Really Retro Rowe: WWE Wrestlemania 24 Review

WWE WrestleMania 24
by SamoaRowe

-Originally written way back in 2008. 

-Disclaimer: this review is only going to cover the matches, as I’m watching this on MegaVideo.com.

-This is the biggest show of the year. Over 70,000 fans have filled up the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Our hosts for the evening are Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler for Raw, Michael Cole and Jonathan Coachman for Smackdown, and Tazz and Joey Styles are sitting in for ECW related matches.

Belfast Brawl:
JBL vs. Finlay (with Hornswoggle)
Finlay is kicked off the apron before the match can officially begin. Finlay dumps JBL into the ring and aggressively pounds on the Texan. Finlay heads to ringside to retrieve the usual weapons. JBL catches a garbage can and bashes it over Finlay’s skull. JBL, wielding a can lid in one hand and a cookie sheet in the other, nails Finlay with both. JBL fetches the steel steps from ringside and tosses it into the ring. JBL sets up Finlay for a piledriver on the steps, but Finlay back body drops him to the mat. Kick to the head by Finlay and a nasty shot with the cookie sheet. Cover by Finlay gets 2. JBL recovers and pummels Finlay to the corner. Hornswoggle grabs a kendo stick and helps Finlay knock out JBL with the shillelagh at ringside. Back in the ring, Finlay kicks a trash can into JBL’s face. Finlay sets up a table in the corner. JBL reverses an Irish whip into the table, but Finlay hit’s a clothesline. JBL runs to ringside to escape Finlay and the steel steps. Hornswoggle attacks JBL, but gets kicked off. Finlay repeatedly knocks Hornswoggle’s head into the announce table. Suicide dive by Finlay to the floor, but JBL cracks a can lid into his head in mid-air! DAMN! Cover by JBL gets 2. JBL randomly grabs a trash can and whips it at Hornswoggle at ringside! That was so mean it was awesome! JBL goes for the clothesline from hell, but runs into a weapon shot. Finlay angrily destroys JBL with a weapon. Finlay sends JBL crashing into the table, but can only get 2 with a cover. Finlay holds the steps over his head, but JBL hit’s a kendo stick to the knees, causing Finlay to land face first on the steps. Clothesline from hell by JBL is enough to put Finlay away at. Hornswoggle is disappointed, as is the crowd. This was a fun, yet short, weapons brawl, though I’d dare say the wrong man went over. **¾.
Winner @ 9:07: JBL

Retro Rowe: WWE Taboo Tuesday 2005 Review

WWE Taboo Tuesday

November 1, 2005

by Samoa Rowe

-Follow me on Twitter: @SamoaRowe

-From San Diego, CA. Our hosts are Joey Styles and Jerry Lawler.

Edge (with Lita) and Chris Masters vs. Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio

Fans got to vote for Smackdown superstars to face Edge and Masters. This is stemming from Eric Bischoff turning the lights off on the Smackdown roster at the Raw Homecoming special. Before the bell can ring, Lita and Edge back out of the match, as Edge doesn’t feel he has to prove himself against Matt Hardy again. Edge doesn’t care about Raw and introduces his replacement: Snitsky.

Snitsky and Chris Masters vs. Matt Hardy and Rey Mysterio

Masters takes advantage of Snitsky’s surprise arrival and attacks Rey from behind. Snitsky tags but his slam is reversed by Rey. Snitsky rebounds and slams Mysterio. The Raw team isolates Rey with fast tags and power moves. At the 3 minute mark, Matt gets a hot tag and unloads on both opponents. Snitsky blocks the Twist of Fate, but Matt catches him with a superplex. Masters breaks the cover and sets Matt up for a Snitsky big boot. It’s Matt’s turn to get isolated for a beating. Matt desperately hits a flying clothesline on Masters, but Snitsky prevents a tag. Matt counters with an inverted DDT and gets the hot tag. Mysterio explodes with a series of rapid fire flying attacks. Snitsky tosses Rey into the Masterlock! Matt saves Rey and clears the ring for stereo dives to the floor! Rey almost overshots a flying sunset flip, but Hardy clotheslines Masters into place for a convincing near fall. Masters nails an interesting slam on Rey for another close fall. Masters suffers a 619, Twist of Fate, and springboard splash. Rey pins Masters at 13:40! Rey and Matt carried a couple of stiffs to a hot opener, ***.
Winners: Rey Mysterio and Matt Hardy

The current Wrestlemania 25 card.

We're still a couple of weeks away from Wrestlemania 25, but I thought I'd take a minute to look at what's already announced, what will likely be added to the card, and some predictions.

WWE Championship: Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
At one point this match was supposed to main event Wrestlemania 21, but Orton was fizzling at that point (and while no one would admit it, Triple H was at a low point as far as being an effective main eventer went, and needed someone who was hot at the time, like Batista, to make it work). I expect this match will be the show closer and will likely be good. My only problem with it is that we've seen Orton vs. Triple H several times, many of which in the last year and a half. Their previous matches have ranged from highly enjoyable (street fight at No Mercy 2007) to grating (Unforgiven 2004), but Orton has come a long way as a performer and Triple H is a reliable ring hand when he's motivated and has his working boots on. As per usual with my predictions, I predict Triple H retains if this goes on last, but Orton will win if this pulls a middle of the show position.

World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. Big Show vs. John Cena
I am actually a bit relieved that Show was added to the match since Cena/Edge is another pairing that has happened numerous times, probably too often to have been an attractive Wrestlemania showdown. Show adds a wild card to the match, and while he more than likely isn't going to take the championship, adds another element to the storyline. It's been entertaining watching Vickie become torn between the two heels, and in many ways this is really just their storyline now, with Cena thrown in merely to make sure the crowd doesn't lose interest. The aspect that this match probably won't be headlining makes me think that Edge could retain, sort of how Orton won the triple threat WWE title match last year. It's up in the air whether or not Cena needs to take the championship, since the draft will take place so quickly after Wrestlemania, so if Raw doesn't have a World title then there's an easy solution.

Money in the Bank Ladder match: CM Punk vs. Mark Henry vs. Christian vs. Finlay vs. Kofi Kingston vs. MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kane
It'll be a beautiful day when CM Punk and Shelton Benjamin are given the chance to do something else at Wrestlemania than make sure this match is a success, but at least they get to be on the big show. There's really no telling who is going to take the brief case this year. Punk just won it last year, Henry seems to have peaked in his current role, Vince doesn't want to push Christian, Finlay is a JTTS, Kingston probably isn't ready, MVP just got off a months long jobbing streak, and Benjamin is only here to provide some high spots. That leaves Kane, since he's continually over and every couple of months the booking team gets the itch to push him as a title threat again. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict Kane as the winner. Also, the participants this year are varied enough so we'll see a different type of Ladder match, as obviously you won't see Mark Henry doing sunset flips over the ladder, etc.

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy
To be honest, I haven't been keeping up with Smackdown, so I can't really judge how the build is going. Jeff Hardy has been one of the hottest WWE stars over the past two years and Matt's betrayal will be a sore spot to many of the younger fans. I am hoping that this will end up being a quality match, as both Hardy's have grown as performers since their stinker of a feud in late 2001. That feud was so disasterous that the Hardys actually had to spend some time off television so that their image could recover. But now in 2009, I consider Matt to be one of the most underrated stars on the roster due to his ability to have strong matches with everyone he's paired against, and Jeff is a much more well rounded performer who had a string of quality main event matches in the last year. Having a great match against each other at Wrestlemania would do a lot for both of them. I predict that Jeff goes over, unless the dreaded Wellness Policy fairy strikes again.

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
This feels awful thrown together and forced thus far. I like that Shawn Michaels isn't going through the tired motions of being terrified of all the Undertaker's light and pyro tricks and special effects, though it would be more interesting if someone they were trying to build up could do that. I would be a lot more interested if Shawn would go full blown heel, even if it was temporary (similar to what he did against Hogan in 2005) because no one is going to boo The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. With a little luck, they can achieve the same chemistry and work-rate they found in their famed Hell in a Cell match from 1997 and the intense heat of their finals encounter at the 2007 Royal Rumble. Obviously, the Undertaker will go over.

Chris Jericho vs. Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, and Jimmy Snuka
Well, this is definitely not the direction anyone expected them to go with Jericho's kicking-legends-in-the-shin angle. I'm guessing this is a last minute rehandling of the feud because a certain Texas Rattlesnake decided he didn't want to wrestle after all, and another certain Best Actor runner up didn't want to cheapen his movie by actually wrestling for real. The match will probably not be any good from a work-rate standpoint, but these four are smart enough to put something together that will at least be entertaining. My prediction is that Jericho comes up short when Ric Flair gets involved.

25 Diva Battle Royal
Every diva in the company will participate, and WWE is trying their darndest to get former divas to return for one night. So far we know that Wendi Richter and Lita aren't interested, so hopefully they can pull in Trish Stratus, Sunny, Molly Holly, Jazz, Ivory, and a host of others to give this the right level of novelty. No championships are on the line, but the winner will be named Ms. Wrestlemania. To be honest, I prefer they go this route then having potentially two women's championship matches, since I can count the number of talented in-ring competitors on one hand.

So those are the official matches. They haven't done a terrible job of getting most of the workers who deserve to be on the show on the card so far. The rumored JBL/Rey Mysterio match for the Intercontinental Championship was teased on this week's Raw by the commentators around the time Rey was done making short work of Dolph Ziggler. That would be a fine addition to the card as they have had enjoyable matches in the past, and it's great to see the IC title getting defended on Wrestlemania for the first time since Wrestlemania X8 in 2002. We should also expect that John Morrison and The Miz will battle Carlito and Primo Colon. I would hope that their match could be a unification match, and that we can go back to only having one set of tag team champions. By having the Tag Team titles as property of ECW, it gives the champions the freedom to face teams on both Raw and Smackdown, and there are barely enough teams on all three brands to justify having Tag Team belts in the first place. Finally, I would expect that Jack Swagger will be added in an ECW Championship defense. I would predict that they are going to want to capitalize on the returning Matt Bourne, and he will be getting a title shot. It would be nice if they could include Tommy Dreamer somehow, since this will likely be his final chance to be on Wrestlemania as an active competitor. If it were up to me, it would be Swagger, Bourne, and Dreamer in a triple threat.

Rowe's Top 10 Matches of 2008

Now before anyone asks, I have not seen ROH's Death Before Dishonor VI yet, so I cannot comment on the Brent Albright/Adam Pearce match which has earned lots of critical acclaim. I thought about putting off making this list until I'd caught up more on recent DVDs, but if I do that then it will be so long until I get around to this that it would be the spring and it would be silly. So having said this, let's get started.

10) ROH World Tag Team Championship: Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black (c) vs. Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson - (Ring of Honor: Respect is Earned II).
This was a great part of the blood feud between Aries and Jacobs. Initially, the match ended in a disqualification within minutes when Jacobs and Aries couldn't contain themselves and fought so viciously that the referee had no choice but to call for the bell. Luckily, Tyler Black and Bryan Danielson had cooler heads on their shoulders and were able to get the match restarted. From there, this was an excellent tag team contest. ****1/4.

9) Elimination Chamber: Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho vs. Umaga vs. JBL (WWE No Way Out).
The elimination chamber is such a great concept and has all sorts of potential, but the matches never seem to live up to the hype. This was an exception to that rule, as the action was chaotic and all over the place from start to finish. With the winner getting a Wrestlemania title shot, there was a lot at stake, and the crowd was hoping for a Jeff Hardy upset after he'd been so close to taking the title from Randy Orton a month earlier. The fans would have to wait, as a Triple H pedigree (and a wellness policy violation) would delay Hardy's rise to the top. ****1/4.

8) Jimmy Jacobs vs. Austin Aries (ROH Vendetta II).
The war between Aries and Jacobs continued at a sickening pace. The story was that Jacobs invited Aries to join the Age of the Fall, and used his own girlfriend, Lacey, to try and lure him into the group. Instead, Aries stole Lacey from Jacobs, infuriating the pathetic and insecure Jacobs. In retaliation, Jacobs had the Age of the Fall jump Lacey as she was leaving a gym and hurt her so badly she would have to leave wrestling. The build resulted in this brutal match. Aries would gain a measure of revenge and planted the seeds for Necro Butcher's departure from the group. ****1/4

7) Unsanctioned match: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (WWE Unforgiven).
Speaking of outstanding build, Jericho had made it not just his mission to drive Michaels from the WWE, but to make sure he would forever be credited for doing it. At Summerslam, Jericho took a swing at Michaels and accidentally knocked out his wife. The story of this match was Michaels' quest for revenge, even if it cost him his soul. The match was brutal and evenly matched for quite a while, but ultimately the momentum swung into HBK's favor and he left Jericho a bloody and beaten mess. Many thought this would be the final chapter in their war, but Jericho wasn't finished, as he crawled out to a Scramble match later in the show to capture the World title. ****1/4

6) Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker vs. Edge (WWE Summerslam).
This was the climax to a feud that had spanned for more than a year. In a day and age when it feels like feuds are continually rushed, the bad blood between Undertaker and Edge started in May 2007 when Edge stole the World title from the Dead Man up until Summerslam in August 2008. In between, they had battled many times and Edge had continually screwed the Undertaker. All that came to a head in the Hell in a Cell, when suddenly none of Edge's tricks and short cuts could save him. Undertaker defeated his arch nemesis and sent him crashing into the ring canvas before "blowing up" the Rated R Superstar, sending him straight to Hell. ****1/4

5) Career Threatening match: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Wrestlemania 24).
Over the past thirty five years, very few men have meant as much to professional wrestling as Ric Flair. While this was billed as a "career threatening" match, everyone knew going into it that this was it for Flair. It would be hard to imagine a more fitting way for a legend to go out on a high note. Flair and Michaels wrestled a quality match in front of one of the biggest crowds in American wrestling history. The finish was as emotional as anything I've ever seen in wrestling, as Michaels, knowing he had Flair beat, mouthed "I love you, I'm sorry" right before blasting Flair with the Sweet Chin Music. It's funny to think that just ten years ago Flair was being disrespected left and right in WCW and it looked as though his career was going to end on a quiet note. Instead, Flair found redemption in his second WWE run and got the retirement treatment and respect he deserved. ****1/4

4) ROH World Tag Team Championship: Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black (c) vs. Kevin Steen and El Generico (ROH Driven).
It's hard to find many genuinely touching or emotional moments in wrestling. While the Flair/HBK match hit such a note, it would have been hard not to considering the ramifications. However, these four men were able to capture such a moment, involving nothing more than the ROH Tag Team titles. Kevin Steen is a reluctant babyface, in that he's a proud slob, a jerk to his fan favorite tag partner, and sometimes he's slow to do the right thing. So that kind of makes him like Shrek, doesn't it? Anyhow, Steen made it his goal to hold gold in Ring of Honor in 2008, and after coming up short a few times against Nigel McGuinness, this was his last big shot. The Age of the Fall were crafty and formidable as usual, but after a dazzling series of nearfalls in front of a rabid crowd, Steen and Generico were finally able to capture the gold. The post-match celebration was a genuine moment of happiness and accomplishment for the unlikely duo of Steen and Generico. ****1/2

3) ROH World Championship: Nigel McGuinness (c) vs. Bryan Danielson (ROH Sixth Year Anniversary).
Danielson and McGuinness have wrestled many times, yet each time they find a way to have an outstanding match that is unique from their other encounters. This time the story was that Nigel was whining about the concussion he had suffered the last time he'd performed in front of the same NYC crowd and he didn't want to wrestle if it meant risking further attacks to the head. Danielson agreed with Nigel that they would not target the head during their match. This was all well and good until late in the contest when Nigel was finding that he could not put Danielson away. Nigel resorted to going back on his word and viciously attacked Danielson's head and previously injured eye. Nigel's heel turn was complete and the NYC crowd wanted him dead. ****1/2

2) FIP World Championship: Erick Stevens (c) vs. Roderick Strong (FIP Redefined)
At Ring of Honor's Final Battle in 2007, Stevens scored a major upset when he bested Strong for the FIP title. This was during a time when FIP's future was up in the air, as the promoter's wife had suddenly passed away and a series of shows had been cancelled. During this time, Stevens made the most of his title reign in ROH, scoring huge upset victories defending the title against top names like Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson. When FIP finally got back to business in February, Stevens vs. Strong was signed as the rematch. The match itself was a brutal, yet old-school contest. Strong managed to knock out Stevens at ringside and returned to the ring in time to win the title back by count-out (which is legal in FIP). Stevens would later wake up and would need to be told that he was no longer the champion. ****1/2

1) Ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE No Mercy).
I must confess that I am a huge fan of Chris Jericho, and for years it bothered me that his initial run as World Champion in 2001-2002 was such a mess. This match nearly makes up for that. This was the Chris Jericho as World Champion match that I always wanted. Not only that, but it was the blow-off to his long running feud with Michaels. Drifting from the usual ladder match forumal, they didn't go for a spot-fest, but rather used the ladder when it was convenient as a measure to hurt one another. Jericho was out to prove himself against Michaels, who had embarassed him on television earlier, reminding him that despite everything he accomplished that he would never be Shawn Michaels. Jericho took a step closer when he defeated Michaels to hold on to his World title. I initially rated this match as ****1/4, but after thinking it is a definite ****1/2 classic.