I wanted to get this post out on Saturday but that didn't happen. Which means I am officially talking about shit that happened last week. So much for getting caught up. Oh well. Let's get started.






Full dislosure I did watch Raw last week. I skimmed it but only so that I could see Daniel Bryan's farewell. Not going to lie I came really close to crying. My eyes were tearing up but I never sobbed. I said what I had to say about him in the last post so I'm just going to move on to Smackdown.

I found myself looking forward to Smackdown this week. Not just because of Jericho/Styles 2. I like the show. It's not too long, there's good action, and no Authority bullshit.

Chris Jericho opened the show. He was cutting a promo on AJ Styles. Styles came out and the two were about to have a match when they were interrupted by the Social Outcast.

Every time I see the Social Outcast I like them more and more. They have great chemistry and Adam Rose is shining with them.

This led to a tag match with Jericho/Styles on one side and Rose/Axel on the other.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Jericho can still go. This was a fun match that featured Styles and Jericho one upping each other.

After they got the win Jericho hit a Codebreaker on Styles. They will face each other one on one in the main event.

Becky Lynch came out to commentate during the Sasha Banks/Naomi match. At first she sounded a little stilted. As if she wasn't comfortable. She got over that once she began making puns. Becky seems like a lot of fun. That might be because I love the Irish sense of humor.

Anyway, the match itself. I had no idea Naomi could wrestle that well. This was a very good, solid match. I was thoroughly impressed by Naomi. She stole a Speedball Mike Bailey spot, which she all but admitted to on twitter, and pulled of a split leg Moonsault. The woman can go in the ring.

I'm looking forward to the Sasha/Becky vs. Team BAD match at Fastlane.

I like Bray Wyatt. I like Luke Harper, a lot. I like Eric Rowan. I tolerate Braun Strowman. Yet the Wyatt family is not something that I get excited about.

I can't think of any other faction in the history of the WWE that had as much size as these guys. The smallest guy in the group, Bray, is well over 6 feet and 250 pounds. And that is the problem.

These guys  should never lose anything. The only time they should lose is in a match were they are forced to go one on one. Other than that they should be unstoppable.
But they're not. They lose. A lot.

I can't get behind them because of that. It's one thing for Bray to be a loser. He's one guy. But for the entire family to lose. It just kills them.

Having said that, my god can Bray talk. They can all talk to a certain degree but Bray is just fantastic. I doubt even he knows what he's talking about but it sounds fantastic.

I caught the tail end of the Ascension's NXT career. They are so much better than being Stardust's lackeys. Hell Stardust is better than being Stardust.

I should be mad at the 50/50 booking of Jericho/Styles but that was a good match. I can't wait for the 3rd one.

Styles is being made to look like a legitimate star. I can't believe the WWE has done so well with him. I still think they'll fuck it all up but it looks like it will take longer than I thought.

I just got the chance to watch Evolve 53 and 54. I bring this up because of Johnny Gargano. He is a top guy in Evolve.

He, along with Rich Swann, were the last Open the United Gate champions. That was the name of the Tag Titles in Dragon Gate USA that were also used in Evolve. Last year Gargano and Swann retired those titles and asked for a true Evolve tag title to be created.

Evolve 53, 54, and 55 were built around the tournament to christen the first Evolve Tag Team Champions. Johnny Gargano teamed up with Drew Galloway (Formerly McIntyre in WWE) to compete for those titles.

Why am I talking about this? Well Johnny was late for his match at Evolve 53. He was so late the match was pushed into the main event spot and then started with out him.

He was late because he was working the NXT tapings. At those tapings he faced Baron Corbin. That match is the first on this week's episode of NXT.

Every time I see Baron Corbin I think the same thing. "This guy has everything to be a star." The only issue he has, other than still being green, is that he is losing his hair. It's very noticeable. He has to do something about that. I'm not sure what he could do but it takes away from his look.



                      
                      

                        
The match was great. Although it's funny to see Gargano lose a 9 minute match against Corbin and then go on to win a huge tag match, that probably ran over twice the length, a short time later. I'm glad the guy is getting work but I don't understand why the WWE hasn't signed him.

WWE  has a show in the works that will revolve around guys under 205 pounds. Word is that the show will feature contracted and indie talent. Gargano should be on that show. It would be stupid for him not to be.

I watched a video (see above) earlier from the Raw after TLC 2011. CM Punk came out. He was the WWE World Champion, he then brought out Zack Ryder who was the US champion, and finally Daniel Bryan who had won the Heavy Weight Championship the night before. It was so strange to watch that video. Not because Punk is gone or because Bryan retired. No. It was odd to see how far Zack Ryder has fallen. And due to no fault of his own. The man should have been a permanent upper mid card guy. He should be on Raw every week. Instead he is on NXT teaming with Mojo Rawley.

The thing about Mojo, and it took me a while to realize this, is that the guy is a human version of Scrappy Doo. He thinks he's greater than he is, has too much energy, is annoying, and has a silly catch phrase. But like Scrappy Doo I don't hate him. I think there is a place for him in the WWE. But it's not with Zack Ryder. Ryder, if he's going to be in a team, deserves a better partner. To be honest he should be on the main roster with Enzo and Big Cass in a heated feud against the New Day.

I don't know what I like better, Alexa Bliss managing Blake and Murphy or Blake & Murphy being her cheer leaders.

It has to be hard being a woman in the WWE. They have to be running out of colors to dye their hair at this point. Red, pink, blue, purple, and in the case of Asuka rainbow. They all want to set themselves apart but I can't help but wonder when one of them is going to realize that going short or even bald will do that as well. It's only a matter of time.

American Alpha just showed as much personality as Enzo and Cass. Okay not as much, it was less but not a lot less. Either way Jordan and Gable just keep getting better.

I'm not going to talk about Elias Sampson. I'm not going to say the drifter gimmick is stupid or point out it's plot holes.

Instead I want to take a second to talk about the man he faced Jesse Sorenson. I heard the guys name and I knew I recognized  it.

He is the guy who broke his neck in a match against DJ Z, then known as Zema Ion, in TNA. It was a severe injury that doctors said would take him a year to recover from. He was cleared to wrestle before a full year had passed but never got a chance to re-enter a TNA ring.

It's good to see the guy still pursuing his dream. It's a disturbing to see him lose this match to a neck breaker though.

I've said, repeatedly, that Carmella is the future of the Diva's division. This match is the proof of that. While not the best NXT Women's Title match it was very good. There were a couple slightly sloppy spots but those were few and far between. On the whole this was a fantastic outing for Carmella.

I know a lot of that can be put down to Bailey being such a good worker. But you can't discount Carmella. She showed that she is more than a pretty face and a good personality. She can work. In a few years she will be standing at the top of the division. Right next to Bailey, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Charlotte.

After the match Eva Marie and Nia Jax came out. They attacked Carmella and Bailey. My first thought was "These two can fuck off!". I have no time for Eva Maria and Nia Jax has yet to show me something.

Then Asuka came out. I would love to see Asuka destroy those two women. And if anyone can pull something out of Nia Jax it's Asuka. I just want to point out that I don't hate Nia. I just don't buy her as a monster. Until she can really sell that type of power and devastation she just comes off as hollow.

Anyway. Asuka makes the save by looking like a killer, seriously she doesn't even throw a punch. Her stare is enough to send Eva and Nia to the back.

That stare is then fixed onto Bailey. YES! I want that match. I shouldn't. I shouldn't want to see Bailey get killed but dammit, I do. I want to see Asuka kill her. I want to see Asuka kill everyone. She's just so good at it.

I missed a lot during my down time from wrestling.  The decade plus that started at the tail end of the Attitude era is a complete blank to me.

Things like the Motor City Machineguns. ROH opened with a match between Frankie Kazarian and Alex Shelly with Chris Sabin on commentary.

The match itself was good. But the story was more about the drama between the former tag partners and now enemies. I saw the six man tag from Final Battle that had Alex Shelly, ACH, and Matt Sydal on one side with the Addiction & Sabin on the other. Shelly and Sabin weren't in the ring, at the same time, a lot during that match.

Even though I'm not familiar with the history the two of them share, the rivalry has been built in such a way that I'm interested in where it's going.

During this match Steve Corino called in somehow, I don't know how that works, and told Kevin Kelly he had someone that wanted a piece of BJ Whitmor. I can't wait to see that.

The call in thing bugged me though. Are we supposed to believe that the commentators head sets are connected to a phone line? I can accept the idea that Corino called the producer and he tapped him into the head sets, but that isn’t what happened. In that case Kevin Kelly would have said he had been told Corino was calling. Instead, Corino just broke into the broadcast. He hacked ROH. That’s what he did. It’s cool that he is able to do that, even though it wasn’t mentioned, but a 5 second line by Kelly would have prevented me from having to think this hard about it.

Back to the match itself. Frankie Kazarin doesn't get enough credit for his in ring work. He is so smooth that he makes everything he does look easy. That, and the fact that he isn't super flashy, may be why. Or it could be that he gets overshadowed by Christopher Daniels.

There is something about the way Alex Shelly moves or the faces he makes, something gives him a manic maniacal look. He gives off a very weird vibe that I'm digging. I didn't see that when he was with Kushida or during his singles run in  New Japan. Maybe it's new.

Dalton Castle faced Joey Diesel Daddiago. Truth Martini cut a little promo before the match. Castle knows how to embody his gimmick. Every movement he makes, no matter how small, is very characterful.

Martini was a wrestler before he injured his neck. He took a dangerous bump, it looked like something that could very easily go wrong, to the apron. That probably isn't the best thing when you have a bad neck.

This was basically a squash. That isn't something you see a lot in ROH.

After the match Silas Young came out. He was quickly joined by the Beer City Bruiser. This led to a huge beat down. Silas tried to talk the Boys into being men, they showed how manly they are by attacking him and Bruiser. That didn't end well.

Silas/Castle is going to be one of those endless rivalries. Even when the feud is over it's never actually done.

Next up was the next match in the Hot Prospects tournament. This one had Leo St. Giovanni and Action Ortiz. I only know of one of these two men. I've seen Ortiz in Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore.

He is athletic for a big man, which I normally like, but he never connected with me. Normally a big athletic guy is an automatic buy for me.

And yet Ortiz doesn't do it for me. I think part of it is his gear. He is channeling Bam Bam Bigelow hard and it is doing him no favors. It doesn't help that the dude has a big ass that is really prominent in tights. His look just turns me off.

Since I don't really like Ortiz I'm a little biased. I didn't think this match was all that great, not bad if I'm honest, but definitely the weakest of the three so far.

I'm starting to wonder if the All Night Express were booed at Final Battle not because of Kenny King but because they were going against the Young Bucks and Briscoes.

They got a great reaction here.

This was a good hard hitting match. It ended in a DQ so I'm expecting a rematch at the Anniversary show. Possibly a no DQ, wait, a Match without Honor or a Tables match.

I'm all in for that. I really like War Machine. They do one of my favorite Tag Team spots. I love when tag teams use each other as weapons.

Has there ever been a tag team whose finish was one guy giving the other guy a huricanrana onto an opponent? Because in my head that shit sounds awesome.

TNA should just stay in the UK. The size of that crowd is amazing. At the least they should tour there more often.

I still feel that Reby Sky is outshining Matt in these promos. I have to give notice to Tyrus who did well here. The image of him carrying the baby is funny to me for some reason.

I am tired of all these guys with these ridiculous beards. So many guys have these long mangy beards. The Wyatts are the worse. But Bram's is particularly bad. It's trimmed in a way that makes it look especially silly.

So Bram faced Lashley in the first match of the night. The only thing I could think about during the match was Lashley's sweat band. It looks terrible. He needs to stop wearing it. It does him no favors. If he's going to wear one it should at least be branded so he could sell them. The plain white one is just silly.

I wonder if Lashley shaves his head because he's bald or if it's a style choice?

I like that Tyrus's hand picked security guards are all smaller than him. I also love that he takes the guards to search for EC3 leaving Matt unprotected.

Kurt Angle came out to give an emotional speech and was interrupted by Michael Bennett. I don't dislike Bennett but he isn't a main event guy. He isn't interesting enough to be at that level.

That's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about his look here.

I don't know what a Miracle looks like but a guy that calls himself the miracle shouldn't come to the ring in an ugly button down shirt. He should have a more defined look. I see him wearing very expensive, or expensive looking, suits. Not like what EC3 wears something more out there. He should look like a shady, hip preacher that runs a church in Hollywood. Something between a Priest and a Pimp. That would help his character a lot.

I will give Bennett this, his "New England, the better more advance England" line was gold.

The woman in Decay, is it 'Decay' or 'The Decay'? Whatever. Anyway the woman in the group is called Rose Mary (Rosemarie?) and every time she talks she kills her mystique. Her voice and cadence do not fit her look. It's like if Bray Wyatt spoke like Bo Dallas

Josh Matthews asks how Janice, Abyss's weapon of choice, made it through customs. This brings about a few questions. First did Abyss, Crazy Steve, and Rose Mary fly coach? A mean in kayfabe how did these three psychopaths get to England. Can you imagine Abyss getting through airport security?

If they did fly, which they must of, that means that Crazy Steve and Rose Mary have passports. I love the idea that these two Joker wannabes have passports let alone the monster Abyss.

But forget that. Let's put aside the Kayfabe busting questions. Josh does know that it's not hard to hammer nails into board? Right? That's all Janice is. Abyss could have just made a new one.

Although the idea that the Monster Abyss has a 2 by 4 with nails in it in his carry on is hilarious.

Decay faced Beer Money in a short match that ended in a DQ. After the match Decay attacked Beer Money and the Wolves came out to make the save.

Rose Mary got between Decay and the Wolves, who were armed with chairs. Josh says that they wouldn't hit a woman. It would have been awesome if the Wolves had just said "Fuck It" and hit her. It would have been unexpected and added a lot of edge to their characters.

On a quick side note. I noticed that Josh Matthews calls Rose Marie “That Thing” a lot. This is weird. Firstly because she is obviously a chick wearing make up. Secondly because it can come off as somewhat offensive to politically correct types. I’m not one of those. I just found it funny that she went from being “that Thing” to a woman when the Wolves were in front of her.  If she was just a thing then it would be okay for the Wolves to bash her head in with steel chairs.

I think Abyss accepting the challenge from the Wolves makes him the leader of Decay. I hope that's the case.

Quick question. Where did Beer Money go? They were in the ring, the Wolves came out and made the save, but after that they were nowhere to be found.

They should have been in the ring standing back to back with the men that saved them. Beer Money are a face team. Thanking the other face team for saving them is standard protocol.

TNA most know that Reby Sky is a natural heel because they are pushing her. I know, well I don't know...I assume she's a nice person, but man is she hateable. Not Stephanie McMahon hateable but up there.

Remember during the Feast or Fired episode of TNA when Eli Drake opened his case before the official time? I asked about that. I wondered why if the case wasn't locked you would ever wait?

Grado came out on this episode, he entered through the crowd but in his wrestling gear. That normally wouldn't make sense but I've seen Grado, in the Insane Fight Club documentary, wear his gear as a method of marketing himself. Anyway he said he had proof he had been screwed and out came Eli Drake with security to shut him up.

This is actually a storyline I'm interested and invested in.

Jade vs. Madison Rain is the best Knockout match I've seen in a few months. Seeing Jade and Pentagon Jr using the cradle piledriver makes me miss when Kevin (Steen) Owens used it.

I was enjoying the Galloway/Angle match until Pope said the line "Suplex Boulavard". Dammit TNA. Can you be any more blatant?

Pope could have said something along the lines of "Angle is about to take Drew to school. Today’s lesson? Suplexes!" See it's a better line and doesn't come off as a poor man's version of "Suplex City".

I was sure Angle would only put one guy over on his way out, Matt Hardy doesn't count, and since I didn't read the spoilers on this set of tapings (I didn't read them because the UK tapings are usually the best TNA shows and I wanted to enjoy them.) I didn't know who it was going to be. I assumed Lashley since that was billed as Angles last match.

But low and behold he put Galloway over. TNA got this right. Galloway is the guy, not that TNA should follow the WWE with having only one guy, that the company should be built around. He should be with EC3 and Lashley in the main event. The man has everything you want in a wrestler. Size? Check. Look? Check. In ring ability? Check. Charisma? Check. Mic Skills? Check.

EC3 looks like he is mainlining steroids. The guy is fucking massive.

I love Spud. He has so much charisma. I wish he had done more in this episode. I was expecting him to dive onto Tryrus while he and EC3 were brawling on the outside. Alas that did not happen.

This was an okay Impact. The huge, by TNA standards, hot crowd really helped.

When I talk about Lucha Underground I have to talk about two things. The wrestling and the story. The divide between the two is more apparent then in other promotions. That's because Lucha Underground is a show about wrestling and not a wrestling show. There is a distinct difference. It makes it a bit harder to dissect each episode.

We saw the debut of Cobra Moon tonight. She faced Bengala who wasn't a huge part of the first season. Apparently, there is a new guy under the mask this season. I thought he looked a bit fatter here.

I wasn't all that impressed by Cobra Moon. She wasn't that bad in the ring but there was nothing that stood out to me. Actually Bengala impressed me a bit in this match. He did a few things, the flying head butts and that great Super Kick, that stood out.

I'm going to reserve judgment on Cobra Moon for now. I wasn't impressed by Sexy Star when she first started and...actually my opinion on her never really changed. Never mind, I'm not writing this woman off just yet.

See this is what I'm talking about. We go from Phoenix asking for a rematch against King Cuerno, a simple backstage vignette. To Aerostar a thousand years in the past. Aerostar is an alien time traveler. That’s what we learned from this vignette. Oh, and apparently the gods, in the form of men, are returning to earth. The only way to stop this is for the seven tribes to band together.

I totally get why some people would not be able to get into this show. There is a lot going on that can take away from the wrestling. But I would rather have aliens, gods, dragons, and moths then the fucking Authority. All of these things that Lucha Underground is mixing in with wrestling are things I love. And damn if they don't work together.

King Cuerno is really impressing me with his acting, as is Catrina. They are actually delivering their line well.

Jack Evans and Drago had a really good match. Jack Evans is great at playing the cocky asshole that you just want to see get his ass kicked. And when Jack sells he makes everything look so devastating that you get a sense of fulfillment. The guy is amazingly agile. He is one of the best examples of flippy.

He also is incredibly entertaining. He had a great outing at a PWG show where he did some drunken Kung Fu. It was fantastic.

Drago has such an amazing look. When you compare it to Bengala, who honestly looks like a dollar store version of Tiger Mask, he looks like a million bucks.

These two are going to produce some great stuff in the coming episodes.

Texano beating the shit out of two random Lucadors in a bar fight is great television. This show really goes all out to make the wrestlers look as badass as possible.

Phoenix vs. King Cuerno was a fantastic match. There was a lot of drama, which makes sense in a Last Luchador (Man) Standing match. There were also a few moments that made you scratch your head. Mainly the ladder.

King Cuerno sets up a ladder and starts to climb it while the ref is putting the count on Phoenix. Cuerno then climbs down from the ladder and breaks up the count. He proceeds to set up a table. Now you would think "Ok. He's going to put Phoenix on the table and climb the ladder so he can jump off of it and onto the prone Phoenix." Nope. Instead Cuerno tries to suplex Phoenix through the table. Negating the ladder entirely.

What happens is that Phoenix climbs the ladder and Cuerno follows. The ladder was leaning on the side of Catrina's office. Phoenix got to the roof of the office and pushed the ladder, with Cuerno still on it, over. Cuerno went through the table and lost the match.

It was a great ending but setting up the ladder to begin with was a stupid thing to do on Cuerno's part. The commentary needed to stress that Cuerno knew jumping from the ladder could damage him as much as Phoenix and so had second thoughts. Something to explain why he didn't use the ladder.

Having said that, the match was still amazing. And Cuerno going through the table while holding onto the ladder looked brutal.

Even with that little niggle, this was the best match of the night and of the three episodes so far. Phoenix is great in these types of matches. Grave Consequences was probably the best match of the first season.

The last vignette of the show is a doozy, although not as out there as the time traveling alien luchador. Cortez Castro, from the crew, is an undercover cop named Reyes. His mission was to take down Dario Querto.

I have to take this show to task for a second. Castro's boss, Captain Vasquez, knew that Querto had his brother kill a man. She had an eye witness in the form Castro. She could have taken him down for that but she didn't. Castro points this out. Captain Vasquez defends her choice by saying the case is bigger than the death of a street thug.

The thing is, if she's after Dario and only Dario, then she passed up on the perfect opportunity to put him away. If she wants someone above Dario she passed up on the perfect leverage. Either way she fucked up by not bringing him in.

From a story perspective it makes no sense for her to not move on a suspect after he kills someone. But this is a common problem for a lot of bad cop movies. I can't get too upset about it.

I can talk about the acting. I don't expect a lot out of Rickey Reyes (Castro) but the woman is probably an actress. I say 'probably' because I couldn't find anything about her. She was not good in this scene. Her line readings were very awkward. Castro was a little better but not by much.

The scene ended with the introduction of Joey Ryan, lollipop and all. Joey is a cop that is also going undercover to help bring down Dario Querto.

                      

                       

                           
                        
I am a big Joey Ryan fan. I watch his Youtube show "The Candace and Joey show". He has a lot of in ring charisma. I'm looking forward to what he's going to bring to the table.

The thing is, while I like Joey Ryan, the role of undercover cop/wrestler was made for Team Tremendous. Their gimmick is that they are cops who wrestle. They're like a buddy cop film come to life. Bill Carr and Dan Barry would have been perfect for that role.

This scene was the weakest, from an acting standpoint, of the entire show. The thing is since the show is so campy you can forgive that. Well, I do at least. It was also the most important story wise. It shows that the authorities are aware of the Temple, and explains why Blue Demon isn't around this season. The scene was also more tangable than the one with Aerostar, which will probably have more long term impact.

All in all this was a good episode. Ladder spot aside. Not great but still some of the best wrestling of the week.

On a side note, Lucha Underground has a comic that you can download for free. If you're a fan of the show you should check it out. Important shit is happening in it. Like the fate of some the wrestlers from season 1. You can find Issue 1 here and Issue 2 here.


Before I get to the news, I thought I should do something a little different. I'm going to pick a show of the week. Which one of the 5 wrestling shows I watched this week, this doesn't count the Evolve shows only the weekly ones, was the best. I fully expect to be picking either Lucha Underground or ROH as the best every week. And yet this week Smackdown gets the nod.

The Social Outcasts, Styles/Jericho 2, and Banks/Naomie were enough for me to give the nod to Smackdown. If the last segment of Lucha Undeground had been better acted they would have won the week hands down.


Time for the news.

There wasn't a huge amount of New this past week, aside from Daniel Bryan but I already spoke about that.

So let’s talk a bit more about that 205 pound show WWE is looking at doing. I started to think about who the WWE could and would use. Sadly a lot of the best, I'm just going to say Cruiserweights since that's what they are, Cruiserweights are already under contract.

Guys like ACH, Matt Sydal, Trevor Lee, Jack Evans, Matt Cross, Rock Star Spud, Ricochet, Kushida, Rey Horus, Leo Rush (not sure if he signed with ROH but being on their TV is a no go for WWE), Phoenix, Rocky Romero, Trent Baretta, King Cuerno, Roderick Strong, Dalton Castle, Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reily and Bobby Fish. Those last 5 are probably right on the border of 205.

So with all of those guys off the table who can the WWE get? Well a lot of the PWG and Evolve guys are available.

I'd look at guys like Will Ospreay, Caleb Conely, Tony Niese, Andre Everett, Drew Gulak, AR Fox, Speedball Mike Bailey (He‘s signed with AAA but I don‘t know if that excludes him), Chuck Taylor (If he's under 205 which I doubt), and Zack Sabre Jr.

Not to mention Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampo who aren't under a full contract.

Then you have guys like Rich Swann and Manny Andrade the former La Sombra.

There is a lot of talent for the WWE to choose from. I can't wait to see what sort of line up the come up with. 

What I’m more interested in is the endgame. Could this be a way to reintroduce the Cruiserweight title? I said before that now would be the perfect time for that. We’ll have to wait and see.