AEW: Dynamite Review - February 17th, 2021

AEW Dynamite 

February 17th, 2021

Daily’s Place - Jacksonville, FL 

Commentary - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

1) Hangman Page & Matt Hardy vs. Jack Evans & Angelico 

Yikes, this was a rough start to the show honestly. Page is the only highlight as his hot runs ruled as always. I’m just tired of this angle with Hardy and then Evans came up short on a Phoenix splash and made this whole thing feel so messy. Hardy wins for his team with a twist of fate. 

Match rating - *3/4 

Post match, Page reveals he switched the contracts last week and Hardy actually signed a contract for a match against him for a quarter of his earnings if he loses. Jeeez. Hardy asks him to put his earnings on the line also to make it fair. Page ends up getting jumped by Hardy & Isaiah Kassidy of Private Party only for Brodie Lee Jr. to send DARK ORDER OUT FOR THE SAVE. That was cool, but this angle suuuuucks and I’m not looking forward to their match at Revolution. 

Backstage, more Inner Circle bullshit. Jericho says MJF did pester Sammy, but their falling out is mainly Sammy's fault and he's gonna pay for it.

2) Serena Deeb vs. Riho - Women’s World Title Eliminator Tournament 

NOW WE ARE TALKIN’. Riho is back and in grand fashion. Serena is Serena and she’s awesome. They place this on a way different part of the show than normal. So yeah this fucking ruled. Great leg work on Serena that ended up playing into the finish of this very hard fought match that had my attention from bell to bell. Just superb wrestling from these ladies here with some great near falls in the closing stretch. Good selling and an awesome progression/layout to the match. Riho wins when all is said and done. It really felt like things could go either way. 

Match rating - **** 

AEW: Dynamite Review - February 10th, 2021

AEW Dynamite 

February 10th, 2021

Daily’s Place - Jacksonville, FL

Commentary - Jim Ross, Excalibur, & Tony Schiavone 

Last week, KENTA shocked the world when he showed up on AEW Dynamite dropping Jon Moxley with a GTS. Despite his refusal to too sweet Kenny Omega post show, the two team up tonight to face Jon Moxley & Lance Archer in a Falls Count Anywhere Match! 

1) Darby Allin (c) vs. Joey Janela - TNT Title Match 

These two had a crazy match for PWG a few years back so they have some deep history and I’m pretty scared they may seriously hurt themselves on national television based off what they’ve done in the past. Thankfully they remained fairly tame, but this still banged as an opener. They throw bombs early, then Janela starts beating the shit out of Darby following dropping him head first off the apron and gaining some separation. Allin fights back and you know his comeback ruled. Some awesome nearfalls in the last few minutes before Darby hits the coffin drop to retain. 

Match rating - ***1/4

They run down the STACKED card for tonight then send us to Jon Moxley in a parking lot. He hypes up tonight’s main event as “unsanctioned fun” and that he is gonna drop KENTA on his head. He's also sporting his IWGP US Title for the first time on AEW TV.

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Smackdown Review - January 23rd, 2003

WWE Smackdown

January 23rd, 2003

Albany, New York

WWE Champion - Kurt Angle (since 12/15/02)

WWE Tag Team Champions - Los Guerreros (Eddie & Chavo Guerrero) (since 11/17/02)

WWE Cruserweight Champion - Billy Kidman (since 11/17/02)

Commentary - Michael Cole & Tazz

Steph opens the show backstage in her office. She says The Undertaker returns to Smackdown tonight. She also promises a bombshell tonight to match Bischoff's from Raw. She leans down so we can see her cleavage and says it will be HUGE. 

1) Chris Benoit vs. Charlie Haas (w/ Shelton Benjamin)

They start on the mat grappling. Haas & Benjamin have looked so at home in there with Benoit it's honestly crazy. Haas rams Benoit into the steps to create some separation. He can't keep Benoit down though and before you know it he heads up and scores the win off a roll up. 

Match rating - **1/2

Ruthless Aggression Era Project: WWE Monday Night Raw Review - January 20th, 2003

WWE: Monday Night Raw 

January 20th, 2003

Providence, Rhode Island

World Heavyweight Champion - Triple H (since 12/15/02)

World Tag Team Champions - The Dudley Boys (since 1/19/03)

WWE Women's Champion - Victoria (since 11/17/02)

Commentary - Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler

The fallout from Royal Rumble 2003! Eric Bischoff promised a bombshell announcement tonight on the pre-show last night so god only knows what’s in store for us tonight. 

World Heavyweight Champion Triple H starts the show with Ric Flair by his side. He’s selling his injuries from last night and has his ribs taped and can’t even raise his belt in the air or do his pose. H says he embarrassed Steiner so bad last night he had to resort to hitting him with a sledgehammer. H is playing that real shit eating heel here as usual. Steiner comes out and wants a rematch tonight. Triple H presents him with a DOCTORS NOTE LMAO. It says he can’t compete tonight. Flair says if Steiner wants competition, his main man BATISTA will face him. Batista’s music hits and he’s walking down to the ring. H tries to attack Steiner from behind, only to get his ass beat. H retreats and Batista gets up on the apron to try to go after Steiner, but H & Flair pull him down and hold him back. I guess it’s Steiner/Batista later?

1) Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy 

AEW: Dynamite - Beach Break 2021 Review - February 3rd, 2021

AEW Beach Break 2021

February 3rd, 2021 

Daily's Place - Jacksonville, FL

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

1) The Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho & MJF vs. Santana & Ortiz vs. Sammy Guevara & Jake Hager vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasarus vs. John Silver & Alex Reynolds vs. The Acclaimed vs. Top Flight vs. Private Party - #1 Contender’s Tag Team Battle Royal 

As always, AEW does an awesome job with these battle royals. Jungle Boy & Luchasarus get the first entrance of the evening which felt big coming off the amazing match Jungle Boy had with Dax Harwood last week. FTR were banned from this match because of their post match actions. Anyway, the Bucks come out last and dive onto all the other teams on the floor to start this thing in chaos. As said before though, they did a great job with this, touching on multiple stories throughout including Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows showing up to help The Bucks eliminate Private Party. Nick looks confused when they do. That’s advancement of two stories in that moment alone as Private Party are the #1 Contender’s to The Good Brother’s Impact Wrestling Tag Team Titles. Later in the match, MJF & Sammy Guevara come face to face further teasing their tension. Sammy cheers when MJF is eliminated then joins former partner and stable mate Jericho in going after the only other remaining man Darius Martin of Top Flight. Martin manages to get Guevara out only to fall to Jericho in the end with a Judas effect knocking him off the apron. Jericho & MJF win and will face The Young Bucks at Revolution... I swear if Jericho & MJF win those belts.. fuck that. I like the Inner Circle tension story and Jericho/MJF are fine together, but man.. I feel like they could accomplish what they need to without throwing Jericho & MJF ahead of every other team immediately. 

Match rating - **1/2

WWE: Royal Rumble 2021 Review - January 31st, 2021

WWE Royal Rumble 

January 31st, 2021 

Thunderdome 

Hey y'all it's a couple days late, but I'm finally getting this posted. My friend Mike (@mikexklinsky) is joining me for this one. Make sure to give him a follow on Twitter, he's a true king. 

Pre-Show: 

1) Charlotte & Asuka vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Basler - WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match 

ETHAN: This really wasn’t bad at all, even if the finish left a lot of people unhappy. Charlotte & Asuka are great together and Nia didn’t fuck anything up. Charlotte hit an awesome moonsault off the top turnbuckle to the floor wiping out Jax & Basler before Ric Flair & Lacey Evans showed up. Flair slipped Lacey Evans brass knuckles and she cracks Charlotte in the head and it allows Nia Jax to hit the leg drop for the pin. 

Match rating - **1/4 

MIKE: This was the only match that took place on the kickoff showed, and I hate that this is the match that fell in such an unfavorable spot. This had some fun spots, most notably being the Charlotte moonsault. Nia hit a huge sit out powerbomb on Asuka in a near fall, and it was the single best Nia Jax spot I’ve seen in years. Ric Flair and Lacey Evans with a huge interference, causing the titles to change hands. 

Match rating - **

Main Show:

2) Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Goldberg - WWE Championship Match