NXT TakeOver: Dallas, WrestleMania 32
I'm ready, hopefully you're ready, AJ Styles is ready, here we go...
NXT TakeOver Dallas
Best Match on TakeOver Dallas (1/4/16): Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn
Honourable Mention: Fucking everything
Good golly gosh, this whole show was amazing, best TakeOver yet.
American Alpha vs The Revival - Sick
Austin Aries vs Baron Corbin - Great
Bayley vs Asuka - Class
Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe - Brutal and awesome
Seriously guys this whole show is an excellent use of 2 hours, if you can, watch it all.
But the biggest gem in this gem party for gemmy gems in Gemville is the debuting Shinsuke Nakamura (WARNING: If you have epilepsy or the like clicking that link will probably kill you) facing Sami Zayn, a man having his last hurrah in the brand he helped make. For those unacquainted with Nakamura, he's one tough motherfucker. Ass-kicking everywhere. They started off quite nicely, all wrestley-wrestley, soon it turned into the two beating the dogfuck out of each other. Zayn was more pissed than I'd ever seen him, sick of Nakamura's beating and returned it with punches and kicks to the head. Shinsuke's used to this shit mind, so he knew what to do, counter/hit harder. Even split this match, "Let's go Shinsuke"/"Let's go Sami" throughout, at one point there being a "Fight For-ev-er" chant, so everyone loved this. Lovely stuff from start to finish (alternate and slo-mo view)
#ThankYouSamiZayn
Plus Kota Ibushi was in the crowd, so he's in the Cruiserweight tournament then, and so was freaking Bobby Roode, probably the greatest TNA World Champion in the company's history.
Best Match on WrestleMania 32: Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs Dolph Ziggler vs Stardust vs Sin Cara vs The Miz vs Zack Ryder - WWE Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match OR/AND Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch - WWE Women's Championship Match
Honourable Mention: Shane McMahon vs The Undertaker - Hell in a Cell
Although I've seen a lot of people complaining about this WrestleMania, even going as far to say its the worst yet, I think this show was really quite good. The results for the most part might not have been the most desirable but the matches themselves were great and there were plenty of awesome WrestleMania moments.
So, the show-stealers, I had to put the two down because they were both awesome but very different, so why not put both eh?
The ladder match opened the show again like last year, which was a real good decision. Do you like insane shit? This match has it in suitcases. Nasty, nasty looking hits and dives. Watching live there was a lot of 'OOoph fuck me' and sphincter clenching reactions emanating from my living room. In my opinion the sound of a ladder hit is more powerful than that of a chair of a table break, just a big chunk of metal having all its momentum halted by person make a big clickety-clackety crack - especially when someone lobs the fucker at you. We also saw Kevin Owens get murdered. Topping off this hulapalooza of steel, death and wincing, we got to witness the surprise of the year, Zack Ryder winning. Looks like its time to dust off my Broski headband.
On the pre-show, we had Lita unveil the new Women's Championship which is just beautiful. Equality yeah! This match is most probably the most significant event in the timeline of women's wrestling, which I'm real happy about. They treated this match like a world-title match, Charlotte had pyro, Sasha had a live performance for her theme featuring Snoop Dogg - joining the list which includes CM Punk, Triple H and The Undertaker to name the ones I can remember, they even had celebration fireworks.
Now, in a triple threat there are two ways to go about it: have 1 person outside and make it a 1v1, or try and incorporate all 3 which can be tricky. Here, they struck a good balance. Some of the 3 person spots were a tad shaky, but nothing horrific and they still pulled off something that looked good. But, Charlotte did hit the most accurate moonsault in recent memory. The use of submission moves in this was great. There were lots of moments where I thought someone would tap, but by god they kept that edge of my seat warm. Loved this match.
Now, this Hell in a Cell, lordy. Shane still has it, but I'm surprised he still has a pulse right now. The McMahon dollars rained from the roof, and the sight of them entangled in the chain link cage was awesome to me. Him and Taker took a lot of hard shots, steel steps, cage, monitors and a goddamn coast to coast. But, there's a reason this match will likely be the most memorable of the card, and if you watched it, you know what it is. Shane McMahon risks everything, crashes and burns.
Shane McMahon died for our sins.
On top of all of that, Stone Cold was there.
The Verdict
Best Match of WrestleMania Weekend: Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn - NXT: TakeOver Dallas
Whilst this blog is here to pinpoint the highest quality matches of the week, and Nakamura/Zayn was the best in my opinion, I have already ranted and praised it above. This whole weekend is the best. It is a celebration of professional wrestling, something I hold near and dear to my heart which is slowly being clogged by Pringles. Not only did we have WWE going all out with TakeOver, 'Mania, Axxess and the Hall of Fame, we have every sector of wrestling adding to the spectacle. In Dallas alone we had WrestleCon and Ring of Honour's Supercard of Honour X (which will be covered when it appears on VOD). Even my local promotion had a show in King's Lynn over the weekend.
And yknow what? We still have the post-Mania RAW tonight, which is usually fucking exciting. It's right around this time of year we can sit back, relax and think;
And yknow what? We still have the post-Mania RAW tonight, which is usually fucking exciting. It's right around this time of year we can sit back, relax and think;
'Wrestling is fucking awesome'
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