EXTREME RULES PREVIEW

If you marks have noticed lately, the previews have been shorter. They're previews and not one of the Big 4 so here's just a quick glance at tonight's PPV.



1)Ziggler vs. Corbin
Ziggler won last month, but doesn't need to win this one. Corbin is still fresh enough off of his big main roster debut win at WrestleMania for him to properly win the feud. This should be a dominant victory.

2)Vaudevillians vs. New Day Tag Team Championships
Vaudevillians get the title shot after Enzo Amore's scare. Big Cass has honestly been more dominant than the tag team scene lately, but the match should still be good. Vaudevillians just aren't popular enough for this to be worth the significant change. New Day should retain

3)Usos vs. Good Brothers Tornado Tag Team Match
To not make the Club stable entirely weak (like they've done the last few weeks....but with believability to (UGH) raise the threat of the Usos), The Club should win this match savagely so the cushion for tonight's main event is sustainable and unpredictable. Usos don't need a win. Point Blank.

4)Ambrose vs. Jericho Asylum Match
With the way WWE normally books Ambrose, Ambrose loses this match because 50/50 and Jericho looked weak. I hope that I'm entirely wrong because having a signature match greatly raises the credibility of Ambrose, especially going into the next ppv, Money in the Bank. If Ambrose wins, he should be the front runner for the MITB, if he loses, expect one of the IC contenders to win it otherwise. I'll take Ambrose because I prefer people who match the gimmick win. (Yes, Undertaker lost the first Hell in a Cell, but He had MORE credibility at the time and Ambrose NEEDS all the wins he can get at this point. Popularity or otherwise, Ambrose coming short needs to stop if he is still to be taken as a serious main event threat.)

5)Miz vs. Cesaro vs. Owens. vs. Zayn Intercontinental Championship
If Cesaro wins, I predict either Ambrose, Wyatt, or Owens for MITB.
If Miz wins, Cesaro wins MITB
If Zayn Wins, Owens wins MITB
If Owens wins, Ambrose, Wyatt, or Cesaro win.

I'm expecting Miz to win, because Owens will still be a credible threat, Cesaro should be getting money in the bank over everyone else without questions and almost without exceptions (Wyatt would be the main exception), and Zayn can go after Miz himself if he can't go after Owens.

6)Kalisto vs. Rusev United States Championship
With this supposed to be on the main card, expectations are that Rusev wins the match.....for John Cena to win the title on Memorial Day when he returns. I would honestly rather watch Kalisto retain so he can start building some legitimate credibility. Two piss poor booking Ryback feuds and a Del Rio feud that honestly hurt the prestige of the title with the back and forth exchanges can be forgiven if Kalisto can start beating more diverse opponents. Let him beat Rusev, give Sheamus a shot after Rusev's done. Hell a Ziggler/Kalisto or Sin Cara/Kalisto match sounds cool. Screw it, just build Kalisto and let him do more of his other moves from his Samuray days.

7)Charlotte vs. Natalya WWE Women's Championship Submission match
Charlotte Wins. Masked Ric Flair....or some help from Stephanie....this has "screw Nattie in a new way" written all over it.

8)Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles WWE World Heavyweight Championship Extreme Rules match
Reigns wins, but if it's as good as the last match (with less overbooking), it should be fantastic. And if by the off chance that Styles pulls off an upset, I will dance at my buddy's house like there is no tomorrow all the way through my school's field day.

Payback Review

Hello Smarks and Shooters alike, here's my review for the last PPV, WWE Payback.

Considering what WrestleMania had done, and the concurring storylines that stretched out from (more so WrestleMania season rather than WrestleMania itself), I will lead off by saying that this was one of the better WWE (Main Roster) PPVs I've seen since probably WrestleMania 31, when you take the entire card altogether storyline and match-wise quality. 

So, why is that? Here's what happened. 

Pre-Show Matches:

Dolph Ziggler def. Baron Corbin by Rollup

Kalisto def. Ryback via Salida del Sol to retain the United States Championship.

Quick Analysis: During the first Pre-Show Match, Corbin came off as very arrogant and toyed around with Ziggler, only to have it bite him in the ass. Ziggler winning wasn't my initial pick, but with how it has played out since then, it makes sense. Having Corbin lose another match against Ziggler on a stage bigger than WWE TV could be a mistake so 50-50 would work here.

Kalisto and Ryback had a good match overall, with a great sequence to finish it off. Ryback as of late has earned his worth of saying he should be higher up on the card, and Kalisto (even though booking could say otherwise) has been the underdog champion to a T. The biggest mistakes of this match were the lack of rebuild after Mania for this feud. It was treated like a throwaway considering that last October, John Cena had put a lot of value on the title.

Main Show:

Match 1: Vaudevillians vs. Enzo/Cass ends in No Contest.

Enzo took a scary bump through the ropes that knocked him unconscious. Good job on the referee's part to stop the match.

Post match: Vaudevillians by default are No. 1 Contenders, but Big Cass has been heavily featured since. Cass has been a shining star and a dominant giant. When Enzo comes back, I hope he stays dominant.

The match doesn't get a rating in this case. It'd be cruel to do so.

Match 2: Zayn vs. Owens

These two deserve the MVP of the night. Considering they had to follow such a scary and crowd-silencing moment, this match more than delivered the goods and then some. The former Steen and the prodigy of El Generico were lights out in the match, back and forth, to and fro, and all the other cliches. Owens wins the Powerbomb, but both men deserve all the praise in the world for getting the crowd back into the element of the PPV.

9.5 out of 10. The match itself was an 8 out of 10 but the circumstances bump it up nicely.

Match 3: Cesaro vs. Miz for the Intercontinental Championship.

Owens on commentary after the match (assuming part of it was to stall, and part was storyline).
While not as good as the previous match, this one did keep up the momentum of the PPV, and it was the ending to the match that made it worth wile. Zayn attacking Owens on commentary and then brawling around the ring to distract the ref from seeing the Miz Tap out to Cesaro was brilliant, then having Miz take the win was great storytelling. The fallout from this match has also been entertaining to watch.

8 out of 10

Match 4: Ambrose vs. Jericho

For a throwaway feud, the match was good. It dragged a bit at the beginning, but it was mostly because of the premise behind it: stealing a talk show?
I was just glad Ambrose won the match. I'm hoping that the feud ends next month with Jericho losing again. I don't need what happened in the Jericho/Styles feud to happen in this feud too. 50/50 booking doesn't work in this case at all.

7 out of 10.

Match 5: Charlotte vs. Natalya for the WWE Women's Championship.

Good match. Cop out ending. Step down from the Triple Threat at Mania. I don't need anymore Montreal Screwjobs and Lil Naitch conspiracies.

5 out of 10. (7 out of the 10 for the match, take away 2 because of the stupid ending.)

Main Event: Reigns vs. Styles

Great match, but a lot of things missed and a lot of things I could say. Styles has been fantastic in this feud, but so has Reigns (with a few things off). Styles has so many moves to finish people off with and all (with the exception of the Styles Clash) were all kicked out of by Reigns (which was infuriating). But that being said, there was a sweet Superman Punch and a Sweet Phenomenal Forearm in the match. Also having the Usos and the Good Brothers interfere were smart moves after the first two cop-out finishes.

7 out of 10.

As stated above, the PPV was a good 7.5 out of 10, but felt like an 8 out of 10 when comparing it to WrestleMania.

Extreme Rules Preview is coming up at the end of today so When in doubt WATCH PRO WRESTLING.

Honor Reigns supreme. Ring of Honor Roundup from Honor Rising to Best in the World Preview

Hello Smarks! This was a long time coming but I finally had time to analyze the progress of (In my Opinion)The best American televised promotion outside of WWE , Ring of Honor. This will be concurrent with my latest New Japan post considering that they have a talent share agreement and titles from both promotions are defended at both promotions. So, I'll be covering everything up to the end of May for both ROH and NJPW. This post is dedicated to the Ring of Honor side of things. Therefore, the following shows will be analyzed.

Honor Rising-
Night 1: Two major things happened: Jay Lethal joined Tetsuya Naito's stable: Los Ingovernables De Japon, and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Roderick Strong for the ROH TV Title.

Night 2:
Meiyu Tag and ReDRagon defeated the Bullet Club
The Elite win the NEVER OPENWEIGHT TRIOS TITLES, defeated Toru Yano and the Briscoes
Lethal defeated Tomoaki Homna to retain the ROH World Title.

14th Annivesary Show-
Back in February, ROH had its 14th Anniversary show. The highlights of the night included the triple threats for the ROH TV title (Ishii defeated Strong and Bobby Fish) and World Title(Jay Lethal defeating Adam Cole [BAY BAY] and Kyle O'Reilly, as well as a NEVER Openweight Trios title match between the Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick)) and the team of ACH, Matt Sydal, and current IWGP Jr. heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA.  All champions retained.

Supercard of Honor X-ROH's contribution to Wrestlecon!
Night 1: Dalton Castle had a big victory in a 6 man mayhem match coming off the heels of winning his feud with Silas Young.
Jay Lethal defeated DC Native Lio Rush.....and then COLT BOOM BOOM CABANA RETURNED TO ROH! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
Night 2:
Cabana defeated Lethal in a non title match
Bobby Fish defeated Roderick Strong in a 2 out of 3 falls match
Dalton Castle def. BJ Whitmer (I only include this because I like Castle)
Kyle O'Reilly FINALLY defeats Adam Cole in an ROH singles match.

Global Wars:
Dalton Castle is the No. 1 contender for the World TV Title
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito def. Kyle O'Reilly
Okada and Moose def. Tanahashi and Elgin
Bullet Club def. Team ROH (W/NO SUPERKICKS?!?!?!?!?!??!)
Bobby Fish def. Tomohiro Ishii to become the NEW World Television Champion
Jay Lethal and Colt Cabana go to a no contest due to interference from The Bullet Club.
ADAM COE [BAY BAY] is the NEWEST member of BULLET CLUB!

War of the Worlds:
The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) def. WAR MACHINE (Warbeard Hanson and Raymond Rowe) to become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions of the WORLD.
Bullet Club wins night 1, ROH wins night 2, ROH def. Bullet Club and Chaos Night 3
Adam Page Joins Bullet Club, Nick Jackson Injured.

General Comments: Until Global Wars, ROH has been the equivalent of the person in the passenger car on a motorcycle. Fun to ride, if you're not trying to be the one in control.

Global Wars and War of the Worlds really shook things up after Honor Rising started the momentum.

Also, COLT CABANA IS BACK! WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!


Best in the world Card
Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe for the ROH World Championship
Bobby Fish vs. Dalton Castle for the ROH Television Championship
BJ Whitmer vs. Steve Corino in an unsanctioned Fight Without Honor
The Addiction vs. The Motor City Machine-guns for the ROH Tag Team Championships
Mark Briscoe vs. Roderick Strong
Kyle O'Reilly vs. NJPW trade in Kamaitachi
ACH vs. Silas Young in a Man's proving ground
Moose and War Machine vs. Bullet Club (The Young Bucks and Adam Cole)