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From the Bowery: Best of RAW and SmackDown 2014: DVD (Disc Three)

February 21, 2015 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
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From the Bowery: Best of RAW and SmackDown 2014: DVD (Disc Three)  

From the Bowery: Best of RAW and SmackDown 2014 DVD (Disc Three)

-Byron jumps right into the Destruction of The Shield and that is where we start with this final disc.

-SmackDown: June 6, 2014: HHH heads out with Rollins in tow as we are supposed to get the answer to why Rollins turned. HHH gloats and puts Rollins over as the man responsible for The Shield. He also puts over The Shield even admitting they crushed Evolution. He asks Seth to answer why he did what he did, and Rollins gives the standard cop-out of I don’t have to give you an explanation. Okay then!

-Various fans discuss Rollins turning on The Shield.

Goldust and Stardust vs. Rybaxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel)
RAW: June 16, 2014

-For weeks Goldust and Cody couldn’t win so Goldust tried different partners and in the end Cody transformed into Stardust to fill the void. This is the debut of Stardust here, and the crowd doesn’t know what to think so they just sit quietly. The Dust Brothers jump the bell and the crowd starts to get behind the new character. Axel takes some abuse and Stardust springs off the top as he has totally changed his offensive arsenal with the new character which is nice to see. Stardust hits Axel with Diamond Dust to end the match at 57 seconds.

Winners: Goldust and Stardust via Stardust pin on Axel at 0:57
-A squash just to introduce the new character and to show that Stardust wasn’t the loser Cody was turning into before the change. SQUASH

-Back to Byron as he covers the Stardust debut and segues to Vicki Guerrero putting her career on the line against Stephanie.

Mud Pool Match with Vicki Guerrero’s Career on the line: Vicki Guerrero vs. Stephanie McMahon
RAW: June 23, 2014

-Steph had beeing torturing Vicki over the past few weeks as she tried to do all she could to save her job. Finally she had enough and we get this match. Vicki comes down to Eddie’s music in a wonderful touch that pops the crowd. Vicki takes a good look at the crowd and while she does a great job staying in character you can see her take a deep breath. Steph comes out not really dressed for a match and we get shenanigans as Steph announces this will be a mud pool match with loser being the first one tossed into the pool. The crowd is pretty pumped about this match as they are drooling over prospect of Steph being tossed. Steph has hired help though in Alicia Fox, Rosa, and Layla, and Vicki tries to make a run for it. Sadly she gets backed towards the pool and Steph. Vicki fights out though and sends Rosa into the pool first. Next Layla does a belly flop as we still don’t have a bell. Alicia Fox takes the dive next and Vicki leads the crowd in a yes chant. Steph tosses Vicki in the pool and then fires her. Now that she doesn’t have a job Vicki doesn’t have to fear any repercussions. Steph is awesome here as she rubs things in, but she is a McMahon and you know she is going to take one for the team as well. Vicki turns her attention to Steph and the crowd goes crazy as Steph gets fired into the pool. That is a hell of a way for Vicki to end her WWE career and she celebrates with the Eddie shake and the crowd thanks her. Steph slips and slides all over the pool as she goes above and beyond embarrassing herself. A few refs get pulled into the mud and Steph dog paddles her way out of the pool. Tremendous!

Winner: Stephanie McMahon at well there was no bell
-This was a legit smile inducing moment with everyone playing their role perfectly. Much like her father, Steph will do what is needed when the time comes. Vicki got a pretty great sendoff by most standards as she got the last laugh on Steph and went out with her head high. Somewhere I like to think Eddie is smiling and nodding in approval of what his wife did here and throughout her WWE career. No match, so no rating, but it had me smiling at the end and feeling good about Vicki’s exit.

-RAW: August 4, 2014: This is the contract signing between Steph and Brie Bella for their SummerSlam match. HHH is great as he gushes over Steph and calls her an Icon with a straight face. Cole oversees things as HHH says Steph being his wife means he can’t watch over things. Steph and HHH making kissy faces is awesome. Steph gets some shots in at Daniel Bryan’s expense and that gets the crowd behind Brie. They flash back to Steph being arrested and I am kind of shocked they didn’t include that moment on this set as it’s a lot more memorable than this contract signing. Brie kind of stumbles over her promo at times and gets totally outclassed by Steph on the mic. She picks things up towards the end as she dedicates the match to every person on the roster than Steph tortured and the crowd starts a CM Punk chant. Awesome! Brie signs the contract and then Steph gives her retort as she mentions she is a 4th Generation McMahon while calling Brie a wannabe reality star. She also mentions that Brie stole the spotlight off her sister which is actually a nice little seed being planted for what would happen at SummerSlam. Steph signs the contract and then blasts Nikki in the head. HHH corners Brie with the desk, and makes her watch as Steph hits Nikki with a Pedigree and then celebrate with Yes chants. Sweet! Brie slaps HHH, but Steph is right there to slam her head on the desk and hit her with a Pedigree as well. She then plays tonsil hockey with HHH as I guess this is foreplay for the two of them. Great heat on Steph by the end, but as mentioned she totally outclassed Brie here and really for the entire feud.

-Fans discuss what Steph did to Brie and one guy notes her Pedigree was as good as HHH’s. They show a side by side comparison and they show HHH giving Kurt Angle the Pedigree.

-RAW: August 18, 2014: HHH and Steph are out to present Brock Lesnar with the newly designed WWE World Heavyweight Title. HHH puts over the Cena/Lesnar match as a classic (classic ass kicking, am I right…anyone?). The new title is same as previous WWE Title, but with the new logo and now the Big Gold Belt is seemingly retired for good. Though some have said only 2 things will survive this world: cockroaches and the Big Gold Belt. Brock and Heyman come out and we get an awesome photo op off all 4 of them posing with the title. There are times when I love HHH and Steph, and this is one of those. It’s the little things they do that mean so much. Heyman cuts a glorious promo as he goes crazy with “eat, sleep, suplex, repeat” and the fans chant “thank you Lesnar.” Heyman reveals Cena is not here this evening and that draws a massive pop from the men in the crowd. Brock is great here as well without saying a word with the shit eating grin on his face. Heyman says in all his years in the business he has never seen a man take an ass kicking like Cena received the previous night. Heyman brings up that Rock, and Austin never had a run like Cena, and yet that man was conquered by Brock Lesnar. He also puts over Cena for fighting valiantly where most men would have given up in the first 30 seconds. He mentions his children as Cena fans which pisses him off, but he understands now that Cena truly believes in his catchphrase of never give up. He earned Heyman’s respect last night and Cena could be a Heyman Guy, but Brock doesn’t share those same feelings. Anyone who tries to take the title from Brock will suffer the same fate as Brock is not a man. He is a beast and the same beating awaits anyone who gets in the ring with him. Heyman lays out that Brock’s title defenses will be must see TV, and here is where he says “suplex repeat” over a dozen times. Glorious! Basically John Cena has been conquered and Heyman drops then mic as we are out.

Falls Count Anywhere: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins
RAW: August 18, 2014

-The WWE Universe picked the stipulation showing they are better bookers than WWE brass. As expected the bell sounds and they tear into each other. Ambrose gets a crossbody and throws some more punches to the head and face. In the corner Rollins gets the better of the exchange, but gets sent to the floor with a dropkick. They fight into the crowd as they are picking up where they left off at SummerSlam. Ambrose gets a near fall in the crowd and things head back to the entrance stage. They brawl by the Tron and Ambrose hits a suplex on the stage for two. Dean starts break dancing because he is crazy and tosses Rollins down the ramp. They head back towards the ring and Ambrose pulls out some plunder from under the ring. A chair gets put to good use first including a chair assisted slam. Ambrose heads up top and comes off with a chair assisted elbow drop much like Mick Foley. The chair gets propped in the corner, but fate is a tricky bitch as Rollins reverses and sends Ambrose face first into the chair for a two count. We take a break, but since this is DVD no commercials. They show that during the break Ambrose got caught with a kendo shot as he tried to come over the top to the floor. Inside the ring Rollins wears Dean out with the kendo stick, and talks trash while doing so. Now Rollins gets a chair from the floor, but a chair in the corner with it misses. Ambrose hits a tornado DDT for a two count and he looks rather frustrated now. Dirty Deeds is countered and the Curb Stomp is missed, so we a stale mate they end up hitting the double clothesline spot. They stagger to their feet and the heavy bombs started getting tossed again, and this time Rollins wins the exchange. Rollins gets caught and sent to the top buckle thanks to a catapult and then gets his back fired up with some kendo shots. Ambrose then tosses about 10 chairs into the ring and the crowd loves that. So with a pile of chairs in the middle of the ring, Ambrose tries to hit a superplex, but Rollins reverses and hits a sick running powerbomb onto the pile. Holy piss! That somehow only gets a two count and crowd starts the first “this is awesome” chant of the match. For fucks sakes Kane is back out to once again ruin anything fun. Rollins pulls a table from under the ring and looks to kill Ambrose with a curb stomp through it, but Ambrose catches him up top and hits a superplex through the table. Nice! Ambrose crawls through the wreckage, but Kane ruins that. Rollins misses a charge and ends up outside with Kane, so Dean comes over top with a plancha onto both men. Back inside Rollins hits a kick, but Ambrose bounces off the ropes and hits that sick ass clothesline. Dirty Deeds follows, but Kane pulls Dean to the floor. The crowd is pissed, but Ambrose is able to put Kane into the stairs. Rollins charges and gets backdropped into the crowd and Ambrose then runs across the announce tables and dives on Seth. They fight near the announce tables and another “this is awesome chant” breaks out. They brawl on the table and Rollins looks for Dirty Deeds, but again Kane fucks things up with a chokeslam to Ambrose on the table. Rollins hits a curb stomp on the table, but that is not enough as Kane unveils a pile of cinder blocks near the table. Ambrose gets curb stomped through the cinder blocks and apparently the ref stops the match at 17:12 (shown).

Winner: Seth Rollins due to ref stoppage at 17:12 (shown)
-Fantastic match and what everyone was hoping to see from these two (minus the constant Kane crap). This was one of my favorite matches of the year, and still holds up rather well. This is what a blood feud (well when blood can’t be shed) should look like. ****

-We go back to Byron as he segues from Rollins/Ambrose to Wyatt/Jericho.

Steel Cage Match: Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho
RAW: September 8, 2014

-This is the Season Premiere of RAW which Cole and JBL mention about a thousand times it seems. This was a feud that seemed like it would be awesome when it was first brought up, but then it didn’t come close to being that. They brawl early and Jericho quickly tries for the Walls, but Bray gets to the ropes to keep from being turned. He then tries to escape, but Jericho cuts him off. The crowd is into this one which makes for a fun atmosphere. A charge in the corner is missed by Bray and Jericho catches him with an enziguiri for two. So this is escape and pin fall/submission rules then. Now Jericho tries to climb to escape, but Wyatt makes the save. Jericho comes off the top rope with a right hand, but misses a charge and gets tossed into the steel cage. He gets caught between the cage and the ropes so Bray charges with a splash. I always enjoy spots like that because they look killer. We take a break and come back with Wyatt trying to climb, but he gets caught with an electric chair drop. They both crawl to their feet and start exchanging blows. Jericho wins the exchange, fires off chops, and hits a bulldog. The Lionsault connects and he goes for the Walls again, but Wyatt powers out. Jericho opts to send Wyatt into the cage and then hits the springboard dropkick. Jericho makes the climb again and Bray gives chase so we get them fighting on the top rope. Bray corners him and hits some headbutts and then delivers a superplex. In a sweet spot, Bray pops up in the spider walk and heads toward the door. Jericho saves, but again the Walls are countered. Wyatt gets a two count off a slam, and then catapults Jericho into the corner, but he lands on the ropes and starts to climb the cage to escape. They fight again up there and Jericho hits a top rope rana. Back to making the climb and Jericho looks to have a clear path, but Rowan and Harper are waiting for him. Jericho decides to head back in and shows how crazy he is by diving off the top of the cage with a crossbody. Holy Piss! The crowd starts a holy shit chant, and well deserved because no matter how many times you see it, there is nothing like seeing someone fly off the top of a cage. Just breathtaking! Wyatt charges, but Jericho ducks and Bray flies into the cage. This gives Jericho a chance to crawl to the door and they fight to get out with Jericho getting his hands on the steps. We get some great camera work as they fight on the steps and Bray gets smart as he pounds on the damaged knee (Jericho tweaked it coming off the cage) and then rolls over Jericho and hits the floor for the win @ 13:59 (shown). After the match Wyatt destroys the knee of the ring post and continues the beating back inside the cage. Harper locks the door, and Bray delivers Sister Abigail to make sure he really goes over strong. Follow the Buzzards and we’re out.

Winner: Bray Wyatt via cage escape at 13:59 (shown)
-Fun cage match that hit the right notes, and got the right result. While this feud never produced a blow away match it did what it was supposed to in putting Bray over an all time great. ***

-RAW: Oct 6, 2014: Rusev and Lana are out to insult America. The previous week Big Show pulled down the Russian Flag and WWE had to apologize for that one. They worked it into the story with Big Show apologizing (on SmackDown) and the Authority has made Show inactive and assigned him to sensitivity training. According to Lana everyone who supported Big Show has performed a hate crime and that only pisses the crowd off so we get a deafening USA chant. Lana tells them to shut-up and Rusev takes the mic to respond to Big Show. The Brooklyn crowd goes crazy with what chants, and Rusev does a decent job handling them. He challenges Show to come down so he can crush him, but no sign of the big man. Instead we get The Rock and the place goes insane for him as you would expect. That’s a hell of a surprise! The Rocks looks shredded and this should be glorious to watch. The crowd starts a “Holy Shit” which is a perfect reaction. Now they start a “this is awesome” chant and we still have yet to hear a word from the Rock. He starts by telling them to know their role and shut their mouth. The Rock gives us a rundown of his day and gets in some tremendous insults of Rusev (Moscow Moose Knuckle). He took a jet to the Big Apple (cheap pop), and then he took a cab from Queens to Manhattan to Lana’s favorite district (The Meat District). He eventually made it to the Bronx to pay respect to the captain, Derek Jeter, which starts a crazy loud chant for him, and perhaps McMahon should sign this Jeter kid. After name dropping every borough he finally gets to Brooklyn (cheaper pop) and the crowd is just eating out of the palm of his head. Lana asks the Rock who he thinks he is, and the crowd is aghast that she would cut off The Rock. She tells him to shut up, and he tells her to quit dressing like a Soviet street walker. Damn! Rusev is rather pissed and calls Rock a piece of garbage and tells him to leave now or be crushed. The Rock kills as he compares Rusev’s breath to Chewbaca’s hairy bean bag and then mentions that in person Lana is beautiful which she sells tremendously. He does mention that she is walking around like someone shoved a Smirnoff up her Putin. Ha! The Rock puts Rusev over for being undefeated and dangerous, but can’t take someone running down his country. The fans don’t boo because he is Russian, but because he is an A-Hole (Rock kept is PG there). Rusev wants a fight, but Rock gets in one last line (name dropping Jay-Z) and then the fight is on. Rock attacks and sends Rusev flying to the floor. Rock ends it with a “if you smell,” and Rusev heads back up the ramp. Some said this kind of buried Rusev, but it’s The Rock and not like he hit The Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow before making out with Lana over Rusev’s laid out body. Instead it was a great cameo and this is what Cena should be fighting Rusev over and not the whole old guard vs. new guard angle.

15 Man Tag Match: Team Johnny: Star and Goldust, Heath Slater, Titus O’Neal, Little Gator (Hornswoggle), Bo Dallas, and Mizdow vs. Team Teddy: Los Matadores, Sheamus, Jack Swagger, El Torito, Mark Henry and The Usos
SmackDown: October 10, 2014

-This took place on SmackDown’s 15th Anniversary Show and is a match to prove who is the greatest GM in SmackDown history with Laurinaitis and Teddy Long each choosing a team. Goldust starts with Fernando and the announcers ignore the match to discuss the supermarket fight between Austin and Booker T (Booker is on commentary). We get a standoff between the two teams and then take a break as nothing is really happening. We come back with Jimmy Uso getting abused in the corner, and Stardust gets the tag. A tag is made to Jey and he hits both Dust brothers with a kick and then a dropkick to Stardust. Things get silly when The Little Gator makes the tag and gets a few shots. The fans chant for Mizdow and he tags into the match and gets to apply an headlock. He then tags out to Titus and the crowd boos. The crowd resorts to chanting “thank you Mizdow” as there is really nothing happening in this thing. Thankfully Cesaro gets in the match, but we take a break as I don’t even get to see Cesaro beat the piss out of someone. We come back with Slater in the ring and he gets hit with a head kick, and the hot tag is made to Sheamus. Cesaro and Sheamus have a go which is the best part of the match. In a cute spot Cesaro hits the pounding forearms to the chest of Cesaro, Slater, and Stardust. Cesaro hits White Noise for two and that brings people in one by one to hit finishing moves or fly through/over the ropes to the floor. The Gator and The Bull get a chance to beat on each other and the crowd loves that. Bo heads in and sends the Bull flying over the top onto the pile, and then low bridges Henry sending him to the floor. He celebrates and eats a Brogue Kick, but Sheamus also makes mistake of celebrating and Cesaro catches him with the Giant Swing (15 turns). Mizdow gets the hot tag according to the crowd, but eats a Brogue Kick and a flying splash from Jey Uso for the pin at 10:50 (shown). Great decision there having the most over heel with the crowd eat the pin when Titus, Slater, and a host of guys going nowhere are on the same side.

Winners: Team Teddy via Jey pin on Mizdow at 10:50
-Match was nothing until the final few minutes when everyone let loose. Some people never even tagged into the match, but was harmless fun I guess. **

Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton
RAW: November 3, 2014

-Heel vs. heel matches are always tricky, but at times crowd can get way into them (Edge vs. Orton comes to mind). This was set-up by HHH and Steph as a way to give both guys a chance to blow off steam and settle things before getting back on the same page. The crowd chants for Orton as he will seemingly be the babyface in this one. Orton controls early and sends Rollins to the floor. He beats the piss out of Seth down there and sends him into the security wall as we take a break. When we come back Orton is still on the floor while Seth waits from him in the ring. As Schiavone always told me, second man in the ring is at a disadvantage and that is the case here as Orton gets hung on the top rope. Seth comes over the top, but whiffs as Orton just walks away. Back in the ring and Orton pounds away in the corner. Rollins catches him with the STO into the middle buckle as the announcers recap Vince showing up earlier and making the Survivor Series main event (Team Authority vs. Team Cena). Rollins misses a splash in the corner and Orton clotheslines him to the floor. They head to the announce table and Orton lays him out on that. Rollins smartly rolls off as HHH looks annoyed with Orton. They head back in the ring and Rollins catches Orton with an enziguiri, but Orton crotches him on the top rope. That leads to a top rope superplex for a two count. The middle rope DDT is countered with a backdrop the floor and Rollins hits a suicide dive. Back inside the ring the curb stomp is countered with a powerslam and now we get the draping DDT. RKO is countered with a backslide and that gets the surprising win at 10:13 (shown). Randy is still rather pissed after the match and HHH tells him to shake Seth’s hand. Kane and J&J Security hit the ring and Randy shakes everyone’s hand except Seth’s. The crowd is just begging for a face turn here as Randy looks at Rollins. Seth wants to make peace and even apologizes which is easy for the winner of the match to say. Randy shakes his hand and then hits an RKO before beating on Kane and the new Stooges. He looks for the punt, but HHH runs interference and now the crowd wants HHH to eat an RKO as well. HHH is able to calm him down to a degree, but this crowd wants blood. Orton bumps HHH and then decks him with a right hand as the crowd loses it. Kane and The Stooges try to save, but Orton disposes of them easily and goes back to Rollins in the floor. RKO to Mercury, but Rollins hits the curb stomp on the announce table while Kane and Noble tried to pull him off. Orton is bleeding which is always shocking to see. HHH calls off the dogs and he has a conversation with Steph on what to do. Steph tells him to finish Orton and you can see that HHH knows it isn’t the smartest thing to do, but he is pussy whipped and he tells them to finish Orton. HHH and Steph walk off as Seth hits another curb stomp, but this time on the ring steps. Damn! Seth mocking Randy’s pose before hitting the move was a great dick heel move of which I approve.

Winner: Seth Rollins via pin at 10:13 (shown)
-Solid match, but the post match stuff was tremendous. The crowd was jacked for the Orton face turn and then hated Rollins with a passion by the end. HHH was great here as well with trying to keep everyone on the same page knowing his team needed Randy for Survivor Series and even being conflicted by the end even with Steph making the decision to take out Orton. Speaking of which Orton hasn’t been seen since, and hopefully when he does come back we do get a resolution to this feud. **1/2

WWE Intercontinental Title: Elimination Match: Dolph Ziggler © vs. Cesaro vs. Tyson Kidd
SmackDown: November 14, 2014

-I guess they realized this set was coming to an end and wanted to get something else from SmackDown on here. Not that this shouldn’t get a good match, but judging by this set either nothing of note really happened on SmackDown or WWE short changed it with this release. We get super special ring introductions for that should make Kidd feel important. Cesaro immediately goes for the pin after hitting Dolph with a boot to the face and a throw on Kidd. Dolph comes back with a superkick, but gets caught with a sunset flip for two. All three men start trading reversals into pin attempts in a sweet sequence and Ziggler gets the advantage as we take a break. Shocked Kidd wasn’t eliminated during the commercial break! Cesaro suplexes both men at the same time to draw a strong pop from the crowd. For this keeping track this was during WWE’s tour on the UK, so the fans in Liverpool love Cesaro. They start a this is awesome chant which seems kind of premature, but maybe they are impressed easily. Cesaro crushes Kidd with a running uppercut in the corner, but gets caught with a crossbody from the top from Dolph for two. Ziggler hits a splash on each man, and then hits a DDT/Neckbreaker combo on both men. Nice! Another “this is awesome” chant as Kidd gets a neckbreaker of his own on Dolph for two. Kidd heads up, but gets drilled with an uppercut from Cesaro. All three men fight on the top rope and they hit the Tower of Doom spot with Kidd hitting Cesaro with a powerbomb while he was suplexing Ziggler. Shame they are wasting this on taped SmackDown knowing how much WWE thinks of the show. Kidd gets the Sharpshooter, but Cesaro is able to escape and then he kills Dolph with a super uppercut. He gets a two count on each guy as we take our second break. Cesaro gets sent to the floor and Kidd catches Dolph in the sharpshooter. Shit only gets worse as Cesaro comes back and puts Dolph in a Crossface. Kidd is an idiot and breaks the hold to attack Cesaro so he eats The Giant Swing. Ziggler comes back with a DDT on Cesaro for two, and yet another “this is awesome” chant from the crowd. Kidd tries to come back, but gets sent right back to the floor. JBL brings up a great point as he says he would just sit on the floor and let the other two eliminate each other. Ziggler hits Cesaro with the Zig-Zag and Tyson steals the pin to eliminate Cesaro at 9:37. Well, shit! Not the way I would have gone, but whatever. Kidd shows some great aggression sending Dolph into the steps and hits a kick off the security wall. Back inside the ring Tyson gets a two count, but misses a legdrop on the apron. Dolph gets a roll-up for two, but can’t capitalize as he eats a spinning neckbreaker for two. A fourth “this is awesome” chant as I think the fans are trying to set a record or something. Dolph connects with a superkick as Kidd came off the top, but it only gets a two count. Kidd fights back with kicks and looks for the sharpshooter, but Dolph rolls through and hits the Zig-Zag to retain at 13:04 (shown).

Winner: Dolph Ziggler via pin on Kidd at 13:04 (shown)
-Sweet match, but crowd was a little too liberal with their “this is awesome chants.” Having this on SmackDown is a blessing and curse as I am sure they were given more time and freedom, but fewer people saw it. Ziggler going on was right decision as they wanted him strong heading into the Survivor Series main event, but didn’t mean much in long run as WWE cooled on his once again. ***1/4

Dolph Ziggler, John Cena, and Ryback vs. Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, and Kane
RAW: December 1, 2014

-This is just after Survivor Series and Steph/HHH are no longer running the show. Cena starts things with Harper and it’s a beat down as Cena seems a little cranky. Cole reminds me that Cena was put through a table earlier in the show by what’s left of The Authority. Ziggler gets the tag and gets caught with a right hand. The tag is made to Kane, but gets eats a boot from Ziggler and Ryback is begging for the tag. He hits a Thesz Press, and then a splash for a one count. Kane powers Ryback into the heel corner and makes the tag to Harper. He gets mowed down with a Ryback clothesline, but fights back enough to make a tag to Rollins. He doesn’t do much of note and makes the tag back to Harper. He tries a suplex, but Ryback hits a standing vertical as we take a break. They make it seem like Ryback was holding him the entire time as we come back to see the suplex finished. That’s creative I guess. Ziggler gets the tag and he locks in a sleeper on Kane who also tagged into the match. Kane breaks by running Ziggler into the corner, but can’t do much else as Dolph dropkicks him in the knee. Ziggler gets caught off the top with a right hand for two though. This should be the start of Dolph playing the Ricky Morton role because really he is best suited for it considering his teammates. Harper gets the tag and grinds Dolph down with a headlock. Dolph shows good fire getting back to his feet, but gets caught with a shot to the throat. Back to Kane and a clothesline gets two. The crowd rallies behind Ziggler so Kane kills that heat by going with a headlock. Dolph fights again to his feet, but he gets cut off once again. Tag made to Rollins as JBL chastises Ziggler for never giving up and thus costing himself years on his career. Rollins goes to a headlock as that seems to be the go to move for the heel team. Once again Ziggler fights to his feet and hits a jawbreaker to break and the hot tag is made to Cena. He runs wild on Rollins who apparently can’t see him as the Five Knuckle Shuffle connects. Harper comes in and eats the AA and Cena attempts a suplex on Kane, but apparently can’t lift him (WTF?) so Ryback comes in to help him. Maybe if Ziggler had tried that spot would have made more sense. J&J Security hit a cheap shot on Cena to change things around as we take our second break. Cena is now your face in peril as Harper works him over in the corner. A superkick gets a two count and Rollins comes back in the match. Cena gets in a shot, but hot tag is cut off with a clothesline from Rollins. Things grind to a halt again as Rollins goes to a reverse chinlock and this match is dragging on way too long. This is where breaking up the Shield has hurt things as they were great at making 6 Man Tag Matches work. The lukewarm tag is finally made to Dolph and he catches Harper with a neckbreaker. The fameasser connects for two and that draws everyone into the ring except Cena. He comes in with a dive off the top rope, but soon after Kane catches him with a boot. Everyone starts hitting secondary moves as I guess not time for finisher sequence. Out of nowhere Dolph escapes a powerbomb and gets a sunset flip for the win at 18:09 (shown). Everyone fights after the match and Big Show heads down the ring to lay waste to our heroes. Now Rowan heads down with the ring steps and he blasts Harper, Kane, and Rollins with them. He tosses the steps in the ring and everyone gangs up on Show as he eats a superkick, meat hook clothesline, and AA. They set Show up for Rowan and he hammers him with the stairs. Everyone celebrates to end things.

Winners: Ziggler, Cena, and Ryback via Ziggler pin on Harper at 18:09 (shown)
-Just too damn long for what they were trying to do. They were basically going through the motions and we didn’t even get the usual ending sequence with everyone trading finishers. **

-Byron closes things by saying he can’t wait to see what 2015 brings.

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
Even the WWE knows end of 2014 wasn't strong as this disc went from June to Dec 2014 as apparently there wasn't much to choose from in the second half of the year. As a whole this sets are always fun no matter the quality because the point is to cover the year in review. As expected SmackDown got the short end of the stick, and hopefully that gets corrected for 2015. Some good to great matches on the set and some memorable segments make this worthy of a watch. Obviously all this is on the Network, but having it all in one set makes it a little easier to get to the good stuff without searching. Just be prepared for things to drag a bit as you get towards the end of the set.
legend

article topics :

RAW, Smackdown, WWE DVD, Robert Leighty Jr.