, but the third, much like Cena, Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, and Nigel McGuinness had done in the past, countered that with a beautiful lariat. When they both get up, HHH goes for another Pedigree, but D-Bry blocks that and goes for a jackknife pin for two, then follows that up with a kick to the head. At this point the crowd is starting to get incredibly excited, sensing that their chosen face of the company was gonna finally humble the Authority. But a diving headbutt is blocked with a knee to the face, and HHH then locks on the Crippler Crossface again. It should be obvious at this point that this match was a partial tribute to a man that had a significant impact on both men's careers, one by working with him, the other being inspired and heavily influenced by him. This second Crippler Crossface was a sight to behold, as HHH made sure to block D-Bry's eyesight during a portion of the submission. D-Bry rolls back but HHH keeps it locked on, remembering the same thing had happened to him a decade earlier and learning from it should he ever be in the opposite position. D-Bry rolls back again though and goes for a pin attempt false finish, then gets the Lebell Lock on, a moment we had been waiting to see for many, many months! As a receipt, D-Bry makes sure to block HHH's vision, and Stephanie has to audibly coach HHH to make him aware of how close he is to the ropes. With HHH on the outside getting nursed by Steph, D-Bry hits two tope suicidas, then follows that up with a missile shotgun dropkick in the ring. He kips up to another great crowd pop, and then sucks up whatever pain he's feeling to land furious kicks to the chest and a final kick to the head as the crowd pops yet again. More than 20 minutes into this classic, both men are exhausted and the crowd expresses their happiness watching this unfold. D-Bry goes for the Busaiku knee, but this is the Cerebral Assassin he's facing. In a match in which HHH likely brought forth the most brilliant game plan of his career, there was no greater display of his scouting techniques than taking D-Bry's momentum and turning it into a spinebuster that certainly had Arn Anderson popping backstage. HHH goes for the Pedigree and the thrid attempt's the charm, but that's nothing more than a phenomenal false finish as the crowd is going apeshit. D-Bry pulls out the small package, but that's another false finish unlike his ROH days. HHH shows his frustration, almost getting DQ'ed for not breaking his punches in the corner. He then goes for another Pedigree, but D-Bry flips him overhead and keeps the butterfly position for another great false finish pin. HHH rolls D-Bry over with the arms still butterflied, but D-Bry dead-weights him, so HHH knees D-Bry in the face a few times for good measure and to display his frustration. Another Pedigree attempt though is countered as D-Bry gets out of it and lands a roundhouse kick, but a second roundhouse kick is ducked. HHH looks to go for an Atomic Drop or backdrop suplex, but D-Bry flips back to land on his feet, then finishes off the Game finally with a Busaiku knee!!! Steph's facial expression is priceless, the facade she and her husband running for months becoming exposed on the grandest stage. The crowd is of course ecstatic and D-Bry is exhausted as he celebrates. Steph walks over to slap him, leaving him to be attacked from behind by HHH. The Game slams the damaged left shoulder on the ring post, then smacks it with a steel chair, completely embarrassed as the Authority try to mask it with smugness and their underhanded corruption. D-Bry goes into the main event with the odds only stacked against him even more. For many years, the thought of Triple H vs. Bryan Danielson had always intrigued me, dating back to the latter's days on the indy scene as he showed why he was clearly the best in-ring wrestler this side of the Pacific. I had always imagined they would have at least very good chemistry, as both are master storytellers and HHH has proven to be more than capable of working a great technical wrestling match when the time calls for it. And when the fantastic SummerSlam 2013 ended, I was excited to know this match would be taking place on this night. That this match almost didn't happen despite the lack of an emotionally satisfying conclusion as 2013 ended, only for a series of game-changing events to take place in order for it to do so, makes me feel like it was truly fate that this dream match was destined to take place at such an important landmark event. But did this match live up to the expectations I had? To be brutally honest - it shattered them. Due to the storyline, I went into the Superdome expecting this to be more of a sports-entertainment style that favored HHH's routine. That element was obviously utilized to its fullest potential, but these men also managed to add in the sizzling technical wrestling that I always saw them pulling off together should they ever face off. In addition, the commentary for this match deserves an ovation of its own, as JBL, Michael Cole, & Jerry Lawler did a great job in putting over the emotions, work, and story being told in the ring. Stephanie was a delightful wrinkle as well, adding further heat with her presence, trolling, and mannerisms as she rooted for the love of her life. This was a jaw-dropping roller-coaster that more than lived up to its storyline as well as its position as the most pushed match going into this show. This was a back-and-forth nailbiter with amazing counters, outstanding submission wrestling, and incredible storytelling. I also loved this significantly more than The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber 2014. The only nitpick complaint that keeps this from being a flawless masterpiece is that they had to hold back just a teeny bit for obvious reasons. But make no mistake: I look forward to the eventual rematch at some point, as I know they have a perfect match in them; and this is a work of art, easily in the top three matches I've ever seen live, right behind the pieces of perfection pitting D-Bry against Roderick Strong at Vendetta and HHH against Undertaker inside the Cell at Sunlife Stadium. ****3/4 The Shield vs. Kane & New Age Outlaws An almost complete obliteration to showcase the Shield. It's a shame we look to never get a classic Shield match at WrestleMania, but at least they were booked to be pure bad-asses with all three stars getting their shit in on the old geezers before putting them down in a matter of minutes. We got a wacky backstage segment with a bunch of legends, ending with Ron Simmons doing his "Damn" routine. First Ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale Clusterfuck at first as these matches usually are due to too many bodies in the ring, but it improved as it they thinned out the complete, utter jabronis. An early highlight was Fandango teasing an elimination and then the crowd Fandango-ing in appreciation as he gyrated on the apron. Another major highlight was Kofi Kingston looking to be eliminated, but it turns out both of his feet landed on the steel steps. Phenomenal spot. The match got significantly better once it got to the stars of substance such as Big Show, Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Rey Mysterio, and Alberto Del Rio. The crowd appreciated seeing another giant swing from Cesaro as he unleashed it on Kingston, only to get pissed off when Show chokeslammed him. They popped for Ziggler's offense, but he was still in his burial stage so he got immediately eliminated by Del Rio as soon as his heat segment started. Del Rio put a cross armbreaker on Sheamus, but was lifted up while the submission was still locked in. Sheamus attempted to break the hold over the ropes so that Del Rio would drop and be eliminated, but Del Rio held on and it became a mutual elimination, leaving Show and Cesaro as the final two. The crowd became antsy at this point, as this was definitely an interesting matchup, the respected veteran giant against an ascending mid-carder. Cesaro breaks a chokeslam and tries to clothesline Show over the ropes. Cesaro goes for a top rope move but Show just slaps his chest. Cesaro manages to slide off of Show's shoulder before getting dumped, then gives the giant a European Uppercut. Cesaro then follows that up with a scoop slam to eliminate Big Show and win the trophy as the crowd popped in approval! Not a match that'll get a special rating, but a special moment that brilliantly offset Cesaro's loss earlier in the evening. Oh what WWE had on their hands with this guy... John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt This one turns out to not hold up. The video package was phenomenal stuff, reminding me that other than Cena channeling Hogan from October 1998, this was a truly excellent program to elevate a fresh talent and give a potential wrinkle to Cena's character. The use of Eminem's "Legacy" certainly didn't hurt either. But the match itself, it really just never picked up. The story was a fine idea on paper, that Wyatt would try to be Heath Ledger's Joker, a tortured soul that left Cena opportunities to display that he would finally be corrupted. And like the Joker, Wyatt would utilize Cena's ethics against him to gain an advantage when he felt like it, as well as making sure that Luke Harper & Erick Rowan intervened behind the ref's back. I appreciate that the goal was for Wyatt to be an unpredictable heel. With that said, Wyatt showed once again that he fails to be emotionally engaging when he has the heat, as he does nothing to fire the crowd up, to make them hate him and wanna see the babyface make a comeback. That is the ultimate failure of this highly anticipated showdown. Once Wyatt figures out how to engage the audience, perhaps he won't feel so overpushed at the expense of others who do a significantly better job of connecting with the paying customers. I don't even care at this point that Cena won the match. Sure, Wyatt, much like Cesaro, was an ascending star, and even had the bragging rights of pinning Roman Reigns twice as well as the only clean singles victory over D-Bry in the past year. But as I just detailed, would the Wyatt character have any additional value had he won this match when the guy portraying the gimmick has such obvious holes in his game still? Howard Finkle introduces the 2014 WWE HOF class to the audience. Little did we know that we were seeing the last of a man that is a staple in WrestleMania lore. Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker Like the match prior, fantastic video package with Paul Heyman putting over the significance of what Lesnar was aiming to do just so strongly. This match was even sadder to watch almost a year later. Not even just because of the match itself, which was handicapped by Taker getting a concussion when he was thrown into a barricade (that's how it appeared to this viewer at least), but also WWE's failure to truly maximize the historic result of this match. But the aftermath is a topic I'll be detailing later on in this reviewing project. I understand many people being upset about a part-timer being the one to break The Streak, even though someone rational like me could see the benefit of it. I was only upset that such an iconic moment took place in such a tedious, plodding match. Not only was Taker clearly woozy, but the story of the match itself, which was pushed only even more by the commentary, was "wow, Taker is old." Not exactly a captivating narrative. Those who say that Lesnar is an overrated performer will certainly be using this match as a primary example to back up their argument. But just because he couldn't carry a concussed, broken down 49 year old heavyweight doesn't mean he wasn't "deserving" of this moment, nor does it mean he's terrible at what WWE pays him millions to do a few times per year. Only a select few in the world could've gotten anything resembling a fun match in these circumstances, and it's not a slight on Lesnar that he's not one of those few. I really can't be bothered to give this the same kind of detailed treatment as HHH vs. D-Bry. One moment, no matter how iconic and historic, doesn't justify that for me. But this match was opposite of that, as I can't imagine any nails being bitten by the fellow 70,000+ fellow fans that were in attendance unless it was done out of habit or boredom. The crowd reaction was certainly something, but would've been much hotter had this match not been such a chore to sit through. Lesnar and Heyman are booed out of the building before they leave the stage, although I'm not sure if that's good or bad heat. Taker gets a well-deserved standing ovation for the legacy he built as he walks the aisle for what many wondered at the time would be his final ringside walk ever. I for one am glad he's gonna try to make sure he goes out with a better match that this one, as this was a sad sight to watch, much like Peyton Manning's injury-riddled performance when his former Colts eliminated his Broncos in decisive fashion. WrestleMania 31 - March 29, 2015 in the Bay Area~! AJ Lee wins a match against a bunch of other divas to keep the Divas Title in the obvious death spot of the night. The crowd doesn't give a shit as they had the air sucked out of them by what they just witnessed minutes earlier. The only note I'll make is we got a preview of obviously the most enthralling program of the year when Brie Bella and Nikki Bella went at it. WWE Title Match - No DQ, No Countout Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan Crowd finally recovers in this one for D-Bry, although they never truly recovered from having the air sucked out of them. The Authority come out to try to spoil it all for D-Bry, attacking him and bringing back the supposedly fired ref Scott Armstrong, who is clearly taking orders from them and revealing he had been in cahoots with HHH at Night of Champions 2013. D-Bry takes them all out and gets them to fuck off so he can focus on regaining the prize that he had continuously been getting screwed out of for months. The match itself wasn't super special, as it was about the moment. Unlike Taker vs. Lesnar though, this was still incredibly fun with a great story. Orton & Batista went after the injured D-Bry early to take him out, both to prey on him for being weakened, and also knowing he was on a white-hot roll that had been ongoing for almost a year. They took him out with a powerbomb neckbreaker combo on the commentary tables at ringside, with Orton taking a bad bump and hurting himself in doing so. Before that spot, Orton and Batista had a good fight as D-Bry was knocked out, with Batista getting backdropped on steel steps when attempting a powerbomb. With Batista down, Orton saw D-Bry regaining consciousness, so Orton attacked him to keep him down before the big double-team spot I detailed in the prior paragraph. Amazing that Batista could still go after that steel steps bump. The crowd though didn't care for obvious reasons when the heels went at it, so when D-Bry finally came back into the action, they truly woke up with excitement. Nothing would keep him down, not even doctors trying to take him away from ringside on a stretcher. They had a nice finishing sequence for the last few minutes, with Orton being knocked out of the ring. In the meantime, D-Bry got Batista in the Lebell Lock, leaving the Rumble winner with no choice but to tap out. I'd have liked a couple false finishes with that before the tapout, but I'll take it. For anyone not to see this finish coming, that's a clear indication of their lack of instinct as this was telegraphed at the end of Elimination Chamber 2014. This match was very fun with everyone working hard, ending with a moment on par with the Seahawks winning Super Bowl XLVIII for me. For fans of independent wrestling during the 2000s decade, the only more rewarding moment that could've taken place on this night would've been Punk vs. D-Bry in the main event, unifying the titles. Seeing Bryan Danielson holding both title belts to close out a landmark WrestleMania inside such a historic venue was rewarding, vindicating, and a defining reason on why I love pro wrestling despite all of its bullshit and disappointment. ***1/2 Greatest WrestleMania ever as some wondered when leaving the Superdome? Sorry - this doesn't measure up to WrestleMania X-Seven and WrestleMania XIX. Overall, it's not quite as great as I had remembered that night. But this is one to watch and remember, with a legacy that nobody could've seen coming as the show closed that night. The booking was newsworthy, some of it phenomenal, some of it head-scratching (and even maddening for those irrational) at the time, almost entirely across the board. We got a talking segment involving the Mt. Rushmore of the past quarter century, one that will never be topped. We got a tag team split we had been aching to see, complete with the ascending star getting the nod in a match paying tribute to a HOF giant. In addition, we got the Shield being displayed as unfuckable bad-asses, a critical piece of storytelling in the wake of them almost breaking up, setting the stage for a shocking, game-changing moment to come. Most importantly, we got two stars standing head-and-shoulders above everyone else for what they accomplished. Daniel Bryan, after months of oppression, and years of connecting with every audience he ever performed in front of, reached what will certainly be his career defining moment, even if he defeats the other shining star of this night at another WrestleMania. He won two main event matches to gain the top prize in the business, one of them an all-time classic in company history that more than lived up to its hype. For him personally, it doesn't get any better than the entire family being present for a moment like that, a dynamic he'll sadly never to get experience again. The other star as I just alluded to was of course Brock Lesnar, shattering a mythical element and looking to have possibly ended the Undertaker's career in addition to The Streak. It's a moment that will obviously always stand the test of time, and even though the match was lousy for understandable reasons, that moment itself makes the match must-see at least once for all fans of pro wrestling. It is this decade's version of Mick Foley being thrown off the top of the Cell. There's also an element of sadness to this show, as not only would Danielson lose a family member present at ringside shortly afterwards, as well as his well-known fan Connor the Crusher, but this would be the farewell weekend of the Ultimate Warrior. As would be said later in the week, it seemed to be fate that his final moments would be burying the hatchet and becoming more involved in celebrating his role in the legacy of WWE. These tragedies only further put forth an additional value on the show that cannot ever be properly measured in words; they remind us on such a night of pageantry and anticipation of what truly matters most, that life, love, and family are precious and not to be taken for granted. With that said, this was a hell of a way to kick off The Road to WrestleMania 31: The Good Shit, and we're gonna keep on rolling with a night of celebration in the Big Easy on the next post.

THE ROAD COMES TO AN END Raw - February 24, 2014: The Good Shit Daniel Bryan gets in Triple H's face and lays down the furious challenge to collide at WrestleMania XXX. I love HHH's amused reaction to this. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan - *** In the main event segment, out come Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman to reveal that the Authority denied the WWE Title shot demands, instead offering an open-contract for WrestleMania XXX. They refuse the offer, only for Undertaker to return after a 10 month absence and Lesnar immediately accepts in his own unique fashion, signing the contract but then shoving the pen on Taker's chest. Taker replies by stabbing his hand with the pen, signing it while still impaled, and then dropping Lesnar through the table with a chokeslam. NXT ArRival: The Good Shit Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn I loved these two's singles matches in ROH and PWG. They were some amazing spotfests, and I'm sure stand the test of time. But with years removed from those indy classics, and now under WWE guidance, they finally put on the absolutely best match they could to date here. And you know what really makes me giddy? I believe these two have a flawless masterpiece in them once Zayn debuts on the big stage. BTW, I'm sticking to my prediction that I've had for months: he debuts on the April 7, 2014 Raw in New Orleans. These two built off of their previous NXT matches AND their indy matches. When Zayn went for his through-the-ropes tornado DDT, Cesaro knew it was coming and delivered a perfectly timed European uppercut to stop his momentum. Cesaro also worked on Zayn's left leg in devastating fashion. Of course, Zayn was fucking selling that leg in this match, delivering his hope spots, and making the crowd believe he could pull off the upset. Remember, Cesaro had just beaten WWE Champion Randy Orton two weeks before this, pulling off his own upset. Imagine if Zayn had then pulled off that upset here to kinda get that rub. Highlights of this instant classic include Cesaro doing a beautiful Stretch Muffler to continue damaging Zayn's left knee, and the two of them having their signature head scissors into a full rotation sunset powerbomb spot. Cesaro won this, but in the process Zayn was truly elevated, earning his rival's respect in the process. Tremendous match that will get better and better as time goes by. ****1/2 NXT Title - Ladder Match Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville - ***1/4 SmackDown! - February 28, 2014 The only noteworthy segment is Batista going Kanye again. FUCK. YES. Raw - March 3, 2014: The Good Shit Paul Heyman comes out to CM Punk's music, trolling the Chicago crowd. He then cut one of the best promos of his career, blaming the audience for persuading Punk to end their friendship, making it seem like perhaps if they had stayed together, Punk would have never left. He then also blames the Undertaker because that's where the dissension started, and now he would get his vengeance with Brock Lesnar ending the Streak. Lesnar came out not to talk shit, but ready for a fight. Out came Mark Henry, only to get his fucking ass kicked again. Fantastic segment to kick off this highly anticipated Raw. Batista is interviewed about his main event against D-Bry, completely berrying him. KANYE FUCKING BATISTA IS BEST FOR FUCKING BUSINESS~! The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family Another wild match with an even better crowd, but this wasn't the timeless spectacle of their original. The action was definitely great, but what mattered was that the Wyatts had so badly gotten to the Shield that Ambrose & Reigns weren't in their corner when Rollins went for the hot tag, having suffered another Ricky Morton style tag team beating. Minutes later, Rollins refused to tag in and walked out on the match, watching his teammates crumble, feeling all the bit conflicted. ***1/2 Daniel Bryan comes out to the ring and demands to face HHH at WrestleMania XXX. The Authority come out and do a work-of-art troll job, being completely condescending towards D-Bry to hide their fear of facing him at the Showcase of the Immortals. What made this even better is that the heat was FUCKING NUCLEAR, and they just kept smirking and going on with their condescending jabs. Amazing segment. John Cena comes out to remind everyone that he's the measuring stick for anyone who wants to change WWE. That may sound heelish on paper, but this was a great babyface promo. Now I'm just going to list all the ***+ matches remaining for the month of March, and then touch on key angles/segments. Christian vs. Sheamus (Hardcore) - Raw 3/10 ***1/4 AJ Lee vs. Natalya Neidhart - Main Event 3/11 ***1/2 Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan (No DQ) - Raw 3/17 ***1/2 Luke Harper vs. John Cena - Raw 3/24 *** Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Real Americans - Raw 3/24 **** (PHENOMENAL tag match) The Taker vs. Lesnar build was so-so and thus disappointing, but nobody will care once they have a ****+ match in New Orleans. I'm not worried about that match at all. The Shield came back together immediately, showing that their issues could bend them, but wouldn't break them. They also turned into anti-hero babyfaces in the process. I'm definitely intrigued on what happens going forward with them, and I hope they have something better to do than their current WrestleMania XXX program next month. This was a great call to make since Reigns isn't ready yet in the ring to be on his own. Cena vs. Wyatt has been an exceptional feud, with Wyatt in his own unique way saying that Cena is a sham that is also worn down from all the years on top. Cena has REALLY been selling this, and it does so much as I'm about to detail in another WrestleMania XXX feud when someone shows that they've been gotten to. Wyatt needs to go over this Sunday. HHH vs. D-Bry has by far been the greatest feud, and become interlocked with Orton vs. Batista. The Occupy Raw segment was fantastic in D-Bry finally getting the upper hand, squeezing the Authority and bringing out their true colors. HHH in its aftermath has been amazing too, with top-notch verbal jabs thrown at both Batista and Orton. HHH vs. D-Bry being a WWE Title Shot Match is also brilliant in every facet. YES (pun not intended), D-Bry is going to have his crowning moment this weekend. But there's that small doubt in everyone's head that it won't happen. This has been a tremendous feud the past several months, much better than Punk vs. HHH would've been, and I absolutely love that HHH's past has been used to create that doubt, that his clout known by the smarks backstage is being acknowledged to add drama to this. And like Walter White, we saw just what a son of a bitch HHH truly is in his response to Occupy Raw. Orton and Batista have been phenomenal in their roles too. All three members of the former Evolution have delivered great potshots, with HHH being fed up over his "Face of the WWE" project being a disappointment, Orton trying to politic and be high-maintenance, and Batista just being a fucking asshole. All of this chaos between three pieces of shit all because someone they look down upon is simply better than them. And he will prove it at WrestleMania XXX. The Road to WrestleMania XXX: Top Ten Matches in Chronological Order (Starts with WrestleMania XXIX) Undertaker vs. CM Punk - WrestleMania XXIX ****1/4 Dean Ambrose vs. Fandango vs. Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger vs. Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow - Money in the Bank 2013 ****1/4 Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian - SmackDown! 8/9/2013 **** Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk - SummerSlam 2013 ****3/4 John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan - SummerSlam 2013 ****1/2 Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn - NXT 8/21/2013 **** Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan - Raw 12/16/2013 ****1/2 John Cena vs. Cesaro - Raw 2/17/2014 ****1/4 The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family - Elimination Chamber 2014 ****3/4 Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn - NXT ArRival ****1/2 This now concludes this project, as The Road to WrestleMania 31: The Good Shit will begin with me reviewing the entire WrestleMania XXX event.

THE STORM KEEPS BREWING Elimination Chamber 2014: The Good Shit IC Title Match Big E vs. Jack Swagger Really good opener here. Hot crowd, good pace, nice action, never got boring. ***1/2 The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family The crowd is historically hot for this match, giving it the Joe vs. Kobashi treatment. That means the fans were already expressing their pure bliss at these two juggernaut units colliding before they even laid hands on each other. What makes this such a special match is that it was probably the wildest we'll see from WWE in 2014. The past couple years, that nod has gone to Brock Lesnar's classics with John Cena and CM Punk. But this was chaotic, a true spectacle in every sense of the word. Both trios did an absolutely phenomenal job of cutting the ring in half, with Seth Rollins stepping up to play a tremendous sympathetic babyface. It was a sight to behold seeing the Shield get a true taste of their style, often succumbing to the numbers game. In particular, Rollins's delivery and timing of his hope spots legitimately reminded me of Shawn Michaels. While the Shield had come into this match with tension within their own unit, the Wyatt Family was quarterbacked by Bray Wyatt, calling the plays for Luke Harper & Erick Rowan. It was a wonderful contrast. Wyatt's disciples did a wonderful job in dominating this match. But this was no squash. The hot-headed Dean Ambrose brought his chaotic sabotaging to what the Wyatts were doing, with Roman Reigns of course getting in his power moves. As the match kept going, the crowd never died, and rallied behind the Shield even while popping for the segments in which the Wyatt Family got the upper hand. Ambrose and Wyatt brawled to the crowd, with only Wyatt returning, and then ordered his disciples to put Rollins through a table. Reigns put on a great solo performance once again, but this time couldn't capture the magic he had at Survivor Series 2013. As he went to spear Wyatt, Harper jumped in the ring and took the fall, allowing Wyatt to finish Reigns off in a beautiful example of teamwork. This match will stand the test of time. Yes, it was something meant for WrestleMania. But it happened here, and it was a work of art, a piece of magic that these two teams may never duplicate together, even though I actually sense they could do better in a gimmick match environment. This was a mixture of Chikara gimmicks with golden age ROH/PWG action, complete with WWE producers' polishing. ****3/4 WWE Title - Elimination Chamber Match Randy Orton vs. Christian vs. Sheamus vs. Cesaro vs. John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan Another excellent match for the night, and a major improvement over the prior year's Chamber match. Here's why this worked much better than the year before: Nobody gave a shit about a Jack Swagger push. Here, the fans actually gave a shit about the majority of the competitors, D-Bry in particular. Sheamus and Cesaro once again brought their throwback brutality to each other to start the match, just awesome shit. And the match just kept being engaging, the action never getting boring. Most important are the moments that lead to WrestleMania XXX though of course. The Wyatt Family took out Cena, allowing Orton to pin him (and also reinforcing Sister Abigail as a legit finisher). Kane came out and D-Bry gave him a receipt for what happened six days prior (D-Bry getting his left shoulder fucked up, needing it taped for this match.) Orton once again got another dirty win, with D-Bry yet again getting screwed. But what made this so special, and will be loved more as the years go by, isn't just how great the action was and the tremendous Twin Cities crowd it was in front of. In the post-match, Michael Cole absolutely went berzerk about D-Bry, and while Cole had of course been defending D-Bry since turning face after Jerry Lawler's heart attack in 2012, this signaled how valuable D-Bry had become in the WWE hierarchy, and it was nice for Cole to do a complete 180 in his passionate commentary when it comes to Daniel Bryan. ****

THE ROAD HITS A WINTER STORM Raw - January 27, 2014: The Good Shit The show opens with Daniel Bryan interrupting the Authority, pissed over them going out of their way to keep him from headlining WrestleMania XXX. Excellent segment for an obvious match at the Showcase of the Immortals, far more interesting than Triple H vs. CM Punk would've been. Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman interrupt a verbal confrontation between Randy Orton and Batista, demanding a title shot. Fuck Orton vs. Lesnar, but Batista vs. Lesnar has to happen at some point in the next year. WWE Title Shot Elimination Chamber Match Qualifier The Shield vs. Sheamus, John Cena, & Daniel Bryan - ***1/4 (good stuff but what matters is the Wyatt Family attacking Cena, setting him up to go through the grueling Chamber match while they also pissed off the Shield in the process by screwing them from qualifying) SmackDown! - January 31, 2014: The Good Shit After strong persuasion from the Shield, Triple H grants them the trios match everyone has been wanting: the Shield vs. the Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber 2014. The Shield vs. Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, & Rey Mysterio - ***1/2 Raw - February 3, 2014: The Good Shit The Wyatt Family cut another great on-screen promo on the Shield. Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan This is the first of a five-match series Orton has against his Elimination Chamber match opponents for being so fucking high-maintenance towards the Authority. Excellent match of course. D-Bry worked on the left leg over and over again, but Orton would damage D-Bry's right shoulder to get the heat back and gain control. Now without any help, D-Bry FINALLY gets his major non-gimmick match victory over Orton. This didn't have the crowd energy of their previous Raw match, but this was great stuff, with phenomenal storytelling and the drama building as the match progressed. **** SmackDown! - February 7, 2014: The Good Shit Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan - ***1/2 Randy Orton vs. Christian - ***1/4 Raw - February 10, 2014: The Good Shit Real Americans vs. Christian & Sheamus This was great tag team wrestling, complete with a hot crowd, cutting the ring in half to build to hot tags, and hard-hitting action between the Europeans. **** The Shield and the Wyatt Family have a standoff that has the crowd rocking. No physicality, just two established bad-ass trios in an Old West style segment to build to the collision. Randy Orton vs. John Cena Just as good as their match a couple weeks earlier, this time with a much more receptive crowd due to the crowd just seeing Daniel Bryan right before this match, so the crowd wasn't starving to hijack this match in his favor. These two have good chemistry, but I do hope this is it for them colliding in singles matches. This isn't Rock vs. Austin or Danielson vs. McGuinness. ***1/4 SmackDown! - February 14, 2014: The Good Shit The Shield vs. Christian, Sheamus, & Daniel Bryan - *** (what matters most is Christian accidentally taking the Yakuza kick from Sheamus to give the Shield the win) Randy Orton vs. Cesaro I enjoyed this WAY more on second viewing, and for good reasons. The crowd wasn't into this at first, which is understandable. Cesaro had never done anything to make the audience believe that he was on Orton's level. Cesaro did dominate early with his technical wrestling, causing Orton to ease back and regroup. Orton would gain the upper hand thanks to his veteran experience at the top and ruthless aggression, but perhaps he was looking past Cesaro, who had proven since the Kings of Wrestling reformed in 2010 that he too has some fucking ruthless aggression in him. Orton couldn't put Cesaro away, and Cesaro kept getting closer and closer to pulling off the upset. The crowd got more and more into this too as it went along, sensing they were about to see a special moment. They were going insane for the nearfalls. And what a reaction when Cesaro got his biggest career victory to boot. This was definitely a breakout match, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It's nowhere near Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin, or Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries, but it's really good and proves why SmackDown! matters. ***3/4 Raw - February 17, 2014: The Good Shit Christian vs. Daniel Bryan - ***1/4 John Cena vs. Cesaro One of my favorite Raw matches ever, and just as good on second viewing. Similar to Cena vs. Seth Rollins, this was Cena once again letting the new blood shine. However, this was better than that Rollins match. The pacing in this was phenomenal with some tremendous storytelling to go with it. Enough of the thesis, let's get to why this match is an instant classic. Cesaro dominated not with technical wrestling, but with his great conditioning, tenacity, strength, and aggression. However, Cena was outstanding with his offense too when he would get his hope spots in. The first time Cesaro went for the giant swing, Cena countered into an an attempted STF. Cesaro blocked that attempt and put himself in position to successfully drop Cena with a gut-wrench suplex. Cesaro also evaded an attempted Death Valler Driver, shoving Cena to bounce off the ropes and then lifting him for a devastating European uppercut. Later in the match, Cena went for his shitty top-rope leg-drop that is going to shorten his career, but Cesaro got up and delivered another deadly European uppercut, this one so hard that it knocked Cena to the outside of the ring. Cesaro then channeled Michael Elgin moments later and delivered an apron superlex as I like to call it. By this point the crowd was just rocking. Cena would counter Cesaro's next giant swing attempt, doing a sit-up and dropping Cesaro with a DDT. By this point the crowd knew they were witnessing something special. The match just kept becoming more visually dazzling, the drama intensifying with each minute. The third time would be the charm for Cesaro and the crowd was marking out tremendously when he got the giant swing on Cena. The audience had to sense Cesaro was going to top his peak victory over Randy Orton just the week before, but Cena managed to squeak out another victory. Outstanding match. ****1/4 SmackDown! - February 21, 2014: The Good Shit The Wyatt Family vs. Goldust, Cody Rhodes, & Rey Mysterio - ***1/2 Christian vs. Sheamus - ***1/2

THE ROAD HITS A STORMY PATH Royal Rumble 2014: The Good Shit Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan Definitely a candidate for best non-MITB opener in PPV history. D-Bry started the match dominating with his aggression and superior technical wrestling, including working on the left knee of Wyatt. After several minutes, Wyatt gained the advantage when he twisted D-Bry's left arm and slammed it on the apron. Wyatt then showed his aggressive side that we had only seen bits and pieces of, physically decimating D-Bry. However, because this is a match that features a total pro like Bryan Danielson, D-Bry would make sure to keep the crowd engaged and give them hope with his occasional strikes. Wyatt was quite unorthodox, but D-Bry was so pissed off on this night that he would regain the advantage. My favorite spot of the night is when he dropped Wyatt with a curb stomp to epitomize how livid he was after being harassed for three months by the Wyatt Family, and showing that he had not forgotten his roots on the independent scene. But with the plans for both characters going forward, Wyatt had to go over here. He didn't sell the leg down the stretch as much as I hoped, but it can be argued that enough time had gone by in this instant classic for him to heal during the match. Or maybe, just maybe, these two held back a little bit for a much bigger rematch down the line for the company's top prize should they both go on to achieve their goals at WrestleMania XXX. **** WWE Title Match Randy Orton vs. John Cena Crowd never gave this match a chance, making it clear they want D-Bry to get this position, to be the centerpiece of the promotion. But these two professionals had a good, fun match. The pacing was good and action was solid, and eventually the crowd would get into the match during the finisher fest nearfall extravaganza at the end. Orton did a great job of playing off the crowd to enhance his insecure, high-maintenance gimmick. Of course, because Randy Orton is no Daniel Bryan, he isn't quite special enough to beat John Cena clean right now. As Cena was likely about to win the title, the lights went out and the Wyatt Family appeared, with Orton taking advantage of the distraction for the pin. ***1/4 Post-match, the Wyatt Family decimates Cena and leaves him laying. The 2014 Royal Rumble Match - CM Punk's Last Match While coming nowhere near the MOTYC of the previous Royal Rumble match, this one was sure quite interesting. For someone who started the match and got to the final four, CM Punk did very little and seemed like a second-rate background character in this match. I actually wonder if that was intentional on his part and even the company's part. Just seemed too convenient to see him take a backseat and let numerous other participants shine. There were some definite fun moments in this match. Kofi Kingston had TWO dramatic escapes from near-elimination. JBL was a surprise entrant and was immediately eliminated by Roman Reigns. Sheamus returned from injury to the surprise of nobody. C'mon, Sheamus is a fucking worker like everyone else, so there was no reason to believe him when he said he wouldn't be ready for this show. I'm gonna take a separate paragraph to mention Kevin Nash's nostalgic appearance. Sure, he did nothing, but that's not my focus. WHY THE FUCK WAS HE ELIMINATED RIGHT BEFORE THE GREAT KHALI WAS THE NEXT ENTRANT SECONDS LATER? They BETTER fucking collide in the WrestleMania XXX battle royale, I want to see them lock horns in a true Showcase of the Immortals. NOLA OR BUST GOD FUCKING DAMMIT. The most featured act in the match was the Shield, with Seth Rollins starting the match, Dean Ambrose coming in several spots later, and Reigns entering in the middle of the match. They worked together as promised, but the unpredictable, egomaniacal, and hot-tempered Ambrose attempted to eliminate Reigns, which Rollins stopped and questioned. Just fed up for the moment, Reigns eliminated both as well as Cesaro. Speaking of Cesaro, he shined in this match also with numerous giant swings (that's ultimately why he's connecting with the crowd btw), particularly on Rollins. Man Cesaro vs. Rollins is gonna steal a show at some point for WWE. The last participants of note were Batista and Rey Mysterio. Batista was booed mercilessly, as the crowd sensed he was gonna be in the top spot of the year, which they viewed as belonging to D-Bry. Mysterio was #30 and the crowd became severely agitated, idiotically assuming D-Bry would somehow be in this match. Newsflash: NONE of the six individuals in the singles matches earlier on the card were advertised for this match, nor were any of them gonna participate in it. The final four came down to Batista, Reigns, Sheamus, and Punk. Punk was taken out by Kane and choke-slammed through a table. Sheamus was eliminated, leaving the Batista vs. Reigns dream collision in a battle of past vs. present. Pretty interesting little preview of what could be a $$$ match in the future, and the crowd got behind Reigns, which is a good sign for his future. There was one disjointed spot, but as Reigns improves (which he has done so well at since TLC 2012 btw) and Batista works off his ring rust, I believe these two could have quite a spectacle. Batista of course won to one of the harshest crowd reactions to close out a PPV in WWE history. ***1/4 I'll just get this out of the way now: Punk stopped working for WWE the next day, not even appearing on Raw. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. What I saw in his performances the last two months in WWE were not up to par with the standard that he set not only for the audience, but for himself. In particular, his first and to date only singles match against Seth Rollins, a legitimate dream match for fans of independent wrestling, was very sloppy and disappointing, which he noted on Twitter with a blunt "it sucked." He lost the fire in his eyes and had made it crystal-clear that he was burned out, even contemplating retirement later this year. I'm not going to speculate on any behind-the-scenes reasons on why he's not working for WWE right now. Based on how much Punk put into the business, that he hasn't made a commitment to returning or retirement, and that so many top stars have rekindled their relationships with WWE after going through some hard times, I do not believe that CM Punk is done wrestling. As time goes by, the idea that he would retire with that lackluster performance in the 2014 Royal Rumble match as his unadvertised finale does not compute to me. In the meantime, I look forward to rewatching and catching up to see how WWE's creative and the roster has stepped up in Punk's absence during such an important time for WWE.

THE ROAD HITS A STORMY PATH Royal Rumble 2014: The Good Shit Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan Definitely a candidate for best non-MITB opener in PPV history. D-Bry started the match dominating with his aggression and superior technical wrestling, including working on the left knee of Wyatt. After several minutes, Wyatt gained the advantage when he twisted D-Bry's left arm and slammed it on the apron. Wyatt then showed his aggressive side that we had only seen bits and pieces of, physically decimating D-Bry. However, because this is a match that features a total pro like Bryan Danielson, D-Bry would make sure to keep the crowd engaged and give them hope with his occasional strikes. Wyatt was quite unorthodox, but D-Bry was so pissed off on this night that he would regain the advantage. My favorite spot of the night is when he dropped Wyatt with a curb stomp to epitomize how livid he was after being harassed for three months by the Wyatt Family, and showing that he had not forgotten his roots on the independent scene. But with the plans for both characters going forward, Wyatt had to go over here. He didn't sell the leg down the stretch as much as I hoped, but it can be argued that enough time had gone by in this instant classic for him to heal during the match. Or maybe, just maybe, these two held back a little bit for a much bigger rematch down the line for the company's top prize should they both go on to achieve their goals at WrestleMania XXX. **** WWE Title Match Randy Orton vs. John Cena Crowd never gave this match a chance, making it clear they want D-Bry to get this position, to be the centerpiece of the promotion. But these two professionals had a good, fun match. The pacing was good and action was solid, and eventually the crowd would get into the match during the finisher fest nearfall extravaganza at the end. Orton did a great job of playing off the crowd to enhance his insecure, high-maintenance gimmick. Of course, because Randy Orton is no Daniel Bryan, he isn't quite special enough to beat John Cena clean right now. As Cena was likely about to win the title, the lights went out and the Wyatt Family appeared, with Orton taking advantage of the distraction for the pin. ***1/4 Post-match, the Wyatt Family decimates Cena and leaves him laying. The 2014 Royal Rumble Match - CM Punk's Last Match While coming nowhere near the MOTYC of the previous Royal Rumble match, this one was sure quite interesting. For someone who started the match and got to the final four, CM Punk did very little and seemed like a second-rate background character in this match. I actually wonder if that was intentional on his part and even the company's part. Just seemed too convenient to see him take a backseat and let numerous other participants shine. There were some definite fun moments in this match. Kofi Kingston had TWO dramatic escapes from near-elimination. JBL was a surprise entrant and was immediately eliminated by Roman Reigns. Sheamus returned from injury to the surprise of nobody. C'mon, Sheamus is a fucking worker like everyone else, so there was no reason to believe him when he said he wouldn't be ready for this show. I'm gonna take a separate paragraph to mention Kevin Nash's nostalgic appearance. Sure, he did nothing, but that's not my focus. WHY THE FUCK WAS HE ELIMINATED RIGHT BEFORE THE GREAT KHALI WAS THE NEXT ENTRANT SECONDS LATER? They BETTER fucking collide in the WrestleMania XXX battle royale, I want to see them lock horns in a true Showcase of the Immortals. NOLA OR BUST GOD FUCKING DAMMIT. The most featured act in the match was the Shield, with Seth Rollins starting the match, Dean Ambrose coming in several spots later, and Reigns entering in the middle of the match. They worked together as promised, but the unpredictable, egomaniacal, and hot-tempered Ambrose attempted to eliminate Reigns, which Rollins stopped and questioned. Just fed up for the moment, Reigns eliminated both as well as Cesaro. Speaking of Cesaro, he shined in this match also with numerous giant swings (that's ultimately why he's connecting with the crowd btw), particularly on Rollins. Man Cesaro vs. Rollins is gonna steal a show at some point for WWE. The last participants of note were Batista and Rey Mysterio. Batista was booed mercilessly, as the crowd sensed he was gonna be in the top spot of the year, which they viewed as belonging to D-Bry. Mysterio was #30 and the crowd became severely agitated, idiotically assuming D-Bry would somehow be in this match. Newsflash: NONE of the six individuals in the singles matches earlier on the card were advertised for this match, nor were any of them gonna participate in it. The final four came down to Batista, Reigns, Sheamus, and Punk. Punk was taken out by Kane and choke-slammed through a table. Sheamus was eliminated, leaving the Batista vs. Reigns dream collision in a battle of past vs. present. Pretty interesting little preview of what could be a $$$ match in the future, and the crowd got behind Reigns, which is a good sign for his future. There was one disjointed spot, but as Reigns improves (which he has done so well at since TLC 2012 btw) and Batista works off his ring rust, I believe these two could have quite a spectacle. Batista of course won to one of the harshest crowd reactions to close out a PPV in WWE history. ***1/4 I'll just get this out of the way now: Punk stopped working for WWE the next day, not even appearing on Raw. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. What I saw in his performances the last two months in WWE were not up to par with the standard that he set not only for the audience, but for himself. In particular, his first and to date only singles match against Seth Rollins, a legitimate dream match for fans of independent wrestling, was very sloppy and disappointing, which he noted on Twitter with a blunt "it sucked." He lost the fire in his eyes and had made it crystal-clear that he was burned out, even contemplating retirement later this year. I'm not going to speculate on any behind-the-scenes reasons on why he's not working for WWE right now. Based on how much Punk put into the business, that he hasn't made a commitment to returning or retirement, and that so many top stars have rekindled their relationships with WWE after going through some hard times, I do not believe that CM Punk is done wrestling. As time goes by, the idea that he would retire with that lackluster performance in the 2014 Royal Rumble match as his unadvertised finale does not compute to me. In the meantime, I look forward to rewatching and catching up to see how WWE's creative and the roster has stepped up in Punk's absence during such an important time for WWE.

THE ROAD HITS A CALM BEFORE THE STORM Raw - December 23, 2013: The Good Shit Goldust, Cody Rhodes, & Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatt Family - ***1/4 The Shield vs. Big E, John Cena, & CM Punk - *** (still can't figure out why the ref called for the DQ yet) NXT - December 25, 2013 William Regal's Last Match Cesaro vs. William Regal Very good throwback match here. Regal used his veteran experience of roughly three decades to get the upper hand early, and I particularly popped when he didn't give Cesaro a clean break, playing dirty with the ref in position not to see it. Cesaro got fucking livid after that and turned up the viciousness, showing the mean streak that made him my pick for the best North American wrestler of 2011. Another highlight became the story of the match. Cesaro had worked on Regal's left leg, so when the former King of the Ring dropped his knees with his right leg landing on Cesaro's left arm, Regal was so damaged from the work that he couldn't capitalize right away. He went to rest on the turnbuckle, and Cesaro came charging for a nasty European Uppercut, only for Regal to get his right leg up, severely hurting Cesaro's right arm. Cesaro worked the rest of the match hardly being able to use the right arm. They also had a beautiful European uppercut exchange IIRC, and the technical wrestling was superb. What kept this from being a great match was that they tried copying the finishing story of Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXVI, but this match no matter how good or anticipated couldn't tell that story and be as engaging, as indicated by the crowd's silence. Cesaro seemed to forget selling his right arm at the end too. Post-match, Cesaro shakes hands with Regal, signaling a potential babyface turn in the future. ***3/4 SmackDown! - December 27, 2013 John Cena vs. Seth Rollins This particular weekly show got to close out the year with a fucking bang. Once again, Cena was gracious enough to allow this to be the Seth Rollins Show, who came out looking like a million bucks. Rollins was masterful in DOMINATING this match. There is no way spinning this differently - he was put over in this under-appreciated gem. Everything he did was crisp, had a purpose, and kept the crowd engaged. Of course, Cena would get his hope spots in to keep this from being a tedious, drawn-out squash. But Rollins would use his quickness, ruthless aggression, and superior technique to keep Cena's offense brief. It was definitely something to behold. And while Cena squeezed out a victory in the kind of fashion that reminds me of Tom Brady, he certainly did his job in raising the stock of Rollins. I fully believe Rollins will be a main-event singles act for WWE. **** Raw - December 30, 2013: The Good Shit Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman return, with Lesnar proclaiming himself to be the #1 Contender for the WWE Title. Luke Harper vs. Daniel Bryan - ***1/2 This was to be a D-Bry vs. Wyatt Family gauntlet match, and it was good, but I'm only rating the singles match. I LOVE the idea of having a soul-crushing ending to close out 2013, as D-Bry's reasons for giving into the faction made complete sense and distinguished him from the unbreakable Cena. Very good storytelling here. SmackDown! - January 3, 2014 The Shield vs. The Usos & CM Punk - ***1/2 Raw - January 6, 2014: The Good Shit OLD SCHOOL RAW 2014~! Ric Flair starts the show for a promo and gets interrupted by Randy Orton, which leads to a tense verbal confrontation. Stating the obvious: there will NEVER be another Ric Flair. John Cena comes out to verbally put Flair over. Not a great segment on its own, but I imagine live it was a tremendous way to pump up the crowd for the night. Daniel Bryan looks completely ridiculous in his janitor outfit, although he's had much worse wardrobe choices during his time as a pro wrestler. Piper's Pit Guests: The Shield Roddy Piper just stirs shit up, saying that CM Punk already beat Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, and now it's time for Roman Reigns to step up and prove he's the best of the trio. I loved Reigns getting in Piper's face, all-business, not tolerating Piper's choice to pinch his cheek like a child. Brock Lesnar has a brief bad-ass brawl with Mark Henry, of course winning that one. Big Show then comes out and Lesnar backs down. Once Lesnar tries to ambush Big Show with a Paul Heyman distraction, Show claws his face and tosses him across the ring. Excellent segment. CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns - *** Raw - January 13, 2014 All that matters is the very end. Bray Wyatt & Daniel Bryan lost their cage match against the Usos by DQ, and Wyatt said it was time for another initiation. When he grabbed for the Sister Abigail though, D-Bry pushed him away, and the crowd went APESHIT. Once D-Bry got the upper hand and knocked out Wyatt inside the locked cage, it became thunderous. D-Bry getting rid of the janitor outfit and being in unison once again with the #YesManWagon is easily one of the greatest moments in Raw history. I don't give a shit if this was planned, moved forward earlier, etc. This was a great pro wrestling segment. Raw - January 20, 2014 The Authority break down Randy Orton, who has become whiny and way too high-maintenance during such an important time for the company. After a four year absence, BATISTA returns and directly states that he is coming for the WWE Title. Big Show and Brock Lesnar have another altercation, with Show having the advantage at every turn. Lesnar spazzes out around the ring out of frustration. Last thing of note - CM Punk looked absolutely AWFUL in the way he presented himself. He's never been a pretty boy or rocked the corporate look other than to troll the ROHbots during the Summer of Punk, so that's not what I'm getting at. Before this particular week before the Royal Rumble 2014 PPV, he had always had a fire in his eyes, carried a supreme confidence, and styled himself in a way that stood out, whether it was long hair, a mohawk, shaved head, or hair still short but just long enough to make him a sympathetic character. Now his mutton chops just looked like they needed shaved off, and his hair was a complete mess, literally looking like he had just rolled up out of bed. And now the storm comes...

CONTINUING WITH WHAT'S SIMPLY BEST FOR BUSINESS Raw - October 28, 2013: The Good Shit World Title Match John Cena vs. Damien Sandow 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 Also on this show is the continuation of an angle that I really like on paper, that being Big Show hiring David Otunga to file a lawsuit against the Authority for their crimes. Too bad I don't care about it leading to a Big Show PPV main event. Shawn Michaels comes out to apologize to Daniel Bryan, who will have none of it, completely pissed over his mentor going against everything promised throughout October. I must mention that D-Bry looks completely ridiculous here, and yes, that's a criticism. He looked like way too much of a cartoon character with the long hair, bushy beard, and temper tantrum face. HBK gets fed up and demands a handshake, no longer caring about D-Bry's future and wanting to wash his hands of what happened the night before. The handshake happens, only for D-Bry to apply the LeBell Lock on his former mentor and trainer. Really good segment, and I hope HBK agrees within the next year or so to come out of retirement for D-Bry. Lastly of note, the Wyatt Family, after having a few months of establishing their gimmicks, at last stepped into relevance by ambushing CM Punk and D-Bry at separate points on the show. SmackDown! - November 1, 2003 John Cena, Goldust, & Cody Rhodes vs. Real Americans & Damien Sandow 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 Raw - November 4, 2013: The Good Shit Randy Orton vs. Big E - *** John Cena, Goldust, & Cody Rhodes vs. Real Americans & Damien Sandow 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. **** SmackDown! - November 8, 2013 Luke Harper vs. Daniel Bryan Really good storytelling here, as D-Bry had a shoulder taped up due to the Wyatt Family attacking him viciously the week before. Harper went to work with being the monster heel, but D-Bry was excellent in wrestling an aggressive style (reminding me of Chris Benoit) to convincingly still go toe-to-toe with him, something that not many smaller wrestlers have the ability and work ethic to pull off. ***1/4 Raw - November 11, 2013 Nothing on its own really stands out as "good shit," but there are interesting things I must mention. Paul Heyman returned, temporarily being confined to a wheelchair, and cut a basic heel promo putting the blame on everyone else for his scarred relationship with CM Punk. Average promo by Heyman standards, very good by almost everyone else's standards. 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. Raw - November 18, 2013 The Shield & The Wyatt Family vs. Goldust, Cody Rhodes, The Usos, CM Punk, & Daniel Bryan 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. **** SmackDown! - November 22, 2013 Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. Real Americans - ***1/2 (probably the best of their series, WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T THESE TEAMS JUST FEUD OVER THE BELTS INSTEAD OF HAVING NON-TITLE MATCHES EVERY FUCKING WEEK?) Survivor Series 2013: The Good Shit Survivor Series Elimination Match The Shield & Real Americans vs. Goldust, Cody Rhodes, The Usos, & Rey Mysterio Really good stuff here, once it came down to Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. the world is when the shit got engaging. Sure, the early segments had fun stuff, but nothing really all that gripping. The former tag champs did a great job of getting themselves out of the hole they were in, not allowing poetic justice (no pun intended) to be handed to them on their WWE one year anniversary. Of course, Reigns would be the last team remaining on the heels, and managed to win the match all by himself, finishing the match off with a brutal looking spear on Mysterio. After talking shit to the HOFer during the match, Reigns gave Mysterio respect. This man is going to headline WrestleManias. ***1/2 CM Punk & Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan More good stuff here, as the babyfaces made sure to let the new monsters on the block look like a million bucks and give them credibility for what was to soon come. ***1/2 Raw - November 25, 2013 The only thing of note on this show was CM Punk shitting on the Authority, and then getting conveniently ambushed by the Shield almost immediately afterwards. NXT - November 27, 2013 NXT Title Shot Match Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville 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 Raw - December 9, 2013: The Good Shit THE 2013 SLAMMY AWARDS~! LIVE FROM GOD'S GIFT TO PLANET EARTH~! This is an incredibly well-paced episode that I loved being in attendance for, and just as good on the broadcast. Let's get right to it. Fandango vs. Daniel Bryan Tremendous hometown pop for D-Bry, and the home of the 12th Man was loud and proud in showing our support for him. The match isn't remarkable, but damn it is FUN, yet the broadcast version doesn't do justice to what a great time we had live. Of course D-Bry won. Dean Ambrose vs. CM Punk Much more engaging than their match the week before, this time not just following up on Punk's ribs (still healing from a vicious Roman Reigns spear done in recent weeks), but working on his left arm as well. By this point, it was clear to me even live that Punk was starting to phone it in, but his sheer talent and natural storytelling habits, as well as Ambrose busting his ass on his end, made this a good match that had the crowd excited at the end. Of note is that the Shield were showing signs of cracking as a unit during this match. ***1/4 Now the noteworthy Slammy Award segments: The Shield presented the Double-Cross of the Year, which went to Shawn Michaels for his actions at Hell in a Cell 2013. Cute speech from him about how long it took to win this particular Slammy. I don't remember my vote, but I'm sure it went to either Triple H or Mark Henry. The Shield showed signs of cracking during their presentation speech. Shawn Michaels presented the Superstar of the Year, which went to D-Bry. Great little moment of animosity between them. GET THESE FUCKING TWO TO WRESTLE EACH OTHER DAMMIT. D-Bry cuts a short speech showing his appreciation, ending it with this nice exclamation point: "GO SEAHAWKS~!" Mick Foley presented the Extreme Moment of the Year, which went to CM Punk for getting the last laugh in his feud with Paul Heyman. Man, once Brock Lesnar was out of the picture, that feud became forgettable. Punk deserved the award, but it should've been for the epic ass-kicking he took from Lesnar in Brooklyn. Bret Hart presented the Match of the Year, which went to The Rock vs. John Cena for WrestleMania XXIX. Look, that was a very good match that had the crowd engaged, and a couple nominees were great, with Punk vs. Undertaker being most deserving, but this was one lackluster ballot of choices. None of the matches in this vote even crack my top five for WWE in 2013 (although one of my top five is AFTER this show.) Championship Ascension Ceremony Everyone present in KeyArena that has ever held the WWE and/or World Title is in the ring, which is quite the cast of characters, from Bret Hart to Great Khali to Triple H to Dolph Ziggler to CM Punk to Jack Swagger (looking quite stylish in his leather jacket btw). HHH & Stephanie McMahon are the MCs, with Randy Orton and John Cena coming down to the ring. Both belts are suspended above the ring. We here in Seattle, Washington got the bandwagon started that is still going as I type up this review. We loudly and proudly hijacked this segment, chanting over and over again for D-Bry, be it his name or simply yelling "YES~!" This was different than what happened in Miami in 2012, as I was fortunate enough to attend that great episode of Raw too. That was a bunch of die-hards from around the world upset over what happened at WrestleMania XXVIII. Here in the Emerald City, we just wanted everyone to know where the WWE was on this night, and that it was time to stop pussy-footing around with D-Bry. D-Bry was great taking this all in, supposed to be a background character, but I know that this is a moment he'll never forget being a part of, and I sure as hell fucking won't. Triple H even had to acknowledge it, berrying us and D-Bry with a snide comment. Dude is a total pro, but he would quickly be outshined by the most impressive mic performance I've seen in person to date. Before I get to that, I must say this: Before Bryan Danielson retires, he NEEDS to headline WrestleMania here in Seattle. I understand that we are a bandwagon market. I understand that the weather around Easter time can be unpredictable. But it's EASY $$$ to make, and would make for an atmosphere that defines the Showcase of the Immortals. Sure, the Rock's WrestleMania XXVIII match against Cena in his hometown of Miami was unforgettable, but D-Bry would make sure it's an artistic classic, and if the event took place at the Clink, I shudder to think what the decibel level would be in a venue designed to enhance crowd noise jam-packed with rabid hometown AND global die-hards. At worst, if the weather were to cause WWE to book Safeco Field again instead, I'd be HAPPY to pay DOUBLE what I usually pay for my WM ticket to make up for the baseball stadium having significantly smaller capacity. And after the bandwagon prices that went for the most recent NFC Championship, I firmly believe many here in SEA would do the same to see their hometown favorite in such a position. Back to the segment, Cena just completely blew everyone in attendance away, acknowledging D-Bry to get the SEA audience hooked, explaining how hard our hometown guy had worked to get to where he is in the business today, whereas Orton was handed every opportunity to be great. He then said that it's time for Orton to really put up and stop being a patsy, that the upcoming unification match would define what Orton should've already been "ten years ago." Then the two of them came to blows, resulting in a pull-apart. Orton pie-faced Punk, who then went after the WWE Champion. HHH grabbed Punk and threw him off, not allowing his chosen golden boy to be touched. Punk came after HHH to deliver receipts, only to get superkicked by HBK. Then that was followed with D-Bry giving a Busaiku knee to HBK. Orton approached D-Bry to deliver an Ace Crusher, but was shoved into Steph, who collapsed from the collision. An incensed HHH then dropped Orton with a Pedigree. FUCKING FANTASTIC SEGMENT. We were going nuts in the KeyArena! Take some time out of your life to watch the 2013 Slammys, it's quite the fun, digestible viewing with a historic hijacking that had a major effect on the road to WrestleMania XXX, as well as a quality matchup, great pacing, and one of the greatest segments in Raw history. TLC 2013: The Good Shit Tag Titles - Elimination Match Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. Real Americans vs. Big Show & Rey Mysterio vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel - ***1/2 (good fun but nothing too special) World Title and WWE Title Unification - TLC Match John Cena vs. Randy Orton Good stuff here, with solid storytelling that played off of their previous matches. I really liked seeing Orton win this one fair and square, beating the actual face of the company by outsmarting him. And I also loved Cena successfully scrambling and finding a way to get back in the match while being handcuffed to the ropes. Not exactly how Walter White did it, but it showed Cena's brilliance. ***1/2 Raw - December 16, 2013: The Good Shit CM Punk comes out to call out Triple H, but gets Shawn Michaels instead. Good back-and-forth here between the two, and I can't help but wonder if HBK were willing to come out of retirement for Punk, if Punk would've stayed put on the roster. Maybe one day it will happen, but I'm not counting on it. The Shield vs. The Usos & CM Punk - *** Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan And thus I end this portion of the road to WrestleMania XXX with one of the best matches of 2013, one of the best in Raw history. The fine folks of Dallas obviously weren't spoiled enough earlier in the year with another ****1/2 best Raw match ever candidate between John Cena and CM Punk. Nope, they needed another one between the other half of the big four full-time stars of 2013. I had positive vibes coming out of this match, and now with WrestleMania XXX on the horizon, I certainly feel justified with how much I loved this match on first viewing and with a rewatch. D-Bry completely outclassed Orton in the first few minutes, reinforcing that he is better than the Authority's chosen golden boy. He went to work on Orton's back at first, which Orton sold, but they never went back to it, so it never became an important part of the story, which is fine. It wasn't devastating enough that moving on would have a negative impact on the match. D-Bry also started working on Orton's left leg, which would pay off as the match progressed. D-Bry was of course completely engaging while being on offense in this match, whether it was his top-notch submission work or crowd-popping strikes. However, Randy Orton is still Randy Orton, an 11 time WWE/World Champion, so this was certainly not gonna be a squash. He got some leverage on D-Bry, planting the former WWE Champion on his belly and then stomping on the left arm. D-Bry's selling of this was magnificent in his verbal screaming, body language, and facial expressions. However, D-Bry is one of the absolute best in the game, so he managed to keep the match interesting with his hope spots, including an attempted suicide dive. Orton however would step aside, leaving D-Bry to land on his right shoulder. This would NOT become the story of the match, but I must note that I sure hope all these suicide dives don't leave Danielson with long-term shoulder damage down the road, he seems like one of the decent human beings in the business. D-Bry would continue selling his LEFT arm that Orton had damaged earlier in the match, and Orton kept going back to work on it. But D-Bry would manage to get the upper hand, left arm be damned, using his strikes (and the crowd reaction that comes with them) to gain momentum. Perhaps my favorite moment in the match is Orton attempting a Thesz press, only for D-Bry to duck underneath Orton, grab the left leg he had been working on earlier, and lock it in a half crab! Amazing storytelling here. By this point in the finishing stretch, it became obvious that Orton wasn't gonna be able to shut the critics up on this night, and he blatantly low-blowed D-Bry for the DQ. Cena came down to ringside, only to get struck in the head with one of the title belts, leaving Orton standing over both to close out Raw. I LOVED that finish because it only made D-Bry even more of a legitimate star in the company, and I suspected that it would lead to him being the WWE Champion again shortly after this. And I'm probably right about that too. This match worked on almost every level. ****1/2

FINDING THE GEMS IN THE BACKBURNER PERIOD Raw - September 16, 2003 Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler *** Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan ***1/2 SmackDown! - September 20, 2013 The Shield vs. Daniel Bryan & The Usos ***1/2 SmackDown! - September 27, 2013 The Shield vs. Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston & Rob Van Dam *** Raw - September 30, 2013 The Shield vs. Dolph Ziggler & The Usos *** Battleground 2013 - October 6, 2013 Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes 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. **** SmackDown! - October 11, 2013 Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes ***1/4 Raw - October 14, 2013 Alberto Del Rio vs. Daniel Bryan *** Tag Titles - No DQ Match Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes 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. **** NXT - October 16, 2013 Bo Dallas vs. Sami Zayn ***1/2 (really good stuff) SmackDown! - October 18, 2013 The Shield vs. Goldust, Cody Rhodes, & Daniel Bryan ***1/2 Raw - October 21, 2013 Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan ***1/2 Also on this Raw was a contract signing involving Triple H, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, and guest ref for the Hell in a Cell 2014 main event Shawn Michaels. HBK once again promised he would do the right thing for the fans and questioned HHH's criticism of D-Bry. This is a must-see segment as part of the WrestleMania XXX buildup. SmackDown! - October 25, 2013 The Shield & Randy Orton vs. Goldust, Cody Rhodes, Big E., & Daniel Bryan ***1/4 Hell in a Cell 2013 - October 27, 2013: The Good Shit Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. The Usos vs. Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns ***3/4 (great job of incorporating the Usos' spotfest flavor into the Rhodes vs. Shield feud) Vacant WWE Title - Hell in a Cell Guest Ref - Shawn Michaels Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan This could've been an absolutely epic MOTYC, I know they had it in them. However, even with this being a $50 PPV, it was a necessary evil to make the storyline sacrifice for a much more important stage, to build to what will be the final payoff of this entire saga. HBK, albeit heat in the moment and stuck in a difficult position, went back on his word and screwed D-Bry, superkicking his former trainee and counting the pin for Orton, disgusted with himself. I think what hurt the reaction both in the arena and on feedback is that WWE has stubbornly only booked short-term programs, ending them within two months. Fortunately, WWE has proven to have a willingness to call audibles and continue programs when there is still plenty of story to tell. ***1/4

Quick star ratings up to Night of Champions 2013. Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn (2/3 Falls) - NXT 8/21/2013 **** Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian - SmackDown! 8/23/2013 *** Randy Orton vs. Christian - Raw 8/26/2013 ***1/4 Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan - Raw 8/26/2013 ***1/2 Randy Orton vs. The Miz - SmackDown! 8/30/2013 *** Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes - Raw 9/2/2013 ***1/2 Jack Swagger vs. Sami Zayn - NXT 9/4/2013 ***1/4 Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam - SmackDown! 9/6/2013 *** Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan - SmackDown! 9/6/2013 *** Randy Orton vs. Goldust - Raw 9/9/2013 *** Dean Ambrose vs. Daniel Bryan - Raw 9/9/2013 ***1/4 Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston - Main Event 9/11/2013 ***1/2 The Shield vs. Dolph Ziggler & The Usos - SmackDown! 9/13/2013 *** Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan - Night of Champions 2013 ***1/2 The match quality wasn't up to par with the incredible summer, but remained consistent. Triple H put in his bid to challenge Paul Heyman for Heel of the Year. His COO gimmick, to me being WWE's take on Walter White, was perfectly cast for him. He was absolutely perfect in this role, as was Stephanie McMahon to back him up as his cold wife. Their smugness, condescending attitude, vindictiveness, manipulation, and verbal daggers were nothing short of amazing, getting tremendous crowd heat. In this time, the Shield came back into relevance after briefly treading water, now cast as HHH's henchmen and personal security. Just absolutely perfect roles for them as they once again got to work with Daniel Bryan, being natural opponents for him. Randy Orton was also great in being an entitled, spineless bully. Also of note was Edge's participation in the go-home week. He was tremendous with his Cutting Edge segments in being completely blunt to HHH and Orton.

SEASON FINALE~! SummerSlam 2013: The Good Shit World Title Match Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian 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 No DQ, No Countout Match Brock Lesnar vs. CM Punk 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 WWE Title Match Guest Ref - Triple H John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan 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

THE ROAD HITS SOME BAD ASS SCENERY The Third and Final Act of the 2013 Summer Season Raw - July 15, 2013: The Good Shit New Raw GM Greg Maddox opens the show and out comes John Cena to a tremendous negative reaction from the Brooklyn crowd. Maddox says his first major decision is to allow Cena to choose his opponent to defend the WWE Title against at SummerSlam 2013. Out comes Randy Orton threatening to cash in his MITB contract at any moment, but then Fandango interrupts this segment. The Tri-State Area is happy to see him again, that's for sure. Fandango vs. Randy Orton This was a good match in front of as I mentioned a great crowd. Good pace, nice action, tremendous atmosphere. One of Fandango's better matches without question. *** World Title Match Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler Good Raw match from these two, not coming close to their PPV encounter. The match ended when AJ Lee prematurely rung the ring bell as vengeance for Ziggler dumping her before the match, and Del Rio gleefully taking advantage with a rollup. Poetry: it was in Brooklyn where their romance together started, and it ended here. *** CM Punk and Paul Heyman Air Their Dirty Laundry Punk comes out limping from the ladder match the night before, physically and emotionally crushed from what Heyman revealed the night before with the ambush. He cuts one of the greatest babyface promos I've ever head, and Heyman comes out to retort after several minutes. Heyman cuts a genuinely Emmy-worthy promo, detailing his own twisted perception of why he betrayed Punk. He then coldly said that Punk had no family, no other friends, no true social life, just the support of the fans and the goal to regain the WWE Title. Punk then convincingly, without once coming across as cheesy or hokey, made it very clear he would eliminate every single obstacle until Heyman is left standing, and take him out for good. Heyman said the time for talking was over. He mockingly got down, looked at his watch, and screamed its "Clobbering Time~!" He had the eyes of a killer when he looked back up at Punk and Brock Lesnar's music blasted through the speakers. Punk stood in the ring, ready for Lesnar to have a go at him, but Heyman walked around and attacked his former best friend from behind, allowing the ridiculously quick Lesnar to get a first shot. Punk however fought back immediately. Lesnar fucking manhandled Punk in this bad-ass fight, but Punk just kept fighting back. He got thrown on the commentary table, only to get back up and leap at Lesnar, who caught him and slammed him back-first in the steel ring post, then put this to an end with an F5. Heyman screamed at the fallen Punk to stay out of his personal life and then thanked Lesnar, who stood tall and proud over what he had done. This is simply one of the greatest segments in Raw history. No other segment in 2013 can touch this. Lesnar did his job perfectly of being an opportunistic bad-ass. Punk delivered the best babyface promo of his entire career, better than any of his promos on the Embassy or Generation Next. Heyman once again made me wonder why he was never cast on The Wire or Breaking Bad. He's so fucking engrossing and does the spineless sleazeball gimmick to perfection. What also made this work was Punk's appearance - he was dressed in thin MMA hoodie, t-shirt, tennis shoes, and gym shorts. Add in his basic, uncombed hair and he looked like a regular guy who who plays tennis and runs on the treadmill at the local gym. That made him a sympathetic character. Perhaps more importantly, it allowed Lesnar just with his presence to look like even more of a bad-ass, and then the two of them delivered a jaw-dropping brawl, one that felt real. THIS is why so many fans can't fathom that CM Punk is done with wrestling. Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam 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. John Cena's SummerSlam 2013 Decision With every member of the roster on stage (except for Punk and Lesnar for obvious reasons), Cena comes out and says the fans will help him choose the opponent. He goes through a list of candidates, from Jericho to Orton to Del Rio to Ryback to Jinder Mahal. After several entertaining minutes in which the crowd is LOUDLY chanting "YES~!" and "DANIEL BRYAN~!," but D-Bry never once being acknowledged or even visible on stage, Cena says he has made his decision. He has chosen the best opponent possible, and that it is indeed Daniel Bryan. MASSIVE FUCKING POP FROM BROOKLYN as D-Bry appeared from hiding behind taller guys and jogged in Yes style to the ring, getting in Cena's face to do his Yes pose in excitement. Fantastic segment. Raw - July 22, 2013: The Good Shit Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus Very good match, the best these two have had together to date. Sheamus had a visible bruise on his left leg from that awful landing he took in the MITB main event. Del Rio mercilessly went after that leg, and IIRC also worked on a damaged shoulder to set up the arm bar. Sheamus was great in using his power to create hope spots for himself, keeping the crowd engaged. Not a bad way for Sheamus to go out before he took time off for his injuries. ***3/4 CM Punk in-ring promo Punk cuts another great babyface promo that gets interrupted by Heyman via satellite. Punk lays down the challenge to Brock Lesnar for SummerSlam 2013, to which Heyman gladly accepts. Punk also pitched the moniker of the "The Best vs. The Beast," which Heyman laughed at, because his best friend, the Beast Incarnate, is the best. This wasn't gonna touch the Brooklyn segment, but that's like saying a match isn't great because it wasn't Danielson vs. KENTA. Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan 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. **** Raw - July 29, 2013 Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian Good match out of these two, with tremendous storytelling. Del Rio was vicious, and Christian was great with his selling to play off of that. Of course, Christian had a bad left shoulder which Del Rio worked on for his cross arm-breaker. He managed to get it locked on numerous times, but the veteran Christian kept finding ways to reach the ropes. The finish came when Christian once again showed his great veteran experience when he turns an attempted cross armbreaker into a modified cradle for the victory. ***1/2 SmackDown! – August 2, 2013: The Good Shit Fandango vs. CM Punk Another good showing from Fandango, with good action to showcase him. But Punk was destined to win this with his important match upcoming against Lesnar. *** World Title Shot Match Christian vs. Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam Good action here, constant action that never stopped. Never once got dull, which is so critical to making these matches work. The obvious highlight was RVD going for the Rolling Thunder on Orton, but the Viper sprung up, caught him, and turned into a picture-perfect powerslam. Christian got the win here, which was smart booking after defeating Del Rio earlier in the week. ***1/4 Raw – August 5, 2013 I catch the end of the Curtis Axel vs. CM Punk match for the obvious reason. Punk went after Paul Heyman and out came Brock Lesnar to have another fantastic brawl. While not as great as their first brawl in Brooklyn, this was still outstanding chaotic shit with Lesnar once again getting the last laugh. Afterwards, Team Heyman gets promo time and Lesnar mocks Punk for proclaiming himself to be the best in the world. He then tells Heyman to “say something stupid.” Heyman lays down a challenge to Punk, for them to fight one-on-one next week on Raw. SmackDown! – August 9, 2013: The Good Shit Randy Orton vs. Rob Van Dam Another good match here, fun action, kept the crowd engaged, nothing truly special, but wasn’t meant to be. Of course Orton got the win to keep him strong since he’s higher priority as the more important MITB winner. *** Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian 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. **** Post-match, Del Rio tries to attack Christian, who counters and drops him with the Unprettier. Out comes Damien Sandow to cash in his MITB, but his newfound arch nemesis Cody Rhodes comes out to sabotage that cash-in. What a fucking dipshit that cost himself a great opportunity. Sandow wins the World Title and then Cody likely would’ve gotten a title shot since they were scheduled to face each other at SummerSlam 2013. It probably would’ve been a threeway or fourway, but it’s still a chance to win the World Title and get it from Sandow as retribution for what happened at Money in the Bank 2013. Raw – August 12, 2013: The Good Shit MizTV Guests: John Cena and Daniel Bryan Awesome segment here, with both men verbally taking Miz out of the equation when tries to stir the pot. D-Bry says he doesn’t care for Cena representing sports-entertainment. Cena then goes into great detail that he’s just as much of a wrestler as D-Bry, and it’s about connecting with the crowd. He then says that D-Bry should be proud of every accomplishment, but has to keep it into perspective, to not rest on his resume going into SummerSlam 2013. D-Bry then questions Cena’s supposed lack of respect for him, because Cena listed off numerous HOFers. Cena then retorts with saying that respect isn’t given, it has to be earned, and it’sll be D-Bry’s time to earn it at SummerSlam 2013. Around this time I couldn’t help but notice Miz leaned against the ropes in the background. This is definitely the best MizTV segment to date, even better than the one that was interrupted by Brock Lesnar several months prior to this. He had a look on his face that he knew he had the best seat in the house because this was some fucking amazing television. Anyway, D-Bry mentions that during his time in Japan, he was introduced to a cultural habit in which opponents would smack the hell out of each other at the beginning of a match as a sign of respect. He then says that Cena won’t get to experience that slap because he doesn’t respect him. At this point, Cena was ready to just throw down, but Triple H, announced as the guest ref, came down to calm everything down. The segment ends with Randy Orton appearing on the stage, reminding everyone that he is lying in wait to cash his MITB briefcase in whenever he sees fit. This segment worked on every level. The show closes with Paul Heyman coming out for his fight against CM Punk, but shows his hand before Punk even comes out, admitting that it was a trap and Lesnar comes out. After several minutes of Heyman just brainlessly talking shit, he finally calls out Punk and they look towards the entrance. Punk shows up from the crowd, grabs a camera and smacks Lesnar with it. He didn’t get his hands on Heyman, but he finally got the upper hand on the former UFC World Heavyweight Champion. Great go-home segment. It’s always great to have one match with tremendous build, but it’s so rare for WWE to have TWO main event matches with builds that are firing on all cylinders. SmackDown! – August 16, 2013 The only noteworthy thing is the very end. Triple H is the guest ref for Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan, and Vince McMahon comes down to ringside to try to screw D-Bry. The story has been that Vince McMahon doesn’t see a main-event player in D-Bry, constantly burying him and trying to make him change to fit his preferred mold. Triple H has no problem with D-Bry, seeing all the positives in him just like the crowd does. When D-Bry wins and does his Yes pose towards Vince, HHH is doing it also and it just looks surreal. Wow. The summer of 2013 is going to be remembered for years to come. The match quality as well as the storylines for Cena vs. D-Bry and Lesnar vs. Punk will stand the test of time, and I hope fans take the time to revisit this like I’ve done. I cannot wait to watch the good shit from SummerSlam 2013, which I consider to be the season finale of this amazing, amazing stretch. I recently revisited ROH in the summer of 2005, which was the acclaimed Summer of Punk. WWE's stretch throughout summer 2013 to me was overall even better. Highly encourage everyone to watch both periods to compare them.