But first, let us have a gander at what news we got this week;
- We got some matches made for Money in the Bank made this week on SmackDown!. New Day are back and are going to challenge The Usos for the tag titles at the Pay-Per-View, and we are going to have the first ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match!
- It is being reported that Io Shirai wont be appearing in the Mae Young Classic so that she can finish up her Japan dates.
- Tommaso Ciampa's knee injury was worse than once thought and will need to undergo a severe surgical operation. It sounds as if he might be gone for quite a while, but it appears that they have big things planned for him upon return. No word on Gargano's return at this point yet.
- WWE have reportedly signed Cruiserweight Classic competitor Raul Mendoza; 'bout fucking time! He's in the opening for 205 Live since its inception, and I absolutely loved the guy's match against Brian Kendrick in the tournament.
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (29/5/17): Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns
Rounding off a better than usual episode of RAW (bar the 'This is Your Life' segment), it's two competitors from this coming Sunday's main event going at it; Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins.
This was pretty damn good match. I'd started off watching this initially thinking 'right, here we go then', mainly because these two for the past several weeks haven't had too many matches I wouldn't rank to much above 'fine', on both RAWs and Pay-Per-Views. As this match went on, I started paying more attention to it more and more. I think the turning point was when Reigns hit a Drive-By that launched Rollins into the post which was a very cool spot indeed.
From then on, Roman targeted the ribs of Rollins. I like it when the ribs are worked on, it's a rarer body part to see get latched onto, opposed to the usual arms and legs. After some time spent working the mid-section, we started seeing some more spots being peppered in, the matches most standout being this one;
Despite the damage sustained by Rollins, this did turn into a fairly even-sided match up in the late goings. Out of it, we got some cool sequences, especially the one that culminated in the finish;
Cool stuff. Papa Meltzer gave this match a 4*, but I'm not too sure I'd agree with that high acclaim. I had a bit of an issue with the logic behind Rollins' wrestling with injured ribs, still doing his suicide dive, frog splash and attempting the phoenix splash as well. I do want to congratulate the two on bringing out the best in each other for this go home show.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (30/5/17): Dolph Ziggler vs AJ Styles
It's the money show now as we head across to SmackDown! LIVE. Main eventing this episode, we have this pretty great match-up between two of the upcoming Money in the Bank ladder match competitors, 'The Phenomenal One' AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler.
I presume these two have faced off before, but I can't recall when their last encounter would have been, so this did feel like a nice fresh match. These two worked very well together. The strikes looked pretty nasty and some slams and such were done with some mighty vigour. There was one side suplex in particular done by AJ that had a rough looking landing for Dolph. Plus, this must have taken a toll on the guy;
It looked like they may have sort of fucked up the finish a little bit. What I think was supposed to happen was AJ was supposed to have his foot on the ropes (or something to that affect), but something went awry and Dolph ended up going over clean. Nevertheless, this was still a damn good match. I'd even say it was better than Rollins/Reigns
205 Live
Best Match on 205 (30/5/17): Drew Gulak vs Mustafa Ali
He's not lying, no high flying.
Drew Gulak takes on Mustafa Ali again, continuing Gulak's pursuit to ground Ali, which eventually may have to result in just braking his legs. Pretty much more of the same type of structure from their last clash; Ali does some flying, Gulak kicks the shit out of him for it. Not too much else to tell really. Decent enough match, just nothing too spectacular. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one too.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (31/5/17): Danny Burch vs Pete Dunne
They've only gone and changed the bloody intro again...
Still good though. This week we have the new WWE United Kingdom Champion, Pete Dunne, hot off the heels of his MOTY contender taking on fellow Brit, Danny Burch.
Classic and beautiful in-ring technical work from these two from Blighty, Dunne taking the fight right to the Burch's arm and getting his fingers all bent out of shape. However, Burch had a go himself, doing the Marty Scurll style finger break which was unexpectedly cool. From there, things took a more strike heavy approach, Dunne get pretty pissed off with Danny who was having quite an impressive showing against the champion, much more offence than I had anticipated when the match-up screen had some up.
Nevertheless, Dunne would come out of this victorious in this really good contest. I'm liking Danny Burch more and more each time I see him compete, and I already have a firmly set admiration for The Bruiserweight, so this went down a treat for me. Definitely recommend checking this one out if you haven't already.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 297): Josh 'The Goods' Woods vs David Starr
In the fallout of the recent Top Prospect Tournament, the winner of it, Josh Woods takes on the man who attacked him during his celebration, David Starr.
This is the first time I've seen Starr if memory serves me right, and with him appearing in PROGRESS Wrestling's 'Super Strong Style' this week, I was looking forward to seeing him compete. I like Josh Woods, having been rooting for him over anyone else in the tournament, and I'm very happy to see him on TV and hope he's on a lot more.
There were a couple instances of things not flowing quite right and some missteps which did hamper my enjoyment a little bit, but it wasn't too damaging to the whole match. There was still a good chunk of solid in-ring work. It did feel like it was over perhaps a little too soon, but hopefully this pairing continues down the line as I feel there's room to improve on this match and give these two a chance to wow people..
As always, you can catch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current, on the Fite TV app, or at www.fite.tv.
Lucha Underground
Best Match on LU (S3E20): Johnny Mundo vs The Mack - 'All Night Long' Match for the Lucha Underground Championship
Lucha Underground is back for the second part of Season 3, kicking things off with an 'All Night Long' (iron man) match consisting of Johnny Mundo defending his Lucha Underground Championship against The Mack.
Proper great match here on the returning episode, though my enjoyment of LU hit some rocky times in the last few episodes, but as we got closer to this, I found myself getting more and more excited for it.
I forgot just how damn good Mundo is, just an incredible athlete, professional wrestler and a heel. I have to say that my favourite part of the match was most probably the lead into him gaining the second fall; feigning a leg injury and pushing it to the perfect extent and the kip up before the blind side was just the cherry on top.
We had some run-ins from PJ Black, some other Worldwide Underground guy who I don't remember seeing ever before to assist Mundo, as well as the neutralising agents for Mack, Son of Havoc and Sexy Star. I felt that maybe these were used a little too much, but in a match like this I understand why they did it this way. Though saying that we did get this cool moment with Son of Havoc reviving the downed Mack;
We had things eding up being tied, with Mack unable to get one last pinfall in time as the bell rang too soon for him to capitalise on a frog splash off a ladder and through a goddamn table. But, we have been promised a rematch that I very much look forward to seeing.
I definitely recommend seeking this one out, a great match that I had slated as this week's best until....
New Japan: Best of the Super Juniors Finals
Best Match on BOSJF: KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay - Best of the Super Juniors 24 Final
The Best of the Super Juniors 24 has come to its climax with the top wrestler of the all-star A Block and last year's winner, Will Ospreay, taking on the man who started off the tournament at the bottom of his pile and rising to the top of B Block, KUSHIDA.
We started things off with a feeling out process, with Ospreay's technical game really showing against the chain-wrestling proficient KUSHIDA. Some nasty looking cranks here, as well as what was to come in this one. KUSHIDA attempted to finish Will with the Hoverboard Lock a few times throughout the match, properly wrenching on the arm and shoulder of the Brit. Whenever he gets put in a submission, Ospreay sells it like a motherfucker, screaming like he's getting his balls branded. Horrifying to listen to, but great at investing me into this match. Plus, we got to hear Will call him a 'cunt' which got a chuckle out of me.
Some fucking harsh strikes had me wincing several points in this match, whether it be both men's aggressively thrown forearms, Will's thunderous kicks to KUSHIDA's chest and KUSHIDA being a rough bastard with Ospreay. Daniel Bryan would be proud;
KUSHIDA utilised his new finisher to get him the trophy, the moniker of 'Best of the Super Juniors' and the shot at Takahashi's title; a small package driver entitled 'Back to the Future'. What a match this was. New Japan consistently delivers, and this is no exception. My one regret is that I didn't watch more of this tournament. I did underestimate the schedule, like every day there was a show with more brackets being completed and if I had more time (bloody school) I would have indulged in them all.
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: KUSHIDA vs Will Ospreay - Best of the Super Juniors 24 Final
Like I said, another incredible match delivered to us from our friends at New Japan. But don't sleep on the others from this week; Mundo/Mack and Burch/Dunne were great, and the matches from RAW and SmackDown! were also rather good. In fact, this may have been one of the best all round weeks we've had on this blog possibly ever, so don't sleep on it.
And with another week having come and gone, here is what the leaderboard looks like nowadays.
All that's left is to award 'The Best Promo of the Week'. This time around, the award goes to the heart breaking bastard that is Tommaso Ciampa. The video below doesn't have it all, so if you're interested it is the first segment on this week's episode of NXT;
Thank you all for joining me this week, apologies for the late post. I was ushering a wedding and didn't have too much time to finish this off in time before Sunday's end. But, until the next one, which I will try my darnedest to get out in time, have lovely days, lovely afternoons and some lovely nights. Seeya!
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