WWE Elimination Chamber 2023

WWE Elimination Chamber 2023

Montreal, Quebec, CA - February 2023

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Roman Reigns was both the Universal and WWE Champion, the Usos were the RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Charlotte Flair was the SmackDown Women's Champion, Bianca Belair held the RAW Women's Championship, the United States Champion was Austin Theory, the Intercontinental Champion was GUNTHER, and the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions were Damage CTRL.

One of the most anticipated pay-per-views of the past few years (at least), Elimination Chamber 2023 kicked off with the Women's Elimination Chamber match: Asuka, Liv Morgan, Carmella, Natalya, Raquel Rodriguez, and Nikki Cross. Raquel had an excellent showing in the Royal Rumble in January, but Asuka came into this as the favorite due to her experience and star power. Morgan and Natalya started things off, with Nattie getting a bit of extra love from the Montreal crowd. I really liked the early physicality and use of the structure by Nattie and Liv to start things off, both women taking some good-looking bumps into the cell and cage walls. Raquel came in third and dominated the other two using her strength. At one point, Rodriguez looked like she might hit an Alabama Slam on Nattie onto the Chamber floor, but was stopped by a crossbody from Morgan. Nattie looked to apply a Sharpshooter, but it led to a sequence of counters building up to Nikki Cross joining the match. Cross came in and went right to work on the other three, slingshotting Liv into the corner of a cell and ramming Nattie's head into the cage. Nikki climbed atop Carmella's pod and hit a huge crossbody on the other three women and, for the first time in a long time, it actually looked like a legit move and not an overtly staged fall-and-catch. Carmella came in next and went for a series of covers, but to no avail. Carmella hid back in her pod to avoid Nikki, but ended up having to escape once Rodriguez grabbed Nikki and rammed her through the cell wall in a terrific spot. This led to Nikki's elimination as Carmella hid in another pod and Liv Morgan tried to climb her away out of harm's away as Rodriguez went on a spree. In the ring, Raquel went for a huge superplex, but Nattie slipped under and went for a powerbomb. Raquel didn't see it coming as Morgan came flying down from the pod for a sunset flip that got a huge pop from the crowd. Carmella went for a cover, but Raquel kicked out as Asuka came in and went right for Carmella. A loud "Asuka's Gonna Kill You" chant erupted as she thoroughly destroyed Carmella. An Asuka/Raquel showdown followed, the crowd clearly behind the Empress. Morgan came flying with a missile dropkick and then got into it with Nattie only to get hit by a Carmella superkick. She got locked in a Sharpshooter but wouldn't tap, but things got worse as Asuka applied an armbar. Liv wouldn't tap, but did "fade away." That was an unnecessary thing as Liv wouldn't have looked bad tapping to a double submission. Moments later, Nattie got eliminated by Carmella and we were down to three. Asuka and Mella double-teamed Raquel and eliminated her with their tandem offense. Carmella hit a surprise superkick on Asuka and nearly eliminated her, but Asuka kicked out. We got a decent pinning sequence between Asuka and Carmella, but Mella got caught in the Asuka Lock and quickly gave up. This match started out relatively hot, had some good spots in it, but then felt uninspired towards the end as the final 3-4 minutes were just a flurry of eliminations. A decent enough Elimination Chamber match, but certainly not one that people will remember for years to come. (3/5)

Next up - Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar. This match, despite being the second bout on the card, still had "big fight feel." Both guys were in tremendous shape for this and came out with big offense right from the get go, Lashley connecting with two spears before attempting to lock in the Hurt Lock. Lesnar resisted, though, countering it into an F-5, but only getting 2 on the cover. Remember when that move was insta-death? That's the problem with building a match entirely around finishers. Lesnar hit a second F-5, but again Lashley kicked out. Ugh. The crowd wanted one more and Lesnar went to oblige but Lashley escaped and hit a spear off the ropes. Lashley went to apply his finish again, this time securing it and bringing Lesnar nearly to his knees. Lesnar tried to power out, but Lashley held on. Lesnar reared back with a donkey kick to the balls, getting himself disqualified but breaking the hold. That was a real disappointment of a match. Lesnar hit an F-5 on the ref, popping the crowd. He then delivered an F-5 to Lashley in the ring and one on the outside through a table. This crowd was so hot that Lesnar could get away with an even lazier performance and still have them popping everything he did, but I really wish they had actually delivered a legitimate match with back-and-forth action and not just some finisher spamming leading to a DQ. (1.5/5)

The Judgment Day's Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley took on the team of Edge and Beth Phoenix in the next bout, the babyfaces getting an unsurprisingly big reaction from the Canadian crowd. Balor and Edge started things off, but only sparred a few moments before Phoenix and Ripley locked up. They traded some stiff clotheslines and then did a classic test of strength as the audience chanted "Fuck You Dominik." Out of the ring they went, Phoenix sending Rhea into the steps with force. Phoenix looked to be going for a moonsault, but Dom interfered and the heels gained the upperhand. Dom went running to the back, eliciting a "Na Na Na Hey Hey" response from the crowd until Dom came back out to jeers. The amount of heat Dom got here distracted from the match going on, but the big spots and shifts in momentum kept the fans engaged when they needed to be to get the story across. Phoenix as the face-in-peril was not what I expected out of this match, but it also allowed Ripley the chance to shine in the spotlight the way she needs as Charlotte's big challenger at Mania. Phoenix hit a huge superplex at one point, but it took just as much out of her as it did Rhea. Phoenix made the hot tag to Edge who locked Balor in the Edgecator as Phoenix did the same. The heels looked like they may tap, but Dom distracted the ref. Dom slipped brass knuckles to Ripley, who knocked Edge out. Edge looked to be done as the ref counted 1...2...and then, in a woeful bit of timing, should've counted 3 but had to wait for Beth to break up the pin. Eesh. That was a horrid mistiming that deflated the crowd a bit. They won them back with a double powerbomb spot that saw both women take out their male opponents. On the outside, Rhea looked to smash Phoenix's head with a chair onto the steps, but the Glamazon escape and hit her finish onto the arena floor as Edge hit his Edgecution DDT in the ring! Edge splashed Dom on the outside and then went for a spear, but Balor caught him with a slingblade. Balor looked to go for a dropkick but Edge caught him with a spear and then hit a double-team maneuver to get the clean W. This was alot of fun and I actually felt a little bad for Beth as that one mistimed nearfall marred an otherwise very good match. The crowd nudged this one up a half-point. (3/5)

The Men's Elimination Chamber for the United States Championship was next with Austin Theory putting his title up against Seth Rollins, Johnny Gargano, Bronson Reed, Montez Ford, and Damien Priest. Rollins and Gargano got to start things off and I liked Corey Graves mentioning that this was their first encounter in a WWE ring but that they had done some work together in Cleveland (shoutout to AIW!). Reed came in at #3 to break up the wrestling-based portion of the match and got to show off his admirable strength. The crowd was very much into everything Rollins did from beginning to end (with one notable exception), but I like that this match was laid out to highlight everyone involved as, in terms of star power, Rollins was the only real capital-S Superstar of the bunch (even Austin Theory seems significantly "cooler" than he was some months back, which is not a complaint). The crowd was very into this, breaking out into multiple "This is Awesome" chants, but I didn't find this to be that much better than the Women's version that opened the show. There was some cool spots - Montez doing a huge splash from the top of the cage, a cool moment between Gargano and Rollins sitting atop a pod, Bronson Reed pancaking Priest into a cell wall - but there was nothing here that we haven't seen before and, in terms of character development, I'm not sure anybody came out of this match truly shining brighter than they went into it. The biggest head-scratcher was the elimination of Montez Ford, who took a Curb Stomp from Rollins and, after getting pinned by Theory, remained on the mat motionless as the ref called for help. Ford sold the injury - which, based on the minutes that followed, seemed to be in kayfabe - like a champ and the crowd definitely bought it at first (Rollins and Theory helped "sell" the moment by sneakily rolling out of the way and allowing Ford to be carried off). But, when the match restarted, there was a notable dip in crowd enthusiasm for Rollins, who looked to finish off Theory only for Logan Paul to spring into the ring through the open Chamber door and connect with a Buckshot Lariat and then a Curb Stomp of his own to help Theory retain. I get that Rollins stomping Ford helped put over the Curb Stomp as a lethal maneuver (which put an exclamation point on Logan Paul using it minutes later), but in the long-term, if we're headed to a possible Montez Ford/Austin Theory rivalry - which would probably serve both quite well - they really should've put the heat on Theory and not on Seth. It was a sour note in a match that was carried more by the crowd's enthusiasm than any sort of engaging, interesting through line. (3/5)

Main event time - Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed Universal WWE Championship against Sami Zayn in front of Zayn's hometown Montreal crowd. This was basically at 4-stars before the bell rang as the crowd went absolutely BONKERS from beginning to end, serenading Reigns with multiple "Fuck You Roman" chants throughout. Reigns and Zayn didn't necessarily put on a wrestling clinic, but there was enough "meat" between big moments and the story they told was pitch perfect as Reigns dominated the majority of the match while Zayn refused to stay down, wrestling with all of his heart and capitalizing on some huge breaks with a number of tide-turning Helluva Kicks. I also really liked how much Reigns (and Zayn) involved Sami's family as it legit felt like a throwback to Bret Hart's babyface work in the 90s, when you could always count on a Hart or two getting messed with whenever they were anywhere close to Calgary. We eventually got to the predictable ref bump, a lengthy visual pin for Sami Zayn, and the arrival of Jimmy Uso. Even his interference wasn't enough for Reigns to get the W and after another ref bump, it was Paul Heyman who inserted himself into the match, giving Reigns a chair. Before Roman could put it to use, though, Jey Uso showed up to a huge pop. Jey Uso didn't make his intentions clear, though, as he didn't attack Reigns or Zayn, a cliffhanger plot point that was a genuine surprise after weeks of fans believing that this show would make it very clear where his allegiance was. Sami accidentally hit Jey with a spear which led to the actual finish, a dagger to the heart of the Montreal crowd as Reigns connected with his own spear to end the match. During the post-match, Kevin Owens made his (expected) return, clearing the ring and helping Zayn land one last Helluva Kick on Roman. Unfortunately, though, even as the crowd clearly wanted it, we did not get a full reunion between the two longtime friends and rivals, a missed opportunity to send the crowd home with one last positive enduring memory. It was a rare instance of WWE restraint that I disagreed with as this audience, for how hot it was all night, deserved to have that scene play out. A must-see match because of how intense the crowd was, but this did not live up to the Match of the Year expectations despite great efforts and performances out of both Sami and Roman. (4/5)

Comparisons to Money in the Bank 2011 were common in the build-up to this show, but where that show actually delivered the big title change it teased (and an excellent, exciting undercard featuring a terrific Christian/Orton match), this show suffered from a noticeable lack of star power - where was Becky? Bianca? Charlotte? GUNTHER? Cody? - and some underwhelming matches, specifically the shallow Lashley/Lesnar match (is the WWE ever going to just let these two guys actually go and have a "real" match?) and the ultimately meaningless Men's Elimination Chamber, a match that went 40 minutes only to establish that, yes, Logan Paul will face Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. The main event could've been one for the ages, even with Reigns' getting the cheap win, but suffered a bit from not offering any real moment or story-furthering plot point. Few were looking for the match to end the Bloodline saga and even fewer should've expected Reigns to drop the title here, but why not give us the Owens/Zayn embrace that we all wanted to see? Why not pull the trigger on Jey choosing his family over his ethics? With a Kwang Rating of 2.9-out-of-5, though, Elimination Chamber 2023 shouldn't be considered an all-time great show, but the Montreal crowd might've been an all-time great audience and their engagement was enough to make this whole show a breeze to sit through and enjoy.

FINAL RATING - Watch It

ECW Anarchy Rulz 1999

ECW Anarchy Rulz 99'

Chicago, IL - September 1999

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Tazz was the ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Rob Van Dam held the ECW World Television Championship, and the unlikely duo of Tommy Dreamer and Raven were the ECW World Tag Team Champions.

Before the show, Masato Tanaka gets interviewed on his way into the arena. He is interrupted by Judge Jeff Jones so Tanaka throws him into a parked car. 

In the arena, Joey Styles and Cyrus welcome the Chicago crowd to the show before we get our opening contest - Jerry Lynn vs. Lance Storm. The crowd goes crazy for Storm's valet, Dawn Marie, loudly chanting for her to bare her breasts. Lynn comes out with taped ribs because...he always did. Lynn and Storm were two guys that were known for being excellent technical wrestlers but not exactly interesting characters and this match suffers a bit from that lack of the "extra something" that even some of ECW's lesser wrestlers had. There is at least one breathtaking sequence in this and I absolutely loved Lynn's pop-up mule kick to Storm's testicles, but this went a tad too long and they lose the crowd at one point and don't really get them back (this would be around the second time they chant for Dawn Marie to lower her top). The finish comes a bit out of nowhere, but at least its clean. (3/5)

Simon Diamond came out and was hyped a bit by Styles and Cyrus as a guy that had a bright future. Well, they don't get them all right. Diamond's "Simon Says" promo was decent, but he was nothing special in the ring based on what we saw here. He says that no man is willing to tag up with him - which is a weird thing to gloat about - so out comes Jazz, who initially gets destroyed not by Diamond but by Diamond's buddy, ex-wrestler Tom Marquez. This "match" goes less than a minute before we get the real bout - Diamond and Tony Devito taking on Nova and Chris Chetti. Chris Chetti gets injured in the early going, which makes a sloppy mess of a match/segment even more sloppy. I guess the show was called Anarchy Rulz so this should've been expected. Tony Devito botches a urinage and the crowd erupts into a "You Fucked Up" chant. Roadkill and Danny Doring show up to end whatever this was supposed to be and then Da Baldies show up for good measure too. This all leads to the arrival of New Jack, who wipes everyone out with a bunch of weapons. This was near-impossible to follow and even harder to enjoy. When ECW did chaos well, it could be riveting to watch, but this was boring and not fun to watch. (0/5)

Things go much, much better in the next match - Tajiri vs. Little Guido vs. Super Crazy in a triple threat match. This isn't an all-time classic, but for its time, it grabbed many fans' attention and these three would consistently be booked together for years to come because they could be relied upon to deliver the goods in the midcard. There are some really fun and clever exchanges throughout this match that push it a step above being just a "spotfest." Super Crazy is the only face in the match, but Tajiri and Little Guido have such good offense that they earn some pops for their work too. While one could argue that Tajiri and Super Crazy's first few matches in ECW together felt like "exhibition" bouts, by this point, they are established enough in their roles that this does feel much more competitive and heated. The crowd loved everything they did and, 20+ years later, there are still some things in this match that will pop even the most jaded fan. This is a "squeaker" must-watch match, especially for younger or newer fans who might be curious as to why ECW is still talked about today as a place where great wrestling happened, not just hardcore brawling. (4/5)

I'm no fan of Justin Credible and Sabu, as much as I love the character and respect the man, is undeniably hit-or-miss (as his gimmick may have also dictated). Here, though, Sabu and Justin Credible just so happen to click and end up delivering a surprisingly strong match that plays to both of their strengths. Credible takes a hell of a beating and while Sabu is his usual sloppy self, in this context it kinda works because he was not coming to "win" the match, but rather to inflict as much punishment onto Credible as he could. The match is bloody and violent and there are loads of tables broken, but there's also just enough actual wrestling (and most of it is decently enough executed) for this to be more than just a wild brawl. Plus, they kept a decent pace and didn't bother with too much lying around (which is something that Sabu is not always great at). (3/5)

The ECW World Heavyweight Championship is on the line next Tazz was set to defend the title against Masato Tanaka, who was the reigning FMW World Champion in Japan. The cat was out of the bag regarding Tazz's impending departure to the WWE so the Chicago crowd greets him with jeers and "You Sold Out"/"Fuck You Tazz" chants. Its really a bit half-hearted, though, as most of the "smart" fans recognized how much Tazz had given to ECW and that he had hung on with ECW for as long as anyone could expect a top talent to (by this point, Raven, Sabu, Sandman, Stevie Richards, the Dudleys, and countless others had already left...and some had even come back.) Before the match can begin, Mike Awesome shows up and he is inserted into the match per Tazz's demand. From here, Awesome and Tanaka start brawling before deciding to turn their attention on Tazz. Tazz gets a little bit of offense in, but ultimately falls to both guy's finishers, ending his reign and ECW tenure in under 3 minutes. In terms of match quality, I would've liked to see Tanaka and Tazz go at it 1-on-1, but I fully understand the booking decision (even if this was a great opportunity to establish Tanaka as "The Man"). Tanaka and Awesome proceed to have an abbreviated version of the matches they'd had in ECW (and I guess FMW?) in the months before this. Awesome and Tanaka could deliver huge chair shots, power bombs, and dives that would pop the crowd, but there's nothing "new" or "fresh" here to make it stand out as a different war than the ones they'd waged before. This one doesn't crack the "must see" line for me, but was entertaining and felt like a big ECW moment...even if that ECW "moment" might actually be the moment that ECW ended. An extra half-point for the post-match and Tazz's send-off as the Chicago crowd ends up cheering the guy. (3.5/5)

A video package highlights the years-long rivalry between Tommy Dreamer and Raven. Joel Gertner then welcomes Tommy Dreamer to the ring. Dreamer cuts a promo about...well, the same stuff he always did. This brings out Steve Corino, Rhyno, and Jack Victory. After Dreamer fights Rhyno (and Corino), Raven shows up and we get an impromptu ECW World Tag Team Championship match that doesn't last very long. The babyfaces finish off the heels with dueling DDTs to retain the titles and then, for no real reason, the radio shock jock Mancow shows up. This is more of a "segment" than a match, but whatever it is, I found it kinda lame. Corino and Rhyno gained nothing from this segment and the Dreamer and Raven storyline, which was showcased before the match, wasn't progressed in any sort of interesting way. Just filler. (1.5/5)

Main event time - The scheduled final match was set to be Rob Van Dam defending the ECW Television Championship against Johnny Smith...but before that match can happen, Axl Rotten comes out and cuts a promo challenging Mike Awesome, which leads to the Impact Players (Lance Storm, Justin Credible, Jason, and Dawn Marie) showing up and cutting him off. This then leads to Spike Dudley and Balls Mahoney coming down to help Rotten out as they run the heels off. If there was any question as to how much talent ECW had lost in the previous years, this segment really highlights the considerable drop in star power that Heyman and ECW had to deal with in 99' and into 2000. After running the heels off, Rotten announces that RVD's new opponent will be Mahoney, who, as dependable and popular as he was, just wasn't a guy that could or should be main eventing a PPV. Van Dam comes out and is mega over with the crowd, as one would expect in 99'. Mahoney and Van Dam go on to have a good match that pleases the crowd and features one of the most insane spots ever when the Whole F'n Show performs an absolutely insane somersault dive from the top rope into the crowd. I'm not sure what's more impressive: the fact that he was able to get the distance he gets or the fact that he didn't break his neck performing a move that could've went sideways any one of a million ways. The camera angle doesn't really capture how Balls was able to catch him, but RVD owed him his life with that one. Speaking of Balls, his offense looks good for maybe the first 70-80% of the match, but this one clearly pushed him to his limit. I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing either as the Balls character wasn't built for 15+ minute matches that involved this many twists and turns and shifts in momentum. The crowd went home happy as RVD got the W after taking a serious ass-kicking. (3/5)

Considered by some to be one of the best ECW pay-per-views of all time - or at least of the company's original pre-WWE run - I was a bit surprised by how flat some of this show was for me. The ECW World Tag Team title match and the Simon Diamond/Jazz/Nova/Chetti segment and "match" didn't do anything for me, with Raven and Dreamer's work being particularly uninspired. The main event was fine, arguably better than I expected it would be, but didn't feel like a true pay-per-view main event caliber match. This show is probably most remembered for the Tazz/Tanaka/Awesome match and while its essential viewing for any true ECW or 90's wrestling fan, the Tanaka/Awesome portion of the bout (which makes up the bulk of it) is really just the same sort of stuff they had done previously (only with much higher stakes). With a respectable Kwang Score of 2.57-out-of-5, this show definitely captures the unpredictable and uneven spirit of ECW, for better or sometimes worse.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand

WWE Royal Rumble 2023

WWE Royal Rumble 2023

San Antonio, TX - January 2023

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Roman Reigns was still in the midst of his historic reign as both WWE and Universal Champion, the Intercontinental Champion was GUNTHER, the US Champion was Austin Theory, the Usos held both the RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, the RAW Womens' Champion was Bianca Belair, the SmackDown Women's Champion was Charlotte Flair, and the Women's Tag Team Champions were Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai and IO Sky). 

In a huge surprise, the 2023 Royal Rumble kicked off with the 2023 Men's Royal Rumble. Right from the start this was an excellent edition of the annual royale as Pat McAfee made his somewhat-of-a-surprise return to the announce table (McAfee had been hosting College Gameday, but with the college football season over, his return to WWE was predicted by many). Gunther and Sheamus started the match as #1 and #2 respectively and both men put in terrific showings. What really stood out to me about this match was how smartly it was booked, paced, and worked. There was just so much to love spread throughout this match - the Lesnar/Gunther staredown leading to Brock getting tossed by Lashley in shocking fashion, the Sheamus/McIntyre double elimination, seeing Karrion Kross get deservedly treated like a jobber, Logan Paul showing up at 29, he and Ricochet delivering unreal springboard clotheslines to each other, and drawing huge heat by eliminating Seth Rollins, a brilliant few seconds of straight-up amateur wrestling between Xavier Woods and Chad Gable, Edge and Beth Phoenix returning to exact revenge on Judgment Day...this match gave us storyline progression and highlighted everyone that needed to be highlighted. While it may have been short on surprise entrants, it wasn't short on big moments, which is really what a match like this is all about. Also, bonus points for treating Karrion Kross like a jobber (deservedly). In a match that was so loaded with talent, Kross stood out as particularly boring and dull for the few short minutes he was in the match. Similarly, I'm not sure what was up with Santos Escobar, but he looked almost immediately lost and awkward and seemed to botch every spot he was supposed to deliver. The best Royal Rumble match in at least a decade. (4/5)

LA Knight took on Bray Wyatt in a Mountain Dew Pitch Black match next. As most would expect, Bray's entrance was a tremendous bit of production, though Wyatt's look on this evening was more minimal and straight-forward than ever, the Eater of Worlds coming out in all-black attire and zombie-like makeup sans any mask. Once the match began, it wasn't so much a "pitch black" match as a college dorm room "black light" match, the ropes and ring apron glowing neon (along with Knight's bright green trunks and Wyatt's body and face paint. It was a unique look, but ultimately, the wrestling itself was going to have to do very heavy lifting to make this work...and Wyatt nor Knight were capable enough. Knight hit a flying clothesline off the barricade and through a table that was inexplicably filled with neon shrapnel in one of the better moments, but it was no match for Wyatt and his Sister Abigail finish a few short minutes later. This one didn't overstay its welcome, but I don't think we'll be seeing another Pitch Black match anytime soon. During the post-match, Wyatt altered his appearance and then no sold a bunch of kendo stick shots before locking in the Mandible Claw on a nearby stage. Uncle Howdy then appeared atop a scaffolding and dove onto Knight, crashing through the stage, which then erupted into flames for no apparent reason. Here's hoping that's the end of the Uncle Howdy character? This was ridiculous, but not in a ridiculously fun way. This was just shallow nonsense. (1.5/5)

Alexa Bliss challenged Bianca Belair for the RAW Women's Championship in the next bout. As Uncle Howdy had seemingly just stage-dived into the depths of hell, I was curious how much hocus pocus would happen in this match or if they'd just have a straight-up match. Belair and Alexa had a lengthy match on RAW some weeks back that I liked better than this. This match was particularly hampered by some questionable submission attempts by Alexa and a couple of overly choreographed sequences that came across a tad awkward. The finish was one such sequence, coming out of nowhere as Alexa attempted a lazy Sister Abigail that got reversed into a KOD in a very flat ending. After the bell rang, a video popped up on the tron once again teasing Bliss's return to her Wyatt-possessed Lilly-toting gimmick. They need to shit or get off the pot with this turn as they have teased it for what feels like several months at this point. A very underwhelming match from two performers that I usually enjoy. (1.5/5)

The 2023 Womens' Royal Rumble followed with Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan coming in at #1 and #2. Unlike the Men's Rumble, which didn't need to rely on surprise entrants and dramatic twists to keep the crowd engaged, the Women's edition definitely could've used some big returns and a shocking turn of event or two. Piper Niven and Nia Jax returned and Michelle McCool competed, but none felt like a truly big deal. Asuka debuted her new face paint, but its going to take more than that to really put her back where she was 4-5 years ago. Damage CTRL were once again shown to be relatively impotent, a heel trio that can dish out punishment but can't actually win when the stakes are at their highest. Ripley's victory was widely predicted and while it is undoubtedly deserved after a stellar 2022, I sorta wish they had called an audible and had Raquel Rodriquez get the victory as she was the match's babyface MVP. (2/5)

Main event time - Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns for the unified WWE and Universal Championships. While Owens and Reigns were the competitors for this match, much of the attention in the Alamadome was on the Honorary Uso Sami Zayn from the very start, the crowd erupting into a "Sami Uso" chant before the bell even rang. Reigns and Owens have had a number of matches over the years and while few believed Owens had any chance of winning, they both really laid in their strikes and hit a whole slew of big maneuvers to make this match come across as particularly violent and special. Owens hit two terrific frog splashes but botched what appeared to be an attempt at a moonsault at one point, slipping on a rope. To me, that sort of misstep can actually add to a match as it shows the risk in a "high risk" maneuver and, because Owens and Reigns are pros, they were able to work through the turbulence and keep the audience's attention. While the bulk of the match was maybe in the "very good" range, things got great once Reigns shoved KO into the ref and Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman got involved. The drama and story - and violence - from here was just A+ pro-wrestling. I loved Reigns' spear through the barricade, a spot that we've seen dozens of times but that doesn't always look good as it did here, and Owens took two very, very nasty back bumps into the steel steps that I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone take before (though I'm sure somebody somewhere's done it). Sami's facial expressions were brilliant as Reigns finished off his one-time best friend and things only got more intense and captivating from there as the Bloodline tortured Owens mercilessly in the post-match until Sami Zayn, with 50,000+ fans cheering him on, attempted to make the save by striking Reigns in the back with a chairshot. Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa took Zayn out, but Jey Uso refused to join in, turning his back on the Bloodline and walking backstage on his own. Reigns finished Zayn off with a series of big chair shots as the crowd chanted "Fuck You Roman," a moment of heel heat that deserves to be remembered for years and years to come. In a time when people question whether one can draw that kind of nuclear heat through a wrestling storyline - especially one that isn't meta in the slightest way - the Bloodline story and this post-match angle really stand out as being one of the best long-running stories in not just the past few years, but WWE history. The match itself wasn't necessarily a masterpiece or even as good as some of Roman's other matches over the past few years, but the finish was unbelievably sick and the post-match was absolutely great. (4/5)

After one of the best Royal Rumble matches in company history, this show took a real nosedive, recovering during the final stretch of the main event and then ending in one of the best WWE segments in close to a decade. Skip everything after Cody Rhodes' win and before Roman Reigns' entrance and you won't be disappointed one bit, but the Belair/Bliss and Bray Wyatt matches were awful and the Women's Royal Rumble was very disappointing. With a Kwang Rating of 2.6-out-of-5, this show earns a...

FINAL RATING - Watch It...with Remote in Hand

WWE Unforgiven 2000

WWE Unforgiven 2000

Philadelphia, PA - September 2000

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE World Champion was The Rock, the Intercontinental Champion was Eddie Guerrero, the European Champion was Al Snow, the Hardcore Champion was Steve Blackman, Dean Malenko was the Light Heavyweight Champion, Lita was the Women's Champion, and Edge and Christian held the WWE Tag Team Championships.

The show kicks off with The Right To Censor (Steven Richards, Val Venis, The Goodfather, and Bull Buchanan) taking on The Dudleys and The APA in an 8-man tag. Nothing too interesting or exciting here, but the Philly crowd was into it. Val Venis is noticeably the only one wearing white pants instead of black - which makes me think that he was probably looking for a way to stand out in the group after seeming to be on the brink of a major push just a year or two prior. Venis, like Billy Gunn, had size and look, but the porn star gimmick was impossible for him to break free from and, in the RTC, he was just a body. The only other notable thing is how nasty Bradshaw strikes Richards with a kick to the back towards the end. Its an unprofessional, overly stiff kick and served no real purpose beyond Bradshaw just being a bully. The Dudleys were really good at opening up pay-per-views, but the crowd was mostly interested in tables and chanted for them within the first minute. A passable match, nothing too special but also inoffensive aside from Bradshaw being a prick. (2/5)

Backstage, Kevin Kelly is awaiting the arrival of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The story of the show was all about the solving of the "mystery driver" angle that had started at Survivor Series 1999 when Stone Cold was struck by a truck. 

Tazz had debuted at the Royal Rumble in January of 2000 but hadn't found much success in the WWE for a variety of reasons that have been rumored over the years. He had come in as a face, but then got injured and, when he came back, started attacking babyfaces. Jerry Lawler had always been a vocal hater of ECW so this made for a natural conflict and opportunity to put Tazz over as a despicable heel. This is a strap match, but can also be ended via submission and pinfall for some reason. Its crazy to think that Lawler continued to wrestle for 20 years beyond this point. Tazz no sells a bunch of Lawler's piledrivers, which I found to be gratuitous and unnecessary. This match should've been Tazz just absolutley destroying Lawler in under a minute, choking him out quickly and then tagging the four corners. They could've done that without also sacrificing Lawler's finisher. Raven shows up towards the end to help Tazz for some reason and Raven's appearance is the best part of the match/segment because the crowd goes crazy. I forget whether or not it was well-known that Raven was coming into the WWE, but this was a terrific debut in hindsight. This wasn't as terrible as some reviewers rated it over at Cagematch, but it certainly isn't good either. (1.5/5)

Next up, another match that seems to be designed to pop the Philly crowd...but then isn't? The WWE Hardcore Champion Steve Blackman defended his gold in a Hardcore Invitational against Al Snow (who, because he was the European Champion, came out with a pizza), Crash Holly, Test, Funaki, and Saturn. This was your basic hardcore garbagefest but definitely leaned more into comedy than the wild brawls of ECW's heyday. I liked how this one had a 10-minute time limit, but kinda wish they had kept the clock on the screen to add to the suspense as, without it, the viewer just kinda had to guess how much time was left for most of the match. This wasn't too bad and (obviously) didn't go too long, but it wasn't "must see" or anything. (1.5/5)

Backstage, Kurt Angle has his first on-screen run-in with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This is a great segment, though I can definitely see how having Austin take out Angle so quickly and easily could be considered some sort of "burial" for a future World Champion. That's the thing about Angle in his rookie year, though - he wasn't the world-beater that people tend to think he was when they look at his accolades. Dude got punked a ton that year and his naivete and inexperience was part of his gimmick. Sadly, things don't necessarily click with Austin's other segments on this night. (+1)

Chris Jericho and X-Pac have a good-but-sloppy match next. Jericho may have been knocked loopy at some point or was just not in the zone, but there's some really questionable kickouts sprinkled throughout this match that are noticeable enough that JR has to cover for at least one of them on commentary. This match feels cold at times despite the work being the best that the show had to offer up to this point. It goes 9 minutes but feels longer than that because of the amount of big spots they threw into it. This was the best bout of the night up till this point, but still wouldn't make it anywhere near either guy's top 20 or 30 list. (2/5)

Backstage, Kurt Angle is informed by Mick Foley, who will be serving as the special guest referee in the Angle/HHH match, that his bout is now going to be No Disqualification.

Austin walks into The Rock's locker room. The crowd pops big seeing these two stars shaking hands, but this feels like a lost opportunity to tease more tension between the two - especially as The Rock did benefit from Austin getting run of over and is the reigning WWE Champion coming into tonight's show. 

Back to the ring we go for Edge & Christian vs. The Hardys in a Steel Cage Match for the WWE World Tag Team Championships. This is a weird match because it feels like they're promoting it as the final battle between these two teams after at least a year or two of them feuding almost non-stop...but the feud didn't really end here as these two teams (and the Dudleys) would end up putting on a sequel to their TLC match at WrestleMania XVI at WrestleMania XVII. Also, the layout of the match is outright confusing as Jeff Hardy basically gets eliminated/halfway wins the match within the first couple minutes and the commentators make their confusion known as to whether or not Jeff is allowed back into the match or if he is required to stay on the outside (as one way to win the match is to escape the cage). Its one of those times where I'm guessing Matt Hardy - known for being "the brains" behind many of his team's stipulation matches over the years - got a bit too clever and forgot that great matches don't necessarily need to be innovative or different to be great. Jeff tries to get back in, but Edge and Christian want to maintain their advantage. Jeff takes out the ref - which, even in a cagematch, seems like it would warrant a DQ? - and then idiotically slides in a chair, which gets captured the heels. Its 2-on-1 but Hardy valiantly fights back and escapes a Con-Chair-To attempt, the tide now turning as Jeff Hardy climbs the cage and hits a Whisper in the Wind onto Edge (and Matt). During the fracas, Christian had ended up outside of the cage, but he gets taken out by a hurricanrana from Lita. Edge climbs the cage, but the Hardys follow him up and deliver a Con-Chair-To of their own...which would be a huge, crazy cool spot if it wasn't immediately tarnished by Edge inexplicably falling backwards into the ring in a clearly choreographed/staged manner. I'm not sure if it would've looked better if Edge had just somehow slunken across the top of the cage or whatever, but his fall defies the physics of the double chairshot in a noticeable way. As negative as this review sounds, the story - while muddled to hell - is still fun and engaging. Matt Hardy bleeds a gusher. Edge and Christian's teamwork is wonderful at times. They pack a ton of action into a little over 10 minutes and the crowd is into every second of it. To call this match "unsuccessful" would be denying the fact that this match did work for the audience in attendance that night and, if you could overlook the glaring flaws highlighted above, both teams (and Lita) shined here. (3/5)

The Intercontinental Champion, Eddie Guerrero, defends his title against Rikishi in the next match. There were two storylines dovetailing here a bit as Rikishi had been chasing the Intercontinental Championship for a while and Guerrero was going through rocky times with his former co-champion/manager/girlfriend Chyna (who had just been announced as the next WWE Superstar to pose for Playboy). I wrote about the Guerrero/Chyna relationship in my review of the pay-per-view before this (or was it two before this?), noting how good of a duo they could've been as evil heels, completely forgetting where this angle went - which was kinda nowhere as it was revealed Eddie had cheated on Chyna and then they feuded and it was just the same story that we had seen before (and one that noticeably made Chyna look "unwanted" in a way that I don't think Vince would've ever booked Trish or Lita to be). Anyway...there's more character work here than actual wrestling and I'll go on record as saying that it has always been hard for me to buy Rikishi's "serious" runs due to his ring attire and signature moves. The ending is interesting as Rikishi attacks Chyna for getting involved in the match and preventing him from winning the championship. The audience isn't sure how to react, which makes sense because it is completely out of character. I'm guessing this was done to foreshadow Rikishi's heel turn in the coming weeks...but why even do that? Also, when Rikishi did turn heel, I'm not even sure he changed his ring attire or stopped doing the Stinkface, which is just awful, awful producing/booking/whatever. This was more like a TV match than a PPV match, but it did provide some variety to the event and Eddie was entertaining as usual. (2.5/5)

Triple H takes on Kurt Angle in a grudge match next. This doesn't quite live up to the promise of the storyline - which saw Kurt Angle and Stephanie McMahon become close friends much to Triple H's chagrin. At the time, much of the blame got heaped onto Triple H as Angle was the hot new talent (and an instant "smart fan" darling) and the Triple H/Stephanie McMahon pairing had arguably run its course by this point. Watching the match, Triple H doesn't show nearly enough anger and brutality, basically working this match as the cool, confident heel he had always been despite this being far more "personal" than any match he'd had before. Despite the match being No DQ and featuring Mick Foley, this is fought "straight up," which seems like a lost opportunity. Similarly, because of how established Triple H was (and how over Angle was with his naive dope gimmick), the crowd is into this match but popping more for the big spots and signature moves than clearly in the corner of one guy over the other. The match goes 15+ minutes and is engaging from beginning to end, but not necessarily "great," with the coolest moment being an awesome suplex from one table through the other. The finish comes when Triple H demands that Stephanie choose which side she is going to take and she kicks Angle in the balls. Its a definitive decision and moment, but there's little to no suspense to it because Stephanie had been cheering Triple H the whole match and showed no real trepidation. Another lost opportunity that seems to have been designed to make it clear that Stephanie would never leave her man - and while that may be true in real life, in a storyline, its uninteresting. Instead of making this match 50% brawling and 50% wrestling, I think they should've built the match around Triple H trying to take Angle out with merciless use of weapons or by lacerating him (back then, getting "color" was no issue) and then Angle turning the tide and being equally unrelenting to Triple H until Triple H managed to score the W with Steph's help. Then, in the sequel, they could've hyped up how Angle had lost in a fight but that he was the better wrestler, and they could've built the next match around wrestling. This would've been a flip of the usual, but it would've given a distinct flavor to the matches themselves. A match that is rightfully forgotten. (3/5)

Shane McMahon makes his way down the aisle and reveals that Steve Blackman was the man who tried to run over Stone Cold. Nobody buys it, but I do like how McMahon was trying to get revenge on Blackman for shoving him off the Titantron at SummerSlam. Austin comes out and stuns Blackman, which is kind of a heelish move but Austin was all about the "DTA" so it makes sense and the crowd pops for it. Shane is happy, but ends up getting stunned 3 times himself as Austin has a beer bash to pop the crowd. This was a fine return and the Philly crowd loved it, but didn't feel like anything new or fresh, which is probably what predicated Vince wanting to turn him heel at WrestleMania XVII. 

Main event time - The Rock defending the WWE Championship against Chris Benoit, The Undertaker, and Kane in a Fatal Fourway. This is smartly laid out, but The Undertaker, despite taking some months off earlier in the year, does not move very well and his segments with Benoit and Kane are noticeably worked at a slower speed than what Benoit and The Rock were capable of. Speaking of Benoit, he gets yet another cheap "victory" that gets overturned by Commissioner Foley in a repeat of what happened at the previous pay-per-view. The Rock is the most over act in the match by a country mile and eventually gets the clean W by hitting Benoit with a Rock Bottom while Kane, idiotically, prevents The Undertaker from stopping the pinfall - which would've given him the opportunity to win the championship. That's just dumb booking. Not a bad main event, but nothing special. (3/5)

With an overall Kwang Score of 2.44-out-of-5, this show had promise on paper but underdelivered throughout. Angle/Triple H were given the time to have an impact, but told a story that didn't jive with the match's build. The main event was fun, but uncreative and ended with a finish that made Kane look like an idiot and didn't help Benoit much either. Austin's return could've been used to put another interesting twist into his storyline, but as we'd soon find out, Vince hadn't really thought through the angle and it would only get worse from here. The Tag Title match is probably the best of the night but is marred a bit by the confusing "elimination/half-victory" of Jeff Hardy in the early going. This is the kind of show that, watching back, I'm not surprised left me cold on the product and eventually led to me taking 3-4 years off of wrestling entirely. 

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver

ECW Heat Wave 99'

ECW Heatwave 99'

Dayton, OH - July 1999

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the ECW World Heavyweight Champion was Taz, the ECW Television Champion was Rob Van Dam, and the ECW World Tag Team Champions were The Dudley Boyz.

The show kicks off with Taz cutting a promo about his title defense against Yoshihiro Tajiri and then a word from Danny Doring, who is backed up by Roadkill and...Lita? Nova and Chris Chetti chime in too, followed by Jason (who takes a break from greasing himself up to cut a barely audible promo), the Dudley Boys, the heel squadron of Steve Corino, Tajiri, Jack Victory, and Rhyno, the Impact Players (Lance Storm, Justin Credible, and Dawn Marie), a notably wooden Jerry Lynn, and then the Whole F'N Show himself, Rob Van Dam (who is interrupted by Sabu). I really liked this pre-show package and wish ECW had done it on previous pay-per-views as it was not just unique, but it really set the table for all the major matches on the show. (+1)

In the ring, Joey Styles welcomes the very amped-up Dayton crowd to the show and receives a loud, boisterous "Joey" chant. 

Danny Doring and Roadkill make their way down the aisle with Lita in tow (I'm not sure what her name was in ECW as Doring just refers to her as "the lady"). Doring gets on the mic and the crowd erupts into a loud "Shut the Fuck Up" chant. Very classy, Dayton. Doring talks about Lita, describing her as chaste, and the crowd chants "She's Got Herpes." Doring tells her he loves her and then asks her to marry him. She says yes and then asks for a ring as the crowd chants "She's a Crackwhore." which Doring finds and places on her figure as Nova and Chris Chetti make their way down the aisle - with Chetti wearing a bizarre magician outfit. Nova comes to the ring and after an initial offensive flurry falls prey to the 2-on-1 after Chetti gets taken out on the ramp. Roadkill hits a big move off the top rope that draws a pop as Nova plays face-in-peril. Doring comes in with a springboard elbow of his own, but Nova makes a comeback with an inverted swinging neckbreaker (basically a Cross Rhodes). Nova makes the tag and Chetti comes in, hitting a scissor kick and then a high angle body slam. Nova comes in and hits a Stunner/DDT combo, showing off some of his offensive innovation. Chetti hits a wild move of his own not too long after: a monkey-flip into a double clothesline! Damn, that's one that would still draw a big pop today 20 years later. Chetti hits a double springboard moonsault for another huge pop but doesn't make the cover, grabbing the mic instead to gloat and then calling for the DJ to hit the music so he can dance. He entices Lita to get into the ring and they grind in the middle of the ring until Nova breaks it up. Chetti hits her with his Amityville Horror - a nifty fireman's into a pile driver - as Nova grabs Doring and hits him with the Kryptonite Krunch! Chetti hits his finish on Roadkill somehow and then the babyfaces hit their combined finish for the win in a very fun, action-packed match that was really enjoyable from the pre-match promo all the way through to the end. I daresay that this is almost "must watch" just because of how good of a job they do establishing everyone's characters and roles and playing to the crowd. Its the simple things done right, but with the ECW edge. This is a bunch of benchwarmers somehow hitting a grand slam when I think everyone involved would've been happy with just a single or a double. (3.5/5)

A clip plays of Taz challenging Tajiri to challenge him and then getting interrupted by Steve Corino, who was backed up by Rhyno and Jack Victory. Corino was great at getting heel heat and Tajiri's heel turn here was well-executed. 

"The Sexiest Man on Earth" Jason comes down the aisle for an intergender match against future WWE star Jazz. Jazz does some impressive stuff, but Jason's cooperativeness is noticeable at times. This is a more legitimate, competitive wrestling match than I suspected it would be considering that, in most instances in the 90s, intergender matches were usually filled with comedy spots and lots of stalling. Jason hits Jazz with real offense - a dropkick here, an elbow drop there - but Jazz doesn't stay down, which really puts over her toughness but doesn't help out Jason's credibility at all. The live crowd was into it and exploded when Jazz started grabbing chairs, setting one up on Jason's crotch and then smashing it with another chair in a logic-defying spot. Jason basically no-sells it and hits Jazz with an enziguiri before calling for a powerbomb. Jazz escapes, though, and hits Jason with an X-Factor into a steel chair to get the win. I'll give credit to them not doing a comedy-based match, but this suffered from a lack of logic, noticeable cooperation between the competitors, and Jason not adequately selling what should've been the biggest spot of the match. They had the ingredients to make this special, but it wasn't laid out or executed properly. (1.5/5)

After some back-and-forth between Joey Styles and Cyrus, its time for some cruiserweight action as Little Guido takes on Super Crazy. Big Sal E. Graziano is introduced - which elicits a "You Fat Fuck" chant. Before the match begins, Joey Styles goes extra on hyping up Little Guido's credentials, noting that he competed in Japan's UWFi promotion and was trained by Billy Robinson and is known for his "shoot" style. At this point, Heyman was in need of credible talent and I fully get why they needed to establish Guido's toughness, but sometimes less is more (especially when Guido was more than capable enough to get all of this across through just his in-ring work). Anyway...this match is great. Unlike the Super Crazy/Tajiri matches from the PPVs before this, here you have an established heel that the audience loves to rile up taking on a guy that they knew had the goods to not just kick Guido's ass, but do it with inventive high-risk maneuvers. Its a great recipe for a cruiser match and its a shame this match isn't praised more. I haven't seen enough of Little Guido's work to call this a "career" match for him, but he's in the spotlight for much of this contest and he's excellent in the role. I also love the little bit of action that Guido's (literal) heavy, Sal Graziano, gets to do as the crowd goes wild for it and it works wonderfully in establishing even more how tough Super Crazy is. This match goes a little over 10 minutes and is entertaining from beginning to end and while not everything is perfectly executed, I love the struggle and the sense that this is a real competition and fight. Maybe not a "must watch" match, but if you've never caught this one, you won't be disappointed in the least with it. (3.5/5)

The ECW World Tag Team Championships are up for grabs, but before The Dudleys make their defense, they cut a scathing promo about the fans in Dayton and draw mega heat. At one point, Bubba gets in the face of a female fan in the front row and it is really on another level of heat-seeking. You can see there are some young fans in the audience, but the Dudleys do not temper their promo at all as it is absolutely filthy. Their opponents tonight are Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley, who had been rivals to the Dudleys for years and years by this point. Lots of blood and brawling over the arena with Dudley eventually flying off a balcony. Balls and Dudley trade merciless chair shots in the ring. Its funny to say, but the finish for this was a touch too "cutesy" for me and it would've been better if they had just went with Balls and Spike getting the initial post-finishers pinfall rather than using that spot as a false finish and then ultimately ending things with a tacked-on double rollup. After the match, Bubba and D-Von beat down on the babyfaces, cutting short any sort of victory celebration, and attempt to powerbomb them through flaming tables. I say "attempt" because Bubba can't get Balls high enough and he basically just drops him on his head (it probably wasn't wise to call for such a major spot after spending the past 25 minutes not only brawling all over the arena, but also getting winded by nearly instigating a riot before the match). New Jack eventually runs down to make the save to add even more craziness to this.The least entertaining part of this half hour might have been the match itself despite it featuring lots and lots of classic ECW violence, but the rest of this was so wild that one can't look away from it. (3/5)

Tommy Dreamer makes his way down the aisle with Francine in tow. Tommy cuts a heartfelt promo about how much he loves ECW - as usual - and teases that he could be forced to hang up the boots due to injury. Before he can announce his retirement, Steve Corino marches out and cuts him off. Corino was very good on the mic and could've been a bigger star in WCW (had it lasted) or WWE (had it not been incredibly crowded with high level talent in the late 90s/early 00s). Things get "shooty" as Corino talks about how Dreamer should lay down for him and "put him over" before he retires, but Dreamer refuses. They start duking it out and somehow Francine gets a pinfall over Corino! Corino's back-up, Jack Victory, Rhyno, and Tajiri jump in. Dreamer gets put into the Tarantula, which leads to Tazz showing up for his title defense against the Japanese Buzzsaw. I like how ECW pay-per-views would sometimes have segments lead into matches or matches lead into other matches as it was a unique layout. Tazz controls much of this match, which made sense as Tajiri had not really been established as a main event-level, World Heavyweight Championship-caliber challenger. This is as good an example of Tazz's "bad-assed-ness" as any other match I can think of because Tajiri is more than willing to take a ton of punishment and he's an excellent wrestler in his own right who knows how to sell and let things breathe more than, say, Sabu or Sandman or whoever else does. The finish is crazy as, after taking out the rest of Corino's crew of henchmen and chasing Corino himself to the back, Tazz grabs a bunch of barbwire and applies a Tazmission on Tajiri on the ramp that leaves Tajiri bleeding like a stuck pig. They keep the camera wide so you don't really see the maneuver itself as much as the aftermath, but that makes it seem even wilder. This isn't a great match or anything, but its a fun 10 minutes of near non-stop action and the crowd is hot for it. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Rob Van Dam and rival Jerry Lynn take on The Impact Players, Justin Credible and Lance Storm. One might wonder a tag match that (a) wasn't for the ECW World Tag Team Champions and (b) didn't involve the ECW World Heavyweight Champion would be the main event, but by this point, Rob Van Dam was the most over babyface act in the company (despite actually being a heel). This is a really fun match as you get all of the RVD craziness and undeniably convoluted spots, but also some outright solid wrestling from Lynn and Storm. Sabu makes a run-in towards the end and puts Credible through a table to steal Van Dam's thunder. Then, in the post-match, RVD ends up getting into it with both Sabu and Lynn. Not an essential or "career" match for anyone, but still above-average. (3/5)

With a respectable Kwang Score of 3-out-of-5, there's no wonder why Heatwave 99' is rarely considered an all-time great ECW show, but it deserves some reappraisal (or maybe its just the Ohio homer in me). The crowd is red hot from beginning to end despite a card that doesn't necessarily look great on paper. What made this enjoyable for me was the consistency. Even if no match was truly "must see," there was also only one truly terrible match (Jason vs. Jazz), a quality that few other ECW shows, especially in the 98'-2000 years had. The opening tag match overachieves, Little Guido/Super Crazy is very strong, and the main event delivers too. Even without the bonus point I tacked on at the start of the show, this show would've scored one of the highest ratings that any ECW pay-per-view has earned since I started watching them a few months back. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand