 |
| Sami Zayn: Part-time duck |
- Finn Balor has returned at the latest NXT tapings in what is currently believed to be a dark segment.
- BANG! Diamond Dallas Page is the next inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2017. DDP is one of few wrestlers I've met and he was just lovely. He told me to stay in school and not to do drugs; I haven't let you down yet, Dallas!
- The first two seasons of Lucha Underground are coming to Netflix on March 15th! For those of you interested and owning an account, I suggest giving it a looksie.
- AAA are being right fucking dickheads lately, sending lawsuits to various companies, including TNA and PWG, just for booking Pentagon Jr and Fenix (who don't work for them anymore). Cool your tits lads, and cool 'em quick.
- Austin Aries has been confirmed as joining the Cruiserweight roster! No solid debut date yet I don't think, but definitely watch this space...
And now for the bacon in this BLT of a wrestling blog, its the matches!
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (20/2/17): Big Show vs Braun Strowman
That's right, Big Show versus Braun Strowman. The Battle of the Hosses. The Collision of the Large Lads. The Tussle of the Proper Massive Bastards. Yep, this was actually a really good match.
Right from the off the bat, they went out of their way to make it clear that, 'mate, we're doing something different here'. As soon as this was revealed as the main event I immediately thought this was gonna be, in all honesty, boring. But goddamn they defied every expectation. Straight away, we get into some chain wrestling, bloody hell Braun even kipped up from a wristlock, it was great.
We had these two going back and forth in a match that was pretty damn engaging. They brought out the power, and although we've seen it before with Show, when he gets knocked down by a Strowman with a clothesline, it had impact.
I think this is the closest Strowman has come to defeat yet. Show clocked him with a KO Punch out of the air (Jesus, Strowman got some air!) and gets a two count. Then, I just want to show you this whole ending sequence (all you miss in the skip is the two of them getting up). Those aren't vanity muscles on Braun, those are all power and strength;
That's right, Cole. Braun fucking rules!
I thought this match was great, a nice surprise to round off this episode of Monday Night RAW, and made it Braun stand out as the new monster of the place. Shame they had Reigns come out and attack him afterwards, soured it all just a tad.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (21/2/17): Nikki Bella vs Natalya - Falls Count Anywhere Match
Taking it to Tuesday now and we've the next stage in the Nikki Bella/Natalya feud, with it coming to a close maybe? I dunno, looks that way at least.
So, we've got a Falls Count Anywhere match here (and its not that fucking big a deal RAW, write that down) and they worked that in like their life depended on it. They went for a match of 'go over here, here's a high spot, go over here, repeat'. We left the ring near instantly, got the Singapore canes out and swung them around a fair bit. Natalya got clocked pretty hard when Nikki delivered an Alabama Slam onto the edge of the announce table, nasty nasty, but awesome.
They took it into the crowd/totally legit equipment area with boxes and things, and then, like a good ol' session of Here Comes the Pain on PS2, we went backstage! Granted, we didn't go very far in, but they did some great stuff here. Nikki got thrown into Maryse, developing from the last time a brawl between her and Natalya caused her to get covered in talcum powder or whatever it was. Flour? Cocaine? I know its not the 80s anymore and cocaine isn't as prevalent backstage, but you never know.
Then, oh my God my jimmies got majorly rustled. Glass, when was the last time WWE used glass? I've no idea, but now the last time was; SmackDown! LIVE, 21st February 2017;
I know its not an insane slam onto shards or being thrown through a panel, and its probably not proper glass, but it still got quite the reaction out of me. Plus, it urged me to make this;
We come back to ringside, Bella has Nattie in an STF, and Maryse comes out to attack Nikki with a pipe. This then puts her down for Natalya to pick up the pinfall.
Overall, I thought it was a good match. It fit the storyline, with these two just wanting to beat the piss out of each other, and this gave them a platform for that. Both of them weren't afraid to take some knocks. Props to 'em.
205 Live
Best Match on 205 (21/2/17): Jack Gallagher vs Tony Nese
Hanging about after SmackDown! now, its 205 Live, and taking the mantle of best match on this show is Jack Gallagher taking on Tony Nese, who has got some lovely new blue trunks.
We had the usual good stuff from these two. Gallagher had his technical antics met with the power of Nese, with the make up of the match being kinda back and forth but with Nese having a definite upper hand for the majority. I can't really think of a whole lot to say about this match, it was the type of thing you'd expect with these guys, not to say that necessarily a bad thing.
There was one sequence that stood head and shoulders above the rest. In the corner, we had Nese tied to the tree of woe with Gallagher above him. Then, he used those Austin Aries approved abs of his to his advantage;
Gallagher was soon back on his feet and met Nese on the turnbuckle and delivered a big ol' back suplex to the guy. We seem to get superplexes a bit more often nowadays, and its nice when we get some variation on it. Back ones always look nasty with the landing, and this was no exception;
This soon came around to Gallagher coming round and nailing Nese with that running corner dropkick of his, gaining some more momentum as we head towards Fastlane. Good match this, especially that ending.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (22/2/17): Pete Dunne vs Mark Andrews
Devil went down to
We started off on a slower foot, with the feeling out/technical process taking the first few minutes. Within that we had Dunne going straight for Andrews' hand and fingers. Dunne is absolutely vicious with the digit manipulation, pulling the pinky and thumb apart, bending them right back and standing on 'em, wince worthy stuff.
There was a clear shift in the action. Once we started having Mark pick up speed and the striking game come in, there was very much a sense of 'Okay guys, we're stepping this up,' and I thought they timed in great in the match, and kicked it off great. The first proper big high spot of the match saw things go to the outside;
Andrews is amazingly slick with this stuff, its incredible. I thought we were gonna see a moonsault take them both out, but the catch and the transition into an arm-drag was beautiful and caught me off guard. Dunne wasn't gonna fall for it again though;
We weren't done there, though, with Dunne figuring that Andrews doesn't really need a coccyx anymore with a big ol' X-plex. One thing I want to call attention to, just have a look at how Dunne wraps Mark's arm around his head for the 'plex; he grabs that injured hand and gives it a bit of a twist on the wrist. Its the little things that make wrestling just that much better;
With the in-ring stuff, there was some purely awesome wrestling. They did a great job of Dunne working his way towards getting his finisher in. Andrews wriggled his way out of it twice (three times maybe?), one of them getting out with flipping it into a hurricanrana. At the same time, there was a feel of Andrews edging towards a victory through all his punishment.
The end came about after a missed shooting star press from Andrews enabled Dunne to get The Bitter End in and pick up a pinfall. Lovely stuff from these guys, I literally cannot wait for the British division to get their own show. Please, WWE, hurry that shit up.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 283): Christopher Daniels vs Jay Briscoe - Decade of Excellence Tournament Final
Rocking down to ROH this week, and we're finishing off the Decade of Excellence tournament, with Christopher Daniels taking on Jay Briscoe.
I've loved the story of Daniels' ascent through towards the championship match, and if he doesn't win it at the 15th Anniversary I'm going to be majorly upset. They kept up his tale of needing it in this match, with his fighting like a motherfucker to ensure that his hopes stayed alive.
It was Daniels' wrestling ability taking on the might and power of Briscoe, which led to some interesting sequences, with Daniels trying to match the strike game of Jay and Jay keeping Daniels down and out for quite a portion. Daniels had the shit beat out of him to put it bluntly, and his selling was great. By the end it looked at times he was moving out of instinct, and at time not at all. He looked out of it, and it made the whole latter half much better.
There was a proper scary spot at one point where Daniels hit a moonsault to the outside, and he landed right on the un-padded ground. Gave me the heebie-jeebies and makes my back feel funny as I sit here writing.
The crowning spot of this match however was the climax. With both men perched on the top rope, Daniels managed to get in a Super Angels Wings, crashing down to the mat, and getting him the pinfall.
I thought this was a great match, probably the best singles match ROH TV has had in a long time. As always, you can watch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current or on the Fite TV app.
ROH: The Experience
Best Match on The Experience: The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs War Machine (Hanson & Rowe) - ROH Tag Team Championship Match
It's ROH's new weird show thing, this time with the gimmick that fans get to vote on some of the matches! This is not one of them by the way (I think). We've got The Young Bucks taking on War Machine with their ROH Tag Team Championships on the line.
Just a side note, the arena this was in was a but strange. Outside the ring closest to the hard camera, there was like a 4 feet high concrete wall. Though it did look odd, Nick Jackson did a tornado DDT walking on it which was dope as all hell.
This was a hectic match from what I remember, it didn't take a huge amount of time before things broke down into all out chaos with people going in and out of the ring as they pleased and performing a whole host of tandem offence. Very much a spot heavy match this, which was pretty damn awesome. I have to say that my favourite saw Matt Jackson, who is the power man out of the Bucks being the one to set stuff up, got Hansen, the bigger of War Machine, up for a tombstone; that alone amazed me. Then as Nick came in with the 450 to make it a Meltzer Driver, Rowe intercepted it into a powerbomb. I've seen this spot before, but the raw power in all of this made it my favourite so version so far.
We had the spot of Young Bucks superkicking the ever loving shit out of War Machine like their matches against the Briscoes, whilst still cool, is starting to lose its lustre a tad. War Machine had the titles in their grasp, hitting their finisher twice in the match, and a pinfall only stopped due to a Kazarian interference. The Bucks, however, would eventually retain after some more shenanigans, keeping that gold around their waists.
Knowing that we have Bucks/Hardys at Supercard of Honour near WrestleMania kinda already tells you the outcome of their title defences, but they did a real good job of convincing you that the brothers could lose their belts. I might be warming back up to War Machine, I think it depends on who they are facing though. Anyway, this was an awesome match.
SUPERKICK COUNTER: 42
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Pete Dunne vs Mark Andrews - NXT
I just gotta give it to 'em, these two put on a hell of a show with some real nice psychology and some great spots and sequences to get you pushing your eyes towards the screen in intrigued engagement. Just awesome. I also want to give a hand to Bucks/War Machine that was slated for this prize until I sat down and reflected on everything just now. I feel Daniels/Briscoe also deserves a watch, some cool action in that one too.
With those words written, let us now look to the leaderboard and see how things shake up.
And with that down, its now time for 'The Best Wrestling Quote of the Week' which this time I just want to give to the entirety of The Usos' promo on SmackDown!, purely for how bizarre and impassioned it was;
No comments:
Post a Comment