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Official DVD/Match/Show Discussion Thread

2M views 21K replies 512 participants last post by  Starbuck 
#1 ·
#7,962 ·
DO NOT DISS THE HBK-HHH SERIES :(

That feud legit holds a special place in my heart, and I absolutely adore the matches that these two were able to put on together.

SS 02 : ***** (One of the greatest matches ever)
ARM 02 : *** 3/4 (FUN FUN FUN)
RAW 03 : **** 1/4 (One of the best BASIC matches ever)
RR 04 : *** 3/4 (Again, FUN FUN FUN)
BB 04 : **** (AWHH YEAHHHH)
TT 04 : *** 3/4 (Love DAT Psychology)

And that's only the well known singles! No bias for :hhh , I swear :)
 
#7,963 ·
HBK/HHH


SS 02 : ****1/2
ARM 02 : *3/4
RAW 03 : ****1/4
RR 04 : ***1/2
BB 04 : ***
TT 04 : ***1/2
 
#7,967 ·
HHH/Michaels Singles

Raw 5/13/96: Good.
Raw 12/25/97: Six stars.
Slam 02: I remember liking it but have no idea what I'd think of it now.
Armageddon 02: Rubbish.
Raw 12/29/03: Good.
Rumble 04: Rubbish.
Bad Blood 04: Rubbish.
TT04: Pretty good.
Tribute to the Troops 12/19/05: Rubbish.
Raw 3/27/06: Just watched this now when Cal mentioned it. It was pretty good.
 
#7,971 ·
Shifting to another series, how about Punk vs. Cena (2011-2012)?

I don't have exact ratings for all of them because some of the Raw matches are a blur:

Raw 1/17/2011 - *** 1/4
Raw 2/7/2011 - ?
Raw 2/14/2011 - ** 3/4 (good finish with the wrench)
Raw 6/13/2011 - ? (I only remember R-Truth attacking Cena at the end)
Money in the Bank 2011 - **** 1/2
SummerSlam 2011 - ****
Raw 8/22/2011 - *** 1/4
Raw 7/23/2012 - **
Night Of Champions 2012 - *** 3/4
 
#7,973 ·
^
Triple H was injured going into the match so I think that had a bad impact on the pace, it was too long, and felt like too much being crammed into the match to try and make it an "epic," violent, war. They did have some good spots here and there. Most notable is Shawn's insane bump from a ladder in the ring to tables outside. That bump is always sick to me (i.e. Bubba Ray @ SS00 & WM17, Taker @ ONS08, Del Rio @ TLC10, etc).
 
#7,975 ·
Punk/Cena from MITB and SS last year are both pretty damn close to ***** for me, but I'd give the edge to SS. It's just wrestled perfectly, plays off the last match wonderfully, and the drama down the stretch is insane without the rabid crowd (the crowd was still ace for it though). MITB gets better the more I watch it though. Both are easily my favourite matches since the turn of the decade. It depends what mood I'm in as to which one I prefer.
 
#7,976 ·
^
Triple H was injured going into the match so I think that had a bad impact on the pace, it was too long, and felt like too much being crammed into the match to try and make it an "epic," violent, war. They did have some good spots here and there. Most notable is Shawn's insane bump from a ladder in the ring to tables outside. That bump is always sick to me (i.e. Bubba Ray @ SS00 & WM17, Taker @ ONS08, Del Rio @ TLC10, etc).
Alright. I just watched the highlights and it seems like only the street fight was good. The ladder and cage matches looked bad though. The only good spot from the cage match was HBK's finisher on the table but other than that, the match wasn't very entertaining.

I hope to watch these matches soon just to get a good look at them. ;)
 
#7,977 ·
Punk vs Cena

Money in the Bank 2011 - *****
SummerSlam 2011 - **** 1/2
Raw 8/22/2011 - ****
Raw 7/23/2012 - *** 1/2
Night Of Champions 2012 - **** 1/4

Some of the best chemistry EVER IMO. I hope Ryback slips on a banana peel so we get Cena-Punk in the cell OMFG, these guys were made for each other and I truly believe they have better chemistry than any two we've seen over the past 10 years barring HHH-Foley and HBK-Taker (greatest chemistry ever :) ) .

On a side note, who else is fucking PUMPED for this PPV tonight ? I can't wait to post my ratings tonight, honestly the 6 week build has worked in getting me hyped. I think Show-Sheamus is going to be awesome, and I want to see how exactly Punk is going to make his match with Ryback AWESOME like only Punk can.

On a side side note (da fuck ?) , if Punk can get an amazing match out of Ryback tonight he can almost lay claim to having the greatest title reign (match quality wise) in WWE history. He's definitely top 5 now IMO, and would be even higher but NOOOOO... FUCK YOU BIG SHOW! If we didn't get that mediocre fucking Summerslam match (which should have just been fucking Cena-Punk) he would most definitely be top 2-3 by now. If Punk can come out of tonight as champion and get a *** 1/2 match out of Ryback ? top 3 for sure. PUNK CAN DO IT, IN PUNK I TRUST :punk

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ONLY 3 MINUTES LEFT, hopefully Ryback goes down so instead of Hell in a Cell we get a 40 minute :hhh promo in the cell! EPIC.
 
#7,978 · (Edited)
2004!

THE YEAR OF 2004​

Raw:

The Good:
So far, 2004 is the best year for Raw I've watched in it's entirety (I am yet to watch the Attitude Era years, mind you). There's so much quality and almost every show was an entertaining watch. First, the year starts off on a pretty good note when Chris Benoit moves over from Smackdown after winning the Royal Rumble and that is the first step they take in making Raw the superior brand after getting destroyed by Smackdown for the majority of 2003. After an excellent Road to Wrestlemania, Benoit finally becomes the man by winning the World Heavyweight Championship and he gets a great five months reign with it under which, he keeps putting on great matches with a limited amount of opponents in HHH, Shawn Michaels, Kane and Randy Orton. Speaking of Orton, he starts off his decorated career with a lengthy Intercontinental Championship reign that started in the end of 2003 and carries on into the summer of 2004. During these 7 months, he improves his ring work and wrestles a variety of opponents in good matches, most notably Mick Foley in Backlash. On the midcard, Chris Jericho and Christian (along with Trish Stratus) have a nice and long running feud that is rooted in early 2003 at least. They participate in a few quality matches but then the feud comes to an abrupt stop when Christian gets injured in their steel cage match. They still finish it off when Christian returns with a couple more matches heading into the end of the year, though. Furthermore in the midcard, Shelton Benjamin gets drafted to Raw and impresses fans all year long with his excellent athletic abilities until his IC title victory at Taboo Tuesday. The women's division is also in one of its last years where it matters at all and a few good matches can be found there. Speaking of matches, there are so many to choose from in Raw 2004, many of them are overlooked gems. And after a bit of a slow summer, once Randy Orton turns face, the year comes to an awesome end following Survivor Series when the main event consists of more than just 2 or 3 men which directly leads into the excellent Elimination Chamber match in New Year's Revolution 2005. Amongst the main eventers is Edge, who transitions from a stale and irrelevant face to an excellent heel. Speaking of excellent heels, Muhammad Hassan makes his debut a couple of weeks before the end of the year and I'll expect good things from him while he was there as I head into 2005. Only thing that annoys me is the mindless sheep in the audience booing him for speaking the truth.

The Bad:
Despite all the good, Raw is not without its bad parts either. Thankfully, it's toned down compared to 2003 but we still have some garbage to put up with. Most notably, it's the "Diva Search" segments that take up so much air-time during the 5 or so long months it lasts. I skipped most of them while watching the shows but for a fair review, I have to include them and considering the amount of air-time they steal, it counts against the year big time. But as much of a problem is the annoying Eugene character. It was fun for one month or something but when you reach the summer, Eugene starts to take over the freaking main event to the point where Chris Benoit, the World Champion, has to play second fiddle to him. That's some serious bullshit right there. All of that, just to have HHH kill him at SummerSlam and at fucking last, put him in the midcard where he should be at most. When has a comedy character been the focus of the show to this extent? If anybody knows any other example, let me know. Oh and I shouldn't forget the boring HHH/Shawn Michaels feud that built-up until Bad Blood but I've already explained why I can't stand it and it's only for a few weeks it lasts, so no biggie. But I am back to Chris Benoit and his title reign here. Why in the world did he only get four different opponents to feud with? I can't understand this for the life of me. For instance, when Chris Jericho won that silly little chairs game they had in the 5th July episode in Winnipeg, why in the hell didn't he get to battle for the World Title with Benoit instead of a IC title match even though he cut a promo weeks before it saying that he wants a World Title match? Complete nonsensical decision here.

Rating: ****

TV matches worth watching: Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels (16 Feb, 3 May), Benoit vs Kane (28 June), Benoit vs Randy Orton (15 Aug), Benoit vs HHH (26 July), Benoit vs HHH vs Edge (29 Nov), Benoit vs Edge (22 Nov), Randy Orton vs Edge (13 Dec), Orton vs Chris Jericho (5 July), Jericho vs Christian (10 May), HHH vs Shelton Benjamin (29 March), HHH vs Eddie Guerrero (22 March)

Smackdown:

The Good:
It's like Smackdown and Raw switched places when it comes to quality from 2003 into 2004. The brand already suffers when Benoit is traded to Raw but things only get worse by March during the draft show. But this is for the good parts and not the bad. Unfortunately, there's not much I can think of. Eddie Guerrero does all he can to carry the deserted show when he's the WWE Champion, Bradshaw makes his transition into the excellent JBL character and he does a great job as top heel and champion for half of the year, John Cena starts moving up on the ranks and he's pretty much the most over face alongside Eddie and The Undertaker whenever he's there. Otherwise, Rey Mysterio is always a workhorse, both on TV and PPV and I guess you can say that the show starts getting better towards the end. I don't know how, though. I just enjoyed it more compared to the terrible few months when "Mr. Angle" was GM. And similar to Raw's "Diva Search", there's the "Tough Enough" competition that takes place towards the end of Smackdown. It takes up a lot of TV time too but at least, this is interesting and features some athleticism which is what wrestling is about unlike the "Diva Search" that was strictly about looks and nothing else. Oh and Carlito debuts towards the end of the year which is another plus, I guess. Lastly, I can't forget Heidenreich as he's one of the most unintentionally hilarious "psycho heels" I have come across so far.

The Bad:
Where do I start? The brand suffers big time in terms of star power because Brock Lesnar, the top heel, walks out after Wrestlemania and they don't have much star power at all. Undertaker appears every now and then but this is far from one of his better years. Then there are a few flops. Ultimo Dragon debuted in 2003 and was released in 2004 without getting much to do, Mordecai was around for one month before disappearing and there's probably more flopped characters that debuted and went at the speed of light so I'm probably forgetting somebody but you get the point. The midcard is pretty bland and uninteresting. There's some talented guys like Cena, René Duprée and Rob Van Dam around there but for the most part, their matches are uninteresting so who cares? And there's the cruiserweight division which goes through lots of bullshit in the spring when Tajiri is traded to Raw and Jacqueline wins it only to lose it a week later in a "hand tied behind back" match against Chavo. Then for the summer, Undertaker is in a program with Paul Bearer, Paul Heyman and the Dudleyz but the whole thing is so confusing and uninteresting, it's just hard to care. I don't even know if I can call most of the stuff in this year "bad" as much as it is "irrelevant". So yeah, there's not much in this year to pick up on.

Rating: **

TV matches worth watching: John Cena vs Undertaker (24 June), JBL vs Eddie Guerrero (15 July)

Pay Per Views:

This was not a bad year for PPVs at all. It depends, though. If we look at the Smackdown exclusive PPVs, they were dreadful from top to bottom. They all had one or two quality matches but otherwise, the rest of them featured nothing but filler and terrible matches. Raw, on the other hand, had a pretty good year with brand exclusive PPVs. Almost every single one of them had at least one or two GREAT matches and the undercard stuff were more okay than terrible. Although some terrible stuff can still be found, most notably Tomko vs Richards at Unforgiven. Now the best part of the PPVs are by far the big four. They delivered with almost every one of them. Royal Rumble was a decent start and despite a shit undercard, the Rumble match alone is worth it. Wrestlemania XX had lots of filler but when it was good, it was great! SummerSlam had an excellent main event as well as some decent stuff for the rest of the card and nothing too terrible. Lastly, Survivor Series might be the best of them all with only one dud.

PPV Ranking: (Best matches)
1. Survivor Series (Team Orton/Team HHH, Undertaker/Heidenreich, Shelton Benjamin/Christian)
2. Wrestlemania XX (HHH/Shawn Michaels/Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero/Kurt Angle)
3. Backlash (Chris Benoit/Shawn Michaels/HHH, Randy Orton/Mick Foley)
4. SummerSlam (Chris Benoit/Randy Orton, JBL/Undertaker, HHH/Eugene)
5. Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble match, Shawn Michaels/HHH)
6. Vengeance (Chris Benoit/HHH, Randy Orton/Edge)
7. Bad Blood (Chris Benoit/Kane, Randy Orton/Shelton Benjamin)
8. No Way Out (Brock Lesnar/Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle/John Cena/Big Show)
9. Unforgiven (Randy Orton/HHH, Chris Jericho/Christian)
10. Taboo Tuesday (HHH/Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton/Ric Flair)
11. Judgment Day (Eddie Guerrero/JBL)
12. Armageddon (JBL/Booker T/Undertaker/Eddie Guerrero)
13. No Mercy (JBL/Undertaker)
14. The Great American Bash (Eddie Guerrero/JBL, Rey Mysterio/Chavo Guerrero)

FINAL RATING: ***1/2
 
#7,979 ·
GOD DAMN C2D That was fucking AWESOME! MAD Props bro.


DAT DEL RIO-ORTON MATCH is *** 1/2 on first watch, fucking AMAZING finish we got there with some great psychology on the left shoulder. What an opener, wouldn't be surprised if that was MOTN.
 
#7,980 ·
GOD DAMN C2D That was fucking AWESOME! MAD Props bro.


DAT DEL RIO-ORTON MATCH is *** 1/2 on first watch, fucking AMAZING finish we got there with some great psychology on the left shoulder. What an opener, wouldn't be surprised if that was MOTN.
Thanks man, took me an hour to write.

And sucks that I missed the Del Rio/Orton match. It's the only one I was looking forward to and I only managed to stream the finish (which looked awesome!). Now my stream is already closed. :p
 
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