Before we jump head first into the pool of wrestling, lets have a quick gander at the news;
- Kenny Omega has won the G1 Climax, becoming the first gaijin/foreigner to ever do so. The sky's the limit for Omega right now, I look forward to seeing where he goes form here. In regards to the G1 Climax, I apologise if this was something you, my dear readers, were hoping I would cover. The Japanese heavyweight division isn't my favourite thing to watch, and even then the totally legal and verified website I watch some of my wrestling on didn't cover it all, same as Super Juniors (I saw like one night of that), so, yeah, sorry.
- Billy Corgan is now President of IMPACT Wrestling. The fuck's going on anymore.
- Del Rio's suspended, Paige is suspended, Eva's suspended, everyone's fucking suspended.
- It was announced on RAW that Cesaro and Sheamus will have a 'Best of 7' series, starting at SummerSlam. That's first to 4 wins, fuck me that's gonna last a while, but hopefully we get some quality matches from it.
- Nikki Bella's been given the A-OK on returning to the ring. Which brand she goes to, I dunno, but I feel RAW could use some more in their division.
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (15/8/16): Rusev vs Roman Reigns
RAW was...shit this week. Not a whole lot going on, some things I would have done differently in a storyline/booking perspective and most matches were pretty damn 'eh'. Regardless of how I feel about this match's inclusion on the episode, it was the best on the show, and that was Roman Reigns versus Rusev.
Titled as a match for 'Lana's Honour', this element was pretty much non-existent, it didn't gain anything from having that slapped on it. All that aside, it was a very 'Big Man vs Big Man/Hoss vs Hoss/Big Hitting Fucker vs Big Hitting Fucker'.
The formula of this match was primarily Rusev beating on Reigns for a bit, Reigns gets a couple big shots in, Ru-Ru cuts him off and back to wearing him down. The second half we saw Rusev begin to properly focus on Reigns' arm which, alike Cesaro last week, was commentated on being effective on disabling the use of power-based offence. Had a cool spot of Rusev giving repeated diving headbutts, which was cool. Although they landed more on Roman's torso, you can't help but think that repeated diving headbutts has stinted a lot of careers. The Accolade looked cool here, but Reigns breaking out then spearing him was a bit meh. It was a good match, but hardly saved this episode.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (16/8/16): American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan), The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) & The Hype Bros. (Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley) vs Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango), The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch & Aiden English) & The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor)
Well fuck me if that isn't the longest match listing I've ever written.
SmackDown! again was a little lacking in matches for my liking, but they did put on this nice short in length but great in numbers tag match. We're in the infancy of SmackDown's tag division, with the introduction of both American Alpha and Hype Bros, re-establishing The Ascension, Breezango finding their feet as a proper team, Vaudevillains regaining momentum and The Usos.......being there. So, I think it's smart to show what they've got.
Now, this was high-pace, high-velocity action. Get everyone involved, get the spots flowing, get out leaving them wanting more, it's a reliable formula for these type of matches - if this had been 15 minutes with Breezscenllains beating on one of the Americhype Alphusos Bros a lot, it wouldn't have had the same charm.
Just a lovely snack-size of a match that was fun to watch. I'm hopeful that when this division gets going, it'll be stealing shows left and right.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (17/8/16): Hideo Itami vs Mustafa Ali
It's the go-home to Brooklyn II, so we mostly got video packages. Two matches on the show, the 6 woman tag match was a bit clunky and had trouble with pacing, and this one was just a nice little something amongst the promos. So, Hideo's back and facing CWC entrant, Mustafa Ali. Hideo had the upper hand for the majority, Ali got some cool shots in, but ulimately succumbed to Hideo beating the ever-loving Kool-Aid out of him. Not much to say on top of that, pretty standard NXT enhancement/squash match.
Cruiserweight Classic
Best Match on CWC (Episode 6): Akira Tozawa vs Jack Gallagher
The second round is back in full swing as the tournament steamrolls into it's sixth week - it's gonna be such a shame when this ends. So, we'll savour it whilst it lasts.
This episode gave the great contest between Akira Tozawa and Jack Gallagher/Gallaher/Gjallahorn/Gadzooks. Now this was awesome. You could really see Jack's promise come in to play of being gentlemanly as long as his opponent keeps it gentlemanly. The first few minutes of the match were pretty technical, slow-building, but you could definitely sense Tozawa's growing frustration. In my opinion, Jack's holds and transitions seen so far in this tournament has overshadowed Sabre Jr.'s, but we'll have to see what he has in store for us in his second round match. The height of this mesmerising wrestling was seen in this sequence:
From then on, Tozawa was pissed and took it all out on Jack. Strikes aplenty were thrown by both men, but Tozawa's had the higher volume of mustard on them, poor Jack's chest was more red that Eva Marie. We got to see more of Tozawa's perfect German Suplexes towards the later stages which would ultimately cause the downfall of Gallagher. Sad to see Jack depart so soon, but what an impression he has made in just two matches. What a great match.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 256): Lio Rush vs Donovan Dijak
It's a battle between the past two Top Prospect Tournament winners and it was awesome. Dijak has been on a hot streak of putting on great matches, and although Rush hasn't been as heavily featured on ROH TV as his opponent, he never ceases to amaze.
Getting right to it, Dijak used his size advantage to manhandle and toss around Rush to his heart's content. Things soon spilled to the outside, where Rush would switch things into his favour with a slick hurricanrana. The match was a pendulum of shifting momentum that maintained a unwavering and ridiculously high pace. It was chockablock with impressive moves from both competitors. What I noticed in this one was how Lio used the bottom rope to great effect, springing off of it for flying attacks both in and outside of the ring. It's the nice little changes people make that really stand out. Lots of close counts in the closing minutes, which were greatly believably. The climax saw an incredible transition into Dijak's 'Feast Your Eyes' finisher which must have taken some immense strength, making the ending look even cooler. Awesome match this one, definitely looking forward to the Fatal-4-Way at Death Before Dishonour including these two.
This episode also featured a great encounter between The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice which is also worth checking out. Looks like ROH might be back on form in their TV production.
ROH: Death Before Dishonour XIV
Best Match on DBD XIV: Jay Lethal vs Adam Cole - ROH World Championship Match
Honourable Mention: Bobby Fish vs Mark Briscoe - ROH Television Championship Match
 |
| More than personal |
Psychology was the main driving force that made this match great, which was only enhanced by the action itself. First off we got the taunts of Cole, revealing the dreads that he cut off of Lethal's head, pulling them out of his trunks no less. This sparked the first few minutes of trading blows, which Lethal had the upper hand of for the most part. Things were in the champion's favour for the starting minutes, but that would change once Lethal set himself up for failure.
 |
| Hail |
There were so many signature moves used in the latter half that it became incredibly tense, thinking each one could end it. As I Lethal fan I was begging for him to kick out when he was down, and praying that Adam would stay on the mat for the three count. Constant back and forths of sphincter tightening 2 counts would ultimately make the final one have even more impact.
Fuckin class.
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Jay Lethal vs Adam Cole - ROH World Championship Match
This was pretty damn awesome to watch, I was a bit pissed off at the time because my stream kept shitting on me, which is a shame because I'm sure this would have been even more cool for me if it hadn't. Whilst I am sad to see Lethal lose the title he's had for over a year, I look forward to seeing where we go from here.
And after all that, here's what the leaderboard looks like nowadays.
Thanks for reading guys, and I apologise if the writing sucked towards the end, tried to get this one out to include Death Before Dishonour for you. Hopefully it aint too bad.
Have a good one, and enjoy your wrestling!
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