Welcome to the weekly UnWrest main blog of the week. This week, I'm covering the regular WWE TV shows, the go-home show for ROH before their PPV Friday, giving you 2 Rewinds this week (I'll explain why below), providing your weekly podcast recommendtion, and (attached to that) a book recommendation. So, without further ado, let's get this blog going.
WWE/NXT
Raw Thoughts
- Kurt Angle and Baron Corbin, the Bald Eagles of Raw, come out. Baron Corbin directs the announcer to announce him as "The Guy Who Is Still Shockingly Employed by WWE." Roman Reigns comes out to say "I'm The Guy Who Is Only Here To Get Paid. What are my lines again?" Lashley comes out to say "Remember my sisters? Dang it. I wasn't supposed to bring that back up."
Ok. Serious face time. Lashley says Roman needed to move on after 3 years of failing. Roman says Lashley moved on and failed ten years ago. Roman has been here every day, dang it, and he wants his title now. (Wah! Wah! Wah!) Lashley argues if Brock had someone different to face, maybe he'd show up. (Yawn!) Kurt suggests taking a match between Lashley and Reigns under advisement as the multi-man match is officially "off the table." The Revival come out to job again this week, and Baron Corbin says "Yeah, sure. Let's see them lose again."
- And... The Revival win? Ok Tag Team Match, if not entertaining. It's not like The Revival are going to get anything from that victory. Seeing Roman get pinned was surprising, but in context, it's not going to lead to anything major for The Revival. They were there to be part of the story of Lashley and Reigns. That's it. I wouldn't be saying "They're getting a push!!!" yet.
- Bo Dallas impersonated his brother once again on TV. Highlight of the show thus far.
- Bayley attacking Sasha Banks... I wish I cared folks. I'm just done with the whole thing. Just let them fight and get it over with. The feud is beyond dead to me. If they get 15-20 minutes to try to recapture lightning in a bottle from their 2015 feud, I'll care more. I doubt that they get that chance.
- KO and Braun as a team was fun while it lasted. The match itself was a fun TV match, but I'll forget about it tomorrow. And Braun destroyed a car offscreen (wink).
- The main event was entertaining enough even though I think we all saw that ending coming a mile away. The Roman Reigns spot of him coming in to save his friend was, to me, just Roman getting some "Rollins-dust" (as Bruce Prichard would say) to help get himself more over.
SmackDown Live Thoughts
- It was supposed to be Nakamura vs. Hardy tonight, but a police dog apparently decided to bite Nakamura causing him to miss tonight's show. So many jokes based on Nakamura's character you could make: Shinsuke knows how to spay and neuter that dog. Just ask AJ Styles. The dog bit into him "strong style." Shinsuke must have did the pose and yelled "COME ON!!!" Nakamura said "YeaOH!". You can make your own jokes now. Speaking of jokes, The Miz is on TV now.
- The Miz was great on Miz TV in my eyes. He played a good chicken heel hosting two monster heels and stepping on eggshells the entire time to avoid being a victim of The Bludgeon Brothers. By the way, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are Tag Team Champions and are still underutilized in my eyes. Thankfully, they have something to do now.
- The New Day were collectively flinging pancakes at Aiden English while he did his Rusev Day schtick. Lol. Rusev wins a harmless, fun TV match which helps him look strong going into a guaranteed loss at Extreme Rules.
- Eric Young vs. Jeff Hardy was our consolation prize. Bad botch early with Eric and Jeff mistiming a Twist of Fate spot. They were able to get the crowd invested after the break, and The Usos came back looking for revenge from last week. Sanity vs. The Usos/Jeff Hardy was solid if hardly memorable except for Sanity already losing a match. I'm not a fan of that even if they had great heat during the match. First impressions are everything, and Sanity has already lost after two weeks on the main roster. That's not a good sign, no matter how you try to spin it.
- I'm getting mixed messages on the women's side. On one hand, you have Becky Lynch getting a good victory over Sonya Deville to continue her momentum towards an eventual Women's Championship match. On the other hand, you have James Ellsworth challenging Asuka for a match (granted, his character knew Asuka wasn't in the building), making chauvinistic remarks towards women, making sexual advances on the female General Manager, and being booked next week into a match with Asuka. So, WWE is saying they are for a Women's Revolution... while having an act that demeans women.
- We found Andrade Cien Almas. Remember when this guy was the talk of the wrestling world after NXT Takeover Philadelphia? Seems like a LONG time ago.
- I felt that Harper and Bryan had a good back and forth match. Both played their roles well: Bryan looking like the underdog refusing to give up, Harper playing the role of being the monster wanting to maul Bryan. I like and don't like the return of Team Hell No. On one hand, I liked Team Hell No in 2012-2013 during their run, but on the other hand, I see this as a step backwards for Bryan. Plus, with such a deep talent roster, this seems like another spot that could be given to a current member of the roster to help get them over. But I digress.
I think we're getting Miz vs. Bryan at SummerSlam along with Joe vs. Styles at this point. If Nakamura is healthy by then, we'll get Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy at SummerSlam too.
Overall, I felt Raw was the stronger of the two shows, but I was not a fan of either show overall. Raw just had a better solid 3rd hour compared to SmackDown's 2 hours of programming in my opinion. It was a forgettable week of WWE's TV programming in a week where their network programming was clearly set up to shine. (See WWE UK Championship Reviews I posted Monday and Tuesday and the NXT review below).
NXT Thoughts
- I love how NXT has smoke for Aleister Black's entrance, but the main roster has no pyrotechnics whatsoever. If you think Sanity's entrance suffers on the main roster, WAIT until Aleister Black gets no candles and no smoke. That being said, I love Aleister Black as NXT Champion. He still needs to work on his promo skills, but then again, if he can just be a silent assassin as a character, he may not need to work on it on the main roster.
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- AND HERE COMES TOMASSO CIAMPA, "THE SCOURGE OF NXT" as Mauro Ranallo calls him. I'm glad it looks like they're moving away from the Gargano feud. Good promo by Ciampa to set up the eventual match between the two.
- The announce team just said that Lars Sullivan wrestled half the match from Takeover with a broken jaw. Dang!
- Explain WWE Extreme Rules in 30 seconds. I can do it in 5. It's another show Brock Lesnar is skipping.
- Well, never mind Ciampa being done with Gargano. Gargano vows the feud is not over. Can you smell a Triple Threat match at Takeover?
- We were also supposed to get a Mustache Mountain match, but The Undisputed Era beat up their opponents before they could make it to the ring. Lol. They complained about what happened and threatened to beat up Mustache Mountain. But Ricochet came out to stop them. I SMELL A SIX MAN MATCH...
Which we get after the break! I think this was taped on Wednesday last week. So, if that holds up, the Undisputed Era and Mustache Mountain wrestled each other three times in a period of 3 days! That's old school NWA era work, folks.
ANOTHER PHENOMENAL MATCH THIS WEEK. Folks, if it has The Undisputed Era in the match from this week, you owe it to yourself to watch all the matches. They, along with British Strong Style, put on some AMAZING work this week. Add Ricochet to this formula and this match was no exception. Wow. I'm getting an Undisputed Era shirt sometime... Bay Bay!
ROH
TV Episode- 6/21/18- (Watched on Honor Club 6/28/18)
- From the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City
- Dalton Castle comes out with The Boys to cut a promo. It's funny. Dalton is walking in as champion, but he's the guy I think has the least chance of winning Friday. Dalton has worked really hard for his championship. If you don't believe me, just ask him. He says it multiple times.
- I'd like to go on the Rock and Rager Cruise with Chris Jericho. But arranging all that and missing out on work just didn't add up this year. Hopefully, sometime in the future if Jericho does this again and the timing is right, I can "sail away mannnnnnn!"
- Jay Lethal continues his "Avenge Every Loss" campaign against... Chuckie T. Yeah. That's Chuckie T, the guy who's Best Friends with Baretta. The match was not competitive in any way and too long considering the show should be doing more to set up the event Friday. Lethal has a match on that show; Chuckie T does not. Why is he getting so much time against Lethal? Don't get me wrong. This would be completely fine on a regular edition of the show or on a ROH Honor Club show. But it's doing nothing for your big event you are asking people to pay for.
- Punishment Martinez and The Briscoes take on The Young Bucks and Adam "Hangman" Page- See this is what I'm talking about? This is good booking here. Take two matches from the PPV and make a tag team match involving the two feuds for TV. That's captivating TV and makes for more build for the big event. Win-win. Adam Page is going to have a big G1 in my opinion. He won't win it, but I think his final score will be in the double digits (In my mock G1, I have him at 10, but he can easily be at 12 before all is said and done).
This is a very good TV match folks. You know it's been one of THOSE weeks when this is the 4th or 5th best match of the week because there have been so many awesome matches this week. The Young Bucks are still in my opinion the best tag team of this decade, and this type of work continues to prove that. Great job by all six men on the match, including a finish that looked out of the Steiner Bros. playbook (Steiners did something similar against the Beverly Bros. at Rumble 93 that I remember). It made me want to see Best in the World more than when I clicked on the episode. So, mission accomplished.
Overall, this was a good edition of the show based on the opening and the closing match. I was not a fan of the Lethal-Chuckie T match, but I will say that this was better to me than SmackDown was.
Overall Rankings for TV
1. NXT
2. Raw
3. ROH
4. SmackDown
Best Matches of the Week
1) The Undisputed Era vs. British Strong Style, UK Tournament Night 1
2) Mustache Mountain vs. The Undisputed Era, UK Tournament Night 2
3) Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson, UK Tournament Night 2
4) The Undisputed Era vs. Mustache Mountain/Ricochet, NXT
5) The Young Bucks/Hangman Page vs. The Briscoes/Punishment Martinez, ROH
Honorable Mention: Ricochet/Aleister Black vs. EC3/Velveteen Dream, UK Tournament Night 2
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<<Rewind(s)<<
You may be saying to yourself "Ok. So, what's the deal here? Why are there two Rewinds after only 3 weeks of doing this? This guy's nuts." Well, ok. First, I'm not crazy. My mother had me tested. (Shoutout to Big Bang Theory fans.) But the fact is simple: We lost Leon White/Vader last week. And I wanted to do a special match for him. In my haste of doing that, I forgot that this (June 28th) is the 20th Anniversary of one of the biggest matches to ever happen in the wrestling world. So, I'm cheating this week: You are getting two. If you don't like it, complain below. But I think you will be happy given the choices you have to look at. So, without further ado, it's time for the first ever DOUBLE REWIND <<.
- << Rewind Match #1 << - This week's match takes us back to The Great American Bash 1992. The WCW World Heavyweight Championship is on the line. The champion, The Man They Call Sting, takes on the challenger, Big Van Vader. You can find this match on WWE Network on either the Great American Bash PPV or on the newly released Vader collection.
One thing that I should say to start off: Vader and Sting were made in these matches against one another, and it's evident that they had great chemistry. They both sold each other's moves enough to both protect their character and not go over the top (cough Shawn Michaels cough). They made each other look great. And here's a shock in today's age: The announcers helped make the wrestlers look great as well. Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura were both on their game for this match. Ventura, being unbiased yet showing the heel perspective, and Ross, putting over the pain, effort, and accomplishments of Sting even in a losing effort, added so much to this match that I couldn't imagine another announce team doing this match any better. Great, great match! Check this out on WWE Network.
- << Rewind Match #2 <<- Skip ahead a few years to June 28th, 1998. It's in the old Igloo (also known as Pittsburgh Civic Arena and the Mellon Arena). It's King of the Ring 1998 at the height of the Attitude Era. Stone Cold Steve Austin has shirts in every department store in America. WWF has seen a resurgence on the backs of the popularity of the Austin vs. McMahon feud, D-Generation X, and the ongoing Monday Night Wars against WCW. It's the King of the Ring Tournament dominating the undercard with 3 big matches to determine who the 1998 King of the Ring is. But there are two main events: Stone Cold vs. Kane in a First Blood Match for the WWF Championship with Kane promising to set himself on fire if he loses. But before that, we get our first main event: Mankind (recently adopting the corporate attire his character would be known for in the Attitude Era) taking on The Undertaker (who recently made it clear he wants the WWF Championship and was robbed of said opportunity thanks to Mankind distracting him in a match against Kane) inside HELL IN A CELL.
Folks, from this point, if you haven't seen this match, stop reading this. Find clips on YouTube, pop in a DVD, or watch the match on WWE Network. I'll never forget watching the match and seeing Taker throw Mankind off Hell in a Cell. I remember yelling to my dad to come to the Magnavox cabinet TV in my room to see Foley's fall replay on the TV. Now, my Dad, a wrestling fan himself, was used to my exaggeration (or WWF's exaggeration). And he came in with the "Oh, yeah. Right. Sure, son. I'll come in here just to placate you" look. But I'll never forget the jaw drop he had when he watched the replays. "He's dead," my father said. "He's dead." To me, that Hell in a Cell is like a religious experience. There's before you've seen the match. And then there's after you have witnessed it. It's not only the greatest Hell in a Cell match ever for sheer spectacle alone and the story of Foley getting thrown off and through the cage, being unconscious for a minute, and still doing the hardcore action inside the Cell when he came to. It's also the moment that I believe WCW and ECW basically had to throw up their hands and say "Game Over." How can you top that? Answer: You can't. And no one should ever try. If you haven't seen the match by now, do it now. And anyone with any personal stories about this match, share below whether you watched the match as it happened or saw it later after it happened.
So, again, two matches this week to check out. Vader vs. Sting- WCW Great American Bash 1992 and Mankind vs. The Undertaker- King of the Ring 1998.
Next Week's Rewind Clue: Living Dangerously with Robbie V and Mr. JL.
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Podcast of the Week (and Book Review To Go With It)
This week's Podcast of the Week comes from POST Wrestling (a website I am proud to say I am a PATREON member of). They have began a new series every Saturday "Eggshells" which is hosted by Chris Charlton who is also releasing a book of the same name in July. The podcast will be a weekly 30 plus week podcast recapping the big events that happened at the Tokyo Dome each year. But one of the great things Charlton does in his podcast is give you a bigger cultural perspective at what's happening in Japan (big political events, what was the hot toy that year, what were they selling on commercials, etc). Each week, he's going to have a new co-host to help guide the audience through the year. So, again, you can listen to this by going to POST WRESTLING on your favorite podcast app or postwrestling.com. I highly recommend it.
Book Recommendation: This week, I read Charlton's book "Lion's Pride" which is a look at the history of Japanese wrestling especially New Japan Pro Wrestling. It's a great, quick read (or at least it was quick for me). There's a lot of great information on the origins of Japan's wrestling, the beginnings of NJPW with Inoki at the helm, Inoki's greatest accomplishments and failures as president of the company, and background and history of the biggest stars of the company. It's $4.99 (as of 6/25 anyways) on Amazon's Kindle service and is worth every cent in my personal opinion.
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Wrap-Up
I want to thank you all again for checking out the website and this post. For those of you wanting more on the Ring of Honor Best in the World show coming up Friday, my predictions were posted earlier this week. Check that out. For those of you wanting my thoughts on the WWE UK Championship Tournament, I posted my thoughts on each show earlier this week as well.
Coming up Saturday, I'll be posting my live thoughts on Best in the World. Then, Sunday, my plan is to follow through on the best "super heavyweights" in wrestling. (I'm talking Super Heavyweights, not giants per se. Though someone like Andre the Giant may fit in that category since he was both a Giant and Super Heavyweight.)
Until next time, take care of yourselves and spread some awesomeness.
WWE/NXT
Raw Thoughts
- Kurt Angle and Baron Corbin, the Bald Eagles of Raw, come out. Baron Corbin directs the announcer to announce him as "The Guy Who Is Still Shockingly Employed by WWE." Roman Reigns comes out to say "I'm The Guy Who Is Only Here To Get Paid. What are my lines again?" Lashley comes out to say "Remember my sisters? Dang it. I wasn't supposed to bring that back up."
Ok. Serious face time. Lashley says Roman needed to move on after 3 years of failing. Roman says Lashley moved on and failed ten years ago. Roman has been here every day, dang it, and he wants his title now. (Wah! Wah! Wah!) Lashley argues if Brock had someone different to face, maybe he'd show up. (Yawn!) Kurt suggests taking a match between Lashley and Reigns under advisement as the multi-man match is officially "off the table." The Revival come out to job again this week, and Baron Corbin says "Yeah, sure. Let's see them lose again."
- And... The Revival win? Ok Tag Team Match, if not entertaining. It's not like The Revival are going to get anything from that victory. Seeing Roman get pinned was surprising, but in context, it's not going to lead to anything major for The Revival. They were there to be part of the story of Lashley and Reigns. That's it. I wouldn't be saying "They're getting a push!!!" yet.
- Bo Dallas impersonated his brother once again on TV. Highlight of the show thus far.
- Bayley attacking Sasha Banks... I wish I cared folks. I'm just done with the whole thing. Just let them fight and get it over with. The feud is beyond dead to me. If they get 15-20 minutes to try to recapture lightning in a bottle from their 2015 feud, I'll care more. I doubt that they get that chance.
- KO and Braun as a team was fun while it lasted. The match itself was a fun TV match, but I'll forget about it tomorrow. And Braun destroyed a car offscreen (wink).
- The main event was entertaining enough even though I think we all saw that ending coming a mile away. The Roman Reigns spot of him coming in to save his friend was, to me, just Roman getting some "Rollins-dust" (as Bruce Prichard would say) to help get himself more over.
SmackDown Live Thoughts
- It was supposed to be Nakamura vs. Hardy tonight, but a police dog apparently decided to bite Nakamura causing him to miss tonight's show. So many jokes based on Nakamura's character you could make: Shinsuke knows how to spay and neuter that dog. Just ask AJ Styles. The dog bit into him "strong style." Shinsuke must have did the pose and yelled "COME ON!!!" Nakamura said "YeaOH!". You can make your own jokes now. Speaking of jokes, The Miz is on TV now.
- The Miz was great on Miz TV in my eyes. He played a good chicken heel hosting two monster heels and stepping on eggshells the entire time to avoid being a victim of The Bludgeon Brothers. By the way, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are Tag Team Champions and are still underutilized in my eyes. Thankfully, they have something to do now.
- The New Day were collectively flinging pancakes at Aiden English while he did his Rusev Day schtick. Lol. Rusev wins a harmless, fun TV match which helps him look strong going into a guaranteed loss at Extreme Rules.
- Eric Young vs. Jeff Hardy was our consolation prize. Bad botch early with Eric and Jeff mistiming a Twist of Fate spot. They were able to get the crowd invested after the break, and The Usos came back looking for revenge from last week. Sanity vs. The Usos/Jeff Hardy was solid if hardly memorable except for Sanity already losing a match. I'm not a fan of that even if they had great heat during the match. First impressions are everything, and Sanity has already lost after two weeks on the main roster. That's not a good sign, no matter how you try to spin it.
- I'm getting mixed messages on the women's side. On one hand, you have Becky Lynch getting a good victory over Sonya Deville to continue her momentum towards an eventual Women's Championship match. On the other hand, you have James Ellsworth challenging Asuka for a match (granted, his character knew Asuka wasn't in the building), making chauvinistic remarks towards women, making sexual advances on the female General Manager, and being booked next week into a match with Asuka. So, WWE is saying they are for a Women's Revolution... while having an act that demeans women.
- We found Andrade Cien Almas. Remember when this guy was the talk of the wrestling world after NXT Takeover Philadelphia? Seems like a LONG time ago.
- I felt that Harper and Bryan had a good back and forth match. Both played their roles well: Bryan looking like the underdog refusing to give up, Harper playing the role of being the monster wanting to maul Bryan. I like and don't like the return of Team Hell No. On one hand, I liked Team Hell No in 2012-2013 during their run, but on the other hand, I see this as a step backwards for Bryan. Plus, with such a deep talent roster, this seems like another spot that could be given to a current member of the roster to help get them over. But I digress.
I think we're getting Miz vs. Bryan at SummerSlam along with Joe vs. Styles at this point. If Nakamura is healthy by then, we'll get Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy at SummerSlam too.
Overall, I felt Raw was the stronger of the two shows, but I was not a fan of either show overall. Raw just had a better solid 3rd hour compared to SmackDown's 2 hours of programming in my opinion. It was a forgettable week of WWE's TV programming in a week where their network programming was clearly set up to shine. (See WWE UK Championship Reviews I posted Monday and Tuesday and the NXT review below).
NXT Thoughts
- I love how NXT has smoke for Aleister Black's entrance, but the main roster has no pyrotechnics whatsoever. If you think Sanity's entrance suffers on the main roster, WAIT until Aleister Black gets no candles and no smoke. That being said, I love Aleister Black as NXT Champion. He still needs to work on his promo skills, but then again, if he can just be a silent assassin as a character, he may not need to work on it on the main roster.
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- AND HERE COMES TOMASSO CIAMPA, "THE SCOURGE OF NXT" as Mauro Ranallo calls him. I'm glad it looks like they're moving away from the Gargano feud. Good promo by Ciampa to set up the eventual match between the two.
- The announce team just said that Lars Sullivan wrestled half the match from Takeover with a broken jaw. Dang!
- Explain WWE Extreme Rules in 30 seconds. I can do it in 5. It's another show Brock Lesnar is skipping.
- Well, never mind Ciampa being done with Gargano. Gargano vows the feud is not over. Can you smell a Triple Threat match at Takeover?
- We were also supposed to get a Mustache Mountain match, but The Undisputed Era beat up their opponents before they could make it to the ring. Lol. They complained about what happened and threatened to beat up Mustache Mountain. But Ricochet came out to stop them. I SMELL A SIX MAN MATCH...
Which we get after the break! I think this was taped on Wednesday last week. So, if that holds up, the Undisputed Era and Mustache Mountain wrestled each other three times in a period of 3 days! That's old school NWA era work, folks.
ANOTHER PHENOMENAL MATCH THIS WEEK. Folks, if it has The Undisputed Era in the match from this week, you owe it to yourself to watch all the matches. They, along with British Strong Style, put on some AMAZING work this week. Add Ricochet to this formula and this match was no exception. Wow. I'm getting an Undisputed Era shirt sometime... Bay Bay!
ROH
TV Episode- 6/21/18- (Watched on Honor Club 6/28/18)
- From the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City
- Dalton Castle comes out with The Boys to cut a promo. It's funny. Dalton is walking in as champion, but he's the guy I think has the least chance of winning Friday. Dalton has worked really hard for his championship. If you don't believe me, just ask him. He says it multiple times.
- I'd like to go on the Rock and Rager Cruise with Chris Jericho. But arranging all that and missing out on work just didn't add up this year. Hopefully, sometime in the future if Jericho does this again and the timing is right, I can "sail away mannnnnnn!"
- Jay Lethal continues his "Avenge Every Loss" campaign against... Chuckie T. Yeah. That's Chuckie T, the guy who's Best Friends with Baretta. The match was not competitive in any way and too long considering the show should be doing more to set up the event Friday. Lethal has a match on that show; Chuckie T does not. Why is he getting so much time against Lethal? Don't get me wrong. This would be completely fine on a regular edition of the show or on a ROH Honor Club show. But it's doing nothing for your big event you are asking people to pay for.
- Punishment Martinez and The Briscoes take on The Young Bucks and Adam "Hangman" Page- See this is what I'm talking about? This is good booking here. Take two matches from the PPV and make a tag team match involving the two feuds for TV. That's captivating TV and makes for more build for the big event. Win-win. Adam Page is going to have a big G1 in my opinion. He won't win it, but I think his final score will be in the double digits (In my mock G1, I have him at 10, but he can easily be at 12 before all is said and done).
This is a very good TV match folks. You know it's been one of THOSE weeks when this is the 4th or 5th best match of the week because there have been so many awesome matches this week. The Young Bucks are still in my opinion the best tag team of this decade, and this type of work continues to prove that. Great job by all six men on the match, including a finish that looked out of the Steiner Bros. playbook (Steiners did something similar against the Beverly Bros. at Rumble 93 that I remember). It made me want to see Best in the World more than when I clicked on the episode. So, mission accomplished.
Overall, this was a good edition of the show based on the opening and the closing match. I was not a fan of the Lethal-Chuckie T match, but I will say that this was better to me than SmackDown was.
Overall Rankings for TV
1. NXT
2. Raw
3. ROH
4. SmackDown
Best Matches of the Week
1) The Undisputed Era vs. British Strong Style, UK Tournament Night 1
2) Mustache Mountain vs. The Undisputed Era, UK Tournament Night 2
3) Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson, UK Tournament Night 2
4) The Undisputed Era vs. Mustache Mountain/Ricochet, NXT
5) The Young Bucks/Hangman Page vs. The Briscoes/Punishment Martinez, ROH
Honorable Mention: Ricochet/Aleister Black vs. EC3/Velveteen Dream, UK Tournament Night 2
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<<Rewind(s)<<
You may be saying to yourself "Ok. So, what's the deal here? Why are there two Rewinds after only 3 weeks of doing this? This guy's nuts." Well, ok. First, I'm not crazy. My mother had me tested. (Shoutout to Big Bang Theory fans.) But the fact is simple: We lost Leon White/Vader last week. And I wanted to do a special match for him. In my haste of doing that, I forgot that this (June 28th) is the 20th Anniversary of one of the biggest matches to ever happen in the wrestling world. So, I'm cheating this week: You are getting two. If you don't like it, complain below. But I think you will be happy given the choices you have to look at. So, without further ado, it's time for the first ever DOUBLE REWIND <<.
- << Rewind Match #1 << - This week's match takes us back to The Great American Bash 1992. The WCW World Heavyweight Championship is on the line. The champion, The Man They Call Sting, takes on the challenger, Big Van Vader. You can find this match on WWE Network on either the Great American Bash PPV or on the newly released Vader collection.
One thing that I should say to start off: Vader and Sting were made in these matches against one another, and it's evident that they had great chemistry. They both sold each other's moves enough to both protect their character and not go over the top (cough Shawn Michaels cough). They made each other look great. And here's a shock in today's age: The announcers helped make the wrestlers look great as well. Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura were both on their game for this match. Ventura, being unbiased yet showing the heel perspective, and Ross, putting over the pain, effort, and accomplishments of Sting even in a losing effort, added so much to this match that I couldn't imagine another announce team doing this match any better. Great, great match! Check this out on WWE Network.
- << Rewind Match #2 <<- Skip ahead a few years to June 28th, 1998. It's in the old Igloo (also known as Pittsburgh Civic Arena and the Mellon Arena). It's King of the Ring 1998 at the height of the Attitude Era. Stone Cold Steve Austin has shirts in every department store in America. WWF has seen a resurgence on the backs of the popularity of the Austin vs. McMahon feud, D-Generation X, and the ongoing Monday Night Wars against WCW. It's the King of the Ring Tournament dominating the undercard with 3 big matches to determine who the 1998 King of the Ring is. But there are two main events: Stone Cold vs. Kane in a First Blood Match for the WWF Championship with Kane promising to set himself on fire if he loses. But before that, we get our first main event: Mankind (recently adopting the corporate attire his character would be known for in the Attitude Era) taking on The Undertaker (who recently made it clear he wants the WWF Championship and was robbed of said opportunity thanks to Mankind distracting him in a match against Kane) inside HELL IN A CELL.
Folks, from this point, if you haven't seen this match, stop reading this. Find clips on YouTube, pop in a DVD, or watch the match on WWE Network. I'll never forget watching the match and seeing Taker throw Mankind off Hell in a Cell. I remember yelling to my dad to come to the Magnavox cabinet TV in my room to see Foley's fall replay on the TV. Now, my Dad, a wrestling fan himself, was used to my exaggeration (or WWF's exaggeration). And he came in with the "Oh, yeah. Right. Sure, son. I'll come in here just to placate you" look. But I'll never forget the jaw drop he had when he watched the replays. "He's dead," my father said. "He's dead." To me, that Hell in a Cell is like a religious experience. There's before you've seen the match. And then there's after you have witnessed it. It's not only the greatest Hell in a Cell match ever for sheer spectacle alone and the story of Foley getting thrown off and through the cage, being unconscious for a minute, and still doing the hardcore action inside the Cell when he came to. It's also the moment that I believe WCW and ECW basically had to throw up their hands and say "Game Over." How can you top that? Answer: You can't. And no one should ever try. If you haven't seen the match by now, do it now. And anyone with any personal stories about this match, share below whether you watched the match as it happened or saw it later after it happened.
So, again, two matches this week to check out. Vader vs. Sting- WCW Great American Bash 1992 and Mankind vs. The Undertaker- King of the Ring 1998.
Next Week's Rewind Clue: Living Dangerously with Robbie V and Mr. JL.
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Podcast of the Week (and Book Review To Go With It)
This week's Podcast of the Week comes from POST Wrestling (a website I am proud to say I am a PATREON member of). They have began a new series every Saturday "Eggshells" which is hosted by Chris Charlton who is also releasing a book of the same name in July. The podcast will be a weekly 30 plus week podcast recapping the big events that happened at the Tokyo Dome each year. But one of the great things Charlton does in his podcast is give you a bigger cultural perspective at what's happening in Japan (big political events, what was the hot toy that year, what were they selling on commercials, etc). Each week, he's going to have a new co-host to help guide the audience through the year. So, again, you can listen to this by going to POST WRESTLING on your favorite podcast app or postwrestling.com. I highly recommend it.
Book Recommendation: This week, I read Charlton's book "Lion's Pride" which is a look at the history of Japanese wrestling especially New Japan Pro Wrestling. It's a great, quick read (or at least it was quick for me). There's a lot of great information on the origins of Japan's wrestling, the beginnings of NJPW with Inoki at the helm, Inoki's greatest accomplishments and failures as president of the company, and background and history of the biggest stars of the company. It's $4.99 (as of 6/25 anyways) on Amazon's Kindle service and is worth every cent in my personal opinion.
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Wrap-Up
I want to thank you all again for checking out the website and this post. For those of you wanting more on the Ring of Honor Best in the World show coming up Friday, my predictions were posted earlier this week. Check that out. For those of you wanting my thoughts on the WWE UK Championship Tournament, I posted my thoughts on each show earlier this week as well.
Coming up Saturday, I'll be posting my live thoughts on Best in the World. Then, Sunday, my plan is to follow through on the best "super heavyweights" in wrestling. (I'm talking Super Heavyweights, not giants per se. Though someone like Andre the Giant may fit in that category since he was both a Giant and Super Heavyweight.)
Until next time, take care of yourselves and spread some awesomeness.
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