BWOTW: 27/3/17 - 1/4/17

Hello there BWOTWers, and welcome to the last instalment 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' before WrestleMania 33, AKA 'Pen-Ultimo Guerrero'

Nearing completion

Before we hunker down into the main bit, lets first have a peek at this past week's news;

1. Fuck-a-loo. The Cruiserweight Championship Match is officially on the WrestleMania Pre-Show. They've got time for a Pitbull/Flo Rida performance but heavens no they couldn't fit in Neville/Aries, the biggest match their semi-struggling cruiserweight division has had since its inception. Hopefully this just spurs them on and encourages them to knock it out the park, pre-show or not. Go on lads. Also on the pre-show is Andre the Giant Battle Royal and the SmackDown! Women's Championship Match.
2. The RAW Tag Team Championship Match is now a ladder match! It wouldn't be a 2010s WrestleMania without someway of having a clusterfuck of ladders, and boy am I grateful. 
3. Naomi has returned and will be competing at 'Mania in the SmackDown! Women's Championship match. Having the home field advantage, I wouldn't be too surprised if she walks out with the belt.
4. Shelton Benjamin has been cleared to compete! If we're lucky, I'd love to see him in the battle royal on Sunday, and if failing that, the SmackDown! after 'Mania

And now for the roses in this wrestling blog bouquet, its the matches!

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (27/3/17): Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens - No Disqualification Match

The Zayn/Owens feud has been reignited once more, with Zayn fighting for the chance to compete in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania this Sunday. It was just like their prior battles in that they started quick to get at one another. The brawling took it to ringside, and then yonder into the audience, working their way back to the stage;

Once back in the ring we got to see some bigger power moves launched by these two men. It definitely picked up with both Owens and Zayn landing highlights from their repertoires. The No DQ stipulation didn't have a large part to play in the match, the only presence being that these guys didn't get counted out when they had a bit of a wander, with the ending being the only moment to incorporate it. 

Samoa Joe and Jericho ran some interference which ultimately led to Owens getting rolled up and Zayn gaining entry into the battle royal. I couldn't recall a whole lot of this match, RAW seems more and more inconsequential on the match front in recent weeks, so maybe post-Mania we get some improvement. This was solid however, these two can always be relied on to put on a good match, and that they did. 

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (28/3/17): Luke Harper vs Bray Wyatt


We're on the money brand now, with this episode being main evented by Luke Harper going after his former mentor, Bray Wyatt. Harper is looking slick as all hell; he's got some cool new pants, a cool new black vest, and a cool new hair do, making him look all samurai-y. With this new aesthetic, Harper beat the fuck out of Wyatt for a good long time. He dived on him, threw him all about the barricades, and came close to winning, having landed his divine discus clothesline. Wyatt really made Harper look a beast, fair fucks to him. Bray felt like he was on the backfoot a lot of the time, and although he won, the story they told made it make sense.

Sure, Bray has had 7 acres of shit knocked from his face, but there's still a deep rooted connection between these two in some capacity. Harper was under this man's tutelage and deception for so long, he can't help but hesitate a little. Plus, the ferocity of that Sister Abigail would put any man down. Absolutely vicious. I thought this was a real good match, glad to see Harper having some time to shine in the main event scene.

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (28/3/17): Akira Tozawa vs Brian Kendrick

Just a little while after the match just mentioned, we had this awaited confrontation between Brian Kendrick and Akira Tozawa. 

Tozawa was full steam ahead, starting the match off with a kick to the face of Kendrick, then a torpedo style, head first suicide dive. He the climbed the turnbuckles and pulled out a top rope senton that looked incredible, the high and impact were insane.

Kendrick would build some momentum back in cutting off Tozawa's flurries, knocking him around a fair bit and landing some major offence. The Captain's Hook failed to keep Tozawa down, as well as the Sliced Bread #2. Kendrick found himself gaining a victory when the exposed steel of a corner connected with his opponent's skull, opening him up to be pinned. Looking back at it now, I liked how they handled Tozawa's German Suplex. He set Kendrick up for it a fair few times throughout, with Kendrick looking absolutely terrified and desperate not to be dropped on his head. It made it feel like such a bigger deal, and I would assume that once he manages to pull it off, it'd be all Tozawa needs to finally beat Kendrick.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (29/3/17): Kassius Ohno vs Elias Samson - Loser Leaves NXT Match

We're back in the Sunshine State for NXT, this week with Kassius Ohno facing off against Elias Samson in a Loser Leaves NXT Match.

Bit of a slower start that soon enough descended into a full out brawl. Ohno is the king of strikes, whatever limbs he's hitting you with, its gonna be nasty. Samson is becoming a bit more of a bruiser, with his sheer size and power coming into play the more and more I see him. He got some harsh connecting shots in on Ohno, getting his own back;

It felt very much just like a fight between these two, two lads throwing bombs back and forth. The end saw Ohno land a discus mafia kick to the side of Samson's head, dropping him to the floor and enabling a pinfall. Decent match here, it was a solid main event, though nothing too fancy really. So Samson is off of NXT, guess he's main roster bound. I wonder if he'll pop up over this weekend...

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 288): The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) & Dalton Castle vs Superkliq (Adam Cole & The Young Bucks)


Taking us to Ring of Honour and we have the new ROH World Champion, Christopher Daniels, teaming with Frankie Kazarian and his opponent at Supercard of Honour, Dalton Castle, to take on a subdivision of The Bullet Club; Superkliq.

It was another big flashy mutli-man spot heavy match here on ROH. Once the ball started rolling with tags being made and humanity being spread all over the place. Its tricky remembering all that happened, but with the names listed, it was the sort of thing you'd expect. The Young Bucks dished out a lot of punishment from their deep dish of double team manoeuvres, with Cole lending a helping hand here and there. If you like big ol' melees and the type of big tag matches ROH puts on, you'll like this one too.

As always you can catch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current or, be like me, and do so on the Fite TV app.

SUPERKICK COUNTER: 9 (if memory serves me right)

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Akira Tozawa vs Brian Kendrick - 205 Live

I thought this match was great. The intensity of Tozawa made this much more dramatic and interesting, with this feud building and building, and finally he has a proper chance to get his hands on Kendrick. Kendrick did a superb job at putting over Tozawa as a legitmate ass-kicker from his selling to his reactions and expressions. When you've got Brian Kendrick in a one-on-one match, he's gonna do his damnedest to make his opponent shine like a star. 

With another 7 days done and dusted, the leaderboard now has a striking resemblance to this.

I must apologise that there is no links for 'The Best Promo of the Week' here, but I can make a referral. Though SmackDown! had that encounter between Cena/Nikke and Miz/Maryse that got a lot of buzz, I thought Luke Harper's promo was awesome. Now that he's speaking more, he's really coming into his own. You can see definite parallels with Wyatt in them, and so there should be, but his conviction and delivery is wonderful. I'd recommend trying to dig it out if you're interested.

That's about it from me for this time around. Sorry if this wasn't up to scratch. There's a lot going on with WrestleMania here, and its all snatching my attention, plus I've been working on some WrestleMania specials for this here gimmick called a blog.Nevertheless, I wish you all a happy 'Mania, and I hope that you all watch with childish glee and wonder. I know I will.