• 23Dec 09

  Survivor Series 2009 Review + TLC 2009 Review

  Hi, Turk here and welcome to my final blog of 2009. As this is the last blog I'll be doing in 09, I thought I would give you 2 Full Reviews in 1 blog...how's that for an early Christmas present?!

  The first show I'll be looking at is Survivor Series from November. Now I love the SS PPV, in fact two of my favourite wrestling PPV's of all time come from the 1998 and 2002 editions of the show and I was very happy that we got three Traditional Elimination Matches, two of which had huge potential. So, was the 2009 edition worth remembering? Let's find out.

  The first match on the show was the first of three Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Matches as Team Miz faced Team Morrison. On paper this match looked fantastic but for some reason, I just couldn't get into it. The crowd were dead for the majority of the match and there were some pretty sloppy spots and blotches. For a match with so much potential, this was hugely disappointing imo. The sole survivors were The Miz, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre after eliminating Team Captain John Morrison.

  The next match was Rey Mysterio vs Batista. This wasn't so much a match as it was just an angle to get the new 'bada$$' Batista over (but that was a waste of time since the crowd (understandably since it was in his home town) just cheered for him). That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this angle because I did. I love beat down's and I must say, I'm still not a big fan of Batista but this heel version is much better than the stale face version that we've seen for almost 4 years. The referee stopped the match and gave the win to Big Dave.

  Then we came to our second Traditional SS Elimination Match of the evening with Team Orton taking on Team Kofi. This was much better than the first one and proved that Kofi should be, at least imo, a World Champion in the very near future. The only complaint I have is that it did drag a little at times but the crowd were very much into this match and the action was fun and exciting. The match came down to Kofi, Punk and Orton. Kofi eliminated Punk with a roll-up and immediately hit Orton with the Trouble in Paradise for the win.

  The first World Title was next in a Triple Threat Match with The Undertaker defending the title against then Unified Tag Team Champions Jeri-Show. The first half of this match was quite dull with a two-on-one beat down by Jeri-Show on Taker but the second half really picked up and saved this match. The match ended with Taker putting the Hell's Gate on Show to retain the title. On a side note, just when I thought Chris Jericho couldn't get anymore awesome he comes out with this; *Fan*: 'Go back to Toronto' *Jericho*: 'I'm from Winnipeg you idiot!'
  Then we came to the third and final Traditional SS Elimination Match, this time with the Divas. Basically, nothing special or memorable...pretty much the same as the majority of Divas Matches this year. Mickie and Melina were the sole survivor.

  And the final match of the PPV was the one that I was looking forward to the most, the second Triple Threat Match this time for the WWE Title. Now I'm going to be honest here, I was slightly disappointed by this match but that's probably because my expectations were very high. However, it was still a great match. The last five minutes had me hooked and the Superkick at the beginning was not only one of the best moments of the year but it was also one of the best openings to a match ever (I haven't marked out like that since HBK kicked out of the Tombstone at WM 25). Cena retained his title after pinning Triple H.

  So overall, the 2009 edition of Survivor Series was a mixed bag. Some good matches, some bad matches. It wasn't a great PPV yet at the same time it wasn't a bad PPV. Will it be remembered in a few years? Probably not but you wouldn't be wasting your time if you checked it out. Ratings:

  Match 1: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Miz (The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger) vs Team Morrison (John Morrison, Matt Hardy, Evan Bourne, Shelton Benjamin and Finlay): 5/10

  Match 2: Rey Mysterio vs Batista: 6.5/10

  Match 3: Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match: Team Kofi (Kofi Kingston, MVP, Mark Henry, R-Truth and Christian) vs Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, CM Punk and William Regal): 7.5/10

  Match 4: World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match: Undertaker (c) vs Chris Jericho vs Big Show: 7/10

  Match 5: Team Mickie (Mickie James, Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, Melina and Gail Kim) vs Team Michelle (Michelle McCool, Jillian Hall, Beth Phoenix, Layla and Alicia Fox): 4/10

  Match 6: WWE Championship Triple Threat Match: John Cena (c) vs Triple H vs Shawn Michaels: 8/10

  Match of the Night: WWE Championship Match

  Worst Match of the Night: Divas Match

  Sleeper Match of the Night: N/A

  Overall Event Rating: 6.5/10

  And now, onto the second review.

  When I first heard about the idea for this PPV, I wasn't happy at all. The TLC Match is one of my favourite gimmick matches of all time but even I admitted that I didn't want to see 3 or 4 in one night. It was going to be overkill and ruin the specialty of this match. However, when I heard about the new format for the show, it made me very excited to the PPV. Yes, a few weeks ago the WWE presented their first ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs themed PPV called...Tables, Ladders and Chairs (very original). Was the show any good or was it gimmick overkill? Read on to find out.

  The show opened with the ECW Title Ladder Match. Awesome match that you need to see. Some insane spots included Shelton diving off a ladder onto Christian, a beautiful powerslam off a ladder by Shelton and Christian leaping off the top rope, putting Shelton through a ladder. A few things bugged me though. There was a really ugly blotch about half way through the match where Shelton placed a ladder against the ropes and tried to use the ropes to catapult the ladder into Christian, but it didn't work and came off as sloppy and bad. Of course, the other was the match being stopped due to Christian bleeding. However, those little points didn't take away from the match. Christian retained his title in a brilliant opening!

  Next was the IC Title Match. It's a shame that the crowd only woke up just as the match was finishing because it was a nicely wrestled match and they took away from it. McIntyre won the title after hitting his Double Arm DDT. I don't know how to feel about this. McIntyre hasn't really impressed me yet so I don't know if it was the right move. Then again, now that he has a championship, there's potential there...plus it frees Morrison to move into a World Title programme.
  The Women's Championship was on the line next and paint me gold and call me Oscar, it was a good match between the two ladies. Maybe the best women's match in the WWE this year? Once again, the crowd were silent but the ladies hard work made up for that. McCool retained after some sort of kick to Mickie.

  And then we came to the Tables Match for the WWE Title. Newcomer Sheamus faced 'The Champ' John Cena and I'm happy to say that this surpassed my expectations as the two delivered a fun match. When this was first announced, two things crossed my mind; Squash Match and 3/10. So it's nice to see the E doing something different. You could argue that Sheamus isn't built up enough yet to deserve a World Title run but I'll give the E credit for doing something that I thought they'd never do. Is it the right thing to do though? I still haven't decided. Weak ending aside, the sheer shock factor of Sheamus winning and a fun match made thismemorable.

  The chairs match for the World Title followed. In the past Taker and Batista, imo, have always delivered but this wasn't one of those times. I don't know if it was because of Taker's health or if both of these guys just had an off night but I found this match really boring and disappointing. Batista thought he won the title after a low blow and a chair shot. However Teddy Long had other ideas and restarted the match since there was DQ's and low blows were illegal in this match. Taker soon retained after a chair shot and the Tombstone.

  Another match I was really looking forward came next as Kofi Kingston and Randy Orton had a great match. The selling from Kofi after Orton punted his arm was brilliant and once again shows that he should be main eventing PPV's in the future. Orton won after Kofi missed the Trouble in Paradise and delivered one hell of an RKO!
  And then the main event for the Unified Tag Team Titles was next. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that a Tag Team Title Match would have main evented a PPV in 2009, I would have called you crazy! DX were looking to become Tag Champions for the first time as a group in their first ever TLC Match. I was very excited to see this as Jericho always brings the goods in Ladder Matches plus a dream of mine came true...HBK in a TLC Match! This wasn't the best TLC Match of all time (I mean they should've just called it a Ladders and Chairs Match) but there was enough brutal spots to keep me entertained. DX won the Tag Titles for the first ever time after knocking Jericho off Shows shoulders where he landed on a table (quite badly as well), knocked Show out of the ring with a ladder and climbed it to take the titles.

  So overall, I really enjoyed this show and thought it was a great PPV to end 2009. A lot of headlines and memorable moments came out of this show and hopefully they'll keep that momentum going to the Royal Rumble. Ratings:

  Match 1: ECW Championship Ladder Match: Christian (c) vs Shelton Benjamin: 8.5/10

  Match 2: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: John Morrison (c) vs Drew McIntyre: 7/10

  Match 3: WWE Women's Championship Match: Mickie James vs Michelle McCool (c): 6.5/10

  Match 4: WWE Championship Tables Match: Sheamus vs John Cena (c): 7/10

  Match 5: World Heavyweight Championship Chairs Match: Undertaker (c) vs Batista: 5/10

  Match 6: Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton: 8/10

  Match 7: WWE Unified Tag Team Championship Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match: DX vs Jeri-Show (c): 8/10

  Match of the Night: ECW Title Ladder Match

  Worst Match of the Night: World Title Chairs Match

  Sleeper Match of the Night: Women's Title Match

  Overall Event Rating: 8/10

  Thanks for reading. In my next blog (in the New Year) I'll be rating my Top 50 WWE PPV Matches of 2009. I would just like to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year! See you all in 2010!

  • Posted Dec 23, 2009 4:48 pm PT
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• 20Nov 09

  Bragging Rights 2009 Review + DGUSA Enter the Dragon 2009 Review

  Hi, Turk here. It feels like age's since I've done any reviews...*looks back at blog history*...and no wonder, because it is! I guess that's what work and Modern Warfare 2 does to you! Anyway, these aren't going to be like my normal reviews where I write tons and tons of paragraphs, instead I'll just give a few notes and the match ratings.

  The first show I'll be looking at was a new PPV from the E, Bragging Rights, where...well...bragging rights were on the line (at least in a few matches). The opening match was fun and enjoyable, the Divas match was far from the usual train wrecks that we see and the Fatal Four Way was a great little match that finally(!) saw the long overdue heel turn for Batista (dear god he's needed that since 2006!). Then we came to the 14 Man Tag Match which entertained me and I'm so glad that Smackdown won, since they are the true No.1 show no matter what Vince says.

  And finally the main event was the Iron Man Match between John Cena and Randy Orton. I'll admit that when this was announced I wasn't excited. I mean, 1 full hour of Cena and Orton. And even though they have had entertaining matches, I was sick to death of seeing them square off. However this was, by far, the best match that these two have ever had and it far surpassed my expectations. It had everything; drama, great counters and psychology, near falls and a tense edge of your seat finale. The only thing that stopped this from being a perfect match was that it did drag a little by the 30 Minute mark and the pyro part for me was ridiculous!

  So overall, I really liked this show and everything ranged from decent to brilliant. That's a great show in my book! Ratings:

  Match 1: Raw vs Smackdown Bragging Rights Match: John Morrison vs The Miz: 7/10

  Match 2: Raw vs Smackdown Divas Bragging Rights Match: Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs Melina, Kelly Kelly and Gail Kim: 5.5/10

  Match 3: World Heavyweight Championship Fatal Four Way Match: Undertaker (c) vs Batista vs Rey Mysterio vs CM Punk: 7.5/10

  Match 4: Raw vs Smackdown 14 Man Tag-Team Bragging Rights Match: Team Raw: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Mark Henry, Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger vs Team Smackdown: Chris Jericho, Kane, Matt Hardy, R-Truth, David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd and Finlay: 7/10

  Match 5: WWE Championship 60 Minute Anything Goes Iron Man Match: John Cena vs Randy Orton (c): 9/10

  Match of the Night: Iron Man Match

  Worst Match of the Night: Divas Match

  Sleeper Match of the Night: Iron Man Match

  Overall Event Rating: 7.5/10

  The second show...DGUSA Enter the Dragon? Well, I'm just going to let my match ratings tell the story:

  Match 1: BxB Hulk vs. Yamato: 8.5/10

  Match 2: Fire Ant & Soldier Ant, Jigsaw and Mike Quackenbush vs. Icarus, Gran Akuma, Amasis and Hallowicked: 8.5/10

  Match 3: Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid: 8/10

  Match 4: The Young Bucks vs. Cima and Susumu Yokosuka: 9.5/10

  Match 5: Naruki Doi vs. Shingo: 8.5/10

  Match of the Night: The Young Bucks vs. Cima and Susumu Yokosuka

  Worst Match of the Night: Yeah right!

  Overall Event Rating: 10/10

  Yes this was, without question, one of the greatest PPV's I've ever seen. I would put it up there with Wrestlemania 17 and Survivor Series's 1998 and 2002. Go out of your way to see this show!

  Thanks for reading

  Next time: Survivor Series 2009 Review

  • Posted Nov 20, 2009 10:39 am PT
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• 19Oct 09

  Hell in a Cell 2009 Review

  Hi everyone, Turk here. After the dreadful Submission themed PPV 'Breaking Point', I was hoping that the next PPV would be an improvement over the formally named 'Unforgiven'. Was it? Well, read on to find out.

  The first match of the evening was a weird choice to open the show imo as CM Punk defended the World Title against the Undertaker in Hell in a Cell. Many reports came out a week or two after this match suggesting that Punk is now in the doghouse which might have been the reason for this going on first. As for the match itself, it was a decent wrestling match but this easily could've been a normal one-on-one match without the cell since it was hardly used. I also question whether taking the title off Punk and putting it on Taker was the right move. If Punk was being punished, at least put the title on someone who's 100%.

  We then came to the IC Title Match between John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler. This was another match which I found weird. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it however for some reason the crowd couldn't care less and the lack of reaction took away from the match in my view. Morrison retained with the Starship Pain. As far as the Divas match goes, the less said the better as I just couldn't get into it. I don't know about anyone else but Mickie has gotten really sloppy lately, she's not the same wrestler she once was imo.

  The next match of the PPV was my personal choice for Match of the Night as the Unified Tag Titles were on the line. Coming into the show, I wasn't expecting much from this since it involved the 'talents' of Batista and Big Show. However, what we got was the best tag-team match from the WWE so far this year. An exciting and fast paced match followed and even when Batista or Big Show were in the match, it made sense and especially looked great when Show was in there with Rey. The end to this brilliant match came when Rey went for the West Coast Pop and Show killed him with a right hand.

  And then the second Hell in a Cell Match of the evening took place with the WWE Title on the line. Personally, I would put this on the same level as their 'I Quit' Breaking Point Match. It was the exact same Orton/Cena match we've seen before yet at the same time, it was still good and entertaining. Again, I don't know why they had this as HIAC since it was nothing more than a regular match. Orton regains the title thanks to the 'Punt'.

  Like the Divas match, I'm not going to waste my time with Truth/McIntyre. The US Title Match can be summed up in one word...disappointing. This was like the IC Title match from earlier in the PPV in that the crowd were dead, and it's a shame since I was looking forward to this. Also, if they were going to put the title on the Miz, why not do it on PPV when it would mean more instead of Raw. Kofi retained the title with the 'Trouble in Paradise' on Swagger.

  And finally, we came to the main event and our third Hell in a Cell Match of the PPV, DX vs Legacy. For me, this was the best HIAC Match of the night however that's not saying much since I still think their Summerslam match was their best effort. This was the only match which really used the cell as a weapon and I really liked the story behind it. If there's anything this match showed it was that Shawn Michaels is the greatest seller in the history of Pro Wrestling, I honestly thought at times Shawn was really injured. I also liked the ending with the Sweet Chin Music/Sledgehammer combo. If there's one thing I didn't enjoy in this match it was Michael Cole. I know Cole can be annoying at times but for some reason in this match especially, he was extremely annoying. I don't know why and I can't put my finger on it but he got on my nervous a lot. This didn't take away from the match though as I thought it was a worthy main event.

  So overall, this show was definitely an improvement over Breaking Point; however I do have some criticisms. First, the match order was completely wrong. As much as I enjoyed DX/Legacy, it shouldn't have main evented. IMO, the PPV was booked backwards. And secondly, never, ever do this PPV again. The HIAC Matches ranged from decent to very good but three in one night is overkill at its highest. Plus with no blood and violence, this isn't what HIAC is all about. Vince, you get a pass this time since I was interested in what this show would be like. But if this PPV goes ahead next year, I certainly won't be looking forward to it. Ratings:

  Match 1: World Heavyweight Championship Hell in a Cell Match: Undertaker vs CM Punk (c): 6.5/10

  Match 2: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: John Morrison (c) vs Dolph Ziggler: 7.5/10

  Match 3: WWE Divas Championship Match: Mickie James (c) vs Alicia Fox: 4/10

  Match 4: WWE Unified Tag Team Championship Match: Batista and Rey Mysterio vs Chris Jericho and The Big Show (c): 8.5/10

  Match 5: WWE Championship Hell in a Cell Match: John Cena (c) vs Randy Orton: 7/10

  Match 6: R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre: 2/10

  Match 7: WWE United States Championship Triple Threat Match: Jack Swagger vs The Miz vs Kofi Kingston: 6/10

  Match 8: Hell in a Cell Match: DX vs Legacy: 7.5/10

  Match of the Night: Unified Tag Team Title Match

  Worst Match of the Night: Truth/McIntyre

  Sleeper Match of the Night: Unified Tag Team Title Match

  Overall Event Rating: 7/10

  Thanks for reading

  Next time: Bragging Rights 2009 Review

  • Posted Oct 19, 2009 1:23 pm PT
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