UnWrest

WWE has promoted the concept of a "Fresh Start" since the night after TLC. However, based on some of the things that happened on this show, this "Fresh Start" concept smells like slightly used cat litter. Raw Thoughts - Raw starts off with a Steel Cage Match between Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler. McIntyre establishes dominance early on with the brute strength and aggression that has elevated his career since coming back to the main roster in April. Ziggler is able to fight off McIntyre with an elevated DDT. Glasgow Kiss (headbutt) ends any momentum Ziggler had going for the moment. Ziggler and McIntyre fight back and forth on the top rope near the cage wall. Both end up saddling the top rope as WWE goes to commercial. We return to see Drew McIntyre talk trash to Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler hits McIntyre with the Famouser. Ziggler catches McIntyre with a superkick for another 2 count. Ziggler is stopped from escaping through the door by McIntyre. Ziggler tries...

What's up everyone? Here's a quick update on what to look forward to on the blog coming up this week: 1) Already posted are the SmackDown Live Spoilers (a link to a report I turned in to PWTorch) as well as a photo-centric review of my experience at the arena that night. Be sure to check out both of these pics. 2) There will be NO ROH reviews this week, at least as far as the weekly TV show is concerned. The last two episodes (12/21 and 12/28) have been highlight episodes, and instead of recapping a lot of what I've already recapped (or matches that have been edited down), I'm going to just pick back up next week if ROH presents a new episode of ROH. 3) I am still planning on reviewing Wrestle Kingdom 13 as it happens on the blog. I will be waking up at 2AM that morning to cover the show. God help me, but I want to see one of these big Wrestle Kingdom events live (on TV anyways). So, check out the blog here on Friday, January 4th whenever you wake up as I w...

The feud between Konnan and Salina de la Renta's group has now culminated in a NO DQ match between the Mexican wrestling legend and MLW World Champion Low Ki. With the title on the line in Konnan's hometown, this has a big match feel. Let's Do This... MLW Thoughts - We get a recap of the Konnan vs. Low Ki/Salina storyline to start the show. We also get a recap of the Tom Lawlor victory over Simon Gotch last week. Simon Gotch vows to make a statement tonight. - The first match is a 5 Minute Simon Gotch Prize Fight where he's putting his money given by Salina de la Renta for betraying Tom Lawlor on the line. Simon promises to deal with the reprobates of MLW and challenges anyone who wants the shot at his money. 400lb Ace Romero answers the challenge. Heavy chops to Romero early on, but Gorch makes the mistake of trying to pick up Romero. Romero's size proves to be too much for Gotch to handle 1-on-1. All Romero has to do is last the 5 minutes to get the mo...

Apparently, over Christmas Day, MLW had a special on Christmas Day. While I was tempted to skip this episode, the completist in me wants to check this out and write a review. So, without further ado... MLW Thoughts (Christmas Day Special) - The first match sees a No DQ match between Brody King and PCO. The ironic thing about all this is that both King and PCO have left MLW and are now working for ROH. So this was obviously taped prior to these big contract signings. Things pick up quickly as PCO dives through the ropes into King on the floor. King and PCO continue to brawl around the ring. King introduces a steel chair into the match, cracking it over the back of PCO. Cannonball into a seated PCO on a chair!!! PCO responds moments later with a DDT on the concrete floor. A couple moments later, PCO puts King on a table and climbs the stairs in the audience up to a balcony! SENTON SPLASH MISSES KING BUT PUTS PCO THROUGH A TABLE! King now throws a piece of guard rail into the ring...

For the results themselves, please go to PWTorch and check out the detailed results I submitted to them earlier. PWTorch Report This is more of a blog about the experience itself and some of the key things I noticed. I'll also be including some insightful comments from my family who attended the show, including my brother-in-law, nephews, father, and best friend/brother. We arrived at the PPG Paints Arena around 6:00pm. Thankfully, I had gotten a parking space at the parking garage attached to the arena. Unfortunately, the wind blowing into the garage created a wind tunnel that dropped the temperature by about 10-15 degrees. While outside, I noticed a lot of people wearing general wrestling gear: Bullet Club, AJ Styles, Undisputed Era, The Man, etc. The great thing about going to a wrestling event is the culture of wrestling fans you are surrounded by (more on this later). Once we got inside of the building (roughly around 6:20pm), it was easy to find our seats from the...

Attended a TV taping for the upcoming SmackDown Live show on New Year's Day.  I wrote a report late last night and turned it in to PWTorch at this address:  https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2018/12/30/12-29-wwe-smackdown-tv-taping-spoilers-in-pittsburgh-pa-aiaing-1-1-full-results-of-first-wwe-tv-show-of-2019/ Please check out this address for this and other great reports from PWTorch. Later, I will be posting another post on the blog here with any other thoughts and memories that creep into my memory from the show, along with a lot of photos. I'd do it now, but the groceries aren't going to buy themselves. Lol. Until then, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.   .

SmackDown goes taped this week for the Christmas Day edition of SmackDown "Live." But as you are about to see, SmackDown brought some presents and not too much coal for its viewers. SmackDown Thoughts - First we have Carm-elf-a and Truthy Claus to start the show. Yeah. We get a 7 second "Carol" break before Daniel Bryan comes out to interrupt. He goes off on Truth and Carmella for being fake and fickle. He goes off on how materialism is causing the planet to self-destruct, and in 20 years, there will be NO North Pole or Santa Claus. Lol. Bryan calls Truth's career a joke. Truth says he's going to win the Royal Rumble and beat Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania if he's still champion. Bryan eventually starts beating down R-Truth around ringside, chop blocking the knee, stomping at the face,  and locking in the Heel Hook. Good way to continue getting heel heat on Daniel Bryan. So, this wasn't a complete joke. - Next we have Andrade Cien Almas (w/ Ze...

The Attitude Era was one of the craziest time periods on wrestling history, both in terms of its in-ring popularity and its enormous expansion into pop culture consciousness. On January 31, 1999, this expansion would take one of its biggest steps. First, a WWF Commercial aired during The Super Bowl. Here it is if you want to walk down memory lane. 2 Versions of the 1999 WWF Super Bowl Commercial Secondly, the WWF scheduled an episode of Sunday Night Heat to coincide with the last moments of the first half of the Super Bowl. As soon as the game went into Halftime, USA and WWF aired a big time match for fans who wanted more than lip-syncing and overproduced choreography. Instead, you could watch Mankind and The Rock go at it for the WWF Championship... in an EMPTY ARENA MATCH. That's right: No fans in the arena. Instead, these two would be allowed to wrestle throughout an emptied arena until one emerged victorious. For Mankind, it was a need for revenge after The Rock and The Corp...

The NXT Tag Team Championships are on the line between The Undisputed Era and Heavy Machinery. Plus, we finally get the much anticipated Fatal Four Way Match to determine who will face Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix. Let's Do This! NXT Thoughts (Recorded as Viewed) - We start off with the #1 Contenders Fatal Four Way Match to determine who will face Shayna Baszler at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix for the NXT Women's Championship. Io Shirai vs. Lacey Evans vs. Mia Yim vs. Bianca Belair. Yim and Shirai team up early on to take out Belair. Io Shirai nearly kills herself diving onto Belair on the floor. But thankfully, she's ok. Yim and Shirai team up on Evans until Yim takes out Shirai by accident. Evans now goes to work on both Yim and Shirai, overpowering both women. In all honesty, this is the most impressive performance I've seen from Evans. Eventually Belair gets in the match and helps Evans for a bit. But that lasts abo...

A belated Merry Christmas everyone. So, I ended up skipping the live airing of Raw this week as family and friends took more attention in my life than wrestling. BUT... this is UnWrest, right? So, I HAVE to do some sort of review for this episode. So, I'm firing up my DVR and watching the Christmas Eve edition of Raw. Raw Thoughts (Written as Viewed) - A creepy voiceover entrance for Raw happens going over all the matches. - Elias comes out and cuts his usual promo and singing. It's Bobby Lashley vs. Elias in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight. It's your usual throwaway hardcore Christmas-themed match with Christmas trees and Candy Cane Kendo Sticks used as weapons. Elias gets slammed on a few presents at one point. Then, the sick part happens: Lashley introduces LEGOS into the match! Any one who has ever stepped on a LEGO before (parents, I'm looking at you specifically) knows how much stepping on one sucks. So, yeah: You know Lashley was taking that bump. And he ...

MLW continues to prove how to book a wrestling show and hook an audience. MLW Thoughts (Written After Watching The Show) - The show opens with Salina de la Renta and Ricky Martinez in the ring. Salina cuts a promo on the Miami crowd being a bunch of losers, which explains why Konnan calls it home. Enter Konnan, who cuts a promo on Salina, Ricky, and Low Ki. He's taking Low Ki's MLW World Championship tonight because he's already in his head. - After a video of the Hart Foundation cutting down Tommy Dreamer and Barrington Hughes, Pillman and Smith team up to face those two in a tag team match. Another unique match here as Hughes was too big for either Pillman or Smith to individually take out. However, when Dreamer got the tag, Pillman was able to catch Dreamer with a low blow and roll him up for a pin. The commentators tried to cover this as a heel tactic, but Dreamer did low blow Pillman in their previous match together. So, is it really heel-ish for someone to gi...

Christmas is supposedly a magical time when anything and everything can happen to bring the absolute best out of mankind. Or at least that's what Hallmark movies and those old Christmas specials keep telling us. Personally, I tend to think of Christmas as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: messy, chaotic, dramatic, and not without the need for alcohol after dealing with family members on a rare time out of the year. (deep sigh) Where was I? Oh yes. So, I've decided to put together a Christmas List as a Wrestling Fan for 2019. Now, I realize my Jolly Old St. Vince nor any other power-that-be will likely realize anything or everything on my list. But the list itself is a record of what I want for 2019. 1) Better writing. And by better, I mean more logical writing that doesn't challenge my desire to watch the programming (ex. Baron Corbin having 1 hour of TV time, Drake Maverick peeing himself and on things, Lucha House Party playing up their stereotypes). I've ...

This is one of the best things that WWE does all year. It's basically a house show in nature, but that's really not the point here. It's about giving the men and women who serve America something to say thank you for their service. With that in mind, let's do this! Tribute to the Troops Thoughts (Written As It Was Viewed) - After the National Anthem and video package, we get The New Day dressed in festive Christmas attire. (JBL is on commentary as he helped create this event all those years ago.) Big E is dressed as Sant. E. Claus (lol), Kofi as an elf, and Xavier as a reindeer. They cut a promo to thank the troops and on their favorite holiday traditions. - Bad Reputation plays as Ronda Rousey enters with a huge smile on her face and shaking hands with the fans. Natalya is out next. It's Natalya and Ronda Rousey taking on the Riott Squad's Logan and Morgan and Tamina and Nia Jax. It's a Triple Threat Tag Team Match apparently. Good opening part of the...

'Tis the season for bad comedy gimmicks. But maybe, we will get a good match out of this. ROH Thoughts (Written on 12/21/18 as it was viewed) - The show starts off with hokey Christmas music and presents in front of World Champion Jay Lethal. He and Matt Taven will open up presents to determine who their partners are going to be. (This is beyond hokey. First of all, I'll be honest: Christmas music to me is mostly hokey and beyond terrible. I like the holiday, but I can't stand a majority of the music that goes along with it. Secondly, they are putting face snow and presents in front of their world champion. Then, to top it all off, we're supposed to assume that they are randomly getting partners from these presents and not from a pencil and paper from earlier today when someone booked this show. You're killing me, ROH.) Matt Taven says he hates surprises. He doesn't want to be teamed with any "Melvin" (trying to get that term over yet again)...