As usual, time to look at the news stories hitting our headlines this week.
- Booty-Os is now a real cereal and available for pre-order here. (Yes I did put this as #1 because it is rightfully the top news story)
- The Draft happened and people are places. As for the NXT call ups, Raw has claimed Finn Balor and Nia Jax, whereas SmackDown! picked Mojo Rawley, American Alpha, Alexa Bliss and Carmella.
- Daniel Bryan and Mick Foley have been announced as the General Managers for SmackDown! and RAW respectively. Hopefully we don't just get a shit tonne more authority angles.
- At San Diego Comic Con, Mattel revealed the new series of action figures. First timers include American Alpha, AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Nakamura, The Revival, Alexa Bliss and Austin Aries.
- Apparently Backlash has been confirmed for this September. What a badass PPV name that is.
- Gargano and Ciampa have announced their last independent dates as occurring this September. Looks like they're gonna be fully contracted, yes lads!
- RAW announced a Cruiserweight division exclusive to their, HOLY FUCK THAT SOUNDS AWESOME.
- Apparently Ibushi, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado have signed for WWE - Ibushi's signing probably isn't a full time deal though judging by his comments on the matter.
And now for the B in this wrestling blog BLT, its the matches!
Best Match on RAW (18/7/16): Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose - WWE Championship Match
Kicking us off this time we have the RAW main event of Seth Rollins challenging Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship. It was a competitive start to begin with, Dean having a slight upper hand in the exchanges. Rollins did turn the metaphorical tables later on with a thumb to the eye, allowing The Man to pick apart Dean. At one point they teased a pedigree on the apron, but not having seen any news about someone dying horrifically on RAW, I figured it wouldn't happen. But, I now know what spot I want to see at Battleground! Another cool moment I liked was Seth's running powerbomb variation into the barricade, nasty stuff. Dean hit a Dirty Deeds after coming off of a bucklebomb which made Daniel Bryan who was sat at ringside lose his shit (not as much as when he's on commentary for the CWC mind you).We had a screwy finish, with both competitors seemingly pinning each other, but apart from that, it was a real nice match this one.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (19/7/16): Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose - WWE Championship Match
No, that is right, I didn't fuck this one up. The main event of SmackDown! was a rematch from RAW due to the fuckery that was the finish. I think I liked this one more than the other, even though I did watch this through the sorta shitty airport Wi-Fi. Seth took it right to Dean before the bell even rang, even ripping off his vest. It was sort of similar to the previous match. However, this one did have a decisive ending with Dean retaining definitively.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (20/7/16): Bayley vs Nia Jax
This week we get another match between these two women on NXT, and probably the last for a while, what with Jax now on RAW. Bayley was a lot more forward than their previous encounters, though she was never one to back down from Nia, she was much more upfront with her offence. Whenever Nia is on here I always say how she is ever-improving, and I think it is still true here. She pulled off a thunderous sit-out powerbomb and later on landed a freakin' Jackhammer, Goldberg-style. Whilst Bayley did get seven shades of shit knocked out of her, they managed to pull off a believable way of defeating Nia, popping up and getting a Bayley-to-Belly from the second rope.
One worry I have for Nia on the main roster is that in NXT they've made inventive ways to have her defeated and not have it make her look like a schmuck. But, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Cruiserweight Classic
Best Match on CWC (Ep 2): Akira Tozawa vs Kenneth Johnson
Honourable Mention: Lince Dorado vs Mustafa Ali
I still can't over how fucking cool these match-up graphics are.
It was another great showing on the WWE Network with the second episode of the Cruiserweight Classic. The match of the night in my opinion was Tozawa vs Kenneth Johnson.
I'm a fan of Tozawa after seeing his work in PWG, and he has made me more so after this performance, so I was pulling for him in this one. Kenneth really impressed me in this one, he's got one hell of a chop on him, a little rough around the edges, but he's got potential. I'm hoping for the later stages of the classic they do like PWG does with BOLA and have those eliminated perform in extra matches to add some content for the audience. I also hope that a few of these more obscure people get some developmental contracts, I'd love to see more of some of these guys.
This match went a bit back and forth between areas that were technical, match-for-match wrestling and became quite a slug-fest at parts. Tozawa threw all sorts of strikes, and Kenneth, as picked up by the commentary, kept up with him and dealt all of it back. Easily my favourite part of the match was the sequence before the finish (seen below), I think I would have liked it more if that snap-German was the finish, seeing as Tozawa picked him up and delivered a delayed, deadlift one straight after.
Lovely match this one.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV: Dalton Castle vs Roderick Strong
It's Roderick's final match in ROH, for the time being at least, and it was a bloody good one. I can't remember any singles match-ups between these two, it's always nice when we get a fresh pairing no matter the show, makes things more interesting. Plus, being with Dalton Castle, it's really cool to see how different wrestlers react to his weird characteristics in the ring. Roderick was mainly indifferent at first, unsure how to proceed, but once we got into the swing of things he gave it all.
I think Roddy might be leaving due to being wanted by the police because at one point in the match he fucking murdered Dalton and the boys; diving on one, clattering the other and then launching Dalton into the ring post. Dalton also got to showcase his crazy strength, tossing Strong every which way.
I've only noticed this just now but Strong's superplex is fucking awesome. The height he gets and the distance he gets is great. This led into the ending flurry which was slick as Slick. That, gut-buster, Sick Kick, and then Dalton catching Roddy to land a Bangarang. Awesome.
And so, Roddy is done with ROH, for now anyway. I'm not too sure if something with WWE/NXT has been confirmed or publicly stated yet, but I look forward to seeing where we go from here.
Also, fucking Kevin Sullivan was on this week, still looking like a right dickhead, and it looks like he pulled out a Sharpie for the night
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| "Kevin, do you want something proper to wear under your robe rather than your pyjamas?" "Nope" |
Best Match of the Week: Akira Tozawa vs Kenneth Johnson - CWC Episode 2
Another great showing from the Cruiserweights, awesome stuff in every match on that show. I still highly recommend the Bayley/Nia Jax match, probably the best those two have had with each other. Looking at the matches announced for next week's episode of CWC, including Sabre Jr, Gulak and Tony Nese appearing.
Heads up, Gulak looks a fucking beast in that vignette they had.
Get the book, because there's another one in it. Now the leaderboard now has a striking resemblance to this.
That's all from me my lovely reader people persons. Have a good one, and get ready for WWE BATTLEGROUND THIS SUNDAY ON THE WWE NETWORK WITH THE WRESTLING AND THW IDEN D-RJERFWJ REGSM $9.99!
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