Papa Grande's Match Reviews

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Wrestlemania 22 - Singles Match for the WWE Championship - John Cena (c) vs. Triple H

Decided to do a little bit of Youtube hunting, and found this match in full, which I haven't seen in a few years, so I decided to take another look at it.

Despite how the crowd is acting, Cena is supposed to be the face while HHH is supposed to be the heel. This is one of the last heel matches that we've seen, of this writing, for HHH, and it's a pretty good one. Cena is out trying to prove that he can beat one of the all time greats while Triple H wants his 11th reign as champion. Solid story, nothing too deep, but clear enough to give some emotion.

The stare down between the two before the action begins is great. You can tell that the two both mean business and that they aren't distracted by the bright lights of Wrestlemania. They weren't fucking around. They were ready to kill each other to win the most coveted prize in the WWE - the WWE Championship. I actually got some chills when I saw them two just stare each other down. That's how you make a main event feud.

The pace that these two have is exactly how it should've been. Very slow, methodical pace, with Trips carrying Cena who was still not all that great of a wrestler. The slow pace obviously worked in favor of Triple H, who quickly made it known that he was gonna beat Cena simply by outwrestling him. And, for the most part, he did. Any time it looked like Cena was finally gonna get the upper hand Trips reversed it and got out of it. Back body drop attempt? Trips reverses it into a facebuster or swinging neckbreaker. Side headlock, Trips spins out and wrenches Cena's arm against his back, then steps on his calves. Awesome breakdown on Cena's blaring weaknesses: he's a terrible technical wreslter. Cena's a guy who wants the big moves to put you away, and Triple H did a great job of containing Cena from hitting anything too damaging. Triple H was in control of the match well over 70% of the time, but Cena sells the face in peril so well that it worked.

The crowd throughout the match was great, and after a little bit Triple H started playing towards them with the crotch chop and back and forth punches with Cena. I've never seen a crowd get so loud over a low blow. Then when Cena kicked out of the sledgehammer shot, it was pretty much the exact opposite. The finishing stretch was fan-fucking-tastic, as well. Trips got about as slow as a 2 count as you can get, and then seconds later SOMEHOW kicks out of an FU and almost immediate pin by Cena. Clearly these two men were gonna need something extra, because neither man was gonna go down by just one finisher. And Cena tried to take action by going to the top rope and attempting a crossbody, but King said it best 'what are you doing, that's not your comfort zone' and he was absolutely right. But that was Cena just trying to go the extra mile and win the match, and it almost backfired on him.

Then, finally, the finish of the match was memorable in itself, and pretty much described the match as a whole. Cena had the STFU locked on for at least 1/2 a minute and Triple H somehow was able to stay alive by keeping his hand up, continuing to let everyone know that he wasn't gonna give up right away. However, Cena finally got the best of Triple H after having the STFU locked in to cap off a fucking epic Wrestlemania encounter.

This match was a whole lot better then the last time I remembered it. The crowd, the storytelling, the action. All great. Cena finally got that defining win, beating a future hall of famer, by submission no less. The commentary by JR and King was great all along as well. One of the first real great matches by Cena, and it should be a definite watch by anyone that wants to see an epic Wrestlemania main event. I was even nice enough to give you the match below.

****1/4-****1/2

Spoiler

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[Megatron]

Summerslam 2001 - Singles Match for the WWF Championship - Steve Austin (c) vs. Kurt Angle

This is a match that I haven't seen before but I've seen a whole bunch of praise on it, so I decided it would be the next match I review.

I wasn't watching the WWF at the time, because I was quite young, but you can pick up the story pretty quickly in the video package. Austin - forever known as the fans hero due to being anti-establishment - was upset that the man he was fighting against - Angle - seemed to have replaced him as the face of the company, in Vince's eyes. So he jumped to the guys that seemed to appreciate him, the Alliance, which didn't make Vince a happy man. Angle is trying to be that answer to Austin and is gonna try and bring the WWF Title back to the WWF. Real compelling story, and psychotic Austin looks like he may have been a fun character to watch every week.

Showing both the WWF and Alliance paying attention to the match in their lockerroom was a nice touch, too. It let everyone know that this match was important to everyone involved and that the match was gonna impact the entire company. Brought up the importance of the match way up.

They started the match out like many Attitude Era matches did - with them brawling on the outside. And it works here, because they're showing me that they can't wait for that bell to ring for the match to begin, oh no, they wanna throw down right away. They throw a bunch of right hands at each other once they get in the ring, and again it works because they don't like each other so they aren't gonna try and impress the crowd with rest holds.

I said it once, but I'm gonna say it again: Psycho Austin is fucking great. Even though he's fighting for the WWF Championship, he still flips off the fans, which got me a good laugh. Then when he gets a nearfall after hitting the stunner on Angle 7-8 minutes in he gets right in the referee's face, even though the referee just tries to say out of hells way. And he made it clear pretty early that Angle wasn't gonna go crazy with the suplex's and spots, which was good because Angle normally does too many and sometimes too much of a good thing is, well, not good.

They spend a good portion of the middle part of the match brawling outside, which, like I said earlier, is right, because they aren't there trying to give a technical masterpiece. They're trying to beat the shit out of each other, and we get Angle busted open while they're out there brawling, which, again, adds to the hate that they have with each other. Austin sells the leg injury throughout the match, the one that had a few ankle locks locked in on him, which I thought was great. Even though they're in a brawl, Austin wasn't gonna go out and no-sell the submissions that Angle had on that leg.

These two also showed the crowd that they were gonna go the extra mile to beat the son of a bitch they were going against. I know Angle had done them in previous matches before, but you won't normally see Angle go for the moonsault. And Austin brought out the cobra clutch, a move he hadn't used in at least 5 years, to try and finish Angle off. I actually thought the Cobra Clutch part of the match was one of the best parts about it, because Austin was still putting pressure on the bloodied head of Angle with the hold and he was keeping Angle off the offense by keeping him grounded and not letting go of the hold. He must've had the fucker locked in for at least 90 seconds, but it was the perfect time to lock it in.

As for the finish, I actually thought it was quite nice. I know disqualifications in the main events suck, but in this one it was executed perfectly. Austin took out two WWF referees so he could finally put Angle away with a Championship shot, but instead Angle gets the Angle Slam and you think, if a referee gets out here quick enough this match will be over. I saw the referee and once you saw him with a WCW shirt on it was almost a guarantee that Angle wasn't gonna win. And the reasoning was great, as well, Austin was DQ'ed because of 'excessive abuse towards officals', and everyone knows the ref only called that to have Austin keep his title. Austin was done, but he survived because of a favorable call from a referee. Great booking to another awesome match. It was a perfect brawl, filled with good storytelling and a controversial finish. Definately worth a watch, one of the best matches in Summerslam history.

****3/4

Spoiler

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[Megatron]

Singles Match - Wrestlemania 21 - Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels

This feud started at the 2005 Royal Rumble when Shawn superkicked Angle out of the running for the title, and then seconds later Angle came back in and eliminated Shawn. Angle then jumped Shawn during a match on RAW on February 28, and then proclaimed that he was better then Shawn and could do everything that Shawn accomplished, only better. Shawn laid out the challenge, Angle eventually accepted, and now we are going to see two of the best wrestlers, at the time, go at it just to prove who really is better.

I watched this match last night and planned on writing a review out of it, but my computer died almost exactly when the match was over, so I decided I'd rewatch it again and see if it held up on a second viewing. Well, needless to say, I wasn't a great big fan of this match. I'm certainly not thinking it's better then HHH/Batista at Vengeance. The first 6-7 minutes had HBK out there trying to show up Angle and prove that he's the better wrestler by keeping a headlock in and not letting go. He didn't do much for moves, just kept Angle in the headlock while Angle tried different ways to get out. That killed the crowd in a matter of seconds. HBK isn't that kind of wrestler and shouldn't have been trying to show him up on the mat right at the beginning.

Once Angle locked in his first Ankle Lock the crowd started to get into it and it wasn't as dreadful to watch. Angle actually outperformed HBK by a country mile in this match, which is surprising considering the calibre' of Shawn. Sure, Kurt threw in some ankle locks when he did no damage whatsoever to the ankle beforehand, and he switched on which ankle he was gonna have the hold locked in on, but at least he was doing a great job of working on HBK's well documented back. The only thing that annoyed me was that HBK shaked off everything that Angle threw at his back relatively quickly. Both the Angle Slam (which looked like it hit more of HBK's leg then back on the replay) into the pole and the Camel Clutch (I think) almost right in a row were pretty much shaken off after only 1/2 a minute or so. Yeah, HBK cringed for a little bit after, but he wasn't holding his back in pain, at all. He just decided 'Yeah, you can kick my ass, Kurt, but I'm gonna no sell it anyways b/c that's not how the match is going to end.'

Speaking of the finish, I fucking hated it. The match should've been over 4 minutes earlier after Angle hit the Super Angle Slam. 2 Angle Slams in a row, after Kurt had been working on the back the whole match, and Shawn kicks out at 2 1/2? C'mon now. I get why Kurt won by the Ankle lock, because it showed to everyone that he was a better wrestler then Shawn, but I can't get over the fact that HBK kicked out of TWO STRAIGHT ANGLE SLAMS and then tapped out to a move that didn't get worked on at ALL during the match. Ugh. Sure, the crowd got it's nice few fall finish, but this match isn't all cracked up that it's meant to be, despite Angle doing a good job of not going suplex crazy like he would in a normal match. Shawn's no-sell of the back just kinda ruined it for me. If they end the match after the Super Angle Slam its a pretty awesome match, but I just can't get over that he kicked out just for the reaction, even if it was Wrestlemania and Kurt got put over more by HBK tapping out. Just can't get over it.

***1/2-***3/4

Spoiler

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Also, if you guys want me to ever review a match, and it's on youtube, I'm game.

 

[Megatron]

Wrestlemania XIX - Singles Match for the WWE Championship - Kurt Angle (c) vs. Brock Lesnar

This feud had some of the seeds planted months even before the Royal Rumble at Armageddon when Lesnar helped Angle beat the Big Show to win the WWE Championship. At the Royal Rumble, Lesnar won the said match and Angle retained his title in a great match against Chris Benoit. At No Way Out Lesnar and Benoit were able to top Team Angle in a 3 on 2 handicap match. Lesnar then earned himself a title shot on a Smackdown episode before WM, which saw Angle retain after he switched with his brother Eric and then hit a surprising Angle Slam late. Smackdown GM Stephanie McMahon promised Angle that there would be a rematch at WM 19, and if Benjamin, Haas, or his brother interfered that he would be stripped of his title, and that is where we are now.

We get some solid chain wrestling between the two men to start off the match, which isn't out of the ordinary since both men are the two most accomplished amateur wrestlers to ever step inside of a WWE ring. Once they get done with that Angle goes on the offense and is out to prove that he doesn't need anyone to help him keep his title and that he can be the one that can shut down the monster that is Lesnar. You get your usual suplex happy Angle, although these are used more effectively then in a normal Angle match. He throws about three or four Germans in a row, which not only kills Lesnars energy, but also just kinda rubs it in saying that he's so great that he can hit as many suplexes as he wants.

However, the one thing that always seems to happen in every single big Angle match is the Ankle Lock spot. No work on even the leg beforehand, yet Angle goes right in and locks it in for a few seconds until Lesnar grabs the bottom rope. I mean, I know the move can 'appear from out of no where' but it'd be nice if he would actually, oh I don't know, WORK on the Ankle a tad beforehand. Stomp on it. Whip it into the ring posts. Stand on it. Put it on the bottom rope and sit on it. Something that puts a little bit of pain in Lesnar's leg before just randomly locking it on. Poor ring psychology from Angle there, as it always seems to be.

I understand why Lesnar went for the SSP, it's WM, he can't put away Angle with the F-5, he needs one big blow to finish him off, but you could tell right away that he misjudged the length and that it wasn't gonna end well. It still provided a memorable moment, no doubt, it slightly impacts the match quality. I'm amazed that he still had the strength to lift Angle up and hit the F-5 not even a minute after almost breaking his neck. Obviously they altered the finish a bit and just finished the match off after Lesnar almost broke his neck, but I don't really have a problem with it.

Overall, it was a pretty good main event to close out what many believe is the best WM ever. It's debateable, but these two did put up a quality matchup, but nothing that would make you stand up and go wild, except for the crazy finish. Again, great ME, but not really compareable to some of the best. Oh, and there's two little facts that I kinda figured out on my own during my time watching this match. 1) This was the first WM ME post Brand Extension when the titles were split, and 2) This would be the last time SD ME WM until 24 when Edge and the Undertaker went at it.

***3/4

Spoiler

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[The Holy One]

I want to congratulate you on some nice reviews there Grande. I pretty much agree with you on every match except HBK/Angle as I thought it deserved a ****. It might be just personal taste but I thought kicking out of the Super Angle Slam added more excitement to the match as it was then fans really were questiong who would win the match now. Your last post gave me the idea of what I want you to review next and that would be the main event of Wrestlemania 24, Edge vs The Undertaker.

 

[Texas Rattlesnake]

great reviews dude i agreed with your ratings

id love to see you review

austin vs hart - wrestlemania

austin rock wrestlemania 17

ric flair vs randy savage wrestlemania 8

....any of them !