TNA LOCKDOWN

Sunday, March 9th, 2014
Miami

GREAT MUTA & SEIYA SANADA & YASU vs.. CHRIS SABIN & CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & KAZARIAN: So because American audiences are dumb, Yasufumi Nakanoueno was only referred to as "Yasu." Those two (Sanada is the X-Division champ...he beat Aries for it last week in Japan) are in the Wrestle-1 promotion that Muta started in Japan. This was a fairly good match. Muta can barely walk but I've already seen him wrestle twice this year (last time was at the Tokyo Dome New Year's show). Good action. Sanada and Yasu are both awesome, high-fliers. **1/2

SAMUEL SHAW vs. MR. ANDERSON: There were 1,500 people at this show. If you wonder why no one goes to TNA shows then look at this match. It's amidst a stalker storyline. Shaw is stalking announcer Christy Hemme. He pulled her into the cage and was going to, what? Rape her? But Anderson stopped it. Lame match. One of the weirdest ones I've seen. 1/2*

EC3 & BOBBY LASHLEY: The big surprise was Lashley. Haven't seen him since his old WWE days. Remember he main evented a Great American Bash verse Cena for the title? I like him. This wasn't a match. He just came out and slammed Ethan Carter III.

MANIK vs. TIGRE UNO: Good match. Nice high-energy, luchadore stuff. Uno is great, Manik looked good. A bit sloppy but it reminded me of the old, good days of the X-Division. **1/2

JAMES STORM vs. GUNNER "LAST MAN STANDING MATCH": Good match. The crowd chanted, "This is awesome!" Granted, they also chanted that during the main event and the main event was far from awesome (perhaps they saw the ghost of Mike Awesome?). This was brutal. They used the ring steps and a chair and the final had Gunner super-plexing Storm off the top rope through two chairs. Nice. **1/2

MADISON RAYNE vs. GAIL KIM: Not particularly memorable. *

MAGNUS vs. SOMOA JOE: Bad match. Abyss came out through the ring, pulled Joe under, then both got back out and Abyss hit Joe in the gut with his stick of nails. Magnus as champ is just a bore. 1/2*

MVP & WOLVES & WILLOW vs. BRO MANS & BOBBY ROODE & AUSTIN ARIES "LETHAL LOCKDOWN": An awful main event. Bully Ray, the "evil" ref, turned face leading to MVP and his team winning and gaining control of the company. Willow, aka Jeff Hardy in a mask, lept off the top of the cage, which was realistically the only moment of entertainment. Mostly it was a sea of bodies lumbering around with trashcans. *1/2

WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER

Sunday, February 23rd, 2014
Minneapolis

BIG E. LANGSTON vs. JACK SWAGGER: The crowd was really into this towards the end. Kind of still surprised that Swagger held the title once. It was okay stuff. **

THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS vs. THE USSO'S: Really? It's not 1997 still, is it? I didn't watch this.

TITUS O'NEILL vs. DARREN YOUNG: On a ppv? Really? I didn't watch this.

THE WYATT FAMILY vs. THE SHIELD: Good match, strange match. Six heels. Huh? Well Roman Reigns is leaning face and will apparently be the next big star...so they have him be pinned. Nice. Early it was okay but got exciting late. They put Seth Rollins through the Spanish announce table. **1/2

CAMERON vs. AJ LEE: Didn't watch. Kind of a shame that the women's division is a joke.

BATISTA vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO: I laughed when Batista was booed out of the building the entire match. Del Rio was cheered. Michael Cole said it was because of NAFTA. Del Rio came out with a crutch and neck brace then beat Batista with the cruch then ended up losing pretty fast. It's hilarious that Batista is being booed. *

RANDY ORTON vs. SHEAMUS vs. JOHN CENA vs. DANIEL BRYAN vs. CHRISTIAN vs. CESARO ELIMINATION CHAMBER: Good match, albeit not one of the better EC matches. No one was pinned until Christian lept off the top of a pod and onto Sheamus and pinned him at 26 minutes in. The Wyatts came out and beat up Cena for no reason leading to Orton pinning Cena. Early on it was a little dull. Bryan and Orton were the last two left and Bryan did kick out of one RKO but Kane interfered and Orton won and what the fuck? How many times will Bryan be screwed out of the title? No wonder CM Punk quit this company. ***

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE

Sunday, January 26th, 2014
Pittsburgh

DANIEL BRYAN vs. BRAY WYATT: Good match. The match of the night. Towards the end it got brutal and wild and the crowd was energetic. Bryan lept off the apron and gave Wyatt a tornado ddt on the floor. Sick. Then later Bryan lept through the ropes, was caught by Wyatt, and he delivered his finisher by planting Bryan's head into the ringside barrier (sick because Bryan had a concussion a week ago...pretty dumb to have let this move take place). Wyatt won clean which the crowd thought meant Bryan was going to win the Rumble later on...**1/2

BROCK LESNAR vs. THE BIG SHOW: Before the match started Lesnar hit Show then beat him with a chair. Finally the ref rang the bell and Show punched Lesnar. Then Lesnar F5'd him and won. Then Lesnar hit Show with a chair like fifty times. This was to prove Lesnar is a beast...but I'd rather have seen a real match. **

JOHN CENA vs. RANDY ORTON: The crowd chanted, "This is awful!" and also "Randy Savage" and other randomness during this okay match. Both guys gave the other the other person's finisher. It was okay, nothing special. The Wyatt family showed up to distract Cena and Orton won. **

THE ROYAL RUMBLE (BATISTA): The story of the show was the crowd. When #30 was announced and it wasn't Daniel Bryan but was Mysterio, the crowd booed until the end. They booed Mysterio, booed Batista winning, cheered Roman Reigns who was left with Batista at the end. We all wanted Bryan. Why the WWE hates Bryan is beyond me. On RAW the next night they acknowledged this by having Bryan come out to open the show and confront Stephanie and Hunter. Hunter, in a baby voice, said, "Awww...you didn't get what you wanted?" to the crowd. Way to sell the WWE network by fucking the fans. I'm sure people will want to pay for it now that you hate us. As for the Rumble...it had spots of entertainment. Torrito, the midget, came in and eliminated Fandango. Diesel, Sheamus, and JBL were surprise entrants. Kofi was thrown out but caught by some new NXT star who slammed him onto the ringside barrier. Kofi had never touched the floor so he stood up and ran and lept onto the ring apron. Cool. But a mediocre Rumble, mediocre show, awful booking. Batista vs. Orton as the 'Mania main event? Good luck with that. **

Best Wrestler of 2013: CM PUNK

CM Punk had the best match at Wrestlemania (against The Undertaker) and Summerslam (against Lesnar), was in the best match of the year, had one of the best matches on RAW all year (against Cena for the title in February) was terrific and awesome during his war of words in feuds against Lesnar, The Rock, and Paul Heyman. It's not easy to be great in the ring or great on the mic but Punk is both. He will go down as one of WWE's great stars. It was a good year for the little tattooed kid from Ring of Honor.

Best PPV of 2013: WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

Two three-star ladder matches, a three-star Alberto Del Rio match (still can't believe it), RVD jumping off the top of a big dog ladder, Paul Heyman turning on Punk...this show was a good one. Sure, it had filler, but the three good matches were highly entertaining and super fun. This is always a good show and with the Smackdown title now gone this is an end of an era. A nice way to go out.

Best Match of 2013: CM PUNK vs. BROCK LESNAR WWE SUMMERSLAM

Nearly a masterpiece, this epic showdown between the beast and the little punk kid provided the most action, entertainment, and emotion of any match I saw last year. The reason was simple; they went back and forth in brutal fashion and the near-falls had me on the edge of my seat. A great match between two legends.

WWE TLC

Sunday, December 12th, 2013
Houston

 FANDANGO vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER: In a perfect world, Ziggler is facing Bryan for the title tonight. Imagine that! This was a pre-show match. Mediocre but Ziggler wrestles and comes out like he chugged a Red Bull. **

CM PUNK vs. THE SHIELD: Good opener, albeit unrealistic that one (scrawny) man would defeat three men. **1/2

AJ LEE vs. NATALYA: I do like AJ's "character. Not her wrestling, however. *

BIG E LANGSTON vs. DAMIAN SANDOW: A little sad that the Smackdown title is gone. This means that Sandow will never be champ ever. Langston is just dull, a slow bore. This match? Eh. *1/2

THE RHODES BROTHERS vs. THE REAL AMERICANS vs. REY MYSTERIO & BIG SHOW vs. RYBACK & CURTIS AXEL: Good stuff. An elimination melee. Went 21 minutes. The tag title division is back! I guess that's good. **1/2

BRODUS CLAY vs. R. TRUTH: I didn't watch the next three matches.

THE MIZ vs. KOFI KINGSTON: The Miz is in a WWE holiday movie out on DVD. It's probably funnier than Anchorman 2.

DANIEL BRYAN vs. THE WYATT FAMILY: Sigh.

RANDY ORTON vs. JOHN CENA "TABLES, LADDERS & CHAIRS": Well they broke the Spanish announce table, botched the finish, used chairs. Orton handcuffed Cena to the ropes but Cena undid them and still lost. Whatever. Bryan should beat Orton for the title...when? **