Wrestling With Anxiety: Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Hi there readers, now, I'm trying something new here on this blog of mine. Having turned another year older just a couple of weeks ago, I've had time to ponder what aims I have going ahead and how I want to achieve them. My main goal is to drown out as much negativity and ill-feeling I can from my life at the moment, and in doing so, I've felt the need to be more up front about my mental health.

Over the past couple years in particular, I have had an ongoing struggle with anxiety in various forms as well as some other similar afflictions. Whilst, at the minute, I don't wanna get too much into the details of why I feel like shit, its safe to say there have been quite severe lows and some rough patches, along with times of more smoother sailing. I've had a bit of a nasty spat with it quite recently, and I felt that the best way to combat this is to be more open and up-front with these issues. I am lucky enough to have some wonderful friends and family that have been an incredibly helpful and patient with me throughout this time; I cannot thank them enough for everything they've done. Without their continued support, I doubt I'd be able to write these very words.

But how does this relate to this blog? Well, if I'm talking about my personal experience with my struggles, pro wrestling has played a huge role in my ability to cope like I have. So, in this series I've entitled 'Wrestling With Anxiety', I hope to relay to you, dear readers, how big a help the graps have been for me. This is in no way meant to be preaching a cure, or saying that if you're experiencing similar things watch wrestling and it'll be grand, this is purely me telling my story, hopefully providing ideas that people could adapt and apply to their own problems using their passion. I cannot stress enough the importance of reaching out to people and seeking help. I have and it has done wonders, so if you're in a similar spot, I implore you to do so as well.

Kevin Owens here taking on the physical form of anxiety for the purposes of a nice visual metaphor

So, in regards to wrestling's impact on me, I plan on discussing different aspects in each post. For this first one, I want to focus on something that has helped immensely; regularity and perpetuity.

As a long time viewer, especially in this day and age, its sometimes easy to overlook the sheer volume of  new content there is on a weekly basis. WWE alone produces a minimum of around 7 hours of programming every week, as well as there being numerous other promotions that produce regular content like Impact and Ring of Honour. Although I follow the belief of quality over quantity in wrestling, I'd say on average WWE's weekly product is pretty good, at least in regards to the in-ring action. Over the past couple years, this frequency has certainly aided me.

Bad days throughout the week have been pushed through thanks to knowing that when I get home I've got ______ to watch. Whether it be out of habit or fuelled with legitimate excitement, I've found that these small glimmers of hope really help to put a positive twist on an otherwise shitty day. In the grand scheme of things, these sorts of overarching problems don't tend to be solved in a day, but I've found that instances of anxiety and worry about one relatively small thing in particular are eased by having something to look forward to. As menial as it is to preoccupy yourself on who Neville is gonna kill next or the prospect of a Young Bucks match on the next episode of ROH TV, in my experience, its a big help. The ever-present nature of wrestling means that there's always something I can put in my mind as the end goal for the day. 

On a broader scale, bigger shows like Pay-Per-Views also help in similar ways. When I've been going through a bit of a slump over the span of a few days/weeks/other extended measurements of time, it's stuff like the prospect of a killer card at an NXT: Takeover or a massively hyped match that do the job. When something like a Cena/Styles or an Okada/Omega gets announced, that shit keeps me buzzing for a good long while. Yes, sometimes these sorts of matches might not live up to expectations, but when they hit they mark, Lord does it feel great. For me, having a satisfying climax to these gets me in a good mood for a period after, as if refreshing my mind whilst I ride that high.

Despite AJ's stellar performance evaluation, John is still reluctant to give him that raise he's been asking for

I will say that I have recently have a rough go of it; I've had some recurring feelings of hopelessness, my sense of self-worth has been a bit thrown off and I feel like I'm at a stage where I have to reevaluate a few aspects of my life. As of late, NXT has been the weekly content that's given me something to look forward to. It's been consistently delivering, really feeling like it's gotten it's groove back from the golden age of the early-ish Takeover period. Every division is promising and exciting, plus at an hour every week, its not a massive task to watch. Plus, any chance to see my British boys in action is always a delight.

Top lads

Wrestling gives me something to push through for. Whether it be just a singular match, a developing story or an upcoming show, there always seems to be something to look forward to. In times where everything seems to be going really rather shit, I've found that having little things to get excited about go a long way. The regularity of this has been vital, consistently helping me battle my afflictions through dark time after dark time. I owe a lot to wrestling, and this is just the beginning of the story. 

So that just about does it for this first edition of 'Wrestling With Anxiety' and I hope its been a somewhat fun ride. Let me know your thoughts, feedback is always welcomed with open arms. With the shake-up this blog's received, I feel the need to reaffirm that I am still active, still thinking of ideas for things to write about, and still a big ol' fan of the graps. 

BWOTW: 22/5/17 - 27/5/17

Hey there readers and welcome to the newest edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA '#DI-Why Ciampa, Why?'

AJ left his phone just too far out on his bedside table

But let us first take a li'l look at the past week's news....

1. What the actual fuck? Jinder Mahal is the new WWE World Champion. This is real life. This is what is happening now.
2. It appears #DIY are no more, with Tommaso Ciampa turning on Gargano to end this past TakeOver show. I am a very sad boy, a very sad boy indeed.
3. Pete Dunne is your new WWE United Kingdom Champion, dethroning the inaugural title holder, Tyler Bate. I feel this might be to help usher in the start of a new UK weekly show, with a new champion at the heart of it. 
4. It has been announced that the Women's Tournament is entitled 'The Mae Young Classic', which I think is quite nice. 
5. Ring of Honour have announced another War of the Worlds tour with NJPW this August, however, this is in the UK! They list RevPro's Summer Sizzler as part of the tour, following it with 3 WotW shows in London, Edinburgh and Liverpool.
6. Cedric Alexander is back, returning on 205 Live this week. His reaction was....well a 205 Live reaction really. 

There is also something else I wanted to address, doesn't really fit in anywhere else so I'll plop it here. In regards to the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, I did want to try and cover as much as possible. This ideal was made before I realised how the whole thing is scheduled. I don't think I'll try to cover it all, with doing so effectively doubling the workload put into this and my time spent watching - I do have an exam this week so I should maybe spend some time studying. 

Also, its pretty clear that A-Block is where its at, and B-Block just doesn't have quite as strong a draw for me. I feel like I may just leave it at the opening nights from last week. As awesome as the match-ups that are scheduled to happen, I feel it would be unfair to just cover them. So, unless there is a real desire from you guys for some of the live shows, that might be it on the tournament for now. I feel similar might occur when I try to tackle the G1 Climax, but, we'll just have to see how things turn out. Apologies for anyone who was expecting to see coverage of all the taped shows, please forgive me. 

However, I am gonna try and keep up with A-Block a bit and whatever I hear is worth a watch, so perhaps if I feel there's something that deserves to be the 'Best Match of the Week' instead of what's on the covered shows, I may give it the award and write it up there and then. Let me know what you think of this idea, not sure if it bastardises this blog a bit.

And now for the petals on this flower of a wrestling blog, its the matches!

NXT TakeOver: Chicago

Best Match on TakeOver: Chicago: Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - WWE United Kingdom Championship Match

Holy fuck-a-rooni we are starting this week off with a big ol' bang. The WWE United Kingdom Championship is making its first appearance on a TakeOver card, pitting the defending champion Tyler Bate against the Bruiserweight, Pete Dunne.

We started off with some slick and sweet grappling and technicalities. I appreciate that in an arena the size of this one they're in, it can't be a bit difficult to get all the joint manipulation and the subtleties of it across to those in attendance, but luckily that didn't alienate anyone. Bate's shoulder and arm received the brunt of Dunne's surgery, with also some nasty finger work, bending and stretching the champ's digits.

Then when things started to pick up, bloody hell they went whole hog. In my opinion, it was (British) strong style at its finest. The strikes were pretty stiff indeed, all the throws and slams were beautiful, it was all so wonderful for me to watch. 

There were so many great moments and sequences in this match its unreal. I just want to show you some of my favourite highlights, I think I have all these following clips in order, but good lord you just get lost in it and its amazing. First, just look at this goddamn aeroplane spin. I have never seen anyone ever get the momentum and speed Tyler gets, its unreal.

Look at him go!

Just amazing. We had a Dunne X-Plex onto the apron earlier on, then we got to see it transformed into an Orange Crush powerbomb;

Dunne has great facial expressions, both in the above with his look of bewilderment, as well as his signature sneers and grimaces. Great storytelling that, when the man comes in with a face of confidence and then has it changed to one of desperation and disbelief. Phenomenal.

Like I said, the strikes came in plentifully, and this next exchange was just class. For whatever reason, open hand slaps have a special allure to them, a combination of impact and big sound. Plus, Bate's rebound lariat is a thing of beauty on top of all that.

Then just the most incredible thing happened. Now, in the tournament final, we had Bate do a 450 splash/footstomp thing on Dunne, and I figured when he was climbing up to the top we'd see it again. Everything I knew came tumbling down. 

Who does the Spiral Tap? AJ Styles and AJ Styles only, or so I thought;



And he hit it flush! Bugger me that was insane.

The whole sequence into the finish, as well as having the finisher teases throughout, and when Dunne finally hit The Bitter End, it felt like it rounded off a perfect match. 

I'm gonna be honest with you guys, this is probably my Match of the Year so far. As a Brit, and a young one at that who is beginning to idolise this current crop of British talent, this was quite overwhelming to me. On three occasions during the match they got a standing ovation. The crowd finally figured out of how to make a good UK chant. I watched this match perched on the edge of my seat, when that match screen popped up I was banging on the armrest to hype me up. Through and through, I love this. Doesn't get much better for me. Guess what's best match of the week.

WWE Backlash

Best Match on Backlash: Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles - WWE United States Championship Match

With an act tougher than the Salty Spittoon to follow, it's WWE's second Backlash in under a year (sort ya fucking schedule out lads). Taking the cake on this show was Kevin Owens' defence of the United States Championship against AJ Styles.

This was a rather good match I'd say. It is ridiculous how consistent AJ is at delivering great performances, and this pairing with Owens made for both of these guys to have a very nice match up.

I feel like everything they did was nice and smooth, though its only a few spots here and there that were memorable about this. There was this pretty cool sequence with multiple sentons that I really liked.

The big one of course was Styles suplexing Owens on the apron, with the US Champion landing right on the cornered of the edge. Looked very sore indeed. They'd teased a Styles Clash off of the apron onto ringside alongside this. I definitely seen videos of them doing it on the indies on yesteryear, but I would be very surprised if they would be allowed to do such a thing.

The ending, though a little bit of a low-point with Owens retaining via countout, I thought it was quite creative. Styles' leg was slipped into a hole on the commentator's desk where the monitor goes and his feetsies got caught in the wiring. It did look cool, kept them both protected I suppose and leaves there room for a future rematch.

I feel that these two have got better matches in store for us. Maybe SummerSlam might have another clash between these guys, that'd be baller. Still, this was a good match.

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (22/5/17): Bray Wyatt & Samoa Joe vs Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns

It's a thrown together tag team main event here on RAW, and that's exactly the sort of match this was. Nothing really too memorable about any of it. Just....meh. It was all decent, better to watch than some of the other matches on the card. Sheamus/Hardy felt a bit of a drag, was there Nese/Aries? I dunno, it was an okay episode of RAW. 

Sorry there isn't much of a write up for this match, but I legitimately cannot recall anything standing out or leaving much of an impression. I remember Joe choked out Rollins for the win (I think). Yeah, not long til Extreme Rules so that might shake things up a bit, though I would enjoy  A FUCKING UNIVERSAL TITLE SOMEWHERE ON THE EPISODE. Brock having this belt is doing absolutely nothing for me. Can't wait til he drops it really.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (23/5/17): Kevin Owens & Dolph Ziggler vs AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura

Guess what! Another thrown together tag team main event - though this is commonly known here as a 'SmackDown! Speciality' (just made that phrase up so dunno if its called that or what). Along with Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin, these four will be taking part in this year's Money in the Bank ladder match at the marquee Pay-Per-View. So, here we have it, Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler taking on the team of AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.

I have to say, this is pretty similar to the RAW match really. Just a bit eh. The match was perfectly fine, but not much more. They don't seem to have learned from the Backlash match and although Shinsuke got the win in the end, he spent quite a lot of time getting beat up by Dolph and Big Kev. Hopefully he gets a big showing in some sort of amazing one-on-one match, whether it be Styles, Owens, Cena or maybe even Zayn again.

But yeah, this match was fine. Highlights of the show were really all the Breezango stuff, just a shame they didn't get much of a match on the episode. 

205 Live

Best Match on 205 (23/5/17): Brian Kendrick vs Akira Tozawa - Street Fight

In my opinion, keeping in line with the rest if this blog, 205 Live delivered with the best match from WWE's weekly shows, with a street fight between Brian Kendrick and Akira Tozawa. It's a rematch from a past 'Best Match of the Week', but I don't think it's the first though. But, this was a great match.

Tozawa started kicking the shit out of Kendrick right from the bell, getting us off to a hot start. Kendrick's ingenuity would be the thing to keep Tozawa down and change the tide of things, and in a setting with props, Kendrick thrives even more. We saw him use the purple tape that the ring crew use for the ropes to tie up Tozawa. First, he taped over his mouth and put him in the Captain's Hook, which was pretty damn cool. Then, he took a more Viet Cong POW camp approach to it;

There wasn't masses of weapons used in this match; they did the tape (if that counts), used the steps a bit, but they went and had some big bollocks on for the use of the table;

Christ-a-loo its a good thing Tozawa landed on Kendrick, he has done some of those dives and pretty much landed directly on his tailbone (see: arse). If he'd have fucked it there he'd be walking funny for days.

That there was the finish by the way, rolled Brian into the ring and pinned him there and then. It was a nice end to the match, a big ol' spot to round off the main event and seemingly end this feud with an exclamation point. Well done 205 Live, rest of the show was a bit shaky but a real good main event here.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (24/5/17): Drew McIntyre vs Wesley Blake

We're at the matches taped before TakeOver, and here we have Drew McIntyre versus a revitalised Wesley Blake. 

Again, like his past few appearances, this was very much McIntyre's match. He got his shit in and looked impressive, he got to do his big reverse Alabama Slamma that looked fucking lethal. But I saw this match as Wesley Blake's chance at reintroducing himself, which I think he did quite well actually. New gear, new music and some new moves to boot. With the way NXT is looking, they could use a new lower/midcard-ish guy. 

Decent match here, just a nice little something to fill time until we get into the next set of tapings.

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 296): N/A

It was repeats of February's Honour Rising shows in Karouken Hall featuring New Japan and ROH talent, so if you're still on that crossover buzz from War of the Worlds, might be worth a watch.

PWG: Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock'n'Roll)

Best Match on PWG: NB(DPR'n'R): The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs Matt Sydal & Ricochet vs The Lucha Bros. (Rey Fenix & Penta El 0M) - PWG World Tag Team Championship Match

We're back once again at Reseda, CA to bear witness to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's Nice Boys (Don't Play Rock'n'Roll). The main event saw a triple threat between three awesome teams for the companies tag belts; The Young Bucks defend against The Lucha Bros and Matt Sydal and Ricochet (I dunno if they have a team name but they really should).

This was just insane, crazy shit happenin' all the over the goddamn place. The Bucks are always on the top of their game in PWG, with them able to thrive in the environment of what I can only presume is 'do whatever the fuck you want'. Ricochet and Sydal, though they don't tag all that often anymore really, pulled out some sick spots. The Addiction parodied the Meltzer Driver with the 'Best Meltzer Ever' (moonsault instead of a 450), but these two upped the ante - Ricochet hoisted 'em up for the tombstone and Sydal finished it with a Shooting Star Press. Just incredible.

I love The Lucha Bros more and more each time I see them. With Penta, I feel its gotten to the point where I reckon his superkicks are probably the best. Y'know those prank videos where they put like tape or cling-film in a doorway and they get the person to come running? The whiplash and fall from it is what it looks like a Penta superkick is. Sounds like a fucking shotgun as well.

One of the best bits about PWG is that they can mix in some comedy, and not make it a comedic match, the spot just meshes in with everything. Here, they went all out;

PWG has always had some of the most clinically insane apron spots and bumps in human history, though ol' Abe Lincoln did do a sick brainbuster to the Confederacy on the edge of the ring. Anyway, we had a procession of nasty falls onto the apron in a row;

Don't worry, no-one died.

One thing that did stick out to me a little was that the finish of this match probably wasn't the high moment that it probably could have been. Watching it, it sort of felt the crowd weren't expecting the pin, not because they thought Young Bucks were losing, but because after all the massive moves and combos done in the match, the final blow didn't seem quite as powerful. It's a risk you run in PWG, but the vast majority of the time they manage fine. Nevertheless, this was an awesome match through and through. I think I preferred the Bucks/Lucha Bros match from last year, but I still enjoyed this very much indeed.

SUPERKICK COUNTER: 9 (plus a metric fuck load of superkicks from everyone else)

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - WWE United Kingdom Championship Match - NXT TakeOver: Chicago

What else, really? The pure wrestling in it, the amazing moments and I have to say that Her Majesty's Royal blood and tea that pumps through my veins may have helped the choice. But, I believe that if I took that factor out this still is head and shoulders above the rest. The PWG match was very good, but I felt there was much more of a story told through Bate/Dunne, whereas that triple threat was more 'BOOM-POW-WHATTHEFUCK-BANG'

And with another week done and dusted here on the blog, here is what the leaderboard looks like nowadays.


Winning 'Best Promo of the Week' this time around is this great segment with the newly heel turned Goldust, who appears to have gone old school, even his paint looks like his Attitude Era run if I remember rightly. I really am looking forward to where they go with Goldy, have a look here;

Welp, that's gonna do it for me for this week. Let me know what you thought? Think anything topped Bate/Dunne? Do you think it isn't as good as I've made it out to be? I know I might have laid it on a little thick there, but bloody hell I really do love this match; it's probably up there with my favourites. Either way, I hope you all enjoy yourselves in these coming days. I've got some time off school so I'm a happy boy, and I hope you all get some relaxation too. Buh-bye for now!

Noah Goes To: Epic Studios, Norwich (UK Championship Live Tapings)

Hey there friends and welcome to this second edition of 'Noah Goes To', where I, the titular the Noah, venture out into the world in my goal to see as much live wrestling as possible. This time around, on Sunday 7th May, I headed up to Norwich to have a look-see at the second day of tapings for WWE's United Kingdom Championship show.

So ya know, most probably gonna be S-P-O-I-L-E-R-S going on in this, I'll try keep it to a minimum, but its just a warning for those of the faint of heart.

I constitute this as my first proper British wrestling show, with the other shows I've been to being, in all fairness, a bit shit. No offence to the promoters, but Magnus versus some fat fuck in bin bag trousers foe the Global Force Wrestling Championship isn't that much of a spectacle. This had everything I wanted from a British show; a focus on domestic talent, a loud and hot crowd, weird chants and though I hadn't anticipated the sheer volume of it, I suppose the influence of alcohol in the building added to the atmosphere. The guys in front of me literally must have had like 5 or 6 pints during the show. Inevitably, that led to a couple cuntish acts here and there, but the show was too good to let that be much of a negative.

Epic Studios was quite alright. We queued up along the street and through a window that had like an obscuring mural type thing across it, I could see William Regal having a sit down with Tony Nese, Mark Andrews and Roy Johnson. I was so in awe of Regal I walked into the guy in front of me. He understood. Got patted down on the way in, gentle human contact is always nice I suppose so I can't really complain. Then, it was just up some stairs and then you were there. We were one of the later people entering, so it was already nearly full when getting in, and it is a sight to see. A really cosy wrestling show, but I was next to an aisle with no one in front of me either, so I had some breathing room.

I was sat on the first row of the tiered seats, no garden furniture for me. Depending on whether you think it's lucky or not, I was directly opposite the hard camera, so, if you see a guy with his arm in a cast with glasses, long hair and a Cesaro shirt, have a guess at who it is. I was about eye-level with the ring, so I comfortably watched all the matches, and the entrance way was high enough that even with all of us standing, I got to see the entrances in all their glory. The ramp was a little obscured, only really seeing their heads bob along, but that was okay with me.

Though a little thing, I was so glad they kept the theme from the tournament to presumably be used for the new weekly show. I love the song and other songs by the Astroid Boys, so hearing it blaring was nice for me.

We had the usual pumping the crowd up for the opening shots, the announcer man doing the typical 'not loud enough guys!' thing. Then, we had the owner of PROGRESS Wrestling, Jim Smallman come say hello. I really like Jim, and his background in stand-up comedy showed when he was picking a few people out to chat to. When he asked a guy up front why he wasn't at the previous night's show too, and he replied saying he was working, he got 'YOU SOLD OUT!' chats that made me giggle. You can tell the man loves wrestling and must be happy with the position of his company in relation to WWE.

First match we had was Wolfgang against Joseph Conners which was alright. A good mood setting match to get us into the active crowd feel. It wasn't until we started to we got some cruiserweights from 205 Live that I started to feel really into it. TJ Perkins teamed with Brian Kendrick to face Dan (DAN!) Maloney and Rich Swann. Got to chant 'TJ is a wanker' which was fun, caused mostly from him dabbing, but this match is mainly in my memory from shouting 'DAN!' over and over whenever Maloney moved a muscle. For context to this, there is a British comedy character from Norwich called Alan Partridge who is a bit of an icon (at least I think so), and the shouting comes from this skit;

Lotta fun. 

Can't really remember match order, but I think it was Tyson T-Bone against Saxon Huxley afterwards. Lotta people went for food/merch/a piss during this match. It was okay, and surprisingly despite Huxley being the most Jesus-looking person, he received the least amount of Jesus related chants, that award would go to James Drake later on.

If my schedule recollection is correct, next was Akira Tozawa versus Tony Nese that was rather good, getting to do Tozawa's "AH!" screams was cool too, though that might have been the biggest strain on my poor little vocal chords. Nese is proper big in person, a real adonis in person. Abs of a god. Also, a 'TO-ZA-WA' chant transitioned into a 'TOYS-R-US' one which was another highlight.

Intermission after this I think, which when we came back was punctuated by the appearance of Triple H! Hearing that opening riff on 'King of Kings' created possibly the largest holler from me the entire night, watching as he walked out onto the stage. Absolutely in awe of the man, hung on his every word. I did get to chant 'Alan Partridge' at him which was possibly the strangest things I have ever been apart of. He made it sound as if they'd be coming back to Norwich and I not be opposed to that in the slightest.

When we got back to the action we had James Drake taking on Sam Gradwell. Another fine match, made most memorable from all the chants if I'm honest. Due to Gradwell's lack of hair, we ended up just chanting the names of different bald people at him, as well as singing 'Dude Looks Like a Baby'. I know some people aren't a huge fan of chants like this, some outright hating such things, but personally I am fine with it. I think there is a bit of a difference being there in person and over a screen, but I like them either way. 

After that came most probably the two best matches I have seen live. Pete Dunne versus Trent Seven. Mark Andrews versus Tyler Bate.

Dunne and Trent had everything I wanted from both men, Dunne doing some devastating limb manipulation and some big lariats from Trent, plus some huge spots off the top and on the apron. Dunne definitely has a presence about him, couldn't take my eyes off the man. I found myself being very conflicted with my support in this match. I started off with shouts of 'Moustache Mountain' only to find myself changing to 'Bruiserweight' a little while after. Great match.

Seven and Dunne had got some new entrance themes made for them, which are pretty damn good. But y'know who kept his awesome theme?

Huge pop when that percussion intro hit, the level of Bate's support even causing Andrews to get booed a little. Title was on the line for this one and it was incredible. Sitting at home reacting to big moments is fun, being there and jumping to your feet when things go down is even better. This match was the first time that I did so in person with some awesome spots that looked like death. I was glad I finally got to take part in a 'Tyler Bate, Tyler Bate, Tyler, Tyler Bate' sing-song, love the guy.

Post match saw Dunne come out to confront Bate and confirming them to face each other at NXT TakeOver: Backlash. Some more Bate celebrating and that was the show.

I had an amazing time and you can darn tootin' believe that when this gets put on the Network it's gonna be hard for anything to beat Bate/Andrews for match of the week, whenever it may be shown.

A lovely time was had and I cannot wait for the next opportunity to attend a wrestling show. I would love to get to a show for either PROGRESS, RevPro or a something along those lines. Plus, if ROH comes back to the UK again this year I might have a look-see, I could even be driving by then. I missed the boat this time around, but every year my school offers funding to students for independent trips, like a grand, so maybe next year I might look into going to wXw's 16 Karat Tournament. 

I also encourage you, my lovely comprades, to seek out attending a quality wrestling show. There is a fair share of not great and 'trash' wrestling in the world, but if you can get chance to go somewhere reputable, it's always a blast. 

That just about does it for me this time around guys and gals, hope you enjoyed this little recount of mine, and I hope to bring you another one soon. Have a good day everyone, and remember, you are all lovely.

BWOTW: 16/1/17 - 21/1/17

'Ello guv'na and welcome to this shiny new edition of 'Noah's Best Wrestling of the Week' AKA 'Coming From a British Angle' 

But before we get into it (and gee do I want to), let us first take a gander at the news from this past week;

1. Tyler Bate is your first ever WWE United Kingdom Champion, becoming the second youngest WWE champion history, only by a matter of months! Good lord what a tournament that was over the past weekend, and I loved every bit of it. We also had Tommy (Tommy, Tommy Fucking) End debut against Neville, using the End name, so whether he's using that for good who knows? It has been reported all the competitors were signed, and there has been a bit of controversy with WWE pulling people out of events and appearances, but that's contracts for ya, so you can't really blame anyone.
2. KURT FUCKING ANGLE IS IN THE HALL OF FAME! He's come back to the WWE and it feels so good. So amped to here that theme blare through the TV again and seeing that man make his way to the ring again. Expect a special li'l something out of me sometime soon, and remember, just because he's not contracted for any matches doesn't mean he can't slap an ankle lock on some motherfuckers.
3. Mickie James has returned too! After her match at TakeOver: Toronto, James is now on the SmackDown! brand, unveiling herself as La Luchadora and alligning with Alexa Bliss. Lets see where we go with this then.
4. Big Triple H can't get enough tournaments, seen with him confrming that there will be a WWE Women's Tournament in the future. Cruisers, Brits, Women, can we have a proper good King of the Ring please?
5. After debuting on 205 Live, Tajiri was injured at an NXT show. I'm sending all my love to the Japanese Buzzsaw, sending it to that lovely man.
6. Pentagon Jr. is done with AAA, now independent, though I'm not too sure of his dealing with Lucha Underground at the minute. He will now go by Penta Ciero Miedo or Penta 0M, which is still a pretty cool name.

And now for the gold in this Olympic medal of a wrestling blog, its the matches!

WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament

Night 1

Best Match on UKCT N1: Tyler Bate vs Tucker - First Round Match

Kicking us off is the final first round match of the tournament, pitting the eventual winner Tyler Bate against the man from Northern Ireland, Tucker.

Most of the other matches of the night were in'n'out fairly snappily, but this one had a good chunk of time dedicated to it. I was impressed by both men, with Tucker being relatively unknown to me and being a lot better than I would have thought, and Tyler showing off a lot more than I knew about him. This match made me root hard for Bate on the second night, and I love that his gimmick at this point really is just 'a lovely fella'.

We had some great, proper wrestling in this one, having a hefty dose of the British technical base as well as incorporating all the lovely things in the modern wrestling scene. We'd heard a bit about it in the promos and I was a bit tepid in my anticipation, but my word Tucker's superkick was goddamn awesome. He like leaped in the air, clocked Bate on the jaw like he was in a kung-fu movie so hard that he flew out the ring, nicely protecting the move.

Soon after, we had what was from my recollection, the only outside dive in the first day of the tournament. I thought that was a nice touch, seeing as the previous tournament, the Cruiserweight Classic, was inundated with high-spots of that ilk, so whilst it might not be massively noticeable, it was refreshing. It was real cool dive as well, a bit different than most things, a hurricanrana off the steps and onto the ramp. Tucker had a sore looking landing, the back of that neck/head coming down a bit awkwardly, but no worries, he looked to be fine afterwards.

The crowd was eating it all up, and by the end of it, the whole building was on their feet to witness the finish of the match.

Great match this to round of the first stage of the tournament, I went it sort of supporting Bate, came out loving him and eager to see more of both of the men. Check it out.

Night 2

Best Match on UKCT N2: Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - Grand Final

Tyler's popped up again, taking on Pete Dunne in the grand final and the deciding match to see who would be crowned the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Championship.

Going into this, we had Bate suffer some sort of shoulder/arm injury in his semi-final match against Wolfgang, which would be exacerbated in a post-match attack by Dunne. They did a great job of making sure Dunne was gonna be booed in this tournament, with him starting off the weekend receiving quite a cheered reception, and ending it being despised by all. Plus, it helped that Bate had won the hearts of essentially everyone watching.

So, with the K-Tape applied and being as useless as ever, there was a lot of working that arm. Dunne stretched and tweaked and wrecked that arm of Bate's, constantly abusing him. A slam into the turnbuckle was one of Dunne's damn nasty methods of brutalising Tyler, landing him pretty roughly on the mat.


Tyler had his fiery babyface flurries and retaliations, building back his momentum and landing some big money shots. I'm not sure whether he meant to do, or whether he didn't get quite enough rotation in the space for a splash, but he had a sweet looking 450 double footstomp.

Dunne was hammering Bate for what seemed the most part of the match, and even looked to end it after hitting his finisher, with it then becoming the only finisher that was kicked out of for the whole tournament. Then after a sequence of trying to put Tyler away, we came out with the sight of a Tyler Driver '97 and history being made. Just listen to that crowd;

That was an awesome match to cap off the weekend, bringing it all to a phenomenal close, with some lovely post match celebrations to follow. I loved that whole tournament, I may write a little retrospective piece on it if I feel I have enough to coherently say, but other than that, I recommend all of it all of you.

And as if I have to convince you any more that Tyler Bate is awesome, here's that sweet goodness of his theme;

Monday Night RAW

Best Match on RAW (16/1/17): Cesaro & Sheamus vs The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) - RAW Tag Team Championship Match

We're back in the USA now, and we've got the tag team champs of Sheamus and Cesaro taking on Gallows and Anderson.

We're starting to get some nice sequences with Sheamus and Cesaro, rather than just a tag move and then one goes off for a bit. Anderson was on the receiving end of this little flurry;

The Club actually had quite a decent amount of domination in this match, working over both of their opponents at one time or another. We actually had a dusty finish with The Club getting the decision reversed on them, which certainly did get me going. Sheamus knocked the ref down, The Club gets him out then Magic Killer's Cesaro; took a while for a new ref to come running down so I figured Cesaro was gonna kick out. Nope. I let out a big Stone Cole-esque 'What?' as the bell rang. I mean, Gallows and Anderson have had a bit better booking as of late, but fuck me that was a dramatic increase, and still is all things considered. They laid the champs out and picked up a pinfall, even if the match should've ended just before.

So Cesaro and Sheamus retain via disqualification, but The Club come out of this looking like legit contenders. Good stuff.

SmackDown! LIVE

Best Match on SD! (17/1/17): Alexa Bliss vs Becky Lynch - SmackDown! Women's Championship Steel Cage Match

SmackDown! LIVE now here on this blog of mine, and we're main eventing with a Steel Cage Match for the Women's Championship, Bliss versus Lynch. RAW, just come here, take a note about how our throats aren't having the fact that the women are the main event or that this is a cage match shoved down them, I can figure that shit out, okay? Cool.

As a have-r of long hair, I always feel a little uncomfortable watching people with long hair in cage matches, just the thought of it getting snagged in the chain link makes me wince. All that aside, this was a pretty good watch. Had quite your run of the mill cage match antics with the door and chasing people up the walls. However there was one spot I really liked, I don't think I had seen a top rope Exploder Suplex before, so this was a nice treat to see; 

Overall, it was a pretty solid match, nothing amazingly spectacular, but it was a nice watch. Plus we did get the Mickie James reveal at the end, which I thought deserved a bigger pop, though I suppose the crowd might not have had a great time seeing it in a cage and all. 

205 Live

Best Match on 205 Live (17/1/17): Jack Gallagher vs Ariya Daivari - 'I Forfeit' Match 

Stickin' around after SmackDown!, its 205 Live, this week featuring the what I would assume is the climax to the Gallagher vs Daivari feud, the 'I Forfeit' Match. 

It was pretty much what you can expect from a hardcore match on the weekly TV, brawling up to the ramp and around the ring with a bit of use of foreign objects. Not one, not two, but there were three different umbrellas used in this match, how much of a plan did Gallagher have going into this?

I can't really recall there being a whole lot of cool stuff in this match, though the finish was pretty nice, Gallagher locking in a crossface chickenwing assisted with an umbrella;

Not a whole lot to say about this one, it was an alright match, big on the gimmick side with a fair bit of mic time from both men essentially, 'I'm just gonna beat the shit outta ya, mate'. Decent.

NXT

Best Match on NXT (18/1/17): Roderick Strong vs Steve Cutler

Starting on the pre-taped side of things now, its NXT! Steve Cutler's back from being a thing for like two weeks a couple months ago and nothing afterwards, this time facing off against a man with a new theme that's a bit better; Roderick Strong. 

It was a fairly standard match in NXT, we've got a guy we want to make look good against one of the less relevant members of the roster. Not a lot to write home about in this one, Cutler did some things amidst Roddy hitting and throwing him quite a bit, but yeah, not much to say really. 

One thing that stuck out to me was that Percy Watson did have an inane comment in this one; 

'Deceptively strong there, Roderick Strong.'

It's in his fucking name, pal, what more do you want? 

Ring of Honour

Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 277): The Rebellion (Caprice Coleman, Kenny King & Rhett Titus) vs Jay White, Lio Rush & Donovan Dijak

Six-Man tag action kicking off the hour this week, with The Rebellion taking on the team of Dijak, Rush and White. 

Just a real snappy, boom-boom-boom type of match this one. We had some regular tagging in and out, keeping things rolling smoothly, even when The Rebellion were pounding on Rush they kept switching it up as to not stagnate anything. 

Dijak was getting involved in all the high flying antics of Rush and White, with the trio pulling off 3 moonsaults all on different sides of the ring, the camerawork making look pretty awesome.

Overall, it was good. Lots of stuff going on to keep you engaged with both teams busting out some high-paced, high-risk manoeuvres to give it a pacy feel. As always, you can watch ROH TV for FREE on both www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current or on the Fite TV app. Next episode should be proper good, with Marty Scurll facing Johnathon Gresham, and a three way between Will Ospreay, KUSHIDA and Dragon Lee!

The Verdict

Best Match of the Week: Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne - Grand Final - WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament

What else? This was a classic match with stellar storytelling and psychology plugged into it, flourishing it with a feel-good moment. I definitely recommend checking this out, the whole tournament too, to anyone interested in British wrestling in the slightest, and even if you aren't, I'm sure you'll come out of it pleasantly surprised.

And with that lot in the books, here's how the leaderboard looks nowadays. Finishing up this instalment, its time for 'The Best Wrestling Quote of the Week'.

'I was born to win an Olympic Gold medal, but I think my destiny was to come here in the WWE and entertain the fans' - Kurt Angle

That's all from me for this week readers, hope you enjoyed not only this post but also your past seven days, and I hope the next seven are equally as good, if not better! I'll catch your ass down the road...

BWOTW Special: Your Guide to the United Kingdom Championship Tournament

Yes, I've managed to do another guide. In this 'BWOTW Special' we'll be taking a look at the 16 men competing in the upcoming WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament. Over the two nights, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th January, this single elimination tournament will turn one of them into a champion, the inaugural champion to something I have high hopes for.

Truth be told, I don't know a fair few of these competitors so this is going to be a lovely learning experience for the both of us, dear reader. So, some insights might not be as in depth as others, I wasn't able to find everything out, missing a couple details here and there, but hey ho, lets get to it.

The Dudes I Know

Pete Dunne

Age: 23

Pro Debut: 2005

Billed From: Birmingham, West Midlands, England

Associated Companies: PROGRESS, RevPro, Attack!, WCPW, wXw, Over The Top Wrestling (OTT), Fight Club: PRO, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG)

Notable Accomplishments: Current PROGRESS Wrestling Champion, Current Fight Club: PRO Champion, Current OTT No Limits Champion, Former PROGRESS Tag Team Champion (w/ Trent Seven), Former RevPro British Cruiserweight Champion, Former 5x Attack! 24/7 Champion, Former wXw Shotgun Champion

Pete Dunne has quickly become one of the biggest names in British wrestling, being a major player in several of the largest British companies, as well as having competed in the States for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, debuting in the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Utilising what he has coined as 'British Strong Style', Dunne is one nasty bastard to be in the ring with, and I expect that he will be just as mean in the tournament. He is my prediction to be the winner of this whole thing, so c'mon Dunne!

Mark Andrews

Age: 24

Pro Debut: 2006

Billed From: Cardiff, Wales

Associated Companies: Total Nonstop Action (TNA), PROGRESS, Attack!, PWG, SWE

Notable Accomplishments: TNA British Bootcamp 2 Winner, Former PROGRESS Champion, Former PROGRESS Tag Team Champion (w/ Eddie Dennis), PROGRESS Natural Progression Series 2013 Winner, Former 5x Attack! 24/7 Champion, Former Attack! Tag Team Trophy Champion (w/ Nixon Newell)

Perhaps the most well known competitor in this tournament, Mark Andrews has wrestled at a high level in the British scene, as well as abroad, tenuring in TNA under the name 'Mandrews', which, in my opinion, is a fairly terrible name. Nevertheless, he is one hell of a high flyer, busting out Shooting Star Presses in the most beautiful way. Andrews usually assumes the more underdog type role, and I think that will work well not only in this tournament, but also going forward in WWE's new weekly show for these guys.

Danny Burch

Age: 35

Pro Debut: 2003

Billed From: London, England

Associated Companies: NXT, Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), IPW:UK, RevPro, wXw, Full Impact Pro (FIP)

Notable Accomplishments: Current FIP Florida Heritage Champion, Former 3x IPW:UK Champion, Former RevPro British Tag Team Champion (w/ Joel Redman), Former wXw Tag Team Champion (w/ Douglas Williams)

It's Danny Burch, that one that has appeared on NXT a few times, and I think got released at one point maybe, Danny Burch! I do not know a whole lot about this guy outside of his NXT appearances, so it should be interesting to see how he fairs now that he is being something more than enhancement talent. He might have a sort of Brian Kendrick role, being the grizzled vet looking to show why he's better.

Trent Seven

Age: 35

Pro Debut: 2009

Billed From: Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England

Associated Companies: ICW, RevPro, PROGRESS, WhatCulture Pro Wrestling (WCPW), wXw, Fight Club: PRO, Chikara

Notable Accomplishments: Former 2x PROGRESS Tag Team Champion (1x w/ Pete Dunne, 1x w/ Tyler Bate), Former Fight Club: PRO Champion, Former Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas (w/ Tyler Bate) 

Son of Trent Six (I can only assume), Trent Seven has been growing in star power of the last few years, wrestling for the bigger companies in the UK. The tag team partner of Dunne in the team of 'British Strong Style', and also former partner of fellow competitor Tyler Bate, I can imagine that they might play up these connections in the tournament. Plus, just look at that facial hair, I can only dream of having something like that.

The Dudes I Sorta Know

Joseph Conners

Age: 29

Pro Debut: 2006

Billed From: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England

Associated Companies: WCPW, SWE, IPW:UK

Notable Accomplishments: Former WCPW World Champion, Former 2x SWE Heavyweight Champion, Former 2x SWE Tag Team Champion (1x w/ Paul Malen, 1x w/ Jimmy Havoc)

I don't know a whole lot about Joseph Conners, but it appears he's one of the major WCPW guys that WWE have tempted away. From the looks of him, I can imagine he's all about a rougher style, but don't take my word as gospel.

Wolfgang

Age: 30

Pro Debut: 2003

Billed From: Glasgow, Scotland

Associated Companies: ICW

Notable Accomplishments: Current ICW Heavyweight Champion, Former ICW Zero-G Champion

We've got our first hoss! Wolfgang, the current ICW Champion, is here in the tournament. We can assume ICW and WWE are on good terms what with Balor appearing at Fear and Loathing, so this is even more crossover, similar to Dunne being PROGRESS Champion. I imagine Wolfgang is the biggest lad in this tournament, so they'll probably play that up. 

Tyler Bate

Age: 19

Pro Debut: 2012

Billed From: Netherton, Dudley, England

Associated Companies: wXw, Attack!, RevPro, Chikara

Notable Accomplishments: Former wXw Shotgun Champion, Former 3x Attack! 24/7 Champion, Former Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas (w/ Trent Seven)

Tyler Bate, only 19 and look where he is. Not only a mainstay in Britain but also a name in Germany's wXw. At this age, the sky's the limit for Bate. Now I've seen Bate live at a Global Force Wrestling show in 2015 against Trevor Lee. But, it being in my rural town, they didn't go all out, so I am expecting some nice stuff from this one. 

Jordan Devlin

Age: 26

Pro Debut: 2006

Billed From: Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Associated Companies: OTT

Notable Accomplishments: N/A

Trained by Finn Balor himself, Devlin is based in and around the Ireland area. I know hardly anything else about the man, but from the looks of him, he's got a solid chin and a lovely beard. From the little clips I've seen on OTT's YouTube, it appears he may have a similar style to Balor.

The Dudes I Don't Know

Sam Gradwell

Age: ???

Pro Debut: 2009

Billed From: Blackpool, Lancashire, England

Associated Companies: Grand Pro Wrestling (GPW)

Notable Accomplishments: Former GPW Champion, Former GPW Tag Team Champion (w/ Chris Echo)

Initial Impressions: Something about the shape of his head unsettles me. That's all really.

James Drake

Age: 23

Pro Debut: 2010

Billed From: Blackpool, Lancashire, England

Associated Companies: Future Shock Wrestling (FSW), PROGRESS

Notable Accomplishments: Former FSW Adrenaline Champion, Former FSW Tag Team Champion (w/ Axl Rage)

Initial Impressions: I don't know what it is, but something about Drake's look makes me interested in him. It might be because I am a fellow long haired guy, but I dunno. There's something there.

Tucker

Age: 26

Pro Debut: ???

Billed From: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Associated Companies: Pro Wrestling Ulster (PWU), OTT

Notable Accomplishments: Former 2x PWU Champion, Former PWU All-Ulster Champion

Initial Impressions: Tucker's the only Northern Irish wrestler in the bracket, and I couldn't really find much of him. Just having 'Tucker' to base searches on wasn't the most helpful thing in the world.

Tyson T-Bone

Age: ???

Pro Debut: 2007

Billed From: Malvern, Worcestershire (pronounced 'wuss-tuh-sher'), England

Associated Companies: Preston City Wresting (PCW), FSW, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), PROGRESS, SWE

Notable Accomplishments: Former 2x PCW Champion, Former PCW Tag Team Champion (w/ Rampage Brown), Former FSW Champion, Former Southside Wrestling Heavyweight Champion

Initial Impressions: Right, as I was looking this guy up, it appears his whole gimmick is that he is a gypsy fighter. I have no idea what to make of this.

Dan Moloney

Age: 19

Pro Debut: 2013

Billed From: Birmingham, West Midlands, England

Associated Companies: Kamikaze Pro, Fight Club: PRO, Attack!, SWE

Notable Accomplishments: Former Kamikaze Pro Tag Team Champion (w/ Tyler Bate), Former Attack! Tag Team Trophy (w/ Elephant Mask), Former Attack! 24/7 Champion

Initial Impressions: Look at that singlet! Dan Maloney, another young 'un here in the tournament, my money's on him being a big suplex-throwing powerhouse.

Roy Johnson

Age: ???

Pro Debut: 2014

Billed From: South London, England

Associated Companies: PROGRESS, IPW:UK

Notable Accomplishments: N/A

Initial Impressions: In looking up Roy, I have gotten quite excited about this one, as from what I've gathered, he challenges people to battles on the mic. Yes please, take me back to Chain Gang Cena!

H.C. Dyer

Age: 20

Pro Debut: ???

Billed From: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England

Associated Companies: Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE)

Notable Accomplishments: N/A

Initial Impressions: It's the closest thing I've got to a hometown boy (Cambridgeshire FTW!), so I guess I should have some support from him, but hey ho, we're all British here and I don't know anyone who really cares about counties. Dunno what to make of him, I can't wait to see how many people have plain black trunks.

Saxon Huxley

Age: 29

Pro Debut: ???

Billed From: Hartlepool, County Durham, England

Associated Companies: ???

Notable Accomplishments: N/A


Initial Impressions: This dude looks cool, its that long hair effect, but from what I've seen, he appears to be a real big man. I saw that he spent some time in Canada if my memory serves me right, and Italy. Fun facts for you there.

And as I was writing this up, the tournament bracket has been revealed. My bet is it comes down to Dunne vs Seven. But what do you think? Lots of possible outcomes.

Matches

Wolfgang vs Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) - ICW: Hadouken

Mark Andrews vs Tommy End - Southside Wrestling Raw Deal 3

Pete Dunne vs El Ligero - WCPW True Legacy #2

Trent Seven vs Johnny Moss - WCPW Loaded #13.5

Danny Burch (Martin Stone) vs Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno) - wXw Shotgun #160

Joseph Conners vs Cody Rhodes - WCPW Loaded #14.5

Tyler Bate vs Jay Lethal - Shropshire Wrestling Alliance: Summer Blowout

James Drake vs Jack Gallagher - FSW: Access Adrenaline Episode 1