6 months ago
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Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over ten years now and have reviewed over 5,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net, starting today. It could be anything from modern WWE to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be?
King of the Ring Network Special
Date: April 28, 2015
Location: iWireless Center, Moline, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler
This is a one off special with the returning King of the Ring semi-finals and finals taking place tonight. It’s just an hour long so the matches should have some time to build up instead of having to run through everything in just a few minutes. There’s potential for some good matches tonight so let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of the history of the tournament and some of the stars who have won before.
Jerry Lawler is brought out to introduce a package on how the final four advanced. It’s a bad sign that they seem to be stalling for time four minutes in.
Here are the final four:
Neville
Sheamus
Bad News Barrett
R-Truth
Sheamus says he’ll become the two time King and get rid of that little English guy to do so.
Neville was in NXT just a few months ago but now he could be King of the Ring. No one expects him to win tonight, but he’s defied expectations all his life. He was fine on the mic here so I wouldn’t mind hearing more from him.
King of the Ring Semi-Finals: Sheamus vs. Neville
Cole mentions Sheamus potentially becoming a two time King, just like Bret Hart. That’s a rare reference to the tournaments held when it was still just a house show feature. Sheamus makes fun of Neville’s height to start and takes him into the corner with ease. Neville comes back with some right hands and does his front flips followed by a spin kick to the ribs. A quick Irish Curse stops Neville cold though and the big man takes over. It works so well that Sheamus hits a second Irish Curse as the fans are entirely behind Neville.
Sheamus gets a bit too cocky though, allowing Neville to come back with forearms tot he face. He fights out of the ten forearms as well but gets sent face first HARD into the announcers’ table. Neville barely makes it back in time though, earning him another beating in the corner. Sheamus is starting to get cocky but here’s Ziggler to remind him what happened at Extreme Rules. The distraction lets Neville duck a Brogue Kick and kick Sheamus in the head. The Red Arrow gives Neville the pin and the BIG upset at 5:47.
Rating: C+. I believe in Neville. This is one of the first pushes in a LONG time where they’re strapping a rocket to a newcomer’s back and letting him ride it all the way, though there’s a good chance Barrett winds up winning the crown tonight so they can have him lose his next ten matches. Still though, I’m digging the heck out of Neville right now as they’re totally nailing his push.
Post match Ziggler wants to get what he earned at Extreme Rules and the brawl is on. Security breaks it up, but not before Sheamus’ eye is busted open badly.
Barrett says R-Truth shouldn’t be worried about his arachnophobia because it’s time for Bull Hammer-phobia. After he gets done with the has been Truth, he’ll move on to the never was Neville.
Truth has a plan tonight: win the King of the Ring and then declare a ban on spiders. That includes all the spiders, even the kinfolks. They’ll build a castle with a drawbridges and a moat. He isn’t sure about water in the moat because that might bring water spiders. Saxton: “What about your opponent, Bad News Barrett?” Truth: “Does he has experience killing spiders?”
King of the Ring Semi-Finals: R-Truth vs. Bad News Barrett
Truth grabs a quick rollup to start but takes a right hand to the ribs. Barrett puts him in the ropes for the big boot to the face and it’s off to the chinlock as the announcers discuss Nero. Back up and Truth hits some clotheslines and the front suplex for two. The ax kick misses but the side kick is good for another near fall. Truth’s Lie Detector gets two but the Winds of Change gets the same. Back up and the Bull Hammer sends Barrett to the finals at 4:40.
Rating: D+. What do you want me to say here? Truth had as much of a chance as I have of being Miss Nevada 1974 and everyone knew it. Barrett is a good option for the crown and there’s a good dynamic considering what happened on Sunday. Dull match here but at least they kept it short.
Video on Verne Gagne who passed away yesterday.
Dolph Ziggler says he couldn’t take Sheamus’ bullying last night or tonight so he had to do something.
We look at Neville beating Barrett on Sunday.
Barrett says it’s not fair that he has to fight so soon after beating Truth, but it’s also unfair that Neville has to fight him period.
King of the Ring: Bad News Barrett vs. Neville
Barrett goes after the ribs to start but Neville flips forward and snaps off a headscissors, followed by a kick to the jaw. That’s fine with Barrett as he clotheslines Neville to the floor to take the first real advantage. Barrett puts on something like an abdominal stretch on the mat but Neville fights up with more kicks to the ribs and legs.
A running kick to the side of the head and a German suplex get two on Barrett. Winds of Change gets the same and Wasteland is eventually good for another near fall. The Bull Hammer is countered into a rollup for two and Neville kicks him in the head. Neville has to bail out of the Red Arrow and charges into the Bull Hammer for the pin and the crown at 6:10.
Rating: B-. Eh yeah that’s probably the right move but man alive they could have pulled the trigger on something big here with Neville. At least there’s a story ready for a third match between the two of them, which might work better if they can manage to give then more than six minutes next time.
Barrett crowns himself and promises to rule with an iron Bull Hammer.
Overall Rating: C. Well they made good time. WWE does realize that they have all the time they need on their own network and don’t have to have this wrapped up with seven minutes to go in the hour right? They were flying through this match and the entire tournament when you think about it. It’s like they needed to get this whole thing wrapped up as fast as they could to get to the end result. It wasn’t bad but my goodness, slow down a bit.
Results
Neville b. Sheamus – Red Arrow
Bad News Barrett b. R-Truth – Bull Hammer
Bad News Barrett b. Neville – Bull Hammer
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1998 Pay Per View reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
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Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.
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