Hello Smark Shooter fans and shooters alike. Now that I got the Mania one done and out of the way, I can get back on track with you guys!
Normally, the PPV after Wrestlemania is Extreme Rules, but I'm quite happy that Payback is the next PPV. It's fitting, and hopefully it will be such after such a horrible and essentially irrelevant WrestleMania.
So here are the matches for Sunday Night! (The previews are getting shorter, mostly because I would rather spend more breath with the reviews)
1)Kalisto vs. Ryback for the US Championship
This is a continuation from the Wrestlemania Pre-Show. Once again...no build, just a victory by Ryback over Kalisto in order to earn a title shot.
Prediction: Ryback defeats Kalisto because Vince McMahon and his obsession with big guys. Plus, Ryback not only didn't get a fair shake at holding a title (injured during his IC title reign), but Kalisto has been booked horribly since winning the US title back from Del Rio at the Royal Rumble. Kalisto deserves better, but apparently they want him back with Sin Cara in the Tag Team division. Henceforth, it's a good time for Ryback to gain the gold.
2)Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin
Baron Corbin won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and immediately started a rivalry with Dolph Ziggler. Corbin has gotten almost ALL of the momentum, with the exception of last Smackdown and Raw.
Prediction: Corbin wins, because Ziggler doesn't need to win and Corbin just latched onto the main roster. Corbin can do GREAT things as a mid card and potential main event heel, you just have to book him right. Ziggler is the stepping stone to determine if you'll work or not. His PPV match with Tyler Breeze didn't do many favors for Breeze in retrospective, so if Corbin can't get a good match with Ziggler that could foreshadow future booking.
3)Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillians (Aiden English and Simon Gotch)
This is the culmination of the 8 man Tag Team Tournament that has taken place since WrestleMania to determine the next No. 1 Contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships. It's only fitting that with the influx of new talent in WWE from NxT, that two NxT alumni Tag Teams would meet in the finals. The most popular Tag Team from NxT (Enzo and Cass) and (until NxT Dallas) the beneficiaries of arguably the best Tag Team match of NxT's history prior to that weekend (The Vaudevillians). Enzo and Cass defeated the Ascension and The Dudley Boyz to reach the finals, whereas the Vaudevillians defeated Goldust/Fandango and The Usos to meet Enzo and Cass.
Prediction: Considering the Dudleyz have a bit of a rivalry going with Enzo and Cass, I think it would be best if Bubba Ray and D-Von distract Cass long enough for the Whirling Dervish to hit Enzo. The New Day and Enzo/Cass should wait for a bigger PPV. The Vaudevillians are a good foil for the New Day currently, so there's my pick.
4)Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho
Ambrose replaced the Highlight Reel with the Ambrose Asylum talk show. (and yet there's still Miz TV...) There's also some past history between the two....with Jericho losing alongside of Ambrose and Roman Reigns last year against the Wyatt Family. Ambrose is coming off of a loss to Brock Lesnar, and Jericho (while a little defeated by the events since Mania) left Dallas with a win over current No.1 contender AJ Styles.
Ambrose wins because Jericho doesn't need it and this rivalry could stretch if done right.
5)Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
The longest rivalry of all the matches, these two have gone back and forth since their early days in 2002. Zayn was signed first, but Owens made the bigger impact. Owens defeated Zayn for the NxT Championship 2 months after his NxT debut, while Zayn eliminated Owens from this year's Royal Rumble. The animosity between these two has no rival in this current age. The best comparison for a past rivalry would probably be Triple H/Shawn Michaels from the mid 2000s.
I expect Owens to pick up the victory....but they're destined to do this forever so honestly the real winners are the fans if this match is given a decent amount of time.
6)Charlotte(W/Ric Flair) vs. Natalya (W/Bret Hart)
Point blank: Even if Bret Hart is in the corner, Charlotte retains. Natalya, as talented and as good as she is, booking wise is just too unbelievable to win in this circumstance unless ironic heel like tactics are made on the part of the Harts. Charlotte retains.
7)The Miz (w/Maryse) vs. Cesaro for the Intercontinental Championship
Cesaro has proven to be super over with all the crowds since his return. Miz winning the IC title over Zack Ryder the night after Raw has truly rewarded him for such a good WrestleMania season he had.
Honestly, (as much as this pains me to say) I would like Miz to retain the title. Not because he's the right guy for the title, but more so for both the credibility of the title and so that the momentum from both men can be retained via DQ or a screwy finish. Plus, Cesaro (while would be a great IC Champ) would probably be better off getting screwed but giving a Cesaro Swing or a Swiss Death after the match....(kinda like the end kill of a James Bond sequence) and eventually capture the Money in the Bank Briefcase. Cesaro is a main event talent that should be up for the WWE WHC in the future of 2016. Miz carrying the title for at least two to three months before dropping it to someone like either Apollo Crews or Baron Corbin would be more than serviceable. (STILL gonna root for Cesaro hard though).
Sometime before the end of the night, Vince McMahon will decide who runs Raw: Stephanie McMahon and the Authority....or Shane McMahon. Shane ran Raw for the past four weeks to some great results (but sadly the same ratings....yet the YouTube views have gone up). The Authority has had a stranglehold on power of Raw since the start of the rise of Daniel Bryan back in 2013. Honestly, Steph should retain Raw. It would make no sense for Vince to pick the good guy in this scenario. However, he can assign Smackdown to Shane and eventually Shane and Steph can collide in various competitive scenarios (BRAND SPLIT) and if they want to end it by either the calendar year or by WrestleMania 33, they can always bring out the greatest non-WWE match created (well...2nd greatest. I still enjoy Ultimate X a lot more): WAR GAMES!
Main Event:Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Reigns is going to win. The question is how are the alliances going to fall at the end of this match:
Are the Bullet Club going to officially Reunite? Are Gallows and Anderson going to betray Styles for Reigns? or are they doing it via orders of Finn Balor? Heck, how bad do the Usos get their asses kicked? And most importantly, will WWE alter their microphones when Reigns gets booed again?
To answer the questions.....Reigns will win, keep his people with him....but it will be either a screwy no-conest finish, or Styles will turn heel after the match ends.
Thanks for reading. Japan and ROH are pretty much done analysis wise. It's just transitioning all of the written work to the blog and proofreading!
WHEN IN DOUBT.......ALWAYS WATCH WRESTLING.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Friday, April 29, 2016
Part-Timers Rule Wrestlemania: and this Shooter wasn't too pleased.
Hello there wrestling fanatics, casuals and shooters alike.
Well, it took awhile for the sting of everything to finally die down. Plus, the next PPV is this weekend so I figured I might as well post what I have on the biggest WWE event of the year: Wrestlemania 32.
My only warning is this: I tried my best to find more positives than I was willing to shell out. The way the matches will be broken down will be like this: A quick blurb of the match, a few highlights (if any), and (since it's been almost the entire month since this PPV happened) the post Mania through this week's effects on the Superstars that participated. Finally, there will be a match rating and an overall rating. (The overall is how the story worked out). This one will be in Match order from Pre-Show through the end. Pardon the excessive amounts of moaning and groaning that will follow this.
Red:Not exactly great.
Green:Either great or serviceable for the match.
Any other color:It's in-between
Match 1:Kalisto def. Ryback to Retain US Title (Salida del Sol)
Kalisto deserves more than pre-show title defenses. He also deserved to have a better opponent. They had a decent match, similar to the Corbin/Aries match from Takeover, but there just wasn't a lot of bite to this one. Bad, lazy buildup and the majority of the crowd not even sitting in the area yet hurt this one a lot.
Since this match, Kalisto has been back to teaming up with Sin Cara....to lose again and again. Ryback, while not exactly on a win streak on main tv, did pickup a victory over Kalisto last night, so I guess he'll get another shot.
3 out of 10 (Mostly for the circumstances. It was a 6 out of 10 for the match itself).
Match 2:Total Divas(Brie Bella, Natalya, Paige, Alicia Fox, and Eva Marie)def. BADAB (Lana, Summer Rae, Emma, Naomi, Tamina) (10 DIVA tag) (Brie def. Naomi w/Yes! Lock)
This match was a little better than expected admittedly, with all 10 divas getting a few spots in here and there.
Team Beautiful and Dangerous and Blond:Lana wasn't ready, Summer didn't stand out, Emma was good (but then again, I was happy she was in the match period), Tamina was meh, and Naomi was the standout in defeat(a sweet split legged moonsault that should honestly be her finisher).
Team Total Divas: Fox was crisp with her Northern Lights and Tilt a whirl backbreaker(but that's like every match so there really wasn't a lot of difference), Paige was the -in peril wrestler (and admittedly, it was disappointing considering the spot she was in last year), Natalya had a good showing, Eva Marie exceeded expectations (I still say...YUCK! But she did ok considering), and Brie stole the show in her final wrestling match for the time being (That was a beautiful set-up into the Yes! Lock). Having Nikki come out at the end was heart-warming (even though I'm not the biggest Nikki Bella fan in the world) so the match and story wrapped up pretty well.
Match: 6.5 out of 10. Overall: 6.75 out of 10
Match 3: The Usos def. The Dudley Boyz
This match was a Snorefest that ended with A)1 super kick to Devon Dudley and B)The Dudleyz being put through tables to a chorus of BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOs
Why this wasn't a tables match to begin with? I don't know. But considering that the Dudleyz are cult favorites and the Usos are essentially associated with Roman Reigns, the chorus of boos were to be expected.
Post Raw: The Dudleyz got their revenge on the Usos in a (Wait...you gave this one away on TV? COME ON! THAT's WCW CRAP!) Tables match....and then started feuding with the debuting REALEST Guys in the Room (Enzo Amore and Big Cass). As long as the rivalry goes longer than their Tag Team Tournament match, this should be good.
As for the Usos, they have been the victims of association with Reigns, so when the Good Brothers of the Bullet Club (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) debuted, the Usos got their asses handed to them. The four men are inserted into the Payback main event storyline so in a way it is good for the Usos....but they're supposed to be cheered. And their failing. So there you go.
Match:1 out of 10. Overall:3 out of 10 (Because of Enzo and Cass....and the Good Brothers).
Match 4/Match 1 on main card: Zack Ryder def. The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Sin Cara, and Stardust (Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship)
Point Blank. BEST MATCH OF THE NIGHT. It gave high spots, drama, intrigue, emotion, and had a booking decision (At least for that night) that made perfect sense. The storytelling was spot on and every person had a crazy highlight of some sort:
Miz had the cocky moment where he ruined Zayn's night
Stardust had the tribute to Dusty Rhodes with the polka dot Ladder
Sin Cara nearly fell off the ladder, only to hit a springboard Swanton style Tope Con Hilo
Kevin Owens back body dropped Zayn onto a ladder and was spiked with a half and half by Zayn onto a ladder
Ziggler hit a boatload of Superkicks
Sami Zayn did a Tope con Hilo THROUGH a Ladder onto everyone but Owens, swiftly followed by a Torpedo DDT through the turnbuckle on Owens.
And Zack Ryder had his WrestleMania moment. 1)Huge Elbow drop and 2)Won the match.
Post booking: Sin Cara is losing as part of the Lucha Dragons, Stardust is jobbing to Apollo Crews, Ziggler is getting his ass kicked by Baron Corbin, Zayn and Owens have a match at the next PPV, and then there were the last two.
Miz won the IC title the next night, partially thanks to the returning Maryse (real life wife of Miz....darn it). Ryder didn't regain the title back and now he's unfortunately back to tagging in NxT with Mojo Rawley (YUCK!). The Miz is defending the IC title at the next PPV against the returning Cesaro.
Match:8.5 out of 10. Post Mania: 7 out of 10. Overall 8.5 out of 10
Match 5/2:Chris Jericho def. AJ Styles
The match itself? Great! The result? Has Vince's fingerprints all over it. There was no logical reason for Styles to lose....it was just for Vince to remind the casual audience: If you weren't made in WWE, you're not better than our guys. While Jericho winning is a feather in his cap, it wasn't necessary. Especially post match considering.
Post Mania: Styles defeated Jericho, Kevin Owens, and a returning Cesaro the next night to win the right to face Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho started a program with Dean Ambrose.
Match: 7.5 out of 10 (1.5 out of 10 for the result and bookingXP). Overall: 8 out of 10 (because of how the post Mania stories have played out).
Match 6/3:The League of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev, and King Barrett )def. The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E) (Non Title)(4 on 3)
The match was lackluster. The result was stupid. The fact that they never truly stated that the Tag Team Championships were not on the line was frustrating. Considering that Del Rio admitted the only reason the stable came together was so they could be on the WrestleMania card is insulting. The New Day losing when they're your biggest cash cow on the roster is infuriating.
The good of this match? The Pre-Match entrance of the New Day. A BOX OF BOOTY-Os CEREAL AND The New Day coming out dressed like Seiyans from Dragon Ball Z.
The best(in the moment) part and Worst Part (post mania ramifications):Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and Stone Cold Steve Austin coming out and cleaning house. Nostalgia wise, seeing Sweet Chin Music, Mandible Claw, and a couple of Stone Cold Stunners was great to watch. But it violated one of the biggest sins I've felt WWE has been committing for the last few years: If you have the current roster getting disposed of easily by the stars of the past, it lowers the credibility of today's wrestlers. If the New Day or The League were to dispose of the part-timers, that's credibility that can't be ignored.
Post Mania: New Day def. Sheamus and Barrett for the Tag Team Championships the next night....and Barrett is kicked out. As of last night, the League is now officially broken up. As for the New Day, they still have the titles and have now hosted a No.1 contenders tag team championship tournament. (Hosted by Booty Os).
Pre-Match:9 out of 10. Match:2.5 out of 10. Post Match:6.99999999999999 out of 10. (I can't give this a 7 or higher. I love nostalgia but not at the expense of new talent. The rub of working with someone isn't worth the talent looking weaker to wrestlers who haven't been in a ring in ages.)
Match 7/4: Brock Lesnar def. Dean Ambrose (Street Fight)
The fact that Lesnar was the one on ESPN focused should have made this an easy prediction. The buildup gave this match so much expectation and honestly it fell flat. 13 Suplexes and Lesnar not bleeding in THIS match? Unacceptable. Plus, Lesnar is currently gone from storyline and Ambrose is relegated to his version of the Piper's Pit amongst the stuff they have him doing? *Cue CM Punk at Vince McMahon* APOLOGIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Match:5 out of 10. Post Mania: 5 out of 10. Overall 5 out of 10
Match 8/5:Charlotte def. Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks (WWE Women's Championship Triple Threat match)
The pre-match and Match quality give the match the rating it gets from me. Best Women's match of the weekend and probably the third best match of WWE's WrestleMania weekend. Even with a few spots that didn't exactly work, this match was a fantastic display of the three Divas that have been at the forefront of the Women's/Diva's Revolution. The result even makes sense now that Raws and Smackdowns have past. The problem....is that while the result worked....it could have been better....and a part-timer had an influence on the match. (Yes...Charlotte is a heel. Having her father cheat is perfect heel heat. But the biggest complaint I've had with Charlotte isn't even with Charlotte or Ric....it's the inconsistent refereeing of her matches. I'd feel better about a lot of it if the rules (HA rules in Wrestling) were followed in some form. While Charlotte couldn't have been disqualified, Ric could have been thrown out at any time. And wasn't.)
Bonus: I hope there's a day that Becky isn't the punching bag amongst these Women. Also, Sasha's tribute to Eddie Guerrero made this match great....all the more reason she should have won!
Match:8 out of 10. Booking: 7 out of 10. Post match:8 out of 10 (mostly because the DIVAS Championship is GONE and the new WWE Women's Championship is here and looks so much more important and less like a toy). Overall:8.125 out of 10.
Match 9/6:The Undertaker def. Shane McMahon (Hell in a Cell)
Buildup was great. There was actual intrigue that Shane could win.
The match itself, was meh.....unless you put the spots in. The spots were awesome...especially the quintessential WrestleMania moment of the night: Shane McMahon jumping off the top of the cell.
Undertaker wins, and Shane is carted off like the tragic hero.
Post Mania: Vince McMahon gives Shane control for three to four weeks anyway...because screw stipulations. And continuity. Which is insulting, but resulted in 3 quality weeks of Raws and Smackdowns which I'm HAPPY about!
Match: 6.5 out of 10. Post Mania:8 out of 10. Buildup:9.8 out of 10. Overall: 7 out of 10. (Continuity errors stopped this from being higher.
Match 10/7:Baron Corbin wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
-Suprise entrants: Shaquille O'Neal (who eliminated Sandow.....so BOOOOOOOO), Diamond Dallas Page (YAY! DIAMOND CUTTERS!) and TATANKA (YAY)
-Last person eliminated was Kane.
While it would have been cool for Kane or Mark Henry to win as a legacy statement, having Corbin win was honestly a great pick. Having him follow Big Show and Cesaro as winners not only puts him in good company, but gives him a great starting point on his trip to the main roster.
Battle Royal matches in quality suck on a regular basis, so it's a 3 out of 10 for the match. Post mania: 7 out of 10. Booking and the result: 9 out of 10. Overall Solid 7.25 out of 10.
Match 11/8:The Rock def. Erick Rowan
This was an impromptu match. Bell rang. Rock hit the Rock Bottom, and won.
The positive: Bray Wyatt interrupting the Rock in the midst of a Rock promo that was highly unnecessary.
The negative: Why did the Rock have to come out with a flamethrower to announce the attendance record?
Why did the Rock have to have another record for himself?
Why did he take so much time from other matches (LIKE THE AMBROSE MATCH)?
Why did John Cena come down to help the Rock?
WHAT DID THIS DO FOR THE WYATTS OTHER THAN MAKE THEM LOOK WEAK AGAIN!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!
Post match: The Wyatt Family had a two week face turn that was AWESOME! Then Bray Wyatt got injured. Rowan and Strowman are now jobbing. Thanks Rock.
Xena comes back on Memorial Day....to a pretty good roster, so I'm looking forward to seeing the matches....not as much seeing him beat everyone he faces again. X(
Pre Match: UNECESSARY...1.25 out of 10. Match: UNECESSARY 0 out of 10. POST MATCH: HIGHLY UNECESSARY! -9000 OUT OF 10. Overall: (Casual fans and attitude era fans: 8 out of 10) (Diehards and Wyatt fans: -9000 out of 10) so....2 out of 10.
Main Event:Match 12/9:Roman Reigns def. Triple H (WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match)
Reigns won. Was exausted the first and the last time I watched the entire event. The entrances pretty much summed everything up: Triple had a good entrance....WWE botched Reigns's entrance, just like it botched his entire face run from the start to the end of Wrestlemania season. WWE openly tried to lower the mics and fill in crowd noise during the entrances and during the match....and the ending.
Not the response WWE wanted so therefore, this entire buildup for their marquee Title match.....was a bust.
Post Match: Triple H hasn't been seen since. Reigns has started this more cocky response..."Not a good guy....not a bad guy....I'm THE GUY." Reigns is facing AJ Styles at the next PPV for the title.
Pre Match: 7 out of 10. Match 6 out of 10. (Would have been 7 but WWE's blatant attempt at altering crowd noise during the biggest live PPV of the year was insulting and embarrassing.) Post match: 7.5 out of 10. Overall:6.5 out of 10
Overall PPV was a 6 out of 10. Two points off for the crap booking during the PPV, and a Significant two points off for the fact that the majority, if not all the results really didn't have a true effect on the ongoing stories.
Payback preview is up next: And remember....when in doubt, ALWAYS watch Pro Wrestling. Keep following for the previews and reviews in the right mindset.
Well, it took awhile for the sting of everything to finally die down. Plus, the next PPV is this weekend so I figured I might as well post what I have on the biggest WWE event of the year: Wrestlemania 32.
My only warning is this: I tried my best to find more positives than I was willing to shell out. The way the matches will be broken down will be like this: A quick blurb of the match, a few highlights (if any), and (since it's been almost the entire month since this PPV happened) the post Mania through this week's effects on the Superstars that participated. Finally, there will be a match rating and an overall rating. (The overall is how the story worked out). This one will be in Match order from Pre-Show through the end. Pardon the excessive amounts of moaning and groaning that will follow this.
Red:Not exactly great.
Green:Either great or serviceable for the match.
Any other color:It's in-between
Match 1:Kalisto def. Ryback to Retain US Title (Salida del Sol)
Kalisto deserves more than pre-show title defenses. He also deserved to have a better opponent. They had a decent match, similar to the Corbin/Aries match from Takeover, but there just wasn't a lot of bite to this one. Bad, lazy buildup and the majority of the crowd not even sitting in the area yet hurt this one a lot.
Since this match, Kalisto has been back to teaming up with Sin Cara....to lose again and again. Ryback, while not exactly on a win streak on main tv, did pickup a victory over Kalisto last night, so I guess he'll get another shot.
3 out of 10 (Mostly for the circumstances. It was a 6 out of 10 for the match itself).
Match 2:Total Divas(Brie Bella, Natalya, Paige, Alicia Fox, and Eva Marie)def. BADAB (Lana, Summer Rae, Emma, Naomi, Tamina) (10 DIVA tag) (Brie def. Naomi w/Yes! Lock)
This match was a little better than expected admittedly, with all 10 divas getting a few spots in here and there.
Team Beautiful and Dangerous and Blond:Lana wasn't ready, Summer didn't stand out, Emma was good (but then again, I was happy she was in the match period), Tamina was meh, and Naomi was the standout in defeat(a sweet split legged moonsault that should honestly be her finisher).
Team Total Divas: Fox was crisp with her Northern Lights and Tilt a whirl backbreaker(but that's like every match so there really wasn't a lot of difference), Paige was the -in peril wrestler (and admittedly, it was disappointing considering the spot she was in last year), Natalya had a good showing, Eva Marie exceeded expectations (I still say...YUCK! But she did ok considering), and Brie stole the show in her final wrestling match for the time being (That was a beautiful set-up into the Yes! Lock). Having Nikki come out at the end was heart-warming (even though I'm not the biggest Nikki Bella fan in the world) so the match and story wrapped up pretty well.
Match: 6.5 out of 10. Overall: 6.75 out of 10
Match 3: The Usos def. The Dudley Boyz
This match was a Snorefest that ended with A)1 super kick to Devon Dudley and B)The Dudleyz being put through tables to a chorus of BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOs
Why this wasn't a tables match to begin with? I don't know. But considering that the Dudleyz are cult favorites and the Usos are essentially associated with Roman Reigns, the chorus of boos were to be expected.
Post Raw: The Dudleyz got their revenge on the Usos in a (Wait...you gave this one away on TV? COME ON! THAT's WCW CRAP!) Tables match....and then started feuding with the debuting REALEST Guys in the Room (Enzo Amore and Big Cass). As long as the rivalry goes longer than their Tag Team Tournament match, this should be good.
As for the Usos, they have been the victims of association with Reigns, so when the Good Brothers of the Bullet Club (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) debuted, the Usos got their asses handed to them. The four men are inserted into the Payback main event storyline so in a way it is good for the Usos....but they're supposed to be cheered. And their failing. So there you go.
Match:1 out of 10. Overall:3 out of 10 (Because of Enzo and Cass....and the Good Brothers).
Match 4/Match 1 on main card: Zack Ryder def. The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Sin Cara, and Stardust (Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship)
Point Blank. BEST MATCH OF THE NIGHT. It gave high spots, drama, intrigue, emotion, and had a booking decision (At least for that night) that made perfect sense. The storytelling was spot on and every person had a crazy highlight of some sort:
Miz had the cocky moment where he ruined Zayn's night
Stardust had the tribute to Dusty Rhodes with the polka dot Ladder
Sin Cara nearly fell off the ladder, only to hit a springboard Swanton style Tope Con Hilo
Kevin Owens back body dropped Zayn onto a ladder and was spiked with a half and half by Zayn onto a ladder
Ziggler hit a boatload of Superkicks
Sami Zayn did a Tope con Hilo THROUGH a Ladder onto everyone but Owens, swiftly followed by a Torpedo DDT through the turnbuckle on Owens.
And Zack Ryder had his WrestleMania moment. 1)Huge Elbow drop and 2)Won the match.
Post booking: Sin Cara is losing as part of the Lucha Dragons, Stardust is jobbing to Apollo Crews, Ziggler is getting his ass kicked by Baron Corbin, Zayn and Owens have a match at the next PPV, and then there were the last two.
Miz won the IC title the next night, partially thanks to the returning Maryse (real life wife of Miz....darn it). Ryder didn't regain the title back and now he's unfortunately back to tagging in NxT with Mojo Rawley (YUCK!). The Miz is defending the IC title at the next PPV against the returning Cesaro.
Match:8.5 out of 10. Post Mania: 7 out of 10. Overall 8.5 out of 10
Match 5/2:Chris Jericho def. AJ Styles
The match itself? Great! The result? Has Vince's fingerprints all over it. There was no logical reason for Styles to lose....it was just for Vince to remind the casual audience: If you weren't made in WWE, you're not better than our guys. While Jericho winning is a feather in his cap, it wasn't necessary. Especially post match considering.
Post Mania: Styles defeated Jericho, Kevin Owens, and a returning Cesaro the next night to win the right to face Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho started a program with Dean Ambrose.
Match: 7.5 out of 10 (1.5 out of 10 for the result and bookingXP). Overall: 8 out of 10 (because of how the post Mania stories have played out).
Match 6/3:The League of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rusev, and King Barrett )def. The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E) (Non Title)(4 on 3)
The match was lackluster. The result was stupid. The fact that they never truly stated that the Tag Team Championships were not on the line was frustrating. Considering that Del Rio admitted the only reason the stable came together was so they could be on the WrestleMania card is insulting. The New Day losing when they're your biggest cash cow on the roster is infuriating.
The good of this match? The Pre-Match entrance of the New Day. A BOX OF BOOTY-Os CEREAL AND The New Day coming out dressed like Seiyans from Dragon Ball Z.
The best(in the moment) part and Worst Part (post mania ramifications):Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, and Stone Cold Steve Austin coming out and cleaning house. Nostalgia wise, seeing Sweet Chin Music, Mandible Claw, and a couple of Stone Cold Stunners was great to watch. But it violated one of the biggest sins I've felt WWE has been committing for the last few years: If you have the current roster getting disposed of easily by the stars of the past, it lowers the credibility of today's wrestlers. If the New Day or The League were to dispose of the part-timers, that's credibility that can't be ignored.
Post Mania: New Day def. Sheamus and Barrett for the Tag Team Championships the next night....and Barrett is kicked out. As of last night, the League is now officially broken up. As for the New Day, they still have the titles and have now hosted a No.1 contenders tag team championship tournament. (Hosted by Booty Os).
Pre-Match:9 out of 10. Match:2.5 out of 10. Post Match:6.99999999999999 out of 10. (I can't give this a 7 or higher. I love nostalgia but not at the expense of new talent. The rub of working with someone isn't worth the talent looking weaker to wrestlers who haven't been in a ring in ages.)
Match 7/4: Brock Lesnar def. Dean Ambrose (Street Fight)
The fact that Lesnar was the one on ESPN focused should have made this an easy prediction. The buildup gave this match so much expectation and honestly it fell flat. 13 Suplexes and Lesnar not bleeding in THIS match? Unacceptable. Plus, Lesnar is currently gone from storyline and Ambrose is relegated to his version of the Piper's Pit amongst the stuff they have him doing? *Cue CM Punk at Vince McMahon* APOLOGIZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Match:5 out of 10. Post Mania: 5 out of 10. Overall 5 out of 10
Match 8/5:Charlotte def. Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks (WWE Women's Championship Triple Threat match)
The pre-match and Match quality give the match the rating it gets from me. Best Women's match of the weekend and probably the third best match of WWE's WrestleMania weekend. Even with a few spots that didn't exactly work, this match was a fantastic display of the three Divas that have been at the forefront of the Women's/Diva's Revolution. The result even makes sense now that Raws and Smackdowns have past. The problem....is that while the result worked....it could have been better....and a part-timer had an influence on the match. (Yes...Charlotte is a heel. Having her father cheat is perfect heel heat. But the biggest complaint I've had with Charlotte isn't even with Charlotte or Ric....it's the inconsistent refereeing of her matches. I'd feel better about a lot of it if the rules (HA rules in Wrestling) were followed in some form. While Charlotte couldn't have been disqualified, Ric could have been thrown out at any time. And wasn't.)
Bonus: I hope there's a day that Becky isn't the punching bag amongst these Women. Also, Sasha's tribute to Eddie Guerrero made this match great....all the more reason she should have won!
Match:8 out of 10. Booking: 7 out of 10. Post match:8 out of 10 (mostly because the DIVAS Championship is GONE and the new WWE Women's Championship is here and looks so much more important and less like a toy). Overall:8.125 out of 10.
Match 9/6:The Undertaker def. Shane McMahon (Hell in a Cell)
Buildup was great. There was actual intrigue that Shane could win.
The match itself, was meh.....unless you put the spots in. The spots were awesome...especially the quintessential WrestleMania moment of the night: Shane McMahon jumping off the top of the cell.
Undertaker wins, and Shane is carted off like the tragic hero.
Post Mania: Vince McMahon gives Shane control for three to four weeks anyway...because screw stipulations. And continuity. Which is insulting, but resulted in 3 quality weeks of Raws and Smackdowns which I'm HAPPY about!
Match: 6.5 out of 10. Post Mania:8 out of 10. Buildup:9.8 out of 10. Overall: 7 out of 10. (Continuity errors stopped this from being higher.
Match 10/7:Baron Corbin wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
-Suprise entrants: Shaquille O'Neal (who eliminated Sandow.....so BOOOOOOOO), Diamond Dallas Page (YAY! DIAMOND CUTTERS!) and TATANKA (YAY)
-Last person eliminated was Kane.
While it would have been cool for Kane or Mark Henry to win as a legacy statement, having Corbin win was honestly a great pick. Having him follow Big Show and Cesaro as winners not only puts him in good company, but gives him a great starting point on his trip to the main roster.
Battle Royal matches in quality suck on a regular basis, so it's a 3 out of 10 for the match. Post mania: 7 out of 10. Booking and the result: 9 out of 10. Overall Solid 7.25 out of 10.
Match 11/8:The Rock def. Erick Rowan
This was an impromptu match. Bell rang. Rock hit the Rock Bottom, and won.
The positive: Bray Wyatt interrupting the Rock in the midst of a Rock promo that was highly unnecessary.
The negative: Why did the Rock have to come out with a flamethrower to announce the attendance record?
Why did the Rock have to have another record for himself?
Why did he take so much time from other matches (LIKE THE AMBROSE MATCH)?
Why did John Cena come down to help the Rock?
WHAT DID THIS DO FOR THE WYATTS OTHER THAN MAKE THEM LOOK WEAK AGAIN!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!
Post match: The Wyatt Family had a two week face turn that was AWESOME! Then Bray Wyatt got injured. Rowan and Strowman are now jobbing. Thanks Rock.
Xena comes back on Memorial Day....to a pretty good roster, so I'm looking forward to seeing the matches....not as much seeing him beat everyone he faces again. X(
Pre Match: UNECESSARY...1.25 out of 10. Match: UNECESSARY 0 out of 10. POST MATCH: HIGHLY UNECESSARY! -9000 OUT OF 10. Overall: (Casual fans and attitude era fans: 8 out of 10) (Diehards and Wyatt fans: -9000 out of 10) so....2 out of 10.
Main Event:Match 12/9:Roman Reigns def. Triple H (WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match)
Reigns won. Was exausted the first and the last time I watched the entire event. The entrances pretty much summed everything up: Triple had a good entrance....WWE botched Reigns's entrance, just like it botched his entire face run from the start to the end of Wrestlemania season. WWE openly tried to lower the mics and fill in crowd noise during the entrances and during the match....and the ending.
Not the response WWE wanted so therefore, this entire buildup for their marquee Title match.....was a bust.
Post Match: Triple H hasn't been seen since. Reigns has started this more cocky response..."Not a good guy....not a bad guy....I'm THE GUY." Reigns is facing AJ Styles at the next PPV for the title.
Pre Match: 7 out of 10. Match 6 out of 10. (Would have been 7 but WWE's blatant attempt at altering crowd noise during the biggest live PPV of the year was insulting and embarrassing.) Post match: 7.5 out of 10. Overall:6.5 out of 10
Overall PPV was a 6 out of 10. Two points off for the crap booking during the PPV, and a Significant two points off for the fact that the majority, if not all the results really didn't have a true effect on the ongoing stories.
Payback preview is up next: And remember....when in doubt, ALWAYS watch Pro Wrestling. Keep following for the previews and reviews in the right mindset.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
The Rising Sun Shadows Dallas
Hi there Shooters, I'm just over a month overdue on both this one and the WrestleMania one. Swamped crazy by work. But I finally got it done.
NxT Takeover was hands down the best product of the most important weekend of Wrestling and Sports Entertainment. Take quality of wrestling, add exposure, an intimate audience, and endings to various matches that could be both cliffhanger and satisfying, and you have what went down at the Key Bailey Hutchinson Center in Dallas.
Similar to the upcoming Wrestlemania review, I won't break down move for move and commentary for commentary. Rather, I'll give a quick synopsis with a few high points, and what's happened to the combatants since Takeover and how Takeover put them in their current positions.
HERE's THE NXT Takeover Review!
Match 1:Apollo Crews defeated "The Drifter" Elias Sampson (Spin out Powerbomb)
Somewhat not surprising, this match was actually bumped into the "Dark Match" spot, meaning that it wasn't televised with the rest of the event. It ended up as the first post-Takeover episode. The match wasn't anything amazing, but did a good job in re-establishing Crews. Apollo had come off of two major losses, and an impressive victory was exactly what the doctor ordered. Sampson wasn't bad in his first big opportunity, but (compared to the other competitors who have had shots at Takeovers past) he didn't hit the mark. There was a cool snapnare early in the match by The Drifter and 1 nice knee strike, but otherwise he didn't spark a lot. Plus, the pre-match promo exposed his inexperience dealing with a hostile crowd.
Post Takeover, Sampson is trying to recover some momentum. He had his best showing(IMO)during the latest episode of NxT, in a losing effort to someone I'm going to talk about later on.
Apollo Crews had 1 final NxT match, losing in a highly competitive match to Samoa Joe. However, since Takeover, Crews has debuted on the Main Roster and has rattled off an impressive start, with dominating wins over Tyler Breeze, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose, Heath Slater, and Stardust. While those aren't exactly the main eventers of the roster, the momentum for Crews is more than welcomed.
5 out of 10
Here's the main card but there is one catch. I'm not going to review these matches in order of the card, but rather by the significance and the results of both the match and post-match breakdowns.
Therefore
Match 2: "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" Austin Aries def. "The Lone Wolf" Baron Corbin (Rollup pin....I think it was an O'Connor Roll)
No arguments from the viewers and from the writers, this match was a good match that did its job, but compared to the remaining four matches, was not going to be Match of the Night. Corbin was phenominal as the dominant bully and Aries was great as the scrappy underdog. There was very little wrong with this match honestly, but the impact it had on the card for the night was weaker versus the other matches. Having Aries counter the End of Days into the sneaky pin was a great finish that protected Corbin from losing his credibility and gave a smart victory to Aries in his NxT in-ring debut.
Post Takeover-Austin aries continued his winning was on his NxT Debut with a Roaring Elbow victory over Angelo Dawkins. He's still got a bit of a way to go before going after the big headhunters.
As for Corbin, I don't know if he has anymore matches in NxT, but he shocked everyone that didn't watch NxT at Wrestlemania, winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He's been the arrogant giant that he's grown into on the main roster, and he's feuding with Dolph Ziggler now. The match itself may have been the weakest amongst the televised, but both men left this match in a good standing and have flourished since.
7 out of 10
Match 3: New NxT Tag Team Champions American Alpha (Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) def. The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson)(Grand Amplitude)
My God, that was the BEST Tag Team match of the weekend, whether it'd be regular, 6 man, 8 man, 10 man, I don't give a damn! THIS was the BEST tag team match of the weekend and in the history of NxT. The Revival and American Alpha were essentially perfect foils for each other; one being a down and dirty dissecting brawling duo, the other being silky smooth Suplex machines. The crowd was hot all night and both teams were on. DuelingGerman Suplexes and crazy chain wrestling from Gable and Jordan, while the Revival did what they do best: Cheat and isolate! The only major blip was a botched Powerbomb-Doomsday device move by The Revival on Gable. Oh, and for the record, Chad Gable is probably the most entertaining wrestler when it comes to crowd pandering outside of the main eventers. Also, the post match celebration had me in goosebumps. I wasn't always a fan of Jason Jordan, but considering how long he's been jobbing to guys for the past few years and considering how long he's been in NxT/Developmental period, that dude deserved a big time victory.
Post Takeover, both teams have been on a roll. The New Champs immediately faced off against the most popular team in NxT, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, and scored a big victory in a hotly-contested match. It remains to be seen who the next contenders are, but Jordan and Gable should be holding those titles for a good amount of time.
The Revival started their chase back for their titles nicely by defeating former Chikara Campeones de Parejas 3.0 (Scott Jagged Parker....or Jeff Parker and Big Magic Shane Matthews...or Matt Lee) in a one-sided shutout, then immediately attacked fellow contenders the Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and (YUCK)Mojo Rawley).
8.75 out of 10
Match 4: New NxT Women's Champion Asuka def. Bayley ( Asuka Lock
This match would have been ranked higher, but suffered from following flat out the greatest match of the weekend. That being said, the women followed it to the best of their ability and I believe followed it well. It always sucks being in the second to last match on a card, but it was a great match overall. The back and forth was where it was supposed to be. The finish was a little flat (only because of how drained the audience was for cheering throughout the night and also because it was such a shock (kind of)). Bayley passing out was the right move in terms of the result protecting both competitors. The crowd was really pulling for Bayley but warmed up to Asuka being the champion after the initial shock wore off. (Kudos for Bayley going for the Jim Breaks Armbar/Sabre Jr. Special) While this match was amazing, surprisingly it was actually just the 2nd best Women's match of the weekend. (incidently, the only women who could outdo Bayley were her fellow Four Horsewomen Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks.) That being said, this match deserves to be up there with the other NxT Women's Championship Classics.
Post Takeover, Bayley and Asuka have both started their path towards the next NxT Takeover event. Bayley (not sure when she's going to debut but until then I'll enjoy the ride) defeated up comer Liv Morgan and Asuka (To my extensive pleasure) knocked out Eva Marie. It seems as if Asuka is leading into a feud with Nia Jax.
8.5 out of 10
Match 5 (Main event) NxT Champion Finn Balor def. "The Samoan Submission Machine" Samoa Joe
When a big match occasion comes out, Finn comes out as The Demon. Throughout the match, it was interrupted here and there due to a huge cut suffered by Samoa Joe. Near the beginning and throughout the match, Joe was bleeding like a stuffed pig. Sometimes the medical staff had to pause the match to clean up the cut (which did stop the flow for a bit, and made the crowd antsy) but it made the match grittier and realistic, showing both the resiliency of Joe and the (accidental) sadisticness of the Demon. Honestly, while Finn was the good guy and Joe was the bad guy, Joe came off more like a good guy just due to the fact that he was willing to disregard his well-being to continue the match and go for the gold. This match was their best out of what would end up being the trilogy. The drama going throughout the match reminded me of a really great back and forth boxing match (you know, pre-Mayweather haha). Also, the tribute to Wrestlemania 8's IC title finish was a wonderful way to end the match. Still protected Joe, but gave a second escape for Balor to break Neville's record for longest Title reign.
Post Takeover: Joe defeated Apollo Crews before getting a third opportunity against Balor at a Live Event in Lowell, Massachusetts. With Balor not in Demon Gear, Joe finally got over the hump and won the NxT Championship in match 3 of this trilogy. Only time will tell how long this will continue. Otherwise, congrats to the new Champion.
9 out of 10
In any other case, any of the last three matches could have and would have been match of the night.....but in the middle of the card, one hell of a match showed up.
Match of the Night: Shinsuke Nakamura def. Sami Zayn (Kinshasa/Boma Ye)
First things first: Mauro Ranallo can do no wrong. The Showtime Boxing Announcer and current Play by Play man for WWE Smackdown did the narrative for the buildup video in this match, and like everything else, knocked it out of the park.
From Sami Zayn's entrance to his exit, this crowd was eating up EVERYTHING. Singing along to Sami's theme, the Ole's raining down.....and then Nakamura's theme hits. Swagsuke comes down and the crowd is HOT. Everything from the spastic entrance to the crazy pose, Shinsuke was straight up over and oozing charisma and dare I say....machismo.
Emotion filled with every twist and turn, a perennial game of one-upsmanship from bell to bell. False finishes that didn't expose each others' finishers, so many chants from the Yes! Chant to the one chant that I had yet to hear until now: "FIGHT FOREVER"
If they had fought longer, I wouldn't have complained. You saw why Sami Zayn is one of the best wrestlers in the world: Adaptability, while Nakamura proved that he's more than ready for American wrestling, he's bred for it. Nakamura finally finished off a 20+ minute match with the Boma Ye knee Strike, now known as the Kinshasa. The crowd gave this match a standing ovation for both wrestlers, and had a fond farewell sendoff to Sami Zayn as well.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter writer Dave Meltzer (the guy who is responsible for the Star ratings for every match in the world) gave this the highest rating of all the WWE/NxT matches on the weekend, and deservedly so. (Meltzer gave it 4.5 but I would have given it at least 4.75)
Post match:Shinsuke Nakamura has continued his winning streak with back to back TV victories over The Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger and The Drifter Elias Sampson. It's only a matter of time before A)Nakamura goes after the NxT Championship or B)Gets called up to the Main Roster.
Zayn (who had been called up a month ago) has integrated well into the roster with great matches against Chris Jericho and the Miz. In my opinion, Zayn was the MVP of WrestleMania weekend, with two matches of the night. This one against Nakamura (which could be up for Match of the year), and up until the ending, he stole the spotlight at WrestleMania in his performance at the IC Title Ladder match.
How fitting that his first big singles PPV match (Roadblock doesn't count!) is.....his long time rival Kevin Owens.
Rating:Over 9000 out of 10. (Ok...10 out of 10)
Arguably the Best NxT Takeover, (only Brooklyn could rival match for match) this event could rival not only any PPV done this year, but could be the card of the year. I would put the top 4 matches on this card versus the Top 4 matches of WrestleMania and New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 10.
Craziest part is that in all 3 cards, both AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura play integral parts in at least 2 of them.
I'd give this NxT Special a 9.25 out of 10 Bullseyes.
NxT Takeover was hands down the best product of the most important weekend of Wrestling and Sports Entertainment. Take quality of wrestling, add exposure, an intimate audience, and endings to various matches that could be both cliffhanger and satisfying, and you have what went down at the Key Bailey Hutchinson Center in Dallas.
Similar to the upcoming Wrestlemania review, I won't break down move for move and commentary for commentary. Rather, I'll give a quick synopsis with a few high points, and what's happened to the combatants since Takeover and how Takeover put them in their current positions.
HERE's THE NXT Takeover Review!
Match 1:Apollo Crews defeated "The Drifter" Elias Sampson (Spin out Powerbomb)
Somewhat not surprising, this match was actually bumped into the "Dark Match" spot, meaning that it wasn't televised with the rest of the event. It ended up as the first post-Takeover episode. The match wasn't anything amazing, but did a good job in re-establishing Crews. Apollo had come off of two major losses, and an impressive victory was exactly what the doctor ordered. Sampson wasn't bad in his first big opportunity, but (compared to the other competitors who have had shots at Takeovers past) he didn't hit the mark. There was a cool snapnare early in the match by The Drifter and 1 nice knee strike, but otherwise he didn't spark a lot. Plus, the pre-match promo exposed his inexperience dealing with a hostile crowd.
Post Takeover, Sampson is trying to recover some momentum. He had his best showing(IMO)during the latest episode of NxT, in a losing effort to someone I'm going to talk about later on.
Apollo Crews had 1 final NxT match, losing in a highly competitive match to Samoa Joe. However, since Takeover, Crews has debuted on the Main Roster and has rattled off an impressive start, with dominating wins over Tyler Breeze, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose, Heath Slater, and Stardust. While those aren't exactly the main eventers of the roster, the momentum for Crews is more than welcomed.
5 out of 10
Here's the main card but there is one catch. I'm not going to review these matches in order of the card, but rather by the significance and the results of both the match and post-match breakdowns.
Therefore
Match 2: "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" Austin Aries def. "The Lone Wolf" Baron Corbin (Rollup pin....I think it was an O'Connor Roll)
No arguments from the viewers and from the writers, this match was a good match that did its job, but compared to the remaining four matches, was not going to be Match of the Night. Corbin was phenominal as the dominant bully and Aries was great as the scrappy underdog. There was very little wrong with this match honestly, but the impact it had on the card for the night was weaker versus the other matches. Having Aries counter the End of Days into the sneaky pin was a great finish that protected Corbin from losing his credibility and gave a smart victory to Aries in his NxT in-ring debut.
Post Takeover-Austin aries continued his winning was on his NxT Debut with a Roaring Elbow victory over Angelo Dawkins. He's still got a bit of a way to go before going after the big headhunters.
As for Corbin, I don't know if he has anymore matches in NxT, but he shocked everyone that didn't watch NxT at Wrestlemania, winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He's been the arrogant giant that he's grown into on the main roster, and he's feuding with Dolph Ziggler now. The match itself may have been the weakest amongst the televised, but both men left this match in a good standing and have flourished since.
7 out of 10
Match 3: New NxT Tag Team Champions American Alpha (Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) def. The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson)(Grand Amplitude)
My God, that was the BEST Tag Team match of the weekend, whether it'd be regular, 6 man, 8 man, 10 man, I don't give a damn! THIS was the BEST tag team match of the weekend and in the history of NxT. The Revival and American Alpha were essentially perfect foils for each other; one being a down and dirty dissecting brawling duo, the other being silky smooth Suplex machines. The crowd was hot all night and both teams were on. DuelingGerman Suplexes and crazy chain wrestling from Gable and Jordan, while the Revival did what they do best: Cheat and isolate! The only major blip was a botched Powerbomb-Doomsday device move by The Revival on Gable. Oh, and for the record, Chad Gable is probably the most entertaining wrestler when it comes to crowd pandering outside of the main eventers. Also, the post match celebration had me in goosebumps. I wasn't always a fan of Jason Jordan, but considering how long he's been jobbing to guys for the past few years and considering how long he's been in NxT/Developmental period, that dude deserved a big time victory.
Post Takeover, both teams have been on a roll. The New Champs immediately faced off against the most popular team in NxT, Enzo Amore and Big Cass, and scored a big victory in a hotly-contested match. It remains to be seen who the next contenders are, but Jordan and Gable should be holding those titles for a good amount of time.
The Revival started their chase back for their titles nicely by defeating former Chikara Campeones de Parejas 3.0 (Scott Jagged Parker....or Jeff Parker and Big Magic Shane Matthews...or Matt Lee) in a one-sided shutout, then immediately attacked fellow contenders the Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and (YUCK)Mojo Rawley).
8.75 out of 10
Match 4: New NxT Women's Champion Asuka def. Bayley ( Asuka Lock
This match would have been ranked higher, but suffered from following flat out the greatest match of the weekend. That being said, the women followed it to the best of their ability and I believe followed it well. It always sucks being in the second to last match on a card, but it was a great match overall. The back and forth was where it was supposed to be. The finish was a little flat (only because of how drained the audience was for cheering throughout the night and also because it was such a shock (kind of)). Bayley passing out was the right move in terms of the result protecting both competitors. The crowd was really pulling for Bayley but warmed up to Asuka being the champion after the initial shock wore off. (Kudos for Bayley going for the Jim Breaks Armbar/Sabre Jr. Special) While this match was amazing, surprisingly it was actually just the 2nd best Women's match of the weekend. (incidently, the only women who could outdo Bayley were her fellow Four Horsewomen Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks.) That being said, this match deserves to be up there with the other NxT Women's Championship Classics.
Post Takeover, Bayley and Asuka have both started their path towards the next NxT Takeover event. Bayley (not sure when she's going to debut but until then I'll enjoy the ride) defeated up comer Liv Morgan and Asuka (To my extensive pleasure) knocked out Eva Marie. It seems as if Asuka is leading into a feud with Nia Jax.
8.5 out of 10
Match 5 (Main event) NxT Champion Finn Balor def. "The Samoan Submission Machine" Samoa Joe
When a big match occasion comes out, Finn comes out as The Demon. Throughout the match, it was interrupted here and there due to a huge cut suffered by Samoa Joe. Near the beginning and throughout the match, Joe was bleeding like a stuffed pig. Sometimes the medical staff had to pause the match to clean up the cut (which did stop the flow for a bit, and made the crowd antsy) but it made the match grittier and realistic, showing both the resiliency of Joe and the (accidental) sadisticness of the Demon. Honestly, while Finn was the good guy and Joe was the bad guy, Joe came off more like a good guy just due to the fact that he was willing to disregard his well-being to continue the match and go for the gold. This match was their best out of what would end up being the trilogy. The drama going throughout the match reminded me of a really great back and forth boxing match (you know, pre-Mayweather haha). Also, the tribute to Wrestlemania 8's IC title finish was a wonderful way to end the match. Still protected Joe, but gave a second escape for Balor to break Neville's record for longest Title reign.
Post Takeover: Joe defeated Apollo Crews before getting a third opportunity against Balor at a Live Event in Lowell, Massachusetts. With Balor not in Demon Gear, Joe finally got over the hump and won the NxT Championship in match 3 of this trilogy. Only time will tell how long this will continue. Otherwise, congrats to the new Champion.
9 out of 10
In any other case, any of the last three matches could have and would have been match of the night.....but in the middle of the card, one hell of a match showed up.
Match of the Night: Shinsuke Nakamura def. Sami Zayn (Kinshasa/Boma Ye)
First things first: Mauro Ranallo can do no wrong. The Showtime Boxing Announcer and current Play by Play man for WWE Smackdown did the narrative for the buildup video in this match, and like everything else, knocked it out of the park.
From Sami Zayn's entrance to his exit, this crowd was eating up EVERYTHING. Singing along to Sami's theme, the Ole's raining down.....and then Nakamura's theme hits. Swagsuke comes down and the crowd is HOT. Everything from the spastic entrance to the crazy pose, Shinsuke was straight up over and oozing charisma and dare I say....machismo.
Emotion filled with every twist and turn, a perennial game of one-upsmanship from bell to bell. False finishes that didn't expose each others' finishers, so many chants from the Yes! Chant to the one chant that I had yet to hear until now: "FIGHT FOREVER"
If they had fought longer, I wouldn't have complained. You saw why Sami Zayn is one of the best wrestlers in the world: Adaptability, while Nakamura proved that he's more than ready for American wrestling, he's bred for it. Nakamura finally finished off a 20+ minute match with the Boma Ye knee Strike, now known as the Kinshasa. The crowd gave this match a standing ovation for both wrestlers, and had a fond farewell sendoff to Sami Zayn as well.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter writer Dave Meltzer (the guy who is responsible for the Star ratings for every match in the world) gave this the highest rating of all the WWE/NxT matches on the weekend, and deservedly so. (Meltzer gave it 4.5 but I would have given it at least 4.75)
Post match:Shinsuke Nakamura has continued his winning streak with back to back TV victories over The Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger and The Drifter Elias Sampson. It's only a matter of time before A)Nakamura goes after the NxT Championship or B)Gets called up to the Main Roster.
Zayn (who had been called up a month ago) has integrated well into the roster with great matches against Chris Jericho and the Miz. In my opinion, Zayn was the MVP of WrestleMania weekend, with two matches of the night. This one against Nakamura (which could be up for Match of the year), and up until the ending, he stole the spotlight at WrestleMania in his performance at the IC Title Ladder match.
How fitting that his first big singles PPV match (Roadblock doesn't count!) is.....his long time rival Kevin Owens.
Rating:Over 9000 out of 10. (Ok...10 out of 10)
Arguably the Best NxT Takeover, (only Brooklyn could rival match for match) this event could rival not only any PPV done this year, but could be the card of the year. I would put the top 4 matches on this card versus the Top 4 matches of WrestleMania and New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 10.
Craziest part is that in all 3 cards, both AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura play integral parts in at least 2 of them.
I'd give this NxT Special a 9.25 out of 10 Bullseyes.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
GLOBAL CRUISERWEIGHT SERIES First Look
WWE NXT GLOBAL CRUISERWEIGHT SERIES
So, Triple H has spearheaded a movement to have some of the best talent in the world come together under the WWE Umbrella. Since there has been a slow move from Larger than Life Characters to Smaller, more dynamic performers, NxT has become the host to what may be the biggest tournament of the Summer. WWE is going to have 32 of the world's best wrestlers that are 200 pounds or less. The only sad thing so far is that one of the top high flyers, Ricochet, is reported via twitter to not be apart of this tournament. This is due to New Japan's yearly Juniors League tournament: The Best of the Super Juniors...and also the return of the Super J Cup Tournament.
So far the confirmed performers that are entered into the tournament include:
Rich Swann (BALTIMORE Native)
Johnny Wrestling: Johnny Gargano
The Sicilian Psychopath: Tommaso Ciampa
Britain's Noam Dar
Dragon Gate's Akira Tozawa
The Perfect Ten: Lince Dorado
Ho Ho Lun
Evolve 1
Evolve 2
Progress 1
Progress 2
Along with these participants, EVOLVE, Progress Wrestling, and Revolution Pro are having qualifiers for the tournament.
EVOLVE
Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams
Fred Yehi vs. TJ Perkins
PROGRESS Wrestling:
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Flash Morgan Webster
Jack Gallagher vs. Cruiserweight Pete Dunne
Revolution Pro Hasn't officially announced their qualifiers, but I would guess that Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll could potentially be involved.
Amongst the currently announced and speculated, having Gargano, Ciampa, Swann, and Tozawa is PWG shifting into WWE. Dorado was red hot in the late 2000s with Chikara, so it would be great to see him do well. Dar has long been praised on the British indy scene. Lun doesn't have a lot about him on youtube, but he has similar athleticism to Swann so it should be fun watching him. I expect Gulak and Yehi to be in the tournament. Gulak has long been praised as one of the top guys WWE has been looking at, while Yehi is an up and comer. Williams isn't entirely as polished, while Perkins (who has had a very long career) is probably seen as someone who has long passed his shot at WWE, especially spending a lot of time at TNA. I enjoy Webster....but it's just unfortunate that he's going to be facing the current holder of the 16 Carat Tournament Championship, as well as PWG's Battle of Los Angeles Tournament: The Technical Wizard Zach Sabre Jr. As for qualifier 2, as long as he's under the weight limit, I fully expect Pete Dunne to advance. He was a standout for ATTACK Pro's King of Trios team in Chikara and is a joy to watch. The only reason Ospreay wouldn't be in this tournament is if he's scheduled to be in the Super Jr. Tournament and the Best of the Super Juniors in NJPW. As for Scurll, considering he is THE PROGRESS Wrestling Champion, him at least representing Revolution Pro would also make sense. Also look to see if Solomon Crowe/Sami Callahan, Matt Riddle or (barring a miracle/agreement with CMLL) the original Sin Cara (Mysteziz)makes a quick return for the tournament as well in terms of outside talent I can think of possibly participating.
Looking at the lineups so far, the participants don't include any potential NxT or even Main Roster guys that could possibly be in the tournament as well:
Main Roster members that would have to lose weight(225 -201): Epico, Primo, Sami Zayn (by like 3 pounds lol), Aiden English, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Seth Rollins, Simon Gotch, Tyler Breeze, Xavier Woods (by 5 pounds), Zack Ryder, AJ Styles
Roster members that would fit: Enzo Amore, Kalisto, Neville (if he can return from Injury quick enough), Sin Cara (Hunico).
NxT Roster members that would have to lose weight (225-201): Austin Aries (by 3 pounds), Chad Gable (by 2), Dash Wilder, Elias Sampson, Patrick Clark, Tino Sabbatelli, Scott Dawson, Tye Dillinger, Shane Haste (TMDK...hasn't debuted yet),
NxT Roster members that would fit: Finn Balor, Hideo Itami (if he returns quick enough), Chris Girard (Biff Busick), Manny Andrade (La Sombra)
With 32 spots, there's a lot of potential dream matchups and crazy pairings that can really educate the WWE specific viewer. The only worry I have is that whomever wins the tournament or is even IN the tournament is typecast as only a Cruiserweight and nothing more, especially considering guys like Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio has proven that smaller guys can be THE dude in WWE.
When In Doubt Watch PRO WRESTLING! Next post will most likely be the NxT Takeover: Dallas Review. The NJPW PPVs as well as the WrestleMania review will be up soon as well.
UPDATE!!!!!!
1)Revolution Pro's qualifying match is Noam Dar vs. Josh Bodom.
Also, Zack Sabre Jr. and Jack Gallagher have qualified for the GCS from Progress.
So currently, the updated entrants are:
Rich Swann
Johnny Gargano
Ho Ho Lun
Tomasso Ciampa
Lince Dorado
Akira Tozawa
Zack Sabre Jr.
Jack Gallagher (admittedly surprised...but looking forward to seeing more of this dude.)
The winner of Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams in Evolve
The Winner of TJ Perkins vs. Fred Yehi in Evolve
The Winner of Noam Dar vs. Josh Bodom from Revolution Pro
With 1/4 of the entrants officially announced, it will be interesting to see who the remaining participants will be.
Second update!
Noam Dar, TJ Perkins, and Drew Gulak have qualified so the entrants look like this now:
Rich Swann
Johnny Gargano
Ho Ho Lun
Tomasso Ciampa
Lince Dorado
Akira Tozawa
Zack Sabre Jr.
Jack Gallagher
Drew Gulak
TJ Perkins
Noam Dar
11 out of 32 official for the Cruiserweight Classic (Name change!)
So, Triple H has spearheaded a movement to have some of the best talent in the world come together under the WWE Umbrella. Since there has been a slow move from Larger than Life Characters to Smaller, more dynamic performers, NxT has become the host to what may be the biggest tournament of the Summer. WWE is going to have 32 of the world's best wrestlers that are 200 pounds or less. The only sad thing so far is that one of the top high flyers, Ricochet, is reported via twitter to not be apart of this tournament. This is due to New Japan's yearly Juniors League tournament: The Best of the Super Juniors...and also the return of the Super J Cup Tournament.
So far the confirmed performers that are entered into the tournament include:
Rich Swann (BALTIMORE Native)
Johnny Wrestling: Johnny Gargano
The Sicilian Psychopath: Tommaso Ciampa
Britain's Noam Dar
Dragon Gate's Akira Tozawa
The Perfect Ten: Lince Dorado
Ho Ho Lun
Evolve 1
Evolve 2
Progress 1
Progress 2
Along with these participants, EVOLVE, Progress Wrestling, and Revolution Pro are having qualifiers for the tournament.
EVOLVE
Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams
Fred Yehi vs. TJ Perkins
PROGRESS Wrestling:
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Flash Morgan Webster
Jack Gallagher vs. Cruiserweight Pete Dunne
Revolution Pro Hasn't officially announced their qualifiers, but I would guess that Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll could potentially be involved.
Amongst the currently announced and speculated, having Gargano, Ciampa, Swann, and Tozawa is PWG shifting into WWE. Dorado was red hot in the late 2000s with Chikara, so it would be great to see him do well. Dar has long been praised on the British indy scene. Lun doesn't have a lot about him on youtube, but he has similar athleticism to Swann so it should be fun watching him. I expect Gulak and Yehi to be in the tournament. Gulak has long been praised as one of the top guys WWE has been looking at, while Yehi is an up and comer. Williams isn't entirely as polished, while Perkins (who has had a very long career) is probably seen as someone who has long passed his shot at WWE, especially spending a lot of time at TNA. I enjoy Webster....but it's just unfortunate that he's going to be facing the current holder of the 16 Carat Tournament Championship, as well as PWG's Battle of Los Angeles Tournament: The Technical Wizard Zach Sabre Jr. As for qualifier 2, as long as he's under the weight limit, I fully expect Pete Dunne to advance. He was a standout for ATTACK Pro's King of Trios team in Chikara and is a joy to watch. The only reason Ospreay wouldn't be in this tournament is if he's scheduled to be in the Super Jr. Tournament and the Best of the Super Juniors in NJPW. As for Scurll, considering he is THE PROGRESS Wrestling Champion, him at least representing Revolution Pro would also make sense. Also look to see if Solomon Crowe/Sami Callahan, Matt Riddle or (barring a miracle/agreement with CMLL) the original Sin Cara (Mysteziz)makes a quick return for the tournament as well in terms of outside talent I can think of possibly participating.
Looking at the lineups so far, the participants don't include any potential NxT or even Main Roster guys that could possibly be in the tournament as well:
Main Roster members that would have to lose weight(225 -201): Epico, Primo, Sami Zayn (by like 3 pounds lol), Aiden English, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Seth Rollins, Simon Gotch, Tyler Breeze, Xavier Woods (by 5 pounds), Zack Ryder, AJ Styles
Roster members that would fit: Enzo Amore, Kalisto, Neville (if he can return from Injury quick enough), Sin Cara (Hunico).
NxT Roster members that would have to lose weight (225-201): Austin Aries (by 3 pounds), Chad Gable (by 2), Dash Wilder, Elias Sampson, Patrick Clark, Tino Sabbatelli, Scott Dawson, Tye Dillinger, Shane Haste (TMDK...hasn't debuted yet),
NxT Roster members that would fit: Finn Balor, Hideo Itami (if he returns quick enough), Chris Girard (Biff Busick), Manny Andrade (La Sombra)
With 32 spots, there's a lot of potential dream matchups and crazy pairings that can really educate the WWE specific viewer. The only worry I have is that whomever wins the tournament or is even IN the tournament is typecast as only a Cruiserweight and nothing more, especially considering guys like Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio has proven that smaller guys can be THE dude in WWE.
When In Doubt Watch PRO WRESTLING! Next post will most likely be the NxT Takeover: Dallas Review. The NJPW PPVs as well as the WrestleMania review will be up soon as well.
UPDATE!!!!!!
1)Revolution Pro's qualifying match is Noam Dar vs. Josh Bodom.
Also, Zack Sabre Jr. and Jack Gallagher have qualified for the GCS from Progress.
So currently, the updated entrants are:
Rich Swann
Johnny Gargano
Ho Ho Lun
Tomasso Ciampa
Lince Dorado
Akira Tozawa
Zack Sabre Jr.
Jack Gallagher (admittedly surprised...but looking forward to seeing more of this dude.)
The winner of Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams in Evolve
The Winner of TJ Perkins vs. Fred Yehi in Evolve
The Winner of Noam Dar vs. Josh Bodom from Revolution Pro
With 1/4 of the entrants officially announced, it will be interesting to see who the remaining participants will be.
Second update!
Noam Dar, TJ Perkins, and Drew Gulak have qualified so the entrants look like this now:
Rich Swann
Johnny Gargano
Ho Ho Lun
Tomasso Ciampa
Lince Dorado
Akira Tozawa
Zack Sabre Jr.
Jack Gallagher
Drew Gulak
TJ Perkins
Noam Dar
11 out of 32 official for the Cruiserweight Classic (Name change!)
Long time no see people. The Non-WWE/NJPW Roundup
Hello Smarks alike and whatnot,
It's been awhile since I've posted. The music was calling and the pungent smell of a really unfortunate WrestleMania still semi-fresh in the mind, the following will be a recap of the various events in TNA, ROH (Non Japanese related), WWN, Chikara, and WrestleCon weekend
1)Lucha Underground-
A)Their storyline General Manager, Dario Cueto has returned and has brought along his brother Mantanza. Mantanza would then proceed to win Lucha Underground's version of the Royal Rumble to win the Lucha Underground Championship.
Current Champions:
LU Champion: Mantanza Cueto
LU Trios Champions:Jvelisse, Son of Havoc, And Angelico
Alongside of this, the tournament for the Trios tournament has gotten underway, amongst the early winners including the teams of Rey Mysterio, Dragon Azteca Jr, and Prince Puma, as well as a team that is headed by Joey Ryan.
2)TNA
Drew Galloway (formerly Drew McIntyre of WWE) has claimed the TNA World Heavyweight Championship after cashing in his Feast or Fired briefcase on Matt Hardy. The Hardys are feuding leading into a future I Quit Match, former Champion EC3 is currently feuding with former ROH and IWGP Tag Team Champion Mike Bennett, Trevor Lee of PWG and of the Carolina territories currently holds the TNA X Division Championship after defeating Tigre Uno in either February or March, and Beer Money (tv tapings people) still currently holding the TNA World Tag Team Championships (even with the impending exit of Bobby Roode). Jade (or Mia Yim from Shimmer and Shine) currently holds the TNA Knockouts Championship after defeating Gail Kim.
3)SPECIAL WXW quick heads up.
Every year, the German Promotion WXW holds one of the most prestigious independent wrestling tournaments around the world, The 16-Carat Tournament, taking 16-32 of the top indy wrestlers around the world, and the winner was Zach Sabre Jr. More on the importance of that later in this post.
4 and onward: To the WrestleCon weekend results.
4)CHIKARA
Tag World Grand Prix:Winners were the Devastation Corporation(Blaster McMassive and Flex Rumblecrunch) who defeated the Colony (Fire Ant and Worker Ant II)
Also, Estonian ThunderFrog defeated Arctic Rescue Ant to defend the Young Lions Cup
Finally, Chikara is also having a Royal Rumble-esque type event with the winner to receive a golden opportunity (similar to the opportunity that Princess Kimberlee used to win the CHikara Grand Championship). Among the entrants are Lucas Calhoun, Worker Ant II, and Dasher Hatfield, along with YLC holder the Estonian Thunderfrog.
5)Shimmer
Nicole Savoy defeated Heidi Lovelace and Candice LeRae to clinch the first ever Heart of Shimmer at WrestleCon Weekend.
6)Evolve
Evolve 58
Zack Sabre defeated Will Ospreay in the Best in the world Challenge
Catch Point defeated Heroes Eventually Die
Timothy Thatcher and Matt Riddle ended in a Draw in their Evolve Championship Match
Evolve 59
Ricochet def. Will Ospreay in one of many Match of the Year candidates
Party Marty Scurll defeated Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher in a non-title match
Matt Riddle defeats Zack Sabre jr in a bit of an Upset
Catch Point (Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams) defeat Drew Galloway and Johnny Gargano to win the Evolve tag team Championships
USA vs. Europe Matches
Ricochet Def Ospreay USA
Scurll def Thatcher EUROPE
Riddle def Sabre Jr USA
End def Perkins EUROPE
7)CZW
Admittedly, I really didn't keep track of this one too much, but amongst the various results:
Cherry Bomb defeated Jessicka Havoc to retain the WSU Championship
Chuck Taylor and the Fabulous Gulaks (Rory and Drew) defeated The Nation of Intoxication in a 6 Man Tag Team Tables match and
Matt tremont defeated Masada to retain the CZW world Championship
8)Ring of Honor (From 14th Anniversary (and 1 important spoiler from ROH/NJPW Honor Rising) to SuperCard of Honor)
Honor Rising Important Notes:
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Roderick Strong for the ROH World Television Championship
The Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks [Nick and Matt Jackson]) defeated CHAOS (Toru Yano, Mark and Jay Briscoe) to claim the NEVER Openweight 6 man Tag Team Championships
14th Anniversary
Ishii retained over Strong and Bobby Fish
The Elite, War Machine (Hanson and Rowe), and Jay Lethal all retained their respective Championships
Day 2 of the 14th anniversary saw Lethal retain the ROH World Championship over Hirooki Goto and Dalton Castle finish his rivalry with Silas Young with a victory in a Fight Without Honor
Supercard of Honor:
Jay Lethal would retain the ROH World Championship over DC Native Lio Rush, then was confronted by a returning Colt Cabana.
The Young Bucks would defeated a recently Reunited Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a great contest.
Day 2
Colt Cabana would defeat Jay lethal to earn a shot at the ROH World Championship
Bobby Fish would defeat Roderick Strong in a two out of three falls match
and Kyle O'Reilly would also win a Fight Without Honor over former partner and longtime rival Adam Cole (BAY BAY)
9)WWN (which is the overhead label of Evolve, Full Impact Pro, Shimmer, Dragon Gate, Etc.)
Chris Hero def. Zack Sabre Jr.
Drew Gulak def Fred Yehi, but Yehi Joins Gulak, Matt Riddle, TJ Perkins, and Tracy Williams as a part of Catch point.
Williams finally defeats Riddle
All Ego Ethan Page gets a huge win over The Premier Athlete Brand's Anthony Nese
Timothy Thatcher would retain the Evolve Championship over The Callahan Death Machine Sami Callahan (Formerly WWE NxT's Solomon Crowe)
Finally, Johnny Gargano, TJ Perkins, and Kota Ibushi (Evolve/DGUSA originals) defeats Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, and Tommy (F-cking) End (EuroTrash)
10)The WrestleCon Supershow (The big show for the independent stars for the weekend)
Pentagon Jr. (AAA) defeats Sami Callahan (Evolve, CZW)
Marty Scurll retains the PROGRESS Wrestling Championship over Will Ospreay
Chuck Taylor and Colt Cabana win (WOO HOO)
Tessa Blanchard Wins (Then later debuts at NxT's Carolina Tapings! HOORAY!)
AeroStar, Drago, y Octagon Jr def. Bestia 666, Jack Evans, Y Tigre Uno
Team Jarrett (Myers, Jarret, Havok, Hawx, and Dutt(WHOOT!) def. Team Sleazy (Ryan, LeRae, Striker, Strickland(Killshot), and Dreamer)
Matt Hardy def. Lance Storm
Mysterio, Sydal, and Ricochet def. Cage, Hero, and Sabre Jr.
Jeff Hardy wins a Monster's Ball match against A.R. Fox, The Monster Abyss, Andrew Everett, Pentagon Jr, and Trevor Lee.
Well that covers the Indy and Non-WWE/NJPW Scene!
It's been awhile since I've posted. The music was calling and the pungent smell of a really unfortunate WrestleMania still semi-fresh in the mind, the following will be a recap of the various events in TNA, ROH (Non Japanese related), WWN, Chikara, and WrestleCon weekend
1)Lucha Underground-
A)Their storyline General Manager, Dario Cueto has returned and has brought along his brother Mantanza. Mantanza would then proceed to win Lucha Underground's version of the Royal Rumble to win the Lucha Underground Championship.
Current Champions:
LU Champion: Mantanza Cueto
LU Trios Champions:Jvelisse, Son of Havoc, And Angelico
Alongside of this, the tournament for the Trios tournament has gotten underway, amongst the early winners including the teams of Rey Mysterio, Dragon Azteca Jr, and Prince Puma, as well as a team that is headed by Joey Ryan.
2)TNA
Drew Galloway (formerly Drew McIntyre of WWE) has claimed the TNA World Heavyweight Championship after cashing in his Feast or Fired briefcase on Matt Hardy. The Hardys are feuding leading into a future I Quit Match, former Champion EC3 is currently feuding with former ROH and IWGP Tag Team Champion Mike Bennett, Trevor Lee of PWG and of the Carolina territories currently holds the TNA X Division Championship after defeating Tigre Uno in either February or March, and Beer Money (tv tapings people) still currently holding the TNA World Tag Team Championships (even with the impending exit of Bobby Roode). Jade (or Mia Yim from Shimmer and Shine) currently holds the TNA Knockouts Championship after defeating Gail Kim.
3)SPECIAL WXW quick heads up.
Every year, the German Promotion WXW holds one of the most prestigious independent wrestling tournaments around the world, The 16-Carat Tournament, taking 16-32 of the top indy wrestlers around the world, and the winner was Zach Sabre Jr. More on the importance of that later in this post.
4 and onward: To the WrestleCon weekend results.
4)CHIKARA
Tag World Grand Prix:Winners were the Devastation Corporation(Blaster McMassive and Flex Rumblecrunch) who defeated the Colony (Fire Ant and Worker Ant II)
Also, Estonian ThunderFrog defeated Arctic Rescue Ant to defend the Young Lions Cup
Finally, Chikara is also having a Royal Rumble-esque type event with the winner to receive a golden opportunity (similar to the opportunity that Princess Kimberlee used to win the CHikara Grand Championship). Among the entrants are Lucas Calhoun, Worker Ant II, and Dasher Hatfield, along with YLC holder the Estonian Thunderfrog.
5)Shimmer
Nicole Savoy defeated Heidi Lovelace and Candice LeRae to clinch the first ever Heart of Shimmer at WrestleCon Weekend.
6)Evolve
Evolve 58
Zack Sabre defeated Will Ospreay in the Best in the world Challenge
Catch Point defeated Heroes Eventually Die
Timothy Thatcher and Matt Riddle ended in a Draw in their Evolve Championship Match
Evolve 59
Ricochet def. Will Ospreay in one of many Match of the Year candidates
Party Marty Scurll defeated Evolve Champion Timothy Thatcher in a non-title match
Matt Riddle defeats Zack Sabre jr in a bit of an Upset
Catch Point (Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams) defeat Drew Galloway and Johnny Gargano to win the Evolve tag team Championships
USA vs. Europe Matches
Ricochet Def Ospreay USA
Scurll def Thatcher EUROPE
Riddle def Sabre Jr USA
End def Perkins EUROPE
7)CZW
Admittedly, I really didn't keep track of this one too much, but amongst the various results:
Cherry Bomb defeated Jessicka Havoc to retain the WSU Championship
Chuck Taylor and the Fabulous Gulaks (Rory and Drew) defeated The Nation of Intoxication in a 6 Man Tag Team Tables match and
Matt tremont defeated Masada to retain the CZW world Championship
8)Ring of Honor (From 14th Anniversary (and 1 important spoiler from ROH/NJPW Honor Rising) to SuperCard of Honor)
Honor Rising Important Notes:
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Roderick Strong for the ROH World Television Championship
The Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks [Nick and Matt Jackson]) defeated CHAOS (Toru Yano, Mark and Jay Briscoe) to claim the NEVER Openweight 6 man Tag Team Championships
14th Anniversary
Ishii retained over Strong and Bobby Fish
The Elite, War Machine (Hanson and Rowe), and Jay Lethal all retained their respective Championships
Day 2 of the 14th anniversary saw Lethal retain the ROH World Championship over Hirooki Goto and Dalton Castle finish his rivalry with Silas Young with a victory in a Fight Without Honor
Supercard of Honor:
Jay Lethal would retain the ROH World Championship over DC Native Lio Rush, then was confronted by a returning Colt Cabana.
The Young Bucks would defeated a recently Reunited Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a great contest.
Day 2
Colt Cabana would defeat Jay lethal to earn a shot at the ROH World Championship
Bobby Fish would defeat Roderick Strong in a two out of three falls match
and Kyle O'Reilly would also win a Fight Without Honor over former partner and longtime rival Adam Cole (BAY BAY)
9)WWN (which is the overhead label of Evolve, Full Impact Pro, Shimmer, Dragon Gate, Etc.)
Chris Hero def. Zack Sabre Jr.
Drew Gulak def Fred Yehi, but Yehi Joins Gulak, Matt Riddle, TJ Perkins, and Tracy Williams as a part of Catch point.
Williams finally defeats Riddle
All Ego Ethan Page gets a huge win over The Premier Athlete Brand's Anthony Nese
Timothy Thatcher would retain the Evolve Championship over The Callahan Death Machine Sami Callahan (Formerly WWE NxT's Solomon Crowe)
Finally, Johnny Gargano, TJ Perkins, and Kota Ibushi (Evolve/DGUSA originals) defeats Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, and Tommy (F-cking) End (EuroTrash)
10)The WrestleCon Supershow (The big show for the independent stars for the weekend)
Pentagon Jr. (AAA) defeats Sami Callahan (Evolve, CZW)
Marty Scurll retains the PROGRESS Wrestling Championship over Will Ospreay
Chuck Taylor and Colt Cabana win (WOO HOO)
Tessa Blanchard Wins (Then later debuts at NxT's Carolina Tapings! HOORAY!)
AeroStar, Drago, y Octagon Jr def. Bestia 666, Jack Evans, Y Tigre Uno
Team Jarrett (Myers, Jarret, Havok, Hawx, and Dutt(WHOOT!) def. Team Sleazy (Ryan, LeRae, Striker, Strickland(Killshot), and Dreamer)
Matt Hardy def. Lance Storm
Mysterio, Sydal, and Ricochet def. Cage, Hero, and Sabre Jr.
Jeff Hardy wins a Monster's Ball match against A.R. Fox, The Monster Abyss, Andrew Everett, Pentagon Jr, and Trevor Lee.
Well that covers the Indy and Non-WWE/NJPW Scene!
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