Mike Reviews WWF — page 3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We reviewed a crap episode of Raw last week, so let’s redress the balance with a much better episode this week, as Raw travels to Japan in the winter of 2005. I’ve still got a VHS of this somewhere with “Raw Is Japan” written on it, so I’ll go with that as the title for this review, even though the Raw is War Era of the show was long over when this episode happened.

We’ve got some good wrestling on this episode, with Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho hooking it up, Ric Flair battling Shawn Michaels, and Triple H taking on Edge in the Main Event. I remember really enjoying this episode back in the day, so let’s see if Raw Is Japan has withstood the ravages of time.

I believe Scott Keith and Thomas Hall have both reviewed this episode of the show also.

You can view the card for Raw Is Japan by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2680&page=3

Mike Reviews WWF Royal Rumble 1995

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’re getting into Rumble season, so here’s a Royal Rumble review as we take a look at Royal Rumble 1995. I quite enjoy this show, as there’s some good wrestling on it, although the Rumble match is a bit controversial due to them limiting the entrance intervals to just one minute. I seem to remember it still being relatively watchable though, but let’s see if watching it again in 2024 will disabuse me of that notion.

You can view the card for Royal Rumble 1995 by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=1915&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I decided to let Cage Match select the review this week, with this episode of Raw coming it at nearly 9 out of 10, which is pretty darn impressive. We’ve got Rock, Mankind, Stone Cold, Undertaker and Kane all showing up here, which was pretty much all of the biggest stars in the company at the time, so that should hopefully mean we get something entertaining.

If you’d like to view the card for Raw is War 23rd November 1998, then please feel free to click below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2048&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I haven’t watched WWE Armageddon 2008 since it happened, but I remember some of the matches being fun, so lets’ see how the show has held up. We’ve got Chris Jericho taking on John Cena, as well as Edge facing off with Triple H and Jeff Hardy in a Triple Threat match.

You can view the full card for Armageddon 2008 below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=32524&page=3

Let’s see how Armageddon 2008 holds up!

Happy Remembrance Weekend

Today we’ve got Survivor Series 2007, an event that has two great matches to close things out, but I can’t really remember what the rest of the card is like. There’s a chance that it’ll be fun, but don’t hold me to that.

On top we’ve got Randy Orton against Shawn Michaels, whilst Batista wrestles The Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell, so there’s no way both of those matches aren’t going to rule and I’m genuinely excited to see them, which is always a positive when you come into a review like this!

If you’d like to view the card for Survivor Series 2007 you can do so by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=14899&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’re heading back to 1998 this week with WWF Judgment Day 1998. I’m reviewing this because I intend to tackle Halloween Havoc 98 next week and I thought I’d review the WWF’s pay per view offering from October 1998 as well in the interest of balance. Plus, I’ve already watched the Main Event previously so I can just re-use the review for that and then just watch the undercard which, unlike the Main Event, is mostly good. Thus I get to watch 2 hours of decent wrestling and don’t have to watch an absolute clanger at the end of it.

The system works!

The big storyline coming into Judgment Day 1998 is that the WWF Title is vacant and Stone Cold is going to have to referee the bout that decides the new Champion, which is a task he is none-too-pleased about. Elsewhere we’ve got D-Lo Brown and X-Pac mixing it up, as well as Rock taking on Mark Henry.

If you’d like to view the full card for Judgment Day 1998 you can do so by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2041&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’re watching WWF Unforgiven 2000 today as I haven’t watched it for ages and I was interested to see how the Main Event held up because I used to enjoy it quite a bit back in the day. The Main Event sees Rock defending the WWF Title against Kane, Undertaker and Chris Benoit in a Fatal Four Way, whilst we’ve got Stone Cold Steve Austin returning to pay per view following his injury in 1999 when someone ran him over.

Hey, I just realised that we’ve got ANOTHER show Main Evented by a multi-person match this week after we reviewed NXT Takeover Fatal Four Way last weekend. WWE likes shoving lots of people into one match I guess. From memory, the rest of the Unforgiven 2000 card is okay but not great, with Triple H and Kurt Angle having the biggest issue going on in the undercard, due to Kurt Angle having lust in his eyes for Tri’s wife.

You can view the full card for Unforgiven 2000 by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2163&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Today we’re reviewing a show that I’ve never seen before, as it either wasn’t shown in the UK back in the day or it was and I just missed it. I believe the next Takeover was where I started following the show on a regular basis because we finally got WWE Network over here in early 2015 and it made watching NXT a heck of a lot easier. As the name might suggest, NXT Takeover Fatal Four Way is Main Evented by a lingerie battle royal.

Only kidding!

Oh we like to have fun here don’t we?

In all seriousness, Takeover Fatal Four Way has Adrian Neville defending his NXT Title in a Fatal Four Way, so like Ronseal Wood Stain this Takeover is doing what it says on the tin! Elsewhere, we’ve got Charlotte Flair and Bayley hooking it up, and The Ascension are defending the tag belts against The Lucha Dragons.

If you’d like to view the card for Takeover Fatal Four Way, you can feel free by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=116367&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I haven’t watched WWE Capitol Punishment 2011 since it happened over 12 years ago and I remembered some of the matches on it being fun, so let’s review it this week! That really is the level of thought I put into these reviews sometimes.

Capitol Punishment 2011 was a pay per view held in Washington (thankfully this event took place without any idiots dressed as Vikings storming public buildings) and WWE decided to turn R-Truth Heel in order to make him challenger of the month against John Cena. Truth was quite entertaining in the role but they didn’t really do a good job of making him look like a credible threat because they rushed the Heel turn.

Elsewhere we’ve got Alex Riley taking on his former boss The Miz as they do the whole Virgil/Dibiase thing, as well as CM Punk wrestling Rey Mysterio Jr. You have to actually TRY in order to make Punk Vs Rey be a bad match, so Capitol Punishment 2011 should have one great in-ring outing on it at the very least.

Let’s see how Capitol Punishment 2011 holds up to the rigours of time. You can view the card by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=54590&page=3

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’ve got an old WWF VHS review today, as we look at Mayhem in Manchester, a WWF show from April 1998 that was held, coincidentally, in Manchester. I believe this was originally supposed to be one of those UK only pay per views, with the idea being that Davey Boy Smith would avenge his defeat to Shawn Michaels back at One Night Only 1997 and win the European Title in his hometown (Well, Davey is actually from Warrington I believe, but close enough).

Hey, stop laughing on the back row!

Anyway, with Shawn Michaels injured by this point, and Smith gone to WCW, the WWF decided to turn the Mayhem in Manchester show into just your standard House Show event, with cameras there to film some of the action so it could be released on Home Video later on. Hence this one hour cut of the event, with Michael Cole dubbed over the top of it.

I always thought it was strange that they bothered filming this, as the production values are on par with an ECW event and the whole thing just looks a bit cheap, which is usually against what the WWF goes for with its presentation. Still, the tape is only an hour long and I think Triple H and Stone Cold have a good match together (In other news, water is wet) so let’s have a look at it.

You can view the card for the event by clicking below;

Card with guide « WWF Mayhem In Manchester « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I reviewed a Stinker show from WWE last week, so this week I’ll redress the balance by reviewing one of the better shows they ever put on in the form of SummerSlam 2002. WWE’s product was a bit of a mixed bag at the time of SummerSlam 2002, as the Smackdown brand was usually putting on good shows built around the likes of Brock Lesnar and the famed Smackdown Six, whilst Raw was becoming a vehicle that existed seemingly only to get Triple H over and the quality of the television was suffering as a result.

Going into SummerSlam 2002, the two big storylines were Shawn Michaels coming out of retirement for a match with His H’ness and Brock Lesnar going for his first World Title against The Rock. If those two matches delivered then the show would be an automatic thumbs up, but a lot of matches on the under card promised to be good as well, meaning there was much intrigue prior to the event.

I owned the official VHS for SummerSlam 2002 as I got it for Christmas that year and my Christmas of 2002 alternated between watching this show and playing Kelly Slater Pro Surfer on the PS2, so I had quite a good time all told! Let’s see if SummerSlam 2002 stands up to the rigours of time though.

You can view the card by clicking below;

Card with guide « WWE SummerSlam 2002 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

We’ve got another random TV review this week, as we watch an episode of WWF All American Wrestling from 1994, featuring an exciting Main Event of IRS taking on Doink. We did get All American Wrestling on Sky TV over here in the UK around this time I believe, but I’m not exactly sure what it’s function was. To me it feels like it was more akin to a weekend recap show rather than a main show, but feel free to correct me in the comments if I’m wrong with that.

I can’t actually find the card for this on CageMatch.net, which makes me think that this show kind of just slapped stuff together for airing on syndication and in international markets.

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I’ve been going out of my way to review things I think I’ll like this month as I know what’s looming on the horizon in the monthly Stinker Review and I wanted to be happy first. Vengeance 2003 is a possible contender for being the best pay per view event WWE held in 2003, so I’m looking forward to seeing it again.

We’ve got John Cena Vs Undertaker, Haas and Benjamin Vs Kidman and Rey, and a triple threat match between Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle and The Big Show. How can a show with all of that on it not be good?

You can view the card by clicking below;

Card with guide « WWE Vengeance 2003 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database

Let’s review Vengeance 2003!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

It’s another random review this week, as I saw the card for Smackdown #489 and decided to give it a review because it has a Main Event of Edge and Big Show against The Hardyz, as well as a match on the undercard that I’m intrigued to see. I can only vaguely remember the storylines that were going on at the time, but a couple of these matches might be interesting, so let’s see if that’s how things shake out.

You can view the card for the event by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=33392&page=3

Happy Stampeding Saturday Everyone!

Sometimes I feel like watching a good show for the sake of watching a good show, so on that note we’re going to watch In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede. In Your House 16 is one of the best shows the WWF ever put on, with great matches up and down the card with a real variety going on in the match types.

The big match is the hometown Hart Foundation being babyfaces for the night as they take on a team of pesky American’s, but we’ve also got Undertaker defending the WWF Title and the WWF debut of The Great Sasuke.

You can view the card by clicking below;

Card with guide « WWF In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database

Let’s review In Your House 16

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’ve got a review of In Your House 8 this week, which was a WWF pay per view from 1996 that eventually had to be re-done due to the first airing being taken off the air due to poor weather. Basically, the WWF held the first match of the pay per view and then the power cut out. They still managed to get the WWF Title matched aired during the initial broadcast but the rest of the show was lost to time.

WWF held a make-good version of In Your House 8 a few days later, with the other three matches from the initial show that couldn’t be aired being re-done and added to the two matches from the first show that did air.

The big storyline coming in here was that Davey Boy Smith’s wife, Diana, was accusing Shawn Michaels of stalking her or some such nonsense, leading to a match being booked. It was implied that Diana was being insincere and apparently the Hart Family weren’t happy with how it was making her look, leading to Stu Hart calling in to complain and the angle being scrapped.

You can view the combined card by clicking below;

WWF In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog (Wiederholung) « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database

Let’s review In Your House 8!

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’ve got some matches from Jakked/Metal this week, which was WWF’s Saturday syndicated show for a while. We’ve mainly got this one today because it features Perry Saturn Vs Mike Bell in quite an infamous bout. Some of the other matches looked fun though so we’ll review them all as it shouldn’t take long.

I’ll list which episode the matches are from if you want to hunt them down.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

We’ll be getting back to rebooking next week as I’ve put some time into doing another arc, which I hope you’ll enjoy. In the meantime though I saw that WWE was hocking a Best of Cody Rhodes DVD over here in the UK for the paltry price of £10, featuring matches from his debut in 2007 all the way up to his torn pec match in the Cell.

Seeing as I’ve quite enjoyed Cody’s antics since his initial debut in WWE, I thought I’d pick the DVD up and give it a reviewing. I reviewed Disc 1 last week (which you can find in the archives) so let’s finish it up with Disc 2 this week.

Link for the DVD is below if you’re interested

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WWE-American-Nightmare-Best-Rhodes/dp/B0BRT5ZPR9

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

We’ll be getting back to rebooking in a couple of weeks as I’ve put some time into doing another arc, which I hope you’ll enjoy. In the meantime though I saw that WWE was hocking a Best of Cody Rhodes DVD over here in the UK for the paltry price of £10, featuring matches from his debut in 2007 all the way up to his torn pec match in the Cell.

Seeing as I’ve quite enjoyed Cody’s antics since his initial debut in WWE, I thought I’d pick the DVD up and give it a reviewing. There’s two discs, so we’ll split this over two weeks.

I was thinking this would make a nice tie in to Cody winning the belt at Mania 39, but then WWE decided to WCWify that all up. Oh well.

Link for the DVD is below if you’re interested

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WWE-American-Nightmare-Best-Rhodes/dp/B0BRT5ZPR9

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Today we return to a review theme we’ve had on here before, by looking at a one match show where only one contest has stood the test of time in the general consciousness of the average wrestling fan. This time out we’ve got WWF Over The Edge 1998, a show with a highly regarded and much loved Main Event…and very little else.

The Main Event between Dude Love and Stone Cold is fantastic though, so that’s a bonus. Let’s see how the rest of the card shapes up all of these years later. I actually have Over The Edge 1998 on VHS and used to watch it a lot back in the day, so even if the overall show isn’t amazing I do have a lot of nostalgia for it.

You can view the card by clicking the link below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2018&page=3