Welcome to this week’s rundown! I think you’ll find that every show covered here produced something worth checking out if you haven’t already seen it; enjoy!
Mike Lightning’s Ring of Honor Review 07/06/13
-C & C Wrestle Factory(Cedrick Alexander & Caprice Coleman) vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver – C & C hits their tag team finisher “Overtime” on John Silver for the pinfall victory-
ML: This match had a very lackluster pace for C & C and I’m going to blame Reynolds and Silver’s inexperience in the ring or inexperience in competing in Ring of Honor. The match had a rather slow pace and at times Reynolds and Silver appeared to not really understand where they were during the match. If there was any bright spots for those two, it would be in Reynolds as he seemed to have better chemistry than Silver and he looks the part of a professional wrestler. I can’t say enough good things about Caprice Coleman and Cedrick Alexander but this outing wasn’t their best. Coleman at parts of the match looked bored and out of sync while Alexander was executing everything he did with the same passion and fire that I’ve come to expect of them. It was interesting that in the middle of the match A.C.H. and Tadarius Thomas came out to the ramp and were scouting C & C. Anytime there’s a teaser that those four men could be in the ring at the same time intrigues me.
-Nigel McGuinness Promo-
~McGuinness comes out to the ring to address the aftermath of Best in the World 2013. Jay Briscoe suffered another shoulder injury while Mark Briscoe suffered a concussion. Due to the injury to Mark Briscoe, Nigel informs us that he won’t be medically cleared to compete in Steel Cage Warfare in the Team ROH vs. S.C.U.M. battle. Kevin Steen comes out and tells Nigel “to grow a pair of balls” and put him into the match. Steen mentions that he started S.C.U.M. and he wants to be the one to finish it. S.C.U.M. comes out and attacks Nigel and Steen until Team ROH(Jay Lethal, BJ Whitmer & Michael Elgin) come out and make the save.
ML: And the seeds are planted for Kevin Steen to join Team ROH as Mark Briscoe’s replacement in the Steel Cage Warfare event.
-Veda Scott vs. Mschif – Mschif scores the pinfall win on Scott after hitting The Obliteration in the corner-
ML: This wasn’t the best Women of Honor match I’ve seen; actually, it was quite bad. Veda and Mschif lacked any sort of chemistry throughout the entire match. Due to the lack of chemistry the match came across as sloppy and boring. I’m not sure what to make of Veda Scott’s wrestling ability because it didn’t really get a chance to shine because of the story being told about Mschif’s dominance and Veda’s unwillingness to give up. I would like to see ROH introduce a Women of Honor Championship sometime here in the near future.
-Silas Young Pre-Match Promo-
~Silas cuts a discriminating promo pre-match about how he is embarrassed that he has to follow a Women’s match. He says that women don’t belong in the ring and that they belong at home in the kitchen. He says that’s he’s the Last Real Man in Professional Wrestling.
ML: It was a very good heel promo by Silas. He reminds of a throwback wrestler and his Last Real Man gimmick he executes perfectly. I’m excited to see what his future holds in ROH.
-Silas Young vs. Adam Page – Adam Page wins the match with a Victory Roll counter on Young-
ML: Wow! That was an excellent match! It had a lot of the elements I look for to produce a good match. It had a good mix of brawling and wrestling. It was extremely entertaining and won Match of the Night, in my opinion. Adam Page is a good-looking prospect and if the matches in ROH I’ve seen in him is any indication of his future then Adam Page will be a name that we will be hearing a lot of in the future. The only question I have is about his promo skills. He seems to have charisma enough with working the crowd and his gimmick, but speaking is a big part in making it in the industry. Silas Young was just as impressive in this match. Page and Young even executed a Superplex from the Barricade outside the ring onto the floor!
-Silas Young attacks Adam Page after the match during the Code of Honor handshake-
ML: If these two continue their rivalry because of this attack, I’m all for it. That match was one of the better brawls I’ve seen in a while and if they continue this rivalry until the next iPPV, I definitely won’t be disappointed.
-Ring of Honor World Television Championship Match-
Matt Taven vs. Eddie Edwards – Taven retains the World TV Championship, after distractions from Truth Martini & The Hottie Hooplas, by hitting an Arm Trap Headlock Driver his finisher
ML: This match was a very close second to me for Match of the Night! Taven and Edwards put on a fast-paced entertaining match that showcased a lot of high spots. Taven’s alliance with Truth Martini is proving to be a good move on his part as his TV Title reign has been impressive. I love Truth Martini has a manager; he has a very old school feel with a splash of new school mixed into his character. Taven has been impressive since earning his TV Title shot and winning the title and if he continues to improve in the ring, he has a very high ceiling. Eddie Edwards is always amazing to watch and he hardly ever disappoints. If the rumors about the WWE being interested in signing him and American Wolves counterpart Davey Richards when their contracts expire, it’ll be a huge blow to ROH and two huge assets for the WWE roster. I’m sure ROH will find a way to rebound since they always seem to find a way.
-Final Thoughts-
ML: It was a very good show overall. The Women of Honor match was something left to be desired and the opening tag match was a bit of a disappointment. But between the main event and the match between Page and Silas Young more than made up for the slow first half of the show. The Steel Cage Warfare match is shaping up to be a good one and I fully expect Kevin Steen to be put into the match on Team ROH’s side.
Jee-S’ NXT REVIEW 07/10/13
Emma defeats Summer Rae to advance to the finals of the NXT Women’s Championship tournament. Summer Rae attacks Emma after she gets her hand raised but Paige comes for the save.
Thoughts: I liked this match. To me, this is exactly what a short divas match should look like. Summer Rae keeps on improving every single time she gets to display her skills and Emma is a prodigy of the talented canadian technician, Lance Storm. The blend of styles from the two divas made for an interesting encounter. The finish keeps Summer Rae as a serious threat in the talent studded NXT divas division and establishes Emma as a top prospect, which is all I could ask for. I’m very excited to watch the match between Emma and Paige next week!
Leo Kruger defeats Sami Zayn with the GC3.
Thoughts: Awesome match! If WWE management was to call someone up to the main roster tomorrow morning, these two should be somewhere on the top of their list. They proved again how incredibly well they can work in the ring and be able to hold onto their characters at the same time. On top of that, we were treated to some great chemistry between the Canadian and the South African wrestler. I see big things on the main roster for both these men in what is hopefully the nearest future possible. If not, I would be happy to watch them be contenders to the NXT Championship and eventually maybe win the belt. Again, it was a great match and it’s always a pleasure seeing my hometown pride Sami Zayn!
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy defeat Mason Ryan when Amore pins Ryan.
Thoughts: Kudos to NXT for keeping this feud alive and relevant. It doesn’t make for the most spectacular matches, but it makes for a very believable and interesting animosity between two wrestlers who have absolutely nothing in common. Mason Ryan is getting better but he’s still missing a personality when he’s out there and I am unsure if he is able to develop any type of character at all. Enzo Amore is entertaining on the mic and his alliance with the giant Cassidy is intriguing. It wasn’t a technical masterpiece(far from it), but it was a good way of building on that feud.
The Wyatt Family defeat Corey Graves, Adrian Neville & William Regal when Bray Wyatt delivered the Sister Abigail finisher on Regal.
Thoughts: Great way to end the show! The Wyatt Family, Adrian Neville and Corey Graves continue to impress me week after week and the with the promotion of the Family to the main roster, you have to wonder who’s getting called up next. Along with Sami Zayn and Leo Kruger that I mentioned earlier, Neville and Graves have to be on that same list of potential call-ups. This is a great feud and it delivers good matches from talented performers. The chemistry between the opponents is solid and I’m excited for the NXT Tag Team Championship encounter next week as it will probably be one of the last matches of their program. Also, you know that when William Regal gets to lace up his boots and go to work, it means it’s going to be special. Awesome ending to what has been a damn good episode of NXT!
As I mentioned above, this episode of NXT was awesome! We got treated to great matches (the second and the last one) and a good divas match. Squeezed in between these encounters was a very quick handicap match that enhanced a feud. And Bo Dallas wasn’t there. I can’t complain!
Jee-S’ MAIN EVENT REVIEW 07/10/13
Dolph Ziggler beats Antonio Cesaro by DQ when Jack Swagger pulls him out of the ring and attacks him. Ziggler escapes and taunts, leaving Zeb Colter’s men angry.
Thoughts: One of the best matches I’ve seen on Main Event in quite some time. The finish doesn’t hurt any of these men, although I would’ve liked it better if Ziggler got the clean win and the attack happened after the bell, but the fact that Swagger and Cesaro made an impact means that the WWE wants to keep them relevant as potential World Heavyweight Championship contenders in the future. The chemistry between these two amazing athletes was outstanding; we got to see spectacular moves happen at a spectacular pace and it made for a great bout. It’s awesome to see such great matches happen every Wednesday!
Tons of Funk and The Great Khali defeat Heath Slater, Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow when The Great Khali delivers a Khali Chop to Slater after he got ditched by Team Rhodes Scholars.
Thoughts: I think this was just an insult to my intelligence. I have no interest for any wrestler on the winning team and the fact that they were booked to win clean is just absurd. I wish Khali and the two dancing baboons would just leave the company. It may be mean because maybe they are super cool guys to be around, but the fact of the matter is that they’re not interesting. And on top of being uninteresting, they are terrible in the ring. And sure, okay, the Rhodes Scholars get away with losing this one because they left the match but couldn’t have they been booked to win in clean fashion? Wouldn’t have that been the best booking for them going into a Money In The Bank ladder match for a contract for a World Heavyweight Title match? I’m just saying, WWE: if you want to keep your midcard interesting, it would’ve been a great idea to book that differently. I would’ve appreciated it more if the 3MB lost clean to the comedy babyfaces because the 3MB don’t have a serious program or feud right now. I am baffled by the outcome of this match and I am disappointed in the match itself, as expected.
The show ended with endless RAW Recaps.
I wish I could give you my impressions on the show as a whole but honestly, the first match was the only thing worth watching. The rest was just painful to sit through. It’s as if the writers were really uninspired. It was terrible, but I guess we’ll just have to hope for better programming next week. Thank you for reading!
Martin Smith’s Impact Wrestling Breakdown 07/11/13
I can’t explain to you how much I enjoy ladder matches. I don’t think I’ve watched one that I didn’t enjoy on some level. Its my favourite stip by a mile; ever since I sat with my jaw on the floor as a youngster watching the magic HBK and Razor created at WM10. Needless to say I was frothing at the prospect of the evening kicking off with Gail Kim vs Taryn Terrell in such a match, for a multitude of reasons. Mainly anticipation at their rematch from quite possibly the best women’s wrestling match I’ve seen in 10 years at Slammiversary, but also a wee element of frothing amount at the hawtness on display. Just a touch, I can assure you; wrasslin comes first 😉
So when I was told it was “up next” as the show began, I assumed that meant the match would open the show, only instead to be treated to a hella confusing 10 minutes of barely intelligible noise from a combination of Bully Ray and The Main Event Mafia. I’m going to sum it up the way it came across to me, prepare to be baffled.
Bully is hell bent on fixing his marriage with Brooke, but he does not accept the challenge issued by the MEM last week, nor does he wish to harm Chris Sabin. Kurt Angle appears and informs Bully that he his is U.G.L.Y, and when it comes to his next title defense, he will have no alibis. Also, Sting said some words, and the 5th member is a heavy hitter.
Just a really scatty promo which attempted to tie about 50 loose ends in one segment, often 3 or 4 in the same sentence. TNA really has to kill some of these half baked and barely told stories before I lose the will to keep putting myself through this every week. Help me.
Jeff Hardy and Joseph Park vs AJ Styles and Samoa Joe
Because all good wrestling matches take place after four names are drawn out of a hat, I don’t even know what this was for man. I’m sure it was pertinent to some storyline, but I just don’t know. The match was short and pointless. Styles and Joe won and that was that. Oh and it is revealed that the tag match is part of a bound for glory thing, where the 6 winners of the 3 matches will wrestle each other in a gauntlet match for 25 BFG points and I can feel brain cells escaping from my ears. Wrestling just shouldn’t be this pointlessly complexed.
Magnus and Ken Anderson vs Jay Bradley and Hernandez
People like Bradley and Hernandez being afforded TV time is just one of the many little diseases TNA needs to cure to move forward. I’m a happy guy, but these two just sap all my will to love anything from every fiber of my being. Horrible, sloppy nothing wrestlers. The sum of Bradley’s work is a few stomach punches, and costing his team the match somehow. Hernandez got pinned by Magnus, and Magnus and Anderson won. Here’s the element you maybe weren’t aware of and listen…I really don’t blame you, but Magnus and Anderson are MEM and Aces and Eights respectively, and Anderson is actually pretty funny throughout, avoiding being tagged in and applauding sarcastically when Magnus got his team the win. Sarcasm is fun. People say it’s the lowest form of wit, but I say they’re the lowest form of wit, and when they tell me that doesn’t make sense I just wink and walk away. Sarcastically.
Austin Aries and Christopher Daniels vs Bobby Roode and Kazarian
Wrestling prevails. Wrestling will always prevail. That’s why I think the key to any wrestling show at least being watchable is just giving your best wrestlers a platform to give something resembling their best in the ring. This is exactly what we got here; for a start, we had the interesting element of two teams being “randomly” drawn against each other,but mainly, we just had some great wrestling which made sense. These are four guys who haven’t given up on returning TNA to its former glory, or at least making it watchable again. An excellent match, which ended in Kazarian rolling up his usual tag partner Daniels to give him and Roode a spot in the gauntlet later in the night. This kind of thing is why I’m convinced TNA has two sets of writers, and while one set were off with their fountain pens and quiffs writing the most confusing gutcheck segments possible, the good guys were afforded a spare half hour to come up with this idea.
Gail Kim vs Taryn Terrell (Ladder Match for the No.1 Contenders spot for the Knockouts title)
Hearing about this match was really the only reason I fought tiredness to stay up and watch this. Their match at Slammiversary told a surprisingly intriguing story, and was as technically good as I’ve seen from women’s wrestling in many years. This told a good enough story, and had some decent spots, my personal favorite being Taryn pushing the ladders into Gail’s face as she ran the ropes, but it wasn’t as technically sound as their previous meeting, which I suppose is a testament to Taryn’s vast improvement, but also a sign that there is still a long way to go before she can consider herself the finished article. I actually loved the finish, as Gail and Taryn battled near the ropes, Gail decides to tie Taryn’s hair up in them and rushes up the ladder to grab the contract. Smart finish, and the match was certainly the highlight of the night, but it was always going to struggle to live up to its predecessor.
Kaz vs Magnus vs Joe vs The Shockmaster vs AJ vs Roode vs Adam Bomb vs Ken Anderson
Not a huge fan of this type of match, but this wasn’t terrible. I just feel like unless it’s a Royal Rumble, this kind of staggered build up is daft. Just get them all in there at once. That ends up the case anyway, and the action is a bit boring until it gets down to just Roode and Magnus and we were treated to yet further proof of the improvement in Magnus. An extremely impressive exchange between these two, much like their singles match a couple of weeks earlier, and once again Magnus was put over clean, to take the 25 BFG points. Giving him a huge total of 49, with Roode sitting bottom of the table with 0.
This match finished with 10 minutes of showtime left, and so far we had just one brief Hogan sighting; it was both of them, but short enough to prevent me launching the bottle of Sprite I was drinking from chair to TV. Imagine my horror when I realised that the final segment would be Chris Sabin handing the X Division belt to Hogan, and this would mean Hogan would have to hobble down to the ring and probably say words. He does indeed, busted knees acting as a poignant metaphor for his busted relevance in wrestling. Sabin is there too, and eventually Bully Ray. Bully is a bad bad man; he says it every week. It would be easier for us all if we signed a contract stating that we’re aware that he’s not very nice, and he doesn’t have to say it every week. Something about Brooke, Hulk should stay out of her life, and out of the lives of anyone with a beating heart really. Sabin decides he will hand over the X Division belt regardless of how bad Bully is, and Bully informs him that his friends are also not very nice and they will also attempt to hurt him but wait! We slip into another dimension, and in this one…everyone is upside down! No seriously though, the MEM appear and reveal QUINTON RAMPAGE JACKSON THE MMA/MOVIE GUY to be the 5th member and everyone just cries and cries with happiness. The end.
Overall, slight improvement on last week’s mess. The Kaz/Roode vs Aries/Daniels match was great, and so was the ladder match but everything else was its usual mixture of messy and confusing. A final score of 4.9 spike DDTs out of 10.
WWE Smackdown Analysis 07/12/13
Daniel Bryan defeats Christian with the yes lock after a ten minute match.
^This was awesome! These two worked one of the more technically sound and competitive matches of the year. What a way to open the show with some fast paced action where the crowd was totally involved! Brilliant! The rest of the show has a lot to live up to now.
Teddy Long gives Dolph Ziggler the night off to make sure that Dolph doesn’t interfere in Alberto Del Rio’s match with Sin Cara later tonight. Teddy wants to keep his job after seeing Vickie Guerrero fired on Raw.
^Teddy Long is feeling more and more heelish as the weeks go on. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I won’t complain as long as the show quality isn’t affected.
Seth Rollins goes one on one with Jey Uso. Rollins wins the match with the curb stomp in just over four minutes.
^Waste of talent here to only give us four minutes, but let’s be honest: not every match on here is going to be a ten minute masterpiece. I guess I’m just let down seeing Seth Rollins in singles action and then having it cut short. Good back and forth action for a quick match though.
Chris Jericho goes one on one with Curtis Axel in another non-title match. Jericho wins the match by count out after eight minutes. Axel flips out after the match and starts throwing things around ringside.
^Highly competitive and aggressive nature from both men. Who can complain about that? I like the multiple victories over Axel; it’s too bad Jericho is taking off because a feud leading to an Axel victory at Summerslam over Y2J would’ve been awesome for his career. Perhaps a match on Raw this Monday for Axel to finally go over?
Ryback defeats the Miz with shell shocked in just under six minutes. Ryback may or may not have hurt his leg during the match based on his actions of being hurt and then recovering quickly. He limps to the back after the match.
^I honestly couldn’t tell if his leg was legitimately hurt or it’s just more kayfabe injury work by WWE. It could also be Ryback in kayfabe pretending to be injured but then be healthy for real all in storyline. I have to give WWE props for making these injuries so questionable as to their legitimacy. Remember kids, just because the site reports it, doesn’t mean it’s always true! These “leaks” could easily be fed information that WWE wants to see on the web. As for the match, I liked how Miz paced things out and worked with Ryback. I’d like to see Miz wrestle more and do less “talk show” segments.
Sheamus is interviewed by Renee Young. He tells her that she’s cute after talking about defeating Randy Orton tonight and then winning MITB on Sunday.
^Sheamus made his entire promo believable, but I really don’t see him winning MITB on Sunday. I suppose with almost every match on the card being a tossup that anything could be possible, and Sheamus could definitely use a briefcase on his resume. It would also be a good way of booking him back into the WWE Title picture down the road if he waited with a briefcase. Like I said though, I don’t see it happening. The flirting with Renee was awkward, unless they’re dating in real life or something.
Teddy Long holds a contract signing between AJ Lee and Kaitlyn for their match this Sunday. AJ starts reading texts that Kaitlyn sent to her secret admirer. Kaitlyn throws the phone and AJ makes fun of her. AJ has another text she sent thrown up on the tron for everyone to read. Kaitlyn says she will never let AJ destroy her again and she will have her title back. They get into it until Big E. pulls Kaitlyn off AJ. Kaitlyn slaps Big E. in the face and then spears AJ.
^This was a fun segment completely dominated by AJ’s personality; she was fantastic on the mic. Kaitlyn was definitely elevated in her mic skills because of AJ, but AJ was definitely the star of the segment. Awesome work by WWE keeping the rivalry interesting!
Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger stand next to the announce table while Zeb Colter joins commentary. Wade Barrett takes on Fandango. Fandango rolls up Barrett for the quick win after less than two minutes when Barrett gets distracted by Team Rhodes Scholars and others coming down and starting an argument with all the MITB participants.
^In terms of making us care about the World Title MITB ladder match, the booking has been rather lackluster. This match was just another example of that. I hope this young group of heels surprises us on Sunday and the match is booked properly. I could almost see a squash type result being booked where someone sneaks up the ladder, and THAT would piss me off immensely.
Kane is officially out of the MITB ladder match this Sunday.
^Will he be replaced? I suppose we’ll find out on the show. I personally don’t think it matters because the winner will be one of the remaining six.
Alberto Del Rio comes out for his match with Sin Cara. Sin Cara comes out and pounces on Del Rio. Dolph Ziggler is actually the one under the mask as he delivers a zig zag to Del Rio.
^This was funny. There has been just enough hype to make the match interesting and I think we could see a high quality match on Sunday. It’s even more funny that WWE found a way to make Sin Cara interesting without actually using him! I love it!
Vickie Guerrero gets a microphone and says no one has shown her respect since she was fired Monday. She says she bought a ticket to be here tonight. She demands that Teddy Long be fired because he’s a liar and a spineless puppet. Teddy comes out and has security escort Vickie out.
^And of course we haven’t seen the last of Vickie Guerrero. Her character has finally started to grow on me over the last few weeks in a weird way, and I don’t like admitting that. I’m guessing she’ll be a manager again in the very near future.
Backstage segment with Teddy Long, Sin Cara and Ziggler. Ziggler makes it look like Sin Cara was under the mask the entire time.
^I thoroughly enjoyed this entire situation despite how silly and obvious it was. Michael Cole made it even better by ticking off JBL during the attack. Great commentary for a well scripted scene!
Sheamus takes on Randy Orton in the main event. Dbry comes down after ten and a half minutes and causes a DQ with a ladder attack on both men. Christian gets involved after Sheamus takes out Dbry. Christian knocks Sheamus off the ladder after their brawl and Dbry pushes Christian off the ladder next. Orton jumps back in the ring and delivers and RKO to Dbry. Orton scales the ladder and grabs the briefcase to symbolically close the show.
^It wasn’t quite the same quality as the opening match of the night, but that’s how it goes when Daniel Bryan is in action. It was a very solid ending for a go home show leading into MITB and it complemented Monday Night Raw very nicely in terms of great in ring action. Call the show 6.5 out of ten for having an excellent opener and a decent main event(plus the divas segment and Zigs/ADR situation), and then have a few points shaved off for that lame World Title MITB setup and the lack of Shield action. Thumbs up overall!
Make sure to check out our Money in the Bank Preview this weekend. I’m joined this month as usual by Mike Lightning and Jee-S, and Parker is my special guest this go around. I want to take the time right now to thank EVERYONE who has participated on this writing team regularly since I started doing this again: Lightning, Jee-S, KP, Jace Ace, JBru, Parker, and most recently, Martin Smith! I’m trying out one more member hopefully for our Summerslam preview so I have plenty of guys in the bullpen ready to go in case someone bows out. They’ve all done a great job and I appreciate their time and investment. Thanks for reading!
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