For the best news of the week, the headlines look like this:
- Cesaro has offered a timeframe for his return, saying he'll probably be good to go in 2-3 month. Thank fuck.
- Boris Johnson is now pushing to get WrestleMania in London in the future. I don't know about politics, I don't know what his party is, I don't know how to vote for him, but if I ever get the chance my vote is with Boris Fucking Johnson
- This isn't really good news, I try not to have bad news, I'm not Barrett, but its worth talking about. In a sad turn of events, Neville was injured on Monday Night RAW having suffered what at this time seems to be a fractured ankle. In this video of his medical assessment he's obviously distraught upon hearing the news. He reportedly doesn't require surgery, but will be gone for 2-3 months. His first WrestleMania was 20 days away and now he's sitting out, I send my best wishes to him.
- Shinsuke Nakamura has been announced to debut at NXT: Takeover Dallas, facing Sami Zayn at the event. Nakamura is fucking great so he'll fit right in in NXT. Also debuting in-ring at Dallas is Austin Aries, going one-on-one with Baron Corbin. Here is WWE's introductory video
- Sting has officially announced his retirement. It's been a long and storied career, main-eventing in WCW, TNA and finally WWE in 2015. His last match was versus Seth Rollins at Night if Champions where he received an injury. Though this does mean we wont see an Undertaker match at 'Mania, this is well deserved and his career should be celebrated.
Get your candles ready, here's the matches...
WWE Roadblock
Best Match on Roadblock (12/3/16): Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) - NXT Tag Team Championship Match
PSA: This write up might be a bit shite because I watched this live and because of bloody American times I was quite tired and am writing this the night after.
The NXT match was the best match on the main roster card, ironic? Maybe, I'm still not entirely sure on the definition of irony. Still, there's no shame in this because this match was pretty awesome. My God Enzo in this match shone like a motherfucker, having possibly his best performance in WWE so far on this night. Enzo has shown some real improvement over the last few months and it is evident. He had some solid one-on-one work with both Dawson and Wilder in the early minutes and Cass's lobbing of him looked sooooo cool. Cass put on a good show too, bloody fuck his spinning side slam looks nasty. The Revival, a team whose name has never been uttered before ever on TV despite being champions for about 4 months, also are really good in this match. When they first got the gold, I didn't think too much of them, but now they have become an entertaining part of NXT. Their natural heel work in and out of the ring was ever present here. Plus, there was the P-O-U-N-C-E POOOOOUUUUUNCE. There were several high points here, with the match teasing you into thinking that Enzo & Cass might've finally won the gold. Also, the video package for this was baller.
Just some general notes on this show, 'WWE: Toll Booth' here; this show was booked very strangely. This show happened in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so the show featured Chris Jericho, a Canadian, berate his people. Fair enough. Who would they be given to cheer? A proud Canadian hero? Eh, no. Here's Jack Swagger, America America America Man. Also, despite this being a big network special, WWE still ran a live event which featured KEVIN OWENS VS AJ STYLES IN A 30 FUCKING MINUTE IRON MAN MATCH HOLY FUCKING MCNUGGETS. Oh WWE you befuddling bastards.
Just some general notes on this show, 'WWE: Toll Booth' here; this show was booked very strangely. This show happened in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, so the show featured Chris Jericho, a Canadian, berate his people. Fair enough. Who would they be given to cheer? A proud Canadian hero? Eh, no. Here's Jack Swagger, America America America Man. Also, despite this being a big network special, WWE still ran a live event which featured KEVIN OWENS VS AJ STYLES IN A 30 FUCKING MINUTE IRON MAN MATCH HOLY FUCKING MCNUGGETS. Oh WWE you befuddling bastards.
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on Monday Night RAW (14/3/16): New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) vs The League of Nations (Rusev & Alberto Del Rio) - WWE Tag Team Championships
Its the second week in the row for New Day being in the best match on RAW! 2-0! 2-0! 2-0! Anywho, this was a good match. In a welcomed change of pace, Kofi was in the manager role and Xavier was competing. Its a shame he doesn't wrestle more on TV but its always a treat when he does. He has a refreshing wrestling style, while Kofi is great, mixing it up is makes for good TV. The tag match was an enjoyable watch, some good ol' New Day double teams, The League (i.e The #LADS-LADS-LADS-LADS) pulled out some goodies, like ADR's double stomp to Big E onto the ring apron. They teased the New Day title loss well, I was legitimately concerned this would happen but thank God the Power of Positivity prevailed. Also, this match had the full turning face of the New Day, what a great move.
SmackDown!
Best Match on SmackDown! (17/3/16): AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens
The match that for some reason wasn't on Roadblock is here...on SmackDown. Hey ho, I'll take what I can get here, and what I got here was good. We got some lovely back and forth here throughout and some great sequences, Kev dodging the backfist for a superkick, AJ countering the Pop-Up Powerbomb into a Pele Kick, sweetness. We also got some lady shout 'You look pregnant!' at Owens, SmackDown is ridden with altered crowd reactions, notably silencing the boos for Reigns this week, but for some reason this was left in. Ranallo on commentary made this match even better, knowing both of their pasts well means his move calling and anecdotes are on point. The competitors here are well versed in each others' styles (heh) due to their past encounters on the indy circuit, and this shows in their fluid transitions on the ring. Although this match had a screwy finish with Jericho running interference on Styles, this match was exciting throughout. Happiness made right here.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (17/3/16): American Alpha (Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) vs The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) - No.1 Contenders Match for NXT Tag Team Championships
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZgSvRWj2E4
Are The Vaudevillains heel again? Are they still face? Nobody knows for sure. Either way American Alpha are over as fuck everywhere NXT goes. Great showing from Alpha, although Gotch & English didn't get as much in they still put on a good show. Jordan threw many fuckers over his head and by God he's good at it, he suplexed poor Simon Gotch on the outside here. Plus, Gable pulled the fucking Chaos Theory out in this match, which is bloody brutal, you can nearly pin point the moment that English shat himself (in the preview video its about 1:09). Gable's selling is a stand-out, he looks so beaten and tired and Jordan's high energy-high impact offence makes their hot tags awesome. Best match of the card right here.
Ring of Honour TV
Best Match on ROH TV (12/3/16): 7 Team Gauntlet Match (reDRagon vs Caprice Coleman & Will Ferrara vs The House of Truth vs The Young Bucks vs Tough Guy Inc. vs The Addiction vs Roppongi Vice)
Like NXT last week, this match wins by default as it was the only match on the show. Sadly not all the match-ups were great. The best pairing was reDRagon facing the Young Bucks in the third match of the seven. These two teams had a Match of the Year contender back in 2014 at War of the Worlds, the New Japan crossover show, and whenever the Bucks and reDRagon meet the match is always great. This match as a whole with all the stop-start-stop-start-stop-start stipulation was pretty detrimental, and the matches themselves were kinda short, having 7 matches in like 40 minutes, so that's an average of 5 and a bit minutes/match. Overall, the stipulation didn't help and the newer/recently thrown together teams didn't add much (Coleman & Ferrara, the new House of Truth and Tough Guy Inc.).
PWG: Lemmy
Best Match on Monday Night RAW (14/3/16): New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) vs The League of Nations (Rusev & Alberto Del Rio) - WWE Tag Team Championships
Its the second week in the row for New Day being in the best match on RAW! 2-0! 2-0! 2-0! Anywho, this was a good match. In a welcomed change of pace, Kofi was in the manager role and Xavier was competing. Its a shame he doesn't wrestle more on TV but its always a treat when he does. He has a refreshing wrestling style, while Kofi is great, mixing it up is makes for good TV. The tag match was an enjoyable watch, some good ol' New Day double teams, The League (i.e The #LADS-LADS-LADS-LADS) pulled out some goodies, like ADR's double stomp to Big E onto the ring apron. They teased the New Day title loss well, I was legitimately concerned this would happen but thank God the Power of Positivity prevailed. Also, this match had the full turning face of the New Day, what a great move.
SmackDown!
Best Match on SmackDown! (17/3/16): AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens
The match that for some reason wasn't on Roadblock is here...on SmackDown. Hey ho, I'll take what I can get here, and what I got here was good. We got some lovely back and forth here throughout and some great sequences, Kev dodging the backfist for a superkick, AJ countering the Pop-Up Powerbomb into a Pele Kick, sweetness. We also got some lady shout 'You look pregnant!' at Owens, SmackDown is ridden with altered crowd reactions, notably silencing the boos for Reigns this week, but for some reason this was left in. Ranallo on commentary made this match even better, knowing both of their pasts well means his move calling and anecdotes are on point. The competitors here are well versed in each others' styles (heh) due to their past encounters on the indy circuit, and this shows in their fluid transitions on the ring. Although this match had a screwy finish with Jericho running interference on Styles, this match was exciting throughout. Happiness made right here.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (17/3/16): American Alpha (Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) vs The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) - No.1 Contenders Match for NXT Tag Team Championships
Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZgSvRWj2E4
Are The Vaudevillains heel again? Are they still face? Nobody knows for sure. Either way American Alpha are over as fuck everywhere NXT goes. Great showing from Alpha, although Gotch & English didn't get as much in they still put on a good show. Jordan threw many fuckers over his head and by God he's good at it, he suplexed poor Simon Gotch on the outside here. Plus, Gable pulled the fucking Chaos Theory out in this match, which is bloody brutal, you can nearly pin point the moment that English shat himself (in the preview video its about 1:09). Gable's selling is a stand-out, he looks so beaten and tired and Jordan's high energy-high impact offence makes their hot tags awesome. Best match of the card right here.
Ring of Honour TV
Best Match on ROH TV (12/3/16): 7 Team Gauntlet Match (reDRagon vs Caprice Coleman & Will Ferrara vs The House of Truth vs The Young Bucks vs Tough Guy Inc. vs The Addiction vs Roppongi Vice)
Like NXT last week, this match wins by default as it was the only match on the show. Sadly not all the match-ups were great. The best pairing was reDRagon facing the Young Bucks in the third match of the seven. These two teams had a Match of the Year contender back in 2014 at War of the Worlds, the New Japan crossover show, and whenever the Bucks and reDRagon meet the match is always great. This match as a whole with all the stop-start-stop-start-stop-start stipulation was pretty detrimental, and the matches themselves were kinda short, having 7 matches in like 40 minutes, so that's an average of 5 and a bit minutes/match. Overall, the stipulation didn't help and the newer/recently thrown together teams didn't add much (Coleman & Ferrara, the new House of Truth and Tough Guy Inc.).
PWG: Lemmy
Best Match on PWG: Lemmy: Chris Hero vs Roderick Strong - PWG Championship Match
Honourable Mention: Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher
The preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCU_U0qQqAs
PWG: Lemmy featured from top to bottom amazing matches, as is the norm in PWG. However topping the list on this show was the main event of Hero vs Strong. These two's styles mesh really well, both utilising a lot of strikes and slams. There were few low points in this match, with the action taking place both in and out of the ring. The momentum was ever-shifting and that only added to the excitement, add to that the impressive moveset of both combatants, it all made for a great match. Roddy is the biggest heel in PWG, apart from referee Justin who received 'fuck you Justin' chants and constant heckling, and Jesus he knows how to make full use of that. Although in wrestling it is becoming more common for wrestlers to make additional sound for some strikes (e.g Superkick thigh slap), it is incredibly effective when it is as loud as it is in PWG. Hero's elbows and short punches are especially good with this. Also, fuck me the piledrivers in this match, they do look super-safe but bloody hell its always nasty. In all, awesome match, captivating stuff.
The honourable mention of Thatcher/Gulak was also so goddamn good. Wrestling masterclass, so much stretching, so much grunting, so much fucking intensity. Thatcher is quickly becoming one of my favourite indy wrestlers, he looks like a big nasty bastard who punches trees down. Wonderful stuff here, real painful looking stuff. Great match.
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Chris Hero vs Roderick Strong - PWG Championship Match - PWG: Lemmy
What can I say? This match was class. So exciting, big moves, crazy reactions, sequences, wrestling, PWG, things, lists, commas, explanations, typing. If you can get your hands on this show online or on DVD, do it. Great card all round but the main event took the cake and ran with it, covering its tracks in the process so no-one could come and steal the cake.
Also, this past Wednesday was 3:16 Day! Here's Austin last entrance as an active competitor to celebrate
Honourable Mention: Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher
The preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCU_U0qQqAs
PWG: Lemmy featured from top to bottom amazing matches, as is the norm in PWG. However topping the list on this show was the main event of Hero vs Strong. These two's styles mesh really well, both utilising a lot of strikes and slams. There were few low points in this match, with the action taking place both in and out of the ring. The momentum was ever-shifting and that only added to the excitement, add to that the impressive moveset of both combatants, it all made for a great match. Roddy is the biggest heel in PWG, apart from referee Justin who received 'fuck you Justin' chants and constant heckling, and Jesus he knows how to make full use of that. Although in wrestling it is becoming more common for wrestlers to make additional sound for some strikes (e.g Superkick thigh slap), it is incredibly effective when it is as loud as it is in PWG. Hero's elbows and short punches are especially good with this. Also, fuck me the piledrivers in this match, they do look super-safe but bloody hell its always nasty. In all, awesome match, captivating stuff.
The honourable mention of Thatcher/Gulak was also so goddamn good. Wrestling masterclass, so much stretching, so much grunting, so much fucking intensity. Thatcher is quickly becoming one of my favourite indy wrestlers, he looks like a big nasty bastard who punches trees down. Wonderful stuff here, real painful looking stuff. Great match.
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Chris Hero vs Roderick Strong - PWG Championship Match - PWG: Lemmy
What can I say? This match was class. So exciting, big moves, crazy reactions, sequences, wrestling, PWG, things, lists, commas, explanations, typing. If you can get your hands on this show online or on DVD, do it. Great card all round but the main event took the cake and ran with it, covering its tracks in the process so no-one could come and steal the cake.
Also, this past Wednesday was 3:16 Day! Here's Austin last entrance as an active competitor to celebrate
Other Goodies:
WWE Dodgeball
McMahon/McMahon/Taker Segment - Monday Night RAW
The Last half of the AJ/Owens Iron Man Match
Owens cool post match promo after the AJ Iron Man match
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