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| One of my biggest wishes is that politics becomes as entertaining as wrestling one day. |
- Reigns has been suspended for violation of the Wellness Policy, and rumour has it WWE knew about it before Money in the Bank. Thinking about it, it was best to leave the suspension until after RAW, minimises the problems it causes for them.
- The Superstar Draft has been confirmed for the July 19th episode of SmackDown! Also, there are rumblings about WWE bringing in some of their alumni back to bolster the rosters. Reported names include Kurt Angle, Goldberg, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Stevie Richards plus a couple others
- Seth pinning Reigns at Money in the Bank marks the first time he has been pinned clean in 4 fucking years.
- Jay Lethal has reached 1 year as ROH World Champion. I love the guy and am loving thid reign, hopefully he carries this for much longer.
- The release date for the first episode of WhatCulture Pro Wrestling's weekly show, Loaded, and it is June 27th at 10PM British time (finally I don't have to maths to find out when I can watch wrestling)
- Turns out CM Punk will make his UFC debut on September 10th at UFC 203, competing at a Welterweight level. Oh so my writing thing puts a red squiggle under 'cruiserweight' but not 'welterweight'? Goddammit.
- The WWE Cruiserweight Classic has had it's first taping. GODDAMN I CANT WAIT
- Candice LeRae is scheduled to make her Ring of Honour debut on the 8th July versus Kelly Klein. I've been enjoying the Women of Honour matches ROH have been putting on and it was announced that an upcoming episode of ROH TV will be dedicated to the women's roster. Hopefully this means more regular showcasing of the women's division, and even more so the introduction of an ROH Women's Championship.
WWE Money in the Bank
Best Match on MitB: AJ Styles vs John Cena
Honourable Mention: Chris Jericho vs Cesaro vs Alberto Del Rio vs Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose - Money in the Bank Ladder Match
It's match over a decade in the making, AJ Styles vs John Cena. This, right up until the end, was a belter of a match. Going into this, we had AJ proclaiming how he could 'wrestle circles around' Cena and this detail was executed perfectly throughout this match. The first sequence was an exchange of holds with AJ coming out the better of the two. I liked how they had Cena throw in some stuff he doesn't usually do as a means to Styles off, I can't remember the last time I saw Cena do an arm-drag. AJ breaking down Cena's usual flurry of the 'Five Moves of Doom', and him getting out of the AA and into a Calf Crusher was sheer beauty. Another favourite part for me was AJ's little hop over the steps following Cena whipping him their way, just a cool little add-on. Near-falls worked especially well in this one, me reacting wildly in some way when a shoulder popped up after a seemingly match-ending move. Whilst the ending soured it a bit with The Club run-in, it was still damn good, and I'm confident this wont be the last match between these two.
It'd feel wrong if I didn't mention the awesome Money in the Bank match itself, so here it is as an honourable mention. There was so much going on throughout, and it was real cool, so real quick, just a peek at some of my favourite moments from the match.
The first sorta 'Holy Shit!' moment in the match: Cesaro knows no limits. Not pictured here is before this happened Del Rio had a Cesaro in an armbar through the damn ladder. B-R-Utal.
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| BOING |
WELCOME TO THE FORTRESS OF STEEL AND PUNCHING - This was ridiculously cool, such a great image to have, I applaud whoever dreamt up this contraption.
Sami Zayn - Wanted For Murder. Zayn really loves to slam Kevin on ladders.
Everyone did some cool stuff in this one, I kinda felt Dean didn't do much spectacular, but he won, so, eh. Del Rio's flurry was awesome, kicking a ladder into Zayn, lobbing one at Dean, and his footstomp with a ladder on Cesaro was aaaaaallllllll fucking cool. They did a good job of teasing Zayn as winning, and in the process crushing my hopes and dreams every time he was stops. With Rollins also losing the title too, I'm beginning to think WWE didn't do it inadvertently, I think WWE decided tonight would be a good night to raise my hopes before powerbombing them through a table. Kinda luke-warm about Ambrose's win and subsequent title win, but I guess its a nice change, certainly better than more of Roman spearing his way through more people who are better than him.
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (20/6/16): Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens
Looks like they're continuing with Zayn/Owens for a while, but this feud is inevitably going to last forever so it can stop and start as much as they want it to be. It was a nice match here, and they pulled out some cool spots; I'll never not be impressed by Zayn's tope con hilos. Owens was rough as ever with Zayn, and its a good job because it always makes their encounters even more entertaining, plus it was probably payback for that Michinoku Driver onto the ladder from the night before. These two always put on a good match, a bonus from having wrestled each other for most of their careers I suppose.
Thursday Night SmackDown!
Best Match on SD! (23/6/16): Sami Zayn vs Seth Rollins
It's a battle between two of my absolute favourites and it was pretty damn good. The match was the result of an open challenge issued by Rollins, so for the first few minutes we had Seth showboating and not taking Sami too seriously. After a little bit of an aggressive chat with Ambrose on the outside and a bruising lariat by Sami, Rollins stepped it up a notch. One of my favourite moments in this match would have to be when Zayn dodged Rollins' kneeling superkick and Mauro shouted 'Oh snap!'. Quite a bit of reversals of big moves in this one which I really liked. The finish saw and 'out of nowhere' like Pedigree, which in its own right was awesome. Following similar happening at Money in the Bank, I'd like Seth to keep going with hitting sudden and unexpected Pedigrees, if he is keeping it as his finisher. Pretty good match here and a pretty nice episode of SmackDown! overall.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (22/6/16): Oney Lorcan vs Tye Dillinger
Oney Lorcan, formerly Christopher Girard, formerly Biff Busick, is back on NXT. I mean, its not the best of names, not sure it even is one. Anywho, he's back and this time, he's up against The Perfect 10, Tye Dillinger. Very grappley to start with, kinda slow building and the crowd were kinda silent to start with. Things got more action packed soon enough, mind. Tye did a flurry of strikes into the corner and he looked proper pissed, I'm liking rough Tye. The highlight of this match was undoubtedly Dillinger's superkick on a running Lorcan, hell of a sound, hell of a spot. Lorcan hit a cool flip neckbreaker at then end which was pretty damn cool too. Nice match.
The rest of the matches on the show were essentially squashes, it's kind of a staple of the NXT booking in their way of building stars. Whilst it is a good method, like 4 in one episode might be a bit much.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV: Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong & The Briscoe Brothers (Mark & Jay Briscoe) vs The Bullet Club (Matt Jackson, Kenny Omega, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa)
This week it's the go-home show for Best in the World (which is the same day this goes up). It's Bullet Club versus a team of ROH All-Stars, comprised of the competitors of two of the matches at Best in the World - (BitW featuring Jay Lethal/Jay Briscoe and Roderick Strong/Mark Briscoe). These played a part in this one, mainly with Roderick kinda being a dick to Mark. The two Jays got on pretty well, with Lethal even sacrificing himself to a double-superkick to save Briscoe. The biggest reactions of this match occurred when Lethal and Omega faced off, and getting themselves into an exchange of strikes. I never realised how much I want a Lethal/Omega match until I saw this match, with Lethal going on about having beaten everybody ROH has to offer, I think a championship match between the two of them would be golden. Nick was still injured at the time of this taping, but I guess I'll just give the leaderboard points to 'The Young Bucks' anyway. Another moment I liked in this match was the one man Superkick Party that Matt invited everyone too, landing one on each in the span of like a minute. I reckon everybody got a decent share of spots/ring time, its nice when we get an even spread. Real nice match here.
SUPERKICK COUNT: 7 (+2 to own teammates)
Also, this episode had a pretty badass Steve Corino promo which was incredible. And remember, every week you can catch ROH TV completely FREE on www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current
NJPW: Dominion 2016
Best Match on NJPW: Dominion: KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
Having won The Best of The Super Juniors representing Great Britain (good on ya Will, proud of you), here at Dominion is his reward, a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. This was great. Its been a while since I've seen KUSHIDA face off against more of a high-flying challenger, so it was nice to see more of his fast-paced repertoire and able to counter some of Will's offence into some of his more ground-based manoeuvres. Ospreay never fails to dazzle me with his aerial antics, and he pulled out a Phoenix Splash which is probably my favourite move ever. KUSHIDA got Will in quite a few submission holds and Will's selling of them, for me, was absolutely heart braking. Being fully in his corner, it was quite unnerving hearing his screams and yelps, made it sound like he was being murdered. I love the Junior Heavyweight division of New Japan, they are more often than not my highlight of the show. Also, Will's wearing shorts now, I think I prefer him in long tights, but that might be due to familiarity, I might grow to love them. Real awesome match here.
Seeing as I don't think I've mentioned it on here before, I just wanted to point out how goddamn awesome KUSHIDA's theme is. WWE's themes have the tendency to be loops of themselves, whereas New Japan really go all out on these themes, its definitely noticeable and welcome.
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match - NJPW Dominion 2016
Like I said, this was class. Amazing stuff throughout, I was completely enthralled and
my God it made me glad I had time to watch the show. It was lovely and it was a great depiction of what the Super Juniors of New Japan can do. I strongly encourage you to seek this out, dear readers, you wont feel an ounce of disappointment.
Welp, after another hectic week of wrestling, we can turn our attention to the leaderboard. In closing, I just wanna thank my readers at /r/WredditCountryClub for your encouraging words and support. You guys are not SAWFT at all.
And with that, I'll catch you guys next week.
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