#only nxt back in the day was good and deserved to get hyped

[princemick]

being a wwe and formula 1 fan is fascinating because only your fellow fans understand your deep need and want to watch the company you actively support fail

[daleisgreat]

Shawn Michaels: The Showstopper Unreleased

WWE has release a few Shawn Michaels DVDs over the years, but continuing on the theme of my last few wrestling-centered entries, WWE Home Video stuck with their “unreleased” brand of DVDs in 2018 with the three-disc release of Shawn Michaels: The Showstopper Unreleased (intro - I could not locate a trailer for this anywhere!). In that clip Shawn quips that the producers deserve an award for finding previously unreleased matches. I believe the criteria for this release is still similar to previous “Unreleased” collections where they may have aired on television (and thus likely in the WWE Network archives) or long discontinued VHS tapes, but this DVD will mark the first time the matches are available on disc. Also included is a new interview with Michaels that they broke up in several parts and sporadically inserted throughout the collection. The first disc is something special as it essentially is a “Best of Rockers” DVD. The first two matches are from Shawn’s rookie year in 1985 for Mid-South in quick enhancement matches for Hector & Chavo Guerrero and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Matches serve their purpose, but it is nonetheless fascinating to see how Shawn had that already apparent potential in him way back in 1985. The remaining 11 matches on the first disc are all Rockers matches, with the first three tag matches being from their Midnight Rockers AWA days with two bouts against Doug Summers & Buddy Rose and one more with Brian Knobbs & Dennis “I’m not booked” Stamp. The two Summers & Rose matches are show-stealers that had exhilarating beginning/middle/end structures, and was fun to watch the 1980s crowd go nuts for.

The first disc is almost all AWA & WWF Rockers matches!! For the eight WWF Rockers matches, they consist of almost an all-star lineup of a golden age for WWF tag teams where they square off against the likes of Demolition, Brain Busters, Hart Foundation, Natural Disasters and Legion of Doom. The sad thing about The Rockers back then is that as charismatic and agile as they were back then, they mostly made other teams look good in their WWF run and that is the case here as they lose six of those eight WWF matches. Even worse is the two matches they win is a DQ win against the Rougeaus after Jimmy Hart’s megaphone is used, and a countout win against the Orient Express. That said, a lot of the other matches are pretty damn good, with high honors going to the Brain Busters bout, two Demolition matches and surprisingly working in a lot of good stuff against Legion of Doom. Worth pointing out is another good match against the Hart Foundation where it seems noticeable the teams missed their cue to go home because the match starts to feel there is no end in sight when out of nowhere during an abdominal stretch a bunch of wrestlers run in and an awkward impromptu brawl ensues and the match is declared a draw.

Disc two has 12 matches from Shawn’s first singles WWF run from 1992-1998. Some highlights from this are an unsurprising technical showcase with Mr. Perfect, oddly having a positive dynamic with Bret Hart to team up against the Blu Brothers in 1995 and predictable-yet-high quality formula matches during his first WWF Title run against 1-2-3 Kid and Steve Austin. Disc two has a disappointing triple tag elimination match with Shawn, Diesel and Undertaker against Psycho Sid, Tatanka and Kama filled with lots of stalling and headscratching booking for the eliminations. There is also a questionable match against Vader a month after their controversial-yet-excellent Summerslam match, where in this match Shawn takes 95% of the offense and quickly squashes Vader in three minutes. There is also a fascinating bout against Yokozuna from the summer of 1996 in Kuwait, when Yoko is nearing the end of his WWF run due to him putting on excess weight, and the match kind of expectedly plods along, until something must have clicked for Shawn to motivate Yoko into a pretty watchable match in the back half, and the two show respect afterwards which was awesome to see….until Yoko suddenly darts off to the back like he really has to go to the bathroom. The third disc consists of 10 matches from Shawn’s return run to WWE from 2002-2010. All the matches here are from RAW, so that means they follow the formula that still holds true for WWE TV main events today where it is either a cobbled together tag match, or a really good one-on-one match with interference or a hokey finish. There are a couple exceptions with worthwhile clean matches against Ric Flair during a Japan 2005 tour and against Christian in 2004 when he was building momentum with Tyson Tomko by his side. HBK’s matches against Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho are the highlights on disc three, but all three contests have varying degrees of interference to effect the finishes, and in some cases it actually benefits the match as is the case with Angle with the story they were telling. I was delighted to see a post-RAW dark match included with Shawn teaming with Batista against Triple H and Edge. WWE is notorious for usually doing a fun untelevised promo or bonus match for the fans after the cameras go off the air with some quirky moments that would never fly in a televised match. That is the case here with Triple H doing lots of exaggerated selling and fun jawing with the crowd that absolutely ate it all up for a fun time.

Shawn didn't disappoint in his 21st century run, with matches included here that don't disappoint against Ric Flair and Kurt Angle. A couple of promos are uncovered like Shawn doing an open Q&A with the fans when Sensational Sherri was managing Michaels early in his singles run. Another amusing bonus promo is Shawn and Diesel doing a Times Square workout session to hype up their upcoming WrestleMania 11 match with the one-and-only Todd Pentigill hosting. The several interview clips inserted throughout the DVDs has Shawn hitting on certain parts on where he was at that stage in his career and reflecting on the infamous Barber Shop break-up with Marty, his 2002 return, rebooting a less edgy, more goofball version of DX in 2006 and retiring in 2010 (this was filmed before his ill-fated Saudi Arabia return match). From these series of introspections, it was fascinating to hear Shawn think back on why he was not all-in for teaming with Jose Lathario in his WWE Title run, and hearing him settling on being a family man in retirement and turning down multiple

WrestleMania return matches. There are also a few sets of interviews with NXT talent commenting on how lucky they are to have Shawn as a teacher at the WWE Performance Center. Shawn comments a few times here too on being proud of passing on his knowledge, and it is obvious he is genuine on his passion for his new role building talent in NXT. WWE has once again amassed another recommended collection of un-vaulted matches. I am digging this format following the Piper and Macho Man sets where they break up the action every few matches with a set of interviews. Wort mentioning is about a quarter of the 35 matches here have no commentary because they were either dark matches, or from arena shows WWE use to film at regionally in the 80s and 90s and never recorded commentary for and/or lost the rights for the commentary. While there are some skippable matches, the good-to-bad ratio is largely in the positive here, and the not-so-good bouts usually at least have an entertaining backstory or era they emanate from. This all adds up for Shawn Michaels: The Showstopper Unreleased being another must-have installment of the Unreleased branding. Past Wrestling Blogs Best of WCW Clash of Champions Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3 Biggest Knuckleheads Bobby The Brain Heenan Daniel Bryan: Just Say Yes Yes Yes DDP: Positively Living Dusty Rhodes WWE Network Specials ECW Unreleased: Vol 1 ECW Unreleased: Vol 2 ECW Unreleased: Vol 3 Eric Bishoff: Wrestlings Most Controversial Figure Fight Owens Fight: The Kevin Owens Story For All Mankind Getting Rowdy: The Unreleased Matches of Roddy Piper Goldberg: The Ultimate Collection Hulk Hogans Unreleased Collectors Series Impact Wresting Presents: Best of Hulk Hogan Its Good to Be the King: The Jerry Lawler Story The Kliq Rules Ladies and Gentlemen My Name is Paul Heyman Legends of Mid South Wrestling Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story Memphis Heat NXT: From Secret to Sensation NXT Greatest Matches Vol 1 OMG Vol 2: Top 50 Incidents in WCW History OMG Vol 3: Top 50 Incidents in ECW History Owen: Hart of Gold Randy Savage Unreleased: The Unseen Matches of the Macho Man RoH Supercard of Honor 2010-Present ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Hall: Living on a Razors Edge Shawn Michaels: My Journey Sting: Into the Light Straight Outta Dudley-ville: Legacy of the Dudley Boyz Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank Anthology Superstar Collection: Zach Ryder Then Now Forever – The Evolution of WWEs Womens Division TLC 2017 TNA Lockdown 2005-2016 Top 50 Superstars of All Time Tough Enough: Million Dollar Season True Giants Ultimate Fan Pack: Roman Reigns Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe War Games: WCWs Most Notorious Matches Warrior Week on WWE Network Wrestlemania III: Championship Edition Wrestlemania 28-Present The Wrestler (2008) Wrestling Road Diaries Too Wrestling Road Diaries Three: Funny Equals Money Wrestlings Greatest Factions WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2015 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials Second Half 2016 WWE Network Original Specials First Half 2017

[closetofanxiety]

NXT to the Main Roster: A Haphazard Examination, Part 2 (2016)

More wrestlers went from NXT to the main roster(s) in 2016 than in any other year, so I want to examine it separately in my ongoing question to determine whether getting a coveted spot on Raw or Smackdown (or a less coveted spot on 205 Live) likely means stagnation and disappointment. Again, the grades here are for the way these wrestlers have been presented to the WWE audience, not for the wrestlers themselves. Except, I guess, for the F handed out to Big Cass.

Sami Zayn

Call-up date: January 24. The perfect underdog babyface at the top of the card in NXT (a role they’re currently trying to give Johnny Gargano), Zayn has had a respectable but mostly unspectacular run on the big shows. While they were never going to build main event storylines around him the way NXT did, after his initial feud with eternal lifemate Kevin Owens, he kind of drifted around the middle of the pack without a clear character or motivation. Hampered by injuries, his heel turn was initially masterfully handled: by saving Kevin Owens from Shane McMahon, Zayn was, in the immediate aftermath, allowed to seem conflicted, uncertain, and anxious about what he’d done. It looked like there was going to be real character development, and then, in a few months, he was challenging Bobby Lashley to obstacle course races. 

Grade: C

Eva Marie

Call-up date: March 28. WE DIDN’T DESERVE HER. She could have been a sensational, crowd-baiting heel, as she was LOATHED by the super nerds in the WWE audience, who hated that she couldn’t wrestle and was only getting pushed for her looks. I mean, the same was true of Lex Luger ZING. Anyway, it wasn’t too be, and we’re left to wonder what could have been.

Grade: F/Incomplete

Baron Corbin

Call-up date: April 3. Big Banter has grown into the role that is probably the top-dollar best he can hope for in the WWE: a sneering heel near the top of the midcard who can talk well and wrestle well. He’s a plug-and-play guy for babyfaces who are being kept on the stove while the main event picture sorts itself out, and he does great at it. I saw Baron Corbin wrestle Tommy Dreamer at an NXT show in Albany once and thought, “This guy suxxxx.” But he has proved me wrong! Good for Big Breakfast Constable Corbin.

Grade: B+

Enzo Amore

Call-up date: April 4. I’ll go on record as saying he was used well as the shitty heel champion in 205 Live. Everyone hated him, and that was his role. That was probably his ceiling: top hate figure on the ‘C’ show, but we’ll never know.

Grade: F/Incomplete

Big Cass

Call-up date: April 4. His attitude and behavior must have really been something for Vince McMahon, The Big Man Liker, to so quickly part with a big man who could talk and was at least more adept in the ring than, say, the Great Khali. After the split with Enzo, they didn’t really seem to know what they were doing with him, so I’m not entirely sure we missed out on a legendary career or anything.

Grade: F/Incomplete

Apollo Crews

Call-up date: April 4. This decision remains a head scratcher. Crews made his NXT TV debut on August 22, 2015, and in less than eight months, was debuting on Raw. Although he’s an incredibly talented wrestler, I don’t know that his NXT stint was quite the rocket to the top that would justify this. Since his debut, he’s been totally lost in the shuffle and without a discernible character. His most significant match to date was a losing bid for the Intercontinental championship against The Miz on an episode of Smackdown. The Titus Worldwide stuff has helped, but not much.

Grade: C-/D+

Aiden English

Call-up date: April 7. Rusev DAAAAYYYEH. If it weren’t for his alliance with Big Matchka, English would be staring down the barrel of a D+. Initially arrived on the main roster as a tag team with Simon Gotch, the two had an undistinguished run that included Smackdown tag title tournament losses to the Hype Bros and Breezango. Now that he’s the guy who stiffly raps before Rusev comes out, English is basking in his Mizdow Moment. When it ends, though, what will become of the Operatic Superstar?

Grade: C-

Simon Gotch

Call-up date: April 7. His gimmick had a lot of potential: the super old-timey wrestler in a postmodern, post-kayfabe world. It never really got off the ground, though, and while his team with Aiden English worked at Full Sail, Vince’s dim view of tag teams generally, plus the material they were given, meant it didn’t have much of a shot on the big stage. WWE let the trademark on his name expire, which tells you a lot.

Grade: F

Dana Brooke

Call-up date: May 9. After kind of a hot start that I’ve largely forgotten - she was heel Charlotte’s protege, remember? - she quickly settled into the rut of main roster women’s booking, which tends to consist of two women fighting over the title and then everyone else forming an amorphous backdrop, occasionally emerging for random six-person tags involving the main eventers. Dana did eliminate Kairi Sane at the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble, so that’s something, I guess. Since November, she’s been one of the few people in the company with a manager role, as an Alexandra York figure in Titus Worldwide. 

Grade: C-

Mojo Rawley

Call-up date: July 24. Did you know Zack Ryder’s been in the WWE system since 2006? He’s incredible. He’s like one of those NBA guys who you see playing five minutes in a playoff game, years after you assumed they had retired. Anyway, Mojo Rawley. He’s done as well as he’s ever likely to do, destroying Ryder after a heel turn, feuding with No Way Jose, and no longer being hyped. His main roster run hasn’t been disappointing, largely because his NXT run was about the same thing, minus the heel turn.

Grade: C

Nia Jax

Call-up date: July 25. Rock’s cousin or no, she’s managed to remain above the midcard scrum in the women’s division by having a unique look, as the only credible monster in the locker room. She has the problem that all monsters have sooner or later, which is: what do they do after getting beaten? In her case, it was a clumsy face turn in a bullying-themed angle with Alexa Bliss that didn’t do much for either woman. Still, because of her size and ability, she’s always somewhere near the top of the card, something that’s unlikely to change.

Grade: B

Finn Bálor

Call-up date: July 25. To my mind, he’s one of the few wrestlers who’s been better served on the main roster than he was in NXT. He’s the longest-reigning NXT champion so far, but his tenure there seems largely forgettable apart from his Beast in the East match against Kevin Owens and the bloodbath against Samoa Joe at Takeover: Dallas. On the main roster, he’s regularly near the top of the card, with his painted demon character receiving the holy-shit treatment, as we saw at SummerSlam. He’s become one of their most recognizable stars and the company clearly loves him.

Grade: A

Alexa Bliss

Call-up date: July 26. One of the best examples I can think of that demonstrates how a turn can elevate a wrestler, she went from boring, sparkly cheerleader to the top woman in NXT by becoming a heel. Initially the manager of the lookalike midcard tag team of Make and Blurphy, it was clear from the start she was bound for greater things. She’s been the signal success story of the WWE System in developing stars, as opposed to repackaging stars from the indies, Japan, and Mexico: Bliss is, if not quite a mainstream star, one of the most recognizable women in the company, constantly on top of the women’s roster, and winning raves for her incredible microphone work. Nerds who complain she isn’t good at wrestling probably wouldn’t have understood Abdullah the Butcher either.

Grade: A+

Carmella

Call-up date: July 26. OH THE IRONY! When she managed Enzo and Big Cass in NXT, she was despised by the Full Sail nerds, who would chant “you can’t wrestle” at her. Two years later, and here we are: Real1 is making unlistenable hip hop tracks for his Instagram stories, Big Cazz is set to make his indie debut for Big Time Wrestling in Spartanburg, S.C., and Carmella is coming off a 131-day run as Smackdown Women’s Champion, having beaten Asuka in matches on pay-per-view and free TV. She’s not at Alexa’s level as a heel - not many people are - but she’s done a great job of establishing herself in a women’s roster that suffers from way too many bland characters and storylines.

Grade: B+/A-

Jason Jordan

Call-up date: August 2. Listen, Vince hates tag teams. American Alpha was a red-hot team in NXT, where they got over thanks to their phenomenal work inside the ring. But even there, they were kind of bland as individuals. On the main roster, where tag teams rarely last, this spelled trouble. Jordan has been hampered by injuries, but even without that he’s a man adrift, the highlight of his tenure so far being the kayfabe revelation that he’s Kurt Angle’s son, which has mostly been treated as an afterthought. 

Grade: D

Chad Gable

Call-up date: August 2. Second verse, same as the first. They tried to spark some of that American Alpha magic after disbanding American Alpha by pairing Gable with Shelton Benjamin, with predictable results. I don’t think Gable’s been on television since May, and he’s not injured. He apparently feuded with Mike Kanellis on Main Event back in June, to give you some idea. He taped a thing for WWE’s social media channels with amateur wrestling god Dan Gable, which I liked, so there’s that.

Grade: D

Bayley

Call-up date: August 22. I will admit here that I did not “get” her gimmick in NXT. It just always seemed vaguely unsettling, and now we know that it led to the Cult of Izzy. That aside, she had an undeniable connection with the audience, largely thanks to her palpable enthusiasm and tremendous in-ring skill. I never really bought the commonplace line that she could become the female John Cena, mostly because I think that underestimates how much of Cena’s appeal comes from the fact that half the audience hates him. But she’s a true-blue babyface in a company that doesn’t really know what to do with true-blue babyfaces, and so her main roster stint has been something of a disappointment. It’s weirdly fitting that she’s locked into this seemingly endless frenemies storyline with Sasha Banks, another woman who was adored in NXT and who hasn’t really found her footing on the main roster.

Grade: C

Rich Swann

Call-up date: September 19. He had his moments in 205 Live, but it was clear his off-kilter personality and presentation were not what they had in mind as the Face of the Division. They were trying to mold him into what they have with Mustafa Ali or Cedric Alexander, when they would have been better off trying to make Swann the Dean Ambrose of the cruiserweights. Instead, well, we know what happened instead.

Grade: F/Incomplete

Austin Aries

Call-up date: December 18. I have a theory that Vince McMahon thought Austin Aries was Bobby Roode, and that when they hired the real Bobby Roode, Vince immediately said, “Well, then who the fuck is this guy?” 

Grade: F

[anxiety-trademark]

The week in review:

Raw 11/02 NXT 11/04 NXT UK 11/05 Smackdown 11/06

Raw:

Alexa just says, “he could be here,” then starts laughing. She’s like a walking red flag.

Love the difference in ‘play’ and ‘pain’, and I love how she’ll wave with either one depending on her intentions. Interesting to note that she’s left-handed, so every time she uses her right for ‘play’ it is absolutely a conscious decision.

Great editing to have Alexa disappear.

Randy’s got a hard life rn lmao.

Mandy and Dana’s gear looks fantastic.

Wow Lana is hella ballsy coming out there during their tag match.

Mandy Rose trying to use Octopus stretch? What an interesting world we live in.

I understand that Dana and Mandy might want the tag titles, I’m just not sure it’s wise to be fighting your future teammates ahead of SvS :/

Dana and Mandy do good team work, I just wish they’d work on the timing for their synchronized cartwheel + kick combo.

Pretty suplex, Shayna. Shayna’s probably the nicest most harmless bull you’ve ever seen. I become more and more of a fan every week.

Damn Mandy plays perfect defense but Shayna kicked out. Good teamwork though.

So Lana’s a face now because Nia and Shayna are assholes who have been tormenting her for like 7ish weeks? Do I have that right?

Oh sad, Lana accidentally screwed Dana and Mandy out of winning the titles. Ahhhh this is why Lana has no friends.

Lmfaooo. “What cuz [Lana’s] a little butthurt that I put her through a table?” “You put Lana through six tabl--” “I TOLD you NOT to say her name in my presence.” pffftt bye.

Weak finish to that promo. Hella rude to threaten to end someone’s career though, Nia. Hella rude.

I love Alexa’s enthusiasm when she’s the Firefly Funhouse version of herself.

Bro what the fuck. Christ these always have so much to digest.

I don’t... I don’t know what exactly her trick is... was that blood? Are we going for blood? That didn’t look like blood. It looked like melted fucking organs or something (or melted down candy/licorice/gelatin but let’s not get meta and ruin the fun)

I love the contacts. That’s an interesting look that I wish she’d carry on in her present day matches once she transforms into her evil, alternate self. Also noted that he used his ‘heal’ hand to turn her into the blood spitting, warped version... and I think it was the same last time, right? Was it his ‘heal’ hand last time? What does that mean in his eyes??

These are such a mindfuck ever since she joined his Funhouse. That’s not a complaint.

Why are they having Nia fight in 2 matches tonight? Why couldn’t they push this off a week?

First off, I really don’t like Lacey and Peyton together, and I’m actually quite fond of Lacey. She’s not the best worker, but she’s a fantastic entertainer, and that deserves much more respect than a random tag team with Peyton Royce.

Second, LOL at Shayna immediately clearing off the announce table. This is gonna be tragic and unfair. If I’m Lana, why the hell would I accept this match? Ego? WHAT EGO DOES LANA HAVE lol. This should be pointless in her eyes.

Lana your bravery isn’t gonna get you shit. Is Asuka gonna come out? Cuz that’s the only way you survive this.

Normally you won’t hear me cry about no selling like the dumbass iwc, but Lana did a pretty fucking high worked kick and should’ve nailed Nia in the side of the head/neck. Why wasn’t there a reaction to that? Lame. That should’ve stunned Nia at the very least. Made her flinch? Anything??

LMAO Nia just called her a pathetic piece of crap. Rolling.

Nia breaks up the pinfall attempt on Lana herself x2. Fantastic heel work. Don’t see that enough.

Peep the red marks on Lana’s back. Sad.

Fuck man, table number 7. That’s... that’s sad. Pretty bummed that NOBODY will come help her. 7 fucking times, whew.

Having a lot of the women appear multiple times tonight. Looking at how the Raw women’s division is being booked, I gotta say, SD is kinda over-bloated.

Oh cool I can actually see Alexa’s white tattoo on her shoulder blade in this lighting.

Nikki I’d advise you to not speak ill of the fiend. Also lesbireal, you iced her out the second you didn’t win the title against Bayley all those months ago.

Fucking LOVE those contacts why weren’t they a permanent part of her look as this version???

Highlight: Firefly Funhouse

---

NXT:

Ahh I love Dakota and Raquel’s matching colors.

Tbf, Dakota is a stepping stone, she just SHOULDN’T be cuz she’s way too good for that.

Dakota is so fucking scrawny. I really hope she isn’t just deemed a jobber on the MR. She needs to keep that speed up or bulk up a little.

lolol you know what Ember, you fucked around and ate a ringpost. Serves you right.

Nice armbar, Dakota. Now sit up and lock in the dis-arm-her (she won’t)

Dakota’s leading this match, peeped that call.

Ember’s suicide dive is so vicious. Like a missile straight up impaling her opponent.

LOL Dakota dodged the second. Again serves you right, the double suicide dive is Seth’s move.

Damn Dakota fucking NAILED her with that kick upside the head. You seeing stars Ember? Cuz you should be seeing stars. That was NOT a thigh slapper, that had an audible pop.

Yeahhh Dakota is absolutely the face in this match and you cannot tell me different. Ember’s arrogance is infuriating. Girl legit failed on the MR and she comes down there with an ego (in kf) tf outta here.

Love how people in nxt are constantly trying to use the Bank Statement but it NEVER looks as good as Sasha’s. Take a hint.

Love how Dakota utilizes these arm bars, that’s so random to me, has she always used submissions? Probably.

Why are we showing Ember dramatically hulk up like I care?

“This is Ember’s law” WHAT IS EMBER’S LAW FFS

HAHA atta girl Dakota, atta girl. That’s the homie, good for you. Fuck Ember’s law.

Shotzi PLEASE I could actually like you if you didn’t make me want to punch my 27″ monitor every time you fucking howled.

Also why you’d ever choose to face Toni over Rhea is beyond me but whatever.

This is not a whole new Toni Storm. You’re the friggin same. Ember has changed more than you and she didn’t even have a heel turn.

And why is the term ‘stepping stone’ being shoved down my throat this week?

Interesting that Io has chosen to tie things up with Rhea, but that’s to be expected. See now, if I was wwe, I would’ve called up Rhea immediately after this title match took place, but I already know that doesn’t happen.

Odd that they never show footage of Charlotte when they play back clips of In Your House. Triple h really that salty that she beat Rhea? Fuck man, Rhea needed that loss. Did her good.

Io: “I’m not afraid of Nightmare” I liked that.

“2020 has been complete trash,” what a babyface line by Rhea tbh.

Rhea idk when you’ll get to hold the gold again, but it’s not gonna be anytime soon. Your best hope is that you’ll win the Royal Rumble. Your second best hope is that they’ll move you to Raw and at some point in 2021, you can potentially make the Raw women’s championship meaningful again... what with it being devalued to hell since Becky left. Your realistic hope says maybe you can hold it by the time SummerSlam 2022 rolls around.

oof Shotzi’s big mad lmao. At least we skipped her lengthy entrance and that stupid howl.

Ohhhh nooooo Shotzi botched a vault like 20 seconds in. Oh man that wasn’t even just ugly, she fucking wiped out. Yikes. Yikes. Go back to the pc hun, practice that a couple dozen times more, cuz that’s the type of shit that’s gonna keep you down in nxt.

“you gotta wonder where [Shotzi’s] mind is” sure... sure...

Oh the tank’s a nod to her cousin in the military, interesting.

That cannonball was way too high anyway, Shotzi. You were never gonna make impact with that.

Holy shit Shotzi looks sloppy as fuck tonight. Usually it’s her ring work that I compliment, but good lord. Out here looking like the low card.

“Shotzi Blackheart just has not been herself so far in this one,” no this is practically a carry.

Yikes these restholds. Awful match. Do a Storm Zero and call it a night.

Christ and Shotzi fumbles on Toni’s Northern Lights Suplex. Mk.

“This match has certainly lived up to the hype” wow then y’all have LOW expectations.

No she didn’t get all of the ddt, and she could’ve ended her damn career with a dumb move like that for some throwaway tv match. Holy shit she’s such an extreme indie performer.

WOW so we sit through this long ass dreadful fuck up of a match, do a potential career ending move, then the ref just... stops counting cuz ???? and Candice pops up on screen just to get Shotzi’s attention. Hello? WHAT IS THIS TRAINWRECK. Negative 8 points to Shotzi and Candice (just because I don’t like Candice) and plus 3 to Toni for having to deal with this bullshit on her second match in nxt.

Dumb. Toni should’ve been counted out, and she should’ve been allowed to hit Shotzi with a finisher. Dumb.

lmao fuck that tank. I don’t even like Candice, either. gg. Plus 2 points.

I thought Toni was a heel? Lame. Negative 2 points for continuity.

If Xia says the letters from her family are personal, then they’re personal. Leave her the fuck alone, tmz.

Xia vs Raquel?? Lol good luck man.

Highlight: Dakota vs Ember

---

NXT UK:

Ah a squash match for Jinny, mk.

This girl looks ridiculous.

Nice impact on the Irish Whip into the corner.

Lol no selling Jinny’s stomps, ooookay.

Jinny has this aggressive wrestling style, but I feel like Bayley could toss her around lmao.

Someone give me a dollar every time Jinny calls her ‘stupid’ so I can buy a new car.

Kay so this James girl is hella athletic, that’s nice.

Rolling lightning kick? That’s your finish?? A recklessly blind heel kick while somersaulting??? Alllright, anyway.

lol plz, you’re no queen.

Ah yes a match I have ZERO interest in: Piper vs Jinny. Give KLR a squash match, I’m bored.

SPEAKING OF MY UK QUEEN

Jeeze look at KLR’s arms. Whew.

She’s so much more entertaining than the rest of the division, holy hell.

LOL KLR. Look at her sell that fear. What a fucking performer, goodbye. All the points to KLR.

Piper, KLR’s hair is way too fucking gorgeous for you to be pulling her around by it. The blatant disrespect. And you dare touch her title? Rude. RUDE.

Highlight: KLR existing

---

Smackdown:

Great video package but I have to highlight the way Sasha just sat there against the ropes staring at Bayley for what, 2 minutes? Before even acknowledging she had won the title. That was fantastic.

What’s funny is I watched their hiac match live cuz I wasn’t sure Sasha would actually win, but I never bothered with this one, because I KNEW Sasha’s curse had been broken. I knew it’d be against Bayley that she’d retain her title for the first time.

kekekek Bayley’s so fucking obnoxious.

Beautiful opening sequences. Not often can people do that particular sequence with Sasha, I think I’ve only seen Becky do it on the MR (could be mistaken)

Nice baseball slide while pulling Bayley’s ankle off the apron. Smooth af.

Jeeesus Bayley launched Sasha into the air just for Sasha to smack the apron and crash hard on the floor. Points to everyone.

Bayley playing gassed as if she’s actually tired, when we all know this girl’s stamina is aces above the rest.

Beautiful elbow drop to Bayley as she’s hanging off the apron.

Bayley sort of no sells the backstabber and goes for a messy Bayley to belly as Sasha counters into her Bank Statement. The idea for that sequence was there, the execution was not.

Oh shit Bayley hit her with the Eddie Guerrero swerve that didn’t pan out, and then popped a backstabber on her. Lmao nice.

Sasha kicks out of a Bayley to belly and flying elbow. Guess we’re showcasing her resilience as a champion. Solid.

Bayley’s so fucking fast. I love watching her wrestle when she’s not spending all of her time on the defense, holy shit.

Lmao now Bayley has her in the Bank Statement. Nobody does it like Sasha though, and there’s why.

Great match, great match. Real treat. Le curse is finally broken.

Peeped Sasha kicked her in the face on the apron, just as Bayley did when she turned on her. Nice storytelling. I enjoyed the in ring stuff with these 2, but holy shit I’m glad this feud’s over.

Man oh man do I hate Mella’s lipstick lol. I do, however, like her as Sasha’s first opponent.

Nattie: “I shouldn’t have been put in that triple threat match,” Also Nattie: “I think we should do a triple threat match,” Is ‘crazy cat lady’ ALWAYS going to be Nattie’s gimmick?

I really hate seeing other women besides Charlotte wearing Gucci, and I know that’s fucking insane but it is what it is.

This should’ve been on the show, wtf wwe. 

Do the commentators not know what’s fucking happening lol?

The speed of this is as if they were told they have 3 mins, make everyone shine.

Just watched a match where Charlotte hit a Natural Selection on Nattie while Nattie had the Sharpshooter applied to someone, and she bumped it perfectly. Why that Running Bulldog looked atrocious, I’ll never know.

Should’ve given me the video explaining why this match is happening. Did Sasha and Bayley go over time? Dumb that this was so rushed.

hahaha Nattie got fucked out of 2 svs team qualifying matches in a row. That’s hilarious.

Highlight: Bayley vs Sasha

---

*Raw shined the brightest as a whole, but Bayley vs Sasha was the star segment of the week.

[happenable-blog]

WWE SmackDown Live - 19/03/19: Highlights & Review

The Miz kicks-off SmackDown Live The Miz comes out and cued a video package that showed us the footage of previous week of Fastlane and SmackDown Live when Shane turned on Miz and made the match against him for WrestleMania. Back live, Miz said he has sacrificed every relationship over the years for his road to WrestleMania. He teamed up with Shane only to make his Dad proud. People warned Miz to watch yourself, but he didn't listen to them. He said to Shane, "You were not born the Best in the World, you are a McMahon you were born the worst."  He said you don’t own me or Kofi. The crowd cheered. He said that he wasn’t born rich he worked hard to achieve his success. Over the course of 13 years he have earned every bit of respect that he have now. The crowd chants "You deserve it". Miz replied You are damn right I do, and Shane deserves the ass whopping that he will give him at WrestleMania.

A great promo by Miz. He was very passionate about it. Well acted and very well delivered from. He also had this awesome line which could easily be a stolen inspirational quote but I loved it: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard enough. Rating: 4/5 WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Banks & Bayley vs IIconics IIconics cut a promo while they made their entrance. They said that the Banks and Bayley tried to stay at home turf, even going back to NXT. Then they got chaffed off by Nia and Tamina on Raw. According to them, they have saved the best for the last as they finally decide to come to SmackDown Live and the last will be Iconic. The crowd chanted for Bayley. Bayley is dominating the match against Billie Kay. Lacey Evans made her appearance just to walk back. I totally forgot that she didn't do it on Raw. The distraction allowed IIconics to take the upper edge and beat down Bayley. IIconics work over  Bayley. This led to the hot tag to Sasha. Sasha led the comeback against Peyton. She tried to rally the crowd but only a mild cheer. She hit her double knees from the top rope. Billie Kay held Banks' leg back. Bayley came out to save but ate a kick by Billie. As Peyton went for the pin Billie holds Sasha's hand for the win Winner: IIconics It was a fine match. IIconics got the win to put them over as the fourth contender for the possible four corner tag team match at Mania. But the thing is that I am not invested in it. Rating: 3/5 Rey Mysterio has an interview backstage. He introduced us to his son who is grown to be way taller than him. He said that he will face Samoa Joe for the US title at WrestleMania. His son got some mic time saying that Joe is a bully and his dad will beat him down to win the US title at mania as he will be sitting in the front row. The Kevin Owens show with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair Kevin Owens wore a red tie and a suit for the return of the Kevin Owens show on SmackDown Live. He welcomed us to the new and improved KO show.  He started with some humor. And as every face should, he mentioned that he is rooting for Kofi in the main event. He proceeds to welcome “The Man” Becky Lynch out to the ring. The crowd cheered and then booed for the next guest who was Charlotte. Both the women sat down across the table. The crowd chanted Becky. Kevin said that he knows how best friends can get under your skin. Owens read some of the statements made by Ronda to Becky from the KO cue cards. Then he tried to set fire between his two guests by saying the statements made by them to each other. Owens told them that no one wants to see them talk anymore. Everyone wants to see them fight. Charlotte said that she will beat the holy hell out of Becky. Before Becky could reply Owens just went out of the ring instead of just disappearing. Becky attacked Charlotte and an all-out brawl starts between the two. They traded punches and kicks on one another. Charlotte even slapped one of the security guards who ran down there to separate the two.

Kevin Owens was great in the segment. He was really funny and come out as a great face. The brawl between the two women will really help rebuild some of the lost hype of this feud. Great segment overall. Rating: 4/5 Kayla is backstage with AJ Styles. He said that Orton may have an advantage over him. It is his home ground after all. But at WrestleMania, he is not going to build he is going to tear the house down. And as every face should. He mentions he is rooting for Kofi in the main event. Daniel Bryan Promo Before the gauntlet match starts Daniel Bryan cuts a promo. He said that Kofi being in the gauntlet match is an injustice to him. He reminded everyone that Kofi has never earned a shot for his title. Kofi was handpicked out of the tag team division and given a title shot at Elimination Chamber from nowhere. He did fight valiantly in the previous gauntlet match and at Elimination Chamber but he lost. So he has not earned anything. It doesn’t matter how much they chant Kofi (which they weren't but started chanting after this), he is a B+ player at best. He has earned nothing. It was a good promo by Bryan. And the B+ line was only there to get heat from the crowd. It also shows the hypocrisy of Bryan as he was considered a B+ back in the authority days. Rating: 3.5/5 New day’s music interrupts Bryan. Big E and Woods hugged Kofi before going back and left Kofi to fight on his own. The Bar came out next. Kofi will face one of them to start the gauntlet. Gauntlet Match Kofi Kingston vs Sheamus I thought that Rowan will start the match that is why he and Bryan came out first, but whatever. The commentator made us know that the rest of the New Day is barred from ringside. That made sense. I was like why they left Kofi to fight alone. The crowd chants, "You look stupid" to Sheamus. Kofi is laughing at this. Kofi throws Sheamus outside and trust falls on him over the top rope. As the ref was ushing back Sheamus from the ropes, Cesaro uppercuts Kofi for a two count.  Every comeback attempt from kofi was shot down by Sheamus so far. Kofi does the Boom/New Day drop. Sheamus caught Kofi attempting the Trouble in Paradise. He tried to go for cloverleaf, but Kofi countered. Top rope crossbody by Kofi for a two count. Sheamus hits him with an Irish curse backbreaker led by the cloverleaf. Kofi smartly countered it to a pin attempt but a kick out. The Usos joins the New Day backstage watching the match. Sheamus went for the Brogue Kick. Kofi countered with a roll up. Sheamus kicks out but is taken down by the Trouble in Paradise instantly after. Sheamus is eliminated. Backstage the Hardys and Mustafa Ali joins to watch Kofi’s match. Kofi Kingston vs Cesaro Cesaro hits some uppercuts to start things off. Kofi attempts springboard move but Cesaro caught him and hit him with a backbreaker.

Cesaro does the swing to Kofi. He transitioned it into a cloverleaf instantly. Kofi grabs Cesaro’s leg and tried to roll him but Cesaro countered it into a suplex. He went for the Neutraliser. Kofi counters and hits SOS for the pin. Cesaro is eliminated Didn’t like how Kofi just hit one move to win against Cesaro. He should have had some more offence in the match. Kofi Kingston vs Rowan Rowan starts with a wicked clothesline. Followed by another clothesline on the outside. He just kept slamming Kofi over to the barricade. Rowan grabbed a chair and beat kofi with it to get disqualified Rowan is eliminated The 7-foot monster continued to beat Kofi even after he is eliminated. Backstage the new day is not happy with some more babyface joining them. Rowan put Kofi through the announce table with the Iron Claw laying him out. Kofi Kingston vs Samoa Joe The match got started in the break. Joe dominates Kofi for the majority if the match. Joe denied Kofi's comeback with a clothesline that turned him 180. The camera cuts backstage with more babyfaces watching the match now. Joe went for coquina clutch but Kofi countered with a stunner. Joe comes back with an urinagi. Kofi tried to come back but he is just too exhausted. Joe went for a  muscle buster but Kofi countered with a roll up to eliminate Joe. Samoa joe is eliminated

Backstage everyone is celebrating. Joe is furious and applies the coquina clutch through the ropes to choke Kofi out. Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton Orton is working over Kofi. He calls Kofi stupid (flashbacks). Kofi throw him to the steel steps but Kofi doesn’t have enough left to make it count. Commentators acknowledged this being poetic justice when back in 2010 Orton stopped the ascend of Kofi in his feud. Orton just dominated the match. Orton went for RKO Kofi countered and hit Trouble in Paradise but he doesn't have enough left to go for the cover. He tried to crawl to go for the cover but Orton rolled out of the ring. Orton gets back in the match. Kofi has been in the match for 50+ minutes by this point. Orton hits his signature rope DDT. Orton went for the RKO but kofi rolled him over for the win. Winner: Kofi Kingston The new day comes out to congratulate Kofi and lifts him up on their shoulders and points at the WrestleMania sign. The crowd is celebrating with the New Day... But it is interrupted by Vince's Music. Vince McMahon comes out to congratulate Kofi and tells him that Kofi is going to WrestleMania as soon as he beats this one last man. Big E and Woods must leave now as they are still barred. Bryan comes out as the last man Kofi must face. Kofi Kingston vs Daniel Bryan

Bryan laid his kicks in the corner. The crowd chants NO to every kick. Bryan hits Kofi with a Back suplex from the top rope. He locks in the LeBell lock but Kofi forces a ropebreak. The crowd is super hot by this moment. Kofi tried to hit SOS but didn’t get all of it as he couldn’t roll over. This allowed Bryan to kick out. Bryan hits his running kicks to the corner led by stomps on kofi’s head. He does his Yes chants to call out for the running knee. He hits it and pins Kofi for the win. Winner: Daniel Bryan The individual matches may not be great. But they were average or sub-par at best but the story of told throughout. Kofi being too exhausted and finally beating all odds inky to get screwed by Vince yet again. This was great. I was genuinely heartbroken when Bryan pinned Kofi to lay him out. I am pretty sure he is going to get his match but I got worked at that moment and hated Vince, just what they wanted. Rating: 4/5 This was a very enjoyable episode of SmackDown Live. The promos were good. The wrestling was fine if not superb. And it gets me excited for next week. How will Kofi get added to the match? It is getting really interesting. It is funny how Raw just makes me want to kill myself while watching wrestling but SmackDown Live just reminds me why I love wrestling so much. SmackDown Live Rating: 4.5/5 Check out the previous night's Raw Review here. Also, check out previous SmackDown Live reviews here. Read the full article

[kamizite]

Predictions and Rants. Wrestlemania 33 edition!!!

Sigh… what happened guys? If you watch the monthly podcast you know the theme of the brand split has been Smackdown has weak cards on Paper that Over perform and Raw has Strong cards on paper that underperform.  The Big joint PPVs have been decent some of them actually really good (Survivor Series) and some of them just okay (Royal Rumble).

So here we are… in Pointing Season and I have to say… I’m not feeling this years Wrestlemania. Will I still watch it?  Yeah probably but her is just a few thoughts and predictions on the upcoming card.

 Honorable Mention

 Luke Harper. As of right now he has not been entered in the Battle Royal and odds are he will be relegated to nothing or interference in the Orton/Waytt Main Event. Don’t worry Luke. I’ll be Sunday and we all will know what that really means. That you are Number 1 in our hearts.

The Smackdown Tag Team Championship The division was Dead after American alpha won Tag Team Turmoil. Ironcally that’s my favorite match type but the way the went about it just.. ug.  The SDTTD from the start has basically been NXT (Breezango individually, and Hype Bros. Vaudevillians, American Alpha, The Ascension, Rhyno and one of the Original NXTers Heath Slater)   w/ the Usos. With the exception of AA and the USO ever everyone else has been treated like Clown shoes before and after the brand split.  All that being said… they deserve a championship match at the biggest show of the year and to now be relegated as filler for the Battle Royal.

 The Precook

Alexa Bliss Vs. The World.  So if the punch line here was to have Naomi win the title in her home state… why did they give it to her at Elimination Chamber and had her surrender it the two weeks later?  Was that injury legit and they were playing it safe?  Would this “all available women on the roster” type hype better fit crowning a New Smackdown Women’s Champion at Mania then the one off Match with Becky and the shit show that followed? For that Matter, What is with the STILL “We aren’t sure what match we’re having” nonsense. Alexa deserves better than this, throw away make sure everyone get to play match. Becky Deserves better. Mickie Deserves better. The SDWD is not your filler match Danmit!  With that said, I look for Naomi or some unnamed as of yet participant to walk away.

 The Only Cruiserweights that Matter: Austin Ares vs. nEVILle Seriously.. with the possible exceptions of Jack Gallagher and THE (not A) Brian Kendrick is there any one else that matters? 205 live has been an unmitigated Disaster. The writing is horrible, they perform in front of a dead crowd after the main event of Smackdown, The Wrestling is good but the writing is shoddy. I really feels like 205 Live is better served doing it’s own thing, maybe from the NXT arena where you can get a small but enthusiastic group to help embrace these characters and will appreciate work rate. ALL that being said A Dub has returned and it’s good to see him and rightfully he’s the money match for the man that is single handedly trying to save this division.  I love Heel nEVILle. I also love that A dub is owning the crap out of being Precooked by saying that it just needed to be elevated and he’s the right guy for the job. This is the guy we needed when he debuted. On any other show I’d say the nEVILle retains so we can get a good story out of this but this is pointing season, A Dub is coming back from a pretty harsh injury and this is the show where fairytales come true. A Dub for the win.

“Has Everyone (But Luke Harper) gotten a turn to play?” Battle Royal can you tell I’m a little bitter about his exclusion from the show? Look this is an excuse to get everyone on the card. Winner it did not help Cesaro at 30, Didn’t Help  Big show at 31, and did nothing for A-Ron Corbi at 32. The fact that this battle Royal has Bruan Stowman who has been flying in the last six months and Sami freaking Zayn A.K.A. the best God dam worker on the card is criminal! CRIMINAL! I look for Stowman to win this but we’re all adults here. I don’t care, You don’t care, No body cares.

The Show Proper

In my last rant I talked about how the disrespect to Smackdown was just so apparent. A day removed from that rant, I feel even more strongly that Smackdown is being hamstrung because they are perceive in management as “The B show”. I bleed Smackdown Blue and I will always Rep for them as they are much better than the Trips and Steph show. But with that said let’s talk about

Good Brothers v. Shamsaro v. The Realest Jobbers in the Room (Competitive Lightbulb Changing Match for the Raw Tag team titles) At least the new day are in this match. I love the new day but I think they are just perfect operating as hosts and hopefully can go to smackdown and return to their heelish ways. So confession time. I thought the cop out of the Sheamus/Cesaro best of 7 series was weak sauce and I HATED the thought of them as a tag team mostly because Cesaro deserves a serious singles run. But I’m Always one to admit when I’m wrong and they have won me over. I even dig that Bourg Kick/Hart Attack Move they did a couple of weeks ago but then I’m a sucker for a Tag Team finisher.  I will Always Mark for gallows and Anderson and the E has seriously dropped the ball with them. I have to wonder if their storyline got wrecked when Finn went down with an injury and they had no clue what to do with them. You know what.. I’m also going to say it. I. HATE. Enzo and Cass. Mostly Enzo. His character is not a good person, he drags Cass down who was; months ago competing for the universal championship. He makes more trouble then he solves, and always talking about thing that I MOST CERTAINLY CAN TEACH ENZO! I CAN TEACH ALL THOSE THINGS IN YOUR MONOLOGUE! *ahem* Anyway.  The ladders is just a reason to make them the first match at mania. I’m sorry to say this but I think the Realest Jobbers In the Room are gonna walk away with their first Tag Team championship, if for any reason that this is the only match that Enzo and his no offense self can conceivably win.  

Dean Ambrose vs A-ron Corbi/Boring Crobin (take your pick) for the Intercontental Championship here’s a fun fact, the last PPV the IC belt was defended on was TLC In December with Miz and Dolph. Man remember all the hard work they put in to elevate that title after the brand split and should have rightfully been the main event of no mercy?  Also, I’m a Big dean Ambrose fan but why is it when he gets a singles belt does it suddenly not get defended. I mean he had to with the World Title but this is exactly what happened with his US title run. Again I love Ambrose, and I think this is going to be a great match. All joking aside Corbin has made himself interesting despite the writes booking him like a schmuck that couldn’t win a match against Dolph Ziggler with a broken neck (real thing that happened)  Now that they are booking him like a monster I’m interested in what he does and of course that’s when they relegate most of his stuff in the last three weeks to “Oh yeah this happened” segments between matches, talking smack, and the pay off last week where the match has been official. I think Baron is gonna walk away with the title here. He needs it for legitimacy. Plus the faces can’t win every match.

Good Friends, Better Enemies (Kevin Owens V. Chris Jericho for the US title.) This should have been for the Universal Championship. It really should have. Jericho is so good these days he’s gotten a dammed list over and with KO it was super entertaining to see them week in and out. Especially the After RAW shenanigans with the Undertaker I got to see live! I love the return to the intense prize fighter Owens and I think this match if gonna possibly be match of the night. Huh… I just realized.  Samoa Joe isn’t booked on the card.  That can’t be good for Larerell’s Favorite Wrestler. K.O. for the win and the title because this is going to become the important belt. More on that later.

Total Diva’s: The Match (Big Match John and Super Girl vs. The Marine and Mrs. The Marine for… reasons) confession time again. Last year I said the Miz needed to be a manager, that he just wasn’t cut out for Wrestling but would be a great mouth piece. It’s on youtube so I can’t act like I didn’t say it. I was wrong. I was so Wrong. The Miz has made me believe him. The Miz made the IC belt worth while. His Promos over the last 6 weeks with John Cena have been Straight Fire! (Sorry Dame Dolph Ziggler) I’m more invested in this match then any other on Smackdown’s side. Maryse was a good wrestler back in the Diva’s Era so I’m interested to see what she can bring to the table having been out of action so long. Nikki is serviceable in the ring I feel, I’m sure she has her fans. I’m not one of them but she works hard to put the best match she can and I really respect that. By all rights, Miz should… NEEDS to win this.  But it’s pointing Season and let’s be honest, You can’t Beat Super Man. Also look for John to Propose after the match. Just Sayin’.

Can someone please hold this Belt for more than 4 weeks!?! (Bailey v  Charlotte v Sasha Banks v Nia Jax Fatal Four way Elimination for the Raw Women’s championship) This feels less can everyone play but it illustrates a point. Stuff as many competitors in a Women’s Division match as you can. That’s a little harsh, I Realize but I mean.. would it Kill them to have a one on one match and put the other two in their own match? I’m just saying Smackdown’s Last PPV had three Women’s Matches. I’m a fan of all these Women, and I feel like Nia has been over looked in the division for a while if for the only reason as she feels like a Division Killer to me like Chyna, Awesome Kong, or Beth Phoenix was. Sahsa and Charolette  are always Awesome together and Throw Baily in the Mix and great stuff is bound to happen. As much as I want to say put it on Nia and settle down with the title swaps for a while, I think Bailey walks out because She is the epitome of a dream moment coming true.  

*sigh* We could have had Shawn (A.J. Styles Vs. Shane McMahon because Brock didn’t want to do it) I think it’s worse that Shawn said they offered him the match and he turned it down.  I mean. Michaels v. Styles?  Money.. just money all over. Not that I don’t Enjoy Shane-o-bump but this feels shoe horned in. I feel like when you have the best wrestler in the world you can find… you know… another wrestler for him to work with on the grandest stage of them all. That being said, Styles pulled good matchs out of Roman and Shane even in his 40’s is no slouch. But We’re all adults here. A.J. is winning. It is the only logical conclusion.

Seth Rollins vs Triple H in a Non-Sanctioned Match. There is a part of me, the part of me that will suspend my disbelief that worries that there is a nugget of truth in Rollins signing a Hold Harmless just so he doesn’t miss two straight manias. That being said, this is the logical conclusion to the turn that happened.. wow.. like three years ago. Pedigree vs (Less awesome looking) Pedigree.  You know, I know this is the Trips Vanity match and all buyt I really hope this is the last year for this because to a lesser extent I feel the same way about Rollins that I Do AJ. We could have had a better match with a full time worker here, but then when you on the Trips and Steph show and your facing Trips… I guess that’s as good as being in the world title match right? Right!?!  Anyway Trips wins with the help of Samoa Joe (he has the meats).

You don’t mess with a man’s Fries, You don’t mess with a Man’s Yard. (Roman Reigns Vs Undertaker for… the yard I guess?) So I said that Smackdown had 4 main card matches to Raw’s 6. Then I was corrected when someone pointed out that The Undertaker was a smackdown Talent so technically that’s 4.5 to 5.5.  Alright, so then… When was the last time Taker was on Smackdown? Before Survivor Series? Has this match had anything significant happen on Smack down like Roman showing up looking for Captain Black hat and Fog? No?  All of the buildup for this has been on Raw? My count still stands and that just makes me Angrier about the mistreatment of Team Blue. GOD I hope this is the end of the Roman Reigns Experiment. This needs to be His coming out party as a heel. I mean he’s main evented the last 2 wrestlemanias… and there’s a very good chance that since this is a “Crossbrand” Match with Taker that in order to not “show favoritism” to either brand that this ends up being the last match of the night. If they play this like Heel reigns finally having it with the cans and having his “The Rock joins the Nation” moment this could be pretty good. If they keep on with this “He’s So Polerizing” stuff.. this could be really bad.  I choose to be optimistic which means…. Roman win by cheating. Belee Dat!

Should Be the Main Event (Bray Wyatt Vs. Randell Q Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship) The World Heavyweight Championship is the only True World Championship. It has the lineage. It doesn’t look Ridiculous. Randell Q Orton won the Royal Rumble which (at least in the last two years) Mean you are the Main event (read: Last match) of WrestleMania. Odds are it won’t be and I’ll be honest.. besides the reasons stated above, I’m not sure it deserves to be. It’s been a long boil to this point with Randy joining the wyatts driving a wedge between Bray and Luke, and then Double crossing bray and performing Arson.  And HE’S The good guy!  I mean in the last six week things have gotten… well weird. There was the aforementioned Arson skit which Ran… like ten minutes too long with all it’s creep cuts and transition and awkward pauses. We’ve had Bray rubbing dirt and ashes all over himself.  We’ve had his version of the Druid the uh… Rowans?  Sheeple?  I don’t know what to call them. But yeah that last week. And then Randel Q. Orton last night drive a Crusix.. or whatever they called it that was on fire into the ground where he burned Bray house down. So uh… yeah. I’m gonna ignore the obvious signs and say Bray wins this.  They want him to be the New Taker he needs a big win and really He’s the Face in this match.

Will Probably Be the Main Event (Cold Beer Vs Bork Lazer for the WWE Universal Championship of the World.) Back at Survivor Series, everyone blew they lids when Cold Beer won his match in like 2 minutes. My reactions was “Because of course he did. How did I not see that coming?  THAT, is the Goldberg Match.” It was a great way to build a Wrestlmania rematch AND get Bork out of his then plans to fight Shane-o-bump. It would be the match we deserved 13 years ago at Wrestlemania 20! It would heal that eyesore of a match! Then Goldberg Won the Universal Championship. Then I got REAL over this feud, REAL fast. Goldberg in his prime was not a long match kind of guy. Goldberg now has not been in the ring for more than 5 minutes of active match time. Brock’s matchs are Suxplex, suplex suplex, hope spot, suplex suplex suplex, f5. I do not have high hopes for this match. Add to the fact both these guys are part timers and are not going to be at Every Raw PPV, Ever Raw Show, and CERTIANLY not any House shows, this cheapens an already new belt with dubious credibility. It’s one of those Rare time the Belt actually takes away my interest in the match.  Regardless… this can only end in Brock getting his win back  and if the Plan’s are to be believed of a Roman v. Brock Main event at 34, There is a good chance he might hold that belt all year. Because you know… it did so much for the other title when Brock held, and didn’t defend it last time. Unless Finn win’s it back on Raw the night after.

And… Wow… that really got away from me.  So That’s my Rant/Prediction of Wrestlemania. I know I sound like I’m pretty cynical but once I am watching it I’ll totally be into it. Because I’m a mark and I’m proud of that.

Edited: for Clarity and because of course i missed all my spelling mistakes and probably still have missed some. Oh Well.

[thesrr]

My Review on the WWE Royal Rumble

Decided to give my thoughts on the WWE Royal Rumble since this is the first day fully back from Ponycon. So if you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend you do before reading. Or if you’re like me and don’t care for spoilers, go ahead.

NXT TakeOver: San Antonio

To me, the big 4 PPVs don’t start an hour earlier. They start a day earlier with NXT TakeOver. These are like PPVs themselves and sometimes even better than the Big 4. So I’m going to review them alongside the Royal Rumble and treat them all as one big event. Because they are.

Eric Young Vs Tye Dillinger

Been a fan of Eric Young even in TNA. While him winning the world Championship was definitely copying Daniel Bryan, he did deserve it. Nice to see him not do a joke gimmick in the WWE so people new to him can treat him seriously from the start. As for Tye, he has grown on me. To think, only Stonecold and DB were capable of getting one word over and he joins them with “10″.

Nice to see Eric give him one more chance to join. Made it seem he really did want him to join Sanity. But seeing how Tye rejected it was really smart. You can’t disqualify someone for giving back their jacket. If Tye does indeed move to the Main Roster, this is a great completion of his time in NXT. I’m not a fan of heels with minions but I could when done right. And Sanity I felt is done right.

They’re big an intimidating, but they’re not the sole reason Eric Young wins matches. Eric Young is capable of winning his own battles (through underhanded tactics but still on his own). They’re not someone who shows up in the final moments of the match and makes it easy for the heel to win. Overall, an excellent opening to the rest of TakeOver and the Royal Rumble in general.

Samoa Joe in the Audience

If I saw this live, I would have thought “if he’s there, that means he MUST be appearing at the Rumble.” Sadly, I would be wrong.

Roderick Strong Vs Andrade Almas

While I heard of Roderick Strong, I sadly never seen him wrestle outside the WWE. Seeing him has been impressive so far. Andrade Almas I felt was smart to go heel. As a face, he didn’t provide much impact. Especially when he got overshadowed by others coming into NXT. He has been working better as a heel than a face.

The two work really well together. Almas was a fun cocky heel while Strong at times lived up to his name and more by being also pretty agile and quick. Awesome match overall. Both of them would be awesome to see on Raw or Smackdown. 

The Authors of Pain Vs DIY

Outside having Paul Ellering as a manager, I don’t see them being a Road Warriors ripoff. I see this more of Paul wanting to be known more than that guy who managed the Road Warriors. He want to be the guy known for managing champions. And unlike the Disciples of Apocalypse, these two definitely have the look of being Tag Team Champions. I just didn’t like how they won the later rounds of the Dusty Rhodes Tournament. Makes them look weak when they really aren’t.

DIY are frikkin impressive alone and together. They were the Match of Round 1 and possibly even the Entire Tournament of the Cruiserweight Classic. And seeing them take on The Revival all those times proved they have what it takes as single competitors or a team. 206, Raw, Smackdown, these two definitely deserve a call up.

The match told a good story. When DIY were in control, they had a strong intensity and excitement. When AoP were in control, they told the story of big men Vs smaller men very well in both having the advantage and losing it. Seeing Tommaso German Suplex both of them one after another was awesome! That double submission being broken was also an awesome spot! 

This is how the AoP should have won the Dusty Classic: by just being dominate. Definitely beatable, but still showing they could dominate. I hope these two teams collide again in the future. So far, the current match were superior to the previous. I wonder if this can keep up.

Seth Rollins invades NXT

More evidence that TakeOver is part of the Big 4 Events. While this could have been done in the Royal Rumble, seeing it part of NXT really shows how close NXT is to the Main Stage. Would love to see more of this sometimes. Maybe a special event where some NXT stars take on WWE Main Stage ones. The Revival Vs America Alpha would show why both teams are a must see. Joe Vs Styles in the WWE. Sanity Vs Wyatts. A lot of fun possibilities without the need to call them up.

Asuka Vs Nikki Cross Vs Billie Kay Vs Peyton Royce

Asuka is fun: nuff said. Can’t tell if she is a heel or a face but I love the fact that when she asked for a match that she demanded all of them. I don’t remember much of Nikki prior to being in Sanity, but talk about making a nice change. This new gimmick is very fun.

Billy and Peyton, on the other hand, I’m not a fan of. As I said before, I prefer heels who can do things on their own. Either by being completely dominate like the AoP did or being sneaky on their own like Eric Young or the Miz. These two do it in a way I dislike: unable to do anything themselves unless they have numbers. Take away the numbers and they are not a threat and honestly not worthy of a title shot.

And the opening proved it as the two acted more like scared children than wrestlers. They also ruin Asuka and Nikki face each other. When those two collide, its frikkin fun! Intensity Vs Insanity. But when Billie and Peyton join, it slows it down and they  continue to work as a team. Its like you have two high speed cars in a race but they have to stop to allow two kids on a tandem bike to catch up.

I will say the Double Suplex off the Announce Table was a cool spot. And in another positive, unlike Jericho and Owens, the two actually didn’t care who got the pin. As long as they have the belt in their possession. But if they didn’t care who won, why not allow one to pin the other? Most likely because neither one wanted to be the one pinned, so pinning the champion would prove their dominance.

But I am glad Asuka defeated the pair while Nikki was taken out via Double Suplex off Announcer Table to Table. It made sure those two are out of the title hunt because they both failed to defeat her and Nikki can get an actual one on one match in the future.

Bobby Roode Vs Shinsuke Nakamura

All I’ve seen on Shinsuke was what he has shown in the WWE. And the first moment he arrived, I believed he was made to be on the Main Stage of the WWE. It was like Japan wanted to design their version of a WWE Superstar and Shinsuke Nakamura is that final product. He is probably going to have the greatest Wrestlemania Entrance ever in the future.

Bobby Roode I saw a lot in TNA. My first real taste of him turning heel was after the first ever TNA event where the winner of a grueling tournament would face the champion. Bobby Roode won that, only to lose the match at the PPV. That was bad in itself, but it got even worse when James Storm, his partner at the time, WON THE TITLE on TV after that. After that, Roode turned heel and won the title. It would have been so much smarter to just have Roode win it all and then turn heel.

But I blame TNA for that and not Bobby Roode. As part of Beer Money I felt the two had a license to print money. As a heel he was great. And now as NXT, he definitely lives up to his new theme song and is Glorious. Though of his three entrances, this one was weaker than his other two TakeOver entrances. Eight ladies kind of pale in comparison with having an actual choir sing your theme song or descending from above to enter the ring.

It was a fun match until the ending. I do hope it was planned and not a real injury. Would hate to see this take Nakamura out of action. But either way, I am glad to see Bobby Roode as Champion in the WWE. If Shinsuke isn’t injured and this is storyline, I do hope we get to see these two again in the future.

Pre-Show

Now the Day of the PPV. NXT was awesome! But can the WWE Royal Rumble itself live up to that hype? Let’s see with the matches that weren’t officially on the card.

Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, and Naomi Vs Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Natalya

There is a lot of people here. Becky is fun. Nikki has been proving herself. And Naomi’s entrance, I hate to say, is more exciting than her. I like Alexa Bliss. She makes a unique heel. Mickie back in the WWE is fun to see. Thanks to her time on the Independent Circuit and TNA, she still has the chops. So weird that Natalya is a heel. As coach, she had a great face gimmick. Sure, it was humorous but it would have gotten over. Considering Tamina is back to full health, I would have had her be the one to attack Nikki.

First, Mickie definitely needs a new theme song. So use to hearing her theme song being more country thanks to her time in TNA. Second, all these story lines in one match? Maybe just have one of them being the pre-show and the others handled in the next PPV. Third, I wish they had an all women Royal Rumble. With the talk of the Woman’s Revolution, it would be cool to see a Full Rumble dedicated to the Wrestlers themselves. 

As for the match itself, that Triple Suplex was a fun spot. Other then that, it was an alright match. Definitely a downgrade after seeing all the TakeOver matches minutes ago. Luckily it wasn’t Mickie or Natalya who were pinned or Becky and Nikki getting the pin. This give Naomi the idea of a singles match at the Elimination Chamber PPV that they have been building up. If Mickie were pinned by Becky or Natalya was pinned by Nikki here, it would have watered down their feuds.

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson Vs Cesaro and Sheamus

I did enjoy Gallows in the WWE prior to his return. While being Kane was terrible (mostly because of the wig), his time with CM Punk was great. Festus was alright for a gimmick but seeing his real self was much better for him. In TNA, he was in Aces and Eights which I felt was a terrible fraction. Like I said with Billy and Peyton, I hate heels that relies on numbers. And I felt he had the same belief as he left TNA.

Now with Karl Anderson, they became part of the Bullet Club. While I haven’t seen much outside bits in ROH, even I heard of them. And they have been a good team but sadly haven’t gotten the chance to shine until recently. They definitely need a Team Name though. The Club is when they were with AJ Styles (as an allusion to the Bullet Club). 

Speaking of teams who could use a Team Name: Cesaro and Sheamus. I frikkin enjoy Cesaro, especially in recent time. He makes a great singles competitor and has a lot of fun matches. And even in this situation, he still provides fun. Sheamus I have no real problem with. As a face or a heel, he does his job the best he can. I just am tired to see these two together, be it a team or against each other. I feel they both need to move on to something different.

I like the idea of two referees out there. It would make annoying finishes harder to pull off legitimately since we get a ref not distracted by a wrestler. Downside is we don’t get to see the teamwork of heels due to the fact they can’t attack the wrestler while their partner in the ring is being pushed away by the ref.

As for the match itself, I barely notice the second referee except a few times. This could have been a regular tag team match. Besides that, it was a better match than the 3 on 3 but still down from AoP Vs DIY. But I am glad to see Gallows and Anderson finally win the Tag Team Titles.

Nia Jax Vs Sasha Banks

Sasha is definitely fun. Shame she never got the chance to shine as Women’s Champion. Instead, we see her continually choke on the PPVs. As for Nia, I always liked powerful women. I was hoping to see Awesome Kong (Kharma) be successful but sadly things were out of everyone’s hands. Nia did a great job during NXT and I hope she gets that treatment I was hoping to see in WWE.

As for the match itself, it felt like a TV match than a PPV match. Makes sense since this is not the PPV. Technically a stomp for Nia to prove her dominance. So if she were to ever actually go for the Women’s Title, she would have steam behind her.

The Royal Rumble PPV

So far, NXT TakeOver was Superior to the Pre-Show. But then again, the Pre-Show is not the PPV itself. So can its four single matches match or surpass the ones on NXT?

Charlotte Flair Vs Bayley

Charlotte is a mix bag for me. When she’s alone, I feel she is a great heel. But when she was with someone (be it her father or Dana Brooke), I feel she is a terrible one. Like I said, I like my heels who can win on their own: be it dominance or using tricks. Those two directly interfere in the finish making it worse for me. Bayley I hoped would win the title here. Her character is fun and her last set of matches on TakeOver were great! I am hoping she would get the same kind of success on the Main Roster as she did in NXT.

For the match itself, it was pretty good. A little botchy in the beginning but some great moves from both of them (like the Back Slide Reversal from Charlotte). Definitely better than the NXT Women’s Match because they didn’t have to drag two others with them. And Charlotte goes for a dominance victory with a Natural Selection to the apron. Shame Bayley lost cleanly, but she was defeated by a strong attack like that and that at least doesn’t lower her rankings in my book.

Kevin Owens Vs Roman Reigns

I haven’t seen Kevin Steen prior to the WWE, but he has been a fun heel in NXT and his feud with John Cena. Sadly, as Universal Champion he has been hampered with being a bad heel due to needing the assistance. Kevin definitely can be a dominate heel and he has in the past. But honestly he has to stop being Besties with Jericho and be the show.

I don’t really have a problem with Roman. I believe he has been pushed too soon. And I can see why people dislike Roman due to all the “shoving him down our throats”. Hopefully he can develop into his own in the future and actually be a face people can get behind.

Why is the Shark Cage above the Ring? If I was Foley and I saw NXT’s attempt, I would have kept it away from the ring to prevent any shenanigans like throwing down brass knuckles like they did. But in this case, it didn’t matter because it was also No-DQ. That kind of makes the entire “Keep Jericho Out of the Match” pointless. Because being above the ring and ready to drop a weapon pretty much means he was still there in the match.

The match itself, being a No-DQ match, was fun to see. Lots of fun spots with the biggest being KO Frog Splash Roman through a Table on the Outside. But one of the spots had me worried and that was Kevin Owens falling down onto the Tower of Chairs. I really hate spots like these because I fear it would seriously injure them or worse. I only recently got over them breaking Ladders after someone revealed those are specifically made of wood.

The biggest downer was Braun Strowman. At the end, he showed up and attacked Roman Reigns. Once again, despite having the opportunity to show his dominance the writers decide to make him win because of others. And even ignoring that, why Strowman? Was he still upset with the Double Spear or the Spear in that Three on Three? If the first, why not attack Goldberg when he came out? This wouldn’t be the last time I question the Storytelling. 

Neville Vs Rich Swann

I enjoyed Neville as a face. But now that he is a heel, he has definitely improved character wise. His look and his moves definitely makes the Heel turn legit. Rich Swann is fun and exciting in the ring. I was really hoping he would retain the title. But unlike other matches, I wouldn’t have mind if Neville won. This was a match where either outcome would be a positive for me.

The match was exciting and excellent. Neville is definitely the big star of 205 Live. And to see him win by submission showed that he doesn’t need the Red Arrow or to go off the top. He just wants to to inflict more damage. 

John Cena Vs AJ Styles

I have no real problem with Cena. He does a lot for the WWE so he deserves to be their poster boy. AJ Styles definitely lives up to being phenomenal. In TNA, he was the reason you had to watch it. Even after being Mini-Flair, he was still great in the ring. TNA made a grave mistake to letting him go. Seeing him in the WWE so soon had me worried. But eventually in the end he became World Champion, something I never expected. 

I am still surprised how well the two work together. I will say that sometimes Cena does heelish tactics. Would this lead to an actual heel turn or is he trying to add some edge? Overall, best singles match of the PPV alone.

The Royal Rumble Event

Possibly the most stacked card ever. And the potential of surprise entrants are numerous. How did it do? Let’s go over it by elimination.

Jack Gallagher - Entry #5

I was hoping to see this guy be one of the competitors. Outside the Neville story line, he was the highlight of 205 Live. Sadly, his time was too short and he was the first one eliminated when #6 entered the match. But for the brief time he was there, he was a joy to watch.

Mojo Rawley - Entry #4

Mojo is a fun guy in a Tag Team and most likely fun at parties. But as a singles competitor he could use work. Honestly, despite winning the Battle Royal to get in, I was hoping he would be the first one gone. But he lasted longer than Jack and that makes me sad.

Big Cass - Entry #1

He’s pretty good for a big guy, but I like him better with Enzo than a solo act. Sadly, we didn’t get to see the two together because he was eliminated right after Mojo.

Kalisto - Entry #3

I was rooting for him to win the Crusierweight for Smackdown. Sadly, his lost means Raw is also after Smackdown. He’s fun but really needs to be with others his own weight class. But man, that is a lot of height for his elimination.

Mark Henry - Entry #6

Like the three before, Mark was also eliminated by Strowman. I grew up watching Henry from his blue tights being an Olympic hero to being a member of the Nation to Sexual Chocolate and everything between. He definitely deserves a Hall of Fame shot in my book.

The Big Show - Entry #9

Big Show looked good. I believe them when they say this is the most fit he has been in some time. But surprisingly he was there pretty short. Another victim of the Strowman Push.

James Ellsworth - Entry #11

I knew he is a joke entry. I have them a bunch of times in my own Rumble. His spot was funny and that was an impressive bump he took when being eliminated. But I think I am done with the joke Ellsworth. How is the real Ellsworth?

Tye Dillinger - Entry #10

Another guy I wanted to see and even in the exact spot I was hoping for. I was hoping he would last a little longer but sadly he was soon eliminated. 

Braun Strowman - Entry #7

As I type this, I am watching Raw. It was there that they explained, with a clip I totally forgot, that Kevin Owens promised him a title shot after beating Reigns. And Strowman took that as legit. Amazing how one promo can change the results of a match. As for his elimination, I’ll talk about that more when I get to the person he was eliminated by.

The New Day - Kofi #14, Big E #17, Woods #20

Even though they have been around for a long time, I still enjoy their work. Even Woods with his Up Up Down Down channel on Youtube. But for an event that says “Friend Vs Friend”, there is very little friends going on. In fact, these two practically went out at the exact same time.

Cesaro & Sheamus - Entry #19 and #16

Speaking of which, so did they. That is until the final moments. A funny bit was Cesaro getting dizzy hitting everyone with the Big Swing and almost getting Sheamus. But those final moments saw them going against each other and lead to both of them being gone.

Apollo Crews - Entry #22

I feel sorry for Crews. He is definitely good but he was brought up from NXT way too soon. And his time in the Rumble makes that same suggestion. He should probably go back to NXT and wait before WWE actually have a plan with him.

Dean Ambrose - Entry #12

I don’t mind the comedy bits of Dean. I still enjoy him. I just like the Miz better as IC Champion. 

Dolph Ziggler - Entry #24

Ziggler’s chase for the IC title bored me. Besides one time, the Miz always had the upper hand. It is because Miz has a clever use of his wife while Ziggler hits a Glass Ceiling that is invisible. I am glad he turned heel, but in this Rumble you don’t see it. 

Enzo Amore - Entry #27

Talk about a quick time. Like Big Cass, I prefer him with Cass than alone. And his time was quick thanks to Lesnar.

Brock Lesnar - Entry #26

I knew Lesnar wasn’t going to win, but I expected him to at least be the one to Eliminate Goldberg to set up that Wrestlemania Final Match. Instead, Goldberg came in and quickly eliminated him. That shocked me. 

Rusev - Entry #18

Poor Rusev. He has a lot going for him but things just don’t turn out well for him. At least he lasted longer than others.

Baron Corbin - Entry #13

I wasn’t a fan of him before, even when he turned heel. But he has been growing on me. One thing I wanted to see at Survivor Series 2016 was Strowman Vs Corbin. Of the two, I prefer Corbin. My wish failed because of Shane McMahon. But in this rumble, I finally got to see Baron take on Strowman. And with a little help, Corbin was the one to eliminate him. He lasted pretty long too. Maybe in the future he’ll be a World Champion.

Luke Harper - Entry #25

I am honestly surprised that Luke was the one to betray the Wyatt Family. I swear it was going to be Orton and Harper would prove his loyalty. But if he does decide to go solo, here’s hoping he doesn’t return again to the Wyatt Family.

Goldberg - Entry #28

Goldberg did more in this Rumble than his match against Lesnar. But despite what they set up and planned, I am looking forward to seeing Goldberg Vs The Undertaker than either of those other two matches.

The Miz - Entry #15

I was hoping the Miz would win. He is my current favorite wrestler. In that match, practically everyone who entered hit the Miz with one of their best moves. Speared, F5ed, Chokeslammed... While Jericho lasted longer overall, the Miz was in that ring much longer.

Sami Zayn - Entry #8

Zayn is a fun guy and I’ve seen matches of him outside WWE. I am glad he lasted as long as I did but I was hoping to see him at least in the Final Four. Oh well.

The Undertaker - Entry #29

With Goldberg, Lesnar and the Undertaker entering when they did, I was wondering who would be #30. They wouldn’t have done that unless the surprise of the 30th Entrant was worth it. But honestly, it wasn’t. Especially because that person eliminated the Undertaker to set up a Wrestlemania match.

Chris Jericho - Entry #2

I am a big fan of Jericho. He was the first heel I ever cheered for. And in this Rumble, he surpassed Triple H by lasting almost 5 hours in total. Sadly, he didn’t do much as he spent a good number of time outside. 

Bray Wyatt - Entry #21

I enjoy Wyatt. Love his gimmick and his group. While I question the entry of Orton into the fray, it does seem to be working for him. And Final 3 is a great spot to be in.

Roman Reigns - Entry #30

I was upset that Reigns was #30. While the possibility that Joe or Finn would be in the Rumble stung, the real issue was one thing: HOW?!? In story, McMahon hates Reigns. And she was definitely in charge of who enters the Rumble. So how on Earth did she okayed Reigns to enter? So far he hasn’t appeared on Raw so unless he becomes a heel working with the Authority, I don’t like the fact he did enter the Rumble.

Winner: Randy Orton - Entry #23

And our winner is the 7th Two Time Winner. Orton has his ups and down but he seems to be doing well in the Wyatt Family. But now that he won the title, what is gonna happen? Well, we’ll find out when Smackdown is on Tomorrow. I honestly expected him to be the betrayer in this PPV. Looks like I was wrong

Overall

Overall, it was a fun Weekend for Wrestling Fans. TakeOver was awesome and the Rumble was still fun. Now I am looking forward to do my own.

[iamjamesmatthew]

5 THINGS THAT GOT ME THROUGH THE WEEK - PRO WRESTLING EDITION by MATTHEW JAMES (@IamJamesMatthew)

In no particular order, the five things - related to pro wrestling - that got me through the week. These were my highlights.

TITUS O’NEIL MEETS THE NEW DAY (WWE Monday Night Raw)

I already mentioned it earlier in the week, but I still think the interaction between Titus O’Neil x New Day was amazing. Yes, I know many people do not like Titus O’Neil; criticising his every move thus far in WWE, but I thought this segment was the best move of his career. For the first time, he came across as someone who has the potential to be a big superstar in professional wrestling. Now, was the interaction a little bit silly? Yes. But to be fair most WWE bits are silly, these days (it’s the PG era). Did this interaction take away from the individuals involved? No, not at all. Titus showed some personality and The New Day, as a unit, was made to look better by having it’s “weakest link” {in terms of WWE matches} Xavier Woods get the chance to shine in the ring on his own. I wouldn’t mind seeing Titus continue to fight for a spot in the New Day. I hope 2017 brings new opportunities to all parties involved:  The New Day deserves to be treated like a big deal following their record breaking WWE Tag Team Championship reign -- either let them get the titles back or allow the three men to be seen as a more serious manner; going after individual championships. As for Titus O’Neil: I hope he gets something more than a single segment that is forgotten in a few weeks. I want to see more this lively/charasmatc incarnaton of Titus flourish. He has the size and the potential. All he needs is that opportunity. If James Ellsworth can get some main event chances, why not Titus?

THE MIZ AND HIS FEUD WITH DANIEL BRYAN, DEAN AMBROSE, AND NOW RENEE YOUNG (WWE Smackdown Live/Talking Smack)

The Miz and his feud with Daniel Bryan has carried over from Talking Smack, this summer, to virtually every episode Smackdown Live show/PPV ever since, and just when it appeared that The Miz was on the winning side of things after crushing Bryan’s hand-picked challenger - Dolph Ziggler - he decided to pick a battle with Dean Ambrose following his TLC match against AJ Styles in December. Not only did The Miz target Dean Ambrose but he chose to make things personal by targeting Ambrose’s real-life girlfriend and WWE announcer Renee Young. This is classic old-school villain and hero stuff, making this so believable, and so very intriguing.Dean Ambrose winning the Intercontinental Championship from The Miz was great. I, personally, think Ambrose is a great wrestler and deserves a championship (his WWE World Championship run was not weak, contrary to what many critics say), plus The Miz, being the sneaky, conniving heel that he will no doubt have some sort of plan to get back the title. I really like the angry Miz storming onto Talking Smack and blaming both Renee Young and Daniel Bryan for his loss.The idea of the title switching between these two does not bother me. Both me deserve to hold a championship and therefore having them play hot potato adds to the worth of the title. Agan, that is my opinion.As long as we do not have mixed-tag matches where The Miz and Maryse take on Ambrose and Young, I will continue to be a fan of this whole series.

ADAM COLE DEFEATS KYLE O’REILLY FOR THE ROH WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE (Wrestle Kingdom 11)

Adam Cole winning the ROH Heavyweight Title for the third time is historic in and of itself. Adam Cole makes history by doing something no other competitor in ROH has been able to do, and when you look at the resume of who has been the champion, that deserves praise on its own.Second, the fact that this may be the last match between him and O’Reilly, in ROH, makes its all the more relevant. {Reports online are stating that O'Reilly's current contact with ROH has expired and new terms have not been agreed upon. Both wretslers compete in other promotions and may have bouts there, but for the time being ROH may not see another between them.} Rivalries in pro wrestling are important. It's been quite some time since we have seen multi-year disputes like that of Ric Flair-Dusty Rhodes or Randy Savage-Hulk Hogan; this Cole-O'Reilly feud is the closest thing I can recall in ROH to have a similar intensity and longevity as the aforementioned legend's feuds. The match itself was hard-hitting with both men making it a fight rather than a wrestling match which works perfectly considering the levels of animosity they feel for one another.  Cole's post match reaction of amazement turned gloating and O'Reilly's anger was like icing on the cake, again making this seem real. If this is the end, so be it. They made it memorable.

KAZUCHIKA OKADA SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDS THE IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP AGAINST KENNY OMEGA (Wrestle Kingdom 11)

A six-star match? A lot of internet pundits are giving this match some off-the-chart ratings going as far to say the best match in modern history. Although, I don't disagree with this match being amazing, I wouldn’t go as far as labelling it the best in modern history. Labels are subjective and I feel “best matches” depend on the viewer - obviously. With that being said, this match was one of the most exciting I have seen in a while but I will critique the top rope dragon suplex and Kenny Omega’s crash through a table for being so dangerous. I understand the desire to win over fans and critics alike, but no amount of praise is worth one’s health/career/life. Back to the match, the final 20 minutes were tremendous and a testament to these atheletes being two of the best in the world, today. How both men, Kenny Omega in particular, were able to turn up the levels of intensity during the closing moments is unfathomable. The knee strikes looked deadly.Okada has had great matches with Tanahashi, AJ Styles, and Shinsuke Nakamura, in the past. I did not believe Kenny Omega would be able to present a challenge equal to theirs. I was wrong. I am glad I was wrong.They dubbed this match as being a fight for the future of New Japan Pro Wrestling and it lived up to its hype. Both men - both wrestlers - were not only able to pay homage to battles of the past but also gave insight into the future. Is it Omega? Will he become the new face of the company or will Okada continue to strongly carry the promotion to higher levels? I don't know but it's a great time to be a wrestling fan. This time last year, when Nakamura, AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows were getting ready to exit the promotion for WWE many people began writing NJPW's obituary.  This one match, twelve months later, is proof that despite the "main event exodus", New Japan's roster has depth beyond its recently departed. [WWE would crumble if it were to lose four of their biggest stars at the same time.] This first big encounter cannot, should not, and I am sure will not be their last. Okada vs. Omega, on its own, can carry this promotion, throughout the year, giving ample time for new stars to develop while waiting for their opportunity.

KARL ANDERSON DEFEATS CESARO (Monday Night Raw)

The fact that Karl Anderson beat Cesaro, clean on Monday Night Raw is promising and gives me hope that Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows will be allowed to be the serious kick-ass team they were in New Japan Pro where they crushed the competition. Even though I am a big fan of Cesaro, I am not big on him and Sheamus holding the belts. Sheamus is dull and Cesaro should be on Smackdown Live fighting AJ Styles. Anyway, this apparent feud Sheamus and Cesaro taking on Gallows & Anderson could be a tide-changer for both teams, giving them credibility and making the RAW Tag Team Championships something to be coveted in this New Era WWE. Let us see what happens next. Two bruiser-style tag teams competing on Monday Nights could be a good thing.

Other notable moments from this week: Dory Funk Jr. appears at an NXT show in Texas ... Dolph Ziggler attacks Kalisto and Apollo Crews ... “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes vs. Juice Robinson at Wrestle Kingdom 11 ... Scott Norton competing at Wrestle Kingdom 11 ... Jeff Jarrett returning to TNA Wrestling as an executive ... Kassius Ohno returns to NXT and confronts Shinsuke Nakamura ... Neville continuing to make an impact on the Cruiserweight Division ... Naito vs. Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 11.

[grizzlefur]

WWEm - The Chairening

((25-6 Sep))

!WAR NOONRETFA YADNOM si siht ,secnerefer s'relggiZ hploD naht ytrap eht ot retaL

niaga yaw gnorw eht epat eht dedaol ev'uoy ,leinad lleh gnickuf

tuo ti tros

--------------------

ahem

technical difficulties aside, let's watch some wrestling

it's monday because fuck off, i don't do schedule

this is the go-home show from no mercy, so presumably something will happen

even if it's just cesaro getting new teeth

and miz is already here

wait, shit, apparently this is actually ontario, california

now i need to retract that whole rant from last time, on the grounds that this is apparently a real place

anyway, slideshow of jj gettng fucked on by the miz to resounding cheers

everyone loves miz cos they're still in SoCal

even if he is wearing a janky-ass check suit

oh, and he's here to interview roman

great

now people love miz even more by comparison

miz kicks off by mentioning taker so people remember how much they hate roman

throws roman a softball question about how it feels to take over from cena, he stares into the middle distance for an uncomfortably long time

and then canned monologue about how he now respects cena

and he doesn't see why he should be spending time in a room with miz

who's like well i'm the one here with a belt so nyahhhhhh

takes the opportunity to throw shade at jj, roman stands up for him and says miz couldn't beat him one on one

asks the miztourage for a beer

miz is like no my talk show has standards

and like hey yeah it's such a bad thing to have two guys helping you out oh waaaaaait

floats the idea of the miztourage vs the shield, the crowd goes nuts

roman laughs, is like yeah fuck that, crowd hate him

and then talks about his path to the universal championship, manages to mess up brock's name

miz commences to a+ ranting about how he's the most important champ on the show

certainly the most hardworking

roman's like fuck it, okay, let's fight

miz desperately backpedals

is like nope sorry can't wrestle in this suit and also my wife is pregnant

so relevant

makes his farewells, leaves, but OH WAIT here's kurt

to be like yeah cool let's do this shit

roman/miz later on, mizoturage v matt hardy and jj now

because jeff's shoulder's fucked AGEEN

but first let's have this advert for hiac

although why you'd need to advertise it is a mystery to me when you could just read kevin's outstanding twitter feed

back in the room, and here are the hardyz

jeff's here to watch

and  rock out to their music

slowmo replay of the tower of doom spot that fucked his shoulder, doesn't look pleasant

and here's jj, met with overwhelming ambivalence

matt's got his green trousers on so at least they're coordinated

bell rings, jason commences to dismantle the other team by himself

finally tags matt in, crowd start paying attention

matt brings his usual brand, laughing like a goat and shambling curtis axel to death

ad break, so the miztourage get some offence in

because we all know heels are allergic to being filmed

apparently they did it by stepping to jeff and making jj defend him

you'd think that'd be a job for his actual brother, but then you clearly don't know the hardyz

corey talks about his time in the ring with bo for some serious oldschool nxt nostalgia

jj throws curtis out of the ring, double hot tag, cue matt mashing bo's face

side effect, curtis breaks the pin, jj spears both of them into the corner, twist of fate on bo for the pin

cole manages to mix matt and jason up

i guess they are both basically the same colour

positioned on the thin line between actual poc and tan as fuck

up next, we talk about the universal championship match

yay, more brock on my tv

after this ad for smackdown

and total bellas

featuring nikki and john arguing about power of attorney

thrilling

corey claims the universal title match was like a sci-fi movie, offers precisely no information to back this up

well, i guess it was less interesting and well-executed than the premise would suggest, so i guess there's that similarity

yeah, that's me throwing shade at disappointing adaptations of hugo award-winning books

(all of them)

come at me

in any case, here's elias

wearing his chicago tour shirt

(which i now own)

ontario have mixed opinions on walking with elias

apparently we're having a rematch of him and apollo tonight

this diss track is primarily about apollo, because nobody has anything interesting to say about ontario, CA

anyway, here's apollo

and titus

fight starts immediately as the bell rings, ref has to sneak in to pick up elias' scarf

booker talks about titus' political ambitions, corey reprimands him that "we don't do politics"

if only everyone in the company took that view

(wow, there's shade for everyone today)

the crowd are vocally behind apollo, which is novel

elias punches titus in the leg to distract apollo, superkick and drift away for the pin

after which titus runs in to fight elias

and everyone's like ohhhh yeah he's a wrestler

very short scrap before elias runs away

up next, finn does a thing

and we need to stop hyping the whole 'Man vs Man' thing

how was nobody on creative like welp that's a fucking stupid tagline, let's just do some more coke instead

cancer kids ad, and now charly interviews finn in a room made of curtains

i wouldn't put it past finn to have an interview in twin peaks

finn thanks bray for pushing him to succeed, restates his universal title ambitions, leaves

well that was short

meanwhile, here's curt hawkins and his 118-match losing streak

and here's braun

this'll go well

curt's like waaaaaaait a second this was a bad idea

and runs away

into the crowd

braun doesn't give a shit, leaps the barricade to chase him throw the crowd

and chokeslams him through a table

guys, that table was presumably there for a reason

now where will the tech guys keep their snacks

picks him up, takes him up to the stage and powerslams him through the led boards

god bless you, curt

bumping like a champ

braun goes back to the ring, gets a mic

like fuck that guy who wants to come and give me a real fight

and it's dean, because ill-considered decisions are totally his thing

walks over to examine curt's corpse, shrugs, heads to the ring

dean is, as ever the living embodiment of eh, fuck it

he's here with the scars of having the best match on the last night's show

but all his teeth, so could be worse

so braun's just focusing on working his bad shoulder

which is weirdly technical for him

you'd think just pounding the shit out of him would work just as well whether he's got a bad shoulder or not

dean tries the princess bride-style sleeper, gets smashed into some turnbuckles for it

keeps trying punching braun and getting headbutted to death

collapses, braun tries the foot pin

doesn't take

this match is like 90% just dean ragdolling around the arena, but it's actually p good

he gets a bit of offence courtesy of an eye poke

dean tips braun over the ropes, braun's like whatevs dude i'm tall and just stands on the floor

booker makes reference to braun having a "cloak of invincibility" [sic] despite the fact that he lost the night before

and dean gets powerslammed into oblivion

where's seth anyway

not here for his best bro

corey's commentary on the highlights package from that suggests he may not in fact know what a ddt is

backstage, kurt tells a ref to be extra careful in the miz match

and now here's enzo

who we gave a belt for some godforsaaken reason

he proposes a 'celebratory brouhaha'

kurt's like dude that was the shadiest win do you actually deserve it

enzo makes more noises, kurt caves

offers some advice from a longtime champ, enzo's like nah dude you're good and leaves

up next, alexa exists

after this archive footage of stone cold driving a beer truck into the arena eighteen years ago

presented by snickers for no particular reason

but now here's dean in the trainer's room

seth's brought him ice, asks him to be less ludicrously self-destructive now they're working together

like dude maybe at least let me know next time

dean calls him predictable, seth tries to prove he's not

so he's going to ask for a match with braun next week

dean's like yeah, fair, i did not expect that

perhaps not a great idea though

ah well

in the ring, here's alexa

in a sleeveless silver jacket that i would so totally wear

now maryse isn't on the show, i'll just have to steal alexa's wardrobe ideas

alexa thinks of all of us as her personal friends, and she's very disappointed in us

for not appreciating her victory

and looking forward to asuka too much

and here's...mickie?

god, this division is so arbitrary with who the next contender's going to be

apparently alexa said some uncomplimentary things about her on raw talk

i was busy not watching it

in my defence, it had 100% more lawler than i need in my day

alexa is just doubling down on the sarcastic praise of mickie

can't really narrate it, because we all know how sarcasm works in text

damn this restrictive medium

alexa's like hey i would fight you, but i don't want you to break a hip

mickie comes back by making fun of alexa's boobs

class

she wants alexa to repeat what she said on raw talk or fuck off

oh, apparently it was calling her an old lady

alexa repeats, gets kicked out of the ring

yet more hype for roman/miz

i am resolutely unhypened

but up next, seth/sheamus

after this asuka advert

still with the sun tzu quote for whatever reason

here comes seth, still burning it down

i love the person in the crowd with a giant milk carton sign with MISSING above a picture of cesaro sans teeth

sheamus is in full kkb gear, cesaro's just in a grey suit and aviators, which mostly has the effect of making him look like pitbull

cue slideshow of the match at no mercy

including the spot that should totally have been the finish

ooh, apparently cesaro's teeth were pushed up into his gums rather than out

ouch

not that i ever really trust wwe's descriptions of injuries, tbh

seth suicide dives sheamus, takes a moment to mock cesaro, eats an irish curse for his trouble

sheamus gets seth up in a stretch muffler, which is a move that seems to have undergone something of a resurgence just recently

and then into a cloverleaf

eventual rope break, but that did not look fun

speaking of moves that are coming back, seth gets a punt to the face

sheamus and cesaro take a moment to grandstand, giving seth time to dodge the eventual brogue

sheamus goes to the top rope, seth meets him downstairs with a gut kick, kingslayer for the pin

which apparently they're calling the ripcord knee now?

well w/e

up next, talking about cena

yaaaay

after more ads for our other shows

and now finn's backstage

runs into goldust, who's got his mojo back

goldust takes issue with finn positioning him as a victim and someone who needs help

a view you might recognise from previous editions of this blog

hi, dustin

finn apologises, goldust accepts but then punches him in the face a bunch

quotes godfather 2 at him, breathes in his face, leaves

but now it's time to talk about cena/reigns

have this slideshow in which we try and make it look way more dynamic than it atually was

and the clip from raw talk with cena being magnanimous

which i did watch, thanks to the miracle of...THE INTERNET

*internet theme plays*

(answers on a postcard what you think that would be)

video package ends, we move on

really thought we were gonna get something more than just replays of last night

but hey

nexg up, roman/miz

after this advert for story time and title card about how wwe's the best at twitter

here's roman, nobody cares

case in point: i spent his entire entrance staring blankly at my facebook feed before realising i should probably say something

a+ journalism

as i type that, enter the miz in a delightful silver lamé sheath

and also his minions in human clothes

bell rings, miz kicks off by trying to talk his way out of this match

makes the point that nobody really has anything to gain from this entirely meaningless match, and he's not wrong

roman accepts the handshake, then punches him a lot

such mixed messages

miz gets out of the ring and hides behind his dudes to rant, roman stands there and laughs douchily because his current gimmick is 'You know that smug fucker who's in your friend group for no reason you can really establish and whom you could quite happily punch in his big grinning twat face? Yeah, him."

miztourage are continually interfering whenever they're more than about five degrees from the ref's eyelines

wwe refs are like the shitty starting enemies in any stealth game

roman's selling an injured back, corey waxes lyrical about sciatica

as you do

and then takes the chance while roman's getting kicked in the face to say 'xiphoid process'

superman punches to all three heels, giving miz time to get away

that last line spoken in the voice of sandra bullock

(yeah, esoteric references)

miz eats a driveby, hits a big ddt for a nearfall

roman counters a finale into a spear, pin, #romanwinslol

the miztourage immediately come in to kick the shit out of roman

they'll be a long time at it

he is so full of shit

fights them off, superman punches miz again, stops to taunt him

sets up to powerbomb him, curtis and bo hit him with chairs

oh yeah, we're setting up for the furniture PPV

makes sense i guess

miz hits a finale, gloats

end thing]

or not

miz decides he didn't get to take part in ç, runs back to the ring to give roman some

and then another finale onto a chair

hits him with another chair, then the three of them do the shield fists over him

good moment

speaking of things that are not that, enzo's brouhaha is coming later

but next, finn/goldust

after this ad for 2k18

and nxt

back in the room, goldust is here and i've only just realised how much his music reminds me of music from freespace 2

*does the arms*

wait, does this mean we're having enzo's dick party as the main event?

well, i guess that means something eventful will happen

and it'll presumably be in the form of everything going wrong for him

this match just went really quickly into both of them being really vicious

finn's like i'll be helpful and magnanimous and shit, but if you cross me i will fucking end you

seems reasonable

goldust is floored by a pele kick to the air a couple inches above his shoulder

followed by a really sloppy sling blade

who do i blame for this

and then, despite selling hurt ribs, hits a coup de grace for the win

i know when i've hurt my ribs, i like to concertina my body onto another human from a significant height

wyatt cut, house lights go out, creepy child singing

wyatt cut again, end thing

huh

apparently later we have sasha/bayley v nia/emma

and here's bayley and sasha backstage

tension abounds

they both try and passive-aggressively semi-apologise for fighting over the belt last night

and bayley tells a sad story about her shoulder trauma and physiotherapy

they bond, end thing

and now here's kurt backstage

enzo accosts him, kurt has the facial expression any of us would have when accosted in a corridor by enzo amore

enzo wants a stipulation for his party

anyone touches him, they lose any shot at the belt

kurt's like fine whatever please go away

"Oh, and one more thing: you're annoying as hell. Annoying. As. Hell."

kurt angle, speaking for all of us

time for the women's match now

here's noa

or indeed nia

Pro Wrestling NOAH Jax

have a hispanic heritage month thing for julio cesar chavez

just under the bar before we run out of month

back in the room, emma's here, as is her excruciating new music

what are cfo$ even on atm

and now sasha in her matador jacket

and bayley in a cancer charity tshirt, because if one wrestler was going to wear one, it'd be her

did we really need that slowmo footage of bayley's shoulder shitting the bed?

this match presented by novartis, because we at dubby dubby wee are 100% cure there could be no problem with emphasising the link between wrestlers and pharmaceuticals

nia leg drops bayley's bad arm, which is a move that would look nasty as hell on an uninjured arm

bayley throws emma into nia, ensuing tension gives her time for a hot tag

sasha and bayley both outside doing some strong team work, bayley runs nia into the post

emma almost gets a rollup, eats a bayley to belly off a blind tag for the pin

that was...functional?

as long as the intended function is continuing the shittening of emma, i guess

backstage, enzo rants at strangers like a homeless methhead

guess what we've got next

after this ad for raw in denver with rollins/strowman and roman/miz for the belt (why?)

enzo arrives, corey commences to rage against them taking the belt away from the best thing in the division and giving it to "essentially a Muppet"

and now he's trying to convince booker to cover for him while he sneaks off

wait, can i do that?

daniel?

...

daniel is gone

touché

enzo's doing a speech

and he's personifying the belt as a woman again

essay question: Are there objects or status symbols that Enzo Amore *doesn't* want to put his dick in?

[30 marks]

mocks cass for getting injured, rails at the fans

compares himself to cena, batista and the rock

unveils his baseball jersey which he's had framed

mocks 205 live

...is he still a face?

i have no idea

cue the 205 theme music

and the entire fucking cruiserweight roster pouring out onto the stage

he starts talking again, they all stand on the stage looking just beyond done with him

mocks rich for dancing and cedric for having no charisma, they're both just like dude have you seen yourself

calls gran metalik fat

"I call it how I see it, right?"

the clarion call of the douchebag everywhere

mocks jack, drew and noam for...unclear reasons, is interrupted by neville's entrance

uses the phrase 'real man', i reach through time and the television to slap him in the face

makes fun of neville's ears

this is some incisive material right here

neville gets on the mic, so i'm happy

calls enzo out for being a toxic shitbag who's alienated everyone he's ever met

fair

spins us a tale of how enzo was dumped on the division's doorstep and the rest of the division convinced him to keep him

and does a superlative rant at him for making the division into a joke

and announces he's here to kill enzo on behalf of the whole division

enzo pulls out his piece of totally legally binding paper

which may in fact be a post-it note?

talks shit at him some more, continues to mock everyone in the division

tells him to fuck off

neville thinks fuck it, i have principles, kicks him in the stomach

and throws him into his framed douchebag jersey

and also everything else

enzo tries to run, the entire roster walks up the ramp to block him in

this is some heartwarming shit right here

neville catches him again, resumes the murder

feeds him his piece of paper, kicks him in the head to raucous applause

this is the greatest double turn ever

red arrows him so hard he does a full handspring out of it

and we fade on a fallen douchebag with a mouth full of paper as a conquering king breathes heavily on him

as all great works of literature do

right, since daniel's not here i guess i need to do the technical bits

which lever is it that switches tapes to smackdown

gonna try this one

----------------------------------------

Well, let's all just accept that that was not the correct lever to pull and try and move on

daniel got back just in time to get my leg out of the tape deck

also he brought sushi, so is forgiven for being slightly late for the second show

with all that said, let's get on with some THURSDAY AFTERNOON SMACKDOWN!

(okay, daniel was *very* late)

i'm only a week and a bit behind, i've done worse

although hiac is on sunday, and i'm going out tomorrow and saturday

this could be fun

need to watch a week and a bit of wrestling in like a day an a half

woooooo

anyway, the show's starting with a recap of vincegate

and shane talking about how great the mcmahons are

and somehow being a face, despite the fact that the mcmahons are just objectively the worst

and everything kevin has done is totally proportional

speaking of, here he comes in the present

(the present time, that is)

(kevin owens has not been giftwrapped)

just had that smackdown moment of remembering how good the announce panel is

or at least it should be, if tom could remember how to speak english

we're like two minutes into the show and he's cocked up three times

kevin gets in, calls shane out

and also everybody who called him a coward

like sure, i wasn't here last week, but now i am and shane's nowhere to be seen hmmmmmmm

calls shane a very smart man

[citation needed]

kevin claims to personally like vince, so that should get some heel heat

and he's like look what i did to someone i respect and like, so how much will i fuck you up, you twat

on a related note, here comes sami

looking serious

steps in and just straight asks kevin what is wrong with him

like dude, we hav our problems but you are seriously off the rails here

apparently this feud is going to destroy kevin's career and also his life and family

kevin's like yeah w/e you're just jealous

sami is despondent

some people just can't be helped

no kevin, don't draw our attention to the fact that shane mcmahon is going to be headlining hiac

kevin argues sami has never done anything as important as him headbutting vince

sami comes back like yeah, while this is all technically true, you're a cheating fucker

sami will have his day and it will be beautiful and wholesome

(when all of current creative have died)

calls kevin trash, both drop their mics and square up

here comes bryan to interfere

confirms that shane is not here, and might not turn up tonight

a+ commissioning there

proposes kevin/sami tonight

well that'll be original

oh, who cares

i mock, but every one of their 84736395 matches has been great

end thing

later we have a pride of bulgaria celebration

apparently

and also dillinger/corbin next

after this ad for new day/usos at hiac

which is so going to be the best match again

and the first of many plugs for the hiac theme

by a band i've actually heard of for once

and here's baron

i think they've tweaked his music again?

i don't remember this many vocals on it

but it's possible i just stopped paying attention when baron came on screen

roll recap vt of the ongoing feud

tbf, i don't mind this new music of baron's

it's kind of shitty nu metal, but he's a shitty nu metal kind of person

and here's tye

i miss his alien waistcoat

(five words i have never said before)

and also here's aj for some reason

possibly just to show up both of their themes by being so much better

tye throws baron over the ropes while he's looking at aj

cue ad break

during which the heel has had a bunch of offence

funny how that works

the internet confirms that baron's music is new as of this ep

good to know i'm not completely unreliable

meanwhile, tye is wrestling a good match and baron is being baron

and aj is on announce

baron gets chased outside, ends up face to face with aj and throws his bottle of water over him

and then throws tye at him

and tye loses to a weirdly fast countout

so that happened and wasn't bullshit at all

aj runs into the ring, baron fucks off like a shitty nu metal motorbike wolf guy type

oh, he's sticking around

gets up to the stage, decides to get a mic and head back down to taunt aj

claims aj can only win with help, because he apparently hasn't been watching wrestling in the last decade

challenges him for the belt at hiac

end thing

another ad for the pride of bulgaria celebration

during which rusev will apparently receive the key to the city of plovdiv

which sounds like the shit i'd make up, but it's actually what they said

anyway, next it's jinder being just the worst

after an ad for total bellas

and a recap of all the shit that just happened with aj and baron

and confirmation of their hiac match, if we needed it

but now here's the indian contingent

flanking jinder

(sick burn)

this week jinder is apparently here to compliment shinsuke

oh, no, he's going to laugh at his face some more

who wrote this angle

and who didn't fire them

ha

as they were laughing at one picture, he started moving

THE FEED IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE BUILDING

shinsuke announces his presence, cue the best entrance

jinder freaks out, the singhs rush him and get beaten up

allowing jinder to come from behind and  slam shinsuke into things

like he does so...

well, like he does

shinsuke fights back, beats up all three and kinshasas jinder

end segment, hire new writers

apparently tonight will be the first owens/zayn match on smackdown live

this is the only reason they rebranded, so they could make that matchup fresh again

up next, hype bros/usos

and here come the new day, who are notably neither of those teams

they've brought popcorn and snacks

presumably to lurk and be hilarious for this match

after this cancer ad

i'm not convinced by the SUPER DELUXE FURNITURE KALEIDOSCOPE graphics for tlc

better or worse than HANDS AND SKUUUUUUUULLS

hard to say

but i think the designer of both needs to calm the fuck down a bit

back from ads, the bros are already in but the usos get an entrance

new day are in the front row of the crowd

but e still has binocualrs

bell rings, the usos immediately kick a significant percentage of the shit out of mojo

new day start a mojo chant, giving him enough of his namesake back to get a hot tag

looked away to answer the phone, came back thirty seconds later to see the usos get the pin

why is this such a ppv setup show when there's another week to go

usos get mics, go over to call the new day out

e produces a mic from his box of popcorn, because of course he fucking does

new day clap back, xavier challenges them to a cell match

that match will be every flavour of bonkers, and i am very excited for it

corey's like well we have to wait and see whether it gets made official

because apparently he doesn't know how wrestling challenges work

but up next, plovdiv pride

wait, i'm being told that that may not mean what i think

after this ad for raw

and here's aiden?

in a lovely suit

he's emceeing the party

what a cravat

(actual cravat for once)

and he has the mayor of plovdiv with him

huge if true

aiden does a big hype piece for rusev, he comes to the ring as aiden sings the national anthem

crowd boo and do usa chants, because dicks

okay, imma have to look up the bulgarian national anthem and see if this is actually it

if it is, props to aiden

well, at least half the crowd held the boos until after the national anthem

okay, one research break later i can confirm that someone in dubby dubby wee actually did their homework this time

the mayor is reading from a scroll kindly held by aiden

in bulgarian, obv

boos resound

i caught some of it, because it's quite similar to russian

repeats the speech in english for the cheap seats

and apparently september 26th is now rusev day

add that to your calendars

i didn't mention it, but rusev is wearing a natty waistcoat and on a bulgarian flag podium throughout

rusev thanks the mayor, replays the vt of his nine-second win over randy

plovdiv has the cheapest-ass key to the city i've ever seen

and believe me, i've seen the keys to many cities

rusev repeats his claim to have ripped out randy's fangs

p sure i'd remember that

it's apparently his jungle now

which is handy, because nobody had said anything about a jungle before now

aiden has a rusev day song he wrote for us

randy appears out of the crowd to rko aiden mid-flow

and then i thought for a minute he rko'd the mayor as well

but rusev had pushed him out of the way and gallantly taken the fall for him

there's way more nationalism on this episode than i'm comfortable with, ftr

but now, sami gets called into bryans office/curtain corridor/upholstery and poster shop

apparently shane is on his way

sami wants him to hold off so he can beat on kevin himself

bryan will see what he can do

but up next, charlotte/carmella

after this ad for 2k18

and yet another total bellas plug

and now randy's in a corridor

accosts renee, rather than the other way round for once

gives her a challenge for rusev at hiac if she sees him

wishes her a happy rusev day, leaves

and now we're back in the room

with charlotte

but still no peacock robe

booo

really long recap vt of charlotte/nattie

when it could be summed up with 'she's a hart, she's a flair, not gonna go well'

carmella arrives with her briefcase and her boo on his leash

which she then fastens to the turnbuckle

i have no clue what they're trying to go for with this, but i'm enjoying it

tom's like corey, you're down with the alternative kids, the fuck is this about

carmella distracts the ref with deviously detachabale jewellery, letting ellsworth push her off the turnbuckle

which was kind of charlotte's own fault for going up the turnbuckle her enemy's minion was chained to, tbh

carmella hits her with a dodgy-ass crossbody

charlotte kind of had to jump into it to take the bump

and after a functional few minutes, carmella eats a superkick for the pin

this remains such a ppv setup show

what will we do next week

now here’s nattie in new gear

even more transparent than usual

she's like hey char good to know your dad's ok he can watch me kick you to death at hiac lollllll

grin, end thing

this episode, snickers brings us the debut of cena for some unstated reason

but more importantly, fashion files returns next week

and by next week, i do of course mean two days ago

time, eh?

and...

undertaker bongs?

whaaaaaa

oh wait, it'll be dolph

the announce team are all buying into it because of course they are

oh hey, corey's got his number

just like really dolph the fuck is wrong with you

while this is true, the big hat kind of suits him

the crowd twigs, they hate him

he's like come on guys, did you really think you'd see taker twice in one year

which is fair

i need a gif of him going "Ahhhhh, the 90s" there

halfway through his usual rant about how anyone can gimmick, here's a walking gimmick to...prove his point?

anyway, it's bobby roode

i could cheerfully slap both men in this feud

bobby gets into the ring, calls dolph out for being a hypocrite

someone had to

are they trying to angle him as a kind of face-of-the-people babyface here?

cos that's just weird after his nxt run

challenges dolph for hiac

crowd chant for it, dolph's like i don't give a shit guys, shut up

dolph accepts, tries to do the rest in peeeeeeacehmgrlfrgn, bobby shuts him up so he can say glorious some more

but now, main event time

all the matches in this episode have been functional at best, so hopefully this'll pick it up

after this ad for 205 and a recap of all the shit that went down with enzo

and here's a sami

specifically zayn

although i do kind of want him to ride a eindeer to the ring

and here's kevin, no bullshit

bell rings, mutual pummelling begins

these guys are fighting like they're very aware that another segment overran and they don't have a lot of time

so they're just having the same match, but sped up like 20%

sudden cut to another feed, shane is in the building

back in the ring

kevin dodges a crossbody into a beautiful superkick

clip from the ad break of sami hitting a brainbuster on kevin on the apron

okay, yeah, these guys are elevating it

sami jumps over a popup attempt, counters into a blue thunder bomb

kevin dodges a helluva kick, so sami hits an absolutely brutal tope on him instead

and by 'on him' i do of course mean 'largely on his own ankles'

goes for a torpedo ddt, kevin blocks with another superkick

lovely timing there

and hits the apron powerbomb

at which point the ref calls for the bell

because apparently that move was worse than sami's apron brainbuster?

enter some medics to do helpful yet unspecified medical stuff

sami tries to fight them off while being functionally dead in his usual 'dead fish who will fucking have you' style

kevin sits on the announce table watching all this, then decides he sitll has more rage to vent, and bodychecks through sami and all the medics

and now he has a chair

KEVIN OWENS OF EARTH.

YOU HAVE GREAT RAGE IN YOUR HEART.

puts the chair around sami's neck, sets him up to throw him into the post, and HERE COMES THE MONEEEEEEEY

shane mcmahon, a man of deep principles who will only intervene when one of his employees is inches from death

kevin throws sami at him, hitting him in the face with his chair necklace, and runs away

another average day in the life of kevin 'maladjusted preteen' owens

everything focuses on shane and kevin staring at each other between the ring and the top of the stalls, and corey's like ummmm should someone maybe check on sami?

and we fade with that question still hanging in the air

but hey, sami'll be fine

we all know those two are like those irritating paired bosses in every rpg where you have to kill them at the same time or they'll just keep bringing each other back

nothing short of a complete detonation of canada will stop them

and on that bombshell, good night!

(i hate myself)

[geektified]

New Post has been published on http://www.geektified.com/2017/04/26/the-smackdown-files-the-how-to-almost-destroy-the-mystic-of-shinsuke-nakamura-in-five-easy-steps-edition-4-25-2017/

The SmackDown Files: The How to Almost Destroy The Mystic of Shinsuke Nakamura in Five Easy Steps Edition (4-25-2017)

By: Keila Cash

  Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of The SmackDown Files. Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live emanated from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. After Jinder Mahal shocked the world to become the number one contender for Randy Orton’s WWE Championship last we, did the creative team go for a repeat performance in terms of shocking the audience for kicks and giggles or was it back to business as usual on Tuesday nights? The answer to that question can be found throughout this blog. Without further ado, let’s dissect tonight’s episode of SD Live in no particular order.

  SD Live got off to a puzzling start with Dolph Ziggler interrupting Renee Young’s interview with Shinsuke Nakamura. Ziggler pretended that Nakamura was Michael Jackson and proceeded to run with it for an embarrassingly long period of time. It was beyond cringe-worthy. Nakamura called Ziggler a jackass which led to The Show Off kicking Nakamura in the midsection.

  Nakamura laid Ziggler out with a belly-to-belly suplex and was about to nail him with the Kinshasa, but Ziggler ducked out of the way as the opening segment came to an end.

  This was such a bad segment. The Artist Known As Shinsuke Nakamura intro is lame. Ziggler’s promo was downright dreadful and Nakamura’s giving him the side eye which pretty much summed up the opener. It is well-documented that Nakamura emulates Michael Jackson. AJ Styles discussed this in great detail in various interviews after debuting in WWE last year.

  However, there is no need to hit people over the head with that fact by having Ziggler make fun of Nakamura is such a condescending and icky way. This was ten steps below their first confrontation a few weeks ago. Here’s hoping their in-ring work is superior that the slice of creative bullshit they were handed tonight. This was an awful way to start the show.

  AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin was a nice palate cleanser as they had a solid match that was aided by Kevin Owen’s biting comments on guest commentary. Corbin dominated the match early on, but Styles gained control down the stretch when he shoved Corbin’s head into the turnbuckle before nailing him with the Pele Kick for good measure.

  Styles was about to nail Corbin with the Phenomenal Forearm, but Owens decided to confront Styles at ringside. Styles kicked KO in the face, but the distraction allowed Corbin to hoist him up for a powerbomb attempt. Styles countered with a roll-up to pick up the win.

  Styles didn’t get a chance to celebrate as Owens and Corbin went on the attack. Sami Zayn made the save and nailed Corbin with the Helluva Kick. Owens tossed Zayn out of the ring and dropped Styles with a Popup Powerbomb as the segment came to an end.

  This was a nice way to forward tension between Styles and Owens heading into their presumed United States Championship match at Backlash next month. I’m glad WWE went with the decisive finish because Styles needed the win more than Corbin. Corbin was relatively protected despite the loss and it appears he’s going to be slotted in a feud with Zayn based on the run-in. They should have a good match, but I hope Zayn’s purpose on SD Live is greater than being a utility player to elevate others. It’s a nice gig, but he deserves better than that.

  American Alpha set the pace in the Beat the Clock Challenge when they defeated The Colons in 5:17 when Chad Gable and Jason Jordan laid out Epico with Grand Amplitude for the win. The match was better than their quick bout from last week, but it didn’t set the world on fire either. At least the crowd was behind Alpha which has rarely been the case in recent weeks.

  Rusev doesn’t like his new bosses on SD Live and gave them an ultimatum heading into the Money in the Bank PPV which takes place in June. If he’s not granted a title shot, he will pack his bags and move back to Bulgaria. I think it’s safe to assume that The Bulgarian Brute will be medically cleared to compete by that deadline.

  Randy Orton defeated Erick Rowan with an RKO in a solid No Disqualification match. Orton and Rowan took their fair share of bumps as Orton put Rowan through a table while Rowan rammed Orton’s head with the steel steps.

  Rowan placed a chair between the ropes and was about to finish Orton off when The Viper slammed Rowan’s head into the chair instead which led to the aforementioned finish.

  After the match was over, Orton cut a brief promo on Bray Wyatt by telling the Eater of Worlds that he would experience eternal hell during their House of Horrors match at Payback.

  Jinder Mahal came out and took offense to Orton overlooking him heading into their WWE Championship match at Backlash next month. Mahal chided the fans for being jealous of his wealth, culture, education, & talent and vowed to bring the WWE Title home to his people.

  He proceeded to cut a promo in Punjabi before taking a cheap shot at Orton. Orton was about to drop Mahal with the Draping DDT, but the Bollywood Boyz made the save. Mahal laid Orton out with the Cobra Clutch Slam and left the arena with the WWE Championship.

  This was a nice way to forward two feuds at once as Orton had a short and sweet message for Wyatt while Mahal continues to generate good heel heat as the arrogant foreign heel with a chip on his shoulder. He’s doing a nice job so far, but his in-ring work will tell the true story soon enough.

  Breezango won the Beat the Clock Challenge and will face The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Backlash when they defeated The Ascension in a decent match.

  The action was solid for the most part, but the dynamic was little off because it was a heel vs. heel match. However, it appears that Breezango is now a babyface team as the fans cheered them on down the stretch.

  The Ascension was about to finish off Fandango with the Fall of Man, but Tyler Breeze saved the day when he nailed Viktor with the Beauty Shot which allowed Fandango to hit The Falcon Arrow for the win.

  Breezango is a talented tag team minus the hokey gimmick. The fans are starting to see that and I hope The Usos vs. Breezango shock the world in Chicago because they have the ability to do so.

  The trio of Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina Snuka derailed Charlotte’s Drive for Five when they interfered in her SmackDown Women’s Championship match against Naomi. The heels got rid of Naomi and focused their attention on Charlotte as they beat down The Queen as the crowd showered them with boos.

  Before the DQ, Naomi and Charlotte had a very good Women’s Title match as it was more evenly matched than their tune-up bout last week. The action was fast-paced and crisp which bodes well for their inevitable PPV rematch down the road. Most importantly, the crowd was hot during the main event which is an encouraging sign that the women are capable of holding down the fort at a moment’s notice.

  The DQ finish was expected because the mean girls are trying to put Charlotte in her place. Becky Lynch was nowhere to be found, but I expect that piece of the puzzle to play out next week because Natalya threatened Lynch to choosing the winning side or else.

  The Women’s Division feels fresh with a lot of possibilities in terms of matchups heading into the summer. Charlotte being the babyface makes sense because she has other heels breathing down her neck. Plus, the fans want to cheer for her based on the constant “wooing” as of late. Unlike her initial babyface run in 2015, she has gained more experience as a wrestler and talker which has better prepared her for this moment. Knowing how WWE operates, Charlotte will turn 1000 times before she retires. Like Father, Like Daughter. It’s a tradition that will last forever.

  Outside of the disastrous opening segment, SmackDown Live was a solid show for the most. The in-ring action ranged from decent to good while the Land of Opportunity mantra continues to ring true as Jinder Mahal continued his unbelievable ascent towards the main event scene while Breezango earned a shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Titles.

  SD Live did a better job hyping Payback than their red counterpart last night. It feels like a joint PPV due to the inter-promotional matches featuring Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt in a House of Horrors Match and Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho for the United States Championship. It has made for awkward television at times, but the finish line is near. At least the creative team is doing a good job building up the Backlash PPV as a major standalone show.

  My only criticism was that awful promo Dolph Ziggler cut on Shinsuke Nakamura that kicked off the show. If my memory serves me correctly, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode never brought up Michael Jackson to hype up their NXT Championship bouts against the King of Strong Style. This was such a WWE thing to do and it was executed poorly. Nakamura’s mystic took a minor hit, but he should recover nicely if he kicks Ziggler’s ass at Backlash and move on to bigger and better things. Is the Money in the Bank Ladder match next on the agenda? We shall see. Considering the shit he had to endure tonight, it’s a fine consolation prize.

  On that note, this wraps up another edition of The SmackDown Files. I hope you enjoyed it and I will back next week with a brand new installment of The Raw Exposé. See you later, boys and girls!

[ryanonwrasslin-blog]

The Wrestling Optimist - March 9, 2017

For those newbies, this is my first in what I anticipate becoming roughly a weekly edition of my thoughts, from a mostly optimistic viewpoint, on the wonderful world of professional wrestling. I'm working my hardest to stop being such a miserable smark, and this column is my best effort at both keeping myself honest and funneling out the various thoughts I have on wrestling. For the most part, this will be a WWE-themed piece every week, and it's still evolving, but for now I think I've found a solid format. Also, I typically intend for this to be a weekly column, but I was excited to try it out after Fast Lane (and really put my efforts at optimism to their most extreme test), so this particular column will only cover Raw, Smackdown Live, Talking Smack, 205 Live, and NXT.

Theme of the Week: We really are in the fast lane to Mania. The PPV may have left a lot of people a little displeased, but I think Raw and SDL did a nice job this week of building to the Jaws-like creature lurking in our midst, the reportedly 6.5 hour Wrestlemania now less than a month away. On Raw we got Y2J vs. KO, and the Women's Triple Threat officially booked, set up a possible Cruiserweight title match, while also getting Lesnar vs. Goldberg hyped, and Reigns vs. Taker hinted at with the subtlety of one of the Big Dog's Superman Punches. And the inevitable pre-show Tag title match will get clarity next week. That's an awful lot of productivity even for 3 hours.

Smackdown Live, not to be outdone, settled on Wyatt vs. Orton officially, made an intriguing Women's Championship free-for-all, kept the build on for the Mixed Tag, set conspiracy theory AJ Styles loose on Shane O'Mac, and hinted that we're going to get a hardcore type of Intercontinental Title match between Corbin and Ambrose.

The Mania card is now starkly visible, with the unknowns being whatever is happening with the Triple H/ Seth Rollins/ Samoa Joe/ Sami Zayn/ maybe Finn Balor storyline, whether Big Show vs. Shaq happens, how the poor SDL Tag division will be handled, which undercard guys will fill out the AMBAR, and then designating a few of these as pre-show.

For my own druthers, I mostly don't care how the card order stacks up, but I'm going to lose it if the Smackdown women end up on the Pre-Show as I fear they might. My girls Becky and Alexa deserve better than that.

10 Best Moments of the Week

Teasing the Phenomenal Forearm into the RKO Some day they are going to have Orton hit him with the RKO when going for either the forearm or the 450 and it's going to be the coolest thing since the Curb Stomp RKO, and I'm glad they clearly know how cool that is.

Heyman rushing out to address the CM Punk chants and halt whatever ill-fated improv Goldberg was about to attempt I'm not positive that Heyman was rushed out there early to cut off the Punk chants and prevent Goldberg from saying something that would only make the chants worse, but it certainly looked that way and it was another hilarious reminder of how little WWE can trust Goldberg to do pretty much anything.

The Miz motherfuckin' ETHERS John Cena I have nothing to add to his masterpiece. Go watch the SDL and Talking Smack segments.

FORK YOU! - I loved Baron Corbin pinning Dean Ambrose under a forklift. I'm always in for goofy prop fights, and there's always a place on the card for something like this at Mania. I hope this is how the match goes at Mania, a sometimes goofy, sometimes brutal street fight sort of affair. We know that Ambrose wanted the Mania match with Lesnar to go way too far last year but was rebuffed. Let him try this year with someone young and hungry like the Lone Wolf.

Austin Aries, the hero the Cruiserweight division needs Running Aries as the apparent face against Neville could be a weird fit in the long run, but I was all in for this segment on Raw. Aries is the outsized character the division needs right now to complement all the work Neville is doing and the better ring-work we've started seeing from guys like Tozawa and Swann.

The SAnitY and Dillinger story really comes together I don’t know about everyone else, but seeing Roddy get dragged out beaten half to death by the rest of the group, and seeing Tye and Jose get fired up about it, worked like hell for me. That awkward trio coming together against the heels was lacking something and this helped fill in the storyline, as did EY yelling “YOU DID THIS” at Tye. Good stuff.

As the Smackdown Women's Division Turns Becky gets turned on by a tag partner again (at this point I’m surprised Luke Sanders hasn’t turned on her), and Mickie at last turns on Alexa. Sometimes the easy story is the right one. If Naomi makes it back, she's pretty clearly going to win the title, but if not I really hope they have Becky overcome a whole Rogues gallery of heels to win (throw in Eva Marie and Carmella to really put it over the top). She's been turned on so many times that she needs the perseverance story.

For a night, the Part-Timers were booked well I'm as deeply skeptical as anyone that Raw can get me fully invested in a Lesnar/ Goldberg feud or an Undie/ Strong Roman feud, but credit where it's due, they did an excellent job on Raw this week. Goldberg eating an F5 was long overdue and I honestly wanted to see the whooping get worse.

TJP and Shinsuke dab on each other WWE spent a few headscratching months booking TJP after the Cruiserweight classic, but this was a fun match and felt like the right way to handle him, as a cocky, shitty, sorta heel who also does some seriously cool shit in the ring.

The way AJ Styles says, "Randy Orton burns down a man's house and gets rewarded for it!" I knew AJ was among the best in the ring prior to his WWE run, but his promos have been a wonderful surprise to me. He is a natural on the mic and has a goofy charisma, and for whatever reason I chuckled for a long time after he said this particular line.

Let the Smark Out

For as much as I’m trying to be an optimist, wrestling is not a perfect product. Far from it, really, and when you have problems with something, it’s healthy to let that sort of thing out. So, in the hopes of keeping a 5:1 ratio tilted toward the good side, here are my two complaints of the week:

Are we seriously doing this with Emma again? She was in such a good place as Evil Emma with the half-gloves and the shoulder pads. Given how shallow the Raw Women’s division is, why did they feel the need to screw around with something that was working????

I’ve known for weeks that the Styles/ Shane O’Mac feud was coming, but now that it’s here, it hurts even more. There is obvious proof on the roster in multiple forms that you only get so many Wrestlemania’s out of your top workers (like Balor and Rollins both being potentially on the shelf for this year after not being on last year’s card either). To use up one of those years for Styles, unquestionably the best in-ring performer in the company, and probably the world, is asinine. I know there is no bigger honor in WWE eyes than to fight against a McMahon (and I strongly suspect we’re heading toward either a Bayley or Sasha vs. Stephanie program in the next year), but I have no interest in seeing AJ selling for ol’ Baby Jabs McMahon. 

Let’s Rank Stuff!

One of the best things to do as a wrestling fan is to compare things. Who's on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling? Who was the most over with the crowd? Who's the best in-ring worker? What's the most uncomfortable Attitude Era storyline in retrospect? That's what I'm going to do here every week, pick a topic and rank it as I see it. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts! I'd love to hear them.

This week's ranking: The Status of the Championship Belts

It's been almost 8 months since the Brand Split, which saw WWE add a whopping 4 title belts to their company (and a fifth in the UK Title even more recently) and with Wrestlemania approaching, I thought now would be a fun time to rank those titles in terms of their current level of prestige. Keep in mind the old adage about the wrestler making the belt, not the other way around. So without further ado, in reverse order:

13. UK Championship - Too young to be any higher. If Pete Dunne gets it, though, this thing could rocket up the list. That dude has incredible potential.

12 US Championship - Man what a precipitous fall. A short 18 months ago, Cena had made this thing into probably the second best belt in the company. But more recently it's been seen being dragged around by a disinterested Roman Reigns like he was worried that touching too much of it might infect him with some terrible disease. The good news is that I can see KO winning this at 'Mania and proudly defending it, not because it represents America or anything, but because KO is convinced anything he has is just the best.

11 Smackdown Tag Team Championships - Another letdown since the brand split. Slater/ Rhyno was fun, but American Alpha is surprisingly struggling right now.

10 Raw Tag Team Championships - The shenanigans required to get New Day to the tag title record didn't help anyone, and now I can't help but view The Club as utterly inconsequential. Tag team wrestling on the main roster is in a bad way right now. Thankfully, there's hope on the horizon if WWE is smart enough to realize it.

9 Cruiserweight Championship - Talk about the wrestler making the belt. Putting this thing on Neville was the step that was badly needed to salvage this belt and the entire division.

8 Smackdown Women's Championship - This division has done wonders in terms of drawing out depth and giving its characters chances, but it's in need of some excellent, or rather Bex-cellent, wrestling and something memorable. I think maybe they missed an opportunity not having Becky and Nikki fight for this at some point. Face vs. Face can be tricky, but these two could have done it, it would have given more prestige to the belt and now rumors are Nikki may be on her way out. That’s a seriously missed opportunity if so.

7 WWE Universal Championship - Yikes. I was closer to putting this thing 8th than moving it higher. It's impressively ugly, KO's title run was consistently neutered, and now Dadberg is drenching it in sweat for the next few weeks before Lesnar takes it from him at Mania and promptly disappears for a few months. If we do this ranking again in June, this belt might be 13th.

6 NXT Women's Championship - Asuka is obviously great and the coming feud with Ember should be a lot of fun, as should Nikki Cross' pursuit, but the belt hasn't kept up with some of the others under the WWE umbrella. From where it was during Sasha/ Bayley, things have slipped a bit in part because no one legitimate has come for Asuka. Yet.

5 NXT Tag Team Championships - Several of the best matches of 2016 were contested for this belt, and honestly I feel like it should be higher. I just couldn't quite bring myself to pull the trigger. That said, there's no shame in being 5th and the sole beacon of light for tag team wrestling in WWE.

4 Raw Women's Championship - I didn't love the hot potato of the belt, same as most people, and I loathe it when WWE starts talking about "making history," but this title is a very important one right now.

3 Intercontinental Championship - This likely would have been number 2 if I'd done this ranking in the fall thanks almost entirely to the Miz. Ambrose has been fine as champ since then thanks to his pedigree as a former WWE Champ, and if they are setting up Baron Corbin to win the title at Mania, that could be a great step toward both making a star and helping keep the belt relevant.

2 NXT Championship - One of the most impressive lineages of any championship belt in wrestling history right now. At times, it probably has surpassed even the WWE Championship itself. I'm curious to see how they handle Bobby Roode's reign after having one indy giant after another hold it for years on end. Obviously Roode is no slouch, but this does feel like an interesting point for the title.

1 WWE Championship - I'm glad they're back to just calling it the WWE Championship. That just sounds so much better than adding any sort of "world" modifier to it. It's the franchise, the belt with all the history behind it, and that WWE itself even clearly tries to pay respect to, and this past year or so has only added to the legacy. Getting AJ Styles' name on the belt was great for everyone, Cena tied the record with it, and now Bray Wyatt, a character that WWE has always viewed as a long-term face of the company, is battling another all-time legend in Randy Orton at Wrestlemania for it. That's great stuff.

Match of the Week

This was supposed to be a column that covered everything after Fast Lane, but I have to give it up one more time for Neville vs. Jack Gallagher. That’s unquestionably the match of the week.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I sketched out a rough idea of the Mania card earlier in the column, but for the next few weeks I’m excited for the build. That’s where these matches are set up for memorable moments and big crowd pops or destined for failure. I covered the Triple H saga in this segment in the Fast Lane column, but I was surprised to see it not get a ton of attention on Raw this week. It’s starting to feel like WWE doesn’t even quite know what to do with it at this point.

If we get through this week’s Raw without some kind of stakes for Mania set for those two and the various other players in their drama, I’m going to start doubting whether the match is actually happening, and if maybe we’ll only get some kind of confrontation only at the show.

The Finisher

Big Show vs. Shaq would be kinda cool if it happens, but if it doesn’t, I hope they do Strowman vs. Show II. Strowman is ready for something more than winning the AMBAR, and Show deserves a reward for getting into such ridiculous shape. Plus, those two had low-key the most surprisingly fun match of 2017 so far, and you could do a lot worse than a ten minute hoss fight at Mania. Make it happen, WWE.

[placetobenation]

Hard to believe folks, but we are less than one full month away from WrestleMania. In any normal year, we’d already have half the card planned for wrestling’s biggest stage. Yet, here we stand with only one match solidified going into April 10-11’s two-night event in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium.

We’ve got Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. That’s it. The only other match that’s close is the Universal Championship match with Edge taking on whoever walks out of FastLane as the champ – either Roman Reigns or Daniel Bryan. Everything else is up for grabs or better yet, Vince McMahon’s whim.

It’s a WrestleMania like no other and with the FastLane PPV, the first ever on Peacock, coming next Sunday, it’ll be a mad dash after the PPV to get things in shape and hyped up for Tampa. Sure, we have our guesses as to who might fill out the rest of the card. Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre or maybe it’s a returning Brock Lesnar could be on tap. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair maybe? Randy Orton vs. The Fiend or whatever he’ll come back as. Bad Bunny & Damien Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison is sure to happen as well. Whichever way they go, the WWE has its hands full and not a lot of time to get it done.

RAW

RESULTS

WWE Championship Match: Bobby Lashley defeated The Miz to retain title

No DQ Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus went to a no-contest

Xavier Woods defeated Shelton Benjamin

Riddle defeated SLAPJACK

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defeated Naomi & Lana to retain titles

AJ Styles defeated Randy Orton

I’ll give it to RAW the past few weeks. It’s been better and that trend continues again this week.

The Hurt Lock signaled the end of the match and @fightbobby remains #WWEChampion!#AndStill#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/CcKEsEZZj8

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

Talk about starting with a bang. No need for one of those cliche championship celebrations. All new WWE Champion Bobby Lashley did was remain dominant and make quick work of The Miz to make his case to highlight a main event at WrestleMania. It’s a quality move by the WWE to make Lashley look as strong as possible headed towards April.

THIS IS AWE-SOME!

#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/8DMXiSQHqc

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

We praised Drew McIntyre and Sheamus last week for a wonderful one-on-one contest. This week, Sheamus wants more after attacking Drew backstage. Now, just when we were getting more of the brutal beatdown between the two behemoths, oh my the welts on their backs with those kendo sticks, the duo decided to pick up the steel ring steps and collide into each other. Instead of taking out the other, they both take out themselves to end it in a no-contest. I’m sure match three will be on tap for Fastlane.

"Oh, Randy… Not yet."@AlexaBliss_WWE's mind games continue to plague @RandyOrton. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/N5cYmLQ2It

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

To complete a trio of kudos, AJ Styles and Randy Orton put on a very good main event. Of course, the ending was a bit predictable with Alexa Bliss distracting Orton from the big screen just long enough for an explosion, more black goo spewing from Randy’s mouth and a top rope forearm splash from Styles to give him the pinfall. The Fiend’s resurrection is coming. We’ll just have to wait a bit longer for it, right Miss Bliss?!

Otherwise, Xavier Woods earns The New Day a tag team title shot with a singles victory over Shelton Benjamin. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler get an uneventful championship match win over Naomi & Lana. BTW: not a big fan of putting Reginald with Nia and taking him out of the mix of SmackDown even for one show. Reggie deserves better. Plus, Riddle takes out SLAPJACK. If it’s not Riddle vs. Ali, which we get this Monday night for the US Title, I’m not interested in RETRIBUTION. 

There’s so much left to be done to set up for WrestleMania and with Fastlane being the bump in the road to get there, I’m sure a lot will happen over the next 10 days. Take Charlotte Flair for instance, her only appearance of the night was to tell Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose to bring it when it comes to asking for a RAW Women’s Championship Match against Asuka. Something tells me Rhea Ripley is soon to be added to that mix.

Yes, I’ve left Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman for last. That may have been one of the worst 10 minutes of RAW in many a year. I get it that the WWE wants us to hate Shane and cheer Braun, but that promo from McMahon not only made no sense, it hurt my head to try and listen to it. And, not for nothing, why not give Braun a microphone. Nothing about that segment or the storyline is making me have any interest in it. It’s just more square pegs trying to be pounded into a round hole.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT Women’s Championship Match: Io Shirai defeated Toni Storm

Pete Dunne defeated Jake Atlas

NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon defeated Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez to win titles

Xia Li defeated Kayden Carter by DQ

Legado del Fantasma defeated Grizzled Young Veterans

NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor defeated Adam Cole

Raw emotion. Pure talent. #AndNew #WWENXT Congratulations @ShotziWWE & @WWEEmberMoon! pic.twitter.com/pZFQDxKXhK

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 11, 2021

So, that didn’t take long! General manager William Regal wasted little time in banging out the two “game-changing” announcements for the NXT brand. First, we get a two-night TakeOver: Stand and Deliver during WrestleMania week. Then, after last week’s tag team fiasco, Regal declares Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez as the first ever NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long for Kai & Gonzalez as Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart take them out in their very first title defense. It’s a good way to keep things moving and doesn’t leave any room for doubters to say that the champs were just handed the titles. Moon and Blackheart won them in the ring and move on with the gold.

In an incredible battle for the #WWENXT #WomensTitle, @shirai_io retained against a determined Toni Storm! pic.twitter.com/QjVZmjHd2s

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 12, 2021

Io Shirai just keeps going strong. No matter who or where the challenge comes from, Shirai continues to prove she’s the best thing going these days in NXT. I really thought it could be Toni Time for Storm in this one, but Shirai made her tap out surprisingly clean. Next up for champ, she wants Raquel Gonzalez. Now that’s an easy way for her to forget about a quick tag team title loss.

Jordan Devlin is back from the travel ban and yes, ladies and gentleman, it looks like we’ve got a fight for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship next week!

A tip of the hat, or is that a space helmet tip to Breezango as MSK distracts the Grizzled Young Veterans enough to give Legado del Fantasma the win. But, not to be left out, Breezango arrives to give Legado a little payback for last week’s beatdown. Maybe we’ve got an 8-man tag team in our future between these teams.

Kacy Catanazaro’s got a little fire in her belly, taking the crutches to Xia Li during her match with bestie Kayden Carter. Unfortunately, while getting some payback, she also costs Carter a chance at a win, giving Li the DQ victory. This one’s far from over as Kacy gets over her knee injury at the hands of the badass Li.

LA Knight vs. Bronson Reed? Could it be with Knight’s in-ring debut coming next week?

It looks like Imperium wants to grow and is recruiting Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa. Interesting mix to say the least although it looks like Ciampa has his sights set a bit higher on WALTER and the NXT UK Championship. Now that would be a fun fight on either side of the pond. But first, it looks like we get a fight between the four coming up this Wednesday night. 

"What took you so long?"

#WWENXT @FinnBalor @WWEKarrionKross pic.twitter.com/U7zaOlGJDX

— WWE (@WWE) March 11, 2021

Finn Balor vs. Adam Cole – thumbs up! Terrific main event between two of the best in NXT. Both men had their chances near the end and Kyle O’Reilly’s appearance ringside distracted Cole just enough for Balor to get the Coup de Grace and the win. It was a clean victory that I wasn’t sure was in the making. O’Reilly gets his licks in on Cole after the match to boot as well leaving the ring clear for the face-to-face between Balor and Karrion Kross. Finn’s line – “what took you so long” was perfect to end the show too! I hope they build it up for the main event of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver instead of rushing to it too soon. O’Reilly ripping The Undisputed Era armband off Cole was nice symbolism as well.

I don’t know about you, but NXT was so good this week, it felt like it was over in about five minutes rather than two+ hours. Great in-ring matches. History-making announcements. Storylines opened and advanced. Really good show folks.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

The Street Profits, Rey & Dominik Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Chad Gable & Otis

Cesaro defeated Buddy Murphy by DQ

Tamina & Natalya defeated Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair

Intercontinental Championship Match: Big E defeated Sami Zayn to retain title

"You're better than this… But you're not better than me."

#SmackDown @EdgeRatedR @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/PUQKdgX4lf

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Just in case there’s an upset at FastLane, Edge and Daniel Bryan sure did a nice job starting off SmackDown giving us some really good personal heat between two of the bigger babyfaces in the company. You wonder if Edge will do whatever it takes to make sure Roman Reigns wins, even if it means costing Bryan a shot at WrestleMania.

I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed the 8-man tag team match. With The Street Profits joining forces with The Mysterios to get the better of the tag champs, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode, along with Otis & Chad Gable, it set the right tone and put both teams in line to make their case for a title match. There was never a down time in the match and there were bodies flying everywhere. Solid action to start the night in the ring with the good guys going over.

Poor Reggie! Nia Jax is smitten over him! That shopping spree made me harken back to the days of the Tuesday Night Titans skits. A bit too long, but got the job done. I will say this though. Shayna Baszler is about to snap. Book it. She’s beyond tired of the Nia-Reggie show already and it’s only a matter of time before she takes them both out.

Speaking of Reginald, he cost Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks their tag match against Tamina & Natalya. Something that made Belair not too happy and continues to build the heat between Banks and Belair with Banks continued attention to Carmella’s fired old friend.

After a vicious attack on @WWECesaro, It seems like @WWERollins has the attention of @ShinsukeN!

#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/GcGIOYJKC8

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Buddy Murphy vs. Cesaro, part 2 was really just there to set up Seth Rollins attack on Cesaro of course. The most intriguing part though comes after the match. Is Shinsuke Nakamura about to join the Messiah against his former mate? Maybe the evil side of Shinsuke is about to return? I like it. And let’s be honest, Nakamura would be one heck of an upgrade over Murphy.

.@WWEApollo blindsides @WWEBigE after his #ICTitle Match with a vicious attack! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/jI9lQqcMvJ

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Oh my Big E! That’s as serious as it gets for The New Day’s biggest superstar. “I need to end you.” WOW! But, instead of getting Apollo Crews and some justified payback, Big E made Sami Zayn his latest Intercontinental Championship Open Challenge victim. Zayn’s loss only comes after he steals King Corbin’s attempt to accept the challenge. Zayn’s right, you snooze, you lose Corbin. Apparently, Crews caught Big E snoozing celebrating his victory with a brutal post-match attack. Damn, what is the WWE’s love for those ringside steps these days. It’s only a matter of time before these two will be battling again for that I-C Gold. UPDATE: WWE has added a title match between the two to FastLane.

Not too shabby! That’s one way to liven up your tired old contract signing. First, Daniel Bryan guilts Roman Reigns into signing the contract for the match at FastLane. Then, when Jey Uso tries to force him into the equation as the special enforcer, Edge ups the ante, challenging Uso next week for that job at the PPV. It’ll be the first time in over a decade that Edge is back wrestling live on the blue brand. Now, that’s how you dot the “I’s” and cross the “T’s” on a go-home show next Friday night.

Parting shots:

@PeytonRoyceWWE just went OFF on #RawTalk. She wants an opportunity against #WWERaw #WomensChampion @WWEAsuka! pic.twitter.com/alnsKByeYA

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

If you missed RAW Talk this past Monday night, you missed Peyton Royce getting as personal and as real as she’s ever gotten. Her best promo of her WWE career, hands down. Talking Smack continues to be must see watching on Saturdays on the WWE Network.

Coming up this week:

RAW: RAW Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day vs. The Hurt Business United States Championship Match: Riddle vs. Mustafa Ali

NXT: Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott LA Knight’s in-ring debut Dexter Lumis vs. Austin Theory

SMACKDOWN: SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax Edge vs. Jey Uso – winner gets to be special enforcer for Universal Championship at FastLane

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[ohitstrue-itsdamntrue-blog]

What the Royal Rumble results mean for Wrestlemania.

If you looked at the betting odds at all over the weekend then it wasn’t surprising when Randy Orton won the royal rumble... If you didnt look then i feel your pain. It sucks. 

Let’s look at the Kick-off Show results.

Six-Woman Tag match:

As always, the good guys win. What was strange was that Naomi got the pin over Bliss. Does pinning the champ still mean you get a title shot? If so... lame. Wasn’t really that bothered about this as the smackdown woman’s division is a bit weak. What’s next for Bliss? 

WM: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Naomi - Boring. 

The Club - New Tag Team Champions

When this was announced for the Kick-Off i thought “Here we go, lets see how the 2 ref’s will cost The Club the title...”. But, to my surprise The Club finally won the titles. Bit weird having this on the Kick-Off, but unlike the Smackdown Tag Titles there was atleast a match. With Sheamus and Cesaro basically breaking up during the Rumble match where do The Club go from here? The only other relevant tag-teams are New Day and Big Cas & Enzo. I predict it’ll be Big Cass & Enzo going for the titles next. I guess that’s fine. 

WM: The Club (c) vs. Big Cass & Enzo

Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

Another pretty dull match ending in the predicted Nia Jax getting her victory. Pretty clear to see where this will go. 

WM: Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Nia Zax 

Now the main card.

Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns

Decent match. Weird ending. Jericho being in the cage was random. Handed him the brass knuckles and the superman punch with those from KO was a cool moment. But having it happen to early on in the match meant the obvious ‘Roman Reigns Kick Out at 2′ was going to happen. The chair-mountain-stack thing was pretty cool too. But Reigns really needs to stop using the Superman Punch 5+ times in a single match. He must have used it 8 times in this match... and then more times in the Rumble. Highlight? KO pulling out a stunner.

Strowman interfering... Now, here's my problem with it. It makes no sense for a start. Why interfer? Also, Reigns vs. Strowman would be decent i guess. But then WHY OH WHY HAVE REIGNS COME IN AT NUMBER 30 AND GET THE BLOODY UNDERTAKER OUT? Where is Reigns heading? Reigns vs. Strowman or Reigns vs. Taker? And if it’s Reigns vs. Taker. Where the hell is Strowman going? Kevin Owens vs. Braun Strowman at Fastlane? I have a different idea.

Fastlane: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Goldberg - Goldberg wins (obviously because he never freakin’ loses) leading to:

WM: Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Wrestlemania. Yep. We’re gonna see Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar headline Wrestlemania again.

But where does that leave Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns? 

WM: Roman Reigns vs.  The Undertaker - Yep.....

WM: Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho - United States Championship. 

Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley

Obviously Charlotte was going to win this. It’s a PPV. 16 - 0. That’s pretty impressive, but this match wasn’t. Apart from Flair bleeding from the mouth it was pretty much one way traffic. A pretty cool spot to finish but Bayley never looked like she was going to win this.

WM: Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax vs. Bayley - I spoke about this before 

Rich Swann (c) vs. Neville

Actually not a bad match. Usually the cruiserweight matches are filled with botched and crappy looking kicks. But i only counted 2 botches in this match so that’s pretty good-going! Neville won and that was good. But who’s next for Neville? I can’t see anyone on the roster at the moment who’s going to put up a fight against Neville.

WM: Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries

AJ Styles (c) vs. John Cena

Best match of the night, again. But it always was going to be, it’s AJ Styles vs. John Cena for christ sakes. Highlight? AJ kicking out the the AA (F-U) from the top-rope. I was certain this was going to be the 3 count, but AJ managed to get his shoulder up. Cena kicking out of the Styles Clash was also pretty cool. To be honest i dont really need to say much about this, it was good. Of Course you know Cena won with a double FU and became a 16 time WWE Champ. Fully deserved and i think he should go on to break Flair’s record by 2. Best WWE superstar there’s ever been in my eyes. 

Orton vs. Cena? - Again.... I hope not. But, I can't see where we’ll see him if not. Lets say Cena loses to Bray Wyatt in the Elimination Chamber. Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania. That sounds pretty good. But then where is Cena? Can they do Cena vs AJ again? I agree with #TombstoneToby and we’ll see AJ Styles vs. Shane O’Mac at WM. So where’s Cena? To be honest, I don’t know. 

Elimination Chamber: John Cena (c) vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Baron Corbin vs. The Miz vs. AJ Styles vs. ? - Maybe Luke Harper or NXT Superstar. 

WM: Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cena 

WM: AJ Styles vs. Shane O’Mac

The 30 Man Royal Rumble

With only 8 people not named for this rumble it was always going to be a little bit of an anticlimax. But these were the 8 names...

Enzo, Apollo Crews, Tye Dillinger, ‘Dashing’ Rusev, James Ellsworth, Mark Henry, Jack Gallagher and Roman Reigns. If you take Perfect 10 out of it, that is a VERY boring set of superstars. 

This was one of the worst Rumbles i’ve ever seen. They decided to have the longest walk down to the ring ever. Why? Noone knows. This made it so slow. “Number 8: Sami Zayn” *2 minutes later* “Sami Zayn has enters the ring”

Let’s talk about what the hell WWE are doing with Brock Lesnar. So he comes down at number 26, does a few suplexes and gets 2 people out. Standard Lesnar. Enzo comes out and noone cares, he hits him down and chucks him out. Cool, Goldberg time. Fans are obviously hyped and interested to see what happened. And what happened? The same as the last time they met... Goldberg hit him with a spear and chucked him out “shocking the world”. Why? Where does Lesnar go from here? It’s pretty obvious they’re trying to make Lesnar look like the underdog ready for WM where he finally beats Goldberg. But they’re just making Lesnar look rubbish, and by doing that you make every other superstar look very rubbish. And for what? Goldberg to look just as strong as he did before he came back. Boring.

This leads me to Roman Reigns being number 30. What. A. Seth Freakin’ Rollins. Letdown. After we’d seen the 7 unannounced entrants be mostly jobbers i still had some trace of hope left that we’d see Samoa Joe come out. Nah. Roman Reigns. The same man who got boo’d by 50,000+ fans earlier in the night when we almost beat Owens. Yep, as if a title shot isn't enough for WWE’s golden boy, lets chuck him in the number 30 spot. Saying that, it kind of worked. Accidently, or on purpose, Reigns coming in at 30 made people actually cheer the otherwise disappointing Orton win. Yep, Reigns is so hated that the crowed wanted anyone but him to win. They chanted “this is bullshit” continuously until his exit. “Anyone but you Roman” was the theme in the crowd; Orton, Bray, Taker, anyone was gonna get a cheer just for throwing Reigns over the top rope. So, an easy way to get the Orton over as the winner: Get out the most hated man in WWE. Clever or unplanned? My opinion: clever.

Lets talk about another ‘surprise’ entrant: Jack Gallagher. This man is beyond talented as a technical wrestler. What do they do with him? Give him an umbrella and make him do a Mary Poppins style jump from the top rope. For god sake WWE. Why does every (ok, not every) English wrestler have to have the stereotypical english gentleman character? Even Aiden English (who’s even not English) has the moustache and no kneepads. 

Overall, a disappointing Rumble. No surprise entrants, no returns, 1 debut and a ‘safe’ winner. Well done Vince. 

What’s next?

Let’s look at all of my Wrestlemania Match Predictions:

Kick-Off Show:

Smackdown Woman Championship: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Naomi

Cruiserweight Championship: Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries

Smackdown Tag Championships: American Alpha (c) vs. The Uso’s

Raw Tag Team Championships: The Club (c) vs. Big Cass & Enzo

Main Card:

Raw Woman Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley vs. Nia Zax

The Big Show vs. Shaq O’Neil 

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Dean Ambrose (c) vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper vs. Baron Corbin vs. Appolo Crews

AJ Styles vs. Shane O’Mac

United States Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kevin Owens

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H

WWE Championship: Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cena

Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker

Universal Championship: Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar

You may be looking at these matches and thinking “Where’s Finn Balor? Where’s Braun Strowman? Where’s New Day? Where’s Rusev? Sheamus? Cesaro? Samoa Joe? Nakamura? Sami Zayn!? Honest answer - I have no idea. 

Finn Balor vs. Kane?

Braun Strowman vs. Sami Zayn? - Again

Samoa Joe vs. Nakamura/Rusev?  

New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro - Again

I have no idea. The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal? Either that or they could do a Smackdown vs. Raw Six-Man Tag Elimination Match. 

#CallumTheClothesline out. 

[placetobenation]

A good week for RAW.  A solid week for NXT. An average week on Smackdown. And through it all, the WWE seemingly lost about a billion dollars in value due its stock being down with 4th quarter financials released after the firing of two top executives, George Barrios and Michelle Wilson.

Now, according to Vince McMahon, the WWE may be shopping the streaming rights to its own PPV’s to an outside streaming service. What does that mean for the WWE Network? Will it become a VOD service? The allure of the network has always been to get the monthly PPV’s along with new content and access to hidden gems and past shows at your fingertips, all for – say it with me – the low, low price of $9.99 a month. If you take away the PPV’s, that’s a big chuck of the attraction. Stay tuned as we could learn the outcome of all this before WrestleMania according to McMahon on this week’s conference call.  

So, when all is said and done. When the out-of-the-ring news overshadows the product in-the-ring and on tv, it’s not a great week for the WWE. I’d have to give RAW the number one show of the week, not because NXT nor Smackdown were bad. They weren’t. NXT was a solid show and Smackdown was ok, but what Randy Orton did in front of an amazing Salt Lake City crowd that trudged through a massive snowstorm in Utah made it a hotter show.

Star of the week:

"YOU answer to ME!" – @AngelGarzaWWE to @humberto_wwe #RAW @Zelina_VegaWWE pic.twitter.com/feYnFnMUts

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 4, 2020

Angel Garza – Pulling double-duty on RAW and NXT gives Garza the spotlight this week. If he continues to shine, maybe he’ll be sticking around even after Andrade returns from his 30-day suspension. Sure, I could’ve given it to Randy Orton for his monster-heat, but Garza put himself out there in an impressive debut and stood out on two shows.

RAW

RESULTS

Liv Morgan defeated Lana

Non-title 24/7 Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Mojo Rawley

Six-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Buddy Murphy & Authors of Pain defeated Kevin Owens & The Viking Raiders

Aleister Black defeated Eric Young

Rey Mysterio, Jr. defeated Angel Garza via DQ

Asuka defeated Natalya

WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Ricochet defeated Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley

What we loved:

“I can’t do this.” @RandyOrton leaves the WWE Universe without an explanation for his savage attack on @EdgeRatedR. #RAW pic.twitter.com/xkwysFO3et

— WWE (@WWE) February 4, 2020

Mega-heat – Randy Orton said nothing. And we LOVED it! That’s how you draw mega-heat my friends. Less is more! We are going to have one helluva Road to WrestleMania between Edge and the Viper.

New blood – I’ll give the WWE credit for continuing the Brock Lesnar-Ricochet storyline for a payoff at a big spot at the Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia. Instead of falling back into yet another Rollins vs. Lesnar or a short-term Lashley vs. Lesnar spot, it made sense to follow-up the Royal Rumble low-balling storyline between the WWE Champion to give Ricochet his first shot at the company’s top title. Of course, we know he has no shot at winning, but at least it should be a good match.

Tempers are high in this heated matchup between @NatbyNature and @WWEAsuka on #RAW! pic.twitter.com/6MPkk5yBBV

— WWE (@WWE) February 4, 2020

Asuka vs. Natalya – Good, old-fashioned slobberknocker right here! Two of the most physical superstars in the women’s division going at it is a must-watch.

Hello, Angel – It may be just a short-term fix until Andrade returns from his 30-day Wellness suspension, but it’s good to see Angel Garza get the call-up for a face-to-face with his cousin Humberto Carrillo and Rey Mysterio, Jr.

See you Wednesday, @MsCharlotteWWE. #WWENXT @RheaRipley_WWE pic.twitter.com/wju4PLrKUd

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 4, 2020

Charlotte vs. Rhea – We told you it was coming! Realistically, can we see Charlotte Flair heading back to NXT full-time, nope! But it will be interesting to see these two go back-and-forth for a few weeks over RAW and NXT on the Road to WrestleMania.

What we didn’t love:

RAW needs something – Remember back in the day, we had Piper’s Pit, The Barbershop, the Brother Love Show and more. Well, it’s time for RAW to have something like that. It just seems like the show’s getting repetitive with run-ins and in-ring long promos time after time. It needs to have something outside the ring to turn to on a semi-regular basis, not every week. Make it an attraction and something to look forward to. And no, it has to be more than the Saturday Night Live Update rip-off we get from The Street Profits.

Meh:

Ruby Riott returns – Ruby Riott returns to attack her former Riott Squad member Liv Morgan and seemingly join forces with Lana. But why? Do we now get Sarah Cross joining Morgan soon to even the odds? Underwhelming for a return IMHO.

NXT

RESULTS

Angel Garza defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott

Dominik Dijakovic defeated Killian Dain

Mercedes Martinez defeated Kacy Catanzaro

Non-title NXT Cruiserweight Championship Match: Jordan Devlin defeated Tyler Breeze

Tommaso Ciampa & The BroserWeights (Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle) vs. The Undisputed ERA (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) went to a no-contest

What we loved:

WE. ARE. NXT.

Just in case you forgot, @MsCharlotteWWE. #WWENXT @BiancaBelairWWE @RheaRipley_WWE pic.twitter.com/VSkp2YAAP7

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 6, 2020

Double-teaming The Queen – Not only did Charlotte Flair come back to Full Sail, but she got Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair over before going over, literally, herself as Ripley and Belair topple her ot defend the NXT turf. They’ll be time to cement the Flair vs. Ripley WrestleMania match, but a good, creative job of booking to hype Ripley vs. Belair for TakeOver in Portland first. Belair’s stock continues to rise coming off the Royal Rumble with some quality mic time showing she can handle it with it the top stars.

Double-duty Angel – Monday night. Wednesday night. What’s next for the former NXT Cruiserweight Champ? Maybe a trip to Smackdown to complete the trifecta!

D

R

E

A

M @DreamWWE has his

on you, @roderickstrong! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/ALg7wygoog

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 6, 2020

It’s not a Dream – Welcome back Velveteen Dream! Just when it looked like The Undisputed Era had the upper hand again, back comes the Velveteen Dream to make it a nightmare for Cole and company! The only down side to it could be a possible injury to Ciampa heading into TakeOver.

What we didn’t love:

The look – We will continue to say it until it changes. The WWE rarely does anything that looks small, especially against a rival. Yet, when going up against AEW on Wednesday nights, the look of NXT appears lesser when put in the cozy confines of Full Sail. It’s times to take it to the road a few times a month. The talent and the audience deserve it! As for quality, NXT has it. Now it’s time to sharpen up the look. The WWE, with its lucrative TV deals and Super Showdown money from Saudi Arabia, can afford it.

Too little KC – Yes, I’m biased being a Ninja Warrior fan, but I need more than just under three-minutes of Kacy Catanzaro. It was nice to see her return to TV, but in pretty much a squash match against Mercedes Martinez doesn’t cut it for me.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

The Usos defeated Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode

Elias defeated Cesaro

Daniel Bryan defeats Heath Slater

Sheamus defeated Apollo Crews

Smackdown Women’s Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Carmella defeated Alexa Bliss, Naomi and Dana Brooke

Here’s the thing about this week’s Smackdown. It was perfectly fine. Nothing tremendously great, but nothing over-the-edge bad. It just was there and that’s not how I think the WWE wants to have its only show on broadcast TV to be looked upon, especially when it has two major events – Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia and WrestleMania coming up. Every week should be treated as special.

"HERE'S YOUR BREAKING NEWS: #TheFiend @WWEBrayWyatt, YOU'RE NEXT!" – @Goldberg #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/QDQxuCB6IH

— WWE (@WWE) February 8, 2020

This week, Goldberg’s return was more of a throwaway.  A rematch for the Universal Title a year later against The Fiend, who wasn’t even the person to beat Goldberg last year? Huh? I get that they want to deliver a big-time feel match for the Prince, but it just doesn’t make common sense and give you any reason to believe that Goldberg could win.

WE GOT A MAKEOVER MONTAGE!!!

@otiswwe is getting READY for his #ValentinesDay date with @WWE_MandyRose!#SmackDown @tuckerwwe pic.twitter.com/a0Oanfqh0r

— WWE (@WWE) February 8, 2020

The best thing may have been the Otis vignette getting ready for his Valentine’s Day date with Mandy Rose for next week. Now that’s MUST SEE TV my friends.

Sheamus, after weeks and weeks of saying Smackdown doesn’t have any challenges for him, is making that seem true as he doesn’t really have a true suitor – no, I don’t count Shorty Gable’s, ahem, short feud.

Good to see Heath Slater is alive, losing to Daniel Bryan via a ref stoppage. You have to wonder what’s next for Bryan and the born-again YES movement.

And no, I can’t believe they are trying to give us yet another King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns match at Super Showdown inside a steel cage. It’s the feud that no one cares about that will never end!

On the positive side, the Dirt Sheet returned with a few funny moments from The Miz and John Morrison, complete with cameos from Lance Storm and John Laurinaitis. Elias and Cesaro was pretty fun.

.@CarmellaWWE PICKS UP THE WIN… but the SmackDown Women's Champion immediately takes out her challenger on #SmackDown! @itsBayleyWWE pic.twitter.com/RRnzwMHQIT

— WWE (@WWE) February 8, 2020

Naomi looked good before bowing out in the main event fatal four-way as Carmella wins a shot at Bayley’s title before Bayley gets her shots in on Carmella.

Parting shots:            

The official trailer for WWE #RuthlessAggression is HERE. The new docuseries premieres Sunday Feb. 16 on WWE Network! pic.twitter.com/TiRlPfI6Id

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) February 6, 2020

The trailer for the WWE Network’s new series Ruthless Aggression looks pretty good.

WrestleMania card – confirmed matches

WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots and Red Sox fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND!

[placetobenation]

SmackDown on Fox Episode #8 SmackDown Episode # 1,057 Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena 11/22/19 The show opens with the SmackDown roster gathered together in the back and for the third week King Corbin is opening the show with a promo, however he is quickly interrupted by Roman Reigns who hypes up the SmackDown roster by saying that they are going to open the garage door and let all of Team Raw and Team NXT in and then kick their ass when they get there. Corbin and Reigns continue to bicker back and forth. Sasha steps up the podium and says that the women are ready which leads to the women walking out of the meeting as they are headed to the ring.

Yet another Corbin segment to open SmackDown, but at least this one wasn’t as long and there were no dog poop bags or bulldog mascots so compared to weeks previous that was a vast improvement. I liked Sasha taking charge at the end and instead of waiting on the opposing rosters to come to them she wanted to call them out and make the first move which shows she and the rest of the women have bigger balls than Reigns and Corbin combined. 

After the intro video we get Sasha coming to the ring along with the SmackDown’s women team, Sasha says that this is their show and their ring and nobody is going to hit them from behind. Sasha calls out Team Raw because she knows that Team NXT won’t show their faces. Team Raw comes to the ring with their captain Charlotte and this would lead to Sasha challenging Charlotte to a match right then. We then get our first look at Team NXT which is comprised of Team Captain Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm, Mia Yim, Tegan Nox, & Candice LeRae, Rhea challenges both Sasha and Charlotte to a triple threat match between the three team captains, this leads to all the women brawling as we go to commercial. 

There have been a lot of good, fun, and badass teams in the history of Survivor Series, but rarely do those teams consist of women, but that is going to change this Sunday as the women’s NXT team that was revealed tonight could be the greatest (and most hachi machi) female quintet to ever compete at Survivor Series. I can’t think of a more badass team than NXT has and despite their cuteness, they are not to be taken lightly as they are some of the toughest women that are going to be in the match. When I saw Team NXT coming through the crowd and saw that Toni Storm was apart of the team I popped as it’s nice to finally see her back after losing the title to Kay Lee Ray back in August, it was a big surprise as she hasn’t even returned to NXT UK TV yet. I do find it odd they made the team all babyfaces and didn’t stick someone like Io Shirai or Bianca Belair in the match to mix it up a bit, but I’m not complaining as I am loving the team they do have. I have to mention that when Raw and SmackDown faced off in the ring there was a nice callback that probably nobody noticed as Dana Brooke and Sarah Logan (who had a terrible looking face paint design tonight) were nose to nose which was a nice callback to their feud they had earlier this year on Main Event that nobody watched.  

Match #1: Sasha Banks w/ Team SmackDown vs Rhea Ripley w/ Team NXT vs Charlotte Flair w/ Team Raw All three women start the match by striking each other until both Rhea and Charlotte team up to take Sasha down with a big boot. Charlotte and Rhea have words with each other before Charlotte takes her down with a rear waist lock and then locks in a headlock. Charlotte kicks Rhea in the face and tries for the snap exploder but Rhea counters and drives Charlotte into the corner where she drives her shoulder into the gut of Charlotte. Rhea hits a kick on Charlotte but Charlotte comes back with a big boot that takes Rhea down. Charlotte pays back Rhea with some shoulders to the gut until Rhea moves and causes Charlotte to go face-first into the corner. Sasha finally gets back into the match and hits Rhea with a backstabber and goes for the first pin of the match which only gets a 2 count. Rhea goes for a kick but Sasha catches her leg and knees her in the face only for Rhea to hit Sasha with a short-arm clothesline and a dropkick moments later. Sasha rolls to the outside and when Rhea goes out to roll her back inside she gets caught with a kick by Sasha. Charlotte pushes Sasha into Nikki Cross and they both go into the steps at ringside. Sasha and Nikki have words and start to argue as the rest of Team SmackDown try to break them up. Rhea and Sasha start brawling at ringside until they are both taken down courtesy of a top rope moonsault by Charlotte and this leads to a commercial break.

As we come back from commercial Rhea breaks up a half crab by drop kicking Charlotte. Rhea sends Sasha into the corner but Sasha tries to fight back by attempting to hit a head scissors but Rhea counters and sends Sash into the corner face-first. Rhea sets Sasha on the top rope looking for a superplex but Sasha is able to fight her off and come off the top with a diving Meteora which leads to Charlotte breaking up a pin attempt by hitting the Natural Selection on Sasha for 2 as Rhea breaks up the pin. At this point, it comes to my attention that Charlotte has a bloody mouth. Charlotte goes to pick up Rhea but gets kicked by Rhea. Charlotte and Rhea are dodging big boots and dropkicks before Charlotte connects with a Natural Selection, but before she can attempt to pin her Rhea rolls out of the ring. Charlotte locks in the Figure Eight on Sasha, however, while has it applied Rhea slides back in and crucifixes the arms of Charlotte which puts her shoulders on the mat for the 3 count to give the Team NXT captain the win. Winner: Rhea Ripley via Pinfall    Match Rating: ***¼ I really enjoyed this match especially the segments that involved Rhea and Charlotte (no disrespect meant for Sasha) because Rhea is the first person that when standing face to face with Charlotte looks like the most legit threat to her as she is one of the very few women that Charlotte doesn’t tower over in the ring and her skills inside the ring are just as great as Charlottes. I will go out on a limb and say that if they want to do another women’s main event at WrestleMania in a few years this one on one match wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility as I think both would be able to pull off the build of a main event WrestleMania match with excellent promos and in-ring action. One thing I didn’t like about the match was the arguing amongst members of Team SmackDown as the trope of team members not liking each other and fighting each other during matches is so overdone when it comes to Survivor Series and to make it even worse they are already running that story with the SmackDown men’s team, but more on that later. Something I did like about the match was the finish as it was really unique and showed that Rhea is smart as she gained a victory in a way never seen before, whoever came up with that deserves a raise or at least a cookie and a gold star as that was brilliant.  If this match was a taste of how good the triple threat tag match at Survivor Series will be then we are in for a treat come Sunday. 

After the match, there is a brawl between Team Raw and Team SmackDown as Team NXT looks on.

King Corbin is talking to Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode about their match tonight and Corbin has a plan to abandon Reigns if Team Raw and Team NXT get involved. Sami Zayn appears and Corbin calls him annoying which leads to Zayn challenging Corbin to a match before walking off as we go to commercial. What was the point of this segment it felt completely unnecessary and I don’t see it leading to anything as both Corbin and Nakamura are heels?   After the break, we go to the back where Bayley is being interviewed about her match on Sunday against Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler. Bayley brags about being a women’s champion on all three brands and then challenges Shayna to come out and face her face to face in the ring instead of hitting her from behind like she has done in the previous weeks.  We go to the ring which is being taken up by Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn. Zayn talks about Corbin not accepting his challenge because he is scared of both Zayn and Nakamura. Zayn then talks up how studly Nakamura is and that because he is so studly Zayn has something special for him, Zayn reaches into a bag he brought with him to the ring and pulls out an all-new version of the Intercontinental Championship.  Zayn talks about why Nakamura will get the win for SmackDown on Sunday before running down AJ Styles and then acting as if he had forgotten Roderick Strong’s name. Undisputed Era makes their way to the ring and after a brief staredown, Zayn and Nakamura leave the ring. Adam Cole talks about how Undisputed Era will take care of Raw and SmackDown on Sunday. New Day come out to get some retribution for Undisputed Era attacking them last week and UE are glad to accept a 2-on-4 challenge, however New Day reveal they have a couple of buddies who will help them even the odds, this leads to Heavy Machinery making their way down to the ring as we will have an 8 man tag match after the commercial break.

I like the new Intercontinental Championship, but I’m curious why they changed it as the old one looked good as well. I wonder if this means we get a new United States Championship as well? While I don’t want them on Raw or SmackDown because they will end up getting ruined by the booking on those shows I will say that when UE came out they felt big time and looked like they belong on one of the two main shows whereas some of the NXT stars looked a bit out of place being on one of the main shows, if that makes any sense maybe that was just a vibe I was picking up.   Match #2: New Day & Heavy Machinery vs Undisputed Era Big E and Strong start the match out with Strong trying to find an opening to take Big E down, but Big E backs him into a corner, but Strong finally gets the opening he was looking for thanks to a distraction from the UE. Strong tags in O’Reilly and they beat Big E down in the corner and then O’Reilly tags in Fish. Fish & O’Reilly try for a double team move but Big E runs right through them clotheslining O’Reilly and hitting Fish with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Big E tags in Kingston and then hits Fish with a big splash on the apron followed by an overhead belly to belly suplex on the floor to O’Reilly. Kingston comes off the top with a springboard axe handle on Cole who had been tagged in while the action was happening on the floor. Cole and Kingston trade strikes while Strong blind tags himself in and hits a half-nelson backbreaker on Kingston then stomps a mudhole into Kingston’s chest. Fish works over Kingston with strikes and hits him with a tope atomico before tagging in Cole. The Undisputed Era is making quick tags and working Kingston over in their corner. Kingston tries to make a comeback as he goes up to the top but is dropkicked off and sent to the floor where he crashes right down on top of Tucker (who was trying to prevent O’Reilly from interfering). Otis runs over and pulls Kingston off of Tucker and Big E does not take this well as he gets in Otis’s face and we get a bit of shoving as we go to commercial.  As we come back from commercial Fish has grounded Kingston with a chin lock and body scissors, Kingston fights his way out of it and tries to make a tag but Fish knocks Big E off the apron. Kingston finally makes a comeback when he hit Fish with a dropkick out of the corner and then makes the hot tag to Otis. Otis clotheslines Strong and O’Reilly and splashes Cole in the corner. O’Reilly tries to attack Otis with kicks but they don’t phase Otis as he catches O’Reilly and hits him with a capture suplex. Otis calls for the Caterpillar but Fish pulls Cole out of the ring to stop that. Otis catapults O’Reilly into a hip toss from Tucker. O’Reilly tags in Strong but that doesn’t help anything as Tucker throws Strong across the ring and then hits a sidewalk slam for a 2 count. Tucker has Strong down and then looks around like a complete dumbass for what felt like an entire minute before finally going up top and hitting a moonsault which gets him a 2 count after Cole breaks it up. 

Big E hits Cole with a side belly to belly and then backdrops Fish & O’Reilly to the outside. Kingston looks to dive to the outside but Cole grabs his foot to prevent that from happening, meanwhile on the other side of the ring Fish & O’Reilly pulls Big E out of the ring and hit him with the High Low. Kofi fights off Cole and runs around to take care of Fish & O’Reilly but as he leaps off the steps O’Reilly moves and then they hit Kingston with the High Low as well. Otis hits the Caterpillar on O’Reilly but gets taken down by Fish. Cole hit a superkick on Tucker and Strong follows that up with a running knee that gets the win for the UE. Winners: Undisputed Era via Pinfall    Match Rating: **¾ This match really showcased just how great Undisputed Era are to the fans who don’t watch NXT as they were firing on all cylinders and working so well together, in fact, they were so good they made New Day look way less impressive than they usually look which is not an easy thing to do as New Day have been one of the top teams in WWE for the past five years. As far as Heavy Machinery goes they are really good when they want to be but I didn’t feel tonight was the best night for them, the fact that Tucker looked like a complete idiot by looking around like he didn’t know where he was before the moonsault really irked me. This was the second match in a row where people who are supposed to be on the same team get into an argument and this time it made less sense because both teams are babyfaces, although maybe it’s a tease for an upcoming heel turn from Big E or New Day as a team because he really overreacted to Otis pulling Kingston off Tucker. Once again I just want to say that this match was Undisputed Era’s coming out party to the non-NXT fans.

After the match Roderick Strong confronts Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn (who were watching the match from the top of the ramp) when out of nowhere AJ Styles hits a forearm on Nakamura and this leads to all three men brawling until Zayn helps Nakamura get the advantage as he takes out AJ and then hits Strong with some chair shots until UE run them off.  Michael Cole and Corey Graves run down the Survivor Series card and inform us that NXT is keeping their men’s team a secret. We go to a commercial. Not sure what the purpose of keeping the NXT men’s team hidden is. I get maybe having one or two surprises on the night of the show but the entire team doesn’t make much sense, especially since you can kinda predict most of the team given who has been highlighted in the build-up to show and doesn’t already have a match, I’m guessing the team will be Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, Walter, & either Finn Balor, Pete Dunne, or Triple H.  As we come back the OC is beside the stage to cut a promo which leads to AJ saying he would mop the floor with CM Punk when the fans started chanting his name. Styles runs down his opponents at Survivor Series to end the promo.  With both Rollins and now Styles mentioning Punk  I feel the chances of Punk coming back to the ring are highly likely.  Daniel Bryan makes his way to the ring, Bryan says he isn’t here to do Yes! Chants or to inform people about climate change but he is here to call out Bray Wyatt. Bryan says they can talk about the past or they can fight, whichever one Wyatt would rather do. The lights go out and come back on without anything happening. Bryan is now getting angrier and once again challenges Bray to fight. 

The Miz makes his way to the ring and Bryan wants to know why Miz is out there, this leads the two of them eventually getting into a heated exchanged like they always do when they are in the ring together. Miz says he can’t wait for The Fiend to rip Bryan apart and then he slaps Bryan and then we cut to commercial completely out of the blue.  Match #3: Daniel Bryan vs The Miz As we come back the match has already started and Miz is hitting Bryan with the Yes! Kicks. Bryan catches the leg of Miz and then delivers a slap of his own before sending Miz to the outside, Bryan dives off the apron and catches Miz with a flying knee. Bryan gets Miz back in the ring where they exchange blows before Miz hits Bryan with a kitchen sink. Miz gets a 2 count on Bryan after a PK to the head. Miz hits a couple more kicks to the head while trash-talking Bryan. Bryan makes a comeback and hits Miz in the corner with kicks and chops before hitting the running dropkick in the corner, but as he goes for the third one Miz follows him and hits Bryan with the corner clothesline. Miz comes off the top with an axe handle but Bryan avoids it and tries to go for the LeBelle Lock but Miz prevents it from happening. Bryan hits a running clothesline on Miz before going up to the top where Miz cuts him off and goes for a superplex but Bryan fights him off and lands a missile dropkick off the top. Bryan hits the Yes! Kicks and then just as he was thinking about doing the Yes chant the lights go off and when they come back on The Fiend is sitting in the corner. The Fiend locks in the Mandible Claw on Bryan to end the segment. Winner: No Contest    Match Rating: **

This was nothing special of a match and was used just to set up The Fiend attacking Bryan. Of all the matches happening at Survivor Series this is the one I’m least excited about which is a shame as I shouldn’t feel that way about a match that has one of the best wrestlers in the world facing a champion who just underwent a gimmick change a few months ago and should still be interesting and captivating only a few months later. It feels like there has hardly been any build to this match and this segment on the go-home didn’t sell me on the match either, in fact, it feels like they are building up to another Bryan vs Miz match instead of Bryan vs The Fiend. Hopefully, the match at Survivor Series is good (although if they keep the red light on during the match none of Bray’s matches are going to be that good) but right now I’m not feeling it. I also feel like the Bray/Fiend character development has stalled compared to a few months ago, I actually think the character could use a segment where he has a serious one on one interview with one of the announcers similar to the interview Mankind did with JR back in the late 90s so we can get some more development on why Bray is the way he is. 

After the commercial, Shayna Baszler makes her way to the ring and calls out Bayley, but this time it’s Bayley hitting Shayna from behind as she takes her down with a chop block. Shayna gets in control and Bayley doesn’t want to stay and fight but she has no choice as Shayna locks her in the Kirifuda Clutch on the floor, Bayley is able to escape by ramming Shayna into the ring post. Bayley runs to the top of the ramp as we have a staredown between the two women’s champions before Bayley goes to the back. 

Kind of a bummer Becky couldn’t be there for the go-home show but this match doesn’t really need much more build to get people hyped for it as the build for it has been really well done and I have no doubt those three women will put on a great match on Sunday. It’s now time for the main event Match #4: King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, & Robert Roode vs Roman Reigns, Shorty G, & Mustafa Ali Reigns immediately takes down the heels and then hits a Drive-By on Corbin. Reigns rolls Roode into the ring but Roode grabs the referee with allows Ziggler to hit Reigns from behind and then Corbin sends Reigns into the barricade. Roode tags in Ziggler and they try to double team Reigns only for him to fight them off and hit Roode with a Samoan drop. Reigns tags in Shorty who dropkicks Corbin off the apron and then hits an exploder on Roode and a northern lights on Ziggler that gets a 2 count. Ziggler backdrops Shorty to the apron where Corbin and Roode are waiting, they toss him from the apron onto the announce table as we go to commercial. 

As we come back from commercial Ziggler hits Reigns with a big DDT for a 2 count. Ziggler tunes up the band for the Superkick but gets caught with a Superman Punch from Reigns. Reigns makes the hot tag to Ali while Ziggler tags in Corbin, Ali hits a couple of dropkicks and moments later hits the rolling X-Factor. He catches the leg of Ziggler who was attempting a Superkick and hits him with a spinning wheel kick. Ali hits the tope suicida on Ziggler followed by a tope con hilo on Corbin. Ali rolls Corbin back into the ring and gets out of an attempted chokeslam and then follows up with a springboard DDT out of the corner. Ali goes up top looking for the 450 but Roode crotches him, Shorty tries to take care of Roode but gets hit with a spinebuster on the floor for his efforts. Reigns leaps off the steps and hit Roode with a big Superman Punch and then turns around and gets hit with a Superkick from Ziggler. Ziggler pushes Ali off the top rope and Corbin hits Ali with the Deep Six to get the win.  Winners: King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, & Robert Roode via Pinfall  Match Rating: **¼

This was a fun match but nothing special except for Shorty G getting tossed on the announce table which was a nice looking spot. As Reigns made his way to the ring Michael Cole tells us that Reigns had sent out a tweet that he was going to help Corbin practice getting eliminated for Sunday which is kind of dickish that he puts his personal issues with Corbin ahead of the betterment of his team and the SmackDown brand, if I were Fox I would be like screw this guy get us someone else on the team who wouldn’t be happy with one of his team members being eliminated. 

The heels leave Reigns in the ring alone as Seth Rollins’s music hits and he leads the Raw roster through the crowd. Rollins enters the ring alone and starts trading punches with Reigns before the rest of Team Raw join Rollins in the beat down. The SmackDown roster then ran to the ring to help their Team Captain. After a few minutes of Raw and SmackDown brawling, it’s time for NXT to get involved as we cut to the back and see the NXT stars walking beside the DX tank which has DX, Keith Lee, & Tommaso Ciampa inside it. DX sends the NXT roster into battle and there are at least 50 people brawling around ringside as it is all-out chaos. 

The show closes with a face-off between Keith Lee and Braun Strowman in the ring, they take out some lower card talent with a pounce and a shoulder block before going at each other as members of all rosters get back in the ring to join them as the show goes off the air.  This was pretty much how you expect the Survivor Series go-home show to end now as we have to have the annual Survivor Series multi-brand brawl between all of the wrestlers, it has become as much a November tradition as Thanksgiving is, I’m actually not against the crazy brawl as it is one of my wrestling guilty pleasures. I do think Team NXT coming into the arena on the DX tank (otherwise known as a jeep) was overdoing it, especially since we had already seen NXT stars throughout the night so it wasn’t like they were just now arriving and the fact they didn’t drive it into the arena to give a cool visual made it even more unnecessary, Why do the NXT guys get to be led down to the ring by three Hall of Famers when Raw and SmackDown doesn’t have anybody like that supporting them, it actually kinda makes NXT look less than the other two shows because it comes off as they are a bunch of kids that are being led by their babysitters or parents. I also didn’t like how they didn’t involve the women in the final segment as they did a few years ago when the SmackDown women stood side by side with the men and beat down the Raw women, if they want them to be equal then they should’ve been apart of the brawl. I am excited for Survivor Series weekend as there is potential for some really great matches. That’s all for this week, but be sure to come back next week when everyone will hate each other again and the us vs them mentality will be a thing of the past.

[placetobenation]

Stacey O’Loughlin and JA D’Amato bring us this recap of WWE Evolution 2018. Stacey is the purveyor of all things women’s wrestling in WWE and JA was live in the arena so each brings a different perspective for us. Enjoy!

Stacey O’Loughlin

First of all, I’m trying to find the words to explain what an all-women WWE PPV means, and finding it impossible. Seeing the overwhelming emotions from all of the women; the women on this card, in wrestling at large, and in the crowd, should give you some idea though. Before a bell was rung it was already a victory, a celebration, and by the final bell it was an indisputable triumph.

Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Mickie James & Alicia Fox

As if this PPV wasn’t exciting enough already, it begins with the Greatest of All Time, my sun and stars, moon of my life, Trish Stratus. This was a fun way to kick off the show, with the crowd super hot and treating them like legit WWE Legends. Trish and Lita hit all their Greatest Hits like the good ol’ days – with Trish even hitting a Frankensteiner off the top rope for the heck of it, and Lita nailing the Moonsault. Trish and Mickie had another awesome face off that the crowd ate up, and then started punching on like only they can. Mickie James in particular deserves a ton of props for working for about a hundred women here. Nice finish, and just a super fun opener.

Battle Royal for a Women’s Title shot

All I really wanted for this match was to see everyone’s entrances, including all of my faves from the DIVAS INVASION, so this was already a winner before nary a punch was thrown. My girls. My heart. An entire shipload of cool moments in this – the IIconics promo and immediate tossing; Carmella’s DANCE BREAK with Ivory; Nia Jax and Tamina having a hoss battle; the big quadruple suplex; Mandy & Sonya vs. The Legends. Big shoutout to the oldest woman in the match, Ivory, who went long and looked absolutely fantastic. The entire finishing stretch with Ember fighting against all odds for a victory was amazing. What a gloriously entertaining battle royal.

Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai – Mae Young Classic Final

If you haven’t been following along with the Mae Young Classic, you have been missing out. This is why. The two brightest stars in the tournament just going all out to put on a great wrestling match. Crazy ass spots up in this like Io’s moonsault from the top to the floor, and Toni’s brutal German Suplex on the apron. These kids ain’t mucking around man. Anyone could have won this thing until Toni MURKED Io getting the knees up for the moonsault, before nailing her finish for the second time to win. Toni was hugely over in my Aussie household and I had picked Io to win, so this was an awesome surprise. And then of course tears, trophies, flowers, Papa and Mama, Sara Amato, and more crying. Mostly by me. I loved everything about the MYC and this was a fitting final.

Riott Squad vs. Natalya, Bayley & Sasha Banks

I’m sorry but literally everything on this card is ruling the world. This was a great trios match. Sasha and Bayley very visibly trying not to cry set me off all over again on a show where literally everything set me off. The Riott Squad are on a hell of a roll and looked unbelievable on offense working over Bayley and then Sasha. Sarah Logan is awesome, and just quietly how good is Liv Morgan going these days. Twists and turns and teases galore in this, plus fun little tag team spots like the Hart Attack and the Doomsday Device. I loved Nattie busting out the Double Sharpshooter From Hell as well. And just when I had started to breathe, Bayley LIES ON TOP OF SASHA TO SAVE HER LIFE and then Sasha wins with the Eddie Guerrero Tribute frog splash and there I go again.

Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler – NXT Championship

And now this! The good stuff just keeps on coming, I can’t cope. They had a great title match at the last Takeover, and since then Pissed Off Shayna has been murdering folks for sport so I was hyped for this. Clearly so was Kairi the Pirate with her elaborate new entrance. And then Shayna Baszler took Kairi’s arm, removed it from her person, put it in her pocket and went home with it. Nasty, brutal and creative arm work here. Kairi managed to fight back tremendously well with only one arm, until the action spilled outside and OH GOD THE HORSEWOMEN! Kairi STILL kept fighting all three of them off valiantly until she got caught and choked out until she died. Shayna makes history by becoming the first ever two-time NXT Women’s Champion AND by pissing off my mother for life in record time.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte – SmackDown Women’s Championship Last Woman Standing Match

AND NOW THIS. WAR BECKY FREAKING LYNCH. Argh. I mean, just get a load of Becky here. She is well and truly The Man. Ridiculously so. Charlotte for her part was SUPER up for this too, and man did this BANG. What a bloody war. I’m talking tanks, machine guns, dive bombers, the works. A war. So, so many weapon shots, just hard, hard shots. A nice ECW tribute with tossing the chairs into the ring and then hilariously whiffing on a big table spot. The senton that sent them through the table was baller though. As was Becky’s leg drop through the announce table, the Backdrop Driver From Hell onto the pile of chairs, the Figure-Eight inside the ladder, Charlotte being buried alive, and all the other dope ass highlights. The selling of exhaustion and pain and flat out refusal to lose was tremendous from both women. I thought Charlotte’s big Charlotte Up on a cowering Becky at the end was it, but Becky powerbombed her to HECK through the table and survived. And thus, my poor heart also survived. This was everything promised and more.

Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella – Raw Women’s Championship

Did y’all hear the little girls pop for the Bellas? Yeah, don’t question Nikki headlining this PPV ever again. Besides, this was everything it was meant to be. Ronda got to play with her early and toss her around, looking every bit the killer, until she ATE the post three whole times and set about selling her damn ass off. Nikki was great on top, being a dick and laying her stuff in, while Brie trolled expertly on the outside. Frankly this may be the heel performance of Brie’s career. They kept it up and Ronda kept selling and selling and pulling you along until FINALLY, she found an opening to RONDA UP and kill some folk. The double Ronda slam thing was nuts. This was entertaining as all get out, and it ended perfectly with Ronda grabbing Nikki and tapping her out. Hugs, tears, confetti, sunshine, rainbows, peace on earth. What a PPV. That I’m able to type all this out is a minor medical miracle since I’m pretty sure this show killed me and I am dead. I love absolutely, positively everything.

JA D’Amato

On April 22, 1974, the Nassau Coliseum hosted its first women’s pro wrestling match when “The Fabulous” Moolah and Donna Christanello took on the tag team of Sharon Brooks and Daisy Mae on the undercard of a World Wide Wrestling Federation event headlined by Bruno Sammartino. As was the case then with women’s pro wrestling in the United States, the match was meant as little more than a titillating sideshow on a card otherwise dominated by men. 44 years later brings a completely different vibe to my Long Island home as we are fortunate hosts of Evolution the first all women’s Pay Per View/Special Event. A curious choice for a venue by the WWE powers that be maybe more influenced by convenience as Mr. and Mrs. Levesque are only a one hour limo ride from home. Ticket sales on the secondary market have been tepid as upper level seating was available for under $10 and lower level in the $50 range on broker sites. This indicates low interest from the casual fan base but the loyal fans grabbed up the quality tickets priced at typical B PPV prices.

Entering the building was quite a joy to see the most diversified crowd ever. Obviously tons more women than any event ever attended. A wonderful mix of all age ranges, mothers and daughters and more couples on date nights than usual. I immediately ran into a Bellalution pep rally with an army of Bella faithful led by an energetic young gentleman in tremendous physical condition. NYCB security had to intervene and break them up for causing arena traffic. 

Stace would have been right at home in my section as they were handing out “Becky, Becky, Becky” signs with “I Boo the Woo” on back. Ronda shirts dominated the masses with Becky second and the Bellas third. Nary a Charlotte shirt was located.

Here is my live stream of in the moment thoughts:

Pre-Show: Rhea Ripley vs. Dakota Kai

Both ladies got a warm response. Ripley’s delayed duplex got the biggest pop which is ironic because Lashley gets crickets with the same move. Ripley won in quick fashion with her pump handle slam.

Nita Strauss and Lzzy Hale ripped pure fire to intro the show.

Lita & Trish Stratus vs. Alicia Fox & Mickie James

The fans ate up every move from Lita and Trish. Alexa got some nice old lady jokes in to make her presence felt. Foxx and Mickie sold their asses off and despite a ref botch the finish was well received. The arena is ¾ full but it’s 100% positivity. 

Battle Royal

The IIconics talked some trash and were the first to go out. Great mini stories involving Mandy Rose eliminating Sonya and Carmella’s dance off brought the house down. Ivory joined her but apparently she went to the Elaine Benes dance school. Even Tamina got a response from this crowd as her and Nia dominated. A huge “NXT” chant erupted when Ember and Asuka squared off. It came down to Nia and Ember and Nia prevailed although the crowd favored Ember. Nia still got a warm response and heat from her post match interview. I wish she would have dedicated her win to Nate Milton but no such luck.

Io Sharai vs. Toni Storm – Mae Young Classic Final

The crowd was split 50/50 for this fine battle. Io’s moonsault on the floor and Toni’s back duplex on the apron generated the first, lazy “This is Awesome!” chant. Toni’s victory was greeted warmly as Triple H and Stephanie but that didn’t overshadow the post match ceremony. The hits keep coming.

Riot Squad vs. Sasha, Bayley & Natalya

Bayley and Sasha still get huge star treatment from the fans despite being de-emphasized on the pecking order. Sasha reverted to her Super Dave Osborne imitation with a scary dive outside while Nattie took a long cat nap before awakening and delivering a double sharp shooter in a memorable spot. Bayley saved Sasha by lying on top of her and the faces showed great continuity in successive tags leading to Sasha’s dive and pin. 

Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane

Old school face/heel reactions for this one. The crowd hated the interference from Baszler’s crew and the lack of assistance from the gang of NXT women at ringside.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

The audience got fully amped when the promos hit signaling this match was next. Ridiculously pro Becky house with everyone on their feet for the introductions. “ECW” chants for the chairs thrown in and “You deserve it” for Charlotte getting racked by chair shots. Poor Charlotte managed to elicit a few cheers only when she chased Becky down for trying to bail. The crowd was pissed when Charlotte survived a 9.75 count before erupting for the table crash and Becky victory in a match that delivered in every way like just about everything all night.

Ronda Rousey v. Nikki Bella

How do they follow that? The Bellas enter to a strong response as nobody appears to be exiting. Crowd was about 60/40 for Rhonda and reacted to all the high spots including Brie’s interference, the Double Bella throw and Brie getting tossed. Rhonda got the win as expected and this historical night ended with no drama as all the women converged on the entrance to congratulate Rhonda and each other on a successful night. Evolution produced the best crowd reactions since SummerSlam 2002 and I had absolutely no regrets about attending. In spite of the usual WWE weaknesses regarding booking and over saturation they pulled out a big W and surely Evolution will be a yearly event.