TV Recap (14th-21st July 2014)

Here's all the TV and PPV results for the week commencing 14th July 2014.

Monday

 

Dragon Gate Rainbow Gate - Night 7

 

Osaka Bodymaker Colleseum #2
Osaka, Japan
Gaoro TV

1. Tag Team Match

Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi HAGeeMee, Jimmy Kanda & Mr. Kyu Kyu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin) defeated MAD BLANKEY (Cyber Kong, Kzy & Naruki Doi) (11:16)

2. Falls Count Anywhere Match

Don Fujii vs. Mondai Ryu - No Contest (5:09)

3. Tag Team Match

Jimmyz (Jimmy Kagetora & Jimmy Susumu) defeated We Are Team Veteran (Gamma & Masaaki Mochizuki) (13:02)

4. Tag Team Match

Flamita & Masato Yoshino defeated We Are Team Veteran (Dragon Kid & K-ness) (11:50)

5. Six Man Tag Team Match

Monster Express (Akira Tozawa, Ricochet & Uhaa Nation) defeated Millenials (Eita, T-Hawk & Yosuke Santa Maria) (17:40)

6. Tag Team Match

BxB Hulk & Shingo Takagi defeated CIMA & YAMATO (21:05)

WWE Monday Night RAW 1103 (Review - http://www.acrossthepondwrestling.co.uk/2014/07/wwe-raw-14th-july-2014-review.html)

Richmond Coliseum
Richmond, Virginia, USA
USA Network

1. Non (United States) Title Match
The Miz defeated Sheamus (10:45)

2. Singles Match
Dolph Ziggler defeated Fandango (3:02)

3. Singles Match
Alberto Del Rio defeated Rob Van Dam (4:30)

4. Two on One Handicap Match
Alicia Fox & Cameron defeated Nikki Bella (3:35)

5. Singles Match
Big E (with Kofi Kingston) defeated Cesaro (4:35)

6. Non (Diva's) Title Match
AJ Lee defeated Eva Marie (2:22)

7. Singles Match
Bo Dallas defeated The Great Khali via Countout (1:46)

8. Three on Two Handicap Match
John Cena & Roman Reigns defeated Kane, Randy Orton & Seth Rollins by DQ (14:36)

Tuesday

WWE Main Event 94 (Review - http://www.acrossthepondwrestling.co.uk/2014/07/wwe-main-event-94-review-sheamus-vs-miz.html)

Crown Coliseum
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
WWE Network

1. Singles Match
Emma defeated Cameron (2:35)

2. Tag Team Match
Big E & Kofi Kingston defeated RybAxel (11:35)

3. Non (United States) Title Match
Sheamus defeated The Miz (7:35)

Thursday

TNA Impact Wrestling 523 (Review - http://www.acrossthepondwrestling.co.uk/2014/07/tna-impact-wrestling-episode-523-review.html)

Manhattan Center
New York City, New York, USA
Spike TV

1. Tag Team Match
 Ethan Carter III & Rhino defeated Bully Ray & Tommy Dreamer (6:50)

2. TNA X-Division Title Gauntlet Match
Austin Aries (C) defeated Crazzy Steve and Davey Richards and DJ Z and Eddie Edwards and Manik and Sanada and Tiger Uno (16:43)

3. Tag Team Match
Bobby Roode & Eric Young defeated Kenny King & MVP by DQ (6:20)

4. No Disqualification No Countout Match
Madison Rayne defeated Brittany (6:41)

5. TNA World Heavyweight Title Match
Bobby Lashley (C) defeated Jeff Hardy (12:51)

WWE NXT 107 (Review - http://www.acrossthepondwrestling.co.uk/2014/07/wwe-nxt-episode-107-review-kidd-vs-zayn.html)

Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida, USA
WWE Network

1. Tag Team Match
The Vaudevillains defeated Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore (2:30)

2. Singles Match
CJ Parker defeated Xavier Woods (4:30)

3. Singles Match
Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss (2:50)

4. Singles Match
Adam Rose defeated Jason Jordan (3:15)

5. Singles Match
Sami Zayn defeated Tyson Kidd (10:20)

WWE Superstars 275 (Review - http://www.acrossthepondwrestling.co.uk/2014/07/wwe-superstars-episode-275-review-r.html)

Richmond Colliseum
Richmond, Virginia, USA
WWE Network

1. Singles Match
Naomi defeated Rosa Mendes

2. Singles Match
Ryback defeated R-Truth 

Friday

WWE Smackdown

Crown Colliseum
Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
SyFy

1. Tag Team Match
Dolph Ziggler & Sheamus defeated Fandango & The Miz (12:28)

2. Singles Match
Chris Jericho defeated Luke Harper (12:41)

3. Singles Match
Alberto Del Rio defeated Kofi Kingston (4:48)

4. Tag Team Match
AJ Lee & Paige defeated Layla & Summer Rae (2:12)

5. Singles Match
Dean Ambrose defeated Kane by DQ (5:58)

Saturday

OVW TV 778

Davis Arena
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
ion Television

1. OVW Television Title Match
Adam Revolver (with Michael Titus) (C) defeated Robbie Walker

2. Singles Match
Raul LaMotta defeated Shiloh Jonze

3. Singles Match
Jamin Olivencia defeated Jason Lee

4. OVW Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Fatal Fourway Match
Mevlin Maximus defeated Michael Hayes and Rump Thump and The Bodyguy 

Sunday 

Dragon Gate 15th Anniversary Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival

Kobe World Hall
Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
PPV

1. Six Man Tag Team Match
We Are Team Veteran (Don Fujii, Gamma & Masaaki Mochizuki) defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, Stalker Ichikawa & Uhaa Nation (0:08)

2. Six Man Tag Team Match
We Are Team Veteran (Don Fujii, Gamma & Masaaki Mochizuki) defeated Jushin Thunder Liger, Stalker Ichikawa & Uhaa Nation (3:08)

3. Tag Team Match
Jimmyz (Jimmy Kagetora & Jimmy Kanda) defeated MAD BLANKEY (Mondai Ryu & Punch Tominga) (4:51)

4. Open The Brave Gate Title Match
Flamita (C) defeated Dragon Kid (15:58)

5. Open the Triangle Gate Title Match
MAD BLANKEY (Cyber Kong, Kzy & Naruki Doi) (C) defeated Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi HAGeeMee, Jimmy Susumu & Mr. Kyu Kyu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin) (14:19)

6. Tag Team Match
Monster Express (Masato Yoshino & Ricochet) defeated CIMA & Matt Sydal (14:17)

7. Open the Twin Gate Title Match
Millenials (Eita & T-Hawk) defeated Monster Express (C) (Akira Tozawa & Shingo Takagi) (30:03) - TITLE CHANGE!!!

8. Open the Dream Gate Title Match
BxB Hulk defeated YAMATO (C) - (32:15) TITLE CHANGE!!!

IGF Genome30

Fukuoka International Center
Fukuoka, Japan
Television Nishinippon

1. IGF MMA Rules Match
SHUNYA defeated Iron Horse Tanaka by Referee Stoppage (4:07)

2. IGF MMA Rules Match
Masatatsu Ueda defeated Takuya (3:43)

3. Singles Match
Atsushi Sawada defeated Keisuke Okada (2:16)

4. Singles Match
Manabu Hara defeated Koji Iwamoto (11:29)

5. Singles Match
Shogan Okamoto defeated Wang Bin (0:59)

6. Singles Match
Heddi Karaoui defeated Black Tiger (9:30)

7. Singles Match
Crusher Kawaguchi defeated Shinichi Suzukawa (5:21)

8. Singles Match
Kazuyuki Fujita defeated Daichi Hashimoto (2:22)

9. Tag Team Match
Minowaman & Naoyo Ogawa defeated Hiromi Amanda & Jerome Le Banner (7:54)

WWE Battleground Kick Off

Tampa Bay Times Forum
Tampa, Florida, USA
WWE Network

1. Singles Match
Adam Rose defeated Fandango (1:21)

2. Singles Match
Cameron defeated Naomi (3:12)

WWE Battleground

Tampa Bay Times Forum
Tampa, Florida, USA
PPV/WWE Network

1. WWE Tag Team Title Best Two Out of Three Falls Match
The Usos defeated The Wyatt Family (Erick Rowan & Luke Harper) [2-1] (18:50)

2. WWE Diva's Title Match
AJ Lee (C) defeated Paige (7:02)

3. Singles Match
Rusev defeated Jack Swagger via Countout (9:45)

4. Singles Match
Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose via Forfeit

5. Singles Match
Chris Jericho defeated Bray Wyatt (15:03)

6. Intercontinental Title Battle Royal (Vacant)
The Miz defeated Alberto Del Rio and Big E and Bo Dallas and Cesaro and Curtis Axel and Damien Sandow and Diego and Dolph Ziggler and Heath Slater and Kofi Kingston and R-Truth and Ryback and Sheamus and Sin Cara and The Great Khali and Titus O'Neil and Xavier Woods and Zack Ryder - TITLE CHANGE!!! (14:11)

7. WWE World Heavyweight Title Fatal Fourway Match
John Cena (C) defeated Kane and Randy Orton and Roman Reigns (18:16)

WWE Battleground Kick-Off Review

We're going to try a different format for these show reviews and see how it works out. If it doesn't work we'll flip back to the “Match of the Day” format, but for now we'll simply be running through each show and giving thoughts.

So, Battleground Kick-Off started with Josh Matthews welcoming us to the 1^st Niagra Centre in Buffalo, New York, USA. Matthews was the host of the specialist panel for tonight's Kick Off show, which featured an underwhelming collection of panelists, with The Miz, Titus O'Neil and Tensai all on hand. They ran through a collection of bouts including Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton for the vacant WWE Championship, The Rhodes Family vs. Tag Team Champions The Shield and Rob Van Dam going after Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship in a Battleground Hardcore Match. This panel was painfully awkward, with only Tensai seemingly knowing what he was talking about, with a lot of hesitation and confusion from both Miz and O'Neil. They finished up this segment, by really pushing the idea that Damien Sandow could cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase tonight to become World Heavyweight Champion, but after the booking he's received over the last few months, I'm wondering why I'm supposed to care if this happens. They quickly skimmed over the random bout that was occuring on the show, with Sandow facing Dolph Ziggler, despite the two having very little interaction on television, like ever!

We then head to Renee Young, in the “Social Media Lounge”, which is essentially a sofa and a television. Young capably leads us through how to use a hashtag on Twitter, before talking about how both Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella could walk out of Battleground with gold (or a butterfly atleast) around their wastes. I'm not a massive fan of them using Brie as part of Bryan's storyline, for a number of reasons, firstly because Brie can't act to save her life, secondly it shows that WWE don't really know what their audience likes, and placing a popular character like Daniel Bryan, with a shall we say not so popular character like Brie Bella, just doesn't work. Yes, I know they are a real life couple, and that WWE wants to promote Total Divas more, but I'm not sure if theres much crossover between the viewers of Total Divas and WWE's other programming. The segments finished with Young introducing a WWE.com poll to find out who was WWE's best power couple, with the options being Triple H & Stephanie McMahon, Edge & Lita, Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth and King Booker & Queen Sharmell. I find it's best not to think too much into these selections.

Josh Matthews then moved discussion onto the CM Punk vs Ryback later on, with them showing a replay of last weeks tremendous Raw segment where Paul Heyman “proposed” to Ryback, followed up by an attack from Punk. Matthews went onto interview Heyman who was accompanied by Ryback, with Heyman once again giving a top quality promo, attempting to portray Ryback as an underdog, claiming that Punk was a bully and that the WWE fans had been brainwashed to follow him. It was short, but sweet and gave a good idea of what to expect later on when Ryback got in the ring with Punk.

Dolph Ziggler 

vs. 

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Winner 

Damien Sandow 

(10 minutes, 22 seconds)

It was then time to head down to ringside, where our commentary team for the evening would be Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL. They briefly talk about Rob Van Dam and Alberto Del Rio's World Heavyweight Championship bout later on, before seguing onto the idea that Damien Sandow could cash in his briefcase tonight, they're really pushing that idea tonight after weeks of ignoring the fact. Out comes Damien Sandow, mic in hand and cuts the kind of promo we've come to expect from the Intellectual Saviour of the Masses. Sandow quoted Benjamin Franklin, before moving onto to talk more about potentially cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase, personally I would've preferred to hear him talk more about his opponent, rather than everyone continue to sign post a cash in, the promo only proved that this match was entirely pointless.

I can't say I was particularly enamoured with this contest, Sandow and Ziggler just didn't seem to connect in the ring, in what was there first singles match together. The early part of the match especially just didn't seem to flow correctly, with a slow motion replay of a Sandow clothesline that obviously didn't connect and a botched swinging neckbreaker from Sandow not helping the situation. This bout needed some kind of story to draw me into the match straight away, seeing as it had no storyline heading in, and it just wasn't present. The bout did pick up towards the end, when the action gathered some pace, with a succession of pin variations getting near falls for both men. I thought the finish was also strong, when a remnant of a story appear with both men tweaking their knees, before Ziggler slipping out of a powerslam attempt by Sandow, landing a kick to the knee before hitting a Zig Zag to pick up a pinfall victory. Personally, I think Sandow was the one most in need of a victory here, as he's been made to look pretty rubbish since winning the briefcase, and at the most will not make a realistic World Heavyweight Champion, and the loss wouldn't exactly harm Ziggler who is already over with the audience.

After a replay of The Shield's attack on the Rhodes Family on last week's episode of Raw, which was oddly for WWE pretty poorly edited together, we headed back to Josh Matthews for the opinions of the panel. Once again, it was a pretty cringeworthy experience, with Miz and especially O'Neil completely butchering what they had to say, luckily Tensai kept his words short, wishing the Rhodes Family good luck. It seemed a strange decision to have an all face panel, especially with Triple H in charge of WWE, it would have given more balance to the panel.

Then we moved on to the always exciting “Social Media Lounge” where Renee Young read the most generic tweet I have ever heard about Daniel Bryan. She was then interupted by Los Matadores miniature bull, El Torito, who ran around the lounge and appeared to be making sexual advances on Young. It was a little bizarre, and I really want to hate Torito, but this was pretty funny, with Young doing a good job of awkward confusion, although she may have just been awkwardly confused. The segment finished with a reveal of the results of the WWE.com vote for WWE's best power couple, with Edge & Lita winning with 43%, Triple H & Stephanie McMahon coming second with 30%, Randy Savage & Miss Elizabeth in third with 23% and King Booker & Queen Sharmell bringing up the rear with 5%, like I said before it's best not to think about these too much, it's just a bit of fun.

They finished up the show by replaying Randy Orton's attack on Daniel Bryan from last week's Raw, where Brie Bella looked on, with each of the panel giving their opinions on who would pick up the victory, with Tensai even donning a fake beard and failing at getting the crowd to chant “YES!” which is quite an achievement in today's WWE.

Overall, I didn't think Battleground Kick-Off was much good, a difficult bout between Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow and a biased and un prepared panel didn't exactly make me want to watch Battleground anymore, although they did do a good job of promoting that the first match would see Rob Van Dam face Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship.