This Week In Wrestling 3/5/2016

Unlike other wrestling results pages, after all let’s face it there are literally thousands of them. We aren’t going to focus so much on the results but give a rundown on what we feel the product is looking like for the week.

WWE

This week we got a rushed Diva’s match that didn’t give Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch time to work. We also had a Raw that was bogged down by promos. The Lucha Dragons squared off against the League of Nations, again, in a feud that won’t die. Ryback also continued his heel turn by claiming he needs more spotlight. It seems that they are trying to make this Wrestlemania worse than it already is by having Owens face off against Big Show and Styles being lost in a tag team, Hopefully those last two get corrected soon.

The League of Nations just needs to disband, they have been in a feud with the Lucha Dragons for so long they now resemble the Social Outcasts more than the Authority as a strong faction. What started off as a fantastic idea has fizzled so much that no one even cares about them anymore. And the US belt is getting lost being in tag matches all the time. How about giving Kalisto a feud maybe?

On Smackdown Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch had another go at their number one contender match which again led to a screwy ending and the announcement that we will get a triple threat match at Mania. That one announcement maid Mania instantly a better show. Kofi and AJ Styles put on an absolute clinic in the ring too, I am really looking forward to Y2AY ve New Day for the tag team title on Raw, but I’m still a little disappointed that AJ is going to be lost in a  tag team.We got treated to another great main event from KO and the Lunatic Fringe. I could watch Ambrose vs Owens every day for the next 2 months and never get sick of it. Those two have some sickening chemistry.

NXT

Hugo Knox is a freak of Nature. I would give anything to be built like him.  The other highlights for this weeks is Austin Aries, Austin Aries, Austin Aries and Baron Corbin attacking Austin Aries. Also Finn Balor and Neville put on clinic that is absolutely in the conversation for Match of the Year

TNA

Rockstar Spud explains his heel turn in typical heel fashion. It is really depressing to see such great talkers in uncomfortable roles. What was the point of turning ECIII face? He is a natural heel and cheap pops are just annoying. Let him be a heel and the fans will decide if he should be turned or not. TNA especially is way too quick to pull the trigger on a heel or face turn. There was nothing about Carter that was stale enough to need a turn. And in typical wrestling fashion the two people that got betrayed want to fight. Carter and Spud put on a great match where Carter showed a pure hatred towards Spud by Powerbombing him through a table and choking him out to end the match. If you get a chance to watch the opening match from this week, Angle and Bobby Rhoode put on a 3 1/2 star match.  

ROH

This week we had the 14^th Anniversary show that happened Friday night you can read the review I posted earlier this week to get a full recap. There were two match of the year contenders on this one PPV alone

On TV we had Dalton Castle attack Silas Young before and after Silas and Beer City Bruiser beat “The Boys”. After the match Castle took the beating and looks like they will continue their feud. The main event gave us a really well worked match between Matt Sydal and Adam Cole. Considering Cole was in the main event of the 14^th anniversary show I hope this win catapults Sydal up the card for a nice program with Jay Lethal over the Heavyweight title.

Lucha Underground

Not enough Jack Evans for my liking but all in all the show was OK. The only real Highlight was a ladder match where Fennix and Cuerno put on a crazy match with a lot of hard bumps and high spots. I enjoy what is happening in Lucha underground I just wish there was a little more story development each week instead of having Johnny Mundo do what he did last week and nothing really said about it this week.

NJPW

In the first round of the New Japan Cup we had wins by Yano, Elgin, Tonga, Kojima, Goto, Naito, Ishii and Bad luck Fale. Nothing else really of note happened. I’ve giving my prediction of a finals of Goto vs Elgin

Global Force Wrestling

Another slow week for GFW looks like their next event is on March 11^th also would like to note that they have signed with a company to start producing a television show so that is very good news.

That’s all I have for now, be sure to check out my other blogs and follow me on Twitter using the links to the right. Take a look, also, at my articles on The Sportster and my YouTube Channel for random babbling on a variety of topics by the realest guy on the Internet. 

TNA Lockdown 2016 Review

Beer Money VS Bram and Eric Young

Highlights:

Beer Money attacks Bram and Young on the ramp during their entrance

Storm grabs a beer from a fan and takes a few sips before hitting Bram with it

Bram hits a DDT on Storm who was then locked out of the cage.

Storm climbs the cage to get into the ring and bounces Bram's face of the cage 10 times 

Storm throws EY in to Bram who gives Young a DDT when Storm gives Bram a neckbreaker

Winner: Rhoode pins Bram after a DWI

Grade: 2 3/4 stars

Thoughts:

I really wanted to give this match a higher grade but I never bought into Bram and Young as being real competitors. I also am going to say it right now for any future matches that has a going toe to toe moment in the middle of the ring immediately gets a 1/2 star lower grade. It's the most over used moment in wrestling today and it is 90% of the time not believable. Beer Money was entertaining and worked the crowd well. All in all the match needed a little more passion to be a feud blow off like it was supposed to be.

Ethan Carter III promo

Typical face promo, couple of cheap pops and Matt Hardy is evil lines before calling out Rockstar Spud.

With the amount of love that ECIII is giving Spud there is no way he is not going to turn on ECIII at some point.

Rockstar Spud with a passionate no one tells me what to do promo that gets interrupted by Matt Hardy who babbles something about owning everything.

Threat to Rockstar Spud to not get involved. Yep I sense a heel turn coming

Tigre Uno vs Trevor Lee (w/ Shane Helms)

Highlights:

Uno with a cross body from the top of the cage

Winner: Lee with a fisherman's buster to retain the X-Division Championship

Grade: 1 1/2

Thoughts:

The X-Division was always known as the highlight of the company. This was a weak match that didn't really do much for either guy. Uno hit the cross body from the top of the cage and then seconds later Lee wins the match. Really not a whole lot to buy into.

Lethal Lockdown

The Dollhouse vs Gail Kim, Velvet Sky, ???

Highlights:

Jade and Gail Kim start the match

Marty Bell enters next

Velvet Sky enters as a house of fire

Rebel then enters and lays everyone out

Rebel is the first to grab a weapon

Jade hits herself in the face with a kendo stick that ricocheted off the turnbuckle

Maria comes down and acts like she is going to enter then shuts the door and walks out on velvet and and Gail

Velvet Sky and Gail give Jade a flapjack from the top rope

Winner: Jade by pinfall on Gail Kim after a cradle pile driver on a chair

Grade: 2 stars

Thoughts: 

A horrible heel turn by Maria that really made no sense. After a brief conversation between Gail and Maria in the back, Maria feigned entering the match. The match itself had very few high spots and was almost a waste of time.

Kurt Angle promo 

Seconds in he gets interrupted by Lashley who cut a heel promo?? Angle challenges Lashley and Bobby just walks away? Did we just see another heel turn.

Eli Drake Vs Odarg the Great

Highlights:

Odarg struggles to get to the top of the cage.

Drake gets his tights pulled down as he tries to leave the ring and wrestled the next 3 minutes with a full moon (I guess it's your call if that's a highlight or not) Personally it's just stupid.

Winner: Odarg by escaping the cage when Drake pulls off his mask

Grade: 1 star

Thoughts:

This is why I think the Feast or Fired match is the dumbest gimmick ever. Every year the guy that gets fired takes a couple months off or comes back wearing a mask. It's a waste of time and was fun the first time, but it's been a decade now. It was an entertaining comedy match that made me chuckle a couple times. but had no place being anywhere near a PPV

EC3 vs Matt Hardy for the TNA Heavy Weight Championship

Highlights:

Tyrus throws in a chair

EC3 hits a big splash in the corner then follows with a flapjack

Side Effect on a chair

EC3 tries to escape the cage but Tyrus blocked him.

Pope- "He just told tyrus he's number 2"

EC3 invited Tyrus into the cage. 

EC3 uses the chain from the door to lock Tyrus to the ropes 

Twist of fate on EC3 with his head through a chair

Winner: Matt Hardy retains by escaping the cage when Rockstar Spud turns on EC3

Grade: 2 1/2 Stars

Thoughts:

Solid match through out EC3 makes a much better heel thought, I felt like he showed a ton of hatred towards Hardy and Tyrus and worked really well, Matt Hardy has no business in the main event. This match also lost a half star for the two of them going Toe-Toe in the middle of the ring; Also a predictable heel turn by Rockstar Spud while wearing the worst suit in the history of man.

Final Thoughts:

What a horrible show. To many promo's, backstage segments and failed heel turns for a special event. The Jimmy Havoc/ Rosemary segments were out of place and their were two many of them. Also to many comedy mid card acts that had no reason to be in the 6 sides of steel. I actually feel bad for Josh Matthews, having to shoe horn those promos for other shows in the middle of a match, it is just getting painful to listen to. I have seen better Impact shows in the middle of the year then this one that was a Special show. TNA is also really struggling with no uper echelon stars since every one who was marketable either jumped to ROH, GFW, or NXT.

Roman Reigns Rant

This week’s Raw proved without a shadow of a doubt that the WWE chose wrong when they decided to push Roman Reigns over Dean Ambrose. The chemistry between Ambrose and Triple H along with the connection he has with the fans made for a great confrontation. Ambrose is one of those rare characters who can make the fans love him no matter what he does. That is a great quality to have since it gives him the ability to put a heel over in any program. One thing about the PG era that sucks is since it is geared towards kids, and kids don’t like to see their heroes lose, the good guy comes out on top of almost every feud. But with the connection that Ambrose has he can lose a few feuds and the fans still love him.

Now this isn’t a knock on Reigns by any stretch, I think he is an amazing worker who, given the right gimmick and maybe a manager to be his mouth piece, would make a great champion and a great face of the company. But the creative people in the WWE obviously don’t see it that way since they like to make him out to be a super hero joke teller ala John Cena. Let’s Face Roman doesn’t have that kind of personality. He should be a silent assassin. A guy who puts his all in destroying the competition and says as few a words as possible. It looked like they were starting to get it right. When Roman Reigns destroyed Triple H after TLC and the shows right after.. Heading into the Royal Rumble I had hope that he would continue that way, it didn’t. The saddest part is if he had given a gutsy performance and went from #1 to winning it all i would have been okay with it.

Roman made what was supposed to be a spectacular and gutsy comeback into the Royal Rumble after getting beaten down and hauled away mid match. I had a couple of problems with it. First of all he didn’t have to face any of the big guns like Luke Harper, Braun Strowman, Brock Lesnar since they were all eliminated by the time he came back, Second he was able to come back showing absolutely no ill effects from the beat down he received at the hands of the League of Nations. That is the moment that I realized they hadn’t learned anything and were going to continue making him into this ridiculous superman character.

Then we go into Monday night and find out he is going to be added to the Fastlane main event to determine the #1 contender. Wait What???? The Authority worked so hard to get the title off of him and now you are just going to give him a chance to get it back without earning it? Seriously? How about you make him work for it.  How about you make the main event at Fastlane be Brock Lesnar because he was never eliminated by anyone in the match. The winners of the matches that night on Raw could be placed in the match Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, and Ambrose gets an automatic in because he was the last guy eliminated. Then make Roman Reigns go through a serious of challenges where he needs to win all of his challenges to qualify for the main event.

Instead we got Roman vs Ambrose vs Brock. There was no drama, there was no build up, there was no thinking that anyone other than Reigns was going to win the match. After he one the match why did he get fireworks?? He didn’t win the Main Event at Wrestlemania. This wasn’t a culmination of months and months of work leading to him finally getting his big win and first chance to hold the WWE Heavyweight Championship. This was a number one contender’s match for a title he had just lost a month ago. When Daniel Bryan won it was a magical moment, a culmination of chasing the title for months and having to fight the authority at every turn including having to beat Triple H earlier that night. Daniel Bryan had a magical moment, Roman Reigns winning at Survivor Series and Fastlane was hardly a culmination that deserved fireworks and streamers.

I hope the WWE figures it out soon cause if they don’t they are risking X-Pac heat on Roman Reigns and he is to talented of an in ring worker for that.

That’s all I have for now, be sure to check out my other blogs and follow me on Twitter using the links to the right. Take a look, also, at my articles on The Sportster and my YouTube Channel. My podcast with Shane is always a fun listen too as we discuss anything and everything in the world of pop culture.

ROH 14th Anniversary PPV Review

Ring Of Honor 14th Anniversary

ROH World TV Championship match  Bobby Fish, vs Tomohiro Ishii vs Roderick Strong

Highlights:

Strong hit Ishii with a picture perfect dropkick
Ishii held Bobby Fish above his head while standing on the second turnbuckle before a superplex

Winner: Ishii retains his title by pinfall on Strong after a brain buster

Grade: 2 3/4 stars

Thoughts: 

Decent back and forth action. I never really bought into Bobby Fish as having a legitimate chance of scoring the win. I'm becoming a huge fan of Ishii though

BJ Whitmer VS Adam Page

Highlights:

BJ drops Page on the guardrail with a belly to back suplex

Page hits a shooting star press off the apron to BJ who was standing on the floor

Winner: Whitmer by pinfall after a low blow

Grade: 1 3/4 Stars

Thoughts:

For a grudge match between to former partners I didn't really see the hatred. This was just a heel vs face match and the face wasn't really over with the crowd. I would have liked to see a little more brawling and some more life out of Adam Page.

Goto vs Dalton Castle

Highlights:

Castle sits on the top turnbuckle and gets fanned by the boys. He then uses them as steps to get down.

Castle catches Goto off the turnbuckle and turns it into a belly to belly suplex

Castle hits a beautiful missile drop kick

The boys fan Goto's hands away from the rope when he was reaching to get out of a submission move

Winner: Goto gets the pin after a Shouten

Grade: 3 3/4 stars

Thoughts:

the effort and taunts by Castle brought this grade up quite a bit but the blown finisher brought it down a 1/4 star. Dalton Castle is fantastic, his taunts remind me a lot of Goldust. 

Alex Shelly VS Christopher Daniels

Highlights:

Shelly with a cross body from the top turnbuckle to the floor on both members of the addiction

Daniels hits a springboard moonsault on a fallen Shelly

Shelly yells Super Fly as he does a cross body from the top rope

Winner: Shelly by pinfall after Sabin turned on Daniels

Grade: 3 1/2 Stars

Thoughts:

I think it's hilarious that Frankie Kazarian is bald considering he didn't want to cut his hair in 2009 and that's what kept him out of the WWE Alex Shelly is probably the best wrestler to never hold a world title. As far as the match goes I have seen these two do a whole lot better. It was nice to see The Motor City Machine Guns reunite. The tease of them possible fighting after they cleared house was a little much but the whole thing served it's purpose.

The Briscoes VS Elgin and Tanahashi

Highlights:

Tanahashi refused the code of honor
Elgin and Tanahashi with stereo suplexes and flex poses
Mark Briscoe tries the Karate Kid Crane move on Tanahashi
Mark Briscoe with a blockbuster from the apron to the floor on Elgin
Mr;. Wrestling said Mark Briscoes has dreams of winning the TV title and of owning a television

Winner: Tanahashi by pinfall after the High Fly Flow

Grade: 3 1/2 stars

Thoughts: 

After a slow start this matched picked up to get as high a rating as it did. it lost a half a star for to much repetition with Jay hitting the big boot about 6 times to many. Also a blown spot where the ref needed to tap Tanahashi on the shoulder to remind him to kick out. Dem Boys are the perfect blend of Hardcore redneck and goofiness, Jay Briscoe is an unbelievable talker. 

Moose vs Okada

Highlights:

Both Moose and Okada faked a dropkick in the corner

Moose big spun Okada into the barricade and the ring post

Okada hit a cross body over the barricade onto Moose

Moose mocked Okada's rainmaker taunt

Class act by Okada showing respect by leading the fans in a Moose chant

Winner: Okada by pinfall after The Rainmaker

Grade: 2 3/4 Stars

Thoughts:

The Rainmaker has one of the top five entrances in all of professional wrestling. Moose no selling a DDT was really hard to get past. No selling a kick or a punch is one thing. No selling a move that a lot of guys use as their finishers is just not cool. That one spot really dropped the rating of this match.

NEVER Openweight 6 man tag team title match Kushida ACH, Matt Sydal vs Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks

Highlights:

Kenny Omega places the broom in a chair for color commentary and then puts headphones on the broom.

ACH did a Lou Thez press and then a Stone Cold Elbow on Omega

Sydal gave a a double huricanrana to both the Young Bucks at the same time.

Omega caught Sydal as he was dropkicked of the apron then belly to back suplexed him on the ramp.

Omega over the top rope onto all three of his opponents on the floor

Kushida off the top turnbuckle onto the Young Bucks who were on the floor 

Omega powerbombs Kushida into the corner where Matt and Nick stereo kick him in the back of the head.

Sydal uses Matt's foot to kick Nick in the face

ACH over the top rope onto everyone

Kushida with the Nomo on all three of Bullet Club and then was invited to a three way Super Kick Party. 

Winner: Matt Jackson by pinfall after a One Winged Angel

Grade: 4 3/4 stars

Thoughts:

The crowd threw this is awesome chant around a little to much in this show but it was well deserved in this match. This match was awesome from start to finish. High spots every where and the ending had so much going on I needed to watch it 3 times. Absolutely amazing match that is easily in the conversation for Match of the Year. The only part I wasn't a fan of was Kushida just crawling out of the ring before ACH dove on everyone. I would have rather seen him have a high spot to explain why he was out there.

All Night Express Vs War Machine

Highlights:

Hanson back drops King through a table on the floor.

Hanson and Rowe alternated running face washes on Titus

King kicks out of Fallout

Rowe kicks out of One Night Stand

Rowe throws Kenny King through a ladder

Winner: War Machine Retains after a Fallout on Titus

Grade: 3 1/2 stars

Thoughts:

Well done tag team title match. Both teams took full advantage of the No DQ stipulation and there were High spots all over the place. If it didn't come right after the NEVER 6 man it may have stolen the show

Jay Lethal vs Adam Cole Vs Kyle O'Reilly for the ROH World Championship

Highlights:

O'Reilly and Cole double team Lethal with a fast pace spot that was something that needs to be seen to explain
O'Reilly capitulates over the top rope and misses because Cole and Lethal moved out of the way
Fisherman suplex by Cole on Lethal and German by O'Reily on Cole at the same time
Superkick by Lethal on O'Reilly as he came off the apron
Lethal Combination on Cole
Cole pulls O'Reilly in front of him to take the Lethal Injection
O'Reilly hits a Tornado DDT into a BrainBuster
O'Reilly has a Triangle Choke on Lethal and an Ankle Lock on Cole at the same time
Cole stops Lethal's arm from falling a third time

Winner: Lethal by Pinfall on Cole after a double Lethal Injection on both men

Grade: 4 1/2 Stars

Thoughts:

Another great match that is in the match of the year talk too. A ton of high spots and all three men felt like they could win it at anytime. On first watch the beginning with Lethal trying to join the match and getting knocked down by simple elbows by both men may have been to much of a stretch for me to completely buy in. Also It could be because I've seen it in every match this last month but, the three of them standing in the center of the ring trading blows is getting a little over done. All in all though this was a fantastic match.

Final Thoughts:

Only one bad match on the entire card. Out of 9 matches to only have one below 2 stars is a good achievement. Two match of the year candidates came from this card and very good story telling throughout the event. Ring Of Honor is really got a groove going right now and even though I think it may be time for Lethal to drop the belt or start a lengthy feud with someone. I really can't complain about the product as a whole.

Deadpool Movie Review

I will start off by saying this movie had more laugh out loud moments that any movie I have seen in the last 6 years. While it was an average at best action movie, The humor made it my early favorite for movie of the year. I found my self immersed in the story and when the movie was over I actually was disappointed because I wanted more. They also didn't waste anytime with grabbing you and making you laugh because the opening credits were written in a very sophomoric humor manner.

It will help to have a basic understanding of Deadpool going in. He is a former special ops solder who developed cancer. While seeking a cure for his cancer he developed incredible regenerative powers but the process left him really scared. Now he is a mercenary. Also I can't stress enough, This movie is not for children.

I'm not going to give any spoilers so I will just say that it is a typical action story with entertaining flashbacks and enough humor that it didn't get stale. Ryan Reynolds is hilarious, Morena Baccarin is amazing in her role. The role of the Ajax was played brilliantly, as well, by Ed Skrein,

I loved the fact that they made an origin story without dragging it on forever and ever. The origin of Deadpool was done through flashbacks that entertained in a way that it didn't pull you out of the movie or confuse you in anyway. The fight scenes were also done really well with a whole lot of the Deadpool comedy that you would find in the comic books. All in all I am going to say this is a must see and I'm going to give it 4 and 1/2 stars.

That’s all I have for now, be sure to check out my other blogs and follow me on Twitter using the links to the right. Take a look, also, at my articles on The Sportster and my YouTube Channel. My podcast with Shane is always a fun listen too as we discuss anything and everything in the world of pop culture.

This Week in Wrestling 2/27/2016

Unlike other wrestling results pages, after all let’s face it there are literally thousands of them. We aren’t going to focus so much on the results but give a rundown on what we feel the product is looking like for the week.

WWE

This week in the WWE, we saw the return of Shane-O-Mac who was somewhat violently thrown into a match with the Undertaker at Wrestlemania 32 I’m not going to spend a ton of time on this or any of the other matches that came out on Raw this week. If you want to read that you can check out the blog we put up earlier this week, also our Youtube Channel has a riveting wrestling rant that goes into detail. I’m just going to say that this match is a very bad decision and does nothing to help the WWE or Wrestlemania look good.

Also this week we had a heel turn by the big guy. We’ll have to see how that plays out in the coming weeks but it seems like a move destined for failure since the last time Ryback turned heel it essentially killed all momentum he had.

We've been saying for weeks that we think WWE should cut down the amount of matches on Raw and let the talent work longer matches to show what they can do. They got it half right, we got less matches but not longer ones as Raw was essentially destroyed by promos taking up more than an hour of air time.

We also wish the WWE would move forward with the League of Nations vs New Day because quite frankly we are getting sick of seeing them against the Lucha Dragons on ever damn show.

Its good also to see the Dudley’s as heels, Bubba Ray was probably the best heel in the business during his Bully Ray run with TNA.

It’s confusing what they are doing with the New Day. It seemed like at Fastlane they had made their official face turn but now twice these week they were back to playing the heels.

It’s really great to see the way AJ Styles is being treated with WWE too. So many times we get people who either get promoted to the main roster or come in from somewhere else and get buried. The WWE is going out of their way to give AJ big wins, Make him look incredibly tough by withstanding and breaking the Walls of Jericho more than once, and having people like Jericho talk him up as a real big deal.

NXT

We are really becoming huge fans of what NXT is doing. Corey Graves may be the best heel color guy in the business right now and the storylines tend to move effortlessly. This week we got to see American Alpha, Apollo Crews, and Bayley put on entertaining matches. We also got to see the final match for Bull Dempsey in NXT as he is moving on to bigger and better things. Which is sad because the Bull-Fit stuff was very entertaining.

The number one contender story also gave us something to look forward two as Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn are going to compete in a 2/3 falls match which very well could be a match of the year contender. Samoa Joe is looking revitalized now that he is allowed to be the vicious guy we saw in TNA and all signs are pointing to him winning this match.

TNA

This week we got TNA’s annual Lockdown show from London. We had a couple of really solid performances by EC3 and Beer Money. Otherwise the only thing notable about this episode is a heel turn by Rockstar Spud as he viciously attacked Carter. The only thing that I don’t like about this is that EC3 should be the heavyweight champion not feuding with Spud. Maybe they can fix this though  by having Carter feud with a Heel faction ala Stone Cold against the Hart foundation in the late 90’s.

ROH

This week was packed for ROH as they had their weekly program which was a go home show for Friday night’s PPV. The PPV will have a review up later Saturday or early Sunday since we watch it on a delay.

.

Roderick Strong, War Machine, BJ Whitmer and the Briscoes were all victorious on this week’s show leading up to the PPV, while the Addiction came out to put the boots to Alex Shelly as Chris Sabin just watched and wouldn’t participate in the beatdown. ACH drug Alex Shelly out of the ring while Daniels and Kaz argued with Sabin. This is a story line can continue to be entertaining. Alex Shelly has been one of the most underrated wrestlers of the last decade and he has such great chemistry with Daniels, Kazarian, and Sabin. Really hoping for a Motor City Machine Guns reunion.

Lucha Underground

The ongoing story with Vampiro and Pentagon Jr is really intriguing. Vampiro makes a great color guy but I’m really enjoying his dark side as well. And “The Plastic Man” Jack Evans is just a treat to watch. Every week he goes out and gives a 4 plus star performance and his over the top heel moves are just plain fun. Thankfully Johnny Mundo got an assist from Taya Valkyrie in his match with Cage because he was really getting stale. Hopefully this livens up his character a little.

NJPW

The Honor Rising event took place this last week in Tokyo with some amazing matches. Matt Sydal wins with Air Sydal which is frankly a thing of beauty. Kyle O’Rielly is a budding star. He teamed with Bobby Fish, Shibata and Goto to take on Bullet Club in a very entertaining  match that is worth it to watch for O’Rielly alone. Michael Elgin mentioned that he wants to chase the IWGP Heavyweight belt after his match. Bullet Club picked up a new title too, when Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks defeated The Briscoes and Toru Yano to become the new NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champions. Omega is also the current Intercontinental Champion too so this should be interesting going forward.

Global Force Wrestling

So week this week had nothing going or for GFW fans as a lot of their roster is tied up in other promotions for the week and weekend. ROH is having their 14^thAnniversary PPV Friday night and TNA had their Lockdown event in London.  Nick Aldis, Sonjay Dutt Christina Von Eerie and The Bollywood Boyz remained the champs.

That’s all I have for now, be sure to check out my other blogs and follow me on Twitter using the links to the right. Take a look, also, at my articles on The Sportster and my YouTube Channel. My podcast with Shane is always a fun listen too as we discuss anything and everything in the world of pop culture.

What we know about Wrestlemania 32 so far

       After watching Raw this week I’ve come to a couple of conclusions. Number 1 the WWE is out of touch with its fans. Number 2 the WWE universe is really sick of the PG era and they really want a return to the Attitude Era. Or at the very least a return to the Ruthless Aggression Era. In all honesty I agree, maybe not the wild west everything goes culture Attitude Era. Just go back to a little bit of an edge. I think that would, at the very least, make some of these guys more interesting.

       Sadly they have been pushing this Roman Reigns thing to exhaustion for two years now and the WWE Universe is not buying in. Fans are getting so sick of Roman that he is bordering on X-Pac Heat. It’s not Roman’s fault at all, it’s just his super hero persona doesn't fit in today’s reality world. Roman Reigns is an incredibly talented in ring worker, just not oozing with charisma. He is somebody who would really benefit from having a manager to be his mouth piece. Sound Familiar? (In my best Paul Heyman voice) Brock Lesnar! Roman Reigns can be the man. Just not the way they are currently marketing him.

       Now all that being said, I only have one question? Are you ready? Oh wait wrong era. However, that era Triple H is who came out and savagely beat Reigns to close out Raw. I’m guessing he did that to play up the I’m the bad guy thing. All that did was remind us what a bad ass Triple H is and how bland Reigns is compared to him. I have zero interest in seeing this story plays out. I realize they had to scramble when Seth Rollins got hurt since Seth vs Triple H is what they were building to, but they had to realize a year ago that Reigns wasn’t connecting as the hero they want him to be. I have even less interest in seeing these two collide on the grandest stage of them all.

      What I do have interest in seeing is a Brock Lesnar (again I channeled Paul Heyman) vs Dean Ambrose. The only problem with this match is that they have made Dean look like a cartoon character against Brock. The Triple threat at Fastlane was a horrible match, In fact I only gave it 3 stars. In that one match it seemed like there were three separate matches going on. There was Brock vs Roman, Roman vs Ambrose, and Brock vs Ambrose. It was puzzling to watch Dean just get pummeled by Brock at every turn, but actually hurt and bring the fight to Reigns who was able to hold his own against Brock, the whole thing just made no sense. Throwing punches that Brock couldn’t feel and the ridiculous spot where he couldn’t lift Brock for the German suplex just made Dean look like he didn’t belong in the same ring with Lesnar. The fact That Brock keeps beating Dean down on every show and Dean hasn’t looked strong against him at all makes me not want to see Wrestlemania. Why would I want to see the guy, who should be in Roman Reigns spot, get beaten mercilessly. There is no reason to watch this match if you don’t believe that Ambrose has a legitimate chance at beating him. This is also hurting Ambrose long term, if he can’t hang with the beast he will never get out of the mid-card because will believe him as a champ.

     Which brings me to Shane-O-Mac. Look I marked out just as much as everyone in the crowd did when he walked out. It’s incredibly great to see him back and he will bring a lot to product. The storyline of his exit and reason to come back makes sense, and is a compelling story but that is where this ends. Let’s not even bother with getting into the fact that here we are in 2015 dealing with more McMahon family drama. Let’s focus on all the other illogical holes in this. Number one why would the Undertaker fight on Vince McMahons behalf? They haven’t been involved in a significant story line together for almost a decade and nothing in their history together even slightly suggests they would be friends. The other problem I had is that this match will be for control of Raw. Great Idea, let Shane win and let’s get back to brand extension so talent like Cesaro, Neville, Cody Rhodes, Heath Slater don’t continue to get wasted because there are too many people we need to see every show. My problem with this is that when Shane asked for it Vince’s reply was “Then you’ll control the company”. Wait what? So you mean to tell me that I am wasting my time with Smackdown and the Pay Per Views on the WWE network because, according to what Vince just said, they really don’t matter.

     Then there is the corner the WWE has now painted themselves into. On one hand you have the Phenom, 22-1 at Wrestlemania. A legend a guy that even at 50 has gone into Wrestlemania and dominated. Shane McMahon is a 46 year old man who was never a wrestler and last competed in the ring in 2010. If he comes out of a boardroom and beats the Undertaker, it devalues Brock Lesnars win. It makes Bray look like a weaker person then they have already made him and it makes the Undertaker look like an old man that can’t cut it anymore. If the Undertaker wins then the fans are treated to another disappointing McMahon family storyline that makes Vince look good.

    One last point and then I’m done. Where was Kevin Owens? We are on the road to KOMania and the Intercontinental Champion was nowhere to be found? I think the WWE has some major work to do but this is seriously shaping up to be one of the worst Wrestlemania’s ever right on par with 29 and 11.

     That’s all I have for now, be sure to check out my other blogs and follow me on Twitter using the links to the right. Take a look, also, at my articles on The Sportster and my YouTube Channel. My podcast with Shane is always a fun listen too as we discuss anything and everything in the world of pop culture.