![]() ![]() Roadblock misses a huge splash off the middle rope to set up Duggan's clothesline and big kneedrop. Duggan works stiff on his comeback, throws a nice "back up" shot, hits this killer and big corner punches. "Nobody needs to see these two violently rubbing mons pubis, keep it high and tight!" Duggan fights out of it with punches and a headbutt, but Roadblock hangs on so we get a cool extended bearhug on television. He's really squeezing Duggan, holding him up in the air, and the camera clearly keeps it above the waist on tight shots, especially when Roadblock starts shaking him. I like his clumsy but heavy kicks to the stomach, high elbow drop, he really gets to beat Duggan around the ring, and he gets a long and awesome bearhug. Roadblock wasn't going to move much of a needle in 1998, a guy born way too late. But Roadblock didn't get gobbled up at all, and got an extended run here as a great 60s style big man. That's not super high praise, as Duggan was a fairly selfish syndicated worker, prone to no selling punches and kind of gobbling up lower totem pole guys. Extra points for the unique presentation.ER: This was pretty great, maybe my favorite Duggan WCW syndicated match. The enhancement-type matches were pretty trash, but both Tag Titles matches, Charlotte/Natalya, and Triple H/Ambrose were good stuff. This was very much a house show on pay-per-view, and with that came some good and some bad. The Ambrose false finish was not filmed well and tough for the crowd to buy into. Lots of great character moments for Ambrose here, highlighted by the Suck It chop which made everything worth it. It’s rare, and parts are formulaic, but it’s WWE main event style wrestling with some actual pro wrestling mixed in and that’s OK by me. It’s fun when Triple H works a straight wrestling match (i.e.: not anything he did with Undertaker or Lesnar). The main event – Triple H defending the WWE Title against Dean Ambrose – was really good. And this week after listening to Cody Rhodes and Xavier Woods on Talk is Jericho I was not in the mood to say Cody Rhodes could do any wrong either. Zayn sold great – and I love his alternating fists 10-punch count – but parts of this were really slow and it just had the aura of a Superstars match – technically solid but no tension or reason. Stardust was a very by the books WWE match. It was lots of German suplexes and had a great presence about it. I was disappointed we weren’t getting Brock/Harper as was originally advertised to this show, so when we got it I was all for it, but with Wyatt lurking on the outside and not participating this never really felt like it actually got started. A bait-and-switch to a Handicap Match and then Wyatt never gets in the ring. Handicap Match: Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman vs. Sharpshooter near fall was tremendous too. This felt like the most legit fight and struggle on the card, and Brock Lesnar was working this show. There were times I felt like they were just repeating their match from the first NXT TakeOver and that match ruled. Natalya was my favorite match on their show. WWE Divas Title: Charlotte w/ Ric Flair vs. Enzo & Cas I don’t think will ever be the best wrestlers, but they’re gonna have a fun run. Not quite the level of their London match, but a good version of their match in front of a WWE audience. But a match like this showed the cons of this being a house show, in that the roster is depleted and you get a competent but heatless match between a freshly turned heel from Canada wrestling in Canada against a babyface people have started to forget about who is basically Mr. Jericho getting “Asshole” chants in Canada = money. Jericho definitely tried his hardest to get the Swagger match over, and he succeeded until the match actually began. Fun tag team wrestling with a really hot finish, along with all the New Day tricks. Sheamus & Wade coming out made me love the entrance ramp more, as they looked like bigger stars than they have in years. New Day is treading territory where they are just as good inside the ring as they are out. It didn’t quite end up that way, but there was plenty of good wrestling. Thought it was a sign of things to come, as they were working their match like the camera wasn’t even there. Watching the Booty-O’s promo made me reflect on how amazing the three guys’ in New Day’s life has to be right now. The New Day got the show off to a hot start. WWE Tag Team Title: The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) w/ Xavier Woods vs. Everyone coming out looked like a bigger star with the camera closely following them to the ring while they pass nearby the fans. Really spent the whole show wondering why that can’t just be the set all the time. ![]()
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