Before we get stuck in, lets have a quick gander at the past week's news;
- It has been revealed that not only will NXT, 205 Live and the WWE UK talent be on show at WrestleMania Axxess, but so will ICW and Progress! Here's the official schedule, and my word there is some top quality matches listed there. Good lord I hope this gets put on the network at some point.
- The Usos are your new SmackDown! Tag Team Champions, just under two weeks prior to WrestleMania! Pretty big surprise there, it'll be interesting to see what they have in the works going forward.
- We've got more Hall of Fame inducters (is that a word?); Eric Bischoff has been announced to be inducting DDP, Jim Cornette for the Rock'n'Roll Express and Natalya for Beth Phoenix.
- Heidi Lovelace debuted on NXT this week, under the new name of Ruby Riot. She aided Dillinger, Jose and Strong in fighting off SAnitY. Whether they're doing anything at TakeOver with all these, I have no idea.
- SmackDown! are bringing back even more cool Pay-Per-Views! Possibly my favourite one mainly because I remember watching it a ton on VHS (I ain't too young for that) as a li'l boy, it's only Bad Blood! It'll be in Hartford, Connecticut in July. We might finally have a SD! pay-per-view that isn't all blue!
- Kane is pulling a Rhyno and is running for mayor of Knox County, Tennessee! He'd have my vote if I was an American citizen and lived in that place.
- The first episode of Z! True Comeback Story is up and it is pretty heartbreaking I have to say, check it out;
And now for the marinara in this meatball sub of a wrestling blog, its the matches!
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (20/3/17): Samoa Joe vs Sami Zayn
Starting us off on RAW we've got a rematch from Fastlane, its Samoa Joe versus Sami Zayn.
Zayn kicked it off with a frenzy, getting right on Joe without much a thought. He was ever vigilant in this battle, as Joe would soon find himself on top of this. For quite some time he was brutalising Sami, just kicking the shit out of the guy. Sami had his glimmers of hope shine through, hitting a headscissors, his big lariat, but when working up some power on a forearm he took an unexpected journey;
Sami managed to get Joe winded and resting on the outside a little while after that, enabling him to hit his torpedo DDT on the big Samoan man. Zayn's not had much chance to hit this as of late on TV or Pay-Per-View, so it is quite the treat to get it here;
However, we'd quickly see Joe slap that Coquina Clutch on and force Sami to submit. Pretty nice match here, opening the show. Not a whole lot of competition this week really, but it was good in its own right.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (21/3/17): American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan) vs The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) - SmackDown! Tag Team Championship Match
Following up from their non-title clash last week, here we have The Usos challenging American Alpha for the blue brand's tag team titles. This match took the previous encounter, developed upon it and improved greatly. We had Alpha being on the more assertive and determined in this, pulling out more stops to defend their belts.
Suplexes for days in this one from the singlet clad champs, tonnes and tonnes of throws. Then we had a fair few double teams that would lead to a whole host of false finishes on the part of both teams. The crowd were super into this, making each high spot and kick out that much more emphatic, big pops for all it. Even though the Usos are definite heels, they too got cheers from their big moments in the match. I didn't think that detracted at all, not every match needs fans to be cemented on one side.
The finish was great. I'm not sure I've ever seen Gable pull off a moonsault, but lordy was I a happy boy when I did. Just a beautiful flip. Add to this we had a real nice looking superkick finishing off Jason Jordan, I thought this was all wonderfully put together;
Great match here, this is why we need more tag matches on SmackDown! The division might not be the deepest, but they sure have some top quality teams. Lovely stuff.
205 Live
Best Match on 205 (21/3/17): Neville vs Mustafa Ali
Following SmackDown! we've got 205 Live, and main eventing this week's episode, we have the Cruiserweight Champion, Neville, taking on Mustafa Ali.
Very much a Neville dominated match building towards WrestleMania in Orlando, FL. He stuck to his beat down offence we've seen from him the past few months since returning, all the while staring down and heckling Aries, who was returning to commentary this one time. Ali had his moments, some short lived flurries before being knocked down a peg or five by the King of the Cruiserweights.
The final few minutes saw a couple of some real cool spots that wowed everyone in the arena and me, as well as many others I'm sure, watching as Ali managed to out-manoeuvre Neville on the top rope, delivering a big money Spanish Fly;
Jesus Neville sold that like his spine was readjusted. The Englishman would turn it back around on Ali, finding himself in a position to do some major damage on the opposite corner. Neville does some sick German suplexes in his matches, and he took it to the extreme here, taking it to the top and making Ali smack his face on the canvas;
Then, all it took to was the Rings of Saturn to put Ali away and keep this streak of Neville's going. Real cool match here, showed off some more of Ali but kept Neville's appearance of 'big bad motherfucker'. One of the better matches in 205 Live history.
NXT
Best Match on NXT (22/3/17): Oney Lorcan vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas
Taking us to NXT, its a rematch of some of the clashes I've really enjoyed from the TV, Andrade 'Cien' Almas taking on Oney Lorcan.
This had the aspects of their previous battles that made their other matches so great; a healthy dose of stiff, nasty strikes and a cool spot here or there. Now coming up later we have some matches where strikes took prime position, but this one did a great job of having these two batter the fuck outta each other. Lorcan has some brutal looking European uppercuts, and he threw a fair few in this one.
In regards to some high spots, even that looked proper stiff, with Lorcan getting a dive off the steps being reversed into a slam/throw onto the floor ringside a slapping thud;
Almas continues to get more and more engrossing to watch every time I see him. Being able to tap into his 'Los Ingobernables' playbook has separated him from the pack and has given him a much needed niche, especially with NXT arguably being a bit lacking in established characters. I really have come to love the guy.
Almas would come out of this on top, managing to get Lorcan in the confines of the hammerlock, allowing him to his finishing DDT. Great match here, and afterwards we found out that Almas would be appearing at TakeOver to face the man formerly known as Tommy (Tommy, Tommy Fucking) End, Aleister Black. Exciting stuff.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 287): Jay White vs Jay Briscoe
Having been drawn out to a 15 minute time limit draw in their first face off last year, Jay takes on Jay to prove who is the better Jay (out of this Jay and that Jay, but with no Jay Lethal in sight, can we be sure they are the top Jay?). I'm sorry I'll stick to surnames for this one.
White took off like a Concord as the bell rang, getting right on Briscoe with a running dropkick, followed by a suicide dive, and then tossing the former World Champion into the ringside barricades. He got to keep the upper hand for the first few minutes, but it would soon develop into a very Briscoe heavy match.
Briscoe has such a tensity and a snap in everything he does, it makes every move he does look even more painful, whether it be a left jab or a slam to the mat. White did a good job of absorbing it all, selling real well, and when he sucked it up and built some momentum for himself it made him look all the more driven. My favourite part of the match came when Briscoe kept booting the New Zealander right in the mush, with two repetitions being needed to put him on the mat. Then when he was pinned next, a kickout at 1 after a pretty hefty bombardment, shifted that drama up some.
I have made it known in the past that I'm not massive fans of either of these guys, but I have to admit that they put on a good match here this episode of Ring of Honour TV. That being said, I'd still like to see White make some changes to his offence, with it all being pretty bland in my opinion. As always, you can watch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current or on the Fite TV app like your main-man Noah here.
NJPW: New Japan Cup
Semi Finals
Best Match on NJCSF: Tomohiro Ishii vs Katsuyori Shibata - New Japan Cup Semi-Final Match
Taking a trip across the Pacific now (from the US anyway, I'd probably take a plane over Europe and mainland Asia, maybe get a connecting flight somewhere) to visit our lovely friends at New Japan Pro Wrestling. We've got the semi-finals of the New Japan Cup taking place, and out of the show, the one that took the prize of best on show was the clash between Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata.
Rematch from WrestleKingdom this, though it could be considered that the stakes were higher this time around. As my man Jim Ross would probably put it (you're in my thoughts, big man, hope the world feels brighter soon), this was a slobberknocker. On paper, you could probably tell that this one was going to have a heavy focus on these two lads bludgeoning each other with meaty forearms and whatever else they felt like using as a blunt instrument in their quest at inflicting pain.
I can't really think of what more there is to say really. These guys had some deadly exchanges that gave me a headache just watching, with vinegar and mustard put on every one of their shots. If you like fuckers beating the piss outta each other, this one is for you. Only one of these two could make it to the final, and that man was....
Finals
Best Match on NJCF: Bad Luck Fale vs Katsuyori Shibata - New Japan Cup Grand Final
Shibata takes on 'The Underboss' of The Bullet Club, Bad Luck Fale to decide the winner of the tournament and who would be receiving the the title shot of their choice, though I feel the introducing image may have spoilt that a smidge.
We kicked things off with Fale taking things to ringside and beyond, launching Shibata through several rows of chairs, deep into the audience. Fale was pretty damn dominant in the opening, imposing much of his will on Shibata, who was finding from below, an oddity in my experiences watching the man. His arm became the focus of Fale pretty early on, it felt a bit strange seeing a giant like this guy target limbs opposed to using raw power, but straying off the beaten path in wrestling can be very rewarding, which I thought it was here.
Its not like Fale abandoned the type of match we might expect of him, with him taking the time to deliver some mean hits to Shibata. His lariats are fucking mean, he'd slap that huge arm across the upper chest of Shibata and a cloud of sweat would poof into the air before he'd eventually crumple to the mat. Vicious.
Shibata's focus would come down to trying to choke the bastard out, with him locking such a hold on him a number of times and for quite a duration in his plight. The repetition of it built on the drama, with the wonder of if he could actually do it developing each time those arms of his clasped together around Fale's head. In the end, he managed to get him down and set up the PK to find himself crowned as the winner of the 2017 New Japan Cup. Awesome match this, great story telling, making this certainly the best Bad Luck Fale match I've seen, and one of Shibata's more enjoyable ones in my opinion as of late.
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Bad Luck Fale vs Katsuyori Shibata - New Japan Cup Grand Final
This may be a bit of an odd choice to some people with Ishii/Shibata the night before also being on here, but I found myself liking Fale/Shibata a whole lot more, with it sticking in my memory much better and much more fondly. When you've got Ishii/Shibata going 20+ minutes hitting each other in the face, it can get a bit draining. The whole dynamic between the larger Fale and Shibata facing a daunting challenge made for a much more tense match I felt. Shoutouts also to Usos/AA as that was class too, and to Neville/Ali for some great action, can't go wrong watching those I feel.
With another entry made into this ongoing journey through the best wrestling has to offer, the leaderboard now looks a hell of a lot like this.
Now, all that's left really is to introduce 'The Best Promo of the Week', coming to us this time from Talking Smack, with the new tag champions of Jimmy and Jey Uso detailing to DBry the new passes that they have;
Just one more week before 'Mania guys, be sure to return here to see how it goes, and then coming to you Monday we should have a special 'Best Wrestling of the Weekend', showing off the madness that is 'Mania. Last year I only managed to cover TakeOver and WM32, with other events featuring on the next weekly post, but I hope to try and maybe get a WWN Supershow or stuff of that like on the weekend special. I also hope that the next 7 days are filled with more smiles than frowns for you guys, and I hope that school doesn't exhaust me before the big one. Seesya!
