It was kind of a weird ending. Jericho didn't hit Benoit with the title, Benoit just landed near the title while hitting the Diving Headbutt. And the referee stopped the match and disqualified Jericho for some reason. JR tried to cover for it by saying the referee disqualified Jericho for hitting him with a Forearm, but that had happened too far back in the match to make sense.Originally Posted by Atty
Averaging 23 posts a day for 15 years... that, mate, is impressive.
Benoit had an actual broken nose...
Like Law said it was the weird ending. Had nothing to do with wanting to see Benoit win or Jericho win or a draw, it was the way the match ended.
This marked the second consecutive year where Backlash served as the "real" WrestleMania. Awesome show top to bottom.
Very true. I remember being frustrated with how much better Rock v. Austin was at Backlash 1999 and how Triple H v. The Rock in 2000 should've been the headliner at WM 16.
WCW Chi-Town Rumble 1989
A strong card highlighted by an all-time classic from Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat in the main event.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...n-rumble-1989/
Great reviews man. I hope the blog is receiving a lot of hits.
Gem of the Week: Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger (SuperBrawl 1992)
This will be the first in a weekly series in which I highlight some lesser known matches in wrestling history. This is a great one that deserves to be mentioned as one of the best American matches ever, but comes from an obscure period for WCW. Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger in their athletic primes battling on the second WCW SuperBrawl.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...-jushin-liger/
[CENTER]WWE Extreme Rules 2012
Let's journey back just three years, when Brock Lesnar had only just returned to WWE and none of us really knew what to expect from him. And when Daniel Bryan was starting to get over with his "Yes!" chant, and no one knew how far he could go with it. And when Dolph Ziggler got squashed by Brodus Clay. Actually, we'd probably prefer not to remember that. And when Randy Orton and Kane were really fucking boring. Well, some things just never change.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/wwe-extreme-rules-2012/
Last edited by The Law; April 21st, 2015 at 10:00 AM.
I haven't read the review yet but that lead in gets 5 stars.
That might be the worst finish for a match I can think of.
Last edited by Andy; April 21st, 2015 at 9:00 AM.
Eh... 5 out of 5 is a little generous in my opinion. I would rate this match a 4 out of 5. Great match. Very nice brawl. It was a breath of fresh air in a PG era. The wrong man went over, that is obvious.
I can see why you would rate this as a perfect match though.
Easy ***** from me, love it so much. Possibly my WWE MOTD as things stand.
If Brock had kicked out, pummeled Cena for another minute and pinned him or had the ref stop it, it would be five stars for me. As it was they did such damage to Brock in the first 18 months that they had to have him beat the Streak to get that back. So so stupid.
That link doesn't work for me
Not working for me, either.
Damn right. People hate on the finish, but no one seems to think of the psychology behind Cena only being able to beat Lesnar by SMASHING HIS FACE IN WITH A CHAIN AS THE 300+ POUNDER FLEW OVER THE TOP ROPE. It's not like he just pinned him clean, 1-2-3 or made him tap (hhh).
I can see both arguments for the result but personally would have preferred Brock. That said, if Cena had to win, the finish was very smart and I still like it. Remember thinking that even in defeat Brock looked so much stronger than anyone else on the roster.
Brock looked incredible in that match. I'll never forget the sight of Brock fucking up his leg, shaking it off, and just laughing like "nothing can hurt me".
Terrifying bump as well. Mad man.
But Cena had been destroyed for like 20 minutes and it was sustained and brutal. This wasn't a normal match where a hit with a weapon takes someone down and it makes perfect sense, this was the first time in years we'd seen something like this. It probably didn't help that Brock busted Cena open and took that unreal spill over the top rope and laughed about it. They established him as an absolute monster in the space of one match and killed it at the same time. Brock should not have lost that match under any circumstances. They went with making him look like a monster but bottled the finish. In the context of the match, hitting Brock once with a weapon and AAing him on the steps wasn't even the most brutal looking thing in the match, let alone being enough for Cena to put him away. Hate hate hate that so much.
But it wasn't just a weapons bump, it was a super bump, enhance by the force of Brock Lesnar flying over the top rope. The idea was that Brock beat the crap outta Cena, but his own cockiness and time away from the ring did him in.
We've discussed this several times but I'll add to it anyway. They wanted to portray a more realistic "fight" style and the finish exemplified that because that's exactly what can happen in real fights. Cena gets brutalised but catches him at just the right time IN HIS HEAD WITH A CHAIN. Didn't something similar (minus chain) actually happen in one of Brock's fights? I'm sure I remember him being all over someone, charging them and getting clumped. It really didn't diminish Brock's legitimacy or appeal at all. He's like a bull against a matador.
I got it working in the end by removing the start of the URL, seems to be working now though.
Never seen this match before but The Law's description sounds great, will try to catch it tonight. I love matches that have a proper STORY in them - not necessarily crazy booking, but a bit more than just psychology. The early onslaught and temporary stoppage sounds awesome.
Basically you should watch all Brock's return matches apart from the first two Triple H ones and the pointless Big Show one Simon.
In fact when did you last watch Simon? We should come up with stuff for you to check out.
I'm gradually catching up on the big matches over the past year, I watched one absolutely batshit match between Brock and Undertaker in either a cell or a cage I forget, one of the bloodiest matches I can remember. Loved catching up on the HBK/Undertaker and HBK/Flair matches as well, Michaels is one guy who, by pure chance, has completely passed me by - my only real experience of him was as a fun tag-teamer with Marty Janetty when I was a kid, he was retired (or injured?) for the whole period I watched from 2000 to 2002, then seems to have made a return soon as I fucked it off. So if anyone wants him back let me know and I'll stop watching again.
I'm not 100% sure when I stopped watching but the last PPV I can remember seeing is Wrestlemania 2002 (Rock/Hogan?). Seemingly I was quite lucky as by my most people's estimations I was watching through the greatest period in history.
Yeah probably, although there's some great great stuff after that.
Off the top of my head you should watch every Undertaker match from 23 onwards, especially the story of the two HBK and Trips ones. One Night Stand 2005 and 2006 are fun. The CM Punk story from MITB 2011 through to his match with Cena on Raw in 2013. The HBK/Jericho feud is very good. Summerslam 2013 and WrestleMania 30 are great events and are all about Daniel Bryan. The Smackdown Six stuff from 2002/03 is really good. There's loads more of course but that's just a few highlights.
Will make a note of them to watch, cheers. I saw Wrestlemania last year as that was when I started watching the big PPVs as a social thing with my mates, and I think I saw that MITB one, it was the one around the time of the pipe bomb thing? I wish I'd been around for CM Punk, if ever there was an art (quotations) that needed the fourth wall being broken its wrestling, and Punk seemed to be the closest to really being allowed free reign in that regard.
I think Brock should have won here. It just didn't make a ton of sense to bring him back with the intention of him being a top guy and then have him lose his first match. Cena can bounce back from anything, as he proved when Brock murdered him at Summerslam and he didn't miss a beat. I feel like Vince just made the call that he wasn't going to put Brock over his top guy, which is old-school promoter instinct that I think led him astray in this case.
The execution of the finish was a little off. It took an awkwardly long time for Brock to get up for the AA, so Cena was just kind of dancing there for about a minute. Understandable for Brock to sell the chain shot, Cena probably should have just grabbed him after ten seconds.
And the other thing that stands out to me is that the show ended with its focus on Cena instead of Lesnar. Cena's (presumably impromptu) promo was awkward and not particularly good. Seems like it was intended just for the crowd, but for some reason they didn't cut out and showed in on the PPV. The show needed to end with its focus on Brock, it would have made sense for him to beat up some referees at the end. Have the show go off the air with Brock having murdered everyone even in defeat, setting up the angle with Triple H the next night.
And that's why it'll never be a five star match for me. Didn't he say he'd probably be going away for a while or something? Maybe he thought Brock actually had fucked his arm up.
He says something about how his boss is going to be mad at him and he might have to take a vacation. I don't know if he meant he might get suspended because of the blood in the match (which seemed accidental to me, the cut was on the top of his head) or for doing the promo after the match. The whole thing was weird. He should have taken a couple months off to sell the beating, and he did nothing of interest for the next couple months (pay-per-view main events with Johnny Ace and Big Show) would have been nice to let Punk feature a bit as champion while Cena took some well-deserved time off.
It wasn't even the best match on the show.
Lesnar v Cena I is amazing. I just re watched this match and watched the post-match interview. Awesome. 4.5 stars, easily. The post match interview was solid. I legit think Cena thought he was going to get suspended for something. He poured his heart out there. Great stuff overall.
Exactly, I agree completely. It's good, but it's not even their best match with each other since Lesnar has returned
Its a damn good match and has some insane spots and some clever storytelling. But these two just have a knack for great matches against each other when given the chance. This whole ppv was good as hell and really led to one of the only post Mania summers that didn't feel watered down and slow paced in recent memory.
Its a 4 of 5 for me.
The Johnny Ace/John Cena feud was pretty hard to watch.
Cena beating Brock Lesnar one month and losing to Johnny Ace the next is one of those things that makes you shake your head.
Brock Lesnar directly losing any match since he came back is one of those things that makes me shake my head.
The Cena match was believable though. Brock dominated for the entire match and had the bout won but his earlier mistake of accidentally taking out the referee cost him. A scenario like that could play out in any fight, even a big man versus little man brawl. Cena took advantage of one mistake by Brock and nailed him with a hard right, steel chain and all. It makes sense in the story of the match.
I'll be honest, when Cena beat Lesnar I thought, ok, this is the WWE's way of trying to make it appear like their form of entertainment is better than the UFC because the WWE's main guy beat the UFC's main guy. Of course forgetting pro wrestling is a staged event and what Lesnar did was the real deal. The follow up though made it worse with Ace v. Cena even being a match to begin with and then Cena losing, regardless of the manner, he still jobbed. Then you had a feud 10 years too late in Triple H v. Lesnar, one match in which Triple H actually won, at WM. It was a rough first year back for Lesnar IMHO. The limited dates didn't help either.
So what do you guys want to see more of? Specific shows, features (Gem of the Week is fun and I'd like adding more), time periods, ect. I don't want to do too much with contemporary wrestling, so I'll do WWE pay-per-views, and occasional shows from other promotions but I don't really have much to say about Raw or Smackdown on a weekly basis.
I'd love to see a review of Judgement Day 2000. I know you just did Backlash which I think might have been the PPV prior to that. But God that Iron Man main event was great, fantastic messy finish too.
Review every show from the year 2000.
It will be fun to watch for you and fun for us to read. 2000 was one of the best years ever. HHH as a main event star. Angle on the rise. The mid card was phenomenal.
The PPVs from Royal Rumble 2000 - WrestleMania 17 are pretty much all great, with the big exception weirdly being WrestleMania 16. I'd like to see reviews of any of those shows, especially Royal Rumble and No Way Out 2001.
What was so awesome about this time is that the main event was so stacked and had such great talent it allowed the booking to focus more on tag-teams, midcarders, and women whereas now they're fishing for the next Rock/Austin and keep forgetting about everyone that isn't John Cena and Orton lol.
Here is a challenge. Review Survivor Series 97 except for the Hart/HBK match and still make the review interesting. I know Law can do this.
In Your House: Revenge of the Taker
The fallout from Wrestlemania 13, featuring the rematch of Steve Austin and Bret Hart's classic battle. Plus Undertaker's first WWF Championship defense against his old rival Mankind. And some other matches that no one really cares about.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...-of-the-taker/
Would be cool to see some reviews of some of the best TV matches. Stuff like Jericho/Benoit vs Trips/Austin and Cena/Punk tend to get labeled as some of the top TV matches but I think they're still massively underrated by being labeled like that. They're not just great TV matches, those two in particular are two of the best matches ever.
That's a great idea. Definitely starting that.
suplex city bitch
Revenge of the Taker did have a great second half. I love the wwe in this era. The transition to the Attitude era is underway but you still see all these little remaining elements of the old era. Its great.
TV Classic of the Week: Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit
Perhaps the greatest match in Smackdown history, as Steve Austin defends the WWF Championship against Chris Benoit in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton. Can The Crippler fulfill his destiny? Or are the odds too great for him to overcome?
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...-chris-benoit/
Fantastic match. Even more than the big names not coming over at the start, the injuries here screwed The Invasion. Losing HHH and Benoit in less than a month of each other really hurt them.
Love your work man.
I just can't get myself to watch a Benoit match. I've been debating about watching his ladder match with Jericho for like six months now, just can't do it.
I can watch, but there will usually be at least one moment per match that freaks me out. Like here Austin dropped him on the announce table and it looked like his head hit the concrete. And I'm just like, that's one step closer to him flipping out and murdering his family.
The ladder match actually isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things.
Love Benoit/Austin. One of the best Smackdown matches ever.
Benoit was involved in most of the best Smackdown matches of all time.
What are other good ones? I'm drawing a bit of a blank. Angle/Lesnar Iron Man, there was a good Taker/Orton one, Shield vs Bryan/Kane/Orton spring to mind.
Jericho/Benoit v. Hardy Boys v. E&C v. Dudley Boys - TLC
Any of the Smackdown 6, really.
Benoit/Lesnar too, when Lesnar busted out the Brock Lock
Eddie/Rey June '05, Benoit/Lesnar, Eddie/JBL in the Cage, a bunch in '06 including Finlay/Benoit - really a good few featuring Finlay, I'm a fan of the series of really good TV matches in '09 as well that featured Edge/Rey/Punk/Morrison/Jeff mixing it up with each other. Edge/Rey and Rey/Morrison probably being the top two.
edit: ooh forgot Rey's title defense vs. Orton in '06 and his cruiserweight title match with Matt Hardy in '03
Last edited by Ringo; April 24th, 2015 at 5:57 PM.
Morrison vs. Mysterio for the IC Title in 2009 is one of my favorites. Only happened because Rey got suspended and it turned out to be an absolute classic.
I remember that month, noting how fucking ridiculous Benoit's strength of schedule was - Judgment Day was the 2 out of 3 falls gimmick match with Angle, then 2 tag matches in the turmoil with Jericho against X Factor and then Edge and Christian. Next night was the all time classic tag match with Jericho against Austin and Triple H. Next night they tape Smackdown with the great TLC match where admittedly he takes a bump early and stays out of the way for most of it. Then the week after he wrestles Austin on Raw in a very good match, then that classic on Smackdown filmed the next night. So in 9 days he wrestles 2 classics, 1 forgotten gem (due to it being the less publicised TLC match), the 2 best matches of a PPV and a nice little palette tester to set one of the classics up. Obscene schedule. Angle in the cage a fortnight after too, after having a fairly active week in between as well (three tag matches on Smackdown).
Last edited by Fanny Batter; April 24th, 2015 at 6:16 PM.
It's no wonder he had neck troubles shortly after.
WWE Extreme Rules 2015
Is WWE becoming WCW? It does sort of feel like WCW 1998 where the interesting stuff was all on the midcard and the main events were overloaded with guys you didn't care about. And ridiculous overbooked finishes with tons of interference! Except Kane being the centerpeice of WWE in 2015 is more like if Earthquake had been a key player in WCW in 1998. So that's one thing WWE has done that's even weirder.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...me-rules-2015/
Share your thoughts on all of it.
... Didn't they finish off the Ambrose/Harper match?
They did. "You still getting beat up?"
That would normally be the line of the night, if only Xavier hadn't earlier asked "Why you booing us? We're winning!"
King of the Ring 1993
In celebration of the return of the King of the Ring Tournament, let's go back in time to where it began: the first King of the Ring tournament presented on pay-per-view. Bret Hart, Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, Bam Bam Bigelow, and more fight to be crowned King of the Ring. Hulk Hogan defends the WWF Championship against Yokozuna and Shawn Michaels and Crush face off for the Intercontinental Championship.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...the-ring-1993/
Infamous doesn't begin to describe my feelings on the finish. It was one of those silly protective finishes that makes no sense in retrospect. Had Vince known ANY of the things about to happen between Hogan and the company (steroid trial, WCW), he'd surely have gone with the proper finish: the monster kills the hero. The hero was going away anyway, so the monster smashing him to bits is the best thing for the company.
I'd actually liken it to Brock/Taker. Vince knew Taker wouldn't there the next night so he pulled the trigger. Here, Vince knew Hogan wasn't going to be around (the two matches at WM 9 were his only in a year) and should have put the monster over strong.
Every time I watch Yoko/Hogan, it reminds me of Goldberg's ridiculous retirement match in WCW, where he loses after getting maced by a fan. It was so protective of the guy going out that it did nothing for the two they actually put over.
If you want to know how great Bret Hart was and why he is by far the best of all time (not even close) then watch this show. 3 above-average to excellent matches with 3 different men who all had a different style. Amazing. His ability to adapt to his opponent while holding up the psychology of a match is unrivaled.
Absolutely. Admittedly, Razor, Perfect, and Bigelow were all pretty great in their own right. But Bret just worked his ass off on this night. Three big matches, totaling about 45 minutes combined. Hard, fast-paced matches too. And I love the little detail of him coming out with his fingers taped after Razor stomped on them in the first match.
This is a weird show. Just having Hogan on a show from the Raw era doesn't feel right. And they're being pulled in a ton of directions: they were definitely thinking about pushing Crush. Savage keeps going on about how strong Crush is and how he can slam Yokozuna. I can see Vince falling for the huge muscular dude in the colorful singlet. Crush vs. Yokozuna would have been even worse than All-American Lex Luger.
Also, Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan, and Randy Savage on commentary together. Brain and JR would have been great once JR loosened up a little bit and learned to play off him. Savage wasn't a great announcer, but I liked his enthusiasm. He was so into the Bret/Perfect match. They cut back to the desk and he's disheveled and sweating like it was him who had the match.
Bret had that style that blended with anyone really. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it was weird. Like when he'd work bigger guys like Diesel and Undertaker, he would still bust out moves like the superplex and side backbreaker even though it looked odd seeing a guy barely 6ft performing these moves. I think HBK said that Bret never really altered his style, but I think it worked because like Shawn, Bret had a huge moveset so yeah he'd do his signature moves but he'd throw in other things like the figure 4 around the post to hinder bigger dudes or do some high flying to the outside. That's what was great about Ric Flair and Savage as well, or modern era guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, their styles mesh with anyone to where they can work with talent that maybe isn't as versatile and it still looks good.
KOTR 1993 was definitely a showcase for Bret more than anything. And I have to say Jerry Lawler debuting, I had thought their feud would go in a totally different route since all I knew of Lawler was his USWA work that wasn't all jokes and gags. It seemed like the Lawler I knew was the complete opposite of what the WWF portrayed him as. It worked I guess, but this was also the beginning of that 2-3 year stretch where the top guys were working with lesser known talent (to the WWF audience at least) to get them over after the mass exodus of talent to WCW over a 12 month period.
King of the Ring 2015
WWE brought back King of the Ring, a longtime wish of mine. And while it wasn't a pay-per-view, it felt special as a WWE Network exclusive. Sheamus, R-Truth, Neville, and Bad News Barrett compete for the title of King of the Ring. Who walked out with the crown?
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...the-ring-2015/
TV Classic: Ric Flair vs. Sting (WCW Clash of the Champions)
The year was 1988, and the war between WCW and the WWF was starting to get hot. Vince McMahon sabotaged Starrcade in 1987 by presenting Survivor Series the same day and forcing pay-per-view providers to choose a side. Jim Crockett got mad, then he decided to get even. He did a free TV special on TBS called "Clash of the Champions" opposite Wrestlemania IV. And then he booked a young up-and-comer named Sting against Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. WCW would never be the same again.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...the-champions/
Gem of the Week: Bret Hart vs. Jean Pierre-Lafitte
It's the time that Bret Hart fought a guy with a pirate gimmick on a pay-per-view and the match turned out to be awesome. Only Bret Hart could pull that off.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...ierre-lafitte/
Sting/Flair is so great. I really miss having time limits. Seth is the perfect champ to have go to time limit draws. He can go with anyone and retaining via time limit would be fantastic heat.TV Classic: Ric Flair vs. Sting (WCW Clash of the Champions)
The year was 1988, and the war between WCW and the WWF was starting to get hot. Vince McMahon sabotaged Starrcade in 1987 by presenting Survivor Series the same day and forcing pay-per-view providers to choose a side. Jim Crockett got mad, then he decided to get even. He did a free TV special on TBS called "Clash of the Champions" opposite Wrestlemania IV. And then he booked a young up-and-comer named Sting against Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. WCW would never be the same again.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...the-champions/
Especially if the last three minutes was just him running away.
I love time limits. Love the added drama when the match is coming down the stretch. The shithead heel doing everything he can to stretch it out, the babyface desperately trying to put the heel down. Obviously, it can be abused, just like anything else in wrestling. But the Sting/Flair is a perfect example of how great it can be. They went 45 minutes, Sting came out looking like a star, Flair kept the title, and it set up a rematch perfectly. Of course, they didn't really follow it up. Starrcade main event should have been Sting vs. Flair, but it ended up being Flair vs. Luger instead.
So yeah, bring the time limit back. 15 minutes for TV matches, 20 for main events (or TV time remaining). 30 for pay-per-view, 60 for world title matches. I'd love to see a sixty minute Broadway.
Oh man. Oh man. I need this.
I remember back when Bryan kept finding himself in matches against The Shield, anytime Rollins/Bryan happened I had flashes of what it might be like if they were in the main event picture at the same time. 60 minute Broadways, two out of three falls matches or even some 30 minute iron man matches on Raw. Could be great stuff.
King of the Ring 1994
The sequel wasn't quite as good as the original, but it was still a worthy follow-up. Last year's King of the Ring, Bret "The Hitman" Hart defends the WWF Championship against the Intercontinental Champion, "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel. Owen Hart tries to follow in his brother's footsteps by becoming the second King of the Ring. And for some reason the main event is Jerry Lawler vs. Roddy Piper.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...the-ring-1994/
Good read, but Owen didn't beat his brother at SummerSlam '92—it was a couple months prior to this at WrestleMania.
Piper/Lawler was so forgettable that I don't remember it at all despite seeing the PPV a couple times.
yeah, I honestly forgot that main event even happened.
I remember the build up but not the actual match.
My thoughts on Payback: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...-payback-2015/
NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable
Another quarter, another strong NXT show. A killer women's match, a hot main event...and an awesome cliffhanger. It's NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/201...r-unstoppable/
You should be flattered they were chanting the name of your column Law.
Suplex City is the most over thing in WWE.
I love your work Law
Suplex City chantsall night.
Excellent job as always, Law. Enzo and Cass are still REALLY new to wrestling as a whole, so their ring work may not be there, but man do they both have tons of charisma and you can't. teach. that.
Dusty Rhodes (1945-2015)
A tribute to the one and only American Dream.
Link: https://suplexcity.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/dusty-rhodes-1945-2015/
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