Interview // Zack Gibson

On Monday 8th January 2018, Across the Pond Wrestling was invited to a Press Conference to announce some big news about the forthcoming UK tour and weekly live shows being produced by 5 Star Wrestling, in conjunction with the digital TV Channel, Freesports. While at the event, we had an opportunity to speak to a man who if you know the UK scene, needs no introduction, a former ICW Zero G Champion, A former Futureshock Champion and one-half of the current Progress Tag Team Champions: Liverpool's Number One, Zack Gibson.

In the press conference just now and before, you've spoken about the need to bring in Imports to get in the casual audience but also the need to champion British Wrestling first and foremost, do you see that as the biggest aim coming out of 5 Star?

Yeah, pretty much I'm very outspoken about such things and mostly I just say what I think and it's started resonating with fans. I've taken this on as my own, little personal mission to make sure that all the boys are getting together. In the Q & A earlier, someone got cut off in the middle of asking about comraderie amongst the British lads and of course there is, we all wrestle up and down the country and are in the same or similar locker rooms day-in, day-out, throughout the year so of course we have comraderie and especially when it's a tour like this that's ambitious, 30 arenas back-to-back and three hours of live television a week and coming out of nowhere, not just starting with one hour and seeing how that goes we're just going arenas straight away, 3 hours straight away and that's a massive opportunity and we've got to make sure it benefits our lads. We've got something of an unofficial union and we're trying to make sure it's the right guys that get seen and as someone who's become a bit of a voice for the company, not the only voice but one of them, purely because they like the way I talk so I've been used for a bit of the press, with that direct link to the office, I've become a voice for the performers to the office and with Americans on the show, it's one of those things that divides between us, with wages, I'm sure you've heard this one million times before, it's not news, but someone like a Rey Mysterio is going to get paid more to come over, but he's coming to the British scene, that's what's hot at the moment, that's why they're coming here. It is something of a necessary evil. We need those names to connect to the mainstream audience who don't know us and haven't taken a chance, they'll take the chance on Mysterio or Rob Van Dam but when they come in, they'll see the young, hungry British talent that we have to offer and that's what they'll stay for and write about and follow through the shows. We need the big import names right now but a year from now, I hope it's going to be a very different story. Hopefully, 5Star is going to be the company to get us there. It's already changing, I went to New York and Boston with Progress and we were the imports, the stars, the American fans were going past their talent to talk to us so it's happening, it just needs to happen here on a national scale and hopefully this is the company to do it.

Having been part of ITV's World of Sport Special last year and ICW's Fear and Loathing show, you've done arena shows and television shows before, do you think that gives you an edge going into this venture?

Definitely, as far as experience goes for this, we've picked certain teams of lads that have some experience for this. I've already done TV for ITV and NGW but they were all pre-recorded so going live is new for me. I got kicked into a Christmas Tree on Good Morning, Britain but I don't think that counts (laughs). The arenas, I've already wrestled in them, I've already in fact wrestled for 5Star at the Echo Arena but you know, on that kind of larger, grander scale, it's going to take more than just good wrestling and that's where the passion in the British locker rooms is going to come into play, we're all hungry and we want this and people don't just want to see smooth sequences, they want the passion and the emotion, that's what sells at an arena level. Well, we don't know if you'll get that from the superstars but you'll certainly get it from us.

So the Zack Gibson character, Liverpool's Number One, it's not a stretch to call him a villainous character, are you worried that this campaign of championing British wrestling and delivering passionate performances that if confronted with an import talent who's just cashing their cheque, that you could end up accidentally becoming a fan-favourite?

Maybe but I'm very good at what I do (laughs), I'll find a way. No but it's a consideration and modern wrestling is very different and it's constantly changing, if you look at something like Batman, especially the Christian Bale films and Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, he's the one that everyone's talking about, that they're buying the T-Shirt of, that they're dressing up as. The game has changed, it can't just be black and white, you have to expect that there'll be those who do what you want and cheer the faces, boo the heels but then there'll also be those that just cheer on the performers they enjoy and that's just the way things are changing and we've learnt we have to adapt to it.

So we know that not just colleagues but friends of yours like James Drake who's been part of the WWE UK scene and Jack Gallagher who's on 205 Live have either begun to or made the move to WWE. Is making it to the WWE a goal of yours or do you see the UK as beginning to present enough of an alternative to that?

Of course, when I started as a professional wrestler, my goal was the WWE, I think everyone's is and I don't think that will ever go away, I want to wrestle there, it's the best wrestling in the world, of course when I say that, it's because they've collected the best wrestlers (laughs) but I still want to get there, I'm still pushing for that but I haven't got blinkers on, I know it's always a long way off and if other opportunities present themselves, I want to take them and there could well be something to rival it, it could even be this if it takes off the way we want it to, the way we planned it to, you know, fast forward two years, ITV might come knocking again and we might have another new alternative, you just never know, the industry changes so fast but Ive gone on record to say I'd love to wrestle for the WWE, they are still the standard bearer and you see the British influence coming in more and more and I can see my spot there, I can physically see it. There's an outline and I can see how there's a spot I could fill, as you say, some of my friends are already there, I was at Jack's wedding and guys like James Drake, I couldn't be happier to see them succeed and hopefully one day, I'll join them.

You've performed for a good number of different UK companies: We already mentioned ICW & Progress but there's also groups like Rev Pro and Futureshock, a lot of these companies have their individual thing, what do you think makes 5Star unique, what can they offer that's different to an already stacked UK scene?

I think what's different is it is for the mainstream audience, you've got guys like me and Eddie Ryan but then you've also got Rey and Jake (Hager, FKA Jack Swagger), it has that cross-appeal. Other companies, even the bigger ones, have quite a niché appeal but ultimately, 5Star's style has yet to be defined, I can't necessarily answer that question yet. With Progress, they are punk rock pro-wrestling, you rock up to their show and you know what you're going to get and that's why they're so successful because what they put out is so incredible but it's also got this cohesion of style, ICW have their hardcore, almost ECW-throwback style, you know with them what they going to get. With 5Star, you're certainly going to get a big variety to the shows, you'll get high-flying, heavyweights, comedy, you'll get everything but it doesn't have one thing that defines it yet but two-three months down the line, that might be clearer. What will set us apart is that it can appeal to a bigger audience. It can bring a load more eyes on the British scene, people might come to one of our shows having never watched an Indie show before and go away and explore all the great wrestling that's out there and with us at the helm, we're not going to let this opportunity for the British scene pass us by and that can only be a good thing.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #894 - The Dolphumentary + Talking Smack #10 - Dolph Ziggler Interview

As the final episode before the No Mercy supercard on 9th October, the 894th Smackdown Live saw Dolph Ziggler take centre stage as Intercontinental Champion The Miz premiered a new "Dolphumentary" and Ziggler's buddies from the Spirit Squad, Kenny and Mikey returned. With a supercard just days away and the likes of World Champion AJ Styles, Women's Champion Becky Lynch, Dean Ambrose, Alexa Bliss and Jack Swagger all in major spots, this was going to great, right?

The heat on the Intercontinental Championship was turned up a notch as title holder, The Miz, presented a video package on No Mercy opponent Dolph Ziggler, that looked at some of the more infamous moments in The Show Off's career, before Ziggler fought off old pals from The Spirit Squad, Kenny [Dykstra] and Mikey [Mondo] in their WWE returns. I wasn't overly excited about Kenny and Mikey and the segment could have been just as effective without it, but it definitely gave the interaction a nice boost of nostalgia for the heady days of 2006. Whilst most of the coverage of this looked at the return, it was Ziggler and Miz would worked the hardest to keep stirring their feud up. Both worked when on the attack throwing verbal barbs, but it was when reacting to these barbs that the pair created their most effective work. Ziggler's frustration and aggression when Miz told him he'd be doing $5 autograph signings should he lose at No Mercy was the standout moment of an enjoyable scene. 

In a show that was full of talking, World Champion AJ Styles and #1 Contenders John Cena and Dean Ambrose closed the show, in what developed into Styles and Ambrose taking turns to take shots at Cena. There was a surprising amount of variety here as The Phenomenal One stuck to Cena's attempts at equaling Ric Flair's "World Championship record", whilst Ambrose went about questioning Cena's personality traits and his Hustle Loyalty Respect mantra. Both Styles and Ambrose brought strong performances to match the strong content, with the segment building nicely to Cena beginning the scrap without having to really say a word. The close of the show was a little paint by numbers, as all three men got a chance to hold the belt up, with Ambrose ending the show in control. There were ways of getting the supposed chaos of a triple threat match over without having to fall into the predictable and formulaic.

The adjoining episode of Talking Smack was headlined by an appearance from Dolph Ziggler, as he discussed his match with The Miz at No Mercy and added some depth to the tie. With Ziggler's career on the line on 9th October, this was another fact and fiction mixing effort from The Show Off, which long-time fans may have become a little numb towards over recent years. Ziggler definitely has knack at getting his pacing and passion just right, this was only interrupted by Renee Young appearing to want to steer Ziggler in a certain direction. The style worked for the audience that would be watching Talking Smack, as you'd expect these to more interested in insider terms and therefore I think that the upcoming bout has been given an extra layer of interest, as this was more a look at how Nicholas Nemeth feels about his current situation in the company, than it was a look at his issues with Miz. 

After Alexa Bliss and Nikki Bella's singles match had ended in a no contest, thanks to Carmella interference, Daniel Bryan pulled a Teddy Long and booked a tag match with Bella being joined by Women's Champion Becky Lynch. The tag bout, managed to carry two storylines well, but couldn't have been called anything more than basic. Taking up just over 4 minutes, Bella worked in the face in peril, which mainly involved rest holds from Carmella & Bliss. There wasn't a lot to get excited about, but the San Diego crowd seemed largely into it, which at least gave a bit of drive when watching at home. Lynch's hot tag was probably the best part, featuring crisp exploder suplexes in quick succession and the finish gave fuel for the two upcoming supercard bouts as Carmella and Bella brawled to the back, whilst Bliss pinning Lynch gives her even more momentum heading into her title challenge.

Round off the top part of the card, Baron Corbin suffered defeat to Jack Swagger in controversial fashion, as the referee called for the bell despite Corbin not appearing to tap whilst in the Patriot Lock. Despite the dodgy finish, I was surprised by the strength of this contest, as Corbin and Swagger put together some quality action. The story appeared to paint Swagger as the more powerful of the pair, getting the better of Corbin in the early stages, leading to Corbin having to resort to taking advantage of a rope break and then shoving Swagger into the barricade. This was well put across by the performers and managed to get Corbin a decent amount of heat, which was only added up when The Lone Wolf took his time during his beat down. The transition into the Patriot Lock, showed that perhaps with an extra five minutes and a real finish that Corbin and Swagger could do something good together. 

Best of the Rest 

• On Talking Smack, AJ Styles' interview with Renee Young and Daniel Bryan covered a variety of topics, with Styles handling the occasions well, adding to what he'd said at the close of Smackdown Live and ending with a passionate promo about defeating anyone Bryan or Shane McMahon put in front of him, because he's a winner.

• Bray Wyatt and Kane went through the motions, until Randy Orton appeared on the big screen upside down and Wyatt left to find out where he was, leading to multiple pre-taped backstage skits. 

• The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder) went over The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) in an awkward and cringey tag encounter, that also involved The Ascension standing about on the ramp and pointing a bit.

• Daniel Bryan introduced five female fund-raisers for Susan G. Kommen and presented them all with Women's Championship belts, in an emotionally charged in-ring event.

Finally....

ATPW Scale Rating - 

4.45/10 [Smackdown Live Only]

4.67/10 [+ Talking Smack]

The main storylines this week were well served as World and IC title stories carried the show, with two good segments. It was a shame that there was a distinct lack of wrestling as only Corbin v Swagger went longer than five minutes, which, of course, reflects on the rating. With this being the last chance to get people interested in the No Mercy supercard, I can understand wanting to hammer the main stories and make sure that each narrative is hammered home. Despite, a lack lustre showing for this episode, there was a lot of good groundwork laid for No Mercy to build upon.

Words - James Marston

Banner - Kai Stellar

Match of the Night - Jack Swagger v Baron Corbin

Non-Wrestling Segment of the Night - The Dolphumentary

June 2014 Match of the Month

Following our most succesful Match of the Month poll to date, with three times the amount of votes as any other poll we have done, I thought it was time to turn these votes into a articles. This means they can be found at any time, with a little more background than our Match of the Month page delivers. 

This month we have a total of 28 different matches to choose from, with New Japan, WWE, Ring of Honor and TNA all being represented. It was an extremely competitive month, producing the closest top two we have ever seen, no doubt due to WWE producing two PPV's (Payback and Money in the Bank) in June. 

I'm going to be looking at the Top Five in reverse order, but first let's check out those matches that didn't quite make it that far.

Others Gaining Votes

From New Japan - 

 

KUSHIDA vs Ricochet (NJPW Best of the Super Junior XXI - Night 8) (4%)

Kota Ibushi vs Ricochet (NJPW Dominion 6.21) (3%)

The Young Bucks vs Time Splitters (NJPW Dominion 6.21)  (2%)

BULLET CLUB (AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi) vs CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) (NJPW Dominion 6.21) (1%)

From WWE -

 

 Bray Wyatt vs John Cena, Last Man Standing (WWE Payback) (4%)

Cesaro vs Sheamus (WWE Payback) (2%)

 Alberto Del Rio vs Bray Wyatt vs Cesaro vs John Cena vs Kane vs Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns vs Sheamus, Ladder Match (WWE Money in the Bank) (1%)

Money in the Bank wins Event of the Month with 26%, Raw 1100 finishes 3rd with17% and Payback finishes 4th with 12%

From Ring of Honor 

 

Matt Hardy & Mike Bennett vs The Briscoes, No Disqualification Match (ROH Best in the World) (4%)

reDRagon vs Bad Influence (ROH Best in the World) (4%)

 ACH vs BJ Whitmer vs Caprice Coleman vs Tadarius Thomas vs Takaaki Watanabe vs Tommaso Ciampa (ROH Best in the World) (3%)

Cedric Alexander vs Roderick Strong, Submission Match (ROH Best in the World) (2%)

 Adam Cole vs Michael Elgin (ROH Best in the World) (2%)

Best in the World finishes 2nd for Event of the Month (24%)

 From TNA - 

 

Bully Ray vs Ethan Carter III, Texas Death Match(TNA Slammiversary) (3%)

Austin Aries vs Kenny King (TNA Slammiversary) (1%)

 Austin Aries vs Bobby Lashley vs Eric Young, Steel Cage Match (TNA Slammiversary) (1%)

Slammiversary finishes 5th for Event of the Month with 10%


So those were the matches that didn't quite make it into the Top 5, so let's look at the ones that did!

5th Place -

Crazzy Steve vs Davey Richards vs Eddie Edwards vs Manik vs Sanada vs Tigre Uno, Ladder Match 

TNA Slammiversary (5%)

 It was a brave decision by TNA to hold a multi-man Ladder match in the same month as WWE's Money in the Bank PPV, but it payed it off with all five out of the six men making their first appearance in the Top 5, as well as only TNA's third this year (Following Gunner and James Storm's No DQ, No Countout bout from Impact Wrestling and the interpromotional Cage match with Wrestle-1's Great Muta, Sanada & YASU taking on Bad Influence and Chris Sabin at Lockdown, both in March) 

The Slammiversary opener was an exciting near 10 minutes of action, with plenty of thrills and spills to get the crowd warmed up for a solid Slammiversary PPV. Some of the highlights included a lovely Superkick/Release German Suplex combo from The Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) onto X Division Champion Sanada, a nice recovery from Manik as he turned being pushed off the Ladder into a plancha, a Moonsault from Sanada onto Crazzy Steve who had been a placed onto a Ladder, Powerbomb/Backstabber combo from the Wolves and my favourite spot of the match, Manik sunset bomb on Richards off the Ladder onto another freaking Ladder!

Whilst this was mainly a spot-based affair there were some nice storyline elements, with The Wolves coming off a the main stars of the bout as they battle a top the Ladder making the X Division title look more desirable straight away, whilst their continued team work throughout the match made them look like a terrific tag team at the same time. Crazzy Steve was also fairly over with the Texas crowd, as his character continues to be one of the most interesting on TNA television. 

I think what stopped this bout from ending up higher up the rankings this month, were the few timing errors from Sanada, like leaving Crazzy Steve looking like an idiot while he waiting for Sanada to push over the Ladder, and the anti-climatic ending as Sanada simply pulled the belt down with no real build. I think if this match had gone another five or ten minutes we could have seen it featuring in, at least, the top three of the Month. 

4th Place -  

The Usos vs The Wyatt Family (Erick Rowan & Luke Harper) 

WWE Money in the Bank (9%) 

 Taking 4th place, it's a first Top Five appearance for The Usos, whilst Luke Harper and Erick Rowan make it four times within the Top Five (following on from teaming with Bray Wyatt against The Shield in February, March and April) 


The Money in the Bank PPV opener was a great way to kick off what was voted Event of the Month (26%). The bout was the classic wrestling condumrum; Power or Speed? With Harper and Rowan dominating most of the match, working both Usos with a combination of power moves and underhanded tactics. The Usos have perhaps been the most improved wrestlers this year, especially in terms of star power, and the vocal crowd was split almost down the middle for the two teams, as The Usos launched into a terrific comeback sequence, highlighted by a Corkscrew Dive from Jimmy and lovely double Superkick spot.

The final four or five minutes were especially strong and had the live crowd on the edge of their seats as the four men launched into a series of near falls and false finishes with both teaming looking like they could have the win at any time. A personal highlight was a well excuted powerbomb from Luke Harper. JBL said on commentary "Talk about big fight feel", and he was completely right (for a change), this did feel like a big time fight, which is representative of just how far the WWE tag team division has come of the last year or so. 

Perhaps the only thing stopping this bout from reaching higher in this months ranking was a few slip ups from The Usos as they approached big moves. First, a slip on the barricade when attempting to perform a diving forearm to Harper, then a slip on the ropes when hitting a corkscrew and finally another slip as the match approached it's finish whilst attempting a Double Super-plex on Rowan. Whilst the slips were hardly The Usos fault, it did at those times slow the pace of the bout down and took away ever so slightly from those big moves. 

3rd Place

Bad News Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler

WWE Raw 1100 (10%) 

The only match TV match from June to make the ranking is this quality Intercontinental Championship bout from Raw. Bad News Barrett makes his first appearance in the Top 5, whilst this is Ziggler's second time, having finished joint fifth in Marchwith a Triple Threat also involving Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus from WWE's Main Event.

In terms of getting the crowd on their side, Ziggler and Barrett did a fantastic job in this one. The crowd started off luke warm at best, with a weak chant for Barrett all they had to offer. But as the bout headed towards a climax. Ziggler proved that he can be a very versatile blue-eye, with this lengthier match allowing him to show a fuller range of his selling ability than we have been able to see for a while. Barrett's offence was crisp and felt fresh, with some nice transition sequence like having to switch a Powerbomb in a Wasteland for a near fall. 

I think what worked so well in this match was that both men have a number of recognisable signature moves (Winds of Change and Wasteland for Barrett, Zig Zag, Fameasser and Super X-Factor for Ziggler) which allowed the match to build steadily with the crowd getting more and more into the match with each near fall. By the end of the match, the crowd were oohing and ahhing, with the finish getting a tremendous pop out of them. The fact that each men had gone at the other hammer and tongs made the Intercontinental Championship feel like something worth winning, which is, of course, exactly what the belt needs to feel like.

It is such a shame that Barrett suffered an injury shortly after this match, as the work he had been doing lately had been the strongest of his career, not only in the ring but on the microphone as well. He genuinely felt like he had momentum going forward following this match, and was beginning to build the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship in the process. Will be Barrett be able to get back to same position once he comes recovers? I sure hope so.

2nd Place 

 
Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston vs Rob Van Dam vs Seth Rollins, Ladder Match

WWE Money in the Bank (17%)

The most popular match from the most popular show of the month, seeing Kofi Kingston and Rob Van Dam make their debut in the Top Five. Meanwhile Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose make it in for the fourth time and Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger (following joint 5th place in March for his bout against Cody Rhodes and Goldust alongside Cesaro) appear for the second time each.

Everything we've come to expect from a Money in the Bank Ladder match with a few added extras. Spot after spot after spot, this match delivered in spades. Whether it was Ambrose's Butterfly Suplex to Rollins onto a propped up Ladder, a huge powerbomb from Swagger to Van Dam off the top of a Ladder, Ambroses ladder Superplex to Rollins or Kingston's back drop to Rollins off the Ladder onto a ladder bridged between the ring ropes and the ladder, this one had enough to keep the attention of the crowd and get them to pop at any time. 

What gave this match an edge for me was the solid storytelling and progression of the Ambrose and Rollins feud that was threaded throughout the match, with the aforementioned spots and numerous fantastic brawling sequences, the hatred between the two men emanated through the television screen. Also thrown into the mix was some magnificent selling by Ambrose and Ziggler, who both climbed the ladder with an injured limb and made those moments when they couldn't quite reach the briefcase very believable. The pop for Ambrose's return at the end of the match was also very nice indeed. 

What held this bout back from taking the Number 1 spot in my opinion was the weak finish. Even Jerry Lawler mentioned on commentary "This was a great match until Kane turned up" and he was completely right. There really wasn't much need for Kane to turn up here and I would have much rather seen Rollins use some other underhanded tactics to take Ambrose out of the match.

1st Place

Evolution vs. The Shield

WWE Payback (20%)

For the second month in a row The Shield vs Evolution takes the Match of the Month award! In fact it's Triple H's third Match of the Month award in a row, not bad for burying old timer (he hasn't won any of those matches). Randy Orton now has four Top Five appearances to his name, whilst Batista has three. The Shield make it four victories, with Ambrose and Rollins lifting their Top Five appearances to five and Reigns taking his total to four. 

Brawling, brawling and a bit more brawling, that's what this match was. And I for one loved ever second of it, as did our voters. The bout was put together fantastically, with the pace and flow fluctuating throughout the bout, peaking and troughing at the correct points to keep the crowd engaged in the action. After a wild open section, the bout seemed to have settled down early on, with Evolution using the dirty tactics to keep control of the action and build towards a hot tag for The Shield. Following that was when the six men took it into the next gear, heading back out into the arena and onto the ramp and incorporating a number of of weapons including the steel steps, steel chairs, singapore canes, a laptop and the Spanish announce table. 

Not only were there a number of exciting spots like Rollins jumping off the top of the set onto all three members of Evolution, the bout was clearly structured to allow The Shield to come off as a big time stars and that they did. All three took a hell of a beating, but kept fighting back against the odds. The eliminations were done very nicely, with The Shield picking up a clean sweep, with each Shield member picking up a pinfall. I thought the finishes use of some fantastic symbolism as Triple H clung to his Sledgehammer before taking a Curb Stomp from Rollins and a Spear from Reigns allowing The Shield to secure the victory. 

Of course, The Shield exploded the next night on Raw, so as a last hurrah for the group this match worked very. Was it as good as the previous months bout? Was it as good as The Shield's clashes with The Wyatt Family? That remains to be seen. I guess we'll find out next week when we hold our Match of January-June 2014 vote. 

In the meantime don't forget to like us on www.facebook.com/acrossthepondwrestling and follow us on Twitter @ATPWrestling for all the best wrestling coverage from around the world.

Why I didn't write a Survivor Series 2013 Review!

Okay, I've been thinking about this one for a few days, and I even started to write up a review of this year's WWE Survivor Series, but then I thought against it. This article will hopefully got some way to explaining why this is the first PPV I haven't reviewed since this year's Wrestlemania.

Firstly, I'd like to say that I don't think this PPV was as bad as many people have been saying, with the highlight being the opening bout pitting Goldust, Cody Rhodes, The Usos & Rey Mysterio against The Shield and The Real Americans in a Traditional Survivor Series match, and neither did I think the main event was the worst thing I've seen this year, it told a story and did the best it could do with what is was given. My problem with this PPV was the distinct lack of effort that was put in across the board, from WWE Creative and some members of the roster, in both the build up and execution of the PPV and if there's no effort being put into the product, why should I put the effort into writing a 4000 word review? I'm happy to review a terrible PPV, if there's at least some effort going into it, but not this.

At no point during the build up was I made to believe that Alberto Del Rio could defeat John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship, with the same being able to be said about Big Show going after Randy Orton's WWE Championship, these were stop gap matches until something else came along, and whilst from time to time that may happen within the WWE, it should never feel that way when watching the programming. It's the job of the booking staff or “writers”, alongside the on screen talent, to make me believe that either man could head out of the PPV with holding the championship belt. However, after Cena defeated Del Rio on the previous PPV with an injured arm, how was I meant to buy into the possibility that Del Rio could defeat a Cena with a slightly less injured arm? Meanwhile, the focus on television had clearly shifted off Big Show and on to Randy Orton's relationship with The Authority, which is weird considering the focus had been on Big Show for months without Show featuring on a PPV!

The whole PPV seemed to focus and build towards the final moments, where John Cena came out to stare down Randy Orton with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon looking on. It was a big moment and the crowd certainly reacted to it, (although I think they were expected a match between the two straight away) but there was one problem...it wasn't advertised! It did nothing to help towards PPV buys, and whilst it could have contributed to a rise in the ratings for Raw this week, the PPV buyers should always come first, in my opinion, especially seeing as it's a much more direct form of revenue for the company.

The rest of the PPV was a mainly bland affair, with CM Punk & Daniel Bryan's bout with The Wyatt Family's Erick Rowan and Luke Harper being the only stand out in the middle of the pack, a dull Intercontentinal Championship match between Big E Langston and Curtis Axel that was only ever going to go one way and Mark Henry answering Ryback's open challenge both failing to produce anything of warrant, beyond the ill fate of both former Paul Heyman guys. The Diva's Tag Match wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be, and there were some nice moments in the match, but it was clear that most of the women weren't ready for a match like this one.

Okay, in explaining why I haven't written a review for this PPV, I kind of ended up writing a review of this PPV, although that was inevitable, I guess. I'm hoping that WWE begins to pick up it's game again soon and returns to the excitement of it's run of PPV early in the Summer (Payback/Money in the Bank/SummerSlam), especially as we get closer to WrestleMania. The Authority angle is quickly dying a death, as WWE botches another major angle, it can still be rescued, just about, and I'll be talking about that in this week's Across The Pond Wrestling LIVE

WWE NXT 4th September 2013 Review

WWE NXT continues to be in the shadows of Antonio Cesaro and Sami Zayn's epic Two out of Three Falls contest, and it's a bit like the week after Christmas Day when everything is getting back to normal. Luckily, Sami Zayn was back in action this week against Jack Swagger, so things were not all lost. 

Sami Zayn 

vs. 

Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter

This match stemmed from a Jack Swagger attack on Sami Zayn last week, after Zeb Colter had caused the distraction. Essentially this story was in place to allow Zayn's NXT Championship match with Bo Dallas to build up a bit longer, but it was still a nice jaunt non-the-less. It's been a while since Swagger has looked like a genuine threat to any on WWE, after falling out of favour due to his extra curricular activities earlier in the year. Personally, I think it was a real shame, obviously it was all Swagger's fault, but it did feel like at that time he had something to offer WWE and I actually did enjoy Swagger's run opposite Alberto Del Rio, with Colter working as a great mouthpiece during the feud. 

The match was a very enjoyable bout, with both men looking very good throughout. Something that we haven't really seen WWE play up very often with Swagger is his size and power. So it was good to see the come into play here, with Swagger who is close to 290 lbs, really looking dominate against Zayn with some good looking power moves and some well executed submission moves. The story that would run throughout the match was Zayn attempting to get going against the bigger Swagger, Zayn did a great job of this role and it's certainly a role that he seems to relish in the ring, with some believable selling of Swagger's offence.  Zayn would get in some offence, in fits and bursts, including a beautiful dive over the top rope to the outside, but Swagger would quickly gain control.

The finish saw Zayn beginning to get a role together, with a Yakuza Kick followed up with by a number of blows to keep Swagger down and it was clear that the Full Sail Arena absolutely adores Zayn, as he got a huge pop from just pointing to the top rope! With Zayn getting a near fall off of a Sunset Flip Powerbomb out of the corner, NXT Champion Bo Dallas headed down to ring side and caused enough of a distraction to allow Swagger to lock in the Patriot Lock for the second time in the match and pick up the submission victory. The interference only added to the match for me, as the short Swagger and Zayn story, simply flowed into a continuation of the feud between Zayn and Dallas. It's certainly built my anticipation for seeing Zayn finally get his opportunity with Dallas, eve more and a competitive loss to another main roster wrestler will do no harm for Zayn.

So, how long can WWE go before having Zayn get his shot at Dallas? They can only realistically keep it going for a few more weeks, as it has been boiling underneath the Zayn and Cesaro rivalry for a good few months. Zayn is also red hot after coming off the series with Cesaro, so it would be wise for the show to capitalise on his popularity by putting the strap on him pretty soon. At the same time, whilst Dallas has improved a lot over the last few months as champion, especially since switching over to a heel, but he certainly has never really felt strong enough to carry the belt around, after strong reigns from Seth Rollins and Big E Langston, and would still seem to have some time in the developmental territory before he's ready to make the step. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on NXT, NXT Tag Team Champion Corey Graves was in action against The Ascension's Rick Victor, with both beign accompanied by Adrian Neville and Conor O'Brian respectively. The story behind this match was that Graves had suffered injured ribs after an attack from The Ascension last week. In the early part of the match, the rib injury was not played up as much of it should have been and it took a fair while for the match to really get going. They had a perfect moment to bring to the ribs into the match, with Graves going to lock in Lucky Thirteen, but instead of using the ribs to get out of the hold quickly, Victor just punched him in the face instead. Luckily, in the later stages of the match, they did begin to work the ribs and actually did a great job of it, with Graves putting in a solid performance selling the ribs and his difficulty breathing, this really brought the match to life for me.

The finish of the bout saw O'Brian looking to get involved to aid his partner, with Neville making the save, entering the ring and hitting a springboard crossbody to the outside, taking out O'Brian. With Graves momentarily distracted Victor attempted to go for a Gutbuster, only for Graves to reverse into a Small Package and pick up the pinfall victory. I liked the finish to this one, it worked well on the idea of Graves battling throughout the match and finally being able to pull out the victory, as well as including their partner's building towards a future title match for The Ascension. Whilst Neville and Graves both have singles victories over member of The Ascension, it would seem likely that The Ascension would be next in line for a title shot, mainly down to the fact they're the only other tag team on NXT! 

WWE also continued to build towards a match on next week's show, between NXT Women's Champion Paige and Sascha Banks. Firstly, with Summer Rae once again talking to Banks about showing a nasty side, with Banks looking reluctant. Rae looked really awkward throughout the entire segment, and her performance put me in mind of a GCSE drama performance. Paige later showed her how it was done, with a solid promo during an interview with Renee Young, where Paige put over Banks well, before reminding the audience of the meaning of Anti-Diva. It was a good performance from Paige on the microphone, it's an area she definitely needs to have more time working on to help build her character on television to match what we see in the ring, but she at least has a sound foundation to build upon. 

There was also an intriguing segment which saw Leo Kruger standing over Xavier Woods in the parking lot, laughing in his signature maniacal fashion. With no follow up on the show, and such as a short segment, I was left wanting to know more about what happened and see more of Kruger. I thought it was really effective way of building Kruger's character back up after his recent NXT Championship loss to Bo Dallas. I wouldn't mind seeing them build to a Woods vs. Kruger feud, with the feud allowing us to see a more serious side of Woods, as well as the potential for some interesting match ups between the two. Either way, as long as Woods isn't about to disappear from television like Kassius Ohno, I'll be happy with this.

Alexander Rusev was back in action this week against Mason Ryan. I had expected them to take a little long to build for this match, with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassasdy being involved, therefore this felt a little bit rushed. I've been quite open about not being a fan of Mason Ryan, and this match didn't change my mind, whilst he looks good when in control, the guy can't sell the save his life, so the decision to have him work as a face just befuddles me. The finish saw interference from both Scott Dawson and Sylvester LeFort, before Rusev hit Ryan with a charging attack in the corner, before locking in the Camel Clutch to pick up the submission victory. What I've seen of Rusev, I like, he's looked impressive in his match with Dolph Ziggler and came across fairly well here, as well, but I have no clue why they've given him a Camel Clutch as finisher. Does anyone from Eatern Europe or Asia automatically have to have that move as a finisher? Is written into the rule book? It would seem so.

The opening contest saw woman's tag team action with Bayley & Charlotte teaming up to take on Alicia Fox and Aksana. By far the best section of the match came between Alicia Fox and Bayley who put on some decent wrestler, with Alica Fox's Northern Lights Suplex into a bridge being the highlight for me. Charlotte didn't spend much time in the ring and the less said about Aksana the better. The finish was poorly worked, with Bayley supposedly meant to move out of the way of a boot in the corner from Fox, so that Fox hit Aksana. But Bayley didn't really move, Aksana still bumped and Bayley rolled up Fox for the pinfall victory. Some positives here, but not many. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's WWE NXT.

1. Sami Zayn is the hottest property on NXT at moment.

2. NXT still needs more tag teams!

3. Paige needs more time on the mic to developed, but she's still better than most women in WWE. 

WWE NXT 28th August 2013 Review

This week's NXT was always going to struggle to live up to last week's episode, after Sami Zayn and Antonio Cesaro put together a classic two out of three falls match, and it was no surprise when it didn't. By no means was this bad show, with a lot to like, including the newly heel NXT Champion Bo Dallas and a decent enough main event between Conor O'Brian and Adrian Neville, but it's going to be a while before a match on NXT even comes close to Zayn vs. Cesaro.

NXT Tag Team Champion

 Adrian Neville 

vs. 

Conor O'Brian

with Rick Victor

The main event of the show pitted NXT Tag Team Champion Adrian Neville against The Ascension's Conor O'Brian. The match was put together following the pre-titles sequence of the show that featured Neville's partner and fellow NXT Tag Team Champion Corey Graves speaking to Renee Young only to be interupted by The Ascension's Rick Victor. Victor cut an average and cliched promo about how the time of The Ascension was now, I guess he means in terms of the NXT Tag Team Championship but that was specifically stated. With Graves' showing his trademark attitude he was ambushed by O'Brian with a punch to the back of the head. O'Brian then proceded to hit Graves in the chest with a metal girder that was part of the NXT interview room set. This didn't really work for me, as whilst the attack looked brutal and the girder looked genuinely painful, it didn't really fit with the Ascension's dark gimmick, with O'Brian spurting the words “Stay down, Graves” in a ridiculously over the top voice removing any ounces of darkness from The Ascension in this opening segment.

The bout took on a simple dynamic, with Neville using his speed early on to take control of the match, but once Victor had caused the distraction, O'Brian dominated from that point. O'Brian looks very good when in control, he has a great look and works the gimmick well when in the ring. He feels like a bit of a diamond in the rough for me, I think if WWE protect the character and allow him to develop and improve as a wrestler, which he will if he continues to go up against the likes of Adrian Neville, then he could work very well for the company, however if they follow the trend of how they've been using most bigger built wrestler over the last few years, he'll be a comedy face dancing around the ring in lingerie before you can say Giant Bernard.

The bout was pretty short only about five minutes of the television time, which isn't really enough for a main event match on television, but they did manage to fit in a nice faux comeback for Neville and a near fall for each man before they went to the finish. After Neville had moved out of the way of a charging O'Brian sending the bigger man into the turnbuckle, Neville hit a back suplex for a two count, with the footage looking badly cut together for some reason. Neville then went to the top rope and hit Red Arrow for the pinfall victory. It was a very strange ending and felt very sudden, I'm really not quite sure what happened, but obviously there was a botch somewhere down the line that caused them to cut the match, but at the same time Neville still went straight from a near fall to his finisher which isn't something you see a lot of in WWE. Personally, I would have like to see this bout go another five minutes or so, which I think both men are capable off, and certainly needed a more satisfying finish.

After the bout, Victor came back in the ring and The Ascension began to double team Neville. Graves tried to make the save, now complete with bandaged ribs, before The Ascension destroyed him too, finishing him off with their Spinning Elbow/Sweep Kick combination finisher. With The Ascension finishing the show standing tall in the ring, it looks like they have to be next in line for an NXT Tag Team Championship match, which can surely be only a few weeks away. NXT is pretty low on tag teams at the moment, since The Wyatt Family were moved to the main roster and they split Scott Dawson & Garrett Dylan up, they could really do with creating a couple of new pairing to make the division look competitive. It can also only be a matter of time before they split Neville and Graves up and have them feud, seeing as their team was born more out of neccesity than anything else and they seem to protect each other out of obligation rather than an actual like for each other.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on NXT, Renee Young conducted an in ring interview with Sami Zayn. After last week's epic Two out of Three Falls encounter with Antonio Cesaro I was interested to see what Zayn had to say and where WWE would be moving with him from here. Zayn did a good job with his promo, getting himself over as a humble and extremely likeable guy, I think it is literally impossible not too like Sami Zayn, his character at times feels like it has been plucked straight from a Rom-Com, with his interaction with Young typifying that feel. Zayn mentioned the possibility of receiving a NXT Championship shot, something which I've talked about a few times in my NXT reviews with Zayn seeming like the logical option for the next NXT Champion after his impressive run of matches with Cesaro, as well as bringing a lot of attention to the show with the feud.

Of course, current NXT Champion Bo Dallas had something to say about this and headed on down to the ring himself. I know it's fashionable amongst wrestling fans to be negative about Bo Dallas for a number of reasons, but his heel promos actually quite good. Yes, he probably get's under a lot of peoples skins, but he is supposed to, he is a heel. When he's coming out saying people don't care about Zayn because he lost and they want to watch a winner like him, you can just feel the internet getting ready to reach for it's collective pen of rage and that's great. WWE is really learning how to play the internet correctly, which is something they've struggled to do for years with Daniel Bryan's feud with The McMahon Family on Raw being the most obvious example of that. With Dallas stealing from The Simpsons (Are you saying Boo, or Boo-urns?), the pair were interrupted by Zeb Colter. After some nice back and forth between Colter and Zayn, Colter's Real American stablemate Jack Swagger attack Zayn from behind, before hitting a Gutwrench Powerbomb. I'd expect a short feud between Swagger and Zayn, just to allow a little extra time for the Dallas and Zayn feud to truly build to a satisfying conclusion.

After Emma had given a decent interview to Renee Young, she went on to face rival Summer Rae. After both women had had great matches with Paige on NXT in the past, I expected at least a decent match here. Unfortunately, that wasn't what we got and the match felt like your average women's match you might see on Raw or Smackdown. Whilst both played their roles well, the bout was pretty sloppy, with a number of notable botches, including a strange moment with Rae trying to set Emma up in the ropes, only for Emma to fall off them. Emma went on to pick up the victory via submission with the Emma-Lock. It wasn't a terrible finish, but it would have been better to see the submission brought into the match earlier on to really build to that finish. After the match, Rae attacked Emma once again from behind, before throwing “bubble solution” in her eyes, signalling that this feud might not be over yet. However, backstage in a conversation with Sascha Banks, Rae signalled that she was done with NXT, whilst also sowing the seeds for a Sascha Banks heel turn in a nice little scene.

After a backstage disagreement, a match was made between Sylvester LeFort's protege Scott Dawson and the charismatic Enzo Amore, who would now appear to be working as a face. Both LeFort and Amore, who was accompanied by Colin Cassady, both cut good promos building up the match nicely. Whilst the match didn't exactly set the world alight, it was a nice foundation, especially considering Amore's limited wrestling experience, with Dawson working him over nicely for most of the match playing a good heel role, until Amore made a comeback with an impressive head scissors takedown. It was here that Alexander Rusev, who we saw last week against Dolph Ziggler, attack Cassady, causing the distraction for Amore, and allowing Dawson to hit what looked like a version of the Angle Slam to pick up the pinfall victory. It would seem that Rusev will be joining LeFort's faction, and I think he will be a nice addition to the group that was screaming out for more members. I can only speculate that they will begin a build toward a feud between Rusev and Mason Ryan.

CJ Parker and Tyler Breeze finally locked it up in the ring, in what was a disapointing contest. Parker's character is in desperate need of some more mic time to help bring some flesh to the characters bones, and Breeze isn't in a much better situation. There's potential in both characters but without the extra dimension it's hard to get behind or against either character. The match was focused almost entirely on Breeze's phone, with the phone playing a big part in the finish. Breeze used the positioning of the referee to hit Parker with the phone and pick up the pinfall victory. The ending took too long to set up, with the referee taking sometime to get into position. I guess we'll be getting more from this feud in the future, but unless we start seeing some dimension in the characters and more wrestling it's going to be difficult to start feeling engaged by either Breeze or Parker.  

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's NXT.

1. NXT still needs more tag teams.

2. Sami Zayn vs. Bo Dallas should be a red hot feud for NXT.

3. The only thing that would have made Zayn vs. Cesaro better last week? William Regal on commentary.