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!

Daniel Bryan - A Goat's Tale

So I'll be the first to admit, I wasn't a huge Daniel Bryan mark back during his first major title run, I didn't like him on NXT, and I don't watch any independent promotions so I never knew him as Bryan Danielson. But 2013 has quite literally been the year of Daniel Bryan, and what has pissed me off more than anything is that Vince, Triple H and co seem determined to make 2014 the year that is not about Daniel Bryan. Bryan started 2013 well, he was tag-team champion with Kane in one of the best teams to come along in recent years, Team Hell No, then when they broke up and his singles career started (again) he seemed to be one to wander around in limbo unsure of where to go next. But then the delightful John Cena (who is actually known for trying to get younger talent over himself) picked Bryan as his opponent for SummerSlam, which was great Bryan deserved it. But if, like me, you were skeptical, you had a good right to be, I was almost certain Cena would lose...I was wrong.

Bryan won clean and solid at SummerSlam and became WWE champion, but of course, as usual, our skepticism wasn't totally off the mark; Triple H screwed Bryan so Orton became champion. I hope I'm not the only one who thinks there seems to be some sort of backstage grudge against Daniel Bryan for getting over without their help, because again Bryan won clean at Night of Champions only for some ridiculous storyline to come into play where he was stripped of the title again. Then at Battleground...no contest...then at HIAC, HBK screws him....it just goes on and on...and now he's not even in the title picture. It seems like a ridiculous, petty thing from Triple H that he feels the need to not only physically bury Bryan on every chance he gets, but also verbally mock him. Like when he mentions Bryan being the 2013 Superstar of the Year, he mentions it every time he mentions his name, like he's openly mocking him for the fans voting him. I imagine that Bryan made a big deal out of being SOTY and HHH probably said something backstage to him like "you know it's just a fan vote right? Not a real award" or something like that, he's that petty and shallow and he has to have his "boys" Orton and Cena...and now Batista...on top of the pile.

Then of course the pettiness shone through again last week when Bryan joined the Wyatt Family...it was like "hey, he's the most over superstar in the company and didn't need our help to get it...we can't have that...let's ruin it and turn him heel". It is the most single pathetic thing I've ever seen happen to a popular superstar, I really hope I'm proved wrong and they have him turn on the Wyatt Family. My ideal scenario actually would be for Kane to save him, and Undertaker to return to save the both of them, then for the three of them to work a tag team with the Wyatt's at 'Mania, 'cause let's face it, Taker isn't getting any younger and has struggled to get through the first ten minutes of a match without wilting for the past few years, it would be a great match and a good payoff. In fact, my ideal scenario would be for Bryan to win the Rumble and Wyatt to dispute it as his title shot, that way the two can face off at Elimination Chamber and Bryan wins the title shot and faces whoever at WrestleMania.

The bottom line is Bryan has been treated like dirt these past few months, all because he got over without creatives help, hopefully I'm wrong and he hasn't fully turned and this Wyatt Family angle ends soon, otherwise the only reason he's involved is because he's got a beard, which is ridiculous.

Anyway, stay awesome,

Watch wrestling.

Paige: Will She, Won't She?

If you were to ask most WWE fans who the future of the WWE Divas division was, the general consensus would tell you it was Paige. I think I've written a lot about her on this blog but that doesn't change the fact that she's probably the best thing WWE have going for them in terms of female talent and budding young stars, the main problem is that WWE doesn't seem to recognise this and Paige remains stuck down in Orlando on NXT. But in my opinion that may not be a bad thing, the thing is is that everyone seems to be satisfied with what Paige is doing, her character and the basically the way she generally presents herself on television. However if she was to be promoted to the main roster there is absolutely no guarantee that she would come up the way she is now, she may come in as a member of a faction like The Wyatt Family or The Shield, she could come in billed as a local jobber who manages to get one over on a top Diva. The problem seems to be is that most people (myself included) are happy with Paige the way she is and don't see a need to change her character, but WWE are obviously too dumb to even realize how well she is doing and how much she is appreciated, never mind how great her character is. 

I personally think the anti-diva gimmick (not really sure you could call it a gimmick) is a brilliant fit for her, she pulls it off well and it's a grand change to the crap that WWE shove down our throats every week with the whole Total Divas malarkey. I think now would be as good a time as any to bring her up to the main roster, with Total Divas returning next week and the likes of Eva Marie and JoJo bound to get more airtime than they should be, Paige is the only Diva I can see really shaking things up and making the Divas division interesting again. While AJ has been in a nice little program with them I don't see that feud going anywhere. AJ is great, I really do love watching her, but she still carries that ugly Divas championship around, and refers to herself as, pretty much, the most important Diva on the roster. I think Paige would be someone who could come in and really beat the living crap out of the Total Divas crew and probably be the only one of the whole female roster who wouldn't be referred to as a Diva and I think that would be really important in her growth as the future of the women's division.

Which brings me to my next point; I'll admit it, I love watching the Divas, not because they're hot and provide good eye candy, but because most of them genuinely want to be there and try hard to put on a good show and succeed at this level. Women like AJ Lee, Natalya, Naomi, Layla Tamina and of course Paige, have worked for years and years (some longer than most superstars) to get to the big time, especially AJ and Layla, who before becoming WWE Divas, they were huge fans of WWE. But then you get ones like The Bella Twins, Cameron and Eva Marie who really had no intention of getting into the business but still get pushed and promoted ahead of the likes of Paige, Kaitlyn and even JoJo. I'm not going to make a huge deal like most people do out of the Bella Twins, while Nikki seems content with her position as one of the top Divas through no work whatsoever, Brie seems to be genuinely working hard to get ahead of her competition, especially in recent weeks Brie seems to be working much harder, putting on better matches and genuinely looking like she belongs there, it seems that a few things may have rubbed off Daniel Bryan and onto her (giggity). Eva Marie is possibly the most baffling as to why she gets promoted, she really has no in ring talent and is notorious for her awful ability to sell falls, it's disgraceful that she's on Raw nearly every week while the likes of Paige, Kaitlyn and other sit on the sidelines doing nothing, 

I will definitely be looking to continue this post as Paige continues to develop, I just hope if/when she does get up to the main roster, WWE doesn't muck her character up and shove her on Main Event or jobbing to Eva Marie nearly every week on SmackDown. 

Cheers for reading.

It's Been A While.

I don't know if too long even describes how long it's been since I posted, I absolutely promised myself that I'd post on here as often as I can and it's been since like April since I posted. It's not like my priorities or anything have changed, I haven't stopped watching WWE, I still tweet about it all of the time and comment on Facebook and talk about it as much as I feel the need to. 

In fact in the summer I watched a bit of TNA (BOOO!!)...to be fair they did have some half decent shows and did seem to care a lot more about the women's division than WWE does (of course, we've touched upon that in a previous post Diva Destruction) but what I learned is that they are basically setting themselves up to be another WCW...without the success. I also recently bought the Best of WCW Monday Nitro DVD's from WWE Home Video UK and was actually disappointed that, back in the day, I paid too much attention to WWF and didn't bother to watch WCW at all. There were some really interesting segments and some matches that I really enjoyed on the 2 DVD sets, it makes me wonder that if TNA ever got the financial backing and audiences that WCW got would they ever be serious competition for WWE? Taking in to account the fact that WWE is now a globally recognized media brand with virtually endless funds and connections. Anyway, I stopped watching TNA after about a month, I think I might be a curse, because I'd heard from a friend that TNA was getting really good and had better programming than WWE most weeks, then as soon as I started watching it, it just turned into absolute shit. What bothered me most is Aces and Eights, I really don't understand what was going on there at all, Bubba Ray Dudley as World Heavyweight Champion? Bitch please. 

Also, The Wyatt's arrived on the main roster! I was impressed with the Wyatt's in NXT and really enjoyed watching them, I think they definitely give off a Manson family vibe which could definitely be both controversial and successful at the same time. While everyone on Twitter seems to be raving about Bray Wyatt, I've always been more impressed with Luke Harper, he just has a look of a real scary dude, and that works in his current gimmick but it worries me what they'll do with him when the Wyatt family finishes. He's a very solid worker for a big man and can go with the best of them, I also really like the "YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!" thing he does during matches, it won't be long before that's printed on t-shirts.

The whole "Authority" angle is really boring me now, the IWC have begged for so long for a heel Orton and now they have him and they're still bitching, I, personally, preferred him when he was a face, I think his character had developed so well he was more in touch with the wider, younger audience than any other superstar (except maybe Sheamus, and of course Cena). The decision to turn him heel came at a good time when Daniel Bryan was making his claim to be the top face in the company while Cena was out for "six months". But that all ended when Cena came back and now I'm worried that Bryan will be dropped like a bad habit, it seems that Bryan's world title pursuit is over and now they're pushing him to the secondary main event in a feud with the Wyatt Family. It's certainly not a good idea, a worker as solid as Bryan should be in the main event and holding the title (for longer than 3 minutes, or 23 hours) but now that Cena is back they have the two top stars that HHH wants (Cena and Orton) as well as HHH himself and Steph taking the spotlight away from every other wrestler, and belittling as many of them as they can. It's really pissing me off and I just hope that somewhere down the line Bryan steps up again and can hold the title for a decent amount of time, he can be the new Bret Hart and carry the business into a new era, but to do that he needs the torch passed to him, he was given the opportunity to make a name for himself and Vince/HHH/Steph (whoever) mustn't have thought he worked as a top star, resulting in HHH burying him every single week. I really hope he gets another big push soon (maybe a Royal Rumble win) because he really does deserve it.

Anyway, I have Uni work to do, which I should really get back to, 
So until next time, 
Holla, Holla!

Why I Love Wrestling (Part I)

Being 20 years old and still watching wrestling, usually when I talk about it I get a funny look or (ironically) a raised eyebrow but the fact is it's never really bothered me in the slightest. I don't know what the cultural views on wrestling is like in America or anywhere else but over here in England it's very taboo and even during the Attitude Era when the target audience was men aged between 18 and 40 it was still seen as a "kids show". Obviously now it's totally different because the target audience is much younger, but when you see guys like CM Punk and The Rock and Chris Jericho cutting the promos they do, using phrases like "stick it straight up your candy ass" and "your father's an alcoholic and your sister is a drug addict" (Jericho to CM Punk) it's clear that, while it's not as edgy as it used to be, it's still not a "kids show". But wrestling when I started watching it was probably at the lowest point of it's popularity, the high point of the 80's had past and the whole Rock N' Wrestling connection had faded when Hulk Hogan jumped ship to WCW in 1995. 

1995 was around the time I started watching WWF, as a matter of fact the first angle I ever remember was Bret Hart vs Diesel for the WWF Championship going into Royal Rumble '95. The Hitman was the first wrestler I ever really loved, he was like the John Cena of those days, he was the face of the company, wrestled every main event...difference was people actually cheered for him and liked him. But I remember this feud mostly because of how attracted I was to the Diesel character, he was so cool and cocky, and in the ring he wasn't bad either, but I was a Hitman fan and remained so up until the same point as everyone else; during the Stone Cold feud. Stone Cold was, and still is, one of the greatest heels of all time (during his original heel run), that went on to become the greatest babyface and most popular WWF/E superstar of all time. At the time of the feud I was around 2-3 years old and it was very strange not only for me but for most people then when you stopped liking the Hitman, goodest good guy there is, and started liking Steve Austin, the most vile human being in the WWF. 

Austin remains my all-time favourite, ever since that run with the Hitman that shoved him right up to the main event in a matter of months. Of course most people remember Austin for his best moments during the Attitude Era, that may be so but there's no denying that Austin's best matches came during his feud with Bret. Obviously the one that speaks volumes is the match at WrestleMania 13 which many consider to be one of the best matches of all time, where Bret walked in the biggest good guy, Steve walked in the biggest bad guy, and in some amazing way during the match they managed to switch roles and in the end Hart was booed out of the arena, and Austin was applauded for his valiant effort. While it took him a whole extra year to get has hands on his first WWF title Austin remained to be on of the top billed stars in the company, and by this time the Monday Night Wars were in full flow. Clearly Steve Austin was the catalyst in the Attitude Era (I guess some would say) no matter how much people want it to be The Rock, or how many people believe that he was the major draw between '97-'01...there's just no way. But the one's that don't get the credit they deserve in the starting of WWF's Attitude Era was D-Generation X, in my eyes and most peoples eyes they were the real catalysts behind the Attitude Era, they started everything with all the dick jokes, booby references, "suck it"s and basically putting the 'Attitude' in Attitude Era, and it was HBK's feud again with Bret Hart that turned the volume up on WWF's edge-o-meter. 

While I do love a good dick joke and booby reference nowadays, at the age of 4 it wasn't that fun. Not because it was vulgar and crude but for the simple reason I just didn't understand it, which is why I'll always prefer the '06 incarnation of DX, of course people will argue that there acts were majorly toned down and the crude humour didn't even come close to what it was in '97 but the simple fact was that I understood the humour in '06, so then it was funny to me...at 4 year old watching men dress up as women in thongs and telling their bosses to "suck it" and such was just disgusting, now I find it funny. Of course regardless of which incarnation of DX is better, I still prefer Triple H and Shawn Michaels on their own. I loved The Game around 2002 during the McMahon/Helmsley era, I thought he was a badass then, but I still much prefer him between his Evolution tenure and his King of Kings championship pursuit against John Cena. I loved how sadistic he was, I loved how he would get jealous of Batista and Randy Orton when they took "his" title...believe me, the WHC was "his" title! The sledgehammer just made it that much cooler. 

Of course I could on for days about how I love wrestling...but not today. I plan to continue this post soon but there are a few other things I need to talk about first, tomorrow I'll be bringing you a part II on the Divas Destruction post, and soon a bigger look at the Face, Heel or "Tweener" argument.

As for now, don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Glipho,

Thanks again,
Andrew.

The Next Generation (Part II: NXT Invasion)

You all should be able to tell by now that I'm a huge NXT fan, in fact before I started writing this today I just finished watching last nights episode, and I have to say the new Bray Wyatt/Adrian Neville, Oliver Grey, Bo Dallas angle is coming along nicely. I'm not big on Bray Wyatt at all, I think he seems like he can cut a good promo, but that's about it, I've only seen him in the ring one of two times, and what I seen of him was rather underwhelming. Luckily his brother Bo Dallas (both are the sons of the original WWE taxman I.R.S) has some very good ring talent, he's one of the budding young stars fighting to get out of NXT. Right about now NXT doesn't seem like a place for young stars to hone their craft, but rather a place to stick hyped up talent, and mid-carders who they can't fit on the show and creative are too afraid that these young kids could get way over, just like they are down in NXT, and eclipse the boring older talent on the main shows. 

We got a glimpse of Bo Dallas on Raw and SmackDown and in the Royal Rumble match a few weeks/months back, and he caused quite a stir among the fans and some Internet bloggers like myself. He wasn't well known to most people in the audience who never watched NXT but people like myself who watch NXT every week had watched him grow and start to become the main focus of the show on NXT, then what do you know, he shows up in the Royal Rumble match after winning the NXT tournament and then the next night on Raw. It didn't come as a shock to some people that Bo was the one to come up rather than other top NXT stars like Bray Wyatt and Leo Kruger. He was literally the main focus on NXT for a good couple of months or so, he was doing very well, then they called him up to the main roster for two/three matches and BAM! He's back down to NXT...but this time he wasn't the main focus. It seems like the call-up killed a bit of his momentum, despite him beating Intercontinental champion Wade Barrett, cleanly as well might I add. I was hoping for a feud and maybe an IC title match between Bo and Barrett but the storyline kind of just washed up after the one or two matches and he was back in NXT doing basically nothing until recently. The feud with his brother is interesting but I would much rather see him getting up on the main roster, if not challenging for the NXT title (which doesn't seem to be getting any airtime lately). It would p**s me off a little bit but the guy they built up instead of him was really engaging.

Adrian Neville is the guy I'm talking about, Neville is a young lad from Newcastle, England (just like myself) and is definitely the most popular wrestler they have in NXT. He's now one half of the NXT tag team champions and is killing it every week in the ring, he really is that damn good (sorry Triple H). I think finally with Neville, WWE are realising that they have a huge talent on their hands, and even though he's still in NXT, he is a tag champion, he'd only been in the company for a few weeks when they handed him the belts which shows WWE's commitment to him by naming him the inaugural NXT Tag Team champion. I think it might be a good long while before Neville shows up on Raw or SmackDown because I know you American fans aren't too hot on us English being top drawers on WWE, William Regal never got there, you all flipped out at the possibility of Wade Barrett potentially becoming WWE champion, but I think if you watch Neville he may be the one to swerve your opinion on us English. The only problem you might have with him is understanding his promos, being a Geordie most of you will probably think he's Irish or Scottish, but I'm just hoping that one day I get to hear "Wey Aye Man!" on Raw or Smackdown...please, one day.

As far as the NXT Divas go though, there is no one else you can discuss other than Paige. Some people will make arguments for Sasha Banks or Summer Rae or Charlotte Flair (yes, that's Naitch's daughter) but Paige is the main draw on NXT, possibly out of everyone! Not just the Divas, even the Superstars, she gets the loudest pops out of everyone, every time she appears. And giving the current state of the WWE Divas division (see my post on Diva Destruction) WWE need Paige and could really use her on the main show right about now, I really do hope they realise what they have in her, but as I said in my Divas post that's less likely. She really is that good, she has a really unique look and is definitely one of the best female wrestlers I've ever seen, she could give an in-form in-prime Trish Stratus a run for her money. With reports coming in over the past number of weeks that WWE are looking to bring back former Divas, we've already seen the return of The Bella Twins which is great (I love Team Rhodes Scholars and The Bellas make it just that little bit more interesting) and reports of potential returns from Maryse, Kharma, Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly could be around the corner just makes her main show debut look increasingly unlikely (follow Beautiful Wrestling Divas on Facebook for news updates on Divas, some great pics on there too). But personally I think the sooner the better for Paige's debut, WWE really need her and she's definitely NXT's very top drawer at the moment, WWE really need to realise that.

Don't forget to follow my twitter on @SLWrestling and also on Glipho on @amjobling,
Thanks for reading, see you next time,
Andrew.

Catch Up

21 Days? WOW! Has it really been that long? That's like three whole episodes of Raw, three episodes of SmackDown, and 3 episodes of NXT...you see where I'm going with this. It's been a long time, ok, I'm sorry, but I've been a little bit busy, but I'm going to get started with two words; he's back!

So the Deadman showed up on Old School Raw, the show was a bit of drag but the return of the Phenom made up for a pretty weak show, and HEY! Guess What? Taker has now showed up on Raw more in the last three weeks than the WWE CHAMPION The Rock has, a semi-retired, 47 year-old man who can only wrestle once a year is now more likely to show up than a 40 year old, able to wrestle every week, in his prime WWE champion...what's wrong with that picture? Bottom line is, as WWE champion Rocky (that new belt is fugly by the way) should be on almost every show, it's fine he misses one of two but since he's won the title I can only recall him being on about four shows, that is not acceptable, that's disgraceful. When CM Punk was champion he wrestled EVERY SINGLE WEEK on Raw and EVERY SINGLE HOUSE SHOW, and I dare say that John Cena will do exactly the same. You can't have a WWE Champion who wrestles one or two shows A YEAR, it's just no acceptable, I personally hope Cena potatoes the Rock senseless and Rocky never gets anywhere near the title picture again unless he's willing to commit 100% of his time to the company. There are people lower down who've worked their arses off for years to get to WWE and get to the top who deserve the title more than someone who never shows up, and has been away from "the company he loves" for 7 years, people like Randy Orton (I'm aware he's on two wellness strikes but he is a top player), CM Punk (should have held the title til 'Mania and defended it against 'Taker), Sheamus (deserves a lot more than jobbing to the Shield, even though I like The Shield) and yes, even John Cena (he bleeds wrestling, he loves the business more than anyone). 

Speaking of part-timers; what the hell is up with Triple H vs Brock II...ain't nobody got time fo' dat! Let's face it the match everyone is going to be looking forward to the most is 'Taker vs Punk, no matter how much WWE try to shove Rock vs Cena II and Triple H vs Brock II, we don't care about these big selling re-hashes, we want a damn good match. Believe me, that's what we'll get with Punk and 'Taker, if anyone remembers the Punk/Taker matches from 2009 you'll remember that those matches were EPIC! Let's just say that this 'Mania is shaping up very nicely, from that match alone.

I know this has been a short post but this is all I have time for, I will be back tomorrow when I think of something to write about, 

Holla,
Andrew.