This is Some Kind of Happening - The Highest Profile Matches That Wrestling Has Left

In this industry, hype is King. So what high profile fights does wrestling have left?

Wrestling, like most things in life, is not as complex as it is painted out to be. It relies on few factors to truly excel: for a match to achieve its full potential it just needs performers that command an emotional investment from the audience; credible action that feels consequential; and an atmosphere that exudes excitement. Simple enough right? Creative stories and intelligent marketing can develop stars and attractions that produce matches that live long in the memory. It doesn’t need to be 5 stars or 6 stars or 6.3333 reoccurring stars; high work- rate is admirable and can elevate wrestling to art but it isn’t vital for creating defining moments. More than anything, for wrestling to really connect, the bouts needs to feel big time, it must have substance. Gorilla Monsoon would call such a match “a happening”: an event that grips the fan-base, as the result’s significance to the business is undoubted. These matches, built on the anticipation of personalities clashing, on outcomes that matter- are the foundation of what makes wrestling special. We admire an indie classic on the night; we remember a happening forever.

Unfortunately, excellent stories and skillful marketing aren’t as prevalent as they might be in the industry: most matches now, while entertaining enough to watch, don’t have the hype, the prestige or the magnitude that render them timeless. Wrestling is certainly fulfilling its mission statement of escapist fun: it’s rare that I switch off the TV or leave a building without having enjoyed the product on some level. But how often do I feel like I’ve watched something essential? Not often enough. Wrestling must do more to create the next wave of super fights to reclaim its relevance. However, that isn’t to say that there aren’t some huge matches on the horizon. There are a few “happenings” that would get Monsoon’s pulse raising. Some of these contests are certain to happen; some require committed negotiations to bring them to fruition. Given the business’ need for moments of consequence, let’s hope that they all come to pass in the coming years and that new memories can be emblazoned into the minds of the fan base.

Brock versus Rock 2

This match, the very epitome of box office sensation- really should have happened by now: after news broke of Brock Lesnar’s return in 2012, just a year after The Rock had re-joined WWE, this was the fight to make. And for a while, that was the plan. The night after Wrestlemania 29, an angle was planned in which Lesnar would decimate The Rock, setting up a scrap in New Orleans the following year. However, the injuries sustained by The Great One during his match with John Cena the previous night proved enough to curtail his involvement and, following the impact of said injury on his Hollywood commitments, he declined to step back into action, his 6 second squash of Erick Rowan at Mania 32 notwithstanding. If he does decide to wrestle again, would he face the explosive and rough Beast Incarnate when safer options such as Triple H are on the table? The Rock might be super human but does Dwanye Johnson want to go to Suplex City? And will Lesnar even be around for much longer? His contract expires in 2018 when the UFC will, despite his age and recent ban, be looking to add star power to their depleted main event scene. 

As Pro Wrestling’s most mainstream crossover stars, complete with a backstory dating back to 2002, this match would be electric and would draw in lapsed WWE fans, UFC fans, films fans- everyone could get behind this. I truly believe this is wrestling’s biggest match but I also doubt it will happen as Brock and Rock likely have other fish to fry. However, in a couple of years, Lesnar might be post-UFC (again) and Johnson’s career might slow down a tad. The prospect of a Mania main event, and the level of publicity and financial remuneration that entails, might be too tempting to resist…

Happening Scale: 5 Gorillas out of 5

Likelihood: 2 out of 5

Okada versus Omega 3

One of the biggest matches that can be staged in all of wrestling is nothing new; it has already happened twice this year. That is testament to the talent of the two men involved; so good are they that Meltzer has had to re-invent the wheel, dishing out stars we never even knew he had.  However superlative the action, and to echo my earlier point, this is about more than match quality. This result matters: can Omega finally beat Okada? Can his One Winged Angel put away the champion? The storytelling has been masterful, with the recent match re-visiting themes and riffs to carry the audience along on this epic journey, making them wait for the definitive pay-off. When the resolution of this feud does occur, this will be more than a stream of GIFs on our twitter feeds; this will be a part of New Japan history that fans discuss for years to come.

Happening Scale: 4 Gorillas out of 5

Likelihood: 5 out of 5

Cena versus Reigns

Some people will hate this match but I forsee it as a company defining moment. Likely to come in 2018 or 2019, this will be a modern day Hogan vs Warrior, with Cena likely doing the JOB for Reigns before one of the hottest crowds imaginable. The match is fresh- they’ve had very little ring time together at this stage- and even if both men are booed at first, chances are that a well booked scrap would encourage everyone to pick a side and get involved. The build to this will likely blend reality and fantasy to maximum effect, playing on the inherent similarities and differences between the two, all the while enforcing the importance of the result to the whole audience.

Happening Scale: 4 Gorillas out of 5

Likelihood: 5 out of 5

Styles versus Nakamura 2

The buzz these two men generated during their brief exchange at Money in the Bank this Sunday would not have been lost on anyone in the office: this match is coming. Again, quality of work-rate is undoubted but the personalities of the two and the fierce loyalties of their fans are hugely significant. AJ Styles is now a WWE fixture who commands respect; Nakamura still has a certain ‘newness’ to him that screams excitement: this would likely be a split crowd who fervently stand by their man in what will be a war to determine who can lead the Smackdown Live brand. Polished video packages and pointed references to their history could compensate for any promo shortcomings while the inevitable tension that arises as the friends slowly grow apart would allow audience anticipation to bubble and boil. This one could go down in WWE history, an equal of all-babyface scraps like Bret Hart vs Davey Boy. Furthermore, the image of AJ and Shinsuke hugging after an intense bout could replace the now white-washed visual of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit from Wrestlemania 20; in giving the platform to these talented and appreciated workers, WWE could provide an iconic image for a generation of fans. 

Happening Scale: 3.5 Gorillas out of 5

Likelihood: 5 out of 5

Of course, there are other big bouts that could occur if we allowed ourselves to get creative: Stephanie McMahon and Triple H vs Ronda Rousey and The Rock could potentially be the biggest bout in WWE history; anything involving Connor McGregor would have exemplary hype; an in-ring return of Stone Cold Steve Austin would print money; Daniel Bryan heading to New Japan and mixing it up with their stars would legitimise the company to the uninitiated. Could these happen? Of course but they shouldn’t be relied upon. WWE, NJP aW and every company in the world need to look at their stars and examine their programmes, determining what is working, what is not and where changes can be made. Who knows, if promoters resolve to embrace the ideals of consistency and creativity, then the next major box office attraction could be set to unfold before our eyes…

WWE Backlash 2017 Review

On 21st May, WWE's SmackDown brand presented Backlash, their first PPV since WrestleMania, at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. AJ Styles challenged for Kevin Owens' WWE United States Championship, Jinder Mahal went after Randy Orton's WWE title, Shinsuke Nakamura made his SmackDown debut against Dolph Ziggler, as well as Sami Zayn, Natalya, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Luke Harper and more being in action...but was it any good? Let's take a look. 

Backlash Kickoff

• Our panel for the evening is hosted by Renee Young with Booker T and Peter Rosenburg as the analysts. 

• Dasha Fuentes lets the audience know that Sami Zayn will be in the Social Media Lounge later on, she speaks like an especially patronising CBeebies presenter. 

• The first hype package of the evening is for Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler and features a blindfolded woman painting, because Nakkers is an artist now. It somehow manages to make their feud look mildly interesting, but the painting gimmick is still lame.

• The majority of the panel's chatter about Nakamura v Ziggler was focussed on Nakamura's debut and how much anticipation there was for it. They spoke a lot but didn't really tell any new fans why the debut was special or build up Ziggler as a potential spoiler. 

• A replay of a WWE.com "Exclusive" with Aiden English interrupting Tye Dillinger's interview with Renee Young, with Dillinger taking the piss out of English for crying a few weeks ago. 

• James Ellsworth joined the panel to discuss The Welcoming Committee against Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Naomi. Booker T made a questionable hand gesture when asking Ellsworth about his relationship with Carmella. 

• Booker really put over Sami Zayn as the panel discussed his upcoming bout with Baron Corbin. 

• Erick Rowan walked in as the panel discussed Breezango v The Usos and just kind of wandered about for a bit. 

• Kayla Braxton interviewed Dolph Ziggler backstage, with Ziggler promising to put on a clinic in his match with Shinsuke Nakamura later on. 

• An ad for the WWE Network

• A rather cool hype package for AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens, focusing on the "Face of America" gimmick and mixing Owens' promos with various classic American iconography.

• As the Panel discussed Styles v Owens, Rosenburg discussed how he was "calling" it as the match of the night...no shit, Sherlock. 

• Sami Zayn joined Dasha Fuentes in the Social Media Lounge, with Fuentes stealing the show with her weird reactions to pretty much anything going on. 

Dillinger def. English

The longest of the pair's trilogy over the last month and a half, this was a fairly simple clash that was showed the importance of getting over with an audience. English's pre-match sing-song generated a, perhaps surprisingly, large amount of heat, as he ran down his hometown of Chicago and sang a few nicknames. Put this opposite the "Perfect Ten" gimmick which is still on fire and English singing "You can't help him" when in control and as long as the two didn't slip up they could pretty much coast through eight minutes of action. There was a couple of nice spots here, including a solid near fall for English off the Director's Cut, before Dillinger closed things off with the new version of the Tye Breaker. 

• Erick Rowan joined the panel again, stealing Rosenburg's pocket square and looking about a bit. Booker T said "You're looking real jacked, baby" about twenty six times. 

• The panel jumped straight into talking about the WWE title match, although this barely got anytime before they through to the final hype video.

• The hype package for Jinder Mahal v Randy Orton detailed Mahal's unlikely rise and Anti-American stance.

Backlash

• "We choose to show the world one face, but our true face we only show ourselves" - Was the rather awkward theme for the event's opening promo, with a lot of the comparisons not making any real sense. 

Nakamura def. Ziggler 

This bout needed to start hot, specifically the audience needed to see something from Nakamura that made them sit up and take notice. Instead, we got a few minutes of the pair exchanging holds, a couple of tame strikes from Nakkers, before Ziggler hit a big dropkick. Having waited weeks to see Shinsuke get in the ring, in what was already a questionable piece of booking, this was not what was needed. The pattern continued for most of the match, with Ziggler hitting most of the big moves, including a Fameasser and a Zig Zag, but seeing as it was inevitable that Nakamura would be winning his debut, it was difficult to buy into the majority of the near falls for anyway, especially after having seeing very little from Shinsuke himself. Whilst most of the sequences were well-thought through, which considering they'd have seventeen matches on live events building up to this should come as a given, a lot of the action seemed to be a step or two off the pace. 

The match spent most of it's time building up to Nakamura hitting his big moves, like the inverted exploder and the Kinshasha, almost at the expense of every other piece of the King of Strong Style's offence. By the time Shinsuke hit his big two for the victory, we'd got a bout that whilst having very few technical faults, hadn't managed to deliver what it needed to. It felt like the lads had about eight minutes of content, that they attempted to stretch over a quarter of an hour, yet even big moments like Ziggler spitting in Nakamura's face felt like they were thrown away. We were never going to get a bout on the level of Nakamura's NXT debut opposite Sami Zayn and that wasn't what this bout needed to be, but it did need to showcase Nakker's as a unique competitor, who has more to him than just an entrance, yet it ended up making him feel like the majority of the SmackDown roster. 

• A replay of this week's SmackDown's episode of the Fashion Files, with Tyler Breeze dressing up as a janitor and the wonderful "Day One is H" debut. 

Usos def. Breezango to retain SmackDown Tag Team Championship

Breezango took their PPV opportunity and ran with it, as we got to witness Tyler Breeze raiding WWE's dress up box and Chicago fucking loved it (and so did the commentary team). It was super silly, as we saw Breeze dressed initially as a janitor with a mop and then an old lady with a walking stick, but it was a different, didn't take itself too seriously and also allowed the Usos to shine in their role as the straight men. The match moved well towards it's finish as we saw Breeze almost die after being chucked over the barricade and then the Usos rebound from a Fandango tope conhilo to knock 'Dango off the top rope with a superkick to hold onto their belts. The shift from comedy to highspots was done well and those last few moments may have made Breezango as they both ended up looking incredible after holding the crowd with their previously entertaining antics and shenanigans. I hope we get to see these teams battle again as I'm sure this was only the tip of iceberg of what Breezango has to offer comedically, whilst both teams are more than capable of hitting that top gear for longer.

• Another ad for the WWE Network and such.

Zayn def. Corbin 

This match was simple storytelling, with two performers in roles that suit them down to the ground and very little else. It was established early on that Sami Zayn had hurt his lower back and from that point on that became the driving force of the clash. Zayn sold his suffering damn well, making sure that he wasn't just grabbing hold of the body part, but showing the pain all across his body, in his face and in his arms and legs. Even when not selling specific moves, all of Zayn's movement was altered because he trying to convey the injury. Corbin's slow and methodical dissection of Zayn, as he laid into his opponent with a spinebuster, a chokebreaker and Deep Six, gave him plenty of chances to jawjack with the crowd. The only thing that was missing was some real heat from the Chicago crowd, who at times rallied behind Zayn, but didn't seem to fully buy into the bout. 

The finish saw Zayn nick a victory, managing to push Corbin into a corner and hit a fast Helluva Kick to get the pinfall. The pace of the finish really took me by surprise as the bout leading up to that point, beyond a few flurries early on, had been relatively slow. This contrast made the moment feel completely out of the blue, especially because I'd been fairly certain Corbin would get the win and continue onto a big push heading out. Zayn's selling post-match was arguably even better than what we'd seen during the match, as he threw his arm up into the air, only to bring it straight back down to his lumbar region with a grimace on his face. The Underdog from the Underground may be the best seller in WWE at the moment and I'm hoping this translates into his getting bigger matches and more opportunities. 

• Xavier Woods, Ember Moon, Zack Ryder and a dude played Rocket League, a video game that was sponsoring the show.

• Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers arrived, with Mahal cutting a promo straight down the camera in English and then Punjabi.

The Welcoming Committee def. Lynch, Flair & Naomi 

A basic six woman tag bout, that would probably have stood out on an episode of SmackDown but didn't do much for anyone on PPV. The majority of the wrestling was done well, with Naomi spending some time as the face in peril and a strong Becky Lynch hot tag standing out, but the themes of unity and teamwork that had previously been brought up in the rivalry, weren't explored as well as they as they could have been. The heels mostly controlled as a unit, working quick tags and switching in and out, but the babyface team didn't look they had any particular issues trying to gel either. There was potential to see tempers flair between the babyfaces as they all looked to gain some revenge on their rivals, but that just wasn't present. This bout wouldn't have looked out of place on a live event, due to it's lack of story development and a general feel that everyone was phoning in their performance. 

My main takeaway's from the finish was the dominance of Tamina, who managed to take out Charlotte Flair with a superkick and Naomi with a headbutt and Lynch tapping out to Natalya's Sharpshooter. Considering how Lynch was initially positioned as the top female face of the brand, it was a big moment for Natalya, but almost felt like it was thrown away. Overall, I feel like the contest didn't manage to provide the division with anything resembling an overall direction and especially after the multi-woman bout at WrestleMania didn't feel like the SmackDown Women's division was being used to anything resembling it's full potential with Charlotte Flair in particularly feeling like she was barely involved in the match at all. 

• The same promo we saw on the Kickoff show for Kevin Owens v AJ Styles aired, which means Jinder Mahal v Randy Orton will be our main event! 

Owens def. Styles via countout to retain WWE United States Championship 

Between September 2016 and January 2017 AJ Styles and Kevin Owens were the top champions on their respective brands and here we are in May and both men are battling over the United States Championship. That's not a knock on anyone, I just thought it was worth pointing out. Maybe because it would've been easy for the pair to phone this in, lose motivation and just not put the effort into this bout. There's plenty of wrestlers throughout history who would've done just that. That isn't AJ Styles and Kevin Owens though. They took their slot on the card (still the longest bout of the evening) and made it work. The two built their story, allowed the crowd to become invested and peppered in some big moves like Owens' swinging fisherman superplex and a suplex on the apron from Styles. The bout lacked any convincing near falls, which would have propelled it to the next level, but I'll get onto the finish in a moment. 

The story of the bout was set up by Owens attacking Styles' leg on SmackDown earlier in the week, but didn't become apparent until Styles hit his Ushigoroshi signature onto the leg. From here we got some strong work on both sides of the coin as AJ sold the injury well, whilst Owens made the body part his focus. Owens has a good knack for altering his offence to suit the story of the bout and that was clear here as he altered his cannonball to connect on the leg, as well locking on an Ankle Lock (perhaps mimicking Kurt Angle as part of his "Face of America" gimmick). Styles' leg would often result in him being unable to take control after a hope spot or being to slow when on the offence (causing the aforementioned swinging fisherman superplex) and whilst this often caused the pace of the bout to slow, the two utilised their large arsenal of moves well and made the most of the slower pacing as the crowd grew into the contest with them. 

I mentioned earlier that the bout lacked any convincing near falls and the finish itself was, of course, more than a little disappointing. Owens' escaped a Styles Clash attempt on the announce table, simultaneously trapping Styles' injured leg in the hole in the announce table, resulting in a count out victory when AJ was unable to escape from the various wires and what have you. It's difficult to wholly criticise a finish like this, because it followed the arc of the match and made Owens look like a bit of a shit, which will only help his Face of America character as it develops. Yet it's also difficult to not feel disappointing that we didn't get to see Owens and Styles hit top gear and we didn't get to see Styles battling out more convincing submission holds and really sell the drama of the injury and develop the Phenomenal One's new babyface persona. Let's hope we get to see these two have another PPV bout down the road as they could have torn the Allstate Arena apart and didn't. 

• Highlights of Tye Dillinger's victory over Aiden English from Kickoff played

Harper def. Rowan 

Considering there's so much history between Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, you wouldn't have known it from what the match alone as there was no sign of hatred or even dislike between the pair. The crowd clearly hadn't bought into the story as their main involvement in the bout was to chant "Fire Bradshaw" for a little while at the start. The bout had it's moments like Harper's suicide dive and a big boy Powerbomb from Rowan and remained watchable, but I'm not quite sure what anyone was trying to achieve. There was some weird stuff with Rowan reaching for his mask, but it wasn't clear enough for a live audience to pick up and didn't actually go anywhere anyway. The finish was unfortunately the sloppiest part of the bout with Harper turning a Powerbomb into an awkward rana, before hitting a pair of unconvincing superkicks and a discus thing for the win. 

• Jinder Mahal v Randy Orton hype package, it's time!

Mahal def. Orton to win WWE Championship

I feel like some time next year, I'll turn to one of my wrassle pals and say "Do you remember when Jinder Mahal won the WWE title?" and they'll turn to me and say "Halcyon days, mate, halcyon days" as we watch Mojo Rawley battle Gronk for the title in the main event of whatever that month's PPV happens to be called. All that we once believed to be right and true has been turned on it's head in the space of a month. Jinder Mahal and the Bollywood Boyz are on top of SmackDown and there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it. I think Mahal's accession could have been handled with a little more precision and I'm not sure he really deserves the spot, but there's no denying that he has ascended and he does have that spot. 

I think the most shocking part of the whole story was that Jinder and Randy actually had a decent match. No, it wasn't a technical classic, but it told a story and told it pretty well. Orton jumping Mahal before the bell grabbed the crowd from the beginning and managed to keep them on side through the pedestrian first half of the bout. Mahal initially targeted Orton's shoulder, when that looked to be unsuccessful the Singh Brothers got involved, saving Mahal's arse on a number of occasions. The ringwork was solid, if unimaginative in the early going and whilst Orton didn't look particularly motivated, he still sold his shoulder well for Jinder. I would have liked to have seen Mahal take a leaf from Kevin Owens' book and vary some of his offence to make a real focus of the injury as apart from wear-down there wasn't much else. There were opportunities for Mahal to up the aggression and really go to town on Orton's shoulder that could have made the earlier part of the bout a little more dynamic. 

The last couple of minutes however were executed particularly well. Orton's frustration at the Singh Brothers constant interference lead to Orton attempting to murder Sunil and Samir by delivering a pair of belly to back suplexes onto announce tables that looked completely reckless. It sold the moment, but I'm not sure Orton needed to actually try to kill the lads. With Orton distracted trying to destroy the Bollywood Boyz with a double rope-hung DDT, Mahal took his opportunity, slithered in behind the Viper and nailed Khallas (Cobra Clutch Slam) to cap off one of the most improbable and illogical title ascensions in WWE history. The conclusion was exactly what it needed to be, bought the matches arc to it's conclusion and seemed to jump from one moment to the next at a reasonable pace. The strongest part of Jinder's run to the title has been the Singh Brothers involvement and how they've been positioned to allow the act to stand out, so it was fitting that the pair played a major part in their fellow Canadian taking the belt.  

Talking Smack: Backlash 

• Renee Young and Peter Rosenberg welcomed us to the show, giving their initial reactions to the madness of Jinder Mahal being WWE Champion. 

• Sami Zayn joined the panel for a quick interview, that never really got into his victory over Baron Corbin earlier in the night. The interview instead focused on Zayn's jump to SmackDown, Jinder Mahal's title win and the potential of being involved in Money in the Bank.

• The next interviewee Tye Dillinger followed some similar themes to Zayn's interview, in that there was no real discussion of his victory over Aiden English earlier on. There was some cool focus on Dillinger's journey back to WWE, alongside some parallels between Dillinger and Mahal's careers, before Dillinger also made a claim to a spot in next month's Money in the Bank ladder match.  

• Young and Rosenberg went back over the finish of the main event, to remind us all that Jinder Mahal is WWE Champion and Randy Orton almost murdered some lads. They then moved onto looking at Shinsuke Nakamura's win over Dolph Ziggler, discussing how Ziggler could potentially bounce back. 

Kevin Owens Interview

The United States Champion joined the panel for absolute cracker of interview that remained captivating from start to finish as he would go on to close the show after repeatedly shutting down questions from Young and Rosenberg. Owens initially refused to speak to Rosenberg because he was new, got confrontational when Young claimed he hadn't won "fair and square", got asked about Jinder Mahal, then repeatedly walked off the set, only to return once again. The moment when Rosenberg brought up that he felt AJ Styles was the best in the world felt like Owens was about to Machine Gun Kelly the shit out of Rosenberg right on that big glass desk. The Face of America brings an energy and passion to each of his performances that make you sit up and take notice and this was no different.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.78/10 

Backlash 2017 will be remembered as the show where Jinder Mahal won the WWE title. If nothing else, that was certainly a thing that happened. We also got some very good action out of AJ Styles v Kevin Owens, even if the finish didn't provide anything satisfactory, whilst Sami Zayn v Baron Corbin also more than held it's own on the card. The main event perhaps provided the most complete story bell-to-bell and had a great final stretch, with the reaction to Jinder winning being something we may have to wait a long time to see again. Shinsuke Nakamura v Dolph Ziggler didn't provide the impactful debut that many hoped for, but still had it's merits. Unfortunately, bouts like Erick Rowan v Luke Harper and The Welcoming Committee v Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair & Naomi weren't near PPV quality and dragged a potentially strong event down a few slots. 

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

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WWE Backlash 2017 Preview & Betting Odds

The first SmackDown PPV since WrestleMania is upon us as Backlash takes place in the Allstate Arena in Chicago this evening. The seven weeks since the Grandaddy of them All has been interesting for the blue brand to say the very least, but what can we expect tonight from the SmackDown crew? Let's take a look. 

United States Championship - AJ Styles v Kevin Owens (C) 

The US title appears to be being positioned a lot higher up the card than we've seen in previous years, as Styles and Owens look set to main event Backlash with the red, white and blue strap on the line. The feud between the pair hasn't had much time to get into full swing, with Owens still focused on his old rival Chris Jericho, however I doubt that will have much effect on what should be an incredible match between two of WWE's top performers over the last twelve months. There was a time when Styles and Owens held the top two titles in WWE last year, so they'll both be looking to prove that they deserve to be back in contention for the top belts and should push each other even harder than usual. Owens could do with a prolonged spell with a belt, as trading the title back and forth with Jericho heading out of WrestleMania and the belt itself could do with a period of time around one guys waist, so I'm expecting Owens to walk in and out of Chicago as champion. The notoriously vocal Chicago audience should add an extra dimension and help produce a match that we'll be talking about for quite some time.

Betting Odds

Owens - 8/15 
Styles - 11/8

Dolph Ziggler v Shinsuke Nakamura 

Personally, I've not been a massive fan of how Shinsuke Nakamura's call-up has been handled. Him turning up on the post-WrestleMania SmackDown to interrupt The Miz produced a very cool moment, but since then as he's been shifted into a feud with Dolph Ziggler that hasn't exactly caught the imagination, with a series of segments involved Nakkers coming out and doing his entrance and not a whole lot else. If the plan wasn't to showcase Nakamura's real strength, his in-ring ability, until Backlash, I would have preferred to have seen a match announced between the two and then had Ziggler carry the programme on the strength of his mic-work, whilst ploughing through some lower card fodder or even local competitors. The quality of this bout will hinge on how much of a showcase it is for Nakamura. I'd like to see a much more balanced bout with Ziggler allowed to get some heat on the former NXT Champion, but I fear we may just a get a simple squash bout, which won't allow anyone unfamiliar with the Japanese star to fully grasp why Shinsuke is such a special talent. 

Betting Odds

Ziggler - 10/1
Nakamura - 1/33

Sami Zayn v Baron Corbin 

Perhaps surprisingly, this will be the first Zayn v Corbin bout that the WWE has aired, as despite numerous matches on live events in NXT and WWE since 2015, the two have never squared off in front of the cameras. The feud has been pretty simple since Zayn's move to SmackDown, with Corbin assaulting Sami on Talking Smack and building from there. Zayn has always worked best when fighting from underneath and this contest will give him plenty of opportunity to do so against an opponent almost half a foot taller and over 60 lbs heavier. Corbin has come into his own as a wrestler since moving up from NXT, but has yet to have a memorable singles bout that could potentially push him to the next level, so I'm interested to see if he takes the opportunity that is presented to him here. These two are more than capable of putting on a good match and with the right balance and attention they should be able to shine at Backlash. I'm expecting a Corbin victory, ahead of a big push, that could see the Lone Wolf grab the Money in the Bank briefcase next month.

Betting Odds 

Corbin - 1/5
Zayn - 100/30

Luke Harper v  Erick Rowan 

We saw these two lads feud back in late 2014/early 2015, as part of the larger Authority angle, with Rowan bizarrely taking on the babyface role of "Big Red". This most recent development seems to have come out of WWE having nothing much else for the two after Bray Wyatt moved to RAW and hasn't been particularly inspiring, beyond Rowan's creepy appearance on Talking Smack last week. Rowan picked up a win over Harper in four minutes a few week's ago on SmackDown, with very few signs that we should get excited about a potential rematch. Harper has shown against Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler that he could be much more useful to WWE, so maybe we'll see Rowan step up to provide a big hoss battle against his more accomplished former Wyatt Family brother. Luke should get his win back here and I expect both will be slotted into the Money in the Bank Ladder match next month.

Betting Odds 

Harper - 1/5
Rowan - 100/30

SmackDown Tag Team Championship - Breezango v The Usos (C)

The spotlight that Tyler Breeze and Fandango have been given since becoming #1 Contenders in a Beat the Clock Challenge at the end of April has finally given both men the opportunity to show-off their character work and entertain the masses and the pair have ran with it, creating a series of comedic skits involving their Fashion Police gimmick. The Usos have also upped their game on the mic, bringing their thuggish gimmick up a notch, in a series of promos. Now it's time for the two teams to show us what they can do in a match together. Both duos have the talent to put on a belter of a match and with Chicago expected to be well behind Breezango, this match could give the talent strong, but investment weak, tag team division a much needed boost. I'd love to see Tyler Breeze and Fandango give the blue leather titles a makeover, but I think we'll see The Usos hold onto them for the time being. 

Betting Odds

Breezango - 100/30 
Usos - 1/5

WWE Championship - Randy Orton (C) v Jinder Mahal

The WWE Championship match finds itself towards the end of this preview, because the thing I'm most interested in seeing is how Chicago reacts to it, even more so after Orton's Twitter rants. Jinder Mahal got a title shot outta nowhere, winning a random Six Man bout on SmackDown and then being joined by the Singh Brothers to perform an anti-American gimmick. After spending most of 2017 to that point putting over the New Day, Enzo & Cass and Mojo Rawley it was certainly a bolt from the blue and the brand has worked hard to make Jinder seem like a threat as he's almost wholly got the upperhand on Orton, as well as picked up victories over AJ Styles and Sami Zayn since. If either Orton or Mahal put a foot wrong here, Chicago will be all over them, so Mahal better hope for a career performance or at least some help from his more polished opponent. With so much talent on SmackDown, I'm not quite sure what is achieved by giving Mahal the WWE title, other than to really push the Land of Opportunity situation...however if you only watched RAW and saw that someone you were used to seeing losing in minutes was the other brands top champion (especially so quickly), you'd surely consider that brand a bit of joke? I hope I'm surprised by this bout, but I'm not holding out much hope.

Betting Odds

Orton - 8/11
Mahal - 1/1

Tye Dillinger v Aiden English 

The events opener will warm up the crowd as they get to see the popular "Perfect Ten" and shout "Ten" a lot for a bit, whilst English continues his singing cry-baby gimmick (which is apparently a shot at Mauro Ranallo #lolmentalhealth). There's not much of a feud here, beyond Dillinger picking up a couple of wins over English on SmackDown, so I'm thinking we'll get a relatively straight forward singles match here with a clean win for Dillinger. 

Betting Odds

Dillinger - 1/8
English - 9/2

The Welcoming Committee v Charlotte Flair, Naomi & Becky Lynch 

Rounding off the card we have a tag match featuring the entirety of SmackDown's female division. The Welcoming Committee gimmick for Natalya, Tamina & Carmella has had it's moments, mostly involving James Ellsworth and what seemed like an initially one dimensional gimmick as the group targeted Charlotte Flair has branched out and worked relatively well. For me, the majority of the in-ring talent is on the babyface side, which could lend itself well for hot tags and face in peril spots, giving the heels chance to work the crowd and build. That's where the potential in the bout is for me, however a lot of it depends on if the bout is allowed the time it needs (over ten minutes, at least) and if the demanding audience allows the six women to build towards something. I think we could see a heel turn from one of the face team, most likely Flair, but more interestingly Becky Lynch, as either of those two would produce stronger opponents for Naomi and arguably stronger storylines to play with. 

Betting Odds 

The Welcoming Committee - 1/10
Flair, Naomi & Lynch - 11/2  

That's your lot. Check out the event on the WWE Network from 7ET or 12am BST. 

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WWE SmackDown Live #922 Review (Aired - 18th April 2017)

For the first time in seven years, WWE aired an event for Louisville, Kentucky as the 922nd episode of SmackDown came from the KFC Yum! Center. The main event would see Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Mojo Rawley and Jinder Mahal (supposedly chosen by a random draw of some kind) battle in a Six Pack Challenge for a shot at Randy Orton's WWE Championship at Backlash on 21st May. Elsewhere the show featured AJ Styles, United States Champion Kevin Owens, Charlotte Flair, Baron Corbin and SmackDown Women's Champion Naomi in major slots on the card, but was it any good? Lets take a look. 

- SmackDown kicked off with Charlotte Flair demanding a title shot, because she was "fastly getting furious" with Shane McMahon. After SmackDown Women's Champion Naomi came out and got into a bit of a scrap with Flair, McMahon booked a match for later on where if Flair got the victory she'd earn a title match next week. 

- Backstage, Natalya, Carmella (with James Ellsworth) and Tamina were upset with Shane McMahon for offering Flair an opportunity, when McMahon no sold their displeasure, Natalya said she had a plan. 

Mahal def. Zayn, Ziggler, Harper, Rowan and Rawley in a Six Pack Challenge to become #1 Contender to WWE Championship 

Okay, so Jinder Mahal is Number One contender to the WWE Championship. He pinned Sami Zayn to earn himself his first title match since he challenged Seth Rollins for the NXT Championship in 2012, with a little help from the Bollywood Boyz. Wrestling in 2017 feels like we've shunted onto some weird alternative timeline and there's no way of getting off. Whilst the match appeared to be completely randomly chucked together, with their only being arguments for Rawley or Zayn to be included (at least based of recent results), as a spectacle the match was a damn entertaining affair. There was plenty of big spots that made the most of the bodies in the bout, including multiple suicide dives from Harper, Rowan powerbombing Ziggler to the outside as well as Zayn hitting a tope conhilo on Harper and following up with an Arabian Press to Rowan. In isolation, there wasn't much wrong with this other than awkward slam thing by Rawley, but I can't help but mark it down for having no explanation why any of these lads were given the opportunity to fight for a title shot. It's something different, but could have been propped up with some more logical booking. 

- Following Mahal's big win, he cut a little promo about how he was going to prove himself, before WWE Champion Randy Orton slowly walked to the ring to confront his new challenger. The segment concluded with another Bray Wyatt promo on the screen, going over similar ground as his one on RAW and still not cluing us up to what a House of Horrors match actually is. 

- A short vignette on Shinsuke Nakamura aired, with a couple of former NXT superstars putting him over. 

- Baron Corbin crashed a Renee Young interview with AJ Styles, leading to a match between the two being booked as the main event. 

- It turned out that Natayla's plan was to bump in Charlotte Flair as she walked past her in the hallway, great work Natty. 

Flair def. Naomi 

A feel with a little build, Flair v Naomi could have been electric on a PPV, considering how both have been presented on RAW and SmackDown since the Draft last summer and whilst we still got a pretty good match between the two here, it was a shame to see it thrown out there. With the two having a title match next week, I worry that WWE is already overexposing Flair in a similar way to how she ended up having WAY to many TV matches with Sasha Banks and Bayley on Monday nights. Inside the ring the two mesh together nicely, being able to match each other athletically and both bringing the fight and building the intensity when necessary. The back and forth chop and kick battle was very cool, as was Naomi's fire-up sequence and whilst some of the ideas didn't always come out looking as good as they could have (rana to the outside, Naomi's stunner thing) the two always seemed capable of recovering. The finish with Charlotte blocking the Rear View with a big boot to the back, before hitting Natural Selection, was nicely done, even if it felt a little more like a near fall than the actual ending. Naomi and Charlotte have a lot of potential together and once they're more familiar and cripsen up in the ring I'd expect an outing a few notches above this. Whether we see that next week or not, I'm not sure. 

- More awkwardness between Charlotte Flair and the odd group of rivals, Natalya, Carmella and Tamina. 

- The Colons (formerly known as The Shining Stars) won a quick match over American Alpha with a distraction finish. The bout did more for Epico & Primo than their entire run on RAW, but having them beat Gable & Jordan so quickly was a little disappointing.

- A vignette of Lana dancing around a chair on the entrance ramp aired, she's coming soon.

- The jumpy Dasha Fuentes spoke with Tye Dillinger, who introduce a video package about himself, which was nice of him. 

- Kevin Owens cuts a promo about being the Face of America, ahead of the first Face of America Open Challenge.

- Kevin Owens def. Gary Gandy in thirty seconds, with Gandy almost completely botching a Pop-Up Powerbomb. 

- Kevin Owens cut another promo about being the Face of America and joined the commentary team for the main event. 

Austin Aries welcomed viewers to watch 205 Live after SmackDown on the WWE Network. 

Styles def. Corbin via countout

Completing a trio of top quality TV matches, AJ Styles and Baron Corbin closed the show off with a physical battle, that saw The Lone Wolf more than hold his own alongside the company's 2016 MVP. The two worked a classic power v speed, brawler v wrestler, type contest with Corbin initially being able to keep up with Styles' pace and absolutely dominating the former WWE Champion, dropping Styles on the apron from a Fireman's carry position as well throwing AJ under the bottom rope and into the big thick ringpost. Just as Corbin showed he could match Styles for pace, we later saw that Styles could brawl like Corbin, as The Phenomenal threw a series of big strikes that resulted in a near fall. The presentation of both men as equally proficient at mixing it up in different styles could have really came into it's own later on in a longer match. After Styles found himself back body dropped onto Kevin Owens on commentary, the finish was a signal to just how high WWE are on Baron Corbin right now as Styles won by countout after sending The Lone Wolf over the barricade with a Phenomenal Forearm. Corbin really wouldn't have been hurt by losing to Styles by pinfall, even falling clean to a Styles Clash or Phenomenal Forearm, so the fact that WWE decided to have Corbin lose by countout goes a long way in showing just how big a star they feel big Baron could be. 

Finally...ATPW Scale Rating - 5.09/10

Three good TV matches and Jinder Mahal is #1 Contender to the WWE Championship. Is there much else I need to say here? 

Review - James Marston 

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