Raw Review (30/6/14)

First of all, props to WWE, what a great show. I've been saying for weeks now that the product is starting to get stale again but this week I've been (again) proved wrong. Money in the Bank wasn't an awful show, in fact I quite enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of the MITB ladder matches, regardless of who is in them and who wins them, I just think it's a great concept and usually a great match. The end result of the PPV was Cena winning the titles, and to be honest I'm not as butthurt as most fans, yes they could have made one of three potential huge stars tonight (Reigns, Cesaro or Bray Wyatt) but they took the safe way out and gave it to Cena. I'm not disappointed, I'd rather Cena than Orton, Sheamus, or Del Rio (who hasn't been relevant since 2011, why was he even in the match?), I know Cena's only holding it until Lesnar comes back, which is fine. In fact that makes me glad they didn't give it to one of three future stars, because they'd immediately be fed to Lesnar really early in their reign, which would be a shame. 

Anyway, coming off a strong PPV, WWE delivered a really entertaining Raw. It opened with the reveal of the WWE 2K15 cover star, which was (unsurprisingly) John Cena. The promos cut by both Cena and the Authority were pretty weak, especially Triple H attempting a Boston "bro" accent. I'm not gonna lie, Cena will sell the game better than someone like Bryan or Cesaro, because people know his face, he's the mainstream star, and he pretty much epitomizes professional wrestling in the 21st century. The Authority then reveals that Cena will face Randy Orton, "The Demon" Kane (which seems to be his full name now..) and Roman Reigns for the World Title at Battleground. I think it'll be a decent match, Cena will obviously retain, Reigns will be screwed by Triple H, and most likely a bit of a confrontation between Orton and Kane will cost them both the title. 

Afterwards came a solid match between the new "Mr Money in the Bank", Seth Rollins and Rob Van Dam, the match cut to break mid way through so they weren't given much of an opportunity to tell a great story. But they are two very strong workers, RVD can still go with the best, he had a fantastic match with NXT champion Adrian Neville on NXT, nothing standout but basically what you'd expect. The promo afterwards by Dean Ambrose, however, was incredible. He has really been on his game since The Shield parted ways, he's been a breath of fresh air lately and is definitely giving Bray Wyatt a run for his money. 

Lana and Rusev have been driving me nuts lately, I'm not going to lie, Lana is stunning, but that fake Russian accent grates on me, like really pisses me off. Rusev just sucks, so I was cheering when Zeb and Thwagger came down and shut them up, turning face in the process. A great moment, one of the standout moments on the show, Swagger has been a heel his whole career, so for him to come out and immediately that big of a pop was quite a moment to behold. I think they can get some great momentum out of this feud with Rusev, but beyond that I don't see them staying face for long. Which works, because WWE seem to turn wrestlers left, right and centre nowadays.

Then came a rather forgettable match with The Wyatt Family taking on The Uso's and Sheamus, I think WWE made a mistake not putting the tag titles on Harper and Rowan at MITB, it seems as if they're beating the champions week in, week out but somehow can't beat them at the PPV... #WWElogic. Then a Divas match involving the Bella's and the Funkadactyles. The less said about that one the better. 

Ok, Cesaro went in to a match with Kofi Kingston, Cesaro apparently took a blow to the eye resulting in an injury and the match ending during the break, which is damn unfortunate because if the injury is serious that's another star with great momentum and potential added to the injury list, along with Wade Barrett. As much as I like Cesaro I didn't pay much attention to the match, but the fact that it ended during a break caught my attention, the post match beatdown was actually quite brutal, and honestly more interesting. I just hope Cesaro recovers quickly because he's due a big push really soon. The Great Khali then returned (he was gone?) and beat down Damien Sandow, who was dressed as Vince McMahon, in about 8 seconds. 

On Twitter hours before Raw Triple H revealed that a former WWE champion would return to Raw tonight, of course much speculation started with CM Punk, Flair, Hogan etc. but the almost universal reaction was "Triple H is trolling us with the Miz", and they were right...sort of. The Miz was the former champion returning...but then out came the guy that some fans were muttering the name of when Triple H tweeted his message; Y2J Chris Jericho. The crowd popped massively, Jericho's only been gone a year, but it seems that whenever Jericho returns he always gets the biggest reaction of the night. Jericho is just so universally admired and respected, he's just a cool dude. He delivered a Codebreaker to the Miz and was about to cut a promo when the Wyatt's static hit. Another great moment, just Jericho standing in the ring surrounded by the Wyatt Family was incredible, they beat him down as you'd expect and then crashed to commercial in typical WWE style. Personally I'm looking forward to Jericho vs Wyatt feud, they had a brilliant match together on NXT last year so I think it'll really deliver at Battleground. 

Ziggler then faced Fandango in one of the most bizarre endings to a match I've ever seen. It was a fairly short match, again I didn't pay much attention. Summer Rae ran in during the match and made out with Ziggler for some reason, then Fandango got mad, Ziggler hit the Zig-Zag and won the match, and both Summer and Ziggler seemed to enjoy the kiss...I'm not sure what to make of this but whatever.

Next up is a tag match between Rybaxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel, not some kind of hemorrhoid cream or something) vs Goldust and Stardust. Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a Cody Rhodes fan, he's brilliant and Stardust is a testament to Cody Rhodes' talents. He can really make anything work, if this is building to a feud between the two I think Goldust vs Stardust will be a much more interesting feud than Cody vs Goldust. However I think once that feud is done with, Cody needs to go back to being Cody, otherwise this gimmick becomes pointless. 

Paige makes her way to the ring and cuts a pretty poor promo on how she feels she's proved herself and she's here to stay. Good to know. Then AJ's music hits and she's back! Awesome, she tells Paige she's realised the error of her ways (apparently) and that Paige proved her wrong. Then Paige goes off on one about how she thinks AJ is trying to sweet talk her into a rematch...this segment was basically a rehash of the one where Paige won the title. Paige ended up dropping the title to AJ which, contrary to belief, I am totally OK with. I am a massive Paige fan but her title run has been very poor, WWE has booked her terribly and now they have a chance to put it right now that AJ is back. This is the feud that fans of both women wanted to see, and now we can see it. There's been a lot of fans on Twitter saying Paige should go back to NXT, but that is totally pointless, the whole point of NXT is to get to the main roster and win titles, Paige has done that so going back to NXT would hurt her rather than help her. I'm looking forward to where WWE will hopefully with the two of them and I think what seemed like the beginnings of a heel turn for Paige last night will provide the jumping off point she needs to get fans talking again, allowing her to be more aggressive like she used to be since WWE have really toned down her character. 

A basic main event came next, a predictable finish (WWE do love a DQ) that didn't really do anything for either of them. Kane Tombstoned Cena, and for some reason a doctor was called...really? A doctor? Seth Rollins entered afterwards looking to cash in but Ambrose lived up to his promise and beat him down before he could cash in. Raw ended on a big staredown between Triple H and Roman Reigns, probably leading to a match between the two at potentially SummerSlam. 

Verdict: 8/10

A very strong Raw, plenty of talking points but no contenders for Match of the Year, hopefully WWE keep on this form and we see plenty more surprises down the line in the near future.


I'm hoping to start reviewing Raw every week so stay tuned, thanks for reading.

The ever-declining state of NXT

I posted on here a long while back about how great NXT was, and how the future looked extremely bright for WWE with the fantastic talent they had down in NXT. Back then I was raving about Bo Dallas, Leo Kruger, Kassius Ohno and Corey Graves, and I have to say that it's a damn shame that just one of those talents (technically) have made it to the main roster, and that's Bo Dallas. Bo Dallas is a great talent, and his knew motivational speaker/heel who thinks he's a face gimmick is starting to get him over on the main roster which is great. I really like Bo and I think he can succeed in WWE, unfortunately though I don't see him as a contender for a World title at all. His brother on the other hand (Bray Wyatt, for those of you who don't know) looks like someone who can really go down as one of the greatest characters of all time. Some of NXT's products have come up to the main roster and exploded in the right way, the likes of the Wyatt Family and Big E, however a lot of great talent has came up to the main roster and have unfortunately been on the end of either bad booking or terrible crowd reactions. Adam Rose, Emma and Xavier Woods have yet to really "get over" on the main roster because the main roster crowds don't seem to know how to react to them. This seems to be a concern among the big wigs in WWE since it came to light sometime last week that Vince himself isn't completely satisfied with a lot of the NXT stars coming in to WWE (but is Vince ever satisfied with anything?).

This concern seems to be seeping through into NXT itself and down in Florida they seem to be grooming stars for the main roster in the completely wrong way. Instead of letting their ring skills and promo skills develop, which is the entire purpose of NXT, they're working on characters that they hope to get over on Raw and SmackDown. Adam Rose is a good example of this. Adam Rose, real name Ray Leppan, was massively over down in NXT as Leo Kruger and seemed a great recipe for success once the South African Kraven the Hunter-type reached the main roster. However those in charge decided to hand Leppan a Russell Brand inspired 'party animal' gimmick, probably with the hope the kids will love it on the main roster. Funnily enough he got a fantastic reception on his re-debut down in NXT, the NXT crowd were really into him, but for some reason when his Raw debut came, that Baltimore crowd (I think it was Baltimore?) had absolutely no idea what to think of him. Unfortunately it's been that way ever since, which is a huge shame because Leppan is very talented and worked fantastically as Leo Kruger. Personally I see Adam Rose as a decent gimmick idea (not great) on the absolute wrong guy, Leppan does his best to pull it off, but unfortunately I don't find him convincing enough, and it seems that most of the main roster crowd don't either. 

Also down in NXT though are some great gimmicks on the absolute right people, some examples of these are Tyler Breeze and The Ascension. The Ascension have been getting quite the push recently, they are the longest reigning NXT tag team champions in history (granted, there's only been like four) and have been appearing in dark matches for Raw and SmackDown and I think they might be the next big call up to the main roster. Personally I love the Ascension, at first I didn't like Connor O'Brian by himself as a "The Ascension" Connor O'Brian, but once Rick Victor debuted and they developed this Legion of Doom style team rather than brooding gothic types they had going before, I think they're definitely one of the best things NXT has going for them. Not forgetting Tyler Breeze though, he reminds me of a young Shawn Michaels crossed with Dolph Ziggler. He's great in the ring, has a ridiculous, yet fun gimmick that he pulls off extremely well, and he sings his own theme music! I mean, how much more like HBK could he be? I mean the HBK from just around the time he broke up with Jannetty and was being managed by Scary Sherri. I do really enjoy watching Breeze, and along with the Ascension, I think he's definitely one of those gimmicks that will succeed on the main roster, because he just has "it". 

Unfortunately as cool as those guys are, I don't see them, along with the likes of Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville and Corey Graves, getting the type of push that most of the bigger guys down in NXT will. We've already seen this with Rusev, and will probably see the same with Mojo Rawley. I honestly don't think this is the right way to go, we've seen it before where the big foreign guys come in and fall to the big American guys, in the case of Rusev, and where the ex-football star comes in and dominates everybody and wins everything, in the case of Mojo. Personally I hate both of them, they have little to no ring skill (Rusev is a little smoother than Mojo but still pretty damn bad) but still end up getting the huge push. I think WWE and professional wrestling has moved on from the big guys coming in and conquering everything, since the days of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, to Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, then CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, they have showed that, now, professional wrestling is about in-ring skill. However it seems Vince doesn't see it that way and still loves to push the big guys...ah Vince and his muscle fetish. As a fan I'm tired of seeing the big guys get over the workhorses like Ziggler and the likes, but if I was looking at it as a promoter I'd probably agree with whoever is calling the shots on pushing the big guys, simply because WWE's key demographic (children aged 4-14) are most likely to cheer for a big guy like Mojo Rawley using Naomi's moveset (ass-based offence) rather than someone rolling around on the floor using all kinds of technique like a collegiate wrestler like Ziggler.

I honestly do see the sense in it, but I am a firm believer that the key demographic for a wrestling company should never be kids, because it just waters the product down and weakens it for the so-called "old school" fans. NXT is certainly not the quality wrestling product it used to be, and it's down to dumbass gimmicks like the Vaudevillians (did you see those guys? wtf?) and the fact that they shove Mojo Rawley down our throats. I don't hate it, but it's definitely not what it used to be.

Maybe that's just me...maybe I've just started disliking it because it got popular, but anyway, that's my opinion. 

Thanks for reading. 

What the hell is happening to WWE?

Ok, so what the hell is going on? First we have what I like to call the "dog shit era" (2007-2011) where absolutely nothing about WWE is watchable at all, like seriously, possible the worst era in wrestling history. Then business picks up when Punk takes off in 2011 with Money in the Bank and his feud with Laurinaitis and all that, things start to look up, then BOOM! Dog shit era 2.0 (2012-2014). But 2014 man, it started off in the usual godawful way that we've been used to since Vince went completely senile back in 2006 when he started mocking God, but then WrestleMania XXX rolled around and we were filled with a huge amount of hope...FINALLY! SOME FUCKING HOPE!!

Let's just take a moment and think of what they gave us. First off THE single most underrated and mistreated guy in the company finally got a push because the fans were sick to fucking death of Triple H's buddies being shoved down their throats (myself included). Daniel Bryan single handedly started his own little revolution, he got himself massively over simply by being amazing in the ring. He showed that this is a wrestling business and not Vince's own entertainment brand. Bryan wins the title at WrestleMania like he was destined to do since the Royal Rumble when the crowd royally shafted Batista and Triple H shit himself. Bryan began to show that he was what the company needed all along, before his injury he was the guy who the fans just wanted to see succeed. But then of course in typical WWE fan style, once the guy they wanted to see succeed actually does succeed, they want someone new...I swear, ya'll are a bunch of fucking hipsters. 

Enter Cesaro. Cesaro of course also got massively over with the "WWE Universe" (anybody else really despise that nickname btw?) simply because he could swing people around in a fucking circle, had cool theme music...oh, and he was in Ring of Honor like Bryan and Punk before him. No, but I'll admit, Cesaro is a cool dude and I really hope he walks out of Money in the Bank as champion. He got massively over around the WrestleMania period and became another of WWE's top potential stars. The night after WrestleMania however he turned on the Real Americans and was revealed to be a Paul Heyman "guy", the crowd popped big time, I marked the fuck out, it was insane. But then unfortunately WWE and Paul Heyman did what WWE and Paul Heyman do and fuck it up by making it all about somebody else. Cesaro is a great wrestler, and was getting massively over all by himself, but sticking him with Heyman has managed to destroy that huge momentum he had. I don't know why Heyman is spouting about Lesnar beating Taker's streak every fucking week when he's managing Cesaro, it's literally taking all the attention off Cesaro. Now what looked to be a promising year for Cesaro has now fizzled down to mid-card destiny. Shame.

Ahh The Shield. Who didn't love The Shield? They were the best thing going in WWE and now they're gone. I'm not going to lie, I loved them as a team and didn't want them to break up, but I really can't wait to see what they do next now they're branching out as singles wrestlers. It should be an exciting time but now it seems the monkeys in WWE's creative department haven't got a damn clue what to do with them. Reigns is feuding with Orton for some reason, Ambrose is trying to feud with Rollins, and Rollins is Triple H's golden boy who looks to be feuding with Ambrose but doesn't seem to be taking the huge chance he was handed when he really should have became the new member of Evolution, therefore restoring Evolution to it's original format, the past (Triple H), the present (Orton), and the future (Rollins). I honestly have no idea where they're going with any of it.

Speaking of the monkeys in WWE's creative department... Has anyone heard of Paige? You know, the Divas champion, debuted to a huge pop, won the title, looked to be massively over immediately then has been stuck in mediocre matches with no one deserving of even a match with her at the moment? Yeah her. When she came in the complexion of the Divas division changed, and looked like it was finally going to go back to being a "women's wrestling" division, but then AJ fucked off and now Paige is left with no real worthy opponents except maybe Natalya, but of course she's wrapped up in the piss yourself, dildo fest that is Total Divas...or so WWE would have you believe. Apparently no one in WWE watches NXT because if they did they'd have seen the quality matches Paige had with Summer Rae and Emma and others in NXT. Therefore giving her formidable opponents worthy of a title...instead of Alicia Fox every week. Of course with AJ leaving Paige hasn't had that gripping feud to set her on fire yet, and she's never going to get that with Alicia Fox, or Tamina or fucking Slutadactyle Cameron...even Naomi. It's sad that WWE doesn't seem to recognise talent when they have it. Especially in Cesaro and Paige.

I'll be back tomorrow to rant further about the clusterfuck that is WWE's programming...and a small special on NXT and their persistence to put Mojo Rawley on my screen who I strongly dislike. Thanks for reading, drop me a line if you enjoyed it on Twitter. 

Thanks again.

My thoughts on the CM Punk "situation"

Just like 90% of WWE fans I was deeply disappointed when CM Punk walked out on the company in January. Now it's been three, almost four months since Punk walked out, and the dust is beginning to settle, and I have to admit, the company has been in damn fine shape since he left. As a huge Punk fan I never thought the company could possibly get any better without him, but by some strange happenings it has done, I've seen things I'd never thought I'd ever see happening in a million years; Daniel Bryan pulling double duty and beating three of the biggest stars in the company's history to win both title belts at WrestleMania XXX for a start, Paige debuting the next night and winning the Divas title from AJ Lee (funnily enough, Punk's fiance), and Antonio Cesaro getting massively over with the crowd, and getting a major push because of it. 

Where I'm going with this; I think CM Punk leaving has motivated fans enough to want to "hijack" the company. Couple Punk's walkout with the arrival of (and ultimately the horrific booking that followed) Batista has given fans the push they needed to take the show back; for years WWE has shoved crap down our throats without us wanting, or needing to see it (*cough* Cena *cough*). Now the Punk situation, and Triple H putting his buddies over has pushed fans over the edge, they've had enough, and it seemed that was the reaction that was needed. Fans needed to show that they were in control, because let's face it, if Punk had not walked out on WWE Bryan would not be champion, Paige would probably not be champion, and Cesaro would not be getting a huge Heyman push (probably because Punk would be preoccupying Heyman). WWE is in a better state without him.

But that's not the reason for this post, I want to look at what we know, what we don't know, and where we could see the company go with and without CM Punk. First let's look at what happened. 

• CM Punk walked out on WWE the night after the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Punk was eliminated from the match by Kane and was subsequently put through the commentary table. Punk looked set to enter a feud with Kane and the New Age Outlaws, and later face Triple H at WrestleMania.
• Reports said Punk was suffering from concussion, he was told to get it checked out but did not want to get checked out and told everyone he was fine.
• Paul Heyman said on 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's Podcast The Steve Austin Show that only three people were present in the room when Punk "quit"; CM Punk, Vince McMahon, and Triple H. None of which have spoken publicly about the incident.
• Reports have also said that Punk was unhappy with WWE's booking of Daniel Bryan, and he was also unhappy with their booking of him in a match with Triple H at WrestleMania, something which Triple H took offence to. 
• CM Punk has not been mentioned on WWE television since he walked out, except the episode of Raw which took place from Chicago where he was referenced at the top of the show, and regularly in a promo by his close, personal friend, Paul Heyman.
• Punk has made just one public appearance since departing the company, on AMC's The Talking Dead where he spoke only of The Walking Dead and was mentioned as Phil Brooks (his real name), no mention of his wrestling career, or even his CM Punk name. 
• Punk has not tweeted, commented, spoke of, or made any other public appearances since walking out of WWE, nor have WWE have acknowledged he has even left. However Punk has been removed from the signature produced at the start of every WWE show, he has been removed from all show opening sequences, but Punk's profile remains on the WWE website, and they still sell his merchandise. 

Truly, nobody knows what has really happened with CM Punk, many, including myself, have speculated on what he is going through, what has happened, and what will happen. In reality, there's only one person who really knows what's happening, and that's Phillip Jack Brooks. 

But it's fun to speculate right? I love doing a bit of fantasy booking, it's always great to see how you would run your own wrestling company (and probably run it into the ground). One of the biggest commentators on Punk's disappearance has been WWE Hall of Famer 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Austin said numerous times he expected Punk to return before, or during WrestleMania XXX. This lead to floods of fans slavering over a potential Austin/Punk feud in WWE, so many comparisons have been made between the two over the years, however the most startling comparison is the one I'm writing about right now; Punk walking out, because Austin did exactly the same thing back in 2002. Well WMXXX has been and gone, and still no Punk. I can't say I wasn't disappointed at the end of WrestleMania XXX that there was not sign of Punk, however I was too busy marking out over the rest of the show to even care. I'm not going to lie though, a Stone Cold/CM Punk feud would probably be the biggest match ever for me, without a doubt two of my favourite of all time, I still hold a little bit of hope, but not much. 

I honestly believe that Punk left because he was just generally sick of it, he didn't like the direction the company was going in, he didn't like the way he was being booked (as well as his good friend Daniel Bryan) and was reportedly in constant pain. Wrestling five days a week for 300 days a year has to take a massive toll on the body and mind, and Punk has wrestled for almost twenty years with hardly any breaks. I believe he is well and truly banged up, and being that banged up, hurting and pissed off at the way you're being presented on television, it has to drain some of the passion out of you. If not all of the passion, and if the passion is not there, there's no reason for you to be there. I honestly don't know if, or when we'll ever see CM Punk again, it could be ten days from now, ten weeks from now, ten years from now. Nobody knows, except CM Punk. But if I were to run in to CM Punk tomorrow, there are two things I'd say to him, number one being; what the hell are you doing in South Hetton? and number two being; you may have walked out to hurt the company, and make a statement, but you also walked out on the fans, the people that pay their hard earned money to come and see you, the kids that idolize you, you may have wanted to hurt the authority backstage, and stick a finger up at the politics, but while doing that you did the same to us. I think he just needs to think about that. I realise that I sound like a whiny little girl getting dumped but it's the truth. 

The quality of the show has been better off without him, but I have to admit, if his music were to hit next week and he walked through the curtain, I would be jumping up and down cheering like the rest of you.

Thanks for reading,

Keep watching wrestling!

The NXT Invasion

So it finally happened, Paige finally debuted. I've been saying for months that the Divas division needed reshaping and now it finally looks like it is happening. Of course, I can't say that the division is getting stronger already, just two weeks after she debuted, but if we're to look at this week's Raw I think that it's a pretty strong indication of where the division is intended to go. How, you ask? Not one single "Total Diva"...that's how.

Total Divas has been constantly spewing it's garbage all over WWE in recent months, with tails of wetting one's self in the middle of the ring, and travelling with a dildo collection in one's carry on luggage. What was once billed as "reality TV" has now descended into the same awful rubbish that we see in "Keeping Up with the Kardashian's" and "Jersey Shore". What's more disturbing is that WWE (a wrestling company above all else) used this trashy show as a vehicle to get the most unwanted, and untalented female performers as over they could. Fortunately for us it didn't work as planned, and the crowds still cheered for AJ Lee, the supposed pantomime villain. But cheering for AJ Lee comes with a price; you're always going to be disappointed.

AJ was once the most over Diva in the entire organisation (maybe still is), but WWE did it's best to vomit all over her momentum with the horse dung of a show "Total Divas", having AJ mock the show (much to fans amusement) but then having the so-called 'good girls' overcome AJ and beat her 1-2-3 pretty much every week. AJ was destined to drop the title to one of them right? Wrong. The night after WrestleMania XXX a new Diva debuted. Paige. Now, probably, the new most over Diva in the company. 

Paige, of Norwich, England, if you haven't heard about her (why?), is one of the finest female performers to step between the WWE ropes, she could probably out-wrestle 90% of the male locker room too. She's the NXT Women's Champion, and the most popular star down in WWE's Orlando-based developmental system. For months now (years, maybe) fans have been clamouring for Paige to debut, to shut up AJ Lee, to stick a boot down the Bella's throats, to tie Natalya up like a shoelace (not in a dirty way), but it seemed that WWE weren't sold on her. She was stuck down in NXT for years, putting on some of the most entertaining matches the women's division had seen in a long time. But thankfully, after all the waiting and the wondering, WWE finally gave her her chance...and the Divas title (I know, right?!).

On the same night we saw the debut of Alexander Rusev, a wrestler who I'm not impressed by at all, he has minimal ring ability, can barely speak English, and is really only getting a chance because of Vince McMahon's fetish for big dudes. We also saw promos for Aldous Snow...I mean Adam Rose, and Bo Dallas. I'm honestly more excited for Rose and Bo than I am for Rusev, but I know Rusev is going to get the monster push, because he's a big guy and WWE love a big guy. As for Rose, I like the guy, he's a good worker and the gimmick seems to be taking off, however I much prefer the Kraven the Hunter-type thing he was doing as Leo Kruger, it just seemed a better look for a South African brawler than a prancy-Fandango-esque gimmick likened to Russell Brand. 

Now, Bo Dallas though...what to say. I honestly can't see him catching on again, especially with this whole "BOlieve" thing he's got going, but what can you do with Bo Dallas? He's actually really entertaining in NXT (albeit a little bit annoying) but he's really solid, however, I just don't see him taking off on the main roster the WWE probably does. At best, he's probably got a decent Intercontinental Championship run in him before he fizzles out and lets his contract run down. 

Recently we've also seen the debut of Emma, who I think has a really decent future ahead for her, and Xavier Woods, who I don't think has a future at all. I'm much more concerned about Adrian Neville, Corey Graves, Sami Zayn and Charlotte, I really see those four going far, Neville is one of the most exciting workers in recent years who doesn't injure himself in every match (yes, I'm talking about Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara), Graves looks like he has a bit of Jake the Snake about him, soft speaking promos but very dangerous in the ring, Sami Zayn simply because he's awesome and had the best match I've seen in years with Cesaro on NXT, and Charlotte who'll simply get a push because she's Flair's daughter, but can actually wrestle better than most of the current Divas division, minus Paige and AJ. 

It seems that NXT has really taken off since it started on the Network, it seems the match quality isn't what it used to be, and the talent that have jumped over to the main roster have left a bit of a hole, but I'm sure it'll pick up again soon. All they need to do is get rid of Mojo Rawley and I'll be happy, the guy's a dillweed.

I have to go but if you're lucky I'll be back soon, I have a lot to write about a certain straight edge rascal, if you have time you can check out a page I admin on Facebook here, the title doesn't really relate to what I post, I post interesting things, go check it out!

Anyway, stay awesome!

Watch NXT!