Plenty of House of Torture in the New Japan Cup Quarterfinals
The second round of the New Japan Cup concluded this morning and following today only eight men will remain. Yota Tsuji defeated El Phantasmo to punch his ticket to the quarterfinals and in the main event, Ren Narita scored the upset victory over Zack Sabre Jr. to...
Taker-Orton rises above Armageddon
SmackDown! pay-per-views have been disappointing, lacking, and just plain awful. With hopes to turn things around, WWE Armageddon made its way to us from Providence, RI, offering a fresh breath of air that could mean a promising 2006. Armageddon's card consisted of...
Ups and downs to Turning Point
Last night's TNA's latest Pay-Per-View offering, Turning Point, was a mixed bag, highlighting both the company's strongest areas as well as their weakest. Nowhere was this more evident than in comparing the two title matches that took place: the stellar X-Division...
Detroit crowd right into Survivor Series
DETROIT -- Though some wrestling pundits claim that WWE is losing touch with their fans, there was little evidence of that on Sunday night at the Joe Louis Arena, given the reactions of the live crowd in attendance for the Survivor Series. The audience was loud and...
Smackdown wins, but Undertaker the real survivor
Sometimes a little competition is a healthy thing. The WWE was definitely hoping Sunday night was one of those times, as the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit played host to the 19th annual Survivor Series. With the exception of a WWE Championship match featuring another...
Genesis turns Christian and much more
TNA could not have come up with a more appropriate title for this pay per view than Genesis. There were plenty of new beginnings this night -- new feuds, new talent and a new cause for excitement among TNA fans. The exhilaration peaked with an absolutely chaotic main...
Taboo Tuesday delivers decently
It's time to get Taboo on Tuesday. Once again WWE has brought out the PPV that allows the fans to pick what happens, or so they say. While that statement seems more believable this year, it doesn't seem as though the fans have... full authority. Nevertheless, let's...
Rhino upsets Jarrett at Bound for Glory
Despite the fact that one half of the scheduled main event of TNA's Bound for Glory pay-per-view, Kevin Nash, was hospitalized, the company was able to make up for it in spades, delivering what could possibly be the PPV of the year. His replacement, the man-beast...
Latest WWE PPV unmerciful
Wrestling fans weren't expecting much as they headed into the 2005 edition of No Mercy, but what they received was even less than what they bargained for. Batista's horrible title defense capped off a night of disappointments. Rather than producing a solid PPV like...
Unforgiven marred by unfortunate ending
For weeks, John Cena and Kurt Angle have consumed a great deal of Raw TV time, dominating the show with the help of Eric Bischoff. Wouldn't that be enough to justify a decent ending to their big world title encounter at Unforgiven? Apparently not. Both men entered the...
TNA Unbreakable an astounding PPV
WWE... be afraid. TNA has truly cemented the formula needed for delivering great pay per views and last night was no exception. TNA's Unbreakable PPV was an astounding buffet of action, catering to the variety of tastes among professional wrestling fans. Topped off...
Hogan-HBK steal SummerSlam
Sometimes all the feuds and title matches in the world can't help but be overshadowed by an immortal and an icon. That was certainly the case Sunday night at Washington's MCI Center, where the SummerSlam 2005 card flew by with little in the way of surprises or drama...
TNA makes a great Sacrifice
With less than two months before they make their national debut on Spike TV, Total Nonstop Action needed to show everyone in the wrestling business that they are prepared to do what needs to be done to elevate their product above everyone else. Last night at TNA's...
JBL reigns at a dull Bash
In the mid-'80s, the Great American Bash was NWA/WCW's major event of the year. It was the event where long-standing feuds came to an end, major titles were decided, and fans were generally treated to some of the company's best work. This year, however, the show...
Buffalo fans blasé over Bash
BUFFALO, NY - Followers of the Bills and Sabres are no strangers to disappointment, so when the WWE brought The Great American Bash to the HSBC arena Sunday night, fans seemed braced for the event to deliver less than its full potential. As of 7:00, 45 minutes before...
No Surrender a success
TNA has received a lot of criticism, as any wrestling promotion does, for some of their past poor pay per view efforts and matches. As last night's "No Surrender" pay per view proved, however, when everything clicks they can put on a fantastic show that gives fans...
Batista retains with a Vengeance
Well it's all about "The Game", or so it has seemed since 1999. Triple H has been obssesed with the World Title picture to the point where a PPV Main Event will normally consist of him and whomever his next victim is. Having lost at Wrestlemania and at Backlash to...
Raven crowned king at Slammiversary
When the main event of TNA's third anniversary show was announced, it was unlikely that anyone pegged Raven as the man to walk out with the strap, since he wasn't even in the match. When Jeff Jarrett was arrested for assaulting a fan, Raven was reinstated and entered...
One great Night of hardcore nostalgia
Prologue: Those three little letters ("E" "C" W!") mean more to me than any others in wrestling. More than WWF, more than WWE, more than the NWA or TNA and a hell of a lot more than WCW. I was first introduced to this outlaw style of wrestling during a tour that took...
Judgment Day: Good, bad, ugly
Many over the top storylines have brought us to tonight's Judgment Day PPV. Between the rape, personal grudges and sterotyping, SmackDown! is going over the top in a desperate attempt to draw ratings. This being the first Smackdown-only pay-per-view since No Way Out,...
Styles ends Jarrett’s reign at Hard Justice
On June 1, 2004 Jeff Jarrett won the NWA title. Since then fans have clamored for someone to take the belt from his waist. Anticipation was high when AJ Styles was named challenger to Jarrett's strap, with fans wondering if Styles would be the man to dethrone the...
Hulkamania rules Backlash
Hulkamania once again ran wild as WWE presented the 2005 edition of Backlash, live from Manchester, NH. While the eyes of the wrestling world were glued to Hulkamania returning for one more match, Triple H was gunning to become an 11-time World Heavyweight Champion....
Lockdown lacks
There is an old saying "There can be too much of a good thing." This was definitely the case with TNA's sixth monthly Pay Per View offering "Lockdown" which saw all of the matches settled in the "six sides of steel." Panned by wrestlers and observers alike, despite...
Mania still magical despite lackluster mains
LOS ANGELES -- This year's edition of Wrestlemania, live from the beautiful Staples Center in Los Angeles, California seemed to be lacking something. It became evident what the issue was when the crowd that started out red hot slowly came to a grinding halt at the...
Main events weak at WrestleMania 21
A great Hollywood movie has an interesting beginning, a thrilling middle and a satisfying conclusion. The WWE's adventure in Hollywood got the first two parts right Sunday night with a Gone With the Wind performance at WrestleMania 21 but unfortunately bombed like...
Destination X: Overbooked but fun
Destination X was a two-match show. In one overbooked match featuring stars from what feels like a lifetime ago, Jeff Jarrett defended the NWA belt against Diamond Dallas Page. In the other, stars of tomorrow went at each other in the Ultimate X format. Each match had...
JBL finds another Way Out
WWE is slowy, but surely, trying to re-create ECW. With the DVD sales going through the roof, and the high demand to bring back former talent and matches, WWE bit the entertainment bullet and attempted to go "Hardcore" with a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match. However, the...
Iron Man steals Against All Odds
For many fans who planned on ordering TNA's latest Pay Per View offering, they were plunking their money down to see X-Division Champion AJ Styles defend against "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels in a 30-minute Iron Man match. The two, who have battled all over...
No Revolution: Triple H prevails
Sometimes the old adages say it best. In the case of last night's New Year's Revolution pay-per-view, the first one that came to mind was the more things change, the more they stay the same. The change was holding the first big event of 2005 in San Juan, Puerto Rico,...
Batista claims the Rumble
By DALE PLUMMER and NICK TYLWALK Even the most die-hard WWE apologist would have to admit that over the past few years, the promotion has done a lot of things that haven't made much sense. Whether it was a storyline that got dropped with no logical explanation or a...
New (Final) Resolution needed by TNA
TNA's third monthly pay-per-view, Final Resolution, did almost everything perfectly. Good to great matches, a rabid, hot crowd, a shocking return, thrilling action and new champions. Simply put, it blew away WWE New Year's Revolution and a lot of recent offering by...