[WR] New Wrestling History Book: KBs Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews

[WrestlingRumors.net]

WrestlingRumors.net

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New Wrestling History Book: KBs Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews

Posted: 26 Aug 2019 12:32 AM PDT
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/new-wrestling-history-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

It’s a strange time for WWE. 2003 was one of the darkest years the company
has ever seen from a creative standpoint and a lot of that was due to how
things went on Monday Night Raw. You can only run things into the ground in
the same way so many times and that limit was reached several months before
2004 begins. Something has to go a little bit differently on the flagship
show but that has been the case for a long time now and nothing has
changed. Maybe things can turn around this time.
In this book, I’ll be looking at every Monday Night Raw from 2004 and
seeing how things went throughout the year. 2004 is remembered as a year
with some fresh names getting a chance to shine after going around in
circles for so long and now it is time to let them have a chance. The
question though is how well that exactly went. Each episode will be broken
down match by match and segment by segment. Included will be analysis and
ratings for the shows to see why the year is remembered so poorly.
The book runs over 340 pages and is available on Amazon both in a physical
paperback for $9.99 or an e-book format for $2.99. In case you don’t have a
Kindle, there are plenty of FREE apps you can get from Amazon for pretty
much any electronic device, all of which are available at this link.
You can pick up the book from Amazon here in paperback and here as an
e-book.
And from the UK Amazon here in paperback and here as an e-book.
Or if you’re in another country with its own Amazon page, just search “KB
Raw 2004” and it should be the first thing to come up.
Also you can still get any of my previous books on the Intercontinental
Championship, Monday Night Raw from 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003 and the first
half of 2014, Monday Nitro from 1995-1999, In Your House, Summerslam,
Starrcade, ECW Pay Per Views, Royal Rumble, Saturday Night’s Main Event,
the WWF and WCW pay per views from 1998, Wrestlemania, WWE Grab Bag and
Clash of the Champions, NXT Volumes I, II and III at my author’s page here.
I hope you like it and shoot me any questions you might have.
Thomas Hall

The post New Wrestling History Book: KBs Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw
Reviews appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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Whos Next? The Fiend Has Picked His Next Target (And It Might Surprise
You).

Posted: 25 Aug 2019 09:33 PM PDT
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/whos-next-fiend-picked-next-target-might-surprise/


That’s a fair warning. Over the last few weeks, Bray Wyatt’s Fiend
character has certainly made an impact on the WWE. His main targets have
been legends, as the Fiend tends to attack the more vulnerable instead of
the bigger names. The Fiend has had success against bigger names, but his
attacks have seemingly been at random. This time though, he is letting his
target know in advance.

On Sunday, the WWE India Twitter account posted a photo of the Fiend with
the question “The Fiend Should Debut On Raw Against __________”? Wyatt
responded to the Tweet later in the day, saying “Sting”. While Sting is
currently retired, he is scheduled to appear on the October 4 20th
Anniversary of SmackDown Live. There is no word on if anything will be
taking place between the two.

Who could #TheFiend target NEXT? #RAW @WWEBrayWyatt
pic.twitter.com/XD2mY8hDm4

- WWE (@WWEIndia) August 25, 2019



Sting

- Bray Wyatt (@WWEBrayWyatt) August 25, 2019



The Fiend has attacked some legends. Check out him assaulting one earlier
this week:
[This post contains video, click to play]


Opinion: I’m not sure if I believe this one but it’s certainly something
interesting to think about. Sting is the kind of guy who could be seen as
a bigger threat than most of the people that the Fiend has attacked and
someone a bit more difficult to take down. WWE is doing a good job of
keeping the Fiend strong and monstrous and if he goes after Sting, it will
be even better.

What do you think of the Fiend going after Sting? Who should he face
next? Let us know in the comments below.

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 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and
encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post Whos Next? The Fiend Has Picked His Next Target (And It Might
Surprise You). appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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(WATCH): They Egg It On. Kofi Kingston And Daniel Bryan Take Shots At CM
Punk During House Show Match.

Posted: 25 Aug 2019 09:30 PM PDT
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/watch-egg-kofi-kingston-daniel-bryan-take-shots-cm-punk-house-show-match/


The sincerest form of flattery? Believe it or not, we are coming up on six
years since CM Punk has appeared in a professional wrestling match.
Despite being gone for that long, Punk is still someone who is referenced
in WWE rather frequently. Punk’s name is constantly chanted during
matches, which can cause some issues for wrestlers who don’t take it so
kindly.

On Saturday night, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston was defending his title
against Daniel Bryan in Lima, Peru. During the match, the fans began a CM
PUNK chant, prompting Bryan to hit Kingston with a Go To Sleep (Punk’s
finishing move). Bryan then hit another one and got a one count but a
third attempt was countered into a Go To Sleep from Kingston. Kingston
went on to retain the title.

And of course it’s on YouTube. Check out Bryan and Kingston’s GTS fest
(starts at 12:00):
[This post contains video, click to play]


Opinion: It’s not the best idea in the world to mention Punk again but
having it take place at a house show is about as harmless as it can be.
Punk isn’t likely to come back to WWE for the rest of his life (though it’s
a possibility) and you would think that the chants would have gone away
now. You can imagine the wrestlers would be sick of it by now as some of
the current wrestlers weren’t even around when Punk was in the company.

Do you think Punk will ever wrestle again? Should he do so? Let us know
in the comments below.

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 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and
encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post (WATCH): They Egg It On. Kofi Kingston And Daniel Bryan Take
Shots At CM Punk During House Show Match. appeared first on
WrestlingRumors.net.


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(WATCH): Hes Surprised Too. See How Kenny Omega Reacted When He Found Out
Jon Moxley Was Off All Out.

Posted: 25 Aug 2019 08:57 PM PDT
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/watch-hes-surprised-see-kenny-omega-reacted-found-jon-moxley-off/


He’s as shocked as we are. We are less than six days away from AEW’s
second major pay per view event as they present All Out on August 31. The
show is pretty highly anticipated and that means the card is almost
entirely set. That has been the case for a very long time now, but that
doesn’t mean things can’t be changed. One such match has changed, and a
star just found out about it.

AEW has released a video on its Facebook page showing Kenny Omega being
told that Jon Moxley was unable to wrestle at All Out. Moxley, who was
scheduled to face Omega at the pay per view, is out of action due to a
staph infection, though he should be back in action in time for the weekly
AEW show on TNT, which debuts on October 2. Moxley has already been
replaced by Pac.

So that’s not happening. Check out Omega’s reaction to the news:
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: This is a big blow to the show as Moxley is one of the biggest
stars that AEW has to offer. Omega vs. Moxley has been set up for a few
months now and there is a reason that it feels like such an important
match. Hopefully the match can take place at some point in the future as
it is certainly something worth seeing. We’ll get Omega vs. Pac though and
that should be quite good as well.

Which match sounds better? When will we see Moxley vs. Omega? Let us know
in the comments below.

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 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and
encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post (WATCH): Hes Surprised Too. See How Kenny Omega Reacted When He
Found Out Jon Moxley Was Off All Out. appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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Not So Fast. NXTs Move To USA Puts Halt To Main Roster Call Up.

Posted: 25 Aug 2019 08:53 PM PDT
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/not-fast-nxts-move-usa-puts-halt-main-roster-call/


Plans change? We’re less than a month away from NXT’s big move over to the
USA Network. With the move comes a lot of changes to NXT, which will
include the show expanding to two hours and running live every single
week. The changes are likely to switch up a few things around NXT, and it
turns out that this includes a specific call up to the main roster.

According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Shayna Baszler’s call up may be in
jeopardy. Baszler, the reigning NXT Women’s Champion, has been rumored for
a call up for a long time now and was scheduled to move up in the near
future. At the moment, there is no word on if Baszler will still be called
up to the main roster, or when that will be the case should she still be
called up.

Baszler has faced some competition. Check out her title defense against
Ember Moon:
[This post contains video, click to play]


Opinion: This is one of those call ups where I won’t believe it until I see
it. Baszler has seemed ready to move up to the main roster for well over a
year now and for some reason it just never happens. She is more than ready
for the call up but maybe NXT would like to have an established star on its
roster for the first show on USA, as they can always use the star power.

Do you think Baszler will be called up? Who takes the title from her? Let
us know in the comments below.

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 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and
encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post Not So Fast. NXTs Move To USA Puts Halt To Main Roster Call Up.
appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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Call Back? Charlotte Gets In A Pretty Funny Slam On Alexa Bliss.

Posted: 25 Aug 2019 08:51 PM PDT
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tommyhall/call-back-charlotte-gets-pretty-funny-slam-alexa-bliss/


It would certainly be a pair. Wrestling likes to do comedy every now and
then, with results that are hit or miss a lot of the time. Some of the
gags just do not work and are better remembered for being complete flops.
However, some of these jokes that don’t work are memorable and a single
name or word can bring them back to a fan’s memory. That is the case
again, with a joke from not so very long ago.

Earlier this week, Alexa Bliss posted a video on Twitter of Charlotte being
shoved down on Monday Night Raw. Charlotte responded, asking Nicholas (of
WrestlemMania 34 fame if he was available to go after the Tag Team Titles.
She wanted someone equal to Bliss’ size and Nicholas, an eleven year old,
seemed to fit the bill. Nicholas won the Raw Tag Team Titles with Braun
Strowman at WrestleMania 34 and has appeared on occasion since then.

Hey @wwejustnicholas, do you have a little sister? I may need to add the
tag titles and I want to keep it fair.

- Queen of all Eras (@MsCharlotteWWE) August 22, 2019



Maybe she needs an update. Check out where Nicholas is now:
[This post contains video, click to play]


Opinion: I got a chuckle out of this and it shows how memorable Nicholas
really was. That being said, it’s also not the best thing to be remembered
for as the joke flopped fairly hard and was dropped the next night. It’s
nice that WWE has a punchline for something like this for the time being,
but that doesn’t make it that much better. At least Charlotte got in a
good line on Bliss though, which is always entertaining.

What is your favorite comedy bit in WWE? What is next for Bliss? Let us
know in the comments below.

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 28
wrestling books. His latest book is the History Of In Your House.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up
for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES
to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and
encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is
available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

The post Call Back? Charlotte Gets In A Pretty Funny Slam On Alexa Bliss.
appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.


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What Should Ring of Honor Do To Regain Momentum in the Face of Serious
Competition?

Posted: 25 Aug 2019 06:58 PM PDT
https://wrestlingrumors.net/tomclark/ring-honor-regain-momentum-in-the-face-of-serious-competition/

Since 2002, Ring of Honor is the company has long been regarded by fans as
the working wrestler’s promotion. ROH has always put the focus firmly on
the in-ring action and less on the drama taking place outside of the ropes.
Stars such as CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens all cut
their teeth in ROH and the company has indeed become a breeding ground for
future main event legends.

But over the past year, the ongoing narrative surrounding ROH has changed.
It began as a whisper, but that whisper has grown louder as the months have
passed. Suddenly, Ring of Honor is a company at a crossroads and its
immediate future is in serious doubt. But the promotion’s current problems
may be directly linked to the very thing that made it special to begin
with. 

Ring of Honor should be a highly successful pro wrestling entity. That’s
especially true in 2019, as a large segment of the audience has become so
enamored with the art of professional wrestling. The days of the campy and
colorful circus of the 1980’s WWF have disappeared. So too have the gritty,
Rated-R exploits of The Attitude Era. Today’s fanbase is wowed by the sheer
athleticism of the men and women between the ropes.

There’s no disputing that ROH’s loyal fan following continues because of
the way the product is presented. For those fans, Ring of Honor is the
perfect promotion and the drama that often comes with the WWE presentation
is just too much to endure. But somewhere along the way, ROH indeed seems
to have lost a step.

Watch ROH World tampon Matt Taven talk about his title run!

That’s due to the fact that no matter how great the wrestling is, it’s the
characters that make it successful. The infamous “workrate” ROH has thrived
on for so long is not enough and needs something more in this modern era.
Ring of Honor needs the men and women on the roster to be the real
attraction because it’s the characters that make the wrestling important.
Ironically enough, ROH already has those characters in place.

This is the real issue with today’s Ring of Honor. The locker room is not
filled with nameless, faceless talents that no one knows. If it were, the
problem would be easily identified. Instead, the roster is rife with
personalities that should be drawing fans in and selling out every building
the company runs.

Chief among them is The Villain, Marty Scurll. Scurll remained with ROH
even after his Elite cohorts, The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and
Hangman Page, left to begin AEW. Scurll chose to take his own path and make
his own way independent of his former alliance. At the time, the move
seemed like a curious one but for ROH fans, it was indeed great news.

The loss of Rhodes and The Bucks hurt ROH at the time, there’s no denying
that. But the trio tended to dominate the headlines and as a result, Scurll
was often in the background. However all of that changed when he formed
Villain Enterprises with Brody King and PCO. Scurll took the main stage as
the leader of his own faction and that faction got over with the ROH crowd
from day one.

Watch Villain Enterprises before Honor For All!

#VillainEnterprises takes on #LIFEBLOOD Tonight in Nashville! #HonorForAll
streaming LIVE on #HonorClub now! pic.twitter.com/2ajAmhP7w6

- ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) August 26, 2019


Brody King is an extremely athletic big man with a unique presence and aura
that is all his own. He would have been a monster heel in the territory
days and he is a benefit to ROH because of everything he brings to the
table. PCO is a man that many believed would never have had a chance in
2019, but he has experienced a career resurgence. PCO is a madman bent on
self-destruction and the Ring of Honor fans cannot get enough of him.

Therein lays a problem, because as much as Scurll and company attempt to
heel out, they’re undeniably babyfaces. It’s clear that ROH wants them to
be heels as well and usually books them as such, but Villain Enterprises
has become much bigger than just a rule-breaking stable. The group has
taken on a life of its own is arguably the hottest act in the industry
today. The addition of Flip Gordon, who was unfortunately injured on his
first night with them, was a great move by the company and he should be a
perfect fit when he gets healthy.

Then there’s Dalton Castle, the man that brought flamboyancy back to the
business in a way that hasn’t been seen in years. His rise in popularity
came at the perfect time for Ring of Honor, which needed a character to
rise to the occasion. But since he lost the ROH World Championship, he just
hasn’t been the same. Rather than elevate him as the upper echelon of ROH,
Castle is instead a man trying to find himself.

RUSH, Bandido and The Briscoes round out the top tier of highly marketable
characters that set ROH apart from every pro wrestling promotion in
operation today. Jay Lethal is in the conversation for best wrestler in the
business and he’s surrounded by extremely capable talents who can deliver
main event performances whenever their numbers are called.

Watch the former ROH World champ Jay Lethal!

#DefyOrDeny @MattTaven @RealJeffCobb @KennyKingPb2 @TheLethalJay in the
main event tonight in Nashville! #HonorForAll Streaming LIVE On #HonorClub
NOW!https://t.co/vS7fcMBTTh or download the #ROHApp
pic.twitter.com/D9eRubbz6K

- ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) August 26, 2019


That short list includes Jonathan Gresham, Jeff Cobb, Mark Haskins, Tracy
Williams and Silas Young, just to name a few. Even Matt Taven, who is
perhaps not the most beloved ROH World champion of all time, is a hard
worker in the ring and the biggest heat magnet on the roster.

The talent is there. There’s enough good things about ROH to keep fans
coming back for more. But when it comes to truly being great and once again
becoming the primary source for the industry’s best pro wrestling, that
mantle has now passed to New Japan. The biggest flaw for Ring of Honor in
2019 lies with the company’s booking, which has been the case for WWE and
just like Vince McMahon’s empire, things will only turn around for ROH when
that issue gets resolved. 

What can Ring of Honor do to book its top talent in such a way that fans
can’t wait to see them live? Has the time come to pursue a high-profile TV
deal with a major cable network, as AEW did with TNT? Should ROH perhaps go
outside of its own walls and court some big names from outside the company?
Or should Ring of Honor do what it’s always done and just stay the course?
Will that be enough this time?

The fact is that Ring of Honor deserves a fighting chance at survival.
Despite reviews to the contrary, the events themselves are delivering and
the talent involved are stepping up their game every night. But the company
must firmly get behind the product and try to find a way to regain that
special connection that hardcore fans are longing for. 



Tom Clark can regularly be seen on Wrestling Rumors. His podcast, Tom
Clark’s Main Event, is available on iTunes,YouTube, iHeart Radio,
boinkstudios.com and live every Friday at 12pm EST on Wrestling Rumors
Facebook Live

The post What Should Ring of Honor Do To Regain Momentum in the Face of
Serious Competition? appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.