WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

from Toronto

NOAM DAR, RICH SWANN & T.J. PERKINS vs. ARIYA DAIVARI, DREW GULAK & TONY NESE (11:50): This was the first forgettable pre-show match. All these cruiserweights flying around should have produced some fireworks. The crowd was a tomb save for one or two of the over the top rope dives. Eh. This division deserves better (they are getting their own show next week on the Network). *1/2

 KANE vs. LUKE HARPER (9:10): A pre-show match (the pre-show started at 6 PM and the whole show ended a little before 10:30 PM). Why does Kane still exist? 1/2*

TEAM RAW (CHARLOTTE, BAYLEY, NIA JAX, ALICIA FOX & SASHA BANKS) vs. TEAM SMACKDOWN (NATALYA, BECKY LYNCH, ALEXA BLISS, CARMELLA & NAOMI) (17:30): The problem with 5 on 5 elimination matches is that you see multi-person matches so much on RAW and Smackdown that seeing a whole ppv of them is dull. I guess this show had the caveat of seeing RAW and Smackdown wrestlers against each other that you typically don't see. That wasn't enough. This show was mostly a drag. A singles match between Charlotte and Sasha would have been ten times better than this: a glorified RAW match. Nia Jax was a monster. Bayley won by pinning Becky then Charlotte beat up Bayley. Natalya subbed for Nikki Bella who was attacked by someone (or something!) backstage. This was average stuff. **

THE MIZ vs. SAMI ZAYN (14:05): If Zayn won then the IC title would have moved to RAW. The Miz ended up winning an okay match. A Dolph Ziggler/Zayn match would have been better, but, alas, The Miz beat Ziggler last week to win the title again (he's a 6-time IC champ). Zayn is awesome. I wish they'd give him a real feud with some real wrestlers for once. **

TEAM RAW (THE NEW DAY, GALLOWS & ANDERSON, SHEAMUS & CESARO, ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS & THE SHINING STARS) vs. TEAM SMACKDOWN (HEATH SLATER & RHYNO, THE HYPE BROS, AMERICAN ALPHA, THE USOS & BREEZANGO) (18:55): This was the tag-team elimination match. Seeing 9 guys standing around both corners of the ring was kind of ridiculous. The New Day got eliminated early which was a surprise. Besides a bunch of people leaping over the ropes onto a pile of bodies, this was fairly pedestrian. **

BRIAN KENDRICK vs. KALISTO (12:25): Decent until the end. Baron Corbin came in and beat up Kalisto to cause a DQ. If Kalisto had won the Cruiserweight title then the whole division would have went to Smackdown. The best moment was when, on the edge of the ring outside of the ropes, Kalisto did his Del Sol flip/slam move down onto the floor. Sadistic. Fast-paced match but nothing spectacular. **1/2

TEAM SMACKDOWN (AJ STYLES, DEAN AMBROSE, BRAY WYATT, RANDY ORTON & SHANE O'MAC) vs. TEAM RAW (KEVIN OWENS, CHRIS JERICHO, ROMAN REIGNS, BRAUN STROWMAN & SETH ROLLINS) (52:55): Jesus. This match was almost an hour long. Brutal. There were some highlights. Shane did an elbow drop from the top rope onto Strowman on the announce table. The Shield reunited to power-bomb AJ Styles through an announce table (Dean Ambrose is feuding with his teammate, Styles, hence the reasoning). James Ellsworth grabbed Strowman's ankle to keep him out of the ring and count him out...leading to Strowman tossing Ellsworth off the stage through a table. Shane tried a Van Terminator and was speared in mid-air by Roman. This legit knocked the wind out of Shane and instead of being pinned the ref just said Shane was eliminated and he had to be helped to the back. I love Shane...but he's probably too old to be doing crazy shit. If this was a wake up call, then it's a bitter pill to swallow knowing we might not see another Shane O'Mac match. The final had the Wyatt Family (Orton, Bray, and Luke Harper, who wasn't in the match) being the final members left to win it. This was way too long but fun in spots. **1/2

BROCK LESNAR vs. GOLDBERG (1:30): The re-match 12 years in the making...that nobody wanted to see. I've never watched the infamous Lesnar/Goldberg Wrestlemania match. It was apparently one of the worst matches ever and the fans booed because Lesnar was going to UFC and 'Berg was just quitting. But nostalgia is king these days (thanks mostly to Netflix, who have revived old shows like Gilmore Girls and Full House for no good reason). Goldberg is the WWE's newest pet project. He's the face of the WWE's new video game and he had his first wrestling match in 12 years tonight. I'm guessing his stipulation for one more match was to easily defeat Lesnar in a few minutes? Otherwise, I'm baffled. Lesnar picked up Goldberg and rammed him into the corner. Then Goldberg pushed him to the ground, gave him two spears, Jack Hammered him, then pinned him. No Suplex City. The Beast lost for the first time since this year's Royal Rumble and got massacred for the first time since coming back to the WWE. Since Goldberg isn't sticking around for any sort of feud...what was the point of this? To sell more video games and Goldberg DVD's? Because it sure makes Lesnar look like a chump. Strange ending to a mediocre show. *1/2

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

from Osaka, Japan

 HIROYOSHI TENZAN, JUICE ROBINSON & SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. MANABU NAKANISHI, TERUAKI KANEMITSU & YUJI NAGATA (5:49): The pre-show match. Kind of an old man and fresh faces mix. Nothing too this, but semi-entertaining. **

DAVID FINLAY, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, RICOCHET & TIGER MASK vs. ANGEL de ORO, FUEGO, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & TITAN (5:30): The Mexican team came out dancing. That was one of the more amusing things on this show. Ricochet was the other. He's so awesome that it's kind of a shame they fly him all the way to Japan just to be in a five minute forgettable match. But his awesomeness was on display for a short while. And, hell, I'd pay to see him face Bone Soldier. He's that good! **

BONE SOLDIER, CHASE OWENS & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI vs. TOGI MAKABE, HONMA & YOSHITATSU (7:36): Voicesofwrestling.com had a hilarious preview of this show where they ripped apart Bone Soldier and his feud with Yoshitatsu. Yes, Bone Soldier is awful. Honma is fading but still fun to watch. But, alas, this was pretty awful. *

GUERILLAS OF DESTINY vs. ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI (14:32): Shocking, but this match was better than the next one. Perhaps because the crowd got into it to cheer on Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi. There were some exciting near-falls and drama at the end. It was better than I expected, considering the Guerrillas fucking suck. **1/2

RAPPONGI VICE vs. ACH & TAJI ISHIMORI (18:49): This was the finals for the Jr. Tag Team tournament. The problem was that either of these teams would have been in a better match with the Bucks (ACH and Ishimori beat the Bucks a week ago in the tournament in a good match). ACH, from ROH, is a lot of fun, and him and Ishimori do some crazy high-flying leaps and jumps (their finisher is a double Shooting Star Press). But this went too long. Rappongi Vice will go on to face the Bucks for the titles at the Dome. **

KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI (15:11): Bushi just won the Jr. Heavyweight title...yet he lost it already. The end was odd. The ref just called it when Bushi was in a submission hold for awhile. Bushi is not the best cruiserweight, so I'm not sure why they even gave him the title in the first place. This was just okay. And is Kushida going heel? It seemed like it. Post-match, out came Kushida's Dome challenger, the arrogant, brash Hiromu Takahashi, who was wrestling spectacular matches in CMLL earlier this year against Dragon Lee. **

ADAM COLE, THE YOUNG BUCKS & KENNY OMEGA vs. OKADA, GEDO, GOTO & WILL OSPREAY (14:01): These four Bullet Club members are, right now, the most entertaining team in wrestling. Even the Japanese crowds love to yell, "Baby!" when Adam Cole does his stupid yet amusing, "Adam Cole...Baby!" refrain mid-match. And the Bucks are as awesome as ever these days. And Omega is perhaps the wrestler of the year. Add Okada to this mix and add Ospreay's super-jumps and cat-like speed and, hell, this was one of the most entertaining matches I've seen all year. All four BC members super-kicked Okada and Gedo and Omega pinned Okada to win. ***1/2

EVIL vs. SHIBATA (16:15): Wow. Evil, the boring brute, won the NEVER title here. I guess this is so Shibata can go and have his match with NOAH's Go Shiozaki without a title on the line. Either way, this was good but not great. Hard-hitting. Surprise ending. Probably Evil's best single's match this year...which isn't saying much.  **1/2

 HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. SANADA (21:33): Sanada never did sign a full-time contract yet with New Japan. Maybe that's why he always looks like he doesn't want to be there. And while he's tall and athletic...he has zero charisma. The end did have a good sequence where Tanahashi kept blocking Sanada's finisher. And we got a High-Fly Flow. It was average stuff. **

JAY LETHAL vs. NAITO (24:29): Lethal used to be entertaining and in good matches back when he was a high-flyer in the X-division in TNA and he dressed up as The Macho Man. He had the ROH title this year but lost it to Adam Cole and now he's a good guy again. The reason he was in this match was because Elgin was injured. And this ended up being a bore. Lethal just does not put on good shows in Japan for whatever reason. Naito is the type of wrestler who's usually only as good as his opponent...so this was long and mostly dull. It was for the IC title, which Tanahashi will challenge Naito for at the big Dome show in January. Towards the end there was some drama and near-falls and it started with Lethal doing three straight dives through the ropes to Naito on the outside. But the majority of this just didn't work.  **

WWE HELL IN A CELL

from Boston

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, LINCE DORADO & SIN CARA vs. TONY NESE, DREW GULAK & ARIYA DAIVARI (9:45): This was on the pre-show. Gulak used to wrestle in CZW and got to keep his name, which is cool, unlike Dean Ambrose (who was the CZW champ Jon Moxley). This was filler stuff, but at least entertaining. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. RUSEV "HELL IN A CELL" (24:35): So the first match of the triple main event went on first at 8 PM. Hmmm. Do main events go on first? No. So why even call it that? This also ended up being the longest of the three Cell matches. They used a Singapore cane, a chain, and the ring steps. It was good but nothing too exciting. **1/2

BAYLEY vs. DANA BROOKE (6:30): This is why I hate the split...because we'd never see crap like this on a ppv. Bayley had some awesome matches in NXT. So far they haven't really given her much to do on the big stage. 1/2*

GALLOWS & ANDERSON vs. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS (6:45): Ugh. Enzo is good on the mic. Maybe make him a manager like Paul Heyman? This was short at least. Gallows and Anderson are just awful in the WWE. 1/2*

KEVIN OWENS vs. SETH ROLLINS "HELL IN A CELL" (23:15): The big spot had Owens going through two stacked tables at ringside. Jericho snuck into the cell and helped Owens retain his Universal title. It was good, albeit nothing spectacular. **1/2

BRIAN KENDRICK vs. T.J. PERKINS (10:35): Lame. Kendrick is too old and too dull to be in this division let alone the champ. But the split dried up the rosters so they have to switch titles a lot to make things semi-fresh. So Kendrick faked an injury then drew Perkins in and made him submit. The cruiserweight division is the best thing about RAW...if they do it right. So far they're failing. *

SHEAMUS & CESARO vs. THE NEW DAY (11:15): The New Day lost by DQ but kept their titles. Maybe I should start watching Smackdown because I'm already sick of everyone on RAW. *

CHARLOTTE vs. SASHA BANKS "HELL IN A CELL" (22:25): Except for these two! With the split, we've already seen these two fight and change titles seemingly a billion times. But they always put on a show so who cares? The WWE could have made this an even bigger deal if they didn't keep bragging about how it was the first women's main event on a ppv and the first women's Cell match. Stop bragging and talking about it and just do it like it's same-old and it'd have been cooler. They both came out with big entrances; Sasha in a black SUV and Charlotte on a throne carried by men. They battled in the crowd before the match started and Charlotte power-bombed Sasha through the announce table. Cue the stretcher, paramedics, and story line! But Sasha got off the stretcher...to end up losing anyway...in her hometown. Way to end a show! This was sloppy as fuck (the last table break spot didn't break) but brutal and exciting. Charlotte is just awesome. She's already a fucking legend. **1/2