WWE Monday Night Raw Review - April 6th, 2015

Last week, WWE reinvigorated my interest in their product with a fantastic WrestleMania and week to follow. It was unpredictable and the match quality was high. From Mania to Raw to Smackdown it was all great stuff. The big question headed into this week's show was whether or not they could keep up the momentum. I, for one, was still hyped just off the fact that we would get to see Neville and Lucha Dragons compete. With the already stacked roster of Bryan, Cena, Rollins, Orton, Cesaro, Kidd, Ziggler, Harper, Ambrose, etc. The dream matches are endless. None the less, let's get into this week's episode of Monday Night Raw.

Opening Segment - Rollins/Orton confrontation and Announcements
The opening segment was basic, but pretty enjoyable. Rollins is solid enough on the mic to keep you interested and the humor with Kane & Show is something I've always found funny. Orton's involvement added to the interest as well. Then came the match announcements. I dug the idea of Orton/Ryback/Reigns as the main event with the winner becoming number one contender however I didn't like the idea of them all competing in singles matches prior to that. It just seems like overkill and all but guarantees a short main event. So, this accomplished what it set out do however it wasn't neccessarily exciting as it led to a match between Orton & Kane. I give it a C+.

Segment rating - C+

1) Randy Orton vs. Kane
This didn't last long at all thankfully. These two have had good matches in the past, such as at Extreme Rules in 2012, but in 2015, I have no interest in seeing them wrestle each other. Some complained at the DQ finish which baffled me considering they also bitched about this match taking place. Regardless of that, this was well booked and a good decision by WWE with deciding that this wasn't worthy of alot of time.

Match rating - **

2) Seth Rollins vs. Adrian Neville

March 2015 - Month in Review

WWE Superstar of the Month - Seth Rollins (WWE World Heavyweight Champion)

After what took place at WrestleMania, who else could this award go to? NO ONE. Rollins has been the workhorse of WWE for quite some time by delivering quality television every single week and it all paid off just days ago when he cashed in his Money in The Bank briefcase in the main event of WrestleMania. The future of the WWE took his crown by defeating Roman Reigns & Brock Lesnar to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It's a moment that won't soon be forgotten as it sent shockwaves through the wrestling world. This is Rollins' second time winning Superstar of the Month and I have a feeling it won't be his last. At this rate, he'll be looking at the Wrestler of the Year award come December. Congrats to Mr. Rollins on another groundbreaking month!

Last month's winner: Roman Reigns

Independent Wrestler of the Month - Tommy End (WXW, Evolve) (@TommyEnd)

Calling fans of Chris Hero, Kyle O'Reilly, & Drew Gulak! Give Tommy End a look and I guarantee you'll be hooked. His work this month proved to me that he's without a doubt on the rise on the Independent Wrestling scene. To start the month, his return to PWG was announced as he will face Chris Hero on April 3rd. End first wrestled for PWG in 2007 during their tour of England so while he's not technically new to PWG, this will be his debut in Reseda which is completely different ball game and a huge accomplishment. The middle of the month saw Tommy enter WXW's prestigious 16 Carat Gold Tournament where he defeated former TNA World Champion Chris Sabin, Andrew Everett, Axel Dieter Jr, & Absolute Andy to win the tournament. To close out March, he began his tour of the United States by debuting for EVOLVE/WWN Live in several impressive efforts against the likes of TJ Perkins (TNA's Manik), Biff Busick, & Drew Gulak. This was without doubt one of the biggest months in Tommy End's career thus far and his year looks to only get better from here.

Last month's winner: Josh Alexander (Alpha 1, AIW, AAW, PWG)

TNA Star of the Month - Spud (X Division Champion)

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - March 30th, 2015 - Night after WrestleMania 31

After an unbelievable night in the form of one of the best WrestleMania's in recent memory, if not of all time, WWE had a big act to follow. That almost always guarantees a thrilling show as WWE is pressed to deliver. Beyond that, we are headed into it with a lot of question as we wonder what's next for a number of superstars. Let's prolong it no further. Time to take a look at this week's edition of Monday Night Raw! The episode following WrestleMania 31!

Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman demand that Lesnar get his rematch

I don't think there was a better way to start the show than this. Brock is hotter than he's ever been since returning and despite his loss, he's still looking as dominant as ever. Seeing Lesnar come out with his ring gear brought me to my feet as I knew he was ready for a fight. Heyman delivered a phenomenal promo that was followed by a cliffhanger by Stephanie. Will we see Brock compete live on Raw for the first time in over a decade? This was a great way to get the show going as it answered some questions, but also left us with new ones to keep us watching.

1) Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler - Intercontinental Championship Match

Random Match Reviews - Edition #2

Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omari - All Japan Pro Wrestling - Champion Carnival Finals - 4/15/2000
I watched this match on a Best of 2000's set I got from Highspots.com which features a ton of Japanese and Indy classics from the 2000's. The first disc has several Kobashi bouts from All Japan which is something I've really enjoyed. This match with Omori was no different. Things get going and one thing I noticed right off the bat is that Takao is almost the same size as Kobashi. This made for a pretty epic visual when these two began trading chops. It was clear that the striking was Kobashi's strong suit though because Takao began targeting his leg/knee by slamming it into the ring post. The bout headed to the outside where Takao slammed Kobashi leg first over the railing onto a table which began to collapse under him, but didn't fully break. The next ten minutes saw Takao Omori continue to work over the leg of Kobashi with a variety of submissions, most notably a figure four and a sharpshooter. Kobashi came back however and we got an epic closing sequence. The two began trading strikes only for Kobashi to lock Omori in a sleeper which led to a vicious sleeper suplex. Speaking of suplexes, we saw alot of them here. From half & halfs to saito suplexes to Omori somehow hitting two dragon suplexes on Kobashi. In the end, Kobashi would finally finish off Omori by powerbombing him into the turnbuckles and turning him inside out with a lariat. Omori somehow kicked out of the buckle bomb however the lariat exchange didn't end in his favor as he was defeated. One last thing I'd like to mention here was how awesome the crowd was. They were so into the match that every nearfall felt like it truly meant something, they definitely added to this match. Phenomenal match from All Japan.

Match rating - ****1/2

Triple H vs. Chris Jericho - Last Man Standing Match - WWE: Fully Loaded 2000

Friday Night Wrestling Recap - NJPW on AXS & TNA Impact Review - March 13th, 2015

Friday Night Wrestling Review - NJPW on AXS & TNA Impact - March 13th, 2015

After a few weeks away from both NJPW on AXS and TNA Impact, this week I returned to my couch to check out both shows. Now, the reason I've not watched for several weeks is different for each show. For NJPW on AXS, it's because I haven't been home. For TNA, it's been that as well, but it's also because I've been completely uninterested since January. So, the questions I had going into this night of television wrestling were - 1) Can NJPW on AXS continue to be as awesome as it was the last time I watched? 2) Is watching Impact going to be worth my time?

NJPW on AXS Review - 3/13/15 - Okada vs Naito from WK8

Let's start by answering the first question. NJPW came on at 8pm so I guess I should be apt to discuss it right out of the gate. I'll just simply say from the get go that it did indeed continue to be as awesome as it was the last time I watched. I'd even venture to say that the commentary was even better. They do (almost) everything I want from a pro wrestling commentator. They stay serious most of the time however they are beginning to throw a bit of light hearted talk/humor in which is very nice. For NJPW though, I think they do a perfect job. New Japan is straight up pro wrestling and the commentators reflect that by adding to what the athletes do in the ring.

Speaking of the athletes, this week's edition saw a match between then IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and challenger Tetsuya Naito from Wrestle Kingdom 8 in January of 2014. I really didn't know what to expect heading into the bout considering I'm a big fan of Okada, but I haven't seen enough of Naito to know if he'd be able to deliver here. His match with Styles at WK9 was really good though so obviously I'm came into this with an open mind.

FANTASY BOOKING: ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds, Global Wars, & Best in the World 2015

With the announcement of their being FOUR joint shows between ROH & New Japan Pro Wrestling coming up in May, I've decided to have some fun and fantasy book all four events. It's actually been awhile since I've fantasy booked anything so I'm really excited to do this because like I've said before, as soon as things like this are announced, ideas start running through my head as to what will be booked. One thing is for sure, these events will likely be dream matches galore and my fantasy bookings for each event will reflect that. However, I understand that both promotions will probably want to have some reocurring stories going throughout the events therefore I have included that to. I've yet to share any of these ideas with anyone so I'm excited to do so now.

 

As I always state before any Fantasy Booking, to avoid ANY confusion, this is purely FANTASY. It's not what I think will happen, it's not the rumored cards for these shows, it's CERTAINLY NOT the official card for these shows. It's purely what I would like to see happen and how I would book the shows if I somehow was given a chance. This is just for fun, so I hope you enjoy reading it.
 

The format will be the same as some of my previous fantasy bookings as I will discuss the build to each event and develop a full card in the process, reveal the full card lineup, discuss the aftermath of the event then lead in to the card for the next event and so on. Now, let's get started!

 

Build towards War of the Worlds Night One:

Heading into the first night of War of the Worlds in Philly, I think there's only one match that should main event. It's a bout that I've heard ROH wanted to do at the 13th Anniversary show. It's Jay Briscoe vs. AJ Styles. There's one big difference between how I'd book it and what the rumor of this match was though. This match will be for BOTH titles. Yep. ROH World Title AND the IWGP Heavyweight Title on the line. This would be a major draw. Briscoe has been undefeated for two years and seemingly unstoppable. And AJ Styles is AJ Styles, the phenomenal one and now two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. It's MONEY!

 

The co-main event for the second night of this event is a six man tag pitting the Bullet Club's The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega against The Kingdom of Adam Cole, Matt Taven, & Mike Bennett. It's the two biggest stables in both promotions and while one is more popular than the other, this would be a fresh match up and definitely deliver. PLUS this is part of a story that I believe ROH is hinting towards doing. That being tensions between The Kingdom and The Bullet Club. At the 13th Anniversary Show Taven & Bennett pinned Karl Anderson. It could just be coincidence, but it hopes it's not, hence why I'm running with it in this article. Buckle in for the ride!

Miscellaneous Match Reviews

Throughout the weeks/months, I watch various matches that may not be part of a particular show or DVD that I'm viewing. Instead of just watching them, I've decided to start putting them together and reviewing them in an article like this for your viewing pleasure. So, please feel free to give me your feedback on this new concept. I've been trying out a lot of new things on the blog and I'd love to hear your thoughts. None the less, let's get into my first Miscellaneous Match Reviews post!

Prince Devitt & Rysuke Taguchi vs. Eddie Edwards & KENTA - NOAH - 7/10/10
The first match comes from NOAH in Japan in 2010. It features some names you may recognize as Devitt is currently in WWE NXT as Finn Balor along with KENTA who competes under the name Hideo Itami. Also in this match is Eddie Edwards who is currently in TNA as one half of The Wolves. When I saw all the names involved in this match, I decided to watch it immediately. There are multiple dream matches encompassed inside this one match so I was excited to see it. I was also interested to see how the team of Edwards/KENTA would fair against the highly accomplished duo of Apollo 55 in Prince Devitt & Rysuke Tagachi. I'm not sure how often Edwards & KENTA teamed in NOAH at this time, but they did a good job of working together and were able to hang in there with Devitt & Taguchi. At the beginning of this review, I mentioned there being several dream matches being encompassed in this tag match and while we got to see some of those guys mix it up like Devitt & KENTA and Devitt & Eddie, this came off as more of a tag team exhibition. That's not a negative though because it was very good for what it was. Both teams got the opportunity showcase all their manuevers and it was cool to just watch them work. The experience of Taguchi & Devitt ended up being the determining factor as they picked up the victory. Good tag team match.

Match rating - ***1/4

El Generico vs. Jigsaw - CHIKARA: High Noon 2011