I wasn't expecting to make this post today. I had, and still have, something special planned to be my 'Big Comeback' post. But then a whole bunch of shit happened in the world of Professional Wrestling. I couldn't help but make a post about all that's happened this week. I am planning on this being a weekly series of recaps, and reactions. So let's get started.

Before I get to the actual meat of this post I want to take a second and talk about my personal history with Wrestling, if you‘d like to skip that then go ahead and jump to the next page.

One of my earliest memories, is of me sitting in the living room of this older woman, she was our neighbor, who used to baby-sit me. I remember playing with two toys. One of them was a robot, I remember it being Voltron but I know that's wrong since I didn't have one of those, the other was a Hulk Hogan doll.

As a child of the 80's, even though I really consider myself a kid of the 90's, I was the perfect age for Hulkamania. Hulk Hogan was like a living superhero. I don't remember watching wrestling at that time but I know I did. I have memories of the stars. I know I loved the Ultimate Warrior, I remember tying string around my little fat kid arms to look like him.

My actual wrestling memories come from a later time. The New Generation Era. The time of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, and the 1 2 3 Kid. The first match I have clear memories of  is the Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon ladder match. Even as a kid I knew it was amazing.

I watched wrestling faithfully until deep into the Attitude Era. This may come as a surprise to you but I watched that stuff with my parents. My mother loved Stone Cold Steve Austin, and my father was a fan of the Rock. I gravitated more towards Mick Foley.

Somewhere around the late 90's or even early 2000, I stopped watching. I just fell out of it. Over the next decade I popped in once in a while to see what was going on, but never stayed very long. That is until 4 years ago.

Some time during 2010 I saw a video by Spoony (you can read more about him here), in which he reviewed Summerslam. He talked about a wrestler named Daniel Bryan and an announcer named Michael Cole, and made fun of how much Michael Cole hated Daniel Bryan.

That caused a spark that would slowly turn into a fire. It took a while, over a year actually, but eventually I became more interested in what was happening in wrestling. I didn't know who Daniel Bryan was so I went to Wikipedia and opened a can of worms. Before I knew it I was looking up old wrestlers and learning about new ones.

One of the older ones I looked up was Sean Waltman, he was the 1 2 3 Kid and went by many other aliases during his career. Sadly he is probably best known as the costar of the 1 Night in Chyna sex tape.

While looking through his Wikipedia page, I learned that he had recently competed as the 1 2 3 Kid in a small Indie promotion called Chikara. I found that event, it was a three night tournament that Chikara does every year called King of Trios, and loved it. After watching that event, I found as many of the previous tournaments as I could. I was starting to get hooked again. One thing led to another and I was back in.

I started watching a different small promotion, one that some consider to be an ‘Indie’ but I don’t, called Ring of Honor. With a weekly TV show, and a number of Big IPPVs and PPVs it soon became my favorite place for wrestling.

Then some of the guys I watched in those promotions got signed to WWE. At that time WWE had a developmental territory, a small promotion they owned where they sent young guys to learn and hone their craft the way the WWE wanted them to, called Florida Championship Wrestling. Within months of my getting back into wrestling FCW ended and was replaced by NXT.

NXT was originally a semi-competition show where 'unsigned' wrestlers 'competed' for a contract. After a few seasons that changed and the show became a place for the unknown and low card guys to work. It was actually very entertaining toward the end because if felt very loose, unlike most of the WWE product which is tightly produced.

Anyway, FCW ended and NXT underwent a huge change. The two merged and what came was a new and amazing NXT. Like FCW it was a developmental territory for guys to learn, but it had better production values and most of the people there were amazingly talented veterans who had been working for years.

I was instantly a fan.

Sadly I was only able to enjoy wrestling again for a few months before I lost internet access for 2 and a half years.

When I got back online I jumped right back into the fray.

As a wrestling fan this month January 2016 was shaping up to be amazing. Firstly the Yearly New Japan Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome show, Wrestle Kingdom 10, is held in January. I watched the show last year and it was amazing. I was instantly hooked. So I was eagerly awaiting this years show. It was going to be so much better now that I was familiar with the product.

To make things better Lucha Underground, the best wrestling on TV, comes back later this month. Even if you aren't a fan of Pro Wrestling you'll like Lucha Underground. It's something completely different.

So when this month started I was very excited. But then everything went crazy. After the Tokyo Dome show news broke of four NJPW mainstays being courted by WWE.

Let me explain why this news is so mind blowing. The WWE going after any one of these guys is perfectly rational, A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Shinsuke Nakamura are all amazing wrestlers in different ways.

A.J. Styles is amazing in the ring. He started out as a High Flyer and as he has aged, he has altered his style while retaining the high energy and high flying.  The matches he puts on now have more story and drama then when he was just starting. He is the perfect example of someone learning to work smarter and not harder, but when that person works hard and smart, you get AJ Styles.

Shinsuke Nakamura is probably the most natural charismatic man to ever step into a wrestling ring. He just oozes confidence. He is also an amazing wrestler with a way of connecting with the audience. He also has an air of legitimacy around him from competing in MMA.

Karl Anderson is a very underrated wrestler with a lot of personality and the gift of gab. He doesn’t get nearly as much praise as he deserves. Doc Gallows is a big man with a big personality that looks the part. He can go in the ring and moves great for a man his size.

These men are all great assets for a Wrestling Promotion. It makes sense for the WWE to go after any of them. What’s shocking is that they went for ALL of them at the SAME time. That is something that hasn’t happened in a very long time. 

My first reaction to this was shock, and sadness. While I want these men to make a lot of money while they can, a wrestling career can be short and painful, I was a little sad to see them leave NJPW. I was scared that the WWE, which isn’t producing the best product, would misuse them. That feeling was quickly replaced with doubt. I was sure that Nakamura wouldn’t leave NJPW. Why would he? The WWE is notoriously bad at using foreign talent. Nakamura’s departure from NJPW was soon confirmed by the man himself.

The rumors are that WWE are wanting to push the “Balor Club” idea they had. Let me explain. Styles, Anderson and Gallows are all members of the Bullet Club the biggest faction in wrestling at the moment. The faction was created in 2013 and originally included Prince Devitt, Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga. Devitt, who was portrayed as the leader of the group,  left NJPW in 2014 for WWE.  He was replaced by AJ Styles.

When Devitt arrived in NXT he was renamed Finn Balor. He was an instant success, It wasn’t long until WWE was producing shirts for him. One of them was a Bullet Club homage that read Balor Club.

The rumors are that WWE wants to push the Balor Club idea, as such they went after his old Bullet Club running mates.
The other rumor, that I have yet to see verified is that WWE is looking to buy the Bullet club name itself. There may be credence to that. You see in the NJPW New Year Dash event, that was held the day after the Tokyo Dome show, AJ Styles was kicked out of the Bullet Club. Since then three of the remaining members, Kenny Omega (the new leader) and the Young Bucks Nick and Matt Jackson, have taken to calling themselves The Elite.

There was also the news that John Cena is injured. I know a lot of people are not fans of Cena but I like him. And it is always sad to see someone injured.  I hope he has quick and healthy recuperation but the man needs to take some time off. He has been working a grueling schedule for a decade.  I hope he takes this as an opportunity to get some much needed rest.

Okay so that’s the news let’s get to some actual wrestling.

Normally I don’t watch Monday Night Raw of Smackdown, I stay abreast of the WWE’s main product by watching snippets of it on the WWE Youtube page, but this week I got caught up and decided to watch both of the shows.

Raw was okay, it wasn’t terrible but at 3 hours it just drags. Having said that a few things did stand out.  The return of Chris Jericho was fun, sure a lot of people have soured on him, but the man can still go in the ring (his match at Beast in the East proved that) and he will always be a world class talker, Heath Slater appearing of Raw and actually winning was great (more on that in a bit),  and Becky Lynch getting a win against Charlotte was nice.

The thing with Heath Slater leaves me a little divided. On the one had it was great to see him, but leave it to the WWE to see a guy gain ground on Social Media with a group of fans pulling for him, and turn him heel. Not only do they turn him heel but they stick him with a bunch of other guys that are basically nobodies, Not that I don’t like them, all of those guys have their own upsides, but Heath was basically built for an underdog face run.

Smackdown, which debuted on USA this week, was actually pretty good. Not a lot happened, but there was some good in ring action and the debut of Mauro Ranallo as a commentator. The Becky Lynch/Charlotte match was pretty good. Becky Lynch a personal favorite of mine and had my favorite women’s match last year against Sasha Banks at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable. The last match between Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens, while not having a conclusive ending, was entertaining and the brawl afterward was impactful.

TNA Impact’s debut on POP was less successful. I started watching Impact at the beginning of 2015 when the show debuted on Destination America. The first few months were actually really good, then it dropped off and found myself fast forwarding through the show. I did the same thing this episode. It wasn’t all bad, I am excited to see Drew Galloway, another personal favorite, and Kurt Angle go at it and I am intrigued by the reunion of Beer Money since I never saw them during their initial run. Aside from that the show just passed by me.

ROH had a good episode this week. The Roderick Strong/Stevie Richards match left me a little cold at first but picked up toward the end. Stevie Richards is in amazing shape by the way. After the match Bobby Fish came out and I perked up. I am really looking forward to a rematch between Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish.

Caprice Coleman and Will Ferrara had a great hardcore match that saw Coleman leg drop Ferrara through a table. Afterward Prince Nana came out, I am very excited for where this story is going. I can only assume Nana is going to create a new stable using guys that have yet to reach the top of the card in ROH. I could be wrong but if I’m not that will be cool to see. 

Next we had Cedric Alexander with Veda Scott facing Jonathan Gresham, who I had never seen before. This was building up to be a quick semi squash match. The type of match where the heel, in this case Cedric Alexander, gets a quick cheap win over a game challenger. Except Jonathan Gresham got the win. It was a cool moment that made Jonathan Gresham more than a random jobber.

Lastly, we had Michael Elgin versus Donovan Dijak. Before the match Jay Lethal came out to do commentary. Jerry Lynn came down to tell Lethal he was wrong about him and apologize. I don’t know what the plan with Jerry Lynn is. Considering he just had neck surgery I’d be surprised if they were setting up a match. Anyway, the match between Elgin and Dijak was good. Dijak can move very well for a man his size and Elgin is just stupidly strong. Elgin went over setting up the match between him and Lethal. A match that already happened on January 4th at Wrestle Kingdom 10. That’s one of the downfalls of taping in advance.

Speaking of Wrestle Kingdom 10, it was fucking awesome.  Even though it was over 4 hours it went by quick. I’m not going to go in depth with a review but there are a few things I want to touch on.

First the Jay Lethal/Elgin match. It was just okay. I’m guessing the match was under a strict time constraint which impacted it negatively. I was really expecting more from this. I am a huge Jay Lethal fan and was hoping he would get over with the Japanese crowd. That didn’t really happen. The crowd wasn’t super into the match but they do love Elgin so they weren’t dead either. Maybe if the match didn’t have so much interference from Truth Martini the fans would have been more into it. All in all the match was pretty run of the mill.

On the flip side the Briscoe Brothers, who teamed up with Toru Yano, had a better showing. They competed for the new Never Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Yujiro Takahashi. This wasn’t the greatest match but there was enough action to get the crowd into it and Mark Briscoe went out of his way to get the crowd behind him.

 
The Never Openweight title match was also amazing. Katsuyori Shibata and Tomohiro Ishii just killed each other in the ring. This was actually my favorite match of the night. These two guys have amazing chemistry in the ring. This looked like a fight and I loved every moment of it.

 

The Intercontinental match between Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles was also awesome. It was the first time the two ever competed in a singles match and they did not dissappoint.

The Last match was for the IWGP Heavy Weight title. It was another great showing from Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. This was the passing of the torch from Tanahashi to Okada and it felt like a big moment.

The next day New Japan had the New Years Dash show. This show was more about setting up story-lines than anything else. But it was a fun show.

Earlier I mentioned that I like Chris Jericho, I do, I also like his podcast. I don’t listen to every episode but the ones I do listen to I enjoy. Recently he had Cheeseburger, a ROH wrestler, on. Cheeseburger is a very skinny guy that is the ultimate underdog. In that interview Cheeseburger said that it was his dream to work in Japan. Jericho said that the Japanese would love him. He was right.

Cheeseburger debuted the night before in a preshow match that I did not get to see. He was in a multi man match at this show and you could hear the fans chanting his name.  That brought a smile to my face.

Jay Lethal had a match with Juice Robinson, the former C.J. Parker. The Japanese fans really got behind Parker and were booing Lethal and Truth Martini.  Truth is very easy to hate and was doing his best to get the crowd riled up.

The biggest moment at this event was A.J. Styles getting kicked out of the Bullet Club.  Kenny Omega is a great Wrestler and I hope he has a good run as the leader of the Bullet Club or the Elite, whatever name they go by.  I’m sure he is going to have a great match against Nakamura for the Intercontinental title.

The last thing that was set up was Hirooki Goto challenging Okada for the IWGP title. I like Goto so this should be pretty good.

That’s about everything that happened this week. It was a hell of a week. I doubt there’ll be another time this year when the Wrestling world is so active.  Either way I’ll see you next week.