WWE VENGEANCE

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011 from San Antonio, TX

AIR BOOM vs. JACK SWAGGER & DOLPH ZIGGLER: Wall to wall action but nothing extraordinary. And I'm pretty bored with all four of these guys. ** (out of ****)

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. ZACK RYDER: Yep, Ziggler wrestled in two straight matches. Does this mean he's getting the title soon? *

EVE vs. BETH PHOENIX: Not good. 1/2*

SHEAMUS vs. CHRISTIAN: Very boring. *

HHH & CM PUNK vs. AWESOME TRUTH: Wow. For a match that everyone thought was the "real" main event, this was a dud. HHH looked fat. Kevin Nash beat up HHH to cause The Miz and R. Truth to win. Nothing special at all. *1/2

RANDY ORTON vs. CODY RHODES: Dull. Rhodes just doesn't have it. *

MARK HENRY vs. THE BIG SHOW: This had a good ending at least. Henry suplexed Big Show off the top rope and the ring collapsed. It was a no contest. **1/2

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. JOHN CENA "Last Man Standing Match": They fought in the broken ring. That was at least something different. They brawled backstage. Del Rio's announcer tried to beat up Cena a few times. Del Rio was thrown through a table and through the announce table. R. Truth and The Miz beat up Cena to help Del Rio win. About as good as it could've been. **1/2

TNA BOUND FOR GLORY

Sunday, October 16th, 2011 from North Philly

AUSTIN ARIES vs. BRIAN KENDRICK: The crowd for this show, which was at Temple's Liacouras Center, was loud and into it in the beginning and during the Hogan/Sting match. That was a plus. The longer the show went on the worse it got and the quieter the crowd got. Simple opener. ** (out of ****)

RVD vs. JERRY LYNN "Full Metal Mayhem": Good match. A little short with not as many ladder spots as one might want but it was brutal and entertaining. Lynn suplexed RVD onto a ringside ladder and RVD hit the edge of it and then hit the ground. That was sick. A Van Terminator ended it. **1/2

SOMOA JOE vs. CRIMSON vs. MATT MORGAN: Somoa Joe was firing on all cylinders but the other two were dull and Morgan looked hurt. Morgan stood by as Crimson pinned Joe and Morgan didn't bother to stop it. Oh well. *1/2

BULLY RAY vs. MR. ANDERSON "Falls Count Anywhere": Good match. Bully Ray is great on the mic. The threw each other through tables and a steel ring barrier. Anderson did his Swanton Bomb from the top rope onto Bully and a table but it didn't break. He just got up and then put Bully through it and won. **1/2

WINTER vs. VELVET SKY vs. MICKIE JAMES vs. MADISON RAYNE: Not good. 1/2*

CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. AJ STYLES "I Quit Match": Awful, actually. These two don't click. The finish had AJ approaching Daniels with a screwdriver and Daniels quit. What? Was AJ going to stab him? Soooo lame. *

HULK HOGAN vs. STING: Not a good match but the crowd loved it and, seriously, this wasn't going to be a great wrestling match. Ric Flair came out and was the ringside heel. There was blood. Sting won then Hogan turned good. Eh. *1/2

KURT ANGLE vs. BOBBY ROODE: A bad main event and a terrible way to finish what is, apparently, TNA's biggest show of the year. Angle pinned Roode but Angle held the ropes for leverage. That was the end. What? These two just didn't get into the zone. Roode sucks and Angle was hurt. Not a great ending to what was a decent show. *1/2

WWE HELL IN A CELL

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011, from New Orleans

SEAMUS vs. CHRISTIAN: Pretty basic stuff. Why not just have every match in the cell? It is there. ** (out of ****)

SIN CARA (MISTICO) vs. SIN CARA: The crowd chanted "boring." The blue music sucks. I like Sin Cara but this storyline is extremely pointless. Perhaps if it was well written...1/2*

KOFI KINGSTON & EVAN BOURNE vs. JACK SWAGGER & DOLPH ZIGGLER: More basic stuff. You do realize this is a $44 ppv, right? **

MARK HENRY vs. RANDY ORTON "Hell in a Cell": A terrible match. The cell was rarely used. Henry won but then after the match he ran away from Orton who was hitting him with a chair. 1/2*

CODY RHODES vs. JOHN MORRISON: The show was short so they threw this un-announced match on it. Remember when Morrison was wrestling in the main event for the title in the Spring? Now he's losing in a match for the IC title. Not good. *1/2

BETH PHOENIX vs. KELLY KELLY: Not particularly noteworthy except they had Phoenix lose in her hometown last month only to have her win here. Yeah, you explain it. 1/2*

CM PUNK vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. JOHN CENA "Hell in a Cell": Mediocre match. Nobody climbed the cell. Chairs were used. Punk fell through a table. Del Rio locked Cena out of the cage then used a pipe to knock out Punk and win the title. After that, The Miz and R. Truth came in and beat everyone up and locked the cage door. The locker room came out and finally opened the door. Police officers arrested The Miz and R. Truth, who were fired two weeks ago. HHH beat up The Miz and R. Truth while they were being led away by police. Wild ending to a totally dull show. **1/2

WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS

Sunday, September 18th, 2011, from Buffalo


KOFI KINGSTON & EVAN BOURNE vs. THE MIZ & R. TRUTH: The Miz beat up the ref to cause a DQ. On RAW, HHH fired R Truth and The Miz for beating up the ref. Didn't even really know there were still tag team titles. *1/2 (out of ****)

CODY RHODES vs. TED DIBIASE: Rhodes, for some reason, is a big star on Smackdown!. Not sure why. *

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. JACK SWAGGER vs. ALEX RILEY vs. JOHN MORRISON: Really fun, fast, exciting match. I hate that Morrison is still being buried, though. ***

RANDY ORTON vs. MARK HENRY: Surprisingly, Henry won the title here. It was an awful match. Henry as champ is something new but not something good. *

KELLY KELLY vs. BETH PHOENIX: Not particularly good, although Phoenix, the beast, did lose. *1/2

ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. JOHN CENA: Cena wins the title. Again. Granted, he lost at MITB and Summerslam to Punk. God forbid he lose at three straight ppv's. Not the best match. **

HHH vs. CM PUNK: So the main event on a show called "Night of Champions" doesn't feature a champion. Interesting. This was a good match with a total clusterfuck finish. The Miz and R Truth ran in and attacked the ref and HHH and Punk. John Laurenaitis, the vice president dude, came in and seemed to favor Punk by not pushing the ref into the ring when HHH was going for the pin but pushing the ref in when Punk went for a cover. Laurenaitis also got on his cell phone and then Kevin Nash came out of the crowd and beat up Punk and HHH. Eventually HHH won after delivering the pedigree on Punk. The highlight was when Punk jumped off the top rope and delivered an elbow onto HHH and the Spanish announce table. It wasn't a great match but the wild finish made it entertaining. ***

TNA NO SURRENDER

Sunday, September 11th, 2011, from Orlando

JESSE SORENSEN vs. KID KASH: And you thought you already saw the worst ppv of the year (take your pick from any number of TNA shows)? This show had to be the worst of the year. It started with an un-announced X-Division #1 contender match. Sorensen beat Kid Kash, who I saw wrestle live at the ECW Arena in, like, 1999 or something. Not a good opener. *

BULLY RAY vs. JAMES STORM: Bully Ray is a good heel and funny on the mic, but he's not a good wrestler. So what does TNA do? They book him in two matches. Groan. 1/2*

WINTER vs. MICKIE JAMES: I actually like Winter but I'm not sure why. But remember Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim? TNA used to have entertaining women's matches. This was eh. *

MEXICAN AMERICA vs. DEVON & POPE: Hernandez did a leap off the top rope that was cool. Interviewing Rosita, who is a part of the Mexican America contingent, about her dead father (he died on 9/11) felt a little exploitative. *

MATT MORGAN vs. SOMOA JOE: Remember when Kurt Angle faced Joe for the first time and that ppv got record buy rates for TNA? Well apparently they don't remember it as Joe loses to Morgan here. Can we say 'waste of talent'? *

BOBBY ROODE vs. GUNNER: Pretty much unwatchable. -No Stars-

AUSTIN ARIES vs. BRIAN KENDRICK: The best match on the show and it was bad. Aries looks like he doesn't want to be in TNA. He botched one top rope flip to the ground and then jumped head first onto the guard rail. Kendrick is just a bore. *1/2

BOBBY ROODE vs. BULLY RAY: This was the final of the Bound for Glory series. Roode gets to face the champ next month. Not a good match at all. 1/2*

KURT ANGLE vs. STING vs. MR. ANDERSON: Hulk Hogan sprayed something into Sting's face and Angle slammed then pinned him. A very, very dull main event. 1/2*

WWE SUMMERSLAM

Sunday, August 13th, 2011 from Los Angeles

KOFI KINGSTON, REY MYSTERIO & JOHN MORISSON vs. THE MIZ, R-TRUTH & ALBERTO DEL RIO: So all these guys had no storylines or matches so they threw them together. Kind of lame, right? It was as good as a main event on RAW. **

MARK HENRY vs. SEAMUS: Henry did slam Seamus through the foam guard rail. That was about it for entertainment. *

KELLY KELLY vs. BETH PHOENIX: Not good, although, technically, have you ever seen a good WWE women's match? 1/2*

WADE BARRETT vs. DANIEL BRYAN: A strange match to be on such a big show, although Bryan could be WWE's best wrestler. It was a little too slow and plodding and the crowd was quiet. **

RANDY ORTON vs. CHRISTIAN: Phenomenal match. It was a no holds barred match. Orton RKO'd Christian through the announce table and onto the steel ring steps. Christian also went through a table. Really good, entertaining stuff. By far the feud of the year. ***

CM PUNK vs. JOHN CENA/ ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. CM PUNK: This was good but a bit sloppy and a little too much in the shadow of last month's legendary match. Punk botched the GTS but still won. Kevin Nash came in, power bombed Punk and Alberto came in to cash in his MITB contract and he pinned Punk to win the title. I suppose the Nash stuff made it "special," but it the Alberto win was fairly un-surprising and not at all exciting. **1/2

TNA HARDCORE JUSTICE

Sunday, August 7th, 2011 from Orlando

BRIAN KENDRICK vs. AUSTIN ARIES vs. ALEX SHELLEY: Well, the card sucked and this show turned out awful. Even these three couldn't put on a good match. Kendrick is just an awful bore. There were a lot of mistakes here that just put a sour taste in my match for a long, dull show. *

TARA & MISS TESSMACHER vs. ROSITA & SARITA: Yes, TNA actually put on two women's matches on this show. Did I do something wrong? Because I feel like I'm being punished. 1/2*

THE POPE vs. DEVON: Pope is semi-interesting, but The Dudley's are a mess apart. 1/2*

MICKIE JAMES vs. WINTER: Red mist! Tajiri is smiling somewhere. *

RVD vs. CRIMSON: Not bad. Jerry Lynn tried to give RVD a chair and the ref DQ'd RVD. **

AJ STYLES & KAZARIAN & CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. ABYSS & SCOTT STEINER & GUNNER: AJ Styles was on fire (why isn't he the champ, like, forever?) and Daniels went through a table. **

BULLY RAY vs. MR. ANDERSON: Anderson did a Swanton Dive from the top rope. That was about it for entertainment. 1/2*

BEER MONEY vs. MEXICAN AMERICA: Why does the crowd love Beer Money? I guess they're drunk. *

STING vs. KURT ANGLE: Angle is a great wrestler. He also looks sickly thin. I guess he's off steroids. Sting is old. This was basic really, but Angle did use a chair and won the title. If it can't be AJ as champ than Angle's the next best option. **