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| Harper ain't the only one who can fly |
- Mauro Ranallo has officially parted ways with WWE. The circumstances are a shame and the result is far from ideal, but this is how WWE chooses to conduct themselves. I hope I get to hear him soon, I can see New Japan snatching him up.
- Dash Wilder of The Revival has sustained a jaw injury at his final NXT show, and is not expected back until sometime in the summer. SAY NO! Fuck it all.
- Asuka has surpassed Goldberg's undefeated streak - his actual one, not the one inflated by WCW. No idea when or if it will end any time soon, possibly TakeOver: Chicago, maybe against the winner of the Women's Tournament. Regardless, it'll be interesting to see where they go with it.
- Tajiri has reportedly parted ways with WWE, which whilst sad, considering his age, is fine by me.Enjoy yourself Tajiri, have a nice time.
- The WWE World Championship match for Backlash is set; Randy Orton versus Jinder Mahal. Welcome to bizarro world everyone.
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (17/4/17): Braun Strowman vs Big Show
We got a hoss off!
Kicking us off this time around, we have a rematch from their surprisingly great match a few weeks ago, Braun Strowman takes on Big Show once more. We started things off hot with Strowman getting tired of Show's plodding pace down the ramp, brawling with him around the ring for a bit and getting chucked into some stairs.
The story of this match was that both men couldn't keep each other down. Despite hitting their best and biggest hits, they just couldn't seem to do it. First off, it was Braun not being able to keep Show down, even after landing his massive powerslam. Big Show then in his coming back found it increasingly difficult to pin Braun, much like him, unable to finish him off.
In a bid to connecting with a finishing hit, both would look to the top turnbuckle, looking for a super-duper-plex and the crowd were hot for it;
Again later on, Show would be pushed off from his suplex clutch, and Braun leaped at him only to get caught by another signature move;
However, the third time would be the charm, with a big money superplex finally being pulled off and fucking destroying everything;
I assume Braun won as he was the one to stand up and scream at everyone. Once again, these two put on one hell of a match to finish of RAW in a fashion better than most episodes end. Braun just keeps getting better and better, and this pairing with a new reinvigorated Big Show is awesome.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (18/4/17): Dolph Ziggler vs Erick Rowan vs Jinder Mahal vs Mojo Rawley vs Luke Harper vs Sami Zayn - No.1 Contender's Match for the WWE World Championship
Moving over to Tuesday night now and we have a six-pack challenge to determine the Number 1 Contender for Randy Orton's WWE World Championship. The selection of these competitors wasn't given much rhyme or reason at all, but it's all fine by me, I'm just happy to see my boy Sami being considered for world title competition.
I thought this match was awesome, everyone seemed to weave together really well, everyone was hitting their moments on time and slick with no stumbling like you sometimes get in big matches. All the moving parts of this fit well together, with people running in and taking people out in a matter where sometimes it was unexpected and made for some excitement to be added. Considering most of the people in this match-up are big power lads, there guys put the effort in not to have this being a plod-along.
There were some lovely big spots with lots of people getting involved, and coming back from a commercial break we got treated to some top rope free-for-all;
The 50/50 split of heels and faces lent to allowing this match to having some good face offs throughout, each one feeling fresh with none of these guys really having much recent programmes - Mojo and Ziggler didn't have much of feud and Harper/Rowan hasn't been much of a thing yet. Especially when putting things in a dynamic where there's lots of opponents, even these pairings didn't get much time.
The ending came in a way that has be intrigued for what's to come.
So, we have Jinder winning and on his way to face Orton at Backlash, that alone is interesting in a confusing type of way, but I am wondering how they're going to go about building him up in time. The Bollywood Boyz involvement is also pretty cool, bringing these two up, a move that could bulk the tag division a bit and also possibly make a new stable around Jinder.
Also, having Sami come this close to winning puts across that Sami very well may get an opportunity at the title in the future which I am fully on board for.
Overall, really great match from these guys. Lots of action, things happening all over place and not a moment of boredom.
Best Match on 205 (18/4/17): TJ Perkins vs Austin Aries
Coming round to the cruiserweights now, its the new full out dick-mode TJ Perkins against 'The Greatest Man That Ever Lived', Austin Aries.
I cannot remember much at all about this match, which I think tells you what you need to know about this. I do recall being all hyped because it looked like Aries might finally hit a 450 splash since debuting on the main roster, but alas, Perkins moved and I got a bit disheartened. Thing is though, the other matches on the show weren't anything to write home about either, Nese/Tozawa and Ali/Daivari didn't have anything in the actual match I can recall, only the interfering of Kendrick and Gulak, respectively.
Just, eh. I don't feel it really warrants a rewatch, but if you're a fan of Perkins, its his type of match and if you're a fan of Aries, go back and watch some of his better matches is the best recommendation I can make.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (19/4/17): Tye Dillinger vs Eric Young - Steel Cage Match
I'M TAKING BACK WHAT'S MINE, I AIN'T GIVIN' IN!
DO WHAT THEY TELL ME? NAH, I AIN'T LISTENIN'!
CAN'T DENY I WAS READY FOR THIS!
SHOVE IT BACK IN THE FACES WHO SAID I'D MISS!
Fuck me I love that new theme. Yes, we're down at Full Sail now for the blowoff match between Eric Young of SAnitY and one of SmackDown! LIVE's newest acquisitions, Tye Dillinger.
With this having become a proper blood feud, we got things starting off aggressively and keeping that trend throughout. A fair share of brawling, chucking each other into the cage and both men going out of their way to inflict as much damage and pain as possible.
Young brandished his war wounds in this, getting busted open pretty badly and getting some crimson running down his face. It got to the extent that the upcoming clip is in black and white. With this being legitimate, WWE not having any blading these days, it did add a nice layer to the story, and made Tye look more like a serious competitor - fuck with him and he will hit back. Hard.
The highest of spots we got this week, Eric put on his daredevil boots reminiscent of his TNA days and took to the air. Elbow drops are cool. Elbow drops of the top of a cage are much cooler.
SAnitY would later come out an get involved, with Dain and Wolfe stalking the cage and climbing the sides. The playing fields would be evened, with Kassius Ohno, Roderick Strong and Ruby Riot coming to Dillinger's aid. Tye would manage to crawl out the door and lock SAnitY into the cage, getting hoisted up on the shoulders of Ohno and Strong, finishing the show with 'Thank You, Tye' chants ringing out to send him off.
So, that was the third ever steel cage in NXT, and it was damn good. A nice ending to this feud and pretty good episode overall. I'd recommend it.
Thank you, Tye.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 291): Roppongi Vice (Trent Barreta & Rocky Romero) vs Cheeseburger & Will Ferrara
Ring of Honour now and we have tag team action taking the prime spot with New Japan's Roppongi Vice taking on the tandem of Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara.
Some solid work from both teams here, with RPG being a more cohesive unit of the two. They landed more tandem offence and just had more damage dished out that taken in this, with them looking to be primed to challenge for the tag titles again soon. It can be difficult to make Cheeseburger look like a legitimate competitor sometimes, but I thought they did a pretty good job of having him do some damage and stay away from some more comedic spots, getting his Shotei Palm Strikes in and some of his dives. This wasn't a really big match, actually being kind of short if I remember correctly, with RPG winning after hitting their Strong Zero. Again, their television show feels like its on the cusp of being pretty great every week, but I feel booking is dragging it down a bit.
As always, you can watch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current or on the Fite TV app.
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Dolph Ziggler vs Erick Rowan vs Jinder Mahal vs Mojo Rawley vs Luke Harper vs Sami Zayn - No.1 Contender's Match for the WWE World Championship - SmackDown! LIVE
There you have it, the six-pack wins it this week by bringing us a highly exciting and engaging match-up that was so fun to watch. SmackDown! delivers once more and doesn't look to be slowing down any time soon. Also, Show/Strowman and Young/Dillinger are some really good matches and I doubt you'd be disappointed in watching them.
After all that, here is what the leaderboard looks like nowadays - fucking TJ Perkins is so high up it makes me mad.
All we have left to do is award 'The Best Promo of the Week', this time going to ROH's Matt Taven delivering a message to Adam Cole before their upcoming clash at 'Masters of the Craft'.
That's all from me folks! Can't wait to see you again next week, and hope that whatever life has in store for you in the next 7 days, good and bad, you come out the other end with a smile on your face. Seeya next week! We've got Tyler Bate defending his UK Championship against Jack Gallagher on NXT, I know I'm looking forward to it!
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