How To Watch The WWE In A Focused, Fun Manner Whether You're New Or A Long Time Fan, 14: Revolution

9/13/2023

This season sees an exciting evolution in wrestling. We start with with the rise of NXT, WWE's developmental division. We introduced it last season, and saw The Shield graduate on to the main roster, but this season, the entire future of WWE goes through NXT. Current and future headliners, get their start, and Most Importantly, the womens' revolution gets underway as The Four Horsewomen (Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch) put on some of the best wrestling matches of the year, regardless of gender.

We also get our first glimpse of Japanese wrestling in a while. I understand that there are a ton of American fans of New Japan, Pro Wrestling Noah, All-Japan and more. I am unfamiliar with Japanese promotions' American commentary, so I've mostly avoided it. But this season, we see the birth of Bullet Club, which will not only include even more future WWE headliners, it's also the genesis for AEW, which is only a couple of seasons away. So we see a few episodes in Japanese this season, but we also see Bullet Club cross into Ring Of Honor, giving it a shot in the arm it desperately needed.

Impact fades out for a bit this season, as their best stars scatter to other promotions, and their pay-per-view events go from monthly to semi-annually. And the quality does not increase with the decrease in quantity.

I was torn by how to properly close out this season, as there aren't any real Super Touchstone Moments, so I went for what appeared to be Sting's last match. He's barely in this season, as his WWE run was incredibly short, but will give him a wave see-you-later here, knowing that he'll be back soon when AEW gets going.

Season 14:
Revolution

Starring:
John Cena, Finn Balor, AJ Styles, Charlotte Flair, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Jay Briscoe, Brock Lesnar, Bray Wyatt, Karl Anderson, Caesaro, Shamus, Rusev, Pac, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Adam Cole, Becky Lynch, Michael Elgin, EC3, The Young Bucks, The American Wolves, reDRagon, The Usos

1401. Arrival, 2014

NXT's first, major event sees the second generation of ROH flow over into WWE's farm league. There's some second vs third generation blood when Natalya from the Hart family takes on Charlotte Flair for the honor of being the first ever NXT womens' champion, and Bray Wyatt's younger brother ascends up the card while Bray wreaks havoc in the WWE.

Announcers: William Regal, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips, Brandi Rhodes

1. Caesaro vs Sami Zayn
2. Tyler Breeze vs Xavier Woods
3. Bo Dallas (NXT Champ) vs Pac (as Adrian Neville) in a Ladder Match
4. Tyler Breeze vs Sami Zayn
5. Charlotte Flair vs Natalya for the NXT Womens Championship
6. Pac (as Adrian Neville) (NXT Champ) vs Tyson Kidd
7. Charlotte Flair (NXT Womens Champ) vs Bayley

1402. Caged Heat, 2014

After this quite good match card, the talent started to splinter to New Japan, WWE, NXT, and Ring Of Honor. They went from near monthly pay-per-views to a couple of events per year, and their weekly TV show was fine but it didn't set anybody's world on fire. Don't be too sad about missing these wrestlers, however, as I mentioned, they're going to still be around, just working for other promotions.

Announcers:Mike Tenay, Taz, Jeremy Borash, Christy Hemme

1. Great Muta, Sanada & Yatsu vs Chris Sabin & Bad Influence in a Steel Cage Match
2. Madison Rayne (Impact Knockout Champ) vs Gail Kim in a Steel Cage Match
3. Jaxson Ryker vs James Storm in an I Quit Match
4. Samoa Joe vs Bobby Lashley
5. EC3 vs Bubba Ray Dudley in a Texas Death Match
6. Eric Young (Impact Champ) vs Bobby Lashley vs Austin Aries in a Steel Cage Match
7. The American Wolves (Impact Tag Team Champs) vs The Hardy Boyz
8. The American Wolves (Impact Tag Team Champs) vs Dudley Boyz vs Hardy Boyz in a Full Metal Mayhem Match

1403. Plan A, 2014

This is all we get of Daniel Bryan between when he won the title at Wrestlemania and when he had to vacate the title to go get neck surgery, but it's a great match against his former Hell No teammate, Kane. The Bar goes head to head in the days before they became a dominant tag team. Oh, hey look, there's Bray Wyatt! And The Shield and Evolution, generally considered two of the greatest stable of all time, go head to head for no titles, just glory.

Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lilian Garcia, Eden Stiles

1. The Shield vs Evolution
2. Daniel Bryan (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs Kane in an Extreme Rules Match
3. Sheamus (WWE US Champ) vs Caesaro
4. John Cena vs Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing Match
5. Paige (WWE Divas Champ) vs Alicia Fox
6. The Shield vs Evolution in a No Holds Barred Elimination Match

1404. Plan B, 2014

"If at first you don't succeed, cheat to get what you want." is pretty much Triple H's motto. Evolution changes the game on The Shield. The Uso/Wyatt feud continues, and we get a very brief look at Damien Sandow and Adam Rose. Don't get used to either of them. Although Sandow will show up now and again under various gimmicks.

Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lilian Garcia, Eden Stiles, Jojo

1. Evolution vs The Shield
2. The Usos (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs The Wyatt Family
3. Adam Rose vs Damien Sandow
4. The Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Rob Van Dam, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Haeger

5. Rusev vs Big E
6. Ladder Match for the vacant WWE Heavyweight Championship
John Cena vs Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt vs Kane vs Shaemus vs Caesaro vs Alberto Del Rio

7. The Usos (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs The Wyatt Family

1405. Relentless

The slow funneling of talent to NXT means that the ROH roster starts to rotate more quickly but also it begins to reward the people who've either stayed with the promotion or else come back to it afte unsuccessful WWE runs.

Announcers: Kevin Kelly, Nigel McGuinness, Steve Corino, Bobby Cruise

1. Jay Lethal vs Michael Elgin for #1 Contendorship
2. reDragon (ROH Tag Team Champs) vs American Wolves
3. Kevin Owens (ROH Champ) vs Jay Briscoe
4. Davey Richards vs Paul London
5. Adam Cole vs Michael Elgin for vacant ROH Championship

1406. The Bullet Club, 2013

An almost exclusively all-Japanese episode (there's some Spanish, and even less English), this episode sees Finn Balor (as Prince Devitt) form an all-gajin stable to try and take all the belts in New Japan. In this episode we see the full Devitt reign with Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and the Young Bucks. The next episode will see new leadership for Bullet Club as they go to America to fight in ROH.

1. Finn Balor (as Prince Devitt) & Bad Luck Fale vs Captain New Japan & Ryuske Taguchi
2. Karl Anderson vs Tanahashi
1. Finn Balor (as Prince Devitt) (IWGP Heavyweight Champ) vs Tanahashi
2. Finn Balor (as Prince Devitt) vs Gedo
3. Shinsuke Nakamura (IWGP Intercontinental Champ) vs La Sombra
4. The Young Bucks (IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Champs) vs The Time Splitters vs Forever Hooligans vs Suzuki-Gun
7. Finn Balor vs Kota Ibushi

1407. The Biggest Party of The Summer, 2014

More fallout from the Shield/Authority feud. More inter-The Bar battling. Gold and Stardust return to the tag team title scene. And Brock Lesnar is back to wreck everyone.

Announers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lillian Garcia

1. Rusev vs Jack Haeger in a Flag Match
2. Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins in a Lumberjack Match
3. The Usos (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs The Rhodes Brothers
4. Sheamus (WWE US Champ) vs Caesaro
5. Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton
6. John Cena (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs Brock Lesnar

1408. War Of The Worlds, 2014

Over in New Japan, AJ Styles (formerly from Impact) takes over The Bullet Club, and they pick up gold all over the place, including Ring Of Honor. So in these episodes, stars from both promotions go head to head in Canada and the US for various titles and glory.

Announcers: Kevin Kelly, Steve Corrino, Nigel McGuinness, Michael Elgin, Bobby Cruise

1. The Young Bucks (IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Champs) vs Forever Hooligans vs Time Splitters

2. Bullet Club (IWGP Tag Team Champs) vs Chaos
3. Adam Cole (ROH Champ) vs Kevin Owens (as Kevin Steen)
4. Bullet Club (IWGP Tag Team Champs) vs The Briscoes
5. Kevin Owens (as Kevin Steen) vs Shinsuke Nakamura
6. The Young Bucks (ROH Tag Team Champs) vs reDRagon
7. AJ Styles (IWGP Heavyweight Champ) vs Kazuchi Okada vs Michael Elgin

1409. R(ivals), 2014

All sorts of fun debuts here as Kevin Owens hops over from ROH to hang out with his buddy Sami Zayn, and former Bullet Club leader Finn Balor drops in to help his buddy Kenta.

Announcers: William Regal, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Alex Riley, Rich Brennan, Tom Phillips, Renee Young, Jojo, Eden

1. Ascencion (NXT Tag Team Champs) vs Lucha Dragons
2. Pac (as Adrian Neville) (NXT Champ) vs Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, Tyson Kidd
3. Kevin Owens vs CJ Parker
4. Finn Balor & Kenta (as Hideo Itami) vs The Ascencion
5. Charlotte Flair (NXT Womens Champ) vs Sasha Banks
6. Pac (NXT Champ) vs Sami Zayn in a Title vs Career Match

1410. R(evolution), 2015

It's great seeing New Japan all-stars like Finn Balor and Kenta rising to superstardom in WWE. The continuing epic of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens is an all-time highlight. But the true heart of this episode is the rise of The Four Horsewomen: Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch are four of the all-time best wrestlers, male or female. Three of them continue to dominate the WWE while the other is a megastar in Japan. Here are some of the early matches that made the wrestling world excited for what was to come.

Announcers: Corey Graves, Jason Albert, Rich Brennan, Jojo

1. Kenta (as Hideo Itami) vs Tyler Breeze
2. Finn Balor vs Pac (as Adrian Neville)
3. Charlotte Flair (NXT Womens Champ) vs Sasha Banks vs Bayley vs Becky Lynch
4. Sami Zayn (NXT Champ) vs Kevin Owens
5. Finn Balor vs Tyler Breeze
6. Sasha Banks (NXT Womens Champ) vs Becky Lynch

1411. All Star Extravaganza, 2014

More international matches with New Japan stars. Bullet Club continues to be a dominant force in ROH this season.

Announcers: Kevin Kelly, Steve Corrino, Nigel McGuinness, Joe Dombrowski

1. The Briscoes vs Matt Hardy & Michael Bennett
2. Adam Cole (ROH Champ) vs Michael Elgin
3. Michael Elgin (ROH Champ) vs AJ Styles vs Adam Cole vs Jay Briscoe
4. AJ Styles vs Adam Cole
5. ReDRagon (ROH Tag Team Champs) vs The Young Bucks

1412. Out Of Nowhere

Randall Keith bookends a fun show with less story progression than normal. This is just a series of good matches that took place around the same time. It's also our final look at The Rhodes Brothers in WWE before they pop up in AEW.

Announcers: Jerry lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lilian Garcia, Eden Stiles

1. Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho
2. Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins in Hell In A Cell
3. The Rhodes Brothers (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs The Usos vs Los Matadores vs The Miz & Damien Sandow

4. John Cena vs Randy Orton in Hell In A Cell

1413. Tables Ladders Chairs And Stairs, 2014

Ever since the Austin/McMahon feud, it seemed like there was always a storyline where some major champion/former champion with a bazillion titles was targeted by a McMahon family (or Triple H, who is a McMahon family member through marriage) as being "the wrong sort of person to represent WWE". Somehow, in this era it's John Cena, a superstar so likable and well decorated that a certain segment of fans hated him for many years because he seemed to win everything. So here is his moment against the Authority where, surprisingly, someone else is given the chance to shine as The Underdog. Plus, the former SHIELD and Wyatt family members cross paths with each other, The Beast Incarnate, and Big Match John.

Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lilian Garcia, Eden Stiles

1. Team Cena vs The Authority
John Cena, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Eric Rowan vs Kane, Seth Rollins, Mark Henry, Rusev, Brodie Lee

2. Brodie Lee (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder Match
3. Bray Wyatt vs Dean Ambrose in a TLC Match
4. Brock Lesnar (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs John Cena vs Seth Rollins

1414. Winter Warriors, 2014, 2015

Ring Of Honor was just a haven for great tag teams in the 2010s, as well as giving Americans in New Japan a place to perform for English speaking audiences. While we have a couple of strong solo performances here, the tag teams are the highlight, as well as our first peek at Shayna Baszler, who we won't see in a ring for a while.

Announcers: Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino, Niles McGuinness, Bobby Cruise

1. ACH & The Young Bucks vs Cedric Alexander & The Addiction
2. Jay Lethal (ROH TV Champ) vs Matt Sydal
3. reDRagon (ROH Tag Team Champs) vs Time Splitters
4. Jay Briscoe (ROH Champ) vs Adam Cole in a Fight Without Honor
5. reDRagon (ROH Tag Team Champs) vs The Young Bucks

1415. The Heist, 2014, 2015

More former SHIELD battles, more John Cena, more Brock Lesnar, and Daniel Bryan returns from injury related retirement.

Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lilian Garcia, Eden Stiles

1. Rusev (WWE US Champ) vs John Cena
2. Roman Reigns vs Daniel Bryan
3. Wade Barrett (WWE Intercontinental Champ) vs Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler vs Cody Rhodes vs Dean Ambrose vs R-Truth vs Brodie Lee in a Ladder Match

4. Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins
5. Brock Lesnar (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs Roman Reigns

1416. Global Wars, 2015

More international bad-assery between Ring Of Honor and New Japan. Once again, Bullet Club is all over this episode but we also get to see Jay Briscoe back at the top of the singles division, and Samoa Joe's final ROH match for seven years.

1. Matt Sydal, Andrew Everett & Caprice Coleman vs Tomasso Ciampa, Cedric Alexander & Moose

2. Jay Briscoe (ROH Champ) vs Samoa Joe
3. Bullet Club vs Roderick Strong, The Briscoes & War Machine
4. Bullet Club vs Kazuchika Okada & Roppongi Vice
5. Bullet Club vs The Kingdom
6. Jay Briscoe (ROH Heavyweight Champ) vs Jay Lethal (ROH TV Champ)

1417. Tag Team Elimination Chamber, 2015

While the first ever tag team elimination chamber is the match this episode is named for, there are a lot of ther things going on. The New Day forms and wins their first of many titles in their first appearance as a team in our chronology. Also, John Cena won the US Championship for the kabillionth time in our last episode. Rather than the usual So Now He Will Fight The WWE's Biggest Monsters storyline, he begins a series of open challenges where he faces younger talent, mostly current and former NXT stars. It's way more interesting to watch, especially as one of his earliest challengers takes him to the absolute limit to make his name on the main roster.

Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Booker T, Lillian Garcia, Eden Stiles, Jojo

1. John Cena (WWE US Champ) vs Dean Ambrose
2. Caesaro & Tyson Kidd (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs The New Day
3. Roman Reigns vs The Big Show in a Last Man Standing Match
4. Seth Rollins (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns vs Dean Ambrose

5. Tag Team Elimination Chamber
The New Day (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs Ascencion vs Prime Time Players vs Los Matadores vs Caesaro & Tyson Kidd vs Lucha Dragons

6. John Cena (WWE US Champ) vs Kevin Owens (NXT Champ)

1418. Takeover Brooklyn, 2015

Ring Of Honor veterans abound as NXT levels up with strong storylines about betrayal and some wacky tag team gimmicks. We won't be seeing too much of Enzo & Cass, thankfully, or The Vaudevillains, unfortunately, but both put on great shows here. Also, the double main event of this episode is top notch.

Announcers: Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Rich Brennan, Mike Rome

1. BAM Factor (NXT Tag Team Champs) vs Enzo Amore & Big Cass
2. Kevin Owens (NXT Champ) vs Sami Zayn
3. BAM Factor (NXT Tag Champs) vs The Vaudevillians
4. Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin
5. Sasha Banks (NXT Womens Champ) vs Bayley
6. Finn Balor (NXT Heavyweight Champ) vs Kevin Owens

1419. Low Impact, 2015

2015 saw a massive drout in TNA pay-per views which, unfortunately, didn't result in the pay-per-views being of higher quality. But during the spring and early summer, the weekly TV show that the company would soon rename itself after featured some fresh faces and a few fantastic matches.

Announcers: Tazz, Josh Mathews, Elijah Burke, Jeremy Borash

1. EC3 vs Drake Maverick in a Hair vs Hair Match
2. American Wolves (Impact Tag Team Champs) vs Jessie Godderz & Zema Ion vs Sanada & Manik in an Ultimate X Match

3. Bobby Lashley (Impact Heavyweight Champ) vs Kurt Angle
4. Taryn Terrell (Impact Knockout Champ) vs Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong
5. Kurt Angle (Impact Heavyweight Champ) vs Austin Aries
5. American Wolves vs The Dirty Heels in an Iron Man Match for the Impact Tag Team Championship

6. Kurt Angle(Impact Heavyweight Champ) vs EC3

1420. The Architect Vs The Open Challenge, 2015

Seth Rollins really evolves from Triple H's chosen hound to superstar here with a couple of classic matches. John Cena continues his excellent run of Open Challenges. And we see a couple of highlight reel level matches from former NXT stars.

Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lilian Garcia, Eden Stiles, Jojo

1. John Cena (WWE US Champ) vs Sami Zayn
2. Seth Rollins (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs Dean Ambrose in a Ladder Match
3. John Cena (WWE US Champ) vs Kevin Owens
4. Chris Jericho vs Pac
5. Bray Wyatt vs Roman Reigns
6. Seth Rollins (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs John Cena (WWE US Champ)

1421. Headliners, 2015

An odd end to the season. We have the last couple of womens' matches before the WWE Womens' Revolution begins in earnest, a rematch from last season's finale, the first of two SHIELD appearances with a fill-in member, and the only WWE Sting match in this continuity. Don't worry, though, he'll be back in another couple of seasons.

Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, JBL, Lilian Garcia, Eden Stiles

1. Team PCB vs Team Bella vs Team BAD
Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch & Page vs Nikki Bella, Brie Bella & Alicia Fox vs Sasha Banks, Naomi & Tamina

2. Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar
3. Nikki Bella (WWE Divas Champ) vs Charlotte Flair
4. The Wyatt Family vs Off-Brand Shield
5. Seth Rollins (WWE US Champ) vs John Cena
6. Seth Rollins (WWE Heavyweight Champ) vs Sting

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