WWF Ongoing Thread

[khawk20]

Maple Leaf Wrestling certainly had it's fair share of weird matchups. From a May 1986 ep I watched last night, there was a Paul Orndorff & Scott McGhee vs. Don Muraco & Moondog Spot match, plus a tag team comprised of Ted Arcidi and King Tonga, and Adrian Adonis on colour commentary fawning all over Jake Roberts and his snake, try to get Jake to bring his snake over to the table so he could pet it.

 

A show full of truly "WTF" moments.

[ohtani's jacket]

The British Bulldogs vs. The Moondogs, 7/12/86

The British Bulldogs vs. The Moondogs, 9/7/86

 

The Bulldogs continue their fun Brit invasion (or should that be Brit-cum-Calgary-cum-Japan invasion?) One of these matches was a really fun TV bout. I want to say it was the July match but it's been so long since I watched these. Not sure where the Bulldogs bad rep comes from? Is it because those Bulldogs/Hart Foundation matches aren't like Midnight Express/R 'n R Express matches?

 

The Dream Team vs. US Express, Philadelphia 8/24/85

The Dream Team vs. US Express, Boston 11/9/85

Mike Rotundo vs. Greg Valentine, Philadelphia 12/7/85

The Dream Team vs. US Express, Philadelphia 1/10/87

The Dream Team vs. US Express, Toronto 1/11/87

 

The tag title switch between these sides is well worth watching. It's an actual "proper" tag match with face in peril rather than heel in peril and while the finish doesn't entirely work visually it was a novel concept. Some of the Valentine/Rotundo exchanges in the Spivey version of the US Express inspired me to check out their singles match, but it was the usual bust. The matches from '87 were boring as shit.

 

The Killer Bees vs. Hart Foundation, Boston 2/8/86

The Killer Bees vs. Hart Foundation, MSG 2/17/86

 

These were excruciatingly boring. The Hart Foundation had some good offense and Bret took an insane bump in one of the matches, but the Killer Bees had all the charisma of a dead bee hive and the matches had no excitement to them whatsoever. They fought a million times, but this time I'm steering clear.

[cm funk]

Goldberg vs The Rock -- 4/27/03, Backlash

 

I had this crazy idea this morning to watch the Goldberg 2003 PPV matches. To that end, I cue'd up 7 matches (including a RAW match with Michaels). This one was the first. And the last. I just don't see how I could take any more, especially when some of the later ones have HHH. I am already tapping out.

 

This match may just as well be the greatest performance of The Rock's career. It's easily better than the carryjob DDP did at Havoc 1998 because in that match, Goldberg actually wrestled. In this one, Rock basically comes into the ring and dances around the hat-rack that is Goldberg for 15+ minutes. And the crowd loves it. If I went back and watched, I'll bet I would count 8 moves from Goldberg, all of which The Rock sells like death. He prances around, stooges, plays to the crowd -- it just might be the greatest single wrestler performance since Graham Chapman wrestled himself.

 

The crowd is torn, too. Rock tries so hard to come across as an opponent-burying bitch-face in his prematch interview with Teri. By the end, he even cracks himself up, and the crowd has fallen in love with him all over again -- to the point that there are no Goldbeerrrrrrrrgggggg chants when Goldberg enters. (there are later, but that's when the crowd has calmed down from loving Rocky.)

 

I have never seen anyone cover up a main event wrestler's limitations the way Rock does here. I don't know that Jericho, Michaels, Hunter, or Kane are up to the task. Unless you guys tell me those matches are must-see, I have to pass.

The problem with Rock's "great performance" is that he completely steals the spotlight with his overacting, so what was supposed to be Goldberg's huge debut match become The Rock Show. This is a match I liked live due to how entertaining Rock was, and on repeat viewing really grew to hate it.

 

I actually think it's way worse than Michaels' bumping in the Hogan match, which never bothered me because it was an old immobile Hogan doing nostalgia, versus Goldberg who was still phyically a monster and brought in to theoretically be the top face in the company. Rock's performance didn't work in the context of a Goldberg match the way Shawn's did in the context of a Hogan match.

 

Check out the match the next month with Chris Jericho for an example of a guy "dancing around a hat rack" and making his opponent look like a million bucks, without stooging so much that it overtakes the match. Goldberg comes out of that looking way better.

[flyonthewall2983]

Anyone here seen Rick Rude vs. Hogan from Boston Garden 1/9/88? After watching this match it's not a surprise to me that Hogan never wanted to work with Rude. Rude gives him a really nasty chairshot, hitting him with a half open wooden chair with the front part of the chair hitting Hogan right on top of the head. Really ugly looking.

In Flair's book, he said Hogan compared him to the Tazmanian Devil from the WB cartoons.

[Kevin Ridge]

Was watching Bruno vs Killer Kowalski from 1974 on WWE Championship DVD. Kowalski bloodies up Bruno and really takes it to him. Every time he climbs to the top rope the crowd get really anxious. Finally Bruno has enough and just goes off on Kowalski. I was pretty taken back by the nuclear crowd heat on this comeback. It's just punch and kick but the MSG crowd goes nuts. We are past the time where crowds will react like this.

[FLIK]

. I was pretty taken back by the nuclear crowd heat on this comeback. It's just punch and kick but the MSG crowd goes nuts. We are past the time where crowds will react like this.

Naw, I think it's still possible. There'll never not be a time when fans won't pop for a dude they love punching a mother fucker they hate right square in the face

[anarchistxx]

The PPV match Goldberg had with Jericho later on in 2003 is more interesting and smartly worked than the match with The Rock, if maybe less entertaining on a casual level. There is some good work around Goldberg's shoulder, a fairly unique barricade bump and while Goldberg comes out of it looking a monster, Jericho is reasonably protected as well.

 

Not seen it for a good seven years but it sticks in the mind. Other than that, it's probably a safe bet to avoid all other Goldberg PPV matches from 2003/2004, the endless ones with Trips are especially terrible.

[Kronos]

I shouldn't wonder if The Rock in 2003 was incapable of doing anything but making the crowd love him? He tried to be a dick, as I said, and somewhere along the match realized it wasn't working. So he started overdoing it a bit. You guys are right that Goldberg doesn't come out of the match looking GREAT, but short of a squash match -- which would never have gone over with Rocky -- what else could they have done? You could blame Rocky for not managing the crowd, but I think he tried to do so. He would have had to kill a kitten and smack a little girl around, and even then it's possible the crowd would have come over to his side and started believing in kitten and child abuse.

 

I'll look into that Jericho match you guys mention. I should have know that when Jericho is on, he's been one of the smarter WWF workers. And he didn't have Rock's star power to fight against in terms of managing a crowd.

[RWOOD]

I watch too much WWF/E and I want to talk about it but my girlfriend isnt interested so Im gonna use this thread to post about random full shows. If anyone thinks it might get too crowded and I should start my own thread, just let me know. Hopefully these can be used as reference for ... something.

 

RAW MONDAY NIGHT MAY FIFTH 2005

 

I saw most of this show on TV if I recall but haven't seen it since. I suppose it is one of the more memorable shows from this era as Hogan returned to team with Michaels the night before at Backlash and there were a few good matches.

 

Batista is wearing a real nice suit as World Champion and hanging out with the now TNA ring announcer. I think he is a face but his flirtations dont make it seem so. I was a very casual fan at this point and remember thinking Dave was no good at all. This is no good at all. 2010 leather vest Batista is a lot better. Anyway, Bischoff books an eight man tournament to decide the number one contender even though Triple H lost last night in a screwy finish. Good. H will be in the tournament. Great.

 

Kane chokeslams Christian and goes to the second round of the tournament in a watchable contest. Lita is happily with Kane while walking on a crutch, I remember an odd pregnancy and some baby punting but I dont recall these two being friendly. The new girl Eva Marie resembles Lita more than Brie Bella or whatever, by the way.

 

"You-lost-the-match-kid-so-take-it-from-the-naich-the-winner-of-this-tournament-will-be-Triple-H. Whoo." Ric Flair is so silly at this point but I will never not like him. He said this to Christian and apparently was not impressed with his rapping the night before.

 

Muhammad Hassan was the best heel. He cuts an amazing promo, gets the heat, gets excluded from the tournament. I will always be a little uspet that this got canned due to right wing values. Terrorism angles and war exploitation don't bother me and this is great commentary on the state America and the world was in at the time. So much heat and a really good suit. Hassan blames his loss to Hogan and Michaels on Duvari, beats him, spits on him and leaves the ring. The best heel. So great.

 

Viscera hits on Lillian Garcia and Simon Dean does something. I have no idea what is going on. They have a match I skipped. I guess Vis had a good match with Kane at Backlash. Big Vis is back on the black market, grabs Lilian's ass. What?

 

Triple H growls about losing. I do not like Triple H. It is real telling that he had to marry into the family to maintain his success as a professional wrestler. Anyway.

 

Shawn Michaels vs. Sheton Benjamin is a much talked about contest, I guess. It is easily Sheltons best Ive seen and maybe in Michaels top thirty. Someone else could probably elaborate on that for me. Decent chain wrestling to start with Michaels displaying himself as a frustrated veteran. Nearfalls during the headlocks, stiff shoulderblocks, Steamboat armdrags from Benjamin, all the makings of a good WWE match. The one wrestler on the outside and we roll on trope proves true and we come back from break with a suplex off the top. The crowd is hot for the match so I assume the action was great during the break. Really good back and forth action, but men hit flying forearms. I really like the pace of this match. A crisp sunset flip exchange leads to more back and forth stuff. Shelton blocks the chin music and nails a nice spinning heel kick, goes for a superplex but is thwarted and Michaels hits the elbow. Michaels telegraphs the sweet chin music but misses as usual and then Benjamin hits his side kick or whatever. Nearfall. Shelton his a nice springboard closeline and gets another nearfall. Shelton springboars off the top rope and falls right into the sweet chin music. Outta nowhere, or somewhere, depending on where you are. The match is something to write home about after all these years but you guys might be more interested. I remember making a bit watching this live. Good stuff.

 

Edge cuts an okay promo about hitting Chris Benoit in the head with a brick. Anyway, Edge is in the tournament even though he is Mr. Money in the Bank. Josh Grisham mentions he might be drafted to Smackdown rendering his title shot useless. Edge looks at Lita. Oou.

 

Rosey and Hurricane are tag team champions. How long did this Hurricane thing go on for? Whats up with that? Anyway, they wrestle the French team. I liked it better when Conway (?) wrestled with Kento Suzuki. I was cooking dinner during this match.

 

Edge wrestles Jericho in another watchable contest though the crowd seems to be chanting boring a lot. Its a short match and the wrestling is okay. I try not to be too negative about things but Edge really is mediocre looking back. I remember wanting to like him during any given run of his. Im Canadian and I suppose I can't help it. I'll point out that they also wrestled a match for the World title at some Wrestlemania and it was better than this. Best spot of the match is when Jericho jokingly steps on Edge a few times during a criss-cross. Edge goes over when he posts himself on a spear attempt and then breaks the walls of Jericho and moves to the outside leading to a funny looking dropkick off the top (not quite missile) and gets a nearfall. He regroups with his safe-for-the-grandma spear and gets a semi clean win. Edge wrestles Michaels in round two.

 

They wish the Rock a happy birthday, almost recalling a loser friend trying to suck up to a fella who gives them a pity hang out once a month. A guy from Boston doesnt break the master lock. Chris Masters, another okay heel that went nowhere for reasons Ill figure out eventually.

 

Triple H wrestles Benoit in the main event. I'm sure its been talked about to death but I was unaware that Benoits actual gimmick in 2005 was an actual concussed madman. No wonder so many people were fucking offended when all that stuff happened. Anyway, from the looks of it this is a match where H potatoes Benoit. When they go to break on their one man on the outside trope again Benoit is making the kind of face that seems normal given what we know now, I guess. It is actually frightening to the point where I almost turn off the TV. We come back from break and Benoit is still making the damn face. He is obviously hurt and suffering a damn concussion. They talk about how doctors checked on him during the break but decided he should continue. They talk about the brick hit last night. JR says Benoit might be concussed. H hits a knee to the back of the head. Benoit is glazed over. "Hell no Benoit wont quit." Chop, chop, sleeper hold applied by H. Benoit is still looking crazy. "It doesnt take a PhD to figure out this guy is hurt and hurt badly." Benoit goes head first into the turnbuckle. Slow pace standing back up, Benoit needs the ropes. Side suplex from Benoit, H protects his head. Thats nice. Elbow directly to the back of the head by H, Benoit counters the pedigree, nails three suplexes, avoids landing on his head and then delivers the headbutt and gets a two count. Whats the point? Benoit is doing the convulsion sell. After Flair interference, H clocks Benoit in the back of the fucking head again and then kicks him in the balls or something. Beatdown... Batista makes the save while the referre is down. Spinebuster on Triple H, Batista cheers on Benoit instead of placing him for the cover. What a jerk. Triple H taps out to the sharpshooter after Batista prevents him from reaching the ropes. Great, I guess. Watching this was weird and scary but interesting in a retrospective kind of way. As someone who wasnt the biggest fan of Benoit anyway (What?) its no skin off my back to see stuff like this emotionally I suppose though I will probably have some kind of nightmare. I dont know if it was all selling at the time but its not fun to watch now and I dont know if it was then because I dont remember liking this kind of stuff at all.

 

(Aside: If talking about Benoit like this offends anyone just say the word and Ill drop it in general. Personal opinions differ and its a touchy subject but I think discussing it in the manner I did within the confines of a match talk in is acceptable. If I am way off, please dont hesitate to let me know. I am here to talk wrestling not start fights and whatnot.)

 

Realized two things while watching this. Benoits gimmick was a concussed madman. What? Benoit was really over during this time. I never realized either of these things. I already knew Triple H was a jerk who never put anyone over clean so whatever.

 

This was a really good episode of RAW. I like WWE. Recommend something. I pretty much already have anything between 1983 and 2007 and I dont know if I have the heart to watch anything continual so do your worst.

 

Cheers.

[rzombie1988]

I liked early Edge and his main run as the Rated-R Superstar, but little else. I always thought he was overrated as a worker.

 

Viscera's run as the World's Largest Love Machine started with him hitting on Lillian IIRC. It gets worse as he started dry humping opponents during matches.

 

The Hurricane/Rosey team lasted a while, but I don't really know why. It wasn't a highpoint for the WWE tag team division.

 

The HBK/Shelton match was definitely Shelton's best match ever, maybe minus an Evolution tag.

[Dylan Waco]

Rey had a better match with Shelton than Shawn did. Also IIRC Eddie/Tajiri v. WGTT was a good bit better

[Jimmy Redman]

I really like the (first) Shelton vs Hunter "upset" match on Raw quite a bit. It's one of the more tolerable Hunter performances I've seen, and it was one of the few times that Shelton looked like the future star he was always supposed to be.

 

And I think WGTT vs Rey and Kidman was the best WGTT match.

[Kronos]

Jarrett vs Michaels, IYH 2 (July 23, 1995)

 

I have seen this match before, but it's been awhile. What strikes me on this viewing is just how sloppy and in a hurry Michaels is throughout almost the entire match. Most of his offense is ugly - especially that overhand punch which he uses over and over. Plus, he takes some really dangerous looking bumps that strike me as terribly unwise. No wonder the dude had back problems. He does sell Jarrett's offense well, of course. But I never felt he was an underdog, really, and he was only in peril from his own stupid MOOVEZ.

 

Jarrett, otoh, was wicked entertaining - despite his ridiculous ring gear. He stooges and stalls at all the right moments, sells HBK's offense, and throws some great spots. In a lot of ways, this match feels like Old School vs New Style, and JJ works a much better match for me.

 

Gotta give props to Road Dogg, too. He does exactly what a heel manager/valet/bodyguard should do.

 

Michaels pisses me off in this match. But it's a lot of fun to watch across the board.

[Marty]

Pontiac Silverdome today:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2883205/Haunting-new-photos-Michigan-s-abandoned-Silverdome-reveal-one-country-s-famous-stadiums-just-shell-left-rot.html

 

 

[iamthedoctor]

There was a HIP stretch in most of the Dream Team matches where Beefcake would eat a bunch of offense usually from Davey Boy Smith, but I think it was supposed to convey how close the Bulldogs were to winning the titles before the inevitable schmozz. That and the fact they had some pretty state of the art offense for 1985/86 WWF and tended to overload their matches at times. The thing I couldn't figure out is why they were so bad at entering the ring to prevent a pinfall or to stop one of the Dream Team from attacking their partner. So many times they'd stay on the apron. I don't know what the later Bulldogs were like, but in '85/86 they were billed as aerial exponent and these exciting young guys with arsenals at the cutting edge of pro-wrestling and I thought they delivered that with their offense. I had never seen that Monty Python skit before. Nice parody of WoS and a good Walton impersonation.

 

Speaking of the Bulldogs why did they never get a second run with the titles?

 

So many times you hear about how a former champion would get another run with a championship but for Davey & Dynamite once they dropped the belts to the Harts they got pushed out of contention apart from a odd overseas feud with demolition. When I didnt know much about the history of WWE I figured the Bulldogs would beat the Harts and take back the straps given how popular they were.

[kewf1988]

I really like the (first) Shelton vs Hunter "upset" match on Raw quite a bit. It's one of the more tolerable Hunter performances I've seen, and it was one of the few times that Shelton looked like the future star he was always supposed to be. And I think WGTT vs Rey and Kidman was the best WGTT match.

 

Shelton vs. HBK was another, and even though he lost that match, he looked like he could hang with Michaels... he had a lot of momentum until he lost the IC title to Carlito in his first Raw match, as a result of being booked to his strengths and getting a lot of wins over top midcarders (Edge, Christian, Jericho), while rarely getting pinned. The second half of 2005 where he was losing to Carlito, Masters, Snitsky, Conway, and Trevor Murdoch and feuding with Kerwin White (his only win during this period I think) really destroyed his potential and he never got that momentum back during any of his later pushes (2006 heel run, the Gold Standard in 2008-2009). Speaking of the Shelton/HHH match, here are some reviews of Raw episodes from this period, which is probably Raw's best run since the first brand split:

 

3/29/04 Raw

 

Opening segment: Pretty good Orton promo which led to a tag match being made for the top of the hour.

 

Nidia vs. Molly Holly: Decent enough match, despite it solely being a vehicle to introduce Nidia and have another wig spot with Molly. Nidia wins.

 

HHH segment: Meh... he attacks Hurricane and cuts a promo.

 

Rhyno vs. Lance Storm: A complete squash as Storm turns heel in his prematch promo, while Rhyno turns face by interrupting the promo. This was Storm's last Raw match and his first match on Raw since the Raw before Armageddon...

 

Batista/Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels/Chris Benoit: Very good tag match, which would become a staple of Raw the next few months.

 

Tajiri vs. Kane: Very meh, with Tajiri winning by DQ. Tajiri turned face in a backstage segment earlier in the night when La Resistance and Garrison Cade "initiated" Tajiri by having him mist the next person who came in the locker room, which happened to be Coach, thus making this match when Coach complained to Bischoff about it.

 

Shelton Benjamin vs. HHH: Great match and great surprise win for Shelton. Shelton turned face after HHH assaulted him backstage.

 

A decent show, despite being nothing memorable outside of Shelton's win over HHH. At least they're showing signs of pushing new talent, which Raw didn't do the last two years.

 

4/5/04 Raw

 

Opening segment: Pretty good as it made a Shelton/HHH rematch for later.

 

Chris Benoit vs. Rob Conway: Solid match, despite it being filler.

 

Chris Jericho vs. Matt Hardy: Solid match.

 

Foley promo: Great promo as it made Foley vs. Orton for Backlash.

 

Shelton Benjamin vs. HHH: Very good match, though not as good as last week as this was to get HHH his heat back.

 

Women's title #1 contendership battle royal: Most of it happened during a commercial break and Lita wins, making a face vs. face women's title match for Backlash (Victoria only appeared on Raw once between WM and Backlash, in the Raw after WM).

 

Tajiri vs. Christian: Solid match.

 

Kane vs. Rhyno: Rhyno gets squashed after Kane kicks out of the Gore, and Edge comes out immediately after the pin.

 

Final segment: Pretty good as it made next week's main event.

 

Good show. There was still a fair share of filler but this was a stronger effort than last week as it built towards the PPV very well and the matches were good.

4/12/04 Raw

 

Opening segment: Really good build towards the main event and Foley/Orton.

 

Kane vs. Grandmaster Sexay: Squash.

 

Tajiri vs. "5 star ninja": Another squash and the ninja was revealed to be Al Snow afterwards. What was the point of this Coach/Tajiri feud anyway, since it put COACH over in the end? That didn't make sense, though Tajiri got a mini main event push after that loss.

 

Highlight Reel: Pretty good build towards Jericho vs. Christian/Trish at Backlash.

 

Trish Stratus vs. Lita: Another nothing match with Lita winning by DQ in a short match.

 

Hurricane vs. Sylvain Grenier: ANOTHER filler match, with Hurricane winning because Eugene came to the ring.

 

Chris Benoit/Mick Foley/Shawn Michaels/Shelton Benjamin vs. Evolution: Great main event match.

 

The stuff involving the main eventers clearly overshadows the rest of the show, which was filler for the most part.

 

4/19/04 Raw

 

Chris Jericho vs. Christian: Very good opening match.

 

Benoit/Michaels segment: Very good and made a match between the two for the title in two weeks. Great long term booking.

 

Victoria vs. Molly Holly: Decent match until Molly gets DQ'ed, which presumably continues the feud.

 

Orton/Edge promo: Pretty good promo exchange that made the main event.

 

Garrison Cade vs. Tajiri: Filler but it was good filler, as the match was good though Tajiri lost, despite rubbing shoulders with the main eventers the next few weeks while Cade wrestles on Heat for the next four weeks, which isn't the way to get him over at all.

 

Val Venis/Lita vs. Matt Hardy/Gail Kim: No match as Lita is Kane's sacrifice as Kane chokeslams Val before stalking Lita in the ring, before Matt turns face and saves Lita.

 

Edge/Chris Benoit vs. Batista/Ric Flair: Great main event match, with the faces winning to make Benoit a double champion.

 

Good show. I can’t say anything really sucked about this episode at all.

 

4/26/04 Raw

 

Lita/Victoria vs. Gail Kim/Molly Holly: Solid opening match, with the faces winning and Kane once again going after Lita after Molly attacks after the match.

 

Tajiri/Coach/HHH segment: Pretty good as it made Tajiri/HHH for later, as HHH low blowed Tajiri after Tajiri wanted a rematch with Coach. Tajiri never got revenge on the Coach until Vengeance in July.

 

Rob Conway vs. Rhyno: Decent match, though overshadowed by Eugene playing with the pyro and distracting Conway, leading to the Rhyno win.

 

Christian vs. Grandmaster Sexay: Decent at best as it still felt like complete filler as the result was never in doubt.

 

Tajiri vs. HHH: Good match actually as it was well-worked and put Tajiri over well, despite losing.

 

Kane vs. Matt Hardy: No match as this was all angle.

 

Orton segment: Really good segment with Orton spitting in the face of Harley Race until Shelton Benjamin attacks, creating the next IC title feud.

 

Batista/Ric Flair vs. Edge/Chris Benoit: Great match with the faces retaining the tag titles.

 

Another good show. Lots of good wrestling and the pushing of new stars continued.

 

5/3/04 Raw

 

Shelton Benjamin/Tajiri/Edge vs. Evolution: Very good opening match.

 

Hurricane vs. Rob Conway: Not bad, despite it being filler to give Conway a win before he faces Eugene next week.

 

Kane vs. Steven Richards: Squash...

 

Highlight Reel: This was okay... it just advanced the Kane/Matt/Lita stuff, which would inevitably become a pregnancy angle, and then an abortion angle when Snitsky got involved.

 

Gail Kim vs. Victoria: Gail's best match in WWE at this point, despite poor timing at the end bumping for Victoria's punches before they connected. She wins clean, which should make her #1 contender for the women's title.

 

Eugene training video: This was a very good segment that put over Eugene very well as a comedy character and continued the slow build to Regal's face turn.

 

Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels: Very good main event, with Benoit getting his win back from the February 16 Raw...

 

Overall, a very good show. Only the Kane squash and the angle surrounding it was bad.

 

5/10/04 Raw

 

Shelton Benjamin vs. HHH: Very good... not as good as it was a couple months ago but it’s hard to be as good as the original.

 

Batista vs. Tajiri: Very good as Tajiri got in a lot of offense and Batista still looked like a monster. Why don't they do these types of matches like that anymore?

 

Women's segment: I thought it would be just pointless rubbish but it ended up making a 6 woman tag later in the show when Gail and Molly interrupted Stacy and the face women and Jazz came out.

 

Edge vs. Randy Orton: Pretty good match.

 

Stacy Keibler/Victoria/Nidia vs. Gail Kim/Molly Holly/Jazz: Pretty good tag match with Gail once again making Victoria tap out.

 

Matt Hardy vs. Val Venis: No match, just an angle advancing the Kane/Matt angle.

 

Eugene vs. Rob Conway: Eugene proved that he is a good wrestler but the match was just decent as it was pretty short.

 

Chris Jericho vs. Christian: Great main event once again, with Jericho winning in the cage and writing off Christian till after Summerslam as he was injured.

 

Another really good show although no Benoit was quite stupid... leaving your champion off the show altogether is never a good thing.

 

5/17/04 Raw

 

Lita vs. Trish Stratus: This wasn't a very good match as it was rushed and pretty sloppy too.

 

Orton/Benjamin promo: Pretty good and it made a match between the two next week...

 

Kane vs. Val Venis: Squash match and Kane and Matt brawl afterward.

 

Edge/Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton/Batista: Very good match.

 

Eugene segment: Very good comedy... "Who's your favorite wrestler?" "HHH!". Though this planted the seeds for Eugene's main event push against HHH in the summer, which was overexposure.

 

Battle Royal for WHC #1 contendership: Was pretty good with Kane winning, giving Benoit an opponent to retain against while HHH and Michaels are feuding.

 

Not as good as previous weeks but it was still very solid.

 

5/24/04 Raw

 

Edge vs. Ric Flair: Really good match to open the show.

 

La Resistance vs. Hurricane/Rosey: Decent at best. Nothing special and was just a filler match to give La Resistance a win before they won the belts next week.

 

Highlight Reel: Very good and made the next match.

 

Shelton Benjamin/Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton/Batista: Very solid match, with Shelton pinning Orton, the IC champion.

 

Victoria vs. Molly Holly: Good match even though this was known for Victoria debuting some new dance music instead. Gail Kim attacks afterwards only to get the Widow's Peak.

 

Chris Benoit/Eugene vs. Jonathan Coachman/Garrison Cade: Decent match at best but a TERRIBLE use of the World Champion. Teaming with Eugene against a Heat jobber and an announcer?

 

HBK/HHH segment: Great segment to build towards their HIAC match at Bad Blood.

 

Good show. Parts were quite flawed, but this show was far from bad as the PPV build was great and the matches were pretty solid.

 

5/31/04 Raw

 

Chris Benoit/Edge vs. La Resistance: Pretty good tag title match with La Resistance winning to get the titles off the world champ.

 

Eugene/Coach segment: Not very good as it makes the main event of Kane vs. Eugene...

 

Victoria vs. Jazz: Decent match though complete filler as the winner was never in doubt since Jazz rarely appears on Raw anymore.

 

Randy Orton vs. Shelton Benjamin: A pretty bad match that Shelton wins to become #1 contender to Orton's IC title.

 

HHH promo: This was good build towards the HIAC match at Bad Blood.

 

Matt Hardy vs. Garrison Cade: An average filler match with Matt winning cleanly.

 

Highlight Reel: Very good segment to build the Jericho/Tomko match at Bad Blood.

 

Eugene vs. Kane: Not a good main event, with Eugene even getting protected against the monster.

 

An average show across the board. Nothing too terrible but nothing that made me go "wow!" either. Probably the weakest Raw since WrestleMania.

 

6/7/04 Raw

 

Lita vs. Gail Kim: Pretty solid outside of the stuff before the match with Stacy hyping the Diva Search and Gail cutting a terrible promo on her, as well as Gail getting pinned before her title shot. This led to Lita and Trish being added to the title match, which Trish won.

 

Batista vs. Shelton Benjamin: Pretty good match with Batista being protected by going over Benjamin, though another #1 contender gets pinned before his title shot.

 

Chris Jericho vs. A-Train: Decent enough, though the winner was never in doubt as this was A-Train's only Raw appearance before getting released in November.

 

HHH/HBK segment: Pretty good build towards their HIAC match at Bad Blood.

 

Chris Benoit/Edge vs. Kane/La Resistance: Pretty good match, and I don't count the Benoit vs. La Resistance handicap match as it didn't have a pinfall/submission finish and got restarted as this match.

 

Eugene vs. Johnny Nitro: Very quick match that saw Nitro get "fired".

 

Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels: Really good main event and HHH and HBK brawl to end the show.

 

Good show as it built up Bad Blood very well and had some good wrestling.

 

6/14/04 Raw

 

Opening segment: I actually didn't mind it at all as it put over the HIAC match very well and made Kane a monster while setting up a PPV match three months from now, despite HBK being carried from the ring taking a while.

 

Trish Stratus/Tyson Tomko vs. Matt Hardy/Lita: This match was very sloppy, as Tomko just wasn't ready for big feuds at this point.

 

Joe Schmo infomercial: This had nothing to do with wrestling whatsoever and lasted forever. Luckily it's edited out on the Network version.

 

La Resistance vs. Hurricane/Rosey: Very dull flag match with the heels obviously winning.

 

Highlight Reel: This was very good and pure comedy, though this kickstarted Eugene's involvement in the main event scene, which ended up hurting his character.

 

Gail Kim/Molly Holly vs. Nidia/Stacy Keibler: Complete filler match... it was pretty bad too.

 

Evolution vs. Chris Benoit/Edge/Chris Jericho: This match was VERY good and a great way to close the show.

 

Overall, a great main event and a great Highlight Reel but a ton of stupidity and bad storylines (the Lita pregnancy angle started on this episode) drag this down, as it felt like a 2003 Raw at many points.

[kewf1988]

Here's a lot of the HHH Reign of Terror Raws:

 

9/2/02 Raw

Opening segment: HHH gets handed the WHC from GM Eric Bischoff. This was not a good segment as the title technically has no prestige on its debut. HHH is a heel and so is Bischoff, but this just didn't work. It did make HHH vs. Flair though.

Trish Stratus/Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Molly Holly/Chris Nowinski: This was a tables match and was actually quite enjoyable as it had a lot of cool spots.

Booker T vs. William Regal: This was pretty disappointing as it was quite short and not up to the standard of either man’s work at the time and felt like filler.

HHH vs. Ric Flair: This match was really good and HHH retained his WHC.

Kane vs. UnAmericans: Kane singlehandedly beats the tag team champions in a handicap match CLEANLY… technically, why should he even have a partner if he can beat the champs by himself? And it devalues the titles too.

Big Show vs. Tommy Dreamer: Not really a match as Dreamer beats on Show with a kendo stick, but it didn’t build to anything and was once again filler.

Jeff Hardy vs. Crash Holly: Once again, no real match as 3MW attacked Jeff as Bischoff thought he was going to Smackdown, but Crash reveals that he is instead. MORE filler as Crash, who rarely appeared on Raw, needed a writeoff.

Terri Runnels vs. Stacy Keibler: Lingerie Pillow Fight… even more filler.

HHH/Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam/Ric Flair: Solid main event with RVD pinning HHH making him the #1 contender at Unforgiven. This was the only good part of the second hour.

VERY boring show as the second hour was bad aside from the main event and the booking was just terrible.

 

10/14/02 Raw

Chris Jericho/Christian vs. Kane/Hurricane: A decent opening match and Jericho and Christian won the tag titles. Smart move.

Lance Storm vs. Al Snow: This was pretty disappointing as it wasn’t up to the standard of either man’s work at the time and felt like filler.

Jeff Hardy vs. Rico: Pretty bad filler match.

Kane segment: Very bad segment where HHH reveals that Kane is a murderer and a drunk driver. Why they thought this angle would work, I don’t know.

Jacqueline/Trish Stratus vs. Victoria/Molly Holly: Okay match, though the finish didn't involve either of the two who are wrestling at the PPV. Makes no sense considering that this is the show before the PPV, where Trish will be fighting Victoria for the women's title, yet Jackie pins Molly.

Pat Patterson/3MW segment: Very predictable as Patterson becomes the latest victim.

Chris Nowinski vs. Tommy Dreamer: Meh... very dull match and was heatless too.

Orton segment: Randy Orton turns heel before taking time off due to injury. This was one of the highlights of the show.

Big Show vs. Booker T: Not a great falls count anywhere match and Big Show actually won after Jericho interference.

HHH vs. Rob Van Dam: Very substandard lumberjack match that was overshadowed by the Katie Vick storyline.

This show was very bad due to bad booking, bad storylines, and subpar wrestling action.

10/21/02 Raw

Opening segment: A very boring HHH promo, however it gets worse later in the show unfortunately.

Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Nowinski: The first match of the night, and it wasn’t very good.

William Regal/Lance Storm vs. Bubba Ray/Spike Dudley: This was an okay match, nothing special.

Bischoff segment: He announces a new match type for Survivor Series, the Elimination Chamber.

Test vs. D’Lo Brown: Not a great match at all but the stuff after the match with Stacy aligning with Test was quite interesting.

Christian/Chris Jericho/Victoria vs. Booker T/Goldust/Trish Stratus: Pretty good intergender tables match.

HHH segment: He shows a video of himself dressed up as Kane screwing a mannequin in a coffin representing “Katie Vick”, Kane’s storyline dead girlfriend who he killed by driving under the influence. The worst segment in Raw history and the worst storyline in WWE history.

Tommy Dreamer vs. Al Snow: Not a great match as it was a Singapore cane match and total filler.

Big Show vs. 3 Minute Warning/Rico: Big Show squashes a tag team where both members are huge, as well as their manager, thus killing their credibility. This is his last Raw match until 2005.

HHH/Ric Flair vs. Kane/Rob Van Dam: Okay match that was overshadowed by the Kane/HHH storyline.

Terrible show… just terrible. Matches sucked and anything involving HHH/Kane was just absurd. Also Big Show squashing Bischoff's hired guns and their manager who's also a wrestler before heading to Smackdown made no sense.

 

10/28/02 Raw

Opening segment: Hurricane shows footage of stuff removed from "HHH's ass" and a casket match between HHH and Kane is announced. It was pretty bad...

Rob Van Dam/Tommy Dreamer vs. Lance Storm/William Regal: Storm and Regal win against a thrown together team in a rushed match.

Chris Jericho/Christian vs. Bubba Ray/Spike Dudley: 3MW attacked Spike before the match even started.

Test vs. Goldust: Not a great match as this was mainly to give Test a win after Stacy became his manager last week.

Chris Jericho/Christian vs. Bubba Ray Dudley/Jeff Hardy: Good tag title match and the right team won.

Bischoff segment: This was pretty good as he went more in depth into the Elimination Chamber concept by explaining that it is a mixture of the Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and War Games...

Booker T vs. Chris Nowinski: This was a pretty boring match as their styles didn’t mesh too well and Booker gets DQ'ed as a result of Al Snow attacking Nowinski.

Trish Stratus vs. Jacqueline vs. Molly Holly: Pretty good women’s title match, with Trish retaining.

HHH vs. Kane casket match: It wasn't good but I liked the ending though with HBK popping out of the casket and costing HHH the match.

This show was a vast improvement over the last two shows but it still wasn't good. Still too much Katie Vick stuff and a lot of the matches were uninspiring.

 

12/2/02 Raw

Dudley Boyz vs. 3 Minute Warning: Not a great opener, with the Dudleys getting the win.

Trish Stratus vs. Ivory: Okay match at best, nothing special.

Tommy Dreamer/Jeff Hardy vs. Lance Storm/William Regal: Okay match but short and I felt like I saw this match many times before as Storm and Regal had little chemistry as a team and they faced thrown together teams like this nearly every week.

Batista vs. Hurricane: Squash.

Chris Jericho vs. Booker T: Pretty good midcard match to advance the Booker/Goldust vs. Jericho/Christian feud.

Jacqueline vs. Victoria: Wasn't bad except for the result with Jacqueline winning, which came out of nowhere as Jackie was a Heat regular and they just had Victoria go over Trish.

Victoria promo: She calls out Jackie in a bad promo claiming that she cheated (she didn't, but Victoria's crazy and a heel so it makes sense) until Steiner shows up and attacks her and Steven Richards.

HHH vs. Rob Van Dam #1 contender's match (HBK special referee): This was pretty good although HHH winning was really predictable and made me fear that he’d get the belt right back at Armageddon, which he did.

This show, while it had a lot of wrestling, was very mediocre. The first hour was a wash pretty much and the booking was pretty bad. Very by the numbers and boring.

 

12/9/02 Raw

Booker T/Goldust vs. Lance Storm/William Regal: A pretty good opening match, though Storm and Regal win.

Steven Richards vs. Jacqueline: A nothing match, as Jackie loses in a couple minutes.

Rob Van Dam vs. Batista: Another nothing match, as RVD gets DQ'ed as a result of Kane attacking Batista.

Chris Nowinski/D'Lo Brown vs. Al Snow/Maven: Another dull match, with the heel team getting the win.

HHH vs. Jeff Hardy: Squash. A guy as over as Jeff is, no matter how badly he’s letting himself go, shouldn’t be squashed.

Flair promo: A very good promo on Shawn Michaels, which isn't a surprise as it's Ric Flair.

Kane vs. 3 Minute Warning: Complete squash, with 3MW being squashed by Kane.

Trish Stratus/Dudley Boyz vs. Victoria/Christian/Chris Jericho: This was a pretty good tables match with Trish putting Victoria through the table, hinting that Victoria will retain at the PPV.

Ending segment: This was good hype for HHH/HBK outside of the dumpster spot, which hints that HHH will get the title back at Amageddon, which he does.

 

Another bad show, as the wrestling was bad throughout and the booking was questionable with HHH squashing Jeff.

 

1/6/03 Raw

Batista/Rico/3 Minute Warning vs. Dudley Boyz: Very bad opener designed to send the locker room a message after the Dudleys helped JR and Lawler beat Storm and Regal two weeks ago.

Storm/Regal segment: This was basically just to beat up the Dudleys some more.

Molly Holly/Victoria vs. Trish Stratus/Jacqueline: Solid match with the heel team winning.

Jericho/Michaels segment: Very good as this kicks off their feud.

Booker T/Goldust vs. Lance Storm/William Regal: Solid match, though Booker and Goldust lose the titles right back. Bad booking..

Test vs. Chris Nowinski: Not a great match, with Test winning convincingly.

HHH/Steiner posedown: Very bad segment, as this feud is being built entirely on these lame contests.

Chris Jericho/Christian vs. Kane/Rob Van Dam: Pretty good main event, with the faces winning due to involvement from HBK.

Very middling show. Not terrible but stuff like the opener and posedown just didn't work, and Booker and Goldust losing the belts back a few weeks after winning them was a bad decision, especially since Booker lost to HHH at WM.

1/13/03 Raw

Victoria vs. Trish Stratus vs. Jacqueline: Not a great match, and Hurricane saves Trish from a post match beatdown from Victoria and Richards.

Bischoff/Dudleys segment: The Dudleys are fired and attack Chief Morley.

Test/Maven vs. D'Lo Brown/Chris Nowinski: Not a great match, with the face team winning.

William Regal vs. Jerry Lawler: Bad match, as Regal looked weak and Lawler looked stupid, as he got DQ'ed for keeping the chain around his fist during the pin.

Jeff Hardy vs. Raven: Bad match in Raven's last WWE match ever, as Jeff wins convincingly.

Vince segment: Okay promo from Vince, as he gives Bischoff 30 days to improve Raw or else and the Dudleys are reinstated already and get a tag title match at the Royal Rumble. The main event is also announced, as a battle royal is made where the winner can choose any number they want in the Rumble match.

Booker T vs. Lance Storm: Good match, though Storm wins by DQ after the Dudleys attack him and Regal.

Hurricane vs. Steven Richards: Very rushed filler match with Hurricane winning.

HHH/Steiner bench press contest: Very dull and boring.

Battle Royal for spot in Rumble: Pretty good main event with Jericho winning, picking #2 because HBK is #1, and HBK attacks afterward.

A show full of bad matches and questionable booking.

 

2/10/03 Raw

Test vs. Christian: This lasts about two minutes with Christian losing to a full nelson slam of all things.

Booker T vs. D'Lo Brown: Squash, and D'Lo is kicked to the curb for Rodney Mack after one loss.

Jazz vs. Molly Holly: Despite the predictable outcome it wasn't bad as Jazz won convincingly.

Kane/Rob Van Dam vs. 3 Minute Warning: Squash.

Dudley Boyz vs. Chief Morley: Squash and Morley gets fired as a result.

Batista vs. Tommy Dreamer: Squash.

Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy: Good match with Jericho carrying Jeff very well.

Kiss my Ass club: Terrible ending, as Bischoff still kept his job, making the whole show pointless, though Bischoff will face Austin at No Way Out.

 

Very bad show full of squashes, and teasing Bischoff getting fired throughout yet not delivering.

2/17/03 Raw

Rob Van Dam vs. Lance Storm: Good opener, with RVD getting the win.

 

Bischoff promo: Morley is rehired, and Bischoff makes Spike vs. 3MW as well as a match between him and JR in what will likely be the main event.

Victoria/Jazz vs. Jacqueline/Molly Holly: Solid match, with the heels winning despite not getting along.

Rodney Mack vs. Al Snow: Squash.

Chris Jericho/Christian vs. Shawn Michaels/Jeff Hardy: Pretty good match, with Jeff actually getting a pin on Jericho, though they don't build on it.

3 Minute Warning/Rico vs. Spike Dudley: Squash.

Hurricane vs. Chris Nowinski: Decent match, though it was complete filler as neither are doing much.

Scott Steiner/Booker T vs. HHH/Batista: Bad match, though Booker pinned HHH, which hints at HHH winning at No Way Out and Booker being the #1 contender at WM.

Eric Bischoff vs. Jim Ross: Terrible main event.

This was hit/miss but the bad outweighed the good as this felt like the opposite of last week, with the heels dominating throughout.

 

4/21/03 Raw

Chris Jericho vs. Hurricane: Pretty good opener, with Jericho getting the win as expected.

White Boy Challenge: Rodney Mack wins in a vey short squash.

Test/Scott Steiner vs. 3 Minute Warning: Very boring match, with Test teasing a heel turn after Steiner checked on Stacy and tagged himself in to get the win.

Rock Concert: Very good... Rock was the best part of Raw the last couple months.

Spike Dudley/Trish Stratus vs. Dudley Boyz: All angle with the Dudleys having to act heelish in order to stay on the roster

Rock Concert 2: Very good as well.

HHH vs. Booker T: Just like WM 19... okay match with a bad finish. They really screwed up with Booker as he had tons of momentum and was good in the ring at the time too.

Very bad show as it was erratically paced and badly booked and wrestled.

 

4/28/03 Raw

Highlight Reel: Pretty good as it kicks off the Goldberg/Christian mini feud and Goldberg spears Steven Richards.

Hurricane vs. Chief Morley: Good with a surprise result as Morley actually loses.

White Boy Challenge: Mack wins in quick fashion once again.

Kane/Rob Van Dam vs. HHH/Ric Flair: Not a bad match as Kane and RVD retain the tag titles, though it was after HHH was occupied with Kevin Nash.

Scott Steiner/Test vs. Chris Nowinski/Rico: Bad match, with Test continuing his heel turn after Steiner wins the match again. La Resistance debut afterward in a promo exchange with Scott Steiner.

Booker T vs. Christian: Pretty decent match, though this means Booker is back in the midcard and Goldberg destroying 3MW and Rico after the match (and spearing Rosey through the barricade in a great spot) overshadows the match.

Eric Bischoff vs. Trish Stratus: All angle with Bischoff winning as a result of the heel divas interfering on Bischoff's behalf, so he "gets some" as Trish would have to go to Eric's hotel room if she lost.

Ending segment: Linda announces that Steve Austin is co-GM with Bischoff, and Bischoff doesn't "get some".

Not a terrible show, but not a great one either as it was very hit/miss.

 

5/12/03 Raw

 

Opening segment: Hyped the IC title battle royal at Judgment Day. Pretty good segment as there was nothing for the midcarders to fight over for months, especially with HHH dominating the main event scene.

Kane/Rob Van Dam vs. Legion of Doom: Pretty bad match as it became pretty clear that LOD couldn't go anymore... luckily the right team won.

White Boy Challenge: Mack beats two guys in very short time.

Freddie Blassie segment: Good until 3MW attacked him. This didn't build them back up as they'd lose their manager next week and Jamal would be fired a couple weeks later.

Goldberg vs. Christian cage match: Not bad, though Christian, a midcarder, may have gotten too much offense in on Goldberg.

Ric Flair vs. Hurricane: Decent even though the winner was pretty obvious.

Test/Scott Steiner/Goldust vs. La Resistance/Chris Nowinski: Pretty boring match with the faces winning.

Trish Stratus vs. Victoria hardcore match: Pretty good match with Trish winning this time, unlike the last two hardcore matches between them.

Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Nash: Really bad main event until HHH interferes, and Nash jackknifes both Jericho and HHH with HBK counting pins for him. HHH will win at Judgment Day after this, and does.

This show wasn't good at all. The matches weren’t anything special, the show was boring, and Nash as #1 contender just wasn’t working.

 

5/26/03 Raw

Opening segment: Pretty good HBK/Flair/HHH promo exchange, which results in HHH facing both in a handicap match. The swerve is so obvious.

Booker T vs. Test: Boring match with Booker winning and Test cements himself as a heel in this match, with him pulling Stacy in the way of a baseball slide.

Val Venis vs. Steven Richards: Decent yet very pointless too as neither had anything going on at all.

La Resistance segment: They interrupt Lillian singing the national anthem until Austin appears and stunners both of them before drinking beer with Lillian. Filler.

Goldust vs. Christian: Decent but Goldust winning, especially with a powerslam, made Christian look pretty weak since Goldust was a jobber pretty much at this time.

Rodney Mack vs. Bubba Ray Dudley: Not a great match and Mack remains undefeated.

Sylvan Grenier vs. Rob Van Dam: A flag match, and not a good one, with Grenier winning.

Highlight Reel: Pretty solid as this kicks off the Goldberg/Jericho feud.

HHH vs. Ric Flair/Shawn Michaels: Okay at best as Flair aligning with HHH again was predictable as soon as the match was announced.

 

Very bland show as nothing stood out, the wrestling was bad, and nothing really happened. Complete placeholder show.

 

6/30/03 Raw

Highlight Reel: Not bad except for the Jericho/Test vs. Steiner/Stacy match announcement.

Goldberg vs. Lance Storm: Didn't even start as Rodney Mack attacked Goldberg only to get squashed. This was it for Goldberg/Mack interaction until Mark Henry tried to claim HHH's bounty on him.

Women's title battle royal: Okay but the booking was bad. Giving the title to Gail Kim in her first match?

Christian vs. Booker T: Good until the draw finish, which got annoying as the show went on.

Chris Jericho/Test vs. Scott Steiner/Stacy Keibler: Bad and lasted like forever, with more stipulation changing.

Rico vs. Maven: Okay but very pointless.

Randy Orton vs. Tommy Dreamer: Squash to give Orton a win, nothing more.

La Resistance vs. Hurricane/Spike Dudley: This was dull and was complete filler.

HHH vs. Rob Van Dam: This world title match was decent, though it ended with a DDT on the ramp of all things, and more stipulation changing. Very anticlimactic and HHH as champ was getting very boring.

This whole show felt like filler and was filled with annoying match stipulation changing.

7/7/03 Raw

Booker T vs. Christian: Pretty decent match, with Booker finally winning the IC title...

Rosey vs. Hurricane: Bad match with Rosey squashing Hurricane, and then getting laid out by Rodney Mack after refusing to do what Teddy Long told him to do.

Val Venis/Gail Kim vs. Victoria/Steven Richards: Very solid mixed tag, as Gail was carried well by Victoria and Val and Richards are good workers.

Highlight Reel: Solid as usual and made HBK/Jericho two weeks in advance.

Test vs. Kevin Nash: Very bad and Nash lost to Test in under two minutes despite recently going for the WHC?

Chris Jericho vs. Mark Jindrak: Okay match but it didn't click... Jindrak's debut was one of the worst possible ways to debut a new talent, losing in a filler match that he had no chance of winning.

Trish Stratus vs. Molly Holly: Pretty good with Molly surprisingly winning (and showing great psychology making Trish tap by working on the area that Test caused damage to) after doing nothing ever since losing the title at Unforgiven.

Bubba Ray Dudley/Rob Van Dam vs. Randy Orton/Ric Flair: Okay match but 5 minutes is not main event length, especially on a two hour show.

Ending segment: This was an interesting advancement in the Kane storyline, with Kane thinking Austin was making fun of him, and eventually chokeslamming him to end the show.

Hit/miss but a bit more miss due to some questionable booking decisions and the show wasn't very exciting either with the world champ and tag champs nowhere to be seen on the show, and neither was Goldberg.

7/14/03 Raw

Highlight Reel: This was just to advance the Kane storyline and featured Bischoff and Austin arguing, and ended with Jericho getting stunnered.

Test/Steven Richards/Victoria vs. Kevin Nash/Scott Steiner/Stacy Keibler: Not a great match, and Richards predictably gets pinned by Nash.

Maven vs. Lance Storm: Okay match, but bad storyline and bad result. I still have no idea why they thought the “boring” angle would work.

Dudley Boyz/La Resistance segment: Very bad... the Dudleys sang the national anthem before their match in a promo exchange with La Resistance, and they don't have great singing voices despite being great promos.

Evolution vs. Dudleys: The focus was on Randy Orton, who scored all three eliminations. This was an okay match, though a great way to put over Orton.

Rodney Mack vs. Rosey: Bad match with Mack winning in a minute, and Hurricane rescuing Rosey, thus officially turning him face.

Booker T vs. Christian: Decent match but also a repetitive match too as these two have fought constantly in the last month yet have no standout matches...

Gail Kim vs. Molly Holly: Pretty solid match with Gail retaining the title.

Kane/JR interview: Two weeks and they already screw up Kane by having him set JR on fire. Kane's a big man and shouldn't have to resort to such stuff to be scary. The segment was quite good until then as Kane proves he's a great promo and actor and didn't need the mask to be successful.

The typical 2003 Raw… weak matches, bad storylines, and questionable booking decisions.

7/28/03 Raw

Booker T/Scott Steiner vs. Test/Christian: This was pretty boring and by the numbers with the faces winning... not a good opener.

Goldberg vs. Steven Richards: Typical Goldberg squash.

Goldberg/Evolution segment: I liked this since the Summerslam main event was announced well in advance.

Val Venis vs. Rico: Very good match, even though this was complete filler.

Highlight Reel: Very good except for the match that resulted from it.

Kevin Nash vs. Chris Jericho: Typical Jericho bumping for Nash and looking weak in the end.

La Resistance vs. Mark Jindrak/Garrison Cade: This match was pretty boring as it was around 10 minutes long and all the wrestlers in it were green. La Resistance retain.

Gail Kim vs. Molly Holly: Not bad and Molly wins the belt in a match that wasn't hyped in advance.

Ending segment: This wasn't very good as it was another promo involving non-wrestlers except for Kane and Shane attacks Kane and knocks him off the stage...

This wasn’t a terrible show at all although it was pretty boring. This show had lots of wrestling despite not much of it being good, and the build for Summerslam started, though the stories leave a lot to be desired.

8/4/03 Raw

Opening segment: Really bad segment with Austin, Bischoff, and Shane McMahon involved, none of which are active wrestlers, and Shane vs. Bischoff is announced as the main event.

Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Rene Dupree: Not a great match here, and Bubba wins.

Randy Orton vs. Scott Steiner: Another lackluster match here that furthered the neverending Test/Steiner feud, as Test interference gave Orton the win.

Christian vs. Hurricane: Pretty solid midcard match, though Christian got laid out by Rosey after the match.

Goldberg vs. Ric Flair: Okay match but was booked terribly with a DQ finish.

Trish Stratus vs. Molly Holly: Decent match until run-ins from Victoria (which made little sense as she was doing nothing at this time) and Gail Kim, who rescued Trish from the heels and then turned on Trish.

Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam: Best match of the night, easily, though RVD won with one of his transition moves, the split legged moonsault. Jericho blames Nash for the loss and challenges him to a hair vs. hair match in two weeks.

Eric Bischoff vs. Shane McMahon: A very bad main event that advanced Kane/Shane, as Kane tombstoned Shane on the steps leading to Bischoff winning.

This show was pretty bad... the first hour was a wash aside from Christian/Hurricane and while the second hour picked up with the RVD/Jericho match, the main event was just terrible.

8/11/03 Raw

Opening segment: Once again featured no wrestlers whatsoever and Bischoff vs. Kane is made for later tonight, in what likely will be another angle.

Scott Steiner/Stacy Keibler vs. Rico/Miss Jackie: Pretty bad opening match and the heels won as a result of Test getting Steiner's attention and Steiner chasing him into the crowd. Test vs. Steiner is made next week with Stacy on the line. Feud should have ended there but it continued.

Dudley Boyz vs. La Resistance: No real match as the DQ happened around 20 seconds in and La Resistance drank French wine afterwards. This advanced nothing.

Christian vs. Spike Dudley: Pretty solid midcard match, and Christian walked out with the IC title before the match, putting the belt on the line against Spike, and underestimated him leading to a competitive match..

Kane vs. Eric Bischoff: No match, and Kane turns full heel here. Not much of a segment either, as Kane was sick of doing what the fans wanted and is only doing what he wants, though he chokeslammed Eric off the stage a little over a month ago.

Trish Stratus vs. Molly Holly vs. Gail Kim: Decent match with a well-booked finish in Molly outsmarting Gail with Trish hung upside down on the turnbuckles.

Hurricane vs. Rodney Mack: Not a great match here and Hurricane actually won cleanly.

Highlight Reel: This was an okay at best edition... it hyped Jericho vs. Nash hair vs. hair for next week, which was sure to be a bad match.

Goldberg vs. Ric Flair: Decent main event with Goldberg winning, though that should have happened last week

This show was a complete placeholder show, with very little happening outside of Test/Steiner next week and Kane doing only what he wants. Extremely promo-heavy show as well.

8/18/03 Raw

Opening segment: This was really good and hyped the elimination chamber very well with all the participants hitting their finishers on each other.

Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus: Decent, though rushed, match which ends with Gail Kim attacking Molly for the finish of the three way women's title match the previous week.

Shane segment: He cuts a promo on Bischoff and Kane. Shane and Kane will both win at Summerslam and feud with each other afterwards. Kane should have been challenging for the World Title after Unforgiven (Goldberg should have won the EC and beat HHH in the rematch, while Kane and RVD would have feuded until Unforgiven).

Test vs. Scott Steiner: Pretty boring match which ended with a faked injury by Test that didn't fool me in the slightest. And this means that Test/Steiner will continue too.

La Resistance/Dudleys segment: The most notable thing about this was the debut of Rob Conway, as he predictably swerved the Dudleys and aligned with La Resistance. An okay segment, though this was just to introduce somebody so they can do six man tags with Spike.

Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Nash hair vs. hair: An okay match that's mainly Jericho bumping for Nash, though Jericho actually wins and gives Nash a haircut.

Rosey vs. Rodney Mack: Bad match and Mack loses to both superheroes in consecutive weeks after bein undefeated for months.

Linda/Bischoff segment: This segment was in between boring and bad and the theme of the segment was rape. And worse was this didn't involve a single wrestler whatsoever, and ended with Bischoff teasing rape on Linda.

Christian vs. Rob Van Dam: Decent match that got cut short by idiotic booking. Christian, the IC champion, was made to look like an afterthought as the whole match was a backdrop to Kane hitting RVD with a chair while RVD did a dive, and carrying him backstage to try and set him on fire but fail, as the fans wanted it so he wouldn't do it. Setting somebody on fire is scary in reality but on a wrestling show it comes off as very goofy.

Goldberg vs. Randy Orton: Not a great main event, though Goldberg wins.

This show built Summerslam really good but it still wasn't a good show. The wrestling was very bad once again, as were the storylines and booking, like the IC champ being an afterthought to Kane and RVD and Bischoff entering the McMahons' house and putting his hands on Linda.

8/25/03 Raw

Opening segment: This was very good and the Goldberg/HHH main event at Unforgiven is announced in the first segment after Summerslam. Goldberg's career is also on the line, hinting that he'll finally win the title.

Trish Stratus vs. Gail Kim: Not a great match with most of the match being a sleeper hold. Trish wins, Molly attacks Trish, and teams up with Gail to try and end Trish's career. Interesting.

Rodney Mack/Mark Henry vs. Mark Jindrak/Garrison Cade: Squash match to debut Mark Henry on Raw.

La Resistance/Rob Conway vs. Dudley Boyz/Spike Dudley: For a tag match this was WAY too short as it lasted around two minutes.

Highlight Reel: Theme of the night right here... this segment showed tons of potential at the start then it became the usual segment focused on the McMahon family, which resulted in Jericho vs. Shane booked as the main event tonight.

Randy Orton vs. Maven: Very average match, though Orton winning with the SCM was great build to Orton/HBK.

Employee Of The Month Award ceremony: Coach was definitely more interesting as a heel than as a face, but it doesn't make much sense for a heel to award somebody employee of the month when his interference didn't win him the match, and this booked a Christian vs. Jerry Lawler match for the IC title... next.

Christian vs. Jerry Lawler: Weak match and Christian needed Coach interference to beat a retired wrestler and a current announcer.

Chris Jericho vs. Shane McMahon: Once again, not much of a match as this was only used to further the Shane/Kane feud, and Shane threw Kane into a flaming dumpster to end the show. Backwards booking.

Another bad show. Bad matches, a continued focus on non-wrestlers with Shane in the main event and a JR/Coach feud starting, the IC champ needing help to beat an announcer, and Kane looking weak against Shane while dominating RVD, who was nowhere to be found on this show.

9/1/03 Raw

Jerry Lawler vs. Jonathan Coachman: Terrible match and an even more terrible choice for an opener. Coach wins after an Al Snow heel turn that wasn't shocking.

Austin segment: He destroys the Highlight Reel and books Jericho and Christian against each other. Not a bad segment.

Chris Jericho vs. Christian: Pretty good match here with both playing the heel role. Christian retains the IC title.

Gail Kim/Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus/Ivory: Typical formulaic tag match here. Wasn't bad, wasn't great.

Kane/Shane segment: Kane attaches a car battery to Shane's testicles and electrocutes them. That is just goofy and not how you build a monster heel. His power moves should be more than enough to get that same message across.

Hurricane/Rosey vs. La Resistance: The superheroes' first tag match, and not a great match with La Resistance winning the match.

Test/Stacy Keibler vs. Steven Richards/Victoria: Another bad match here with the only redeemable parts being the heel antics of Richards and Victoria. The Test/Steiner feud predictably continues after a one week hiatus.

Evolution vs. Goldberg/Maven/Shawn Michaels: A really good main event that continued to build momentum for Goldberg/HHH.

Much better than the last month of shows, though still very hit/miss, as there were as many good parts as there were bad parts.

9/8/03 Raw

Kane vs. Rob Van Dam cage match: Match was okay at best (disappointing for a cage match), but the booking... Kane destroys RVD pretty much yet can't destroy Shane McMahon the same way?

Bischoff promo: He makes matches for Unforgiven in Kane vs. Shane and the Raw announce team vs. the Heat announce team, and makes tonight's main event in HHH vs. Goldberg with mystery partners of Bischoff's choice for each. No real main event tonight.

Lance Storm vs. Rico: Pretty decent match here when you look past the stupidity of Lance Storm dancing. It felt so forced as Lance doesn't have Michaels/Jericho/Cena-esque charisma at all.

Gail Kim/Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus/Jacqueline: The standard formulaic tag match here. Wasn't bad but wasn't great either.

State of Raw address: While it did run a bit long and end in the obvious Stunner on Jericho, it was not a bad segment at all and was actually quite entertaining.

La Resistance/Rob Conway/Mark Henry/Rodney Mack vs. Dudley Boyz/Spike Dudley/Hurricane/Rosey: A very short 10 man tag which is most notable for Spike being injured by La Resistance on a botched table spot.

Scott Steiner vs. Steven Richards: Squash. Even with Test interference Steiner prevailed easily. Steiner/Test is made for Unforgiven with Stacy on the line once again.

Coach segment: He shows some doctored photos of JR and JR punches him in the face. Bad segment.

HHH/Ric Flair vs. Goldberg/Randy Orton: No match obviously and the angle lost its effectiveness due to how predictable Orton being Goldberg's partner would be.

Not a great show, especially in the second hour. No feuds were really advanced except for the women’s feud (Gail slept with Bischoff to get a handicap match against Trish next week) as well as the tag title feud (but that was unintentional), the matches were well below average, and there was no energy.

9/15/03 Raw

Opening segment: This was pretty good with Jericho and Christian protesting about Steve Austin in the ring. Jericho wants an IC title match at Unforgiven and Austin makes a match with Jericho against RVD, who also wants a PPV match.

Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam: Pretty good match although the finish was obvious before the match even started as Jericho and RVD were not going to be left off a Raw only PPV.

Rob Conway vs. Spike Dudley: If you blinked you'd probably miss this one as Conway beat an injured Spike with a neckbreaker very quickly as the Dudleys and La Resistance brawled during the match. The whole thing felt very rushed.

Victoria vs. Fabulous Moolah: This was short and bad with Moolah actually winning against the psycho heel of the women's division in a few seconds. The segment with Moolah and Orton afterwards was good though.

Rodney Mack/Mark Henry vs. Goldust/Lance Storm: Squash, which was bad as Storm got a win last week and a new gimmick, yet his team was dominated in a minute here.

Kane/Shane contract signing: Pretty bad as the storyline was ridiculous and Shane got the upper hand on Kane again before their "epic" encounter at Unforgiven. Bad backwards booking.

Trish Stratus vs. Gail Kim/Molly Holly: The match was pretty good, and Lita returns and takes the heels out, which was also well done.

Test vs. Val Venis: Not a great match here and Val actually wins due to interference from Scott Steiner, hinting towards a Test win at the PPV, which means that it won't be over.

Jerry Lawler vs. Al Snow: Not a great match, and Coach lays out JR at the announce table after Lawler wins.

Goldberg going away party: Very weak HHH promo to close the show until Goldberg sends HHH backing down the ramp. Normally this would mean HHH retains again but with him filming a movie and Goldberg's career being on the line, Goldberg would win and does.

Another poorly booked Raw, with weak matches, bad storylines, and no energy.

[KB8]

The Network has a bunch of pre-90s WWF shows from MSG and the Spectrum and Boston in full. I wanted to watch the Hogan/Kamala main event from this show anyway, so I just ran through the whole thing. I may check out more shows from around this time because the midcard had some studs and Hogan main events are usually fun.

Mike Sharpe v SD Jones

- Fairly putrid. I have a bit of a soft spot for Sharpe the jobber as he's really vocal and looks like he's always trying to make himself look like a fool. Some of his stalling and horse shit was kind of amusing and he clubbed Jones in the ear one time. Otherwise this was about four minutes that felt like eight minutes.

Mike Rotundo & Dan Spivey v Jacques & Raymond Rougeau

- I liked some individual parts of this, at least in isolation. The Rougeaus have nice offence and brought some fun arm work, then some fun leg work, then some fun stuff that was neither leg- nor arm-specific. Rotundo was in the ring for the majority, but I never felt like he was actually in any sort of danger because he never sold like he might've been. It was babyface v babyface so the Rougeaus never exactly put a traditional work over on him, but a few times he sort of got up and could've tagged out but didn't and effectively reset the match, like everything before it hadn't happened or meant anything. Spivey threw one or two forearms that connected nicely, then it got testy and the ref' threw it out, getting in everyone's face with the making money gesture. Heavy fines may have been issued had conflict escalated. I can't think of a babyface team I'd be less interested in watching than Rotundo and Spivey, but if babyface Rougeaus match up with decent opponents then I'd be up for watching some of that.

Harley Race v Pedro Morales

- It's pretty cool that this match even exists. Former NWA champ in his goofy crown with chin strap against former WWWF champ. Morales is at the tail end of being able to do much here, mostly throwing a few nice body shots, but Race turned it into a bump show and I was totally fine with it. At one point he took a backdrop from a standing position after it was Morales who came shooting off the ropes, which was pretty impressive as Race is not a small individual and Morales wasn't a youngster in 1986. Harley's taken a whipping in some circles over the years for maybe throwing out offence willy-nilly, but he was basically the sole reason this was fine so I don't mind him running through piledrivers and suplexes. How many kings have shared that same entrance music? Has the king gimmick been a staple in WWF for over thirty years now? Must there always be a king in the WWF in the same way there must always be a Stark in Winterfell? This match has raised more questions than it's answered.

Dick Slater v Steve Lombardi

- Eesh, Slater is called 'The Rebel' here and kitted out with his confederate flag jacket. Gorilla says you'll struggle to find a braver man than one willing to wave a confederate flag in the Boston Gardens. Slater's balls are so big he's the babyface, naturally. Lombardi is just plain old Lombardi at this point and hasn't donned the torn up shirt and jeans. This was like five minutes, had some okay arm work from Slater (minus the worst Russian leg sweep this side of Shelton Benjamin) and a pretty butterfly suplex. I'll be honest, I had no memory of Slater being in the WWF. I'm guessing he was only there for a cup of coffee and did nothing of note?

Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook v Pepe Gomez & The Karate Kid

- This got off to an exceptional start as Littlebrook made a point of ripping on Gomez and Kid for being tiny. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched one of these matches so I don't know if all of the spots are staples or just some of them (I mean, some of them DEFINITELY are), but it was pretty amusing and got a chuckle out of me. Nobody wants any part of Karate Kid's martial arts, not even Little Tokyo who is a master of the martial arts in his own right being Asian and whatnot. Gomez is wearing plastic bandoleers and looks like Hector Guerrero from my avatar on PWO. My favourite part was when the ref' admonished Tokyo for something or other, so Tokyo climbed the middle turnbuckle, kicked the ref' in the gut and took him over with a sunset flip as Karate Kid counted him out. A real show of midget solidarity, there. I can only conclude that the ref' purposely made them all look stupid at the end by botching the finish in embarrassing fashion. Can you say 'political hit?'

Adrian Adonis v Junkyard Dog

- Good grief Adonis is humongous. He does not look adorable in the slightest but man did he go all in on that gimmick. This wasn't good, but it was short, had a few okay headbutts, some lukewarm stalling early on, and a pretty awesome turnbuckle bump from Adonis where he went upside down Flair-style then wound up on the apron tangled up in the ropes Andre-style. If nothing else it's impressive that he managed to combine those two signature spots as relatively smoothly as he did given his portliness.

Jimmy Jack Funk v Blackjack Mulligan

- Mulligan's cowboy boots and Yosemite Sam shirt combo really is something. I couldn't even tell you the last time I watched any Blackjacks but Mulligan is huge and super imposing, like way more so than I remembered. Jimmy Jack is wearing a Zorro mask and probably the worst Funk there's been. This was also not good, just sloppy and clunky and uncoordinated. But it was only about five minutes so at least they were merciful.

The Islanders v The Dream Team

- Beefcake's involvement in this was basically limited to stooging, mugging and hitting a few stomps. Bulk of the heel end was held up by Valentine, and you may not be shocked to hear that the match probably wasn't hurt because of it. First stretch is total Valentine in peril. Usually you want Greg to be fish hooking people and elbowing them in the temple, but I dug him getting schooled by Haku and Tama. Tama is, once again, the funnest motherfucker in wrestling. His energy is utterly infectious. Then he eats a Valentine back elbow and SOARS over the top rope with an awesome bump to the floor, and good golly is Tama just about the greatest under-the-radar bumper ever. Brutus runs a few distraction spots and mostly sticks to the background so Valentine can deliver the ass beating, which includes a fucking Ganso Bomb-style piledriver! If there's a Tama/Valentine singles match I need to seek it out, because no way it wouldn't rule. This was fifteen minutes that flew by.

Dino Bravo v Corporal Kirchner

- I guess this was fine for a piss break before the Hogan Show. Dino hit a few decent suplexes and a crazy piledriver that was somewhere between that and sit-out powerbomb, then Kirchner came back and hit a few things, then Johnny V ran distraction and it ended. This ref' is the same one from the midgets match and boy he isn't having a good night. He has a touch of the inverse Hebners where he counts super slowly all through the match then speeds it up x12 at the finish. Gorilla slaughters him for it as was Gorilla's wont, but it's hard to disagree with him on this occasion. The young man is quite frankly a disgrace to his profession.

Hulk Hogan v Kamala

- The Ugandan Headhunter is a way cooler moniker than the Ugandan Giant. This was a super fun eight minutes of Hogan formula. They establish early that Kamala is a big fuckin unit as Hogan barrels into him and looks out wide-eyed to the crowd when Kamala doesn't budge. Hogan tries to slam him, almost gets him up, but the back gives out and Kamala takes over. It's Hogan v Superheavyweight 101. Kamala working on top is fine enough initially, but then he stabs Hogan with the Fang of Shang-Chi or some nonsense and it gets pretty awesome. I always assumed WWF had banned blood by this point, but Hogan gigs himself and gets some big time colour. I loved Kamala biting and gouging at the cut, and in a gruesome spot he licks Hogan's blood off his fingers, apparently enjoying it as he's a cannibal and a fan of such delicacies. Hogan's bloody convulsing is kind of goofy, but it's one of those Hoganisms that I find at least amusing. We get the comeback, the slam, the boot and the legdrop, the posing, the Hulkamaniacs seeing what they came to see -- it's the ultimate WWF experience! I'd like to check out the rest of the Hogan/Kamala matches because I bet they'd all be fun.

[iamthedoctor]

 

Can't imagine Bruno was up to much in those 86 matches. Was he still considered a draw in 86?

His matches wit Randy Savage are up on Youtube.

 

I liked the Piper's Pit with Bruno where Piper nails him with a chair but Bruno still kicks his ass.

[thebrainfollower]

Watching the first of the All Star Wrestling Dump right now. If the Baron getting an easy win over a jobber doesn't bring Parv out of retirement, I lose my hope in humanity.

[KB8]

I watched Wrestlemania 3 over the last few days. It wasn't an amazing show from a match quality standpoint, but I didn't think anything outright sucked (probably because the stuff that might've sucked was kept short), the guys you'd expect to look good looked good, and it had an all-timer of an IC title match. Plus I think it maybe did okay at the box office.

Can-Am Express v Bob Orton & Don Muraco

- Nice fun little opener. With more of a heat segment this could've been what the hipsters call "a ***1/4 affair," but as is we got plenty of neat babyface shine. The Can-Ams mostly work the arm with arm-wringers, a few quick tags and your hiptoss/armdrag takedowns. Orton thinks he's shaken Zenk, but Zenk keeps hold of the arm and drags him back to the mat face-first. The double monkey flip was cool, Orton's bump over the top looked good, and I liked the finish with Martel hitting the crossbody as Zenk crouches behind Muraco for the schoolboy trip. Doesn't top Rockers v Haku/Barbarian for under the radar Wrestlemania tag openers, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being one of the three best matches on the show.

Hercules v Billy Jack Haynes

- Herc's HGH gut is wild. It's not quite at that point where it's super distended and blocky, but he is absolutely juiced to the gills and somehow makes Billy Jack look natural in comparison. This wasn't great or anything, but I expected it to be a bag of shit and it wasn't that either so...happy days? Hercules absolutely slabbered Haynes with a clothesline early and that set up a spell of back work, which Haynes sold pretty well for a minute there. He was hunched over and it gave him so much bother he couldn't even suplex Herc. Herc wasn't amazing on offence or anything, but he did hit one big vertical suplex that he really threw himself into, almost turning it into a brainbuster. The post-match beatdown was a touch nastier than I remembered and Billy Jack blading was something else I'd forgotten. You kind of grade these 7 minute matches between guys who aren't all that good on a curve, and for what it was I thought this was fine.

King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook v Hillbilly Jim, Haiti Kid & Little Beaver

- Imagine being a midget wrestler. Yahoos like Hillbilly Jim picking you up like you're a literal child and condescendingly patting you on the head. You're either a goofy comedy act or a psychopath that bites people in the arse (Hornswoggle). Sometimes both (Hornswoggle). I'd have taken my shit to Mexico. That said, Little Beaver absolutely deserved to be squashed like a grape. If nothing else Bundy should be commended for treating him like an equal! What did he expect? You slap Bundy's keister and keep pushing his buttons you better believe he'll react. Raylan Givens said it best: "Y'all go poking the bear and it's his fault when you get bit."

Harley Race v Junkyard Dog

- King Harley and Queen Moolah. I could see Harley being an okay king. Hard but fair. Firm but not inflexible. Maybe not loved by the people, but in time I could see them coming to at least accept him. Moolah, though. Like Cersei Lannister with none of the good parts (...youthful exuberance?) and all of the worst dialed up to eleven. Call me a fool, but I thought this was pretty fun! Again, it only lasted a few minutes, but it was a highlight reel of old man Harley Race bumping. He faceplanted on a missed headbutt off the fucking apron to the floor, took an over the top rope bump where he hit his face on the apron, conked JYD with a falling headbutt that did more damage to himself (as a black man JYD has a four inch cranium, obviously), took his signature flip bump from the apron back in the ring, even gave us the slowest Flair Flip in the corner you've ever seen. He knew he had four minutes and he was going to make it count. I say this probably once a year, but I ought to do a mini-deep dive on Race. I'm pretty confident that his stuff in Japan does nothing for me at all, but his post-world champ run usually delivers the goods.

Rougeau Brothers v Dream Team

- I watched this three hours before writing about it and I didn't remember a thing that happened other than the Beefcake turn at the end. I actually forgot it even happened until I went to Wikipedia to check how long the next match lasted. The Rougeaus are a fun babyface unit, Valentine is great and Beefcake can be fine so I'll assume it was watchable, but that's honestly all I have. It was short. Things happened. Blanks must be filled. You can do it.

Roddy Piper v Adrian Adonis

- I've got a lot of time for Piper dropping Springsteen lines in his pre-match promo. "No retreat, baby, no surrender!" Tell'm, Hot Rod! I loved every second of this madness. The crowd are red hot for the whole thing and I loved Piper flinging Jimmy Hart all around the ring early on. He flung him into then onto then damn near through Adonis, whipped them both with a strap, people were going ballistic. Then Adonis took over and I'm a fan of him playing to the exotico gimmick by raking Piper's back and chest. Piper's punch drunk selling ruled and he managed to throw in his GOAT-level eye poke. Adonis and Hart celebrating prematurely after Goodnight Irene, Beefcake morphing into The Barber right before our very eyes (don't know why he was actually out there, don't really care), Adonis smashing himself in the face with a big fuck off pair of shears, the old carny trick of smacking a guy on the neck to wake him up from a sleeper hold, the post-match head shaving, Adonis audibly shouting "WHAT THE FUCK?!" when he sees his reaction in the mirror, I loved all of it. One of the most fun sub-ten minute spectacles in WWF history.

British Bulldogs & Tito Santana v The Hart Foundation & Danny Davis

- This was alright. Bret looked motivated to get his ten minutes on the card and took a couple big bumps, including his sternum-first turnbuckle bump. Dynamite also yanked him about five feet off the canvas by the hair and I always cringe when he does that. Danny Davis entered the match twice, threw two kicks, grinned, tagged back out, and got more heat than anyone all night. Davey Boy finally running rampant on him was sort of terrifying in one of those Steiner Brothers murdering enhancement talent ways. Perfectly solid six-man.

Butch Reed v Koko B. Ware

- This is an honest to god dream match of mine, but four minutes on a Wrestlemania midcard isn't the same as twenty minutes in the Sam Houston Coliseum. We got some great punches, TWO awesome Koko Ware dropkicks, a big bump over the top from Reed, and then a double dropkick from Tito and Koko as Reed STEALS one with a handful of tights. Reed was probably past his best in '87, but I still want to believe there's a Reed/Santana match on a Boston or MSG card that's as good as their Houston match. What are we if not dreamers?

Randy Savage v Ricky Steamboat

- I'd gone back and forth on this for years. I always wanted more hate, I wanted blood, I wanted Steamboat to throttle Savage. It had always left me underwhelmed until about a decade ago when I watched the entire feud. Context helped it and so did that interview that was an extra on the Wrestlemania 3 DVD or whatever, with Steamboat talking about this being his last chance at the belt, how he'd come back from injury and let his temper get out of control and how it never got him anywhere. It might've been a convenient way to get out of someone bleeding in the blowoff to the big blood feud, but if nothing else it worked and added the layer that made it all click. I'm not sure I'd still call it a top 10 match in WWE history, but it's a great match. The main takeaway I had this time was that they built the hell out of this thing. It wasn't like it started out with no heat. People were into it from the start, as you'd expect. But by the end, even with the phantom heel pinfall and the fact they never COMPLETELY pulled the trigger on that clean win, the place was molten hot. Hebnar was gassed out of his mind towards the end and people were just losing it for every roll up and nearfall. It had lots of cool little throwbacks to the major points of the feud. Some of them I wish they maybe did a bit more with, like Savage working the throat and Steamboat playing up those moments where he'd turn loose, but I thought things like the nearfall off the finish to the Toronto match and Savage going for the bell came off great. Even Savage coming out and moving Elizabeth as far away as possible from Steele touched on the history. I suppose they could've done more with that brief bit of arm work. I'd maybe have liked for them to do away with a bit of the back and forth so Savage could have a longer stretch on top. I'll never love that phantom pinfall. It didn't really matter, though. What they gave us was an exceptional bit of pro-wrestling and one of the more iconic matches the company's ever had.

Jake Roberts v Honky Tonk Man

- Pretty by the numbers, but Honky was effective as a heat magnet around this point so at least the crowd were into it. Jake threw some okay punches and took a nice bump into the guardrail, while Honky did the Terry Funk teeter-totter spot in the ropes and shook his hips to rile folk up. I don't know if Jimmy Hart is terrified of snakes or what, but he sure wanted no part of Damian post-match. If it came to a fist fight between him and Alice Cooper, my money would be on the Colonel (for some reason I totally forgot Gorilla would always refer to Jimmy as that. "The Colonel Jimmy Hart." Was that just a Gorilla thing or was it an actual moniker he used in the WWF?).

Killer Bees v Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

- Also by the numbers, but we got a Jim Brunzell dropkick so you take the five minutes of by the numbers. Compromises and whatnot. Volkoff singing the Soviet national anthem pre-match is always great because people will start flinging rubbish at the ring and it never gets anything but crazy heat. I also love how Slick came back out to the ring with his clothes all torn up after the Tito mauling from earlier.

Hulk Hogan v Andre the Giant

- I've always liked this. Hogan's had better matches built around bodyslamming a larger opponent, but he has every single person in that stadium on strings and if nothing else it's certainly a spectacle. I thought it was worked smartly as well. Andre is nearly immobile so he's mostly clubs, headbutts and a bearhug. He uses the clubs and the bearhug to work the back, which they establish as a story point early when Hogan fails to slam Andre the first time. The bearhug isn't riveting or anything, but they never lost the crowd and the reaction for Hogan fighting back from the brink is special. The headbutts were my favourite, because when they connect they're sold as being devastating. Then when they miss they're sold as being devastating. The first time he misses he headbutts the turnbuckle and it gives Hogan an opening. Andre cuts him off after a brief flurry, but they establish a way out for Hogan. Avoid the headbutt and maybe you can use it against him. The second time they escalate it as Andre headbutts the post, and that's really Hogan's inroad. I guess they backtrack on that idea when Andre backdrops Hogan on the concrete (well, that was the intention. It didn't come off great), but Andre was groggy from then on out. Everyone goes ballistic for Andre being taken off his feet, then more ballistic for the slam, then EVEN MORE BALLISTIC for the legdrop. It's one of the defining moments of Hulkamania and a cool way to cap off one of the most successful wrestling shows there's ever been.

[flyonthewall2983]

I believe Little Beaver was seriously injured by that spot. You can see Blackjack Lanza going nuts on his headset briefly afterwards.

 

I watched it again recently and came to the quick decision that the opening match was probably my favorite of the whole show. All the tag team matches here are kind of my favorites for different reasons. I liked seeing the Rougeau's as faces, how Brutus became the barber in part of how it ended, and I liked the energy of the Bees/Sheik & Volkoff match mainly from Jim Duggan who at the time was poised to be a top guy.

 

Also how odd it seemed that for such a big crowd they had three run-in spots.

[KB8]

Yeah, I actually read something about Beaver being injured in that match.

 

I feel like I should check out some Rougeaus babyface stuff from around this period. I remember nothing about their Wrestlemania match now, but they've gotten to bust out a bunch of cool offence on a couple other shows I've checked out. I should probably watch the Hart Foundation match(es).

[Ricky Jackson]

Rougeau's babyface run is pretty uninspiring from what I've seen

[iamthedoctor]

Wrestlemania 3 was such a fun show from Hogan slamming the Giant to a epic Steamboat/Savage match to Adonis getting his head shaved.

 

Its been said for years by fans who thought Savage/Steamboat was match of the night but saw Bundy's shoot yesterday and he disagreed with fans saying that match alone wouldn't have sold Mania he said match of the night was actually Hogan/Andre as thats what people came to see.