Monday, October 31, 2016

WWE Hell in a Cell 2016

The hype video actually references the HHH-Owens link, which amazes me. They've also got this slick playing card graphic for the matches. Shame they didn't do this before so things might feel slightly different than the norm. "There's the OMINOUS STRUCTURE!"...with pink ropes for breast cancer awareness. Rusev vs. Roman starts the show off. Boo Dog comes out to boos. Roman, the dickhead who set out to ruin a man's wedding celebration, then mocks Rusev with the title he took from him.


They have a long, boring Raw match. BUT IT'S INSIDE THE CELL! "THE BIG DOG'S HUNTING TONIGHT!". Way to make Roman seem cool, Cole. Cole rattles off STATS about the cell to drive home how intimidating it is. Shocked he didn't mentions the 420 pounds of pressure the steel steps have. Drive by is countered with a lariat and the steps are used in various ways. Rusev gets sent outside and the fans chant for tables.


Rusev ties him up in the ropes and grabs a kendo stick to attack. Roman goes from being trapped to being able to ESCAPE AND HIT A LARIAT. Okay. Rusev avoids the superman punch and kicks him before tossing him head-first into the corner steps! That step setup needs to be in 2K18. Rusev gets the Accolade, but Roman escapes and eats a Cro Cop kick. Rusev gets a chain, but gets caught and punched a ton.


Dueling LET'S GO RUSEV/RUSEV SUCKS chant. Roman gets the steps a couple of times and a superkick gets 2. This is easily the best match Rusev has ever been in - he truly comes off like a main event-level act here. EXCELLENT spot with Rusev putting him in the Accolade on the steps with a chain in his mouth. Roman recovers with a Samoan drop on the steps. IT GETS A USA CHANT! RUN UP SPEAR WINS IT! Roman actually got cheers and this was an excellent match - perfect way to start the show.

KO bitches about Seth a bit. Dana vs. Bayley is up. Dana is a "great athlete", but a horrible wrestler. BAYLEY HUGS HER, but Dana elbows her and then...doesn't and gets beat with the Bayley to Belly. Mild pop here. "IT'SSSSS BAYYLLEEEYY!" really needs to be her intro and outro again. Jericho bitches to Foley and Steph. Foley interrupts him and MAKES THE LIST! Certified Gs face The Club. Air Enzo takes the heels out. Enzo just wackily punches Gallows to bits, but eats a superkick. MAGIC KILLER HITS. KARL ANDERSON WINS A MATCH! WWE still hates cancer.


Kevin Owens Show vs. Seth hype video. Cole hypes up that this is Seth's 16th PPV match involving him fighting for a title...and yet he doesn't feel like a tippy-top guy. Slingblade hits for 1. PK leads to KO rolling out. He rips off the k tape on Seth's back...okay. I love him rolling out just to put his foot on Seth's face like a dick. CANNONBALL AGAINST THE CELL! Powerbomb is avoided by Seth, leading to KO avoiding the Pedigree. Superkick party to one another leads to KO hitting a lariat that sends them both down in exhaustion. KO sets up a wacky table setup against the cell, but eats a slew of planchas.  KO grabs a fire extinguisher and blasts the ref.

Another ref gets him, but Jericho comes in too and locks himself in. Jericho eats a Pedigree and KO superkicks Seth. He goes for a powerbomb through the double stack, but Seth reverses, nearly drops him, hoists him and tosses him! HIGH FLY FLOW HITS AND GETS 2 thanks to Jericho! Seth beats hm up. Superkick and powerbomb get 2.9! KO beats him with a flurry of punches. A chair is brought in and KO DDTs him on it before powerbombing Seth through two chairs to win. So far, the cell matches have been quite good - so this has been overkill for the stip, but they've been worthwhile matches.


Kickoff panel runs through the cruiserweight kickoff match. TJP vs. Kendrick is up. Nice matwork by Kendrick before some solid heel work. TJP gets the heel hook, but Kendrick gets the ropes. Kendrick feigns a knee injury just like Pillman  - leading to some great faces by TJP. And a CM Punk chant. Kendrick headbutts him and gets the Hook! TJP loses...boy what a horrible way to book him. He was given no time to really get the title over, let alone the division, and it just goes to Kendrick - who is great, but this whole story was told in fast forward and thus meant far less than it should. Nakamura vs. Joe is hyped up.

Cesaro gets Sheamus some tape and Sheamus compliments his suit. And then they argue - because them finally getting along MIGHT indicate development for the characters. The Halloween Booty-Os shirt is nice. They have every Raw tag match they've ever had - outside of Woods flying around nicely. Sheamus dives on the pile. Xavier taps, but E gets hit with the trombone and Kofi hits Sheamus with the kick - so the heels win by DQ. Goldberg returns to Raw for some reason - even though nothing can top what they did before.

Sasha vs. Charlotte main events next. Charlotte gets walked down the aisle on a caravan in a gold and black robe.  Cole reads STATS ABOUT CHARLOTTE. She's 13-0 in singles matches at PPVs since the beginning of her career and 12-0 in title matches - the longest PPV streak of any superstar. Eh, there are a billion shows now. Cole says that Ric has never done what Charlotte is doing by competing in a cell and never had her winning record. Odd to have wins and losses matter NOW, but that's better than nothing.
Charlotte stares up at the cell, and maybe at her departed brother as she lives his dream. Escalade intro for Sasha again. Charlotte jumps her as the cell drops and they fight on the floor. CHARLOTTE IS SENT INTO THE WWE UNIVERSE. They fight and fight and fight and then climb on the the side of the cell. Charlotte drops down and breaks her fall, then Sasha awkwardly falls into Charlotte's arms and gets powerbombed through the announce table. They go to cart her out, but she can't lose it like that, so she goes in the cage and the match FINALLY begins.

Sasha eats a nasty monkey flip into the cell. Sasha hits a crazy plancha into the cell. Sasha drop toeholds her into a chair. Sasha flies off with a double knee strike off the cell to the floor. Shotgun knees into the cell! Three Amigos get a nice Eddie chant. Frog splash gets 2, and the Bank statement crossface is escaped. Double knees with a chair hit for 2. Charlotte grabs her and rams her head either into the steps or the ring apron.


Charlotte sets up a table on the floor to superplex her - the superplex fails, but the mega wedgie doesn't. Sasha kicks her off lightly and she hits the table lightly, it doesn't break, and that just kinda fails. Sasha goes to get another table, but gets wedged against the cell so Charlotte can set the table up mid-ring. Figure 8 is on, but Sasha chairshots her way out of it. Sasha eats a slew of backbreakers and Sasha trips her up off a moonsault. A corner to corner powerbomb fails and Charlotte ragdolls her into the table a couple of times with more wedgies. Natural Selection ends it. Sloppy, but very good overall match.









Friday, October 28, 2016

NJPW on AXS TV 10-28-16 - AJ Styles and Nakamua's Final Matches in New Japan

We get both the final match of AJ Styles from 1/5/16 and Nakamura's final match on 1/30. AJ and Omega face Nakamura and Yoshi-Hashi. Quite a bit of clipping here. Omega gets 2 off a doctor bomb. Inverted powerslam hits, but AJ cuts Nak off. AJ hits a Pele before Kenny hits a reverse rana! One Winged Angel gives him the win over Nakamura. AJ goes up top to celebrate, but gets hit with the OWA! THE ELITE SUPERKICK AJ! Everyone too sweets and beats up AJ. STYLES CLASH AND THEN DUAL SUPERKICKS ALONGSIDE IT! So great. AJ gets up and bows to the fans.


Nakamura 's final NJPW entrance is shown. Ross talks about how Nakamura, Tanahashi, and Shibata were picked as the new three musketeers to replace Muta, Chono,a nd Hashimoto. Not a whole lot to this match. It's basically a greatest hits of Shibata vs. Ishii - which isn't bad. Barnett is outstanding at calling the MMA stuff from Nakamura and Shibata. Back and forth forearm strikes between Tana and Nakamura! A Bom-a-ye is countered with a Slingblade and they're both down!

Shibata and Ishii come back in and stuff each other to hell and back. DIVING KICK BY NAKAMURA. Diving knee by Shibata! Ishii beats Shibata with the brainbuster - fun stuff. After the match, Omega talks shit to Nakamura. Tana tells Omega to shut up, that he's the ace, and he's got him for the IC Title. Omega and Ishii hug Nakamura. Nakamura says he's grateful for his allies and enemies, and now he's going to show the world what he's all about. He gets out one more YEAOH and says that PRO WRESTLING IS THE GREATEST!  Okada carries him around the ring and then does it again at ringside. This was beautiful. In the post-match presser, he says that Okada will protect New Japan.


NXT 10-26-16

The generic show intro starts off before DIY comes out for their match against Tian Bing and HoHo Lun. Lun is in his CWC gear, while Bing is in generic black and red shorts. Lun has some solid-looking stuff against Johnny. Lun eats the slingshot spear and the knee/superkick combo to end it. TJP and Kota chat about facing Ali and Mustafa. Takeover Toronto hype video airs. Joe talks about his path of destruction and how he has Nakamura terrified of him. Aliyah faces Billie Kay. Kay has a solid theme...that's about it. Boa robe is cool too. These two are simply not good together. Kay actually gets up from a blockbuster first despite TAKING THE MOVE. Liv pulls Payton, distracting Billie and giving Aliyah a distraction schoolgirl win. The heels lay out Liv.


Noah Potjus comes out looking like a cabana-hopper with a Hawaiian vest. Tye faces him, cartwheels, says 10 and wins with a Tye Breaker. Roode beats him up and implant DDTs him on the ramp. TM61 are interviewed by the generic brunette girl. They've prepared for it like any other match. Thanks guys. Asuka is a total heel against Thea Trinidad. Love her kind of basking in every small shot. Ankle lock into the German and then a Fujiawara armbar wins it. This was fun. Regal brings her competition for Takeover - MICKIE JAMES!


Ellering and his shiny suit talk to the AOP. Generic girl asks IF HE'S HAPPY WITH THEIR DESTRUCTION. Goddamn what a moronic question. He finds Swann and Jose impressive - but they won't advance over the AOP. Ali and Mustafa come out to face Kota and TJP. Ali and Kota have some quick matwork on the ground to start. Ali looks outstanding with his kicks and even a slick neckbreaker that gets 2. Kota hits a slick sliding kick and DOUBLE PELES THEM! Ibushi hits a second rope moonsault to set up a High Fly Flow by TJP for 2. GOLDEN TRIANGLE MOONSAULT! Wrecking ball dropkick to Lince! Kneebar gets the tapout win! Really fun match.


Tuesday, October 25, 2016

WWE SD 10-25-16

Dean and Ellsworth meet backstage for a wacky chat. Bray comes out to face Kane. NOOO! Orton comes down and RKOs Kane, so Bray wins. AJ tells Charly that Ellsworth will be missing more than his chin when he's done with him. Becky returns, but before she can cut a promo, Alexa comes down and insults her. Alexa's facial expressions are outstanding here. They brawl and Becky eats the barricade. Alexa DDTs her and paints a yellow streak on Becky's back. Hype Bros beat Ascension with the Hype Ryder to go into the SD vs. Raw tag.

 

Nattie wants Bryan to make her the team captain, but Bryan makes Nattie vs. Nikki instead. They have a fairly sloppy match for a bit before Nikki wins with the STF and then Carmella jumps Nikki. CAN ANY STORYLINE ON THIS SHOW PROGRESS!? Miz, goth Maryse, and the Spirit Squad come out. Doplh and Beauty and the Manbeast come out and we got us a Spirit Squad tag title match. Rhyno and Heath win with the Gore. Ellsworth will be in Dean's corner tonight. AJ lands the moonsault DDT perfectly for 2. NO CHIN MUSIC ON THE FLOOR! Dean loses! This...was a show.
 
 

Screens -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/y91pxbx5hy4tdfv31v4kepa3i1e2scur

Sunday, October 23, 2016

ECW on TNN Episode 1 - 8-27-99


It's been eons since I've seen ECW, and this show starts with the Dudleys powerbombing Balls through a flaming table while Joey says THIS ISN'T THE WWF OR WCW. Well, he's not wrong. RVD vs. Lynn from Hardcore Heaven airs. The redone commentary puts over this kind of action being on the show every week. Clips of Shane Douglas throwing down the NWA World Title in '94 are shown. Man did Shane age a decade in 5 years. This puts over the ECW World Title and leads to Joey running through clips of famous WCW/WWF guys who held it and we go to Taz vs. Rhino.

Rhino powerbombs him, Taz no-sells it, flips him off and tells him to fuck off. Taz kicks his ass, hits the hardway Tazplex through the table in the corner and taps him with the Tazmission before a KISS knockoff hits. Sabu highlight video talks about him being banned in the U.S. Spike beats Sal E. Jason, Justin, Lance, and Dawn say stuff. Then Cyrus is gobsmacked by Dawn's tits. We get a quick highlight reel of the roster's big moves before Taz talks about ECW being about barb wire bats, tables, and hard chairshots - but he's THE CHAMP and his hands are his weapons. He brags about choking out "the minellium man" Chris Jericho, Shane Douglas, Bigelow, Scorpio, Candido, and Lawler.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

NXT 10-19-16

The Joe-Nakamura brawl is recapped and we get the usual show intro. Izzy holds up an Izzy and Bayley win the Dusty Rhodes Classic sign. Rich Swann comes out with the fans chanting his theme. Jose and Swann are perfect! Tom says it's time to get funky like a monkey - that is both perfect for Dusty and a bit racist. Nese and Gulak have perfectly contrasting boring music and a tron of just their last names. Gulak gets 2 off a variety of wacky cradles. Nese uses acrobatics to avoid Jose's shots. Ole chants are now "Jose/Jose/Joseeee!" Jose hits a giant running palm strike that sends Nese twirling for 2. Flapjack punch hits for Jose, but only gets 2 thanks to a save by Nese. Triangle flip dive by Swann leads to the full nelson slam beating Gulak - fun match.

Tye cuts a promo on Bobby Roode - Bobby LIED TO HIM. Aries talks about Itami being gone because he has a sore neck - but it's really because he has no spine and is afraid of him. He says his partner will be the best choice - and only the greatest and STRONGEST survive. Roode's glorious theme hits and he debuts A NEW ROBE! This presentation is just outstanding. 
 
 "THE GLORIOUS" Bobby Roode works so well. He's facing Maluta and we get some outstanding interplay between Corey and Tom. Roode hits a spinebuster and wins with the impaler DDT. Roode-Tye is made for Takeover and he'll make him GLORIOUS! Tye runs down and sends him packing. Generic Brunette Girl interviews Liv, fresh a vacation on the sun judging by her tan, and a weird Liv Vibes shirt. The new mean girls of Kay and Royce beat her up and drag her to the arena.

Knight and Otis face Team Aries next. Knight and Otis are just big, burly ass-kickers. Aries and the debuting Roderick Strong team up. Tom talks about him facing Seth, Bryan, AJ, Joe, and Owens. Aries mocks Otis and kicks him before a test of strength. Strong eats a dropkick from Knight. Sick Kick gets the win. Almas HAS A TRANSLATOR NOW and says he has been disrespected. Well, being forced to wear suspenders will do that. Nikki Cross beats some chick with the moss-covered three handled family credenza. Nikki forearms EY and beats up the jobber some more.

Nakamura comes down and says he's not done with Joe. He cuts a fairly bad promo in all honesty, but says he'll beat him with no mercy. '80s porno music hits and Patrick Clark comes out and says they should do something other than Nakamura-Joe - something new! THE PATRICK CLARK EXPERIENCE VS. NAKAMURA! One's dressed like Hendrix and the other looks like Freddie Mercury and Eddie Murphy had a baby. Nakamura just kicks him before Joe walks down and stays on the ramp. Okay then.

Screens -
http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/vziwawo567v8ads7h71cxlfv4hafl43h

Friday, October 21, 2016

NJPW on AXS 10-21-16 - Tanahashi vs. Okada Wrestle Kingdom 10


I got Sling and forgot to cancel - so what the heck, I might as well watch NJPW. I've actually never seen the AXS show before - so this should be fun. The story of the Okada-Tana feud is recapped. Backstage, Okada talks about losing to Tana at every WK show. Ross talks about how Tanahashi hasn't lost in the Dome since 2008. "Okada returned in 2012 from a run in TNA Impact Wrestling. An uneventful run!"
 

 After some gorgeous shots, we get a tie-up to start. Lots of matwork leads to JR asking who is better on the mat. A chop block and a dragon screw take Okada down. Okada hits a triangle dropkick sending Tana to the floor! He crossbodies him over the barricade. DID and the stranglehold choke give Okada an edge. They fight up top and Okada sends Tana to the floor. Tana recovers and hits an apron dragon screw and an apron Slingblade. Tana locks on a cloverleaf, and then dropkicks the knee in the rope. Okada hits a series of basement dropkicks for 2, and then the diving Okada elbow for 2.

 

Tana victory rolls his way out of a tombstone for 2. Okada is locked into a cloverleaf, resulting in Okada looking mentally defeated. Slingblade hits, but the High Fly Flow misses! Okada goes for a tombstone, but eats a neckbreaker, but he absorbs it and hits the tombstone! RAINMAKER GETS 2! High Fly Flow and OKADA EATS HIS OWN RAINMAKER! RAINMAKER COUNTERED INTO A HIGH FLY FLOW and the dragon suplex gets 2.5! HIGH FLY FLOW TO THE BACK! ANOTHER TO THE GUT GETS 2.! 
 
 

STANDING HIGH FLY FLOW MEETS A DROPKICK! Okada eats slaps, but lands the dropkick! Tana is locked into a Rainmaker, but Tana slaps him and they go down. He lands a series of lariats before a big Rainmaker hits and ends it! Okada beats Tanahashi for the first time ever at Wrestle Kingdom! At the post-match presser, Tana says he is speechless and he isn't sure if his dream has ended or if it's passed on.

 
 

Mid-ring, Okada says that "if IWGP was easy, I'd have done it long ago!" At his presser, he says he'll fight for the approval of the fans this year. He talks about facing Tana at prior Tokyo Dome shows and losing, but finally winning and getting the fans' approval. This was an amazing show - it might've been the single best hour of pro wrestling presented so far. A highlight reel closes the show off.