When ROH announced it was getting it's first national TV Deal, the internet was buzzing. Thankfully, we only had to wait a week for their debut on Destination America. I've been lucky enough to have ROH TV on a local network in my area for nearly a year now so this isn't anything new for me although it's certainly still exciting to see them get a permanent weekly time slot on a solid network.
1) KUSHIDA vs. Will Ferrara It's awesome seeing one half of the Time Splitters to kick off this show! These two are around the same size however KUSHIDA has a vast experience advantage. After an early flurry, Ferrara manages to stop KUSHIDA's momentum by putting his knees up to block a standing moonsault attempt. This allows him to get control of the match up. He works over KUSHIDA for a few moments before the man who is currently leading in the BOSJ tournament began mounting a comeback. KUSHIDA ends up delivering a sick counter to one of Ferrara's moves and locking him in his submission finisher which is an inverted version of the Kimura Lock. This earns KUSHIDA the victory. Fine little opening contest.
Seth Rollins & The Authority Call Out Dean Ambrose This was a pretty great segment. I'd personally say it was Roman Reigns' best yet. If you didn't see it, HHH asked for Ambrose to return the WWE Title only to get Reigns. He vouches for Ambrose to get a rematch for the WWE Title at Money in The Bank and it will be a Ladder Match! Looks like we'll be getting another Ambrose/Rollins classic! Reigns plays his role extremely well here and is announced to be in the MITB match next month, IF he is able to defeat Bad News Barrett next.
1) Roman Reigns vs. King Barrett Decent little match here aside from a few pointless moments that were clearly there just to kill time. They put together a great closing sequence and also had a number of cool moments during the match itself. Reigns throwing Barrett into the steps only for him to jump off them and kick them back into Reigns' leg being one of them. However, for every good exchange there was an extended period of rest holds from BNB. I don't mind headlocks, hell, I love a solid headlock, but when two guys are given more time than normal in a match, you'd think they'd come up with something a little more intricate. It was still a fairly entertaining contest though, despite that.
Match rating - **3/4 Ryback speaks and prepares for his first title defense
After a few weeks away, NJPW returns to American television and what better way to start than with action from last year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament? It's awesome timing considering this year's BOSJ tourney is taking place as this airs. I'm a week late reviewing this episode due to missing it when it originally aired. Thankfully they replayed it prior to this week's edition so I got to catch it and give my thoughts.
1) KUSHIDA vs. Taichi - Semi Final Round Match I'm still somewhat new to NJPW so this may be why, but I've never seen a match like this one in my time watching New Japan. It featured alot of interference that started before the bell even sounded. Taichi portrayed his sly, almost Eddie Guerrero like character by using a chair prior to the match and then taking every advantage to cheat behind the ref's back during the bout. Everyone from Alex Shelley to Taka Michinoku made an appearance to interfere here and it was enjoyable while it lasted, just not something you typically get from NJPW. It was what it was.
Match rating - **1/2 2) Ricochet vs. Rysuke Tagachi - Semi Final Round Match Super fun match here. They cut out a few minutes of it though so I'm not sure what exactly I missed. Therefore, I'll just give a rating for what I saw. The action here was all crisp and there were some sweet exchanges between the two. It didn't have an epic finishing run or anything, just felt like a nice little exhibition and that's something I can't complain about.
Match rating - ***
3) Ricochet vs. KUSHIDA - 2014 BOSJ Final Round Match UNBELIEVABLE! That's honestly all I can say as I type this just moments after I finished watching this match. These two absolutely pulled out all the stops and proved why they were worthy of being in the finals. They also delivered a match that reminded me of why I love this style of wrestling. It was a perfect representation of the junior heavyweight style by two men who do it better than anyone else. The match started with Ricochet & KUSHIDA going back and forth in a battle of oneupsmanship with neither man getting a clear advantage although KUSHIDA would soon begin implementing his game plan of working on the arm of Ricochet as a way of setting up for his submission finisher, the hoverboard lock. KUSHIDA got the upperhand for a few moments and while it didn't last long, it had a lasting effect because Ricochet continued grasp his arm despite regaining control of the match. He was clearly in pain. Oddly enough, strikes are what earned Ricochet the advantage about mid-way through the bout as he nailed KUSHIDA with kicks and other offense maneuvers to maintain control while he tried to rehab his arm. KUSHIDA wouldn't stay down though and he made his comeback which saw him hit a massive swanton bomb off the top turnbuckle. This is where things went from very good to absolutely epic. The final 10 minutes or so took this match to the entire next level, in my opinion because it's where everything they had been building towards came together. They not only had more flashy counters and big spots, they also had call backs to earlier happenings in the match as KUSHIDA continued taking it to Ricochet's arm. It was during this time that I actually realized why he had been working over the arm as he repeatedly began going for his finishing submission hold which is a variation of the kimura lock. Every counter felt epic, the crowd was hanging on every move & near fall, this was just a spectacle to see. Amazing match and without a doubt a must see.
1) Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins & Kane This was a fun tag match as you'd probably expect. Some great exchanges between Ambrose & Rollins, Reigns did his schtick, and Kane's work was minimal so this was solid. There were also a few surprising nearfalls that I didn't expect from this. Speaking of surprises, Ambrose picked up the win over Rollins. Huge victory!
Match rating - *** 2) Rusev vs. R-Truth Squash match. Complete waste of time and waste of R-Truth.
Match rating - DUD Rusev asks Lana for an apology Awful is the only word that I can think of to describe this segment. I had already nearly fallen asleep after that squash and this didn't do anything to help. Rusev did a solid job and so did Lana, but this entire thing got way too corny. Ziggler comes out and has this weird smiley staredown with Lana before they kiss again. The Hollywood/movie writers HAD to be who wrote this segment because it SUCKED.
Dean Ambrose gets arrested IT GETS WORSE. This may not seem bad on paper however it didn't come across as enjoyable as you may think. The "officer" read Dean his rights via a script in plain sight. Dean did the "I know I've heard this before, this isn't my first time" cliche bad guy schtick. Too stereotypical for my liking.
3) Bad News Barrett vs. Ryback Ryback's ribs are still taped and BNB targets them from the get go. After a minute or two of being worked over, Ryback mounts some offense only to get shut down again. BNB slaps him around and recieves a spinebuster out of nowhere. The crowd comes alive as Ryback hits his finisher for the victory. Not a bad match albeit pretty short.
When Zack Sabre Jr made came to the US last August and delivered some of the best matches of the entire calender year in PWG & Evolve, he really opened the eyes of many American fans to the British wrestling scene. Since then, I've been itching to check out some of the top promotions over there and with Revolution Pro UK launching their TV series on YouTube, I've now gotten that opportunity. There are multiple episodes up now and I almost started at the beginning, but I just couldn't bring myself to wait to see this match between two of my favorite performers at the moment. It's NJPW vs NOAH as then IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura battles then GHC Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Zack Sabre Jr in a match from Summer Sizzler 2014!
Speaking of Summer Sizzler, to start the show, this year's event was discussed and man, the card is STACKED! AJ Styles will be in the house as well as Tomohiro Ishii. On top of that, Ricochet will be facing off in the main event with none other than Shinsuke Nakamura! Needless to say, it gave me yet another thing to be excited about this summer when it comes to pro-wres.
After we take a look back at past episodes, all of which can be found on YouTube, that featured the likes of Ricochet & Rich Swann, Will Ospreay, & Rocky Romero, it was time to head on to the main event. The reason everyone is watching - Nakamura vs Sabre Jr!
1) Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Zack Sabre Jr
The entrances alone for this match got over 20k views on YouTube which is what led Rev Pro to release this entire match for free. When I heard that fact, I was even more excited due to the charisma both men have as was displayed in their respective walks to the ring. Once both men were in the ring, a big fight feel set in as the crowd chanted "Holy shit!" Indeed, that's exactly how I feel as well! The opening sequence sees the King of Strong Style attempt to psyche out Sabre to no avail. Both men go for strikes, but neither were able to land any which leads to a stand off AND a standing ovation. Nakamura gets the first real advantage by outsmarting Sabre and jumping him from behind when he leaned out to say something to a fan in the audience. Sabre falls out of the ring and Nakamura's assault begins as he throws him into the crowd through some chairs. He then sets Sabre up on the railing and delivers a vicious running knee lift that floors the master of the arm bar. Back in the ring, Nakamura continues working over Sabre only to get caught off guard admist one of his signature mannerisms as Zack lands a huge kick on him. Things really picked up from this point on with so many slick, smooth counters. It was clear that both competitors had each other well scouted. Nakamura goes for the Boma Knee, SABRE RESPONDS WITH AN UPPERCUT OUT OF NOWHERE! Sabre hits a northern lights suplex and goes directly for the cross armbreaker, but NO! NAKAMURA BREAKS OUT AND LOCKS IN A CROSS ARM BREAKER OF HIS OWN! Jeez! Sabre gets out fairly quickly and sets Nakamura up for his signature soccer ball kick in the center of the ring. That gets him a two count and he cinches the cross arm breaker in fully immediately after. Nakamura can't get to the ropes and resorts to putting Sabre in a pinning predicament for a near fall. Sabre has him back in the hold in the center of the ring, Nakamura can't escape - or can he?! Nakamura is up and BOMA KNEE TO SABRE! Nakamura covers him, 1..SABRE IS OUT AT 1!!! Nakamura charges Sabre in the corner only to meet turnbuckle. Sabre immediately goes back to the arm with a vicious kick that shoots pain through the body of the reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Sabre is wrenching on the arm now and Nakamura muscles him up! NECK BREAKER ON THE KNEE! He ascends to the second rope - BOMA KNEE OFF THE ROPE! BOMA KNEE AGAIN IN THE CORNER! 1...2...3! Nakamura wins after a pretty heated struggle. This match is definitely worth checking out!
Match rating - ****
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Another PPV, another loaded card. WWE has been on a roll in recent weeks and I'm more hyped about their product than I've been in some time. That means I've got even more crazy ideas and predictions for what will go down this Sunday considering I've been thinking about it more often. I plan to share all these thoughts, ideas, & predictions with you here as I run down the entire card for the upcoming Payback PPV. Enjoy! 1) Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow vs. The Ascension I really don't what to think about this particular match. It's truly the definition of a mixed bag from a booking standpoint. Kudos to WWE for coming up with this idea of the faux Hogan & Macho Man teaming up to face off with the faux Road Warriors/LOD, but shame on them for not capitalizing on Sandow getting over AT ALL. This is the second time that Damien was on the verge of breaking out on his own and they've squashed it, albeit intentional or unintentional. The first time, he & Cena had one hell of a match for the World Heavyweight Title. Sandow couldn't win because they HAD to unify the belts for whatever reason. I was a bit annoyed although I decided to overlook it. Soon enough, Sandow fell completely to the bottom of the card only to work his way back up by taking everything WWE gave him and turning it to gold. I've heard people say things like "WWE gave him the Mizdow gimmick, how can you be mad at them?" Yeah, WWE gave him the Mizdow gimmick, but did they expect him to become more popular than The Miz? Not at all. The eventual feud came and it was lackluster. I was disappointed until Sandow came out as himself, cut a promo on the whole downfall and resurgence of his career, and even used the old "You're Welcome" catchphrase. The crowd gave him a round of applause. It felt like a fresh start for Damien Sandow. Then the next week came and it was the same thing all over again. Sigh. If the crowd was going nuts for it, I wouldn't mind and I'd say that maybe I'm just being a grump however the audience on Raw seemed pretty lukewarm on the idea. They wanted to cheer bc it's Sandow, but they wanted to boo because they know this will lead nowhere and they want Sandow being Sandow not Sandow being someone else. None the less, I expect Axel & Sandow to win here in this match that no one has a reason to care about because it will most likely lead to nothing. If the crowd's into it, it could be fun. I just see this being a failure based off how the universe reacted on Monday.
Who I think will win - Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow
2) King Barrett vs. Neville Now, the negatives are all out of the way. The pre-show match is the only thing that I felt compelled to rant on, now we're onto the main show. BNB & Neville have been having an absolutely killer series of matches lately. From the pre-show of Extreme Rules to the KOTR finals, it's been awesome. They are 1-1 against each other which puts them on pretty even ground. I want to say that Neville will get a victory back here although they've been booking Barrett so strong lately, and rightfully so, that I don't see the King of the Ring taking a loss. It's an extremely tough one to predict, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Neville will pick up a surprise victory on Barrett to even out their series. WWE doesn't often think ahead however I tend to do so and I say give Neville a win here considering he's not won many matches since debuting, have him go far in the chamber, possibly even in the final two, and then Barrett pins him to win the title & gets revenege for this loss. I think WWE needs to set up more things like that down the line to make the mid-card feel important again. Neville is a guy who's taken John Cena to his limit, there should be no shame in losing to him. I don't think WWE feels that way though. With that being said, I'm gonna go the double pick route here by having what I think should happen and what I think WILL happen.
Who I think will win - Bad News Barrett / King Barrett - WWE wants to make him look as dominant as possible as King
Who I think should win - Neville - Sets up future final showdown in Chamber between he & BNB
I wasn't able to get together a review for last week's show although I did tune in. It's something worth talking about so I'll give my thoughts here in short by saying this - watch it. Johnny Mundo and Alberto El Patron put on a match that is being hailed as a classic and I can't find an argument to counter that claim because it was simply fantastic. It's honestly one of the best matches I've seen from either man and that's something considering both guys are former WWE Superstars.
That leads us here to this week's episode of LU. The news of Jack Evans debuting had me excited to tune in as well as the big #1 Contender's Match between Alberto El Patron & Hernandez. Therefore, let's talk about my pre-show thoughts no more and get right into tonight's happenings!
1) Jack Evans vs. Aerostar Oh boy! Jack Evans in the temple? This is HYPE and it was solified by the monsterous reaction he recieved. It comes as no surprise considering that outside of Mexico, California is where Evans did most of his work in the US in promotions such as PWG and WAR back in the day. Now he's on my television and I'm stoked for him. Despite the beloved reaction he got when he entered, it didn't last long as his cockiness got the better of him. He still put on a show though as he nailed a 450 splash off the railing that proved to me that he was here to leave a mark. Jack didn't come out on top although he certainly made an impression. Aerostar picks up a victory that he really needed after coming off a big loss to Drago in their series. Great, high impact opener.
Match rating - ***1/4
2) Fenix vs. Cage vs. Mack vs. Killshot vs. King Cuerno vs. Sexy Star vs. Pentagon Jr This match was for Dario Cuerto's Aztec Medallion. What that is, hardly anyone knows, but it promises big things for the winner. With that being said, these seven competitors put it all on the line here. There were several reocurring storylines in the match, most notably that of Pentagon Jr & Sexy Star still having issues. They touched on it throughout and even played it into an epic finish. Before I mention that however, I have to mention some of the insane exchanges that took place here. The first that comes to mind is Fenix going for a dive only to be caught by Cage in position for suplex! That man is a fucking machine! He waits too long though, KILLSHOT WITH A DIVE TAKING OUT BOTH MEN! That brought me out of my seat! Back in the ring, Pentagon Jr begins cleaning house. He ends up getting Fenix set up for the package piledriver, Sexy Star interrupts and OH MY GOD HE LIFTS HER UP AND HANGS HER FROM HIS SHOULDERS. What's gonna happen?! He hooks the arms of Sexy Star with his, picks up the legs of Fenix and PACKAGE PILEDRIVER WITH SEXY STAR ON HIS BACK! Jeez! Fenix got his head spiked into the mat and Sexy Star's took the full brunt as she was spread across his back. He goes for the pin, but its broken up. In the end, Fenix would recover and pick up the victory out of nowhere with a vicious reverserana on Pentagon Jr. Awesome multi-man match.
Match rating - ***3/4
3) Alberto El Patron vs. Hernandez - #1 Contender's Match
