[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from July 31st, 2013]
Last week, I wrote on Twitter that I would review my favorite TNA match. Mick Foley vs. Ric Flair from TNA’s “Before the Glory” Impact show is my favorite TNA match. That may be somewhat of a surprise because it is not one of the greatest TNA matches. I haven’t seen many of the classic TNA matches, but even if I did, I think this match would still be my favorite TNA match. I love this match because I got to see two legends have one last great match. Foley is one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time. He is number two behind The Rock. Many people might say Foley’s last great match is his WrestleMania 22 match against Edge. Many people might say Foley’s last great match is the “I Quit” match he had with Flair at SummerSlam 2006. I say this match that I’m going to review is Foley’s last great match.
Showing posts with label Match Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Match Review. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2014
The Wrestling Match Review: CM Punk vs. Chris Hero (IWA-Mid South – February 7, 2003)
[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]
Before I saw CM Punk’s WWE documentary, I thought Ring of Honor, TNA and WWE were the only wrestling promotions Punk wrestled for. I found out during the documentary that Punk once wrestled for an independent promotion called Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA-MS). Highlights of a CM Punk vs. Chris Hero ladder match were shown and the spots in that match amazed me. I later brought a DVD set that had that ladder match. The match is now one of my favorite CM Punk matches, but that is not the Punk vs. Hero match I am reviewing. The ladder match was one of the main reasons I bought the DVD set, but there was another match on that set that I wanted to see. I found out that CM Punk and Chris Hero had a match that went 92 minutes. That is more than one hour and a half! The match happened ten years ago and the first time I heard of the match was last year. I couldn’t believe it took me so long to find out about this match and I realized there are probably many wrestling fans who don’t know this match exists so I decided to review it. I’m not going to do a full play-by-play review of this match because it would be too long. I’m going to re-watch the entire match and write about the important things that happened.
Before I saw CM Punk’s WWE documentary, I thought Ring of Honor, TNA and WWE were the only wrestling promotions Punk wrestled for. I found out during the documentary that Punk once wrestled for an independent promotion called Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA-MS). Highlights of a CM Punk vs. Chris Hero ladder match were shown and the spots in that match amazed me. I later brought a DVD set that had that ladder match. The match is now one of my favorite CM Punk matches, but that is not the Punk vs. Hero match I am reviewing. The ladder match was one of the main reasons I bought the DVD set, but there was another match on that set that I wanted to see. I found out that CM Punk and Chris Hero had a match that went 92 minutes. That is more than one hour and a half! The match happened ten years ago and the first time I heard of the match was last year. I couldn’t believe it took me so long to find out about this match and I realized there are probably many wrestling fans who don’t know this match exists so I decided to review it. I’m not going to do a full play-by-play review of this match because it would be too long. I’m going to re-watch the entire match and write about the important things that happened.
The Wrestling Match Review: Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm (Ring of Honor – Better Than Our Best 2006)
[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]
This is my first non-WWE match review. My favorite wrestler is CM Punk, but my favorite in-ring performer is Daniel Bryan. I first started watching him when he made his WWE debut, but I didn’t become a fan until after he got fired from WWE for choking Justin Roberts with his tie. I didn’t watch Bryan when he was in Ring of Honor, but I did know he was one of the best independent wrestlers. After Bryan was fired from WWE, he did an independent wrestling tour and the gym of the high school I graduated from was one of the places he went to during his tour. He wrestled as Bryan Danielson. I attended that indy show and I was able to meet Danielson before the event started. He was sitting at a table signing autographs and he wasn’t charging any money. He was also taking photos with the fans and agreed to let people take photos of him “choking” fans with a tie. Don’t believe me? Click HERE to see Danielson choking a fan (not me and not my photo). This was just two months after he was wrestling for the best wrestling promotion in the world. I can’t think of any wrestlers that famous who would sign and pose for photos at a table for free. I asked if Danielson could sign the back of my ticket and he agreed to do it. I watched Danielson wrestle that night and I thought that he could someday become WWE’s next John Cena if they re-signed him. Nine days later, he was one of the seven members of Team WWE at SummerSlam 2010. I enjoy Daniel Bryan’s WWE matches and I would like to see more of his Ring of Honor matches. Earlier this month, I bought a ROH DVD called “Best in the World” and Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm was one of the matches on the DVD.
This is my first non-WWE match review. My favorite wrestler is CM Punk, but my favorite in-ring performer is Daniel Bryan. I first started watching him when he made his WWE debut, but I didn’t become a fan until after he got fired from WWE for choking Justin Roberts with his tie. I didn’t watch Bryan when he was in Ring of Honor, but I did know he was one of the best independent wrestlers. After Bryan was fired from WWE, he did an independent wrestling tour and the gym of the high school I graduated from was one of the places he went to during his tour. He wrestled as Bryan Danielson. I attended that indy show and I was able to meet Danielson before the event started. He was sitting at a table signing autographs and he wasn’t charging any money. He was also taking photos with the fans and agreed to let people take photos of him “choking” fans with a tie. Don’t believe me? Click HERE to see Danielson choking a fan (not me and not my photo). This was just two months after he was wrestling for the best wrestling promotion in the world. I can’t think of any wrestlers that famous who would sign and pose for photos at a table for free. I asked if Danielson could sign the back of my ticket and he agreed to do it. I watched Danielson wrestle that night and I thought that he could someday become WWE’s next John Cena if they re-signed him. Nine days later, he was one of the seven members of Team WWE at SummerSlam 2010. I enjoy Daniel Bryan’s WWE matches and I would like to see more of his Ring of Honor matches. Earlier this month, I bought a ROH DVD called “Best in the World” and Bryan Danielson vs. Lance Storm was one of the matches on the DVD.
The Wrestling Match Review: Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon (WrestleMania XIX)
[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]
This Sunday is WrestleMania 29 so I decided to review a WrestleMania match this week. There were a few matches I thought about reviewing. I wanted to review a WrestleMania match that I enjoyed a lot and isn’t considered one of the top ten greatest WrestleMania matches. The match I will review is Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon from WrestleMania XIX. That was an awesome WrestleMania match-up because McMahon created WrestleMania and Hogan was the biggest star of the first WrestleMania. I have no doubt that WrestleMania would not exist today without them.
This Sunday is WrestleMania 29 so I decided to review a WrestleMania match this week. There were a few matches I thought about reviewing. I wanted to review a WrestleMania match that I enjoyed a lot and isn’t considered one of the top ten greatest WrestleMania matches. The match I will review is Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. McMahon from WrestleMania XIX. That was an awesome WrestleMania match-up because McMahon created WrestleMania and Hogan was the biggest star of the first WrestleMania. I have no doubt that WrestleMania would not exist today without them.
The Wrestling Match Review: Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton (Backlash 2004)
[The Wrestling Match Review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles. This review is from ]
WWE has started to announce their inductees for the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame class so I have decided to feature these inductees in The Wrestling Match Review. The first WWE Hall of Fame inductee this year was Mick Foley. I had a lot of great Foley matches to choose from including my favorite match of all-time, Mankind vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell. I want the theme of my column to be reviews of matches that are not very popular so I picked Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton from Backlash 2004. This match is well-known, but I can think of at least four or five Foley matches that are more famous than the Cactus-Orton match. Why did I pick this match? Because it is Foley’s favorite wrestling match. Foley wrote, “I think every wrestler should have one legitimate ‘comeback’ match after retiring. After that, everything is going to be at least partially a grab for money. So, after being disappointed with my performance at WrestleMania XX – feeling like I’d played it too safe, I let it all hang out in this wild bout that did wonders for both Randy Orton’s career and my self-esteem.”
WWE has started to announce their inductees for the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame class so I have decided to feature these inductees in The Wrestling Match Review. The first WWE Hall of Fame inductee this year was Mick Foley. I had a lot of great Foley matches to choose from including my favorite match of all-time, Mankind vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell. I want the theme of my column to be reviews of matches that are not very popular so I picked Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton from Backlash 2004. This match is well-known, but I can think of at least four or five Foley matches that are more famous than the Cactus-Orton match. Why did I pick this match? Because it is Foley’s favorite wrestling match. Foley wrote, “I think every wrestler should have one legitimate ‘comeback’ match after retiring. After that, everything is going to be at least partially a grab for money. So, after being disappointed with my performance at WrestleMania XX – feeling like I’d played it too safe, I let it all hang out in this wild bout that did wonders for both Randy Orton’s career and my self-esteem.”
Sunday, August 25, 2013
The Wrestling Match Review: CM Punk vs. JBL (WWE SummerSlam – August 17, 2008)
[This review was originally posted at Wrestling Rambles on August 14, 2013]
SummerSlam is this Sunday so this week’s review is a SummerSlam match. I’m not reviewing a SummerSlam classic because I don’t review classic matches that people have talked about a million times. I’m reviewing a match from CM Punk’s first World Championship reign. Punk is currently my favorite WWE superstar and I will admit that his first World Championship reign was bad. I was going to compare it to Jack Swagger’s World Championship reign, but it’s likely most people don’t remember it. A good comparison is the World Championship reign Dolph Ziggler had this year. I think Ziggler’s short reign might have been slightly better. At least Ziggler lost his championship in a match. Punk was told that the Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels feud that was happening at that time needed the World Heavyweight Championship. WWE felt that the best way to take the World Heavyweight Championship away from Punk was by having Randy Orton punt Punk in the head during a backstage segment at the 2008 Unforgiven Pay-Per-View. Punk was unable to defend his championship so Punk was replaced by Jericho in the World Heavyweight Championship Scramble match and Jericho won the championship. Punk got an opportunity to win back his championship a week later and lost to Jericho on RAW in a steel cage match. Punk’s reign lasted only two months and he defended the title on PPV only two times. There weren’t many good things that happened during Punk’s first reign. I could only think of two. The first was the Orton punt only because when Orton and Punk needed a reason to fight at WrestleMania 27 almost three years later, Punk talked about wanting to get revenge for getting punted by Orton at Unforgiven. They were able to take one of Punk’s worst WWE moments and turn it into an entertaining WrestleMania storyline. The second thing was Punk’s match against JBL at SummerSlam 2008.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
YouTube Wrestling Match Review: Mankind vs. Al Snow (Smackdown - 12/16/1999)
[Warning: This review will contain spoilers.]
This is my second YouTube Wrestling Match Review. The matches I review in this column need to meet two requirements. One, it has to be a match I have never seen before in its entirely or a match I don't remember watching. Two, it has to be a match that most people have never heard about or a forgotten classic. The last match I reviewed was Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle at No Way Out 2006. Many fans probably heard about it and have seen it before, but it was a match that no one really talks a lot about it so I thought it was a good match to review. This match will be much more obscure. WWE Smackdown has been a mediocre show this year so I want to review a Smackdown match from the Attitude Era. I could have picked a better match-up than Mankind vs. Al Snow, but this match-up is perfect for my review. I think a high percentage of wrestling fans have never seen this match or don't remember watching it. I used to watch Smackdown during the Attitude Era, but I can't remember if I have seen this match. If I did, the last time I saw it was when it first aired back in December of 1999. I used to be a big Mankind fan and I like Al Snow so I'm looking forward to watching (or re-watching) this match.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
YouTube Wrestling Match Review: Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle (No Way Out 2006)
[Warning: This review will contain spoilers.]
I own a lot of wrestling matches on DVD. Over 500 matches. As much as that seems to me, there are hundreds of matches I don't own and have never seen before. I've been watching wrestling since 1999, but I took a break from 2002 to 2007. During the years I have watched wrestling, I have only seen a handful of Pay-Per-Views that I don't own on DVD. So there are many classic matches I have never seen. I have two options to fix this problem. One, I can buy more DVDs or two, I can search for some of the matches on YouTube. Watching on YouTube is a cheaper option, but it is harder for me to watch matches online than it is to watch them on TV. When I'm on the computer, I can get distracted too much and I will surf the web while the match is happening. But if I am reviewing the match, I focus on the match more. In this column, I will review wrestling matches that are on YouTube and I will only review matches I have never seen before. I have always wanted to see Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle, but I didn't want to buy the No Way Out 2006 DVD. Luckily, this match is on YouTube.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Kane vs. Shane McMahon (Ambulance Match) - Survivor Series 2003
This week's match review was not randomly selected. I have the WWE Survivor Series 2003 Pay-Per-View event on DVD and one of the matches from that PPV was Kane vs. Shane McMahon in an Ambulance Match. The next Ambulance Match will be Kane vs. John Cena at this Sunday's Elimination Chamber PPV. I thought this was a great opportunity to review the Survivor Series Ambulance Match which was the last time there was an Ambulance Match in the WWE.
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