WWE 205 Live #58 Review

205 Live #58 - 1/2/2018 Review
Amway Center in Orlando, Florida

Akira Tozawa vs. TJP - **¼

Goldust & Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak & Davari - **½

Overall Rating: 5/10.

The opening match was a little longer than it should've been, but I don't understand the dead crowd. Maybe worn out from Smackdown? The match was fine overall. Seeing Goldust again backstage with Cedric was enjoyable, I love seeing Goldust with some TV time, and even though it's through weird circumstances, I can roll with it. Gallagher attacking Itami with a pipe and getting the match called off was an interesting call. I understand it, but it got no reaction from the crowd which is sad. Main event was an average tag match, like the Raw match got a bit more time. Goldust had great segments, but also didn't get the pinfall. Good job by WWE.

WWE Smackdown #959 Review

Smackdown #959 - 1/2/2018 Review
Amway Center in Orlando, Florida

Smackdown Tag Team Championships Match: The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin - NR

Aiden English vs. Xavier Woods - **¾

Carmella, Natalya & Tamina vs. The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan) - **

AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn - **¼

Overall Rating: 5/10.

Notes: Good mic time for AJ, but ruined by Bryan and McMahon. The mistake and instant replay used for Gable/Benjamin vs. Usos was stupid considering they never use the instant replay for anything else. They came back only to have a quick finish. Some how WWE managed to book the worst possible thing for this match. You had 4 great talents in a match and completely wasted them and the titles. Fine squash by Bludgeon Brothers. Aiden vs. Xavier was a good match, both guys are talented and Rusev is extremely over. The women's tag match was enjoyable, Liv Morgan and Tamina both looked great in the match. After a win, Charlotte came out and teamed up with Naomi and a returning Becky Lynch to take out the Riott Squad. Really good stuff for the division. Sami vs. Styles started off good (besides the awful camera switches taking away from the action in the ring) but led into some of the most confusing booking I've seen in WWE in a while. Zayn gets a cheap win, Styles goes on a rant, and now it's Styles vs. Zayn and Owens for the title in a handicap match at the rumble? Good grief.

WWE Raw #1284 Review

WWE Raw #1284 - 1/1/2018 Ratings
American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida

Cesaro vs. Jason Jordan - **

Bray Wyatt vs. Apollo Crews - *¼

Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka - ¾*

Braun Strowman vs. Rhyno - NR

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Samoa Joe - ***

Ariya Daivari & Drew Gulak vs. Cedric Alexander & Goldust - *½

Elias & The Miztourage (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) vs. Finn Balor & The Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) - NR

Overall Rating: 4/10.

Notes: The first segment of the year reeks of the same formula that turned me away from the weekly shows last year. Jason Jordan getting accused of not knowing how tag teams work from Rollins is silly considering American Alpha. Cesaro becomes one of many to target Jordan's knee, the crowd is not into Cesaro vs. Jason Jordan at all. After Rollins distracts Cesaro by attacking Sheamus on the outside of the ring, Jordan gets the win. Bray vs. Apollo was boring, but also showed me how crazy underrated Crews is. I don't mind Titus Worldwide, but man Dana sucks. Another distraction leading into a win for Bray. The WOKEN Matt Hardy promo after the match was extremely weird but I don't mind. Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka was a wasted match and made me hate Alexa even more than I already do. The Samoa Joe promo with Renee Young was great, especially with Renee selling the hatred for Joe due to him injuring Dean. Braun takes on Rhyno, but Heath keeps getting on the apron so Braun grabs a mic and asks Heath if he wants to shut up or catch these hands. A quick squash, followed by 3 powerslams for both Rhyno and Heath. It was great, and brought the crowd to life. Braun is a gem. Corey's line for someone to call Peta for Rhyno was clever too. Balor picking The Club as his tag team partners made me smile and was a nice touch. Roman vs. Joe started off really slow, but the ending false finishes really got the match going and watching the match knowing Roman is going to win makes the finish understandable. Pretty good match. The planned cruiserweight title match is canceled due to Enzo being sick, and I just want to say he better actually have the flu and not just a bad hangover, otherwise this is just another reason to hate this guy as a person. Goldust coming out is desperate booking but hey it kind of worked. Elias and Miztourage segment was funny enough. Match too short to mean anything. Lesnar gets hyped up by Heyman, which is of course great. Kane comes out however and chokeslams Lesnar. Lesnar sitting up and laughing is a brilliant callback to the Taker match. Then the locker room clears even though they were barely brawling... a bit anticlimactic.

Random Topics #1

Welcome to a new series here on the blog, called Random Topics. The concept is basically in the name. I take any topic that I feel like talking about, or one that was suggested that I find interesting. Without further ado, let's get into the first topic!

What I miss about WWE.

This is a big topic, but one I felt like talking about for a couple reasons. First, WWE is obviously in a sub-par state right now, and it makes you miss previous years. The second reason is because I recently went on a little vacation where I had no internet access, so I decided to bring the first 5 or so pay-per-views of the year from 2005. Seeing these really made me realize how poor of a state WWE is truly in right now. There are a couple different points I would like to cover in this, so I'll split them up into different paragraphs.

The first point, is the wrestling. Of course this is a different era, where every match has to be a 4+ star match, and if it isn't then most likely people are quick to dismiss it. But yet, in the years of Ruthless Aggression, we were not getting the best wrestling on any of the pay-per-views. You'd have a great match here and another one there, but you could never expect anything consistent. This era is still considered one of the best ever though. This is because the matches could draw you in. An example here is Judgment Day 2005, one of the shows I watched. The first match I had 0 interest in before hand. MnM vs. Hardcore Holly and Charlie Haas. No promo package, no anything. What a random match to start off this event. But as they started, they drew me in. Holly and Haas were great faces and got the crowd behind them with little things like Holly getting the new blood (Mercury) into the corner and raising his hand. Holly knew that he has a reputation for putting the beatdown on new guys, and with as much heat as MnM were getting, he knew that the crowd would love some hard chops. Nitro and Mercury got the cheep win, which gave them even more heat because of the way the match drew the fans in. Even poor matches like Big Show vs. Carlito accomplished something, having Carlito gain massive heat by using his bodyguard (Matt Morgan) to pick up the win. The only truly bad part from this show was the Orlando Jordan vs. Heidenreich match, which leads me to my next point.

Bad people don't last long. In this time, if you weren't doing at least one thing right, you weren't going to last long. Of course there were people who were bad in the ring, but they made up for it with their character. Examples here are Heidenreich and Kenzo Suzuki. These two were bad no matter what role you put them in (how do you have a really bad match with Undertaker for the former, or just look bad in the ring with Eddie, Benoit, and Mysterio for the latter?) They both ended up gone. Then take someone like JBL. In-ring he wasn't the greatest ever, or anywhere near that. But can you name a better heel in that era? Cause I sure cannot. In this modern day of WWE, they have their most talented roster ever, but we still complain about in ring action. Now no one off the top of my head is particularly bad all-around, but if they are bad in one aspect, they aren't making up for it in another. Jinder Mahal is a good example in this case. His in-ring work is really bad, this is obvious. But usually you would make up for it in something like character. Now his character isn't bad, but it isn't something that makes up for how bad his wrestling is. But he is the WWE Champion. This hurts everyone, whether it be the other superstars on the roster, or the company itself. More users are turning off the channel, even though you have expanded your market. It seems to be a scenario of 1 step forward, 2 steps backwards. How can they help this? That leads into my third point.

Character. Man in Ruthless Aggression, these guys really took their character and rolled with it. Big superstars like Kurt Angle, John Cena, Eddie Guerrero, Brock Lesnar, etc. They all took their character to heart, and made the crowd love them or hate them just like they should. But what makes this stand out from modern day, is letting the lower card guys take a character and do what they want with it. Deuce and Domino are guys that were never going to make it to the top, but still were a reason to tune in to Smackdown cause you wanted to see the smug guys lose to London and Kendrick. Even Boogeyman who couldn't put on a great match, made you want to tune in to see what he would do next, and the crowd loved it. Nowadays WWE has put such a restraint on what guys can do with themselves, it's almost robotic. Let Roman Reigns work the crowd, cause he can do it. I strongly dislike him, but the post-Wrestlemania promo where he said 5 words is one of the best in modern day WWE. But he can't do anything more than that cause the company has his, and almost everyone else's written out word for word. It's simply boring. Look at the fashion files. They really let these guys do what they want, and they have one of the most over stories in the company right now. Then you take someone brilliant like Kevin Owens, who knows how to get heat in the best way, and you restrain him cause people get upset. It's not right, and it's something that I miss from WWE.

That's all for the first Random Topics. If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, I can leave a summed up portion in the conclusion. I miss letting guys put on their own matches, I miss not having sub-par people at the top of the company, and I miss letting guys run with their character. Hopefully you enjoyed this week, and be sure to look out for the next installment.

AJPW Summer Action Series 2017 - Day 2 Review

AJPW Summer Action Series 2017 - Day 2 Review
Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

Well, it's been a while. Life is crazy. How about some AJPW full review?

AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: Hikaru Sato (c) vs. Minoru Tanaka
I skipped the classic beginning card Japan tag matches, hopefully I didn't miss anything relevant. This was a good first match. They kept up the limb work, and it all looked really nice. The finish was red hot with beautiful submission trades, leading to a modified Armbar that was too much for Tanaka to handle.

Winner: Hikaru Sato in 13:18
Like I said, enjoyed this match and the finish was really great. Can't ask much more than that. ***

I'm not too up-to-date with AJPW feuds, but I popped when Tajiri came out and gave Sato the green mist. Great to see Tajiri doing good for himself.

AJPW World Tag Team Championships Match: The Big Guns (c) vs. NEXTREAM
Going into this match I was somewhat expecting a pretty good match since I know Jake Lee and Naoya Nomura are two incredible athletes. However as the match went on, I learned that I wasn't going to get my good match. Not sure if it was the Big Guns that were the cause (using my prior knowledge to similar looking wrestlers in WWE I would assume this is the case) or if the two teams simply didn't mix well.

Winners: NEXTREAM in 11:28
The titles did change hands here, which hopefully will lead to some great matches from the two young athletes. This match however, I was not a big fan of. **

If you're unfamiliar with AJPW, the only thing that really goes on between matches are interviews with the competitors of the last match. Most of these are in Japanese, so I tend to skip.

Joe Doering vs. Kento Miyahara
This match was definitely the main draw to this card for me. The two put on my current AJPW MOTY back in April, and even though I don't watch much AJPW, this match was still amazing. They both brawl inside and outside of the ring, and when Doering gets the upper-hand, he starts picking apart Miyahara's back. He continued to work the back in the ring, but then the pace slowed. Not a lot happened after that, then they had another exchange, then a couple German Suplexes, and Miyahara had Doering pinned just like that.

Winner: Kento Miyahara in 8:18
A much shorter match than I was expecting. I feel like with 5 more minutes like they had for the Championship Carnival, they could've put on another fantastic match. Nonetheless, this was some great action with a little dullness. If you're in the mood for some non NJPW puro, this is a good choice. ***½

Joe Doering's interview was in English so I decided to listen. He talks about having a disappointing 2017 so far. I hope this leads to a 3rd match between the two with a longer time.

AJPW Unified Triple Crown Championship Match: Shuji Ishikawa (c) vs. Suwama
For about a year now I've seen a couple AJPW posters here and there, and they all seem to have Suwama on them. Is it fair to assume he is AJPW's Okada? That could be both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. This match was honestly hard to watch. No emotional investment at all, and no notable in-ring action to distract you from the previous point. I say a match is bad when you end up wishing that the ref counts the 3 just so it is finished.

Winner: Shuji Ishikawa in 19:37
Good for the crowd for seeming at least a bit excited in the match, but man this sucked. So much stalling for no reason, and such little action and stalemates, for again no reason. Sad for a pretty good event to end with a sour finish. I'll be a bit nicer with this rating for the decent finishing stretch. *½

Overall: 5/10. A show that was headed to being average, but fell hard with the main event. If you are going to check out this show, I'd say check out the first 3 matches for a good feel of AJPW. Solid action in the opener and in Doering/Miyahara, both should satisfy your puro needs. Looking forward to a stronger showing in the next show I am able to catch.

AJPW New Year Wars 2017 - Day 1 Ratings

AJPW New Year Wars 2017 - Day 1 Ratings
Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

Atsushi Aoki vs. Koji Iwamoto - **½

Keisuke Ishii and Fuminori Abe vs. Yuma Aoyagi and Soma Takao - *¾

Ryoji Sai, Rikiya Fudo and Minoru Tanaka vs. Zeus, Yohei Nakajima and SUSHI - **¼

All Asia Tag Team Championships Barbed Wire Board Death Match: Masanobu Fuchi and Atsushi Onita (c) vs. Jun Akiyama and Masao Inoue - *¼

Suwama, Joe Doering and Hikaru Sato vs. Kento Miyahara, Naoya Nomura and Jake Lee - ***

New Year Battle Royal Match - ¾*

Overall Rating: 3/10. My first recent AJPW show. I didn't know what to expect, but the show overall was lacking. Nothing stands out here, and the only saving grace would have to be the 2nd to last match. Hopefully the shows pick up from here.

Also an update for the blog. I recently sustained an injury while playing baseball, so I am unable to type well. This will stop me from writing full reviews for a while, and instead just give ratings for matches on a show. I will be doing this for random shows, and not Smackdown, since I feel Smackdown should be full reviews. Thanks for understanding.

Smackdown #393 Review

Smackdown #393 Review
Sap Center (AKA HP Pavilion), San Jose, California

YEAHHHH! I WALK ALONE! Batista walks out in the whitest turtle neck imaginable to a crazy pop from the crowd. He speaks more about how he will not be intimidated by The Undertaker. But then... GONG! Undertaker is in a graveyard, seemingly digging a grave for Batista. He says Batista's title reign will REST. IN. PEACE.

Matt Hardy vs. Joey Mercury
This is a Money in the Bank qualifying match, and with their current rivalry, it has a lot of potential. King Booker is also on guest commentary. The match starts going back and forth, but nothing notable. All of the attention is on King Booker's amazing commentary. Joey Mercury did start getting the momentum by working on the left arm throughout the match. We come back from commercial and Mercury is using the ring post to wrench the arm, while King Booker is still saying some gold about how he will win at Wrestlemania. Mercury goes to the top rope, but Hardy catches him and starts mounting some offense. He hits a combination of signature moves, then rips off the protective mask and hits a Twist of Fate from the second rope for the 3.

Winner: Matt Hardy in 13:50
This was an ok opener, made better by King Booker's commentary. I would've preferred it if the match was a bit shorter. **

Backstage with MVP, he makes a statement saying he will be the man qualifying for Money in the Bank.

Scotty 2 Hotty, Shannon Moore, and Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Gregory Helms, Daivari, and Chavo Guerrero
A cluster of a match starting with Shannon Moore and Gregory Helms facing off. They both soon tag out though, and Daivari begins choking out Scotty 2 Hotty. The face team tries to get the crowd to will on Scotty, but the crowd is pretty dead for this match. Chavo, Daivari, and Helms keep Scotty away from his corner, but the crowd remained quiet. Jimmy Wang Yang comes in and flies all over the place and cleans house, but Gregory Helms silents him. Then everything breaks down and bodies go flying, and before you know it Wang Yang hits a moonsault and pins Daivari for the 3.

Winners: Scotty 2 Hotty, Shannon Moore, and Jimmy Wang Yang in 7:18
I'm sure this match was here just because they have no idea what to do with the cruiserweights, which is very unfortunate. If they were going to do this match, the entire thing should've been booked as a car crash, and not trying to start it out as a technical bout. *½

A video is shown, displaying the actions of Vince and Umaga towards Rey Mysterio from last week.

Vince McMahon comes out promoting the Wrestlemania match yet again. We see videos from this past Raw and ECW showing Umaga and Bobby Lashley feuding. Just as I was about to fall asleep from this promo, Lashley's music hits and things get interesting. Vince tells him he'll pay him double whatever Trump is paying him. Lashley of course rejects this offer, but he gets slapped by Vince. Lashley then looks like he is about to murder Vince, and that's the end of the segment. This match has 0 to do with Smackdown, so I question why they have these segments.

After commercial, Mr. Kennedy is backstage with Vince and he says he wants Lashley in a match. So the match that was booked is for the ECW title, and is no holds barred, for Kennedy only.

Ashley vs. Jillian Hall
Jillian Hall starts to sing, but Ashley cuts her off and starts punching her. Ashley starts getting the crowd on her side, and that gives Jillian a chance to get the advantage. Jillian grabs the mic and starts trying to sing, but Ashley cuts her off yet again. Ashley counters a powerslam, and hits an elbow for the win.

Winner: Ashley in 2:26
This was a fairly short match and was just to promote Ashley's Playboy appearance, so I'll leave it unrated.

Finlay vs. MVP vs. Chris Benoit
It is worth to note that Finlay clarifies with the Michael Cole and JBL that Little Bastard's name is Hornswoggle. I've been calling him Hornswoggle from the start so I apologize. The match starts off with all 3 keeping a close eye on each other, with the big stakes of Money in the Bank at risk. MVP and Finlay begin double teaming Benoit, and as they go for pins, the other would pull the other off of Benoit. MVP tosses Finlay outside of the ring, and Benoit hits a nice suicide dive on MVP. Then we get a commercial. We come back and Finlay has control over Benoit back inside of the ring. MVP comes back in the ring and begins working on Benoit. The double teaming continues for a while, until MVP gets a bit too cocky and Finlay takes him down. Chris Benoit gets back into control with a Sharpshooter on MVP which stays locked in until he switches to a Crossface on Finlay, but MVP breaks it up with a huge dropkick. Benoit takes Finlay out of the match afterwards with a nasty german suplex outside of the ring. He then misses a Flying Headbutt onto MVP. This seems to be MVP's match, but with the help of a certain leprechaun, Finlay is able to hit both superstars with a shillelagh for the win.

Winner: Finlay in 11:09
 Another good match coming from the combination of Finlay/Benoit. All 3 come out of the match looking strong, and the set up for mania was great. Although it gets the same rating as the top match, this doesn't quite beat out Finlay/Benoit for best Smackdown TV match. ***

Jerry Lawler is announced for the Hall of Fame.

Two major announcements for matches next week. Undertaker takes on Finlay, and Batista takes on Kane.

ECW Championship No Holds Barred Match For Mr. Kennedy Only: Bobbly Lashley (c) vs. Mr. Kennedy
The match starts off with Lashley dominating, but when he goes to use an exposed turnbuckle, he gets warned by the ref. Kennedy takes advantage of the distraction, and throws Lashley up against it. Back from commercial we see Kennedy still in control, and he goes for a count out win, to no avail. After failing to choke out Lashley, Kennedy grabs a chair and cracks it over Lashley's skull, but it still doesn't put him away. So the chair shots continue, until Kennedy misses a swing and the momentum shifts. Lashley gets Kennedy up and hits him with a running powerslam for the 3.

Winner: Bobby Lashley in 10:35
A shorter match than their No Way Out match, which is much appreciated. This did kind of make Kennedy look weak, but I guess it's alright in order to boost Lashley up for the Wrestlemania match against Umaga. **¾

Overall: 6/10. This was a great week for Smackdown. I did give it the benefit of the doubt when averaging scores because of the opening promo, and learning from past mistakes with the main event. Next week seems to be another good episode as we are getting two huge matches, thanks to the Holla Holla Hall of Famer Teddy Long.