WWE Monday Night Raw April 23, 2018 Results and Review The A Show Drags On

Riott Squad Flying - SRC WWE 

If you were to claim that the status quo was going to return to the WWE after WrestleMania, you were right on. This night of Raw was par for the course in many ways. I didn’t think it was terrible, but it definitely wasn’t that grand. I was laughing at some points, and overall, there are some good things to talk about, but was it a great night of Raw? Nope!

WWE Monday Night Raw April 23, 2018 Results and Review

The show opened with a 10 Bell Salute for the latest fallen WWE legend, Bruno S. Legend in every way you can define it.

Roman Reigns confronted Brock Lesnar after Lesnar was jumping around the ring and having Heyman talk to him. This was boring, and I’m so sick of Lesnar in WWE. I don’t like Reigns, but I hate Lesnar at this point.

Elias defeated Bobby Roode

Onto the first match of the night, a competitive bout with Elias getting the better of the Glorious One. Smart move by Elias getting Roode’s shoulders caught up in the ropes, then yanking for a quick roll up and a pinfall victory. As far as in ring psychology is concerned, this was a good match, but it was short and just kind of ended etc. Elias is great, I love him, and Roode is a great technician, so this may be the start of a longer program.

Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt defeated The Ascension

Guess what? Paige Here! I kid. Wyatt and Hardy buried the Ascension. It was what you’d expect.

Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre defeated Titus Worldwide

Well, Apollo Crews has his last name back. Other than that, this was a terrible match with a focused ending that was great. Ziggler and Mcintyre’s finisher is awesome, but other than that, they are burying another tag team, as this wasn’t competitive at all.

Chad Gable defeated Jinder Mahal

WWE Raw is now officially Hindering Jinder! Gable put on a fight after getting blindsided by Jinder, but eventually succumb to the onslaught that the bigger man was throwing down. Gable would throw in some good offense here and there, and would eventually outsmart the big man whom’ tried to get his finisher on him. The classic back bump into a cobra clutch pinfall was great here, and it made Chad Gable smarter than Jinder Mahal on this night, which I loved.

Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

Oh, before this match was even a thing, they had the Kevin and Sami Show or something. It was ok at best, but it was just the two rambling on about random topics. Kurt Angle put them in a match and this was it. Lashley started things out and it wasn’t too bad, Zayn getting beat down for most of the match, but then Strowman tagged in. Strowman is a one man wrecking crew and was able to really knock down the duo, and eventually would get the pinfall. Strowman and Lashley could very well run rough shot through the tag division, and I don’t mind it.

Baron Corbin attacked No Way Jose

No Way Jose was supposed to battle Baron Corbin, but instead, he get a beat down at the top of the ramp. Is this the way that they are going to bury No Way Jose? So soon?!

Seth Rollins and Finn Balor defeated The Miztourage

Well, the Miztourage again gets buried. Earlier in the show they tried to join Seth Rollins and then they tried to form their own Balor Club, but it didn’t work. The two ended up getting beat down, and that’s the end. Jobbers today, and jobbers tomorrow. A filler match with no real repercussions.

Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and The Riott Squad defeated Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Natalya, and Ember Moon via Disqualification

I loved this main event match, and it featured 10 women that really know how to work today. The action was crisp, there was some back and forth, and aside from Natalya looking like she had a legit knee injury, I was all in for this one. Nia Jax squashing 5 women off the apron was fun, and watching the women work is always fun. The match would be thrown out when Ronda Rousey came down to help Natalya, as she was getting a beat down from Mickie James, and apparently was injured.

Overall the night of Raw was good, it just felt very long. The Moment of Bliss PSA was funny, and the backstage antics of The Miztourage was great too. I had a lot of fun with the show, although there seemed to be a lack of decent story line progression with the matches, but I guess that’s the case with Raw sometimes.

The Death of Chyna

Let’s not pretend that we were all big Chyna fans. We weren’t. There’s a lot of disingenuous fans out there mourning her death, that not two or three weeks earlier were making fun of her, and her downfall. Podcasts of all types have been singing her praises now, but when Triple H was asked about her going into the hall of fame on the Stone Cold Podcast, he and others said no, for what she did.

Now they love her?

No.

No sir.

Chyna was in fact a beast in the ring. But behind the scenes, she was a woman, and a very sweet person. If you read her book, you would know that all she wanted was love and acceptance. Then Stephanie McMahon swooped in, stole her boyfriend, and ruined her life. She never recovered.

Chyna really died of a broken heart. It’s a human story that no one seems to talk about.

This is a sad death, and one that I wanted to at least make a note of. Chyna, was a human being, and a great performer. But sometimes, in this life, there are situations that are right under our noses, and well they break us. They broke her. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H’s social media response were stupid, filled with crocodile tears and saving face for what they did.

Oh well.

RIP Chyna, look, you were loved. Just listen to the masses, they love you, now that you’re gone. My apologies for not being able to convince people when you were alive. Mad respect, RIP, hope you and the rest of the dead wrestlers out there are having a ball.

WWE Smackdown Review 7/25/08 Post Wedding Mayhem

To start off the show we get a recap of last week’s Smackdown ending, and you know what? It’s a lot better condensed.

In Ring Segment 1:

Jeff Hardy enters the VIP Lounge and he’s great on the mic. He says that he’s the odds on favorite to win the battle royal to face Triple H.

Jeff Hardy says he hasn’t seen MVP win a match since he had the U.S Championship.

MVP talks smack about Jeff Hardy’s WWE Magazine cover. MVP starts talking bad about Jeff Hardy, reminding him of his suspension and his house that burned down. Jeff tries to keep up, but MVP is just too good and keeps firing away as the HEEL.

Hardy then looks fed up, and here we go!

Hardy pushes MVP and the fans start to turn, but quickly go to a Hardy chant, MVP quickly gets out of the ring, and looks upset. He walks away, leaving the ring to Jeff Hardy.

I think that MVP looked great in the ring, and Hardy looked genuinely pissed that he was out spoken by MVP, which is a great thing. They generated a lot of heat in a matter of moments, and while I am not a big fan of in ring segments, I did enjoy MVP pushing buttons and it reminded me a lot of what Santino can do on the mic.

Shelton Benjamin defeated Jimmy Wang Yang

As soon as the music hit, I knew this was going to be a throw away match. Yang hasn’t gotten a decent shake in a long time, and Benjamin has just won the title. Benjamin goes relatively unharmed in this glorified squash match. Benjamin has improved a lot, in what seems like overnight, and he totally drops Yang with his finisher The Pay Dirt for the win. Yang never had a chance.

Backstage Segment 1:

The Edgekins are backstage with Edge. Edge apologizes for last week. The Edgekins says that they don’t need an explanation, and then they run off.

Festus defeated Curt Hawkins

This was a stupid squash match and served no purpose. Festus beat Hawkins fast, and then after the bell, gets beatdown for no apparent reason. Jesse gets dumped out, and this is how we are going to build to Festus and Jesse winning the tag titles. The crowd was not into the ending, what a load of crap. I hate when WWE squashes guys like this for no apparent reason.

Backstage Segment 2:

Edge is talking to his wedding planner backstage, when Bam shows up to ease drop.

Vladimir Koslov defeated Stevie Richards

As soon as I saw Stevie Richards, I knew there was going to be a squash coming up. Koslov comes in there and Foley is correct, Koslov is NOT tested in the ring and much like Matt Morgan on TNA he’s just squashing guys for no particular reason. He’s NOT Goldberg, so I don’t know why they keep pushing his streak.

Richards throws in more moves than most, but still manages to lose this one, as is standard when building up a monster heel.

Koslov squashes Richards in a no surprise match up, and this wrestling fan is getting tired of this stupid continuation. Koslov takes a lot of punishment, I give it that, but eventually just floors Richards with a head butt. One of the worst moves in WWE history.

The Great Khali defeated Mr. Kennedy, Umaga, Jeff Hardy, Big Show, and MVP

The last three participants made this really interesting for me. Jeff Hardy, Khali and Big Show were left. Hardy got a major push cause he pushed out Big Show somehow, and he had to try and wrestle Khali, but it looked grim for a minute there. Hardy kept fighting off Khali, but Khali kept pushing his weight around. Khali nearly crushed Hardy with a HUGE chop to the head, and then threw him out. Khali looked genuinely annoyed for some reason, and he looked somewhat stunned by Hardy’s offense. I can’t believe how this all turned out.



Khali will face Triple H for the world title at Summerslam. Hardy put on a great show, everyone did really, and the last two didn’t really make sense to me, but we’re going to get Triple H vs. Khali, that’s going to be great! Remember when Big Show was The Giant in WCW? He rolled through the main event talent like crazy ppv after ppv, no one could beat him, well maybe WWE is taking a cue from WCW of old. Maybe Khali will be unstoppable, until the Undertaker comes back to defeat him in a casket match or something.

Post Match:

Triple H comes to ringside, and stares up the Great Khali. Triple H looks ridiculously small compared the giant Khali. Nothing happens here, as they just stare each other into leaving.

R-Truh (K QWIK, Ron The Truth Killings) promo is shown. He’s looking good, that’s for sure.

Michelle McCool defeated Maryese

McCool somehow pulled of this victory, but it was a boring match. Maryese isn’t yet ready to go for a full match, and this one just seemed forced to me. The match wasn’t too long, and really didn’t have a whole lot of high spots. The ending came with some sort of leg lock looking thing, although it isolated the heel of some kind. I don’t know, this match sucked.

Backstage Segment 3:

Vickie Guerrero finally arrives, and Bam shows up. Bam tries to tell Chavo what Edge was up to earlier, but he is interrupted, and we get to commercial.

Backstage Segment 4:

Edge says he’s going to apologize, Bam runs to go tell Vickie.

Pre-Match

Kendrick talks on the mic, J.R says that Kendrick is like the late Brian Pillman…I don’t know about all that.

Brian Kendrick w/ Ezekiel defeated Shannon Moore

Everytime I see Shannon Moore, I can’t help but wonder how in the world he manages to stay on the payroll. Not so much cause he sucks, but because I could have sworn he was on ECW and/or TNA in recent memory. Oh well. Moore, basically got squashed by Kendrick, and while I think Shannon Moore is good, the WWE didn’t give him a chance to win this match up. Kendrick is good, but not great yet, he needs a challenge to prove himself. This was a standard cruiserweight match up, nothing too crazy, some missed spots here and there, but overall a standard affair with no crowd participation. Brian Kendrick wins with his move, but I’m not sure what it’s called…oh well. It’s sliced bread number 2 no? J.R said that it’s now something else, but I wasn’t paying too much attention.

Backstage Segment 5:

Vickie and Chavo are talking backstage, when Bam interrupts. Bam mixes up Edge’s message and says that Edge will be in the ring to apologize or something. Vickie shakes her head no, and we fade to commercial.

Final In Ring Segment:

Edge is out in the ring alone, ready to call out Vickie Guerrero. The fans boo the crap out of him. I'm surprised that they don't say more "what?". Undertaker chants try to start up, but the crowd quiets down a little. He then asks for Vickie to come out.

Vickie comes out to ring side. The boo's start pouring in as Edge and her are in the ring. This is ridiculous if you ask me.

Edge tries to apologize. He blames the wedding planner for the mistakes, and he claims that the video didn't show that he was taken advantage of.



Vickie reinstates the Undertaker, and announces a Hell in the Cell match up for Summerslam with Undertaker and Edge! The show fades with Edge looking really scared of the Undertaker.

This edition of Smackdown was somewhat upsetting at the end. Seriously, why did the WWE go with this story line as the main event? I was really upset that they didn't have solid wrestling at the end. Wasn't the WWE going to plan less stunts and drama? Oh wait...less wrestling and more drama equals a PG rating? I don't know. The end of Smackdown really made this show sink, regardless of that great match up early on in the show.

The tag division looks weak again, but I'm sure they are setting up something for later. I can't stand the Festus in ring scenarios, but I guess I have to just deal with them.

Koslov's streak is lame.

MVP on the mic was great, and only Santino can probably match his wits.

I thought for sure Hardy was going to get a major push, but instead Khali was great, and I want to see that match up at Summerslam. I don't know if Triple H can pull off a clean win over Khali. I'm not sure what's going to go down, but it's going to set up something great, I'm sure.

Shelton Benjamin is looking great. I am glad to see that he's getting a push, even if it is minor.

Squashing the cruiserweights on WWE television is stupid to me. I really wish that they would bring back the cruiserweight title and that they would really allow the smaller guys to get a chance. WCW did so great back in the day, TNA is allowing more small guys to get a shot, and overall WWE could definitely do something great. However, it's not happening anytime soon, as the WWE continues to make bus loads of cash on the existing product. Why change things up if you're making so much money right?



The reinstatement of the Undertaker on Smackdown was a bit odd to me. I kept reading that HHH didn't like Undertaker and they couldn't be on the same show because of their past dealings. I do recall Undertaker beating Triple H at Wrestlemana X7. The Undertaker will most likely be dominant until it sets up the inevitable Triple H vs. Undertaker match where Undertaker finally loses. Edge and Undertaker at Summerslam is going to be interesting, and Hell in the Cell? All I know is that someone better fall off the top of that cage, otherwise it's going to be lackluster. Foley made that match famous, and even Shawn Michaels took a nice fall.

The divas belt looks cheesy, and the divas are not improving. Give me the KNOCKOUTS any day in comparison to the stupid looking, cookie cutter divas.

This week Smackdown was stronger than last week, but it's not that great. Tna, to me, was better, and ECW is looking stronger than all the shows.

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TNA Impact Review 7/17/08 Why Sting Why

I’m not a big fan of the titles before the show, but whatever, I pretend I didn’t see them. Impact promises a lot of good action, but promises from TNA are not worth a whole lot.

Backstage Segment 1:

Booker T arrives with the world title belt on his shoulders.

In Ring Segment 1:

Booker T comes out to the ring and talks about how awesome he is and how great it is to finally be the champion. Right before he talks about the whole PPV ending, Jim Cornette comes out and declares Samoa Joe the world tna champion. Cornette then orders Booker T to hand over the belt.

Samoa Joe comes out dressed in a suit. He looks good, nice job TNA, too bad I didn’t expect him to come out like that. Maybe this is just a move to hide that people believe he’s too fat to be a main eventer. I have no problem with it though.

Joe talks about how he beat the crap out of Booker T in his home town, and how he’s going to do it again. However, he is going to allow Booker to hold onto the belt, citing that he’s no chump. Samoa Joe says that Booker T can’t win, and that he’s going to beat down sting too!

Backstage Segment 2:

Beer Money is back stage. Robert Roode talks about how it’s not funny that they lost, and that they are going to have revenge on LAX, and the rest of the park; considering that TNA is filmed at Universal Studios Florida.

Backstage Segment 3:

JB interviews Kaz and he talks about how he didn’t let anyone in TNA down. He thinks that tonight things are going to change.

Petey Williams (C) defeated Kaz

The X-Division is usually really good. They are top notch cruiserweights, but this match was way too short. It was basically a squash; It was about 1/3 of the length of a good match. Kaz looks to have the upper hand, but loses with a roll up and a hook of the tights. What a waste, these guys could really go, but TNA didn’t let the match develop into anything more than a glorified squash.

What annoyed me most, was not so much that they just threw a squash match in there for the TNA X-Division title, it was the fact that right after the match Kaz looked really pissed but instead of following up on that, they cut to the back and had a interview lined up. Wasting what could have developed into something interesting for the fans and the character. Oh well…TNA doesn’t know what they have on their hands, that’s for sure.

Backstage Segment 4:

JB waits for Petey Williams, and some random idiot comes in and tells JB that he has some top secret stuff for later. Lame.

Backstage Segment 5:

Samoa Joe is backstage with JB, and in comes Nash. Kevin Nash tells Samoa Joe that he’s the greatest in the game. Samoa admits that he might not be able to beat Booker T and looks weak. Nash tries to cheer him up a little, but Joe isn’t buying it. Nash says that if someone doesn’t believe in themselves, they have nothing left.

Backstage Segment 6:

Beer Money is back in the production booth whipping everyone, including the crew and the camera man.

Backstage Segment 7:

The announcers are saying that Sting has arrived. But it’s not Sting. It’s Kurt Angle and Team 3-D coming out of a limo.

Meanwhile, backstage Curry Man and others are in a meeting. Super Eric, Curry Man and Shark Boy argue some more, and Beer Money comes out and starts whipping them to pieces!

In Ring Segment 2:

Christy Hemme is out and the Rock & Rave connection is going to be in full effect. *Editors note: Christy Hemme might have a huge forehead, but she’s still a firecracker, and still somewhat attractive. I like her. Remember the Playboy cover and photo shoot? The WWE Playboy curse lives!

The Blueprint: Matt Morgan defeated. Jimmy Rave

Matt Morgan sucks. However, he beats the crap out of Jimmy Rave in a few moves. Nothing worth mentioning more than that; Jimmy Rave had no chance.

Then out comes Lance Rock.

The Blueprint: Matt Morgan defeated. Lance Rock

Lance Rock gets killed in another squash match. Lance Rock tried to get some offense in, but Morgan basically had full range to do whatever he wanted. This is definitely a long step away from his old gimmick, that’s for sure.

Backstage Segment 8:

The TNA Knockouts start arguing back stage about some random B.S. Jim Cornette can’t get anyone to shut up. JB comes in to try and help, and Cornette talks about how everyone wants a shot at Taylor for the knockouts belt. He announces a ten girl gauntlet match, and the winner will get a title shot at Taylor next week at impact. Some random girl offers special services to Cornette….and go to commercial.

Backstage Segment 9:

Beer Money is in the park and is beating down security. They start whipping the crap out of the security guards at the gate. Fans start booing, and then they threaten to whip the fans outside.

Seriously, someone beat down Don West again. Mike Tenay also, he’s fallen far away from his “professor” status that he u sed to have.

In Ring Segment 3:

Team 3-D and Kurt Angle come down to the ring, and he claims he talked to Sting. He knows why he hit Kurt Angle with a baseball bat, and Angle gets interrupted…

Aj Styles, Christian Cage, Rhino comes out and Styles says that Sting has his reasons and that he’s out there to talk to them about something important.

Team 3-D talks about how they want a six man table match.

Christian Cage takes the mic and says that his glass table bump was the worst pain he’s ever felt in his life. (Man he is lying dude) He says that he doesn’t take orders, and starts making fun of how fat Bubba Ray Is. He says that the match is not going to take place on PPV and that the match is going to take place on Impact and that it’s going to be a six man table elimination match.

#1 Contender’s Match: The Knockout Gauntlet

The women put on a great show in this match up, and I was really enjoying the pile up of women. I was confused about the rules of the match, but in the end, some hot blonde one. Velvet Sky is her name, and she is not half bad. She was taking bumps, alongside the rest of the women. I’m surprised Awesome Kong wasn’t involved somehow, but this was a good match with a lot of spots.

Once again, I’ll say that WWE DIVAS suck in comparison to what these women are doing in TNA.

Backstage Segment 10:

Booker T talks about how he is going to give an unlikely opponent a chance. He will wrestle Consequences Creed for the world TNA championship. The match tonight will be a stretcher match and Booker T (In his King tone) calls 911 and asks for an ambulance. He will be like Rocky, where Apollo Creed gave Rocky a title shot.

Backstage Segment 11:

Jay Lethal talks about how Sonjay Dutt was part of the family. So Cal Val says he’s being too hard on him and walks away.

Sonjay Dutt defeated Johnny Devine and Eric Young

This match was too fast, and was just a squash. I really didn't like this one and felt that it was just rushed and was wasted. It could have been a worthwhile match up on TNA but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

Jay Lethal comes out to beat down Sonjay Dutt, and inadvertently hits him with a chair, causing So Cal Val to leave him once again. Is Val hooking up with Sonjay?

Backstage Segment 12:

Beer Money is walking, and says they could get fired for all they care.

In Ring Segment 4:

Beer Money comes out, and starts whipping a fan out of the audience. Then they turn their attentions to Hector Guerrero. They handcuff him to the ring post and then go to town on him. LAX comes out and saves him.

Backstage Segment 13:

Kurt Angle and his crew are sitting in their locker room and start talking trash about next week’s match up with Christian Cage and his crew of goons. They then say that Sting will be there and in their corner for the match.

Backstage Segment 14:

Consequences Creed is dancing and raving, cutting the promo of his life! He’s dressed up as Apollo Creed and says he’s going to make history tonight on Impact!

Booker T defeated Consequences Creed (stretcher match)

I admit, I marked out huge for this match, and I knew that there was no chance Creed was going to win, but I marked out huge. Creed impressed me a few weeks back when he wrestled AJ Styles, and I had confidence that he could hang in there with Booker T. Booker hasn’t been really good since I saw him in WCW against the likes of Chris Benoit and others with the television title that he was defending like a real champ. Creed got in little offense, and Booker let him do some impressive spots, even though he isn’t a main eventer. Don west really tore the chances of Creed winning up by saying that no matter what you are, you aren’t Booker T and won’t win. The Ax kick was impressive, I loved that, and it was all downhill from that point. The end came with Booker T just beating the crap out of creed and rolling him out to an ambulance waiting outside. A really lackluster ending to what could have been a really great match.

Samoa Joe comes out and beats the crap out of him, then throws Booker into the back of the ambulance, and then the ambulance leaves, leaving Samoa Joe and Sharmell alone!

TNA Impact 7/17/2008 Quick Results:

X Division Champion Petey Williams defeated Kaz
The Blueprint Matt Morgan defeated Johnny Devine
The Blueprint Matt Morgan defeated Lance Rock
Velvet Sky won a #1 Contender’s Match and will go on to face the Knockout Champion next week on Impact
Sonjay Dutt defeated Eric Young and Johnny Devine in a 3 Way Dance
Booker T. defeated Consequences Creed in a stretcher match

What turned out to be a cool show, really was light on the wrestling. I've denoted the amount of backstage segments via numbers, and will continue to do so for WWE as well. There wasn't a lot of wrestling on this show, but they were really trying to build up the story lines. I would have preferred longer matches though.

I do recall WCW Thunder having a LOT of matches in a 2 hour program, and I remember Nitro had a TON of wrestling for 2 and 3 hours. Sure they built story lines, but they didn't have Segment followed by Segment, they would mix it up better. I wonder what TNA is thinking?

I do think that they are having logic problems on this show. Christian Cage says that the worst pain ever was going through the glass table...that wasn't even real! I know...wrestling is fake, but this glass spot was even more fake.

Here's a clip of that for you guys:



FAIL.

This show was actually really good, and I liked it for the most part. I know that a lot of people do not appreciate TNA lately, and the podcast crews are dogging it, but this show was a nice alternative at times to WWE. Sure, it's not the greatest show in the world, but it wasn't complete garbage. I suggest everyone check out TNA if not for the countless backstage segments, then for the Knockout Division, I'm simply floored by what TNA is doing with them.

So far this week, TNA IMPACT is the best wrestling show so far. Will Smackdown top it? I'll have to wait and see. CMLL might be good on Sunday though...we'll see if Seattle, Wa. can give me some Galavision...I'm looking for it.

Proof that TNA Women are Tougher than WWE Divas

If you remember my TNA Review from last week, you'll recall that I love the TNA Women's division. I talked highly about Moose vs. ODB in what I called a Raven's rules match. Here is that match to PROVE that TNA WOMEN are TOUGHER than WWE Divas!



Seriously, TNA Women's Division is one hundred times better than the divas. Check this mess out, please.

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