WWF In Your House XI: Buried Alive Review

Happy Halloween Everybody and what better show to review on Halloween than this?

Stone Cold Steve Austin def. Hunter Hearst Helmsley(15:30)
Thoughts: Sometimes, us wrestling fans can get really lucky and here is such an occasion. Austin was originally supposed to face Savio Vega, in anticipation of facing Bret Hart. Instead, Vega got injured, so Helmsley is a last-second substitute. Yes, there was a time when someone had to get injured in order for Helmsley to get a shot on PPV. Their match here isn't anywhere as good as their match from No Way Out 2001, but I'll give it this: it was much better than their Survivor Series 2000 match. The best part was the ending to the match. Hunter avoids a charge but gets cocky and plays to the crowd, so Austin stalks him and gives him a Stunner for the win. I just get a laugh out of that.
Rating: ***1/4

WWF Tag Team Championship
Owen Hart & The British Bulldog(c) def. The Smoking Gunns(9:15)
Thoughts: Sunny left the Godwinns for the Smoking Gunns when the Gunns won the tag titles, then dumped the Gunns when the lost to Owen and Bulldog. Billy, who was PG-13 poking her, got upset and started a heel turn, putting a strain on the team. The finish sees Davey Boy break up the Sidewinder (Demolition Decapitation with a Legdrop) and Owen finishes Billy with a spinning wheel kick. This was another odd case, like the opener, of virtually everyone in the match being a heel except Bart, who gets booed for being a dunce.
Rating: **1/2

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Marc Mero(c) def. Goldust(11:37)
Thoughts: There's not really too much to comment on here. It's just usual banter with Goldust playing mind games on Mero. Honestly, it's a pretty good match, so much so that I find it hard to make some kind of joke in it. The finish sees Mr. Perfect(who was out at the commentary table to replace JR.)
leaves the announce position, so Hunter Hearst Helmsley comes out to argue with him for a bit. Goldust tries to interfere and takes a shot from Perfect. Back in, Mero hits a Samoan Drop that sets up the Wild Thing. Mero looked great here, but injuries would derail his career shortly after this (despite what Mick Foley might tell you)
Rating: ***1/4

Number 1 Contender's Match
Sycho Sid def. Vader(8:01)
Thoughts: If I actually cared about the WWF during 1996, I would've been excited to see this match. Best part is that HBK is out here on commentary and goes all tweener during most of the match. Oh and if ever there was a bad idea, it was “Basic Instinct 2,” but if there was a second place finish, it would be picking up a man named Sycho Sid. Sid avoids the pump splash and crotches Cornette as he tries to interfere. He stops to go for the powerbomb, but Vader goes low and tries his own. Sid blocks the powerbomb and finishes with a chokeslam. Good match and fairly short at 8 minutes and most surprisingly, it didn't suck.
Rating: ***

Main Event: Buried Alive Match
The Undertaker def. Mankind(15:23)
Thoughts: The two pick up where they left off at Summerslam and start brawling. There's not too much to comment on that you can't see for yourself since this match is on the Best of In Your House DVD. What I will talk about is the ending. After Taker wins the match after shovelling a little bit of dirt on Mankind, he KO's the ref and continues burying Mankind. That is, until The Executioner (Terry Gordy) runs out and hits Taker with a shovel. Mankind and Gordy then commence to burying the Undertaker alive. A plethora of other heels join in until the Undertaker is completely buried. Even Triple H is there, doing manual labor, which is out-of-character for him. Just when they have him buried, though, lightning strikes the grave, and the Undertaker’s hand shoots out of the dirt. Not quite as good as their boiler room brawl match, but still an awesome match and a great way to end the show.
Rating: ****

                                               Final Rating:
                                               3.20 out of 5

 

WWE Night of Champions 2014 Review

WWE Tag Team Championship
The Dust Brothers def. The Usos(c)(12:49)
Thoughts: I hated how the Usos pretty much got ignored during August, so it's nice to see them get some attention during September during their feud with the Dust Bros. This was a really good match to start off the PPV. One of my favourite moments was
where Jey Uso got revenge for the knee injury and just snapped and started to work over Stardust’s knee like a wild man. It's always nice to see that kind of continuity. Sure, the match started slow and then got into gear with a series of near falls and dives late. Stardust countered the top rope splash with knees, and got a roll up with the tights for the win. Like I said, damn good way to start the show. Not the best work from either team, but it was still a good opener with the Dust Bros. treating the titles like they meant something and the Usos selling

devastation with losing the titles.

Rating: ***1/4 

WWE United States Championship

Sheamus(c) def. Cesaro(13:21)

Thoughts: The funny thing is that with guys like this, they don’t need a story. They are big dudes that like to kick ass; so just book them as wanting to be the better man and they can do all of the work for you. Plus that works perfectly as the polar opposite of what they are doing with Miz and Ziggler. It broke down, in the best way possible, to them just beating the hell out of each other. Sheamus, who took a ton from Cesaro, got the desperation brogue kick and retained the title. Overall another good match here and better than the opener. While Cesaro lost, he loses nothing from a match like this. I still feel these guys have a better match in them (not that this was bad) because their styles mesh so well.

Rating: ***3/4

WWE Intercontinental Championship

The Miz def. Dolph Ziggler(c)(9:18)

Thoughts: Well, 1st off, we have Sandow and Truth out here. Next, we have awful commentary. To make matters worse and with Florida Georgia Line it actually got worse. Sandow got involved, and Florida Georgia Line got involved, leading to Truth chasing him off. Miz of course works the figure four with no work on the leg, because that’s what he does. Sandow returned and distracted Ziggler, leading to Miz regaining the title. The match was generally fine, but the horrible commentary and extra curricular activities did nothing to help and only hurt the match. While the booking is questionable, at least the US Title match felt important. I am pretty sure that the IC Title has never meant less, especially with Ziggler getting it back on the following Raw

Rating: **

Ruzev def. Mark Henry(8:26)

Thoughts: They had Lilian Garcia sing the national anthem, setting the stage and hopefully getting the crowd deeply invested in Henry’s cause. More of a brawl than a match early on, which I felt worked well for the feud and the guys working it. I didn’t want to see a grappling bout between them. Rusev worked the back of Henry most of the time (after slamming him to the steps), Henry did manage to hit the world’s strongest slam, but Rusev would roll to the floor to escape. Rusev went over strong, and more definitively than I thought, and that’s a good thing. Not a good match, but Rusev’s strong booking is more important in some ways

Rating: *1/2

Randy Orton def. Chris Jericho(16:15)

Thoughts: WWE finally realized what everyone did, that Jericho and Wyatt weren’t working well together, so they ended that on Raw and transitioned to this for the PPV. Hopefully, the two can wrestle again later because they can have a great match. Orton and Jericho went out here and did exactly as I expected them to do. The finish saw Jericho stand on top for 5-minuts or so, and then jumped into an RKO for the finish. This was an overall good match, they work very well together, they played to the crowd and they delivered the right finish, but had a few good teases that made the live crowd believe that Jericho may win.

Rating: ***1/2

Triple Threat Match: WWE Divas Championship

AJ Lee def. Paige(c) and Nikki Bella(8:45)

Thoughts: I don't understand why people went into this match thinking Nikki would win here. Her feud with doesn't need the Diva's title. Unlike the AJ/Paige feud, which DOES need the title because that's the whole point of the feud. Anyway, this was actually not a bad match, they even worked in a tower of doom spot. What's surprising is that AJ wins here, giving us the fourth title change since April and I have to ask this: why give AJ the title back when Paige only just won it a month prior. I don’t have an issue with the ladies; I have an issue with the booking because they haven’t done anything to make me care about these two. I think we had high hopes when Paige and AJ were set to feud, but the storytelling has just been poor.

Rating: **1/2

Main Event: WWE Championship

John Cena def. Brock Lesnar(c) via DQ(14:15)

Thoughts: Well, it wasn't the complete ass whupping Cena got at Summerslam. They did what I hoped they would do and mirrored the beginning of the Summerslam match, only with Cena hitting his finish in the first minute. While Cena did get more offense in here, Brock still nailed with an array of suplexes, strikes and the kimura. Cena git Lesnar with 4 AA's in this match and it just when he's about to win, Seth Rollins comes in and whacks Cena with his MITB briefcase, causing the DQ. Then Rollins hits Lesnar with the Curb Stomp and is about to cash in when Cena comes in and stops him from doing so. Much like last month, a very physical and different style than the average WWE match. What they are doing works so well for Lesnar, as the guy looks like an absolute beast. I liked the match more than I did their Summerslam match. The finish on the other hand, I hated that. I have never been and likely never will be a fan of finishes like that on PPV, especially in the main event. It just took away from what they did in the ring and needed the night on a sour note.

Rating: ***1/2

                         Final Rating for Night of Champions 2014

                                               2.86 out of 5

WWF In Your House X: Mind Games Review

Caribbean Strap Match
Savio Vega def. Justin Bradshaw(7:09)
Thoughts: This match was set up on the Free-For-All when Bradshaw came out and performs the 1st shoot of the night, this one on Vince for not letting on the PPV, then attacked Vega after his match against Marty Jannetty, so here we are. Here's the 2nd shoot: They brawl to the floor where ECW’s Sandman spits beer on Savio’s back. It turns out Sandman and Tommy Dreamer are trying to jump the rail to get on camera. Security has to cart them off. To their credit, Savio and Bradshaw play it like a shoot. Taz would show up the following night on Raw, though, confirming a working relationship between the WWF and ECW. The match itself proves that Bradshaw was no Steve Austin at this point. The match was mostly overshadowed by the ECW angle too.
Rating: *1/2

Jose Lothario def. Jim Cornette(0:57)

Thoughts: Oy. This is an extension of the feud between Shawn Michaels and Camp Cornette. The fact that both guys come out to their superstars music (Lothario comes out to “Sexy Boy,” Cornette to Vader’s lumbering tune.) is the most entertaining part of the match. Lothario finishes Cornette with a hard right. Too short to be overly offensive.
Rating: DUD

WWF Tag Team Championship
Owen Hart & The British Bulldog def. The Smoking Gunns(c)(10:59)
Thoughts: Both teams are heels here, which you’d think would be fine in Philly, but this match has no heat. Sunny has heat, especially when she pouts over the moustache someone drew on her giant poster. Owen and Billy actually do some nice stuff. Here's another shoot: Vince is ranting about the heels, prompting Jim Ross to say he should give them the benefit of the doubt since Vince got the benefit of the doubt when he was indicted. Ha ha! SNAP! The match ends with Billy(who is basically DX Billy at this point) stopping  to chat up Sunny, allowing Bulldog to shove Bart into him. Billy shoves Bart back, allowing Bulldog to powerslam him for the win. Sunny, true to form, dumps the Gunns after the loss. This would trigger the breakup of the Gunns, and would have led to a big singles push for Billy, but he pissed off the office and wound up with the silly “Rockabilly” gimmick. In a funny-if-true story, the Honky Tonk Man originally pitched that gimmick for — who else — the Rock! Overall, not bad, but nothing special.
Rating: **1/4

Mark Henry def. Jerry Lawler(5:13) Thoughts: Henry is making his debut, and isn’t this just the perfect city for it?! Vince says Henry doesn’t have the technique down yet. Yeah, I mean, can you imagine how good this guy will be when he gets 10 years under his belt?! Lawler walks him through the match, doing the same basic match that he did against the Junkyard Dog. Henry starts no-selling and finishes with a Canadian Backbreaker. Henry also takes out Leif Cassidy, Marty Janetty and Hunter Hearst Helmsley before getting his own pyro display. So yeah, take that, Eric Bischoff! Rating: *

Final Curtain Match
The Undertaker def. Goldust(10:23)
Thoughts: “Final Curtain” just means that there *must* be a winner, and it *must* be the Undertaker. This is the end of the semi-feud between these two that served as the B-story (to take a term Goldust would appreciate) to the Mankind versus Taker feud. Taker destroys Goldust early and picks up Marlena because she’s been getting involved. That allows Goldust to toss gold dust in his eyes. That’s the end of the entertaining portion of the match as the rest is all punching and kicking by Goldust. He gets two off a powerslam, but the Undertaker sits up. Goldust goes up top, but Taker catches him and chokeslams him all the way to the mat. The Tombstone finishes Goldust. Overall, not bad, but for the most part, boring.
Rating: **1/2

 

Main Event: WWF Championship
Shawn Michaels(c) def. Mankind via DQ(26:25)
Thoughts: This match is one everyone has to see at least once; it's easily Mick Foley's best non-gimmick match. There's some damn good spots, from the Cactus Clothesline, to Shawn flying over the Spanish announce table and tackling Mankind to the floor, to the two going through the Spanish announce table. They both stagger to the ring, and Mankind climbs the ropes with a chair in hand. Shawn kicks it right back in his face and covers, but Vader runs down to interfere for the DQ. Sycho Sid runs down to chase Vader to the back. Mankind and Bearer try to seal Shawn in the casket, but the Undertaker is in there and winds up destroying Mankind to set up another match between them. Probably the most smartly booked match since Piper-Bret at WrestleMania VIII. I wish they had the ability to book things like this one a consistent basis throughout 1996. Easy MOTYC in a series of them for Shawn in 1996.
Rating: ****3/4

                                             Final Rating:
                                     2 out of 5