Let me start off this review by giving my condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Joan "Chyna" Laurer. Hearing the sad news today about her passing on 4/20/2016 really does shake me to my core. I didn't see many of her matches, but she was and still is a very important figure in wrestling. So Chyna, I am dedicating this review to you. It may not be much, but it's all I can do right now to honor you. You really were "The Ninth Wonder of the World".First Match: Chris Benoit and William Regal vs Batista and Ric Flair. A great starter, you have a hot crowd, three veterans, an up-and-coming powerhouse, and Eugene is nowhere to be seen. The chemistry between Regal and Benoit is so good, it's a mystery to me why they didn't team together more. Either way, a really great start to the show. Rating: 4/5 Second Match: Trish Stratus vs Victoria, WWE Women's Championship. I love both of these girls, they knew how to be both beautiful and good wrestlers. The match may be pretty short, and the finish doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I enjoyed the match nonetheless. Rating: 3/5Third Match: Tyson Tomko vs Steven Richards. This match has no reason to exist, at all. It's a slow beat down that has no real pay off to it, because nobody cared about the scenario in the first place. I don't mind a beat down, but this is just slow and boring. At least it's short. Rating: 1.5/5 Fourth Match: Chris Jericho vs Christian, Ladder match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. A very good one-on-one ladder match. It manages to avoid what I feel is the hardest obstacle to overcome in these types of matches, the slow pace. See, in tag team ladder matches, there is always someone doing something, but one-on-one ladder matches can suffer from being too slow, because there's only two guys. But Christian and Jericho keep the pace going, and the match never slows down. Rating: 4/5 Fifth Match: Shawn Michaels vs Kane, No DQ match. Very few people know how to sell a beating better than Shawn Michaels. Despite their differing styles, Michaels and Kane are good opponents in this. Kane really does feel like a monster in this, and Shawn has to dig down deep in order to win. They may have still been doing the "wife" Lita storyline, but the match made up for it. Rating: 4/5 Sixth Match: Tajiri and Rhyno vs La Résistance, World Tag Team Championships. Tajiri and Rhyno actually make a pretty good team. The crowd loves seeing La Résistance get beat up, and to their credit, they do a good job of selling it. The ending is pretty weak though. Rating: 3/5 Seventh Match: Randy Orton vs HHH, World Heavyweight Championship. There are very few things I like less in wrestling than someone winning a title, only to then immediately lose it. It happened earlier this year with Zack Ryder, and it happened here with Randy Orton. To his credit though, Orton doesn't give up without a fight, but it's still a pretty deflating ending to Orton making history the previous month. Thankfully, it wouldn't be the last time Orton became World Champion, and the match is a really good brawl until the interference starts. Rating: 3.5/5 Final Rating: 7 out of 10. A good follow up to Summerslam, even if it ends on a pretty sour note with Evolution stealing the title from Orton, but look on the bright side, Evolution's gonna break up three months after this. Also, avoid Tomko and Richards' "match" at all costs. If you can even call it a match.R.I.P. Chris Benoit & R.I.P. Chyna
... View MoreWhen I first watched this I thought that this pay per view wasn't really bad, it was way better that the previous Raw PPV event {Vengeance}.FIRST MATCH- CHRIS BENOIT & WILLIAM REGAL VS. BATISTA & RIC FLAIR A nice opener to the PPV. Great action from all four men. Benoit & Regal win after Benoit makes Ric Flair tap out to the Crossface. 5/10 SECOND MATCH- VICTORIA VS. TRISH STRATUS W/ TYSON TOMKO FOR THE WWE WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP Not bad for a Diva's match. Trish & Victoria know all their moves when they are in the ring together. Trish retains her title after Victoria slammed Tyson Tomko down in the ring, but turned around only to get a Chick Kick from Trish. 4/10 THIRD MATCH- CHRIS JERICHO VS. Christian IN A LADDER MATCH FOR THE WWE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP Not a bad Ladder match as both Christian & Chris Jericho took great risks to do whatever they could to get the IC belt first. But unfortunately Chris Jericho got it first & became the new IC Champion. 5/10 FOURTH MATCH- KANE W/ LITA VS. SHAWN MICHAELS IN A NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH Man Kane matches are seriously getting boring. Shawn Michaels makes the match more better. Shawn Michaels wins after a Sweet Chin Music to defeat Kane much to the delight of Lita. 4/10 FIFTH MATCH- LA RESISTANCE VS. RHYNO & TAJIRI FOR THE WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Not bad but it sucks to see La Resistance get the win again. 4/10 SIXTH MATCH- RANDY ORTON VS. TRIPLE H FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Both men did well to pull a great wrestling match. Orton dominated most part of the match which led HHH to have a busted up face. Later in the match the referee got knocked down, which led Batista, Ric Flair & also Jonathan Coachman to come in the ring but Orton fought all of them off. The distraction was perfect for HHH who nailed a Pedigree for the win to get back his World Title which he lost months back at Wrestlemania XX. 5/10 Not a bad pay per view at all, still it was a bit slow some of the matches but this PPV event may be just inches away better than Raw's previous PPV event Vengeance.Overall: I'll give it a 6/10 & a D+
... View MoreThis PPV was a 20 min. drive from my house and it was worth the drive and the 2-month waiting period that made me count down the days to my very first PPV.The first match had Batista wrecking Chris Benoit's back with Spinebusters. Ric Flair was his usual flopping-self, but tapped to the Crippler Crossface real quick. The Diving Headbutt that Flair was given was freaking' awesome.Trish and Victoria, two of the most lovely divas on the Raw roster besides Stacy and Lita, faced off for the Women's Title. Victoria started off by stripping on the entrance ramp. Trish made this one quick by delivering Stratusfaction after Victoria Cross-Bodied Tyson Tomko on the outside. The luscious Trish is still champ!Shawn Michaels made his return to the ring to face the man who crushed his throat, Kane, accompanied by his pregnant but still hot wife, Lita. Michaels got thrown through the Spanish announcer table, welcome back HBK. HBK did get the last laugh though. He delivered the Elbow Drop, then countered a Chokeslam into Sweet Chin Music. I can just imagine hearing J.R.'s raspy voice yelling "Sweet Chin Music, oh my god!" The main event was also freaking' sweet. Randy Orton faced Triple H, who got his 100th title shot in the last month because Eric Bischoff is a little wussy who can't say no to Triple H. Seriously, Bischoff is Triple H's b**ch. Just like always Earl Hebner gets knocked out for 20 min. when someone taps him, so Evolution and special guest, Coach, get to try and screw Orton out of his title. Orton did get a little vegeance on his former friends, when he RKO'ed everybody standing. Unfortunately for Orton, there was a steel chair in his destiny. Triple H grabbed a chair and smacked the crap out of Orton, right on top of his head. Triple H, then finally got his moment in the spotlight when he hit the Pedigree on Orton. Again, Orton met that steel chair when he was Pedigreed. Just like my cousin had said, Triple H won the World Heavyweight Championship for the 9th time.
... View MoreAfter the disappointing Vengeance in July Raw follows up with another poor p.p.v. Uninspiring matches and an unhealthy focus on Triple H in the main event.Match 1: Flair & Batista vs. Regal & BenoitI like the combination of Flair and Batista in a team. As for Regal and Benoit, I always expect much from them. But there is no heat in this match. Flair looks ridiculous with all his flops. Not even Chris Benoit impresses me. Benoit however, forces Flair to submit to the Crossface in 18:30. Benoit headlined SummerSlam last month and now he opens up Unforgiven. If you lose one title match you're immediately sent back to the murky depths of the midcard (the only exception is Triple H).Match Rating: 2/5We're backstage. Christian doesn't want Tyson Tomko to escort Trish to the ring. Tomko does anyway.Match 2: Trish vs. Victoria. Women's ChampionshipI'll cut this one short: Pretty dull match. Only highlight was Victoria's gutbuster.Match Rating: 2/5Post-match Tomko attacks Victoria but 'the mystery woman' from the last Raw episode makes the save. Tomko calls her out and apparently this is going to be a match. Tomko ain't happy. Me neither. I can feel the suck emanating from the ring already.Match 3 Tomko vs. Steven RichardsSo, 'the mystery woman' is Steven Richards. Does ANYONE care? Though it's a complete squash, this god-awful match lasts almost ten minutes! Finally Tomko hits the modified swinging neckbreaker he uses as finisher. 1-2-3 and not soon enough. Not only was this the worst match of 2004, it was one of the worst matches I've ever seen as well.Match Rating: 0/5Promos for The Feud That Never Ends; Jericho vs. Christian. Match 4: Chris Jericho vs. Christian. Intercontinental Championship Ladder MatchUsually I have a problem with Ladder Matches because the wrestlers take forever to climb the ladder, even in the beginning of the match. IC title is vacant here since Edge got injured and WWE decided to bring back the 30 Days Rule that nobody has cared for in years. Some high-risk moves here; Jericho hits a Lionsault on the ladder, looks very painful. Later Jericho removes the ladder and Christian hangs high above the ring, holding on to the title. Nice. A bulldog from Jericho from the top of the ladder finishes Christian off. Match Rating: 4/5Lita is interviewed. She says she hopes Shawn destroys her husband tonight. Kane comes out and says his match against HBK now is a No Disqualification Match. Man, this is getting boring. I'm sorry I have problems paying attention when this angle is involved. Edge tells Jericho that he's taking back what's his (the IC belt) as soon as he's ready. I'm looking forward to an Edge heel turn because that guy sure is annoying.We take another look back at the marriage of Kane and Lita and if I wasn't paying for this I'd be switching channel.Match 5: HBK vs. Kane. No Disqualification.Comeback match for Shawn. Match is what you can expect from these two. I'll give credit to HBK for being 39 years old and still one of the most motivated wrestlers in WWE. Normally I'd give a match like this a 3/5 rating, but the build-up was poor, the match predictable and the Kane/Lita storyline is pathetic, so this match gets 2/5. Kane has been used three times now to put returning wrestlers over (Undertaker, Edge and now HBK).Match Rating: 2/5The master of burying talent Triple H, is interviewed. Trips says he made Randy Orton a superstar and then he says some crap that finishes off with him making Randy Orton a superstar. Stale and repetitive interview.Match 6: La Resistance vs. Tajiri & Rhyno. World Tag Team Championship.Average tag team match with all the usual match clichés; The faces get the early advantage. The heels come back and dominate one guy. The heels take a cheap shot towards the other guy and when the referee stops him from running in, the heels double-team the legal man. The illegal heel enters without a tag but the ref allows it. The faces make the hot tag. One face clears the ring. The heels win via screwjob. Not a great match but I'm satisfied with the result. La Resistance is the best tag team right now.Match Rating: 2/5Match 7: Orton vs. Triple H. World Championship.The fans aren't into this match and can anyone blame them? I don't know whose idea it is to have Triple H with his played out character in every damn main event while more deserving wrestlers are held back. Orton starts up the match with two sidelock takeovers and Trips with some half-assed counters. Orton has the advantage. He spits on HHH and slaps him in the face. Now Trips starts working on Orton's knee. A mediocre match so far. Later the referee gets knocked out. *Of course* Evolution interferes. Orton fights them off but HHH recovers and hits the Pedigree for the victory. Evolution celebrates. Be sure to read Triple H's new book: 101 Ways to Screwjob a Match. Match Rating: 2/5The Good: The Jericho/Christian match.The Bad: The Tomko/Richards match was ten minutes of my life I will never get back. Kane is badly misused. It seems Triple H is the only heel allowed to be in the main event. Seeing the world's largest nose prancing around with the title for another six months doesn't do it for me.Unforgiven Rating: 2/5
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