Opinion
Andrew’s WWE Stomping Grounds Ratings & Analysis
Hiking boots and mediocre shows built up to this. Do we get a surprisingly good show? Does the WWE main roster continue to languish?
Hiking boots and mediocre shows built up to this. Do we get a surprisingly good show? Does the WWE main roster continue to languish?
Well we kick off with a Cruiserweight Triple Threat! Nese has been fairly underwhelming, so here’s to hoping we see a title change!
Dolph and Baron need to finally have their angles ended here. Dolph is boring, people have lost faith in him the last few years. Baron does a decent job at being a true heel, so after enough loses he may be able to excuse them away, but he needs to drop down a little.
Well let’s see what kind of show we get!
Ratings:
- Cruiserweight Championship Match: Tony Nese (c) vs Drew Gulak vs Akira Tozawa: Gulak wins via TKO @11:15 – **** – TITLE CHANGE!!!
- Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs Lacey Evans: Lynch retains via Disarm-Her @11:20 – *** 1/4
- Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs Xavier Woods & Big E: Owens wins via Stunner @10:55 – *** 1/2
- United States Championship: Ricochet vs Samoa Joe (c): Ricochet wins via 630 Senton @12:30 – **** – TITLE CHANGE!!
- SmackDown Live Tag Team Titles: Heavy Machinery vs Rowan & Daniel Bryan (c): Bryan retains via Small Package @14:20 – ***
- SmackDown Live Women’s Championship: Alexa Bliss vs Bayley (c): Bayley retains via Bayley to Belly @10:35 – ***
- Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre: Reigns wins via Spear @17:25 – ** 3/4
- Steel Cage WWE Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston (c): Kofi retains via Escaping the Cage @20:00 – *** 1/2
- Universal Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs Baron Corbin: Rollins retains via Stomp @18:45 – **
Analysis:
Constant action defined this match. Gulak kicked things off with a Dropkick at the bell, and it was pedal to the metal from there. Tozawa breaks up the Gu-Lock with his Top Rope Senton, which the camera didn’t focus on, so it was cool to see Tozawa just crash down from the sky. Each man had a legitimate shot at different points in the match. Gulak however took advantage of the situation, tried to TKO Nese, but Nese wiggled out to the apron, Drew dodged Tozawa’s Dropkick, grabbed Tozawa and hit the TKO for the win. Gulak finally gets the belt, which is a bit overdue, and he didn’t win via submission. Things should be interesting on 205 Live. Great start.
This match got a bit more time than I was expecting. Aside from the Springing Back Kick in the corner missed spot, the match was alright. Some spots were a little clunky, but it wasn’t a bad match at all. Hard fought match, a few close calls for Lacey, but Becky continues to be the benchmark for the women’s division.
Owens and Zayn come out the gates with Superkicks, Frog Splashes, Blue Thunder Bombs and just beat the hell out of Xavier. Xavier was isolated for a while, but he kept kicking out. When Big E got in, New Day started to take control back in the match. They broke up Owen’s Pop-Up Powerbomb, Big E wipes out Zayn for Xavier to take to the skies. But Owens crotches him and catches him with the Stunner before Big E can recover. So after being on the receiving end of most outcomes in the lead up, Sami and Kevin finally get a win.
Well I’m surprised with this outcome. Samoa Joe dominated the early goings, Ricochet had a few flurries, but Joe just enforced his will on the challenger. The Coquina Clutch attempt is what did in Joe oddly enough. Ricochet was able to position himself to outside and drop Joe over the top rope. This gave Ricochet enough momentum to string together a few impressive evasive maneuvers, hit the Codebreaker and follow up with the 630 for the title change!
This was one of those matches where you can tell all participants tried, but it just didn’t click. Numerous awkwardly timed spots, poorly executed spots and what seemed like second guessing in transition. Was the match awful? No. But a match that was trying to prove a focused Heavy Machinery is serious business, missed the mark with too many goofy spots and just some things that didn’t make sense.
Alexa has definitely done work on her ring positioning and skill set during her time out of the ring. Her moves look more crisp and even though she’s not the most fluid wrestler, she’s figured out how to incorporate her character as well as her ring awareness. Nikki Cross eating the Dive on the outside seemed to play well to continue this alliance between Alexa and Nikki. Bayley winning seems correct and the fact they didn’t do some kind of turn between the Crazy Goddesses makes me happy. The match was fairly enjoyable as well.
Well Roman versus Drew was what we expected it to be. Two bigger guys slugging it out. Pace was a bit on the slow side though. Shane getting involved made sense for the story, it effectively being a handicap match all made sense, it was just too long and too slow. Still not bad at all, plus it allows for the angle to continue. I just wish the match was more engaging.
Cage match had a lot of weird posturing throughout. Both started off by trying to sneak their finisher immediately, and then we got a fairly mediocre match with a couple interesting spots. The match picked up towards the end, but not because of in-ring action, but because of ring positioning. Dolph hit a Superkick and nearly kicked Kofi out of the cage. From then on it was a cat and mouse game of trying to escape the cage. Dolph looks like he’s about to win, but Kofi literally dives out of the door and hits the floor before Dolph to retain.
So, umm…where to start. I did like the fact that Corbin picked Lacey as the referee. I saw a fan theory that said he should pick Charlotte for similar reasons, and it was clever. Also, Lacey constantly changing the rules to the match was reminiscent of Baron being GM (good or bad is for you to decide). But aside from that, this was just overbooked to the point of being a chore. With Becky coming in to take out Lacey and John Cone being the substitute referee, this whole match were nice call backs. It was still rough to sit through even though I could see the moving pieces. But yeah Becky and Seth walking out hand in hand was the cute babyface victory moment.
Overall Score: 6.75/10
The show started off really well with a great Cruiserweight match and was really good up until Roman versus Drew. It’s a little sad to say the show lost points because of the main and semi-main event matches, but it really did end awkwardly.
I would say the show was better than most people expected, and better than it had any business being since the lead in was so lame. So all in all, I was fairly entertained by the show. Above Average, just a shade away from Good because of the final stretch. Also let’s not understate Drew Gulak winning is totally the right call! I may pay closer attention to 205 Live now.
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
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Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
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Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!