WWE: Monday Night Raw Review - April 10th, 2017

WWE Monday Night Raw Review - April 10th, 2017

I haven't reviewed anything in forever, but we're back baby. And just in time for the Superstar Shakeup draft thingy.

John Cena's music hits to open the show and I honestly popped bc big match John is our lord and savior, but instead ITS THE MIZ. This shit was so lit. Miz is dressed as Cena and Maryse is dressed as Nikki Bella. They're interrupted mid-promo by Dean Ambrose. I guess this means both Ambrose & Miz are on Raw? This was confusing, but great at the same time. Ambrose plays dumb then drops Miz with a Dirty Deeds.

Kurt Angle & Sami Zayn are backstage when they're interrupted by The Miz who is complaining about being attacked by Ambrose. Angle puts the two in a match later on and says Zayn's status on Raw is up in the air.

1) The Revival vs. The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods)
This was a really good action packed tag. No filler whatsoever. Big E brings a Kofi Kingston blow up doll to the ring with him and Dawson & Wilder wear "We broke Kofi's ankle shirts" which were both genius things that added to this despite being minimal factors. The Revival picks up the win after fighting out of New Day's finisher and catching Xavier in mid air and damn near killing him.

Match rating - ***1/4

God tier backstage promo between Neville, Austin Aries, & TJ Perkins. Aries walks up with a banana to challenge Neville's argument that he & TJP can get along. They tease a TJP heel turn which leads to our next match.

2) Austin Aries vs. TJ Perkins
TJP is on the verge of a heel turn and Aries is on fire as a face so this was all around quality stuff. Neville on commentary is a nice touch as well. Aries poses with the crowd which leads to a near confrontation between Neville & Aries, but Aries makes it back in the ring before he gets counted out. Good closing sequence which leads to Aries picking up the win. Post-match, TJP flips a switch and lays out Aries. The Cruserweight Title is the best it's been since the inception of 205 Live and I'm pretty stoked.

Match rating - **3/4

Seth Rollins comes out to address the fact that he refuses to go to Smackdown because he still has scores to settle with people like Samoa Joe and says Stephanie will have to drag him out if he gets put on Smackdown. Kurt Angle interrupts and basically confirms that Seth will be staying thanks to his stellar Mania performance. As Angle is leaving, SAMOA JOE ACTS ROLLINS FROM BEHIND. This shit was hype. Angle tries to calm Joe down, but he won't stop. Rollins battles back with a double leg takedown and Joe bails. God, the eventual match between these two is gonna be so good.

3) Nia Jax vs. Charlotte
Aside from a few botches, this was solid stuff. Divas matches in the last year or two have grown to have a good bit of consistency so they're always fun. Jax almost kills Charlotte by dropping her on her head at one point. Charlotte hits a moonsault to the floor from the top turnbuckle that floors Jax. When all is said and done, Jax puts Charlotte away in what looks to be Charlotte's last match on Raw before heading to Smackdown. She barely made it out alive.

Match rating - **3/4

4) Finn Balor vs. Jinder Mahal
DUDE what the fuck was Jinder Mahal on in this match? This was Balor's big first actual match since returning last week and it was meant to make him look strong and although it did because he took a BEATING and still somehow won, I lef this wanting more aggressive Jinder Mahal singles action. Mahal delivered one of the most stiff elbow shots I've seen in years to Balor and left him with bruises/marks all over his face. MAHAL/OHNO PLS. Balor fires back, though, and hits his finisher for the win. Everyone is being vicious as fuck tonight.

Match rating - **3/4

5) Sami Zayn vs. The Miz
I was excited for this because I know what these two are capable of. They only got a few minutes to work here so they didn't reach their full potential, but it was still a fun little back & forth contest. Zayn hits the blue thunder for a false finish before eventually catching Miz off guard with a pinning combination for a quick three count.

Match rating - **1/4

Roman Reigns has this sit down interview in the back with Michael Cole. That is until Braun Strowman crashes the damn party and proceeds to deliver the BEST attack/backstage brawl in years. Strowman literally slings Roman over a bunch of equipment and like 6 feet through a table, pushes him off a ledge when they put him on a stretcher, then to top it all off, he struggles but flips over the ambulance they put him in. Unreal showing that felt so real. If Braun wasn't legitamized, he is now. Strowman is ready to plow through Reigns and go straight for Lesnar, book it.

6) The Hardy Boys, Cesaro, & Sheamus vs. Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Primo & Epico
Weird combinations here, but they all do their jobs well and this is a super enjoyable 8 man tag team showcase. The Hardys are still on fire from their return. Anderson & Gallows are the perfect bad guys and The Shining Stars even hold their own. Some flippy shit, some heat spots, good stuff. The face team of the Matt, Jeff, Cesaro & Sheamus win. They face off at Payback for the tag team championships. I smell a heel turn from Cesaro & Sheamus.

Match rating - ***

Sasha Banks & Bayley have a heated confrontation in the ring before Alexa Bliss interrupts in her Raw debut. I think Alexa is gonna be a nice fit for the Raw division and help switch things up a bit. I haven't watched much of her SD work since I've been out of the loop, but apparently she's a two time champ, over there? Mickie James comes out next making her main roster return and things are really getting interesting in the Raw women's division!

7) Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose - Champion vs Champion Match
KO and Mox have chemistry together and have delivered MOTY quality stuff before so it's no surprise that this ruled. It's not anything out of this world however it's the best match of the night and the perfect little way to cap off this Superstar Shakeup edition of Raw. Lots of action and a breathtaking moment or two. Ambrose picks up the win when all is said and done. After the match, Chris Jericho returns to a nice reaction and lambasts Kevin Owens. I thought I'd be tired of that feud by now but they are seriously keeping me invested so yay. I'm just confused as to whether or not KO will be staying on Raw and how that will affect the plans for their rivalry. But anyway.

Match rating - ***1/2

Dragon Gate: Truth Gate 2016 Review - February 4th, 2016

Last year, I reviewed Dragon Gate in a bulk post which can be found here. We left 2015 with the VerserK stable/unit on top of DG with leader Shingo Takagi as the Open the Dream Gate Champion and Naruk Doi & YAMATO holding the Twin Gate titles. Here, in my first show review of 2016, it's picking up right where we left off as the show begins with an in-ring promo from the top group in the promotion.

Everything is in Japanese, so, I obviously can't understand exactly what they're saying, but body language, commentary, and reaction helps me get the jist of it. Akira Tozawa interrupts them and charges down to the ring with Monster Express for the babyface pop. Next thing you know, Dia.Hearts emerges from the back and BAH GAWD BxB Hulk comes down and this thing breaks down into a hype ass verbal exchange. The talent of these guys really shows here because even though it's another language the expressions and attitudes portrayed came across in strides and got me hyped up for what was to come. Tonight, we have a Losing Unit Disbands match between Monster Express & Dia.Hearts and by the sounds of this promo, they've talked VerSerk into putting themselves on the line as well so the stakes are SUPER high.

1) CIMA, Eita, & Takehiro Yamamura (Over Generation) vs. Jimmy Kanda, Jimmy Kness, & U-T (Jimmyz)
Good opening trios match. CIMA and his team in particular popped me multiple times with some sick and extremely fluent double/triple team moves. The triple dive seen in the gif above sent this match into overdrive. A hot final few moments with CIMA, Eita, & Yamamura running roughshod on the Jimmy's. This ends with EITA tapping out Kness for the win.

Match rating - **3/4

2) El Lindaman vs. Kenichiro Arai
Lindaman is quite young, but uber talented as seen here in this veteran/newcomer dynamic of a match up. Arai threw all kinds of shit at Lindaman including some strong style signature headbutts however he couldn't keep up with the youngin and he got put down with a pair of bridging germans. Good fucking night!

Match rating - **1/2

3) Gamma & Punch Tominaga (Over Generation) vs. Mondai Ryu & Naoki Tanizaki (VerserK)
Ryu & Tanizaki jump Gamma & Punch before the bell because they're VerserK and they're dickheads. It didn't do them much good, though because old man Gamma don't take no shit and he blasted Ryu in a chop/strike battle in the opening moments of the contest. This was interesting in that there was a lot of extra stuff involved as far as foreign objects go. VerserK pulled out all the stops to try to sneak a win, even using a kendo stick, but Gamma & Punch came out with the win when all was said and done. Some nice false finishes in the final minute or two, though. Fun match.

Match rating - **3/4

4) Don Fuji & Yosuke Santa Maria vs. Cyber Kong & Kotoka (VerserK)
This was a lot of fun because, I mean, it's Don Fuji. It's Yosuke Santa Maria. It pretty much can't not be. The finishing sequence was pretty fiery between Santa Maria & Kotoka and ended with the latter tapping out the former. VerserK is having a rough night.

Match rating - ***

5) Shingo Takagi, Naruki Doi, & YAMATO (VerserK) vs. Jimmy Susumu, Ryo Jimmy Saito, & Genki Horiguchi (Jimmy's)
The trio of champions representing VerserK against the incomparable Jimmys. This was great on a couple of different levels. On paper it's a wonderful pairing when it comes to both ability and storyline appropriation. But the way they delivered it was even better with the sequences between Susumu & Shingo in particular being awesome which foreshadowed the finish that set up a future match between the two as Susumu picked up a huge win over the Dream Gate champion and VerserK leader. Good six man tag that was just a prelude to the killer match that was to follow it.

Match rating - ***1/2

6) (MONSTER EXPRESS) Masato Yoshino, Akira Tozawa, T-Hawk, Shachihoko BOY vs. (Dia.HEARTS) Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, Kzy, Big R Shimizu vs. Shingo Takagi, YAMATO, Naruki Doi, Kotoka (VerserK) - Losing Unit Disbands 12 Man Three Way Elimination Tag Team Match
These multi-man matches with high stakes never disappoint. The focal point of Dragon Gate is it's units/stables so the amount of storytelling that takes place in matches like this is astounding and this was no different. Every person played their role to a tee from the first elimination to the final one. Yoshino was the sole survivor for Monster Express whilst the top tag team in DG and possibly, the world, Naruki Doi & YAMATO put away Kzy to effectively put Dia.Hearts to an end. The disappointment and sadness on the face of the other Dia.Hearts members as Kzy's shoulders were pinned to the mat for three told the whole story. The entire final run was thrilling and had the crowd going nuts. This is the kind of match that showcases DG at it's finest. VerserK recovers from an otherwise disappointing night with a huge victory here.

Match rating - ****1/4

ROH TV Review - October 1st, 2016

The next few weeks of ROH TV will be showcasing inter promotional action from the Field of Honor events. The whole Field of Honor concept with the show being held in a baseball field is still weird to me, but somehow it works. So, here we go.

1) Bobby Fish (c) vs. EVIL - ROH Television Championship Match

Fish defeated Ishii for the TV title a few months back at Global Wars and is still going strong as champion. EVIL is still looking for his first taste of gold so I was pretty excited for this however it ended up just being a super basic match. EVIL controls the entire first half. He slams Fish into the ring post with a chair around his neck and somehow doesn't get disqualified. The dominance continues until Fish reverses out of a power bomb, I believe it was, and hits a move or two before locking EVIL into the fish hook thus forcing him to tap. This was pretty lack luster, to be honest.

Match rating - **

2) Michael Elgin (c) vs. Donovan Dijak - IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match

The second title match of the evening is much better than the first. It's also special because it's the first time the IWGP IC Title has been defended in America, according to Kevin Kelly, so that's cool. I was super pumped for this because Dijak has been one of my favorites since his match with Busick last year for Beyond. This wasn't everything these guys could do, but it definitely gave me some of what I expected and teased what could be if they got the opportunity to do something on a higher level. It was mainly just a power struggle between the two hosses early on then things turned up a notch in the final few minutes and it ruled. Elgin retains after a fun battle.

Match rating - **3/4

3) The Young Bucks, Adam Page, & Yujiro Takashi vs. Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Lio Rush, & ACH

You already know this was off the charts. The Bullet Club is still running strong after three plus years, the hype hasn't died one bit and that's crazy to me. It's just a testament to how talented those guys are. Anyways, this was exactly what you'd expect. Slow start with exciting moments here or there. Then it broke loose for the final five minutes. ACH looked amazing here as well as Lio Rush. They were definitely the MVP's of the match although The Young Bucks looked just as killer as always. They're so consistent. Adam Page got the pin here after a superkick from The Bucks into a Rite of Passage on Lio Rush.

Match rating - ***1/2

ROH TV Review - September 24th, 2016

 

TONIGHT: Michael Elgin & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Adam Cole & Adam Page

1) Silas Young vs. Toru Yano
This was the odd match you'd expect considering these two are polar opposites. Yano brought the comedy and Silas was the grump. Yano took the pad off one of the turnbuckles and kept trying to use it against Silas. They actually put together a nice string of close falls in the final few seconds. In the end, Silas makes Yano eat all of his own tactics by kicking him in the crotch and shoving him into the exposed turnbuckle which allows him to pick up the win.

Match rating - **1/4

AMAZING Christopher Daniels pre-taped promo video to hype up Ladder War 6 airs. It's seriously some of his best work ever, it's unreal to see a guy who's been around as long as he has still adding to his legacy. Although I've already seen Ladder War 6, this definitely adds to it the match and gives it a lot more meaning so I probably go watch and end up changing my rating because knowing the story behind it, they pulled off that match PERFECTLY. So, watch this promo then watch that match and thank me later. Good stuff.

2) Damien Martinez (w/ Kevin Sullivan & BJ Whitmer) vs. Cheeseburger
So, in my time away from ROH, BJ Whitmer has dawned a whole new persona as a member of a cult-like stable led by Kevin Sullivan with Damien Martinez from the Top Prospect Tournament being put at the forefront of it. They've also apparently tracked back history between Sullivan and Steve Corino which led to them driving spike into his head back in the Summer which was discussed thoroughly on commentary as they argued back & forth while Martinez destroyed Cheeseburger. Interesting, to say the least.

Match rating - **

3) Michael Elgin & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Adam Cole & Adam Page
This is a prelude to All Star Extravaganza where Cole defends the ROH Title against former champ Michael Elgin. Kyle O'Reilly is on commentary because of his ongoing issues with Adam Cole. Those two are forever intertwined, I swear. But anyways, BC isolates Tanahashi for a bit which leads to an Elgin hot tag before things break down. We get a fun, vintage Cole/Elgin 2012 ROH style exchange if ya feel me. Superkicks and no selling. Elgin comes out on top following a vicious lariat, BUT PAGE POPS IN WITH A LARIAT OF HIS OWN. I mark for that spot every time. It's a short lived hype moment though because Elgin destroys Page with a bunch of combos moments after to get the three count for himself & Tanahashi. Staredown between Cole & Elgin to close the show.

Match rating - **3/4

WWE: Cruserweight Classic Finale Review - September 14th, 2016

What began as thirty-two has now come down to four.

Four men from four different countries, representing four different styles, fighting for ONE trophy.

Zack Sabre Jr. TJ Perkins. Kota Ibushi. Gran Metalik.

1) Zack Sabre Jr vs. Gran Metalik
It's lucha vs technician in this major clash of styles to determine who heads to the finals as arguably the two best in their respective classes square off. The crowd is pretty split between both men so this was a pretty fun back and forth exhibition. There a few noticeable slip ups but nothing that threw the match off completely. Sabre caught Metalik in mid air with a triangle choke at one point for a false finish. There were several gasp worthy moments like that during this match. Good opener with Metalik clinching the victory.

Match rating - ***1/2

2) Kota Ibushi vs. TJ Perkins
LAWD HAVE MERCY. This was absolutely killer and better than it had any right to be. Sure, you'd expect it to be fun, but this turned into a match that will be high on many people's MOTY lists come December. The crowd was on Ibushi's side and with him being the favorite to win, every time TJP kicked out of a big move, it meant something. This made the finishing sequence more than just a bunch of false finishes and something built on raw emotion. TJP fought through homelessness, numerous cases of being misused, and so much more to get this close to the biggest win of his career and he wasn't about to go down for the count. I get chills just thinking about it again. This one had it all from the action to the emotion to the drama. Just awesome stuff, everything you love about wrestling. TJP targeted the leg of Ibushi the entire match and was finally able to lock the knee bar in for a second time in the center of the ring and wrench back on it forcing Ibushi to tap to a mixed reaction. Crazy good stuff here.

Match rating - ****1/2

3) Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs. Cedric Alexander & Noam Dar
Before the finals ensue, we get this random tag team showcase. The boys get a "all these guys" chant before the bell even rings. Thank fuck they all got signed. This was one of this PWG mid card tags with nothing left on the table. Balls to the wall action the whole way through. It kinda fell off near the end with a weird count from the ref and the action kinda almost overdoing it, but it was still a lot of fun. Gargano & Ciampa win on their route to trying to win the NXT Tag Team Titles from the Revival.

Match rating - ***1/4

4) TJ Perkins vs. Gran Metalik
This is honestly probably the most suprising final of any tournament I've seen in recent memory which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I just never expected WWE to pass on Rich Swann, Zack Sabre Jr, Kota Ibushi, Brian Kendrick or even Akira Tozawa for these two although they are most definitely worthy. TJP showed more confidence and determination than he has all tournament here. Metalik was clearly focused as well. The stakes were raised even higher just moments before the match began as Triple H came down and hyped it some more along with revealing the cruserweight championship. He then allowed these two to go at it and it was a really good contest and a fitting end to this whole thing. They didn't go out and top every other match in the tournament, but they did their thing and gave us a perfect finale. Plenty of high drama moments where you couldn't tell who was going to win since this one was pretty unpredictable from the start. Metalik popped everyone super hard including myself with a diving hurricanrana over the top rope flinging TJP to the floor. That shit was DANGEROUS. I LOVE IT. As you've probably already heard, TJP ends up picking up the victory here and is the first WWE Cruserweight Champion of the new era and the winner of the first ever CWC Tournament. Congratulations to him. As someone who has watched nearly every part of his career, it's truly heart warming to see him on this stage.

Match rating - ****

Before I close out this review, I just want to say how fucking cool of a time period we are in. I never thought I would see Daniel Bryan commentating Kota Ibushi, TJ Perkins, Mascara Dorado, & Zack Sabre Jr matches under the WWE banner in a major tournament on the WWE Network, much less a tournament that spanned several weeks and featured a major story in the form of Brian Kendrick going for glory one more time, as well as other top indy names like Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, & Rich Swann getting a once in a life time opportunity with the one & only Akira Tozawa among many other deserving athletes from around the world. This is proof that underdogs can succeed and that the landscape has changed. Long live pro wrestling and congrats to TJP for staking his name in the history books.

WWE: Cruserweight Classic Episode 9 Review - September 7th, 2016

The quarterfinals continue as we determine who will be the last two wrestlers in the final four of the Cruserweight Classic Tournament. Daniel Bryan & Mauro Ranallo lead us in with an inside look at Zack Sabre Jr and Noam Doar.

1) Zack Sabre Jr vs. Noam Dar
These two men represent two different parts of the UK as well as different variations of the British style. Dar appears to be the underdog since Sabre has basically owned the wrestling world in the past two years. Despite that, he had the perfect gameplan here as he immediately targeted the leg of Sabre and did it in the most proficient manner. This was all in route to set up for his finishing hold, the knee bar. It also forced Sabre to alter his base and was even furthered when they rolled to the floor and ZSJ tweaked his elbow. This entire match was laid out really well from a logical standpoint and they followed it up with great action and submissions that will make you wince. In the end, Sabre catches Dar on the mat and puts him in a predicament that I can't even explain which forces him to have to tap.

Match rating - ****

2) TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann
Both guys here have one hell of a story to tell. Both men were homeless at one point and had rough lives on their road to becoming successful professional wrestlers. On top of that, they are close friends as they came up on the independent scene together and crossed paths on multiple occassions. This makes this one heartfelt from the get go. Another thing TJP and Swann have in common is how smooth they are. That honestly was the story of this match to me, who could outdo the other. But then again, TJP took a gameplan similar to that of Noam Dar in that he targeted Swann's leg to prep for the ankle lock variation that he's known to synch in. Unlike Dar, TJP was able to find a way to victory with it as even when Swann was flurrying, he couldn't get past the work TJP did on the leg which forced him to collapse and allowed Perkins to capitalize. As soon as Swann tapped, TJP showed immediate remorse by lunging to check on him. Emotional moment after a solid contest between two men who truly deserved this showcase.

Match rating - ***1/4

WWE: Cruserweight Classic Episode 8 Review - August 31st, 2016

So I'm finally getting around to watching some CWC action. I'm going to eventually back track and watch/review every episode, but I was able to catch this one live last week so I'm gonna go ahead and cover it. The tournament is currently down to eight men and the main story on tonight's episode is whether or not Brian Kendrick can continue his run back towards finally achieving something that he's always wanted. Let the quarter begin!

1) Akira Tozawa vs. Gran Metalik
Tozawa is life. Seeing him on the WWE Network is so surreal to me. He deserved this opportunity tenfold. The crowd is really in love with both these guys so they were fired up from the start and it only built as these two picked up the action down the stretch. The real momentum in the match started with Tozawa hitting his multiple dive spot. Metallk moves and hits a sick plancha of his own. From here, they went into their finishing sequence of awesome back & forth moves and false finishes. It was great stuff. Tozawa nails the signature dead lift stalling german for a 1..2..KICK OUT! Closest finish of the match right there. Metalik comes back from that and earns himself the victory with a michinoku driver.

Match rating - ***3/4

2) Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi
This was so much better than it had any right to be on paper. Like, I figured it would be good, but dear lord. Brian Kendrick is just as good as he ever was. ALL HAIL SPANKY. That son of a bitch portrayed desperation like no other in this match as he went as far as to drop Ibushi on his head with a BURNING HAMMER. And when I say on his head, I mean, ON HIS FUCKING HEAD. Somehow that still wasn't enough and my mind was blown. The crowd really ate up the story of Kendrick vying for one last shot at glory, but they also loved Ibushi because, well, Ibushi is awesome. Kendrick kept coming back for more after not being able to put Ibushi away however eventually the veteran would be put down for the count following a beastly sitout powerbomb. This told a great story and had incredible action & commentary to boot. Daniel Bryan & Mauro Ranallo are A+ together. Emotional moment between Bryan & Kendrick was the icing on the cake. Loved this match.

Match rating - ****