[hanshanshans911]

You are probably right, it just looked kinda weird.
Watched Backlash 2001 too and was a bit disappointed with the Benoit/Angle match, just couldn't get in to it.

[JoeRulz]

Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett (Royal Rumble 1995)

Story. Characters. Structure. Great, great match for the IC title. Babyface Hall was super-duper awesome and mega over with crowd. In my promotion, Razor Fucking Ramon would have been a Top Dog and World Heavyweight Champion. He was a fantastic character and gimmick. His selling, offense, defense and storytelling in general was beautiful. Jeff Jarrett was an old school heel 101, he is born to be heel.
Rating: ***3/4

[Obfuscation]

Originally Posted by Brye

That promo was epic.

What does everyone think of Booker/Taker/Eddie/JBL from Armageddon '04? I found it to be really exciting and seeing Taker/Eddie interactions was awesome.

***3/4. It's quite good despite being on that SHIT PPV. Smackdown really fell off during the later half of 2004. Anyways, throw my hat in the "mark out" group with the Undertaker & Eddie interactions. If only we got a match...

I was watching WrestleMania 21 last night and when Michaels vs Angle was done, I still, STILL, to this day fail to see how that match is considered a "classic" by some people. Seriously? It felt so average for those workers. Sure the fans got into it, but fans got into Undertaker vs Triple H from WM 27 too. That doesn't make it great. I'll never see the appeal of the match quite frankly. Angle's match vs Marty freakin Jannetty on Smackdown a week or two prior to WM beat out that one. I'm in the minority, somewhat half of the population now I've seen, that prefers the rematch at Vengeance over the WrestleMania showdown. To me that is the match where the created something much more appealing.

[The Beast Incarnate]

Just did two review over the past few days with a third one in the works. Here's the first one:

John Morrison: Rock Star

So, this DVD is reminiscent of those old "superstar" series VHS's, where we would have a superstars career highlighted in the midst of random vignettes that intertwine between the matches. For some strange reason (not really a fan of Morrison), I was enticed by this DVD release, as it features NOTHING but TV matches.

John Morrison vs CM Punk ECW 07

This is Punk's last chance match. Quick exchanges in the beginning leads to some hard hitting moves, getting the crowd pumped and loud in the process. This is starting to heat up and I'm loving it, as it seems that this match can end at any second. Punk going for GTS early but failing. Every big move that Punk attempts is countered into another move by Morrison, who always seems to have Punk's number. That's the story that they are going with for this match and it works.

What makes this match a near-classic encounter is the last 5 minutes, which are filled with dramatic nearfalls. Finisher attemps and signature moves galore, and the kickouts are timed perfectly here, getting the crowd to stand on their feet. Punk ends this with the GTS at almost 13 minutes. What a match, this was the match that got me wondering was ECW ever better than the other 2 brands.

****

Miz/Morrison vs Degeneration X Raw 08

Very quick but fast paced match here. This match deserves points just for Morrison hitting the SCM on Triple H. Mizmo takes out HBK early, but their overconfidence allows HHH to find an opening, prompting a DX comeback. The two DX finishers to The Miz wins this in under 7 minutes, but the beginning of the match featured some bright exchanges. Not sure why it's on the DVD over other tag matches, but it's okay and relatively harmless.

** 1/4

John Morrison vs Evan Bourne ECW 08

Looking at the names in this match, what do you expect ? If I said a beginning with some good matwork, nobody would believe me. But it's true, this match starts off with some brilliant matwork and slowly escalates into a high flying fest that these two are more often known for. Some great sequences here such as Morrison landing a high kick while DODGING a high kick make this match a very fun watch.

Top rope moonlight drive ends this surprisingly technical contest. I wasn't expecting this to be as mat based as it was, which was a pleasant surprise. Morrison was in control for this one, which was a good thing as I believe he's better on the offensive than defensive.

***

John Morrison vs Chris Jericho Superstars 09

Umm...WHY WAS THIS ON SUPERSTARS ?!?! Anyways, this starts off with Jericho in control until Morrison says "Fuck this, it's corkscrew moonsault time" and gets the crowd on their feet. They're working at a fast pace for this one, I'm digging it. I love how Jericho just CAN'T his any of his finishers on Morrison effectively (codebreaker and lionsault reversed, Morrison made it to the ropes on a walls attempt), as it makes Jericho think of different ways to beat Morrison.

The ending makes a ton of sense, as Jericho is about to be pinned, but reverses the rollup into a pinning combination of his own, grabbing the tights for extra leverage. Simple, but effective heel mannerism by Jericho that garners him a win and alot of heat, plus allows Morrison not to lose any momentum. Fantastic psychology used in this match. Great encounter, but on Superstars ? WHAT ?

*** 1/4

John Morrison vs Edge SD 09

This begins with a pre match promo here. Morrison, with not the brightest mic skills on the planet, actually manages to hang with Edge here. This match is well thought out and a little spotty at times, but that's what I expected. This match has good psychology as well, with Edge working on the injured ribs of Morrison throughout the match with knee shots, reversals and submissions all garnering to the rib area.

I have one issue with this match, and it is that Edge seems a tad lazy. He seems like he dosen't want to kick it into second gear here, and believe it or not, it is Morrison who carries this match. That's only a minor concern here, as a first gear Edge is better than many Wrestlers in the world today (coming from a person who isn't even a big Edge fan). Spear to the ribs (psychology) ends this match. A good encounter here.

*** 1/4

John Morrison vs CM Punk SD 09

This match is much different than the ECW 07 last chance encounter, which relied on nearfalls and crowd interaction to stay hot. This match relies more on technical wrestling, as both men are babyfaces (Punk being SORT OF a tweener) here. Punk gets a great german bridge suplex in this match, and wears Morrison down with a half leg crab, trying to remove the aerial attack.

This is much more technically sound than the other match, but it isn't as exciting. Punk (WHC at the time) actually loses to Morrison clean here, which IMO is a horrible booking decision. No wonder Punk got so pissed off at the company. Still though, a technically great match, although not as good as the last chance match.

*** 1/2

John Morrison vs Jeff Hardy SD 09

The World Title is on the line here. I absolutely HATE Jeff with a passion, so I thought this match was going to be garbage, but surprisingly it wasn't. Morrison remained in the driver's seat for a majority of the match, so things remained nice and smooth (unlike Jeff's sometimes sloppy offense). This match is just all over the place fun, as both men are just flying around to entertain the crowd, nothing wrong with that at all.

There isn't a whole lot of psychology here, Morrison works on the arm for a little bit but Jeff completely no sells the entire thing. It's Jeff Hardy vs John Morrison, you get what you think you get...Morrison actually kicks out of the Swanton Bomb here, and looks like he is very close to winning the world title, but gets caught in a few reversals, and Jeff is able to walk away with the title. A really fun match, not much psychology but a really great 14 minute match that keeps you excited. The Swanton kickout drove this up to three stars for me.

***

John Morrison vs Rey Mysterio SD 09

This is for the IC title here. Starts off with a handshake and this fast paced contest is underway. Why is the crowd on Morrison's side ? Anyways, Rey is going hurricarana and counter hurricarana crazy right now, reminding me of the old WCW/ECW Rey and not the "My knees are glued together" present Rey. Morrison trying to ground the faster Mysterio, a smart tactic, but it eventually leads to a sick bump outside the ring. The pacing is unreal here.

Morrison tries to match Rey's aerial attack, doing some innovative moves such as his standing moonsault and unique backflip dropkicks and legdrops, all while grounding Rey at the exact same time, just brilliant stuff here. Amazing near fall, as Morrison kicks out of a springboard leg drop, thought it was over there. They begin to slow down (finally) towards the end, but that only adds to the match. After a series of counters and spots, Starship Pain gives Morrison the title.

WHAT A MATCH. Honestly, the psychology was spot on, and it was one of the better paced matches I've seen over the last 5 years. Both men gave it their all, as they clearly knew this match had the potential to be special. Nearly 20 minutes of structured, nonstop, sensical action makes this one of the best TV matches that I have ever seen. Watch this match right now.

**** 1/4


Thoughts

Here is the good about this DVD: you get 8 matches, and all of them are TV matches, meaning they aren't repeats. You get TWO **** + matches on this set, and there isn't a single BAD match to be found on the entire disc, as only one match (the tag) is even AVERAGE. This was a great watch and I went through it like it was nothing. Hell, this DVD is worth it just for the last match.

The problem with this DVD is simple...WHY DOES IT EXIST ? It's John FUCKING Morrison. I'm not a big fan of the guy, but damn, we don't have a Sting set or a Vader set or a Ted Dibiase set or......I could actually list about 100 other wrestlers who deserve a set over John Morrison, why does this exist ? It's only one disc worth of matches, and it's great for what it is, but why does this DVD exist ? I don't know, this remind me of the John Cena: Word Life DVD that was released in 04, except, you know, John Cena was actually PUSHED.

I'd definitely recommend this DVD if you can find it for cheap like I did, as it is a fun watch, but the segments that intertwine with the matches just aren't that good at all (although the extra is quite decent), and are completely uninteresting. Good DVD, but a horrible idea for a DVD, if that makes any sense. I can't give this over 6/10 because of the DVD market is saturated with 3 disc released stocked full of extra content and in-depth documentary, but still, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND this for cheap. A great buy. I actually LIKE this. Wow.

6/10

Batista & WM XX reviews coming soon!

[Big Z]

Aside from not really been a fan of Morrison, its a pretty solid DVD. He had a bunch of great TV matches in 09 and that DVD was great for showcasing some of them. Wouldn't mind seeing "TV" sets like this for other stars every year, so long as they don't do them for someone like Kofi Kingston or R-Truth or The Miz. Basically I'd like sets for wrestlers worth watching . Then again they've started doing the Raw and SD sets every year now so there isn't a need for sets like this any more.

Oh, and Morrison Vs Jericho happening on Superstars wasn't much of a "WTF" at the time. It only debuted (or rather, re-debuted) in April of 09 and they tried to make it a big deal by having guys like Jericho, Punk, Kane, Orton and even Undertaker show up. At first. Then it became a low to mid-card guy show, which wasn't a bad thing other than it lacked star power, as the show would feature some great matches.

[JoeRulz]

I remember Punk and Morrison having 3 really good matches (SD) in 2009, and one of them being great, can't remember which one. And yeah, Mysterio/Morrison was a MOTYC, go figure.

[Obfuscation]

The first one right before The Bash 2009 was the great Punk/Morrison match in their 2009 Trilogy. He was on point in a good amount of TV matches that year.

Don't see how it is baffling that he had his own set either. In fact that was a great sign to showcase a new, fresh talent like that. Granted things obviously didn't work out, but hey, he had some good stuff and it got to be showcased on the set. No harm, no foul.

[Brye]

Morrison put on alot of good matches in his career, imo. Good tag run and then really strong singles run.

[Obfuscation]

Had one of the best matches on TV last year vs Miz, imo.

[Brye]

Love that match. The series with Sheamus was awesome too. And he had a solid match with Jeff in July '08.

Anyone else really like the Smackdown Main Event/Midcard fusion in '08 where we were getting guys like Triple H, Taker and Show in competitive matches with guys like Hardy, MVP, Benjamin and Kendrick? Thought it was entertaining as fuck and it was cool to see guys like Benjamin sort of in a spotlight.