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 

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

WWE NXT #244 Review (Aired - 19th April 2017)

On the 19th of April, WWE aired the 244th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 5th April. After last week's big farewell to Shinsuke Nakamura, this week we would have the last NXT match of Tye Dillinger as he'd attempt to settle the score with Eric Young (if Tye wins, that would put him at 1 win to Young's 5. Settled.) in a Steel Cage match. The Steel Cage match is of course a staple of faces trying to avoid outside interference because it always works! The show also featured NXT Champion Bobby Roode, Andrade 'Cien' Almas, The Iconic Duo of Peyton Royce & Billie Kay and a big return, could it continue with last week's solid effort and produce another fun show? Let's find out...

Itami knocked Roode out cold with the GTS

You may have noted my 'hmmm' about the placement of Hideo Itami last week at the goodbye ceremony for Nakamura, turns out 'hmmm' was correct. Roode would come out, suited and indeed booted to start the show by telling everyone how glorious he was, how he's improving NXT, how he didn't come out to say farewell to Nakamura because he beat him, twice, all lot's of decent 'heat', he even gets some boos from the normally Roode-loving Full Sail crowds. Of course while he was running his mouth, out would come everyone's favourite delayed push due to injury, Hideo Itami, managing to outsuit Bobby Roode but was wearing Plimsolls so Roode maybe still has him there. He would deliver a crisp slap, worthy of a dueling challenge to the face of the NXT champ and then a GTS much to the constant delight of the crowd before looking at the title and walking away. All good things here and putting Itami back in the ring with someone like Roode is a good plan as most of his injuries seem to have been sustained via rookie mistakes so a more seasoned performer like Roode should be able to work around such things.

• Next week we're getting Tyler Bate defending his UK title against the 'Gentleman' Jack Gallagher. That's going to be a lot of fun with a lot of well groomed facial hair.

• After the break, Roode was still in the ring, having only just woken up from that Go To Sleep

• Heavy Machinery lift weights. Almas has stolen the Del Rio 'everyone's a Perro' gimmick and is directing it at Drew McIntyre.

Almas def. Burch

Almas, his entrance and his fucking hat make so much more sense as he's fully embracing his heel role, Danny Burch entered to something approaching a pop. They worked a short, but quite painful looking match with lots of strikes, reversals and quite a lot of attention paid to the arm early on that did not pay off. Burch would quickly fall to a Big Boot into the corner crotch wipe, I mean Double Knees into the Hammerlock DDT. Another week, another match that is the defintion of Squash match but in that the 'official' term for Burch right now is 'Enhancement Talent', he certainly did make Almas good.

• We get a series of talking heads from the NXT Womens Roster talking about how unbeatable Asuka is or at least, how seemingly unbeatable is while also setting her up for her nigh-on inveitable fall by planting the seeds of arrogance being her hamartia.

• We also get a video package hyping up tonight's main event which I can't highlight enough is a Steel Cage match so that will prevent any run-ins.

Morgan & Aaliyah def. Royce & Kay

Morgan and Kay started proceedings, working a slow, feeling-out process. IN fact, most of the match could be described as slow as nothing really happened and none of it was done very quickly beyond Morgan using her legs to roll Kay around the mat. Aliyah worked the 'Canadian who likes cats but isn't Natalya' in-peril role well till Morgan would come in hit a dropkick on Kay who was doing stuff and Aliyah would small package Royce for the pin. An oddly brief match, it seemed planned but at the same time, it seemed like the match was only getting started then it was over. It wasn't the worst.

• Next week: Aleister Black kicks someone's head and Drew McIntyre tries to kick a specific head in the form of Andrade 'Cien' Almas.

Dillinger def. Young in a Steel Cage Match

Turns out, this match had a shit-ton of run-ins. Young did the 'I'm not getting in just yet' bit until Tye attacks and pulls him inside the structure so the match can properly begin. Once the match started, it was, like a lot of WWE Cage matches, not a technical masterpiece but it was a nice, intense brawl with a lot of there signature offense being adapted to suit the environment with one particularly crisp looking Superkick from Tye driving Young's head right into the wall, cutting open his forehead and a 'holy shit'-worthy Elbow Drop off the cage onto The Perfect Ten. The first two thirds of the match had some fine psychology with Tye playing the never-say-die babyface looking to show he can win via pinfall which was sadly hurt by his attempts to escape instead and Young, while the Elbow Drop was spectacular, it did make him seem more heroic briefly but Young, fr the most part wasn't even trying to win the match, just trying to hurt Dillinger. Of course just as Dillinger hit a Tye Breaker and crawled to the cage door, the assorted members of SaNItY would run in and slam the door nearly in his face, followed by Tye's buddies: Roderick 'not as small but still rather small boots' Strong, Kassius 'I look better with my shirt not tucked in' Ohno and Ruby 'my music was the best track from Sonic Generations' Riot to even the odds. Killian Dain would eventually flatten Ohno and Strong against the ring and climb in to make it a two on one but Tye hit a superb crossbody off the top onto both men and rolled out of the cage door for the win. Young and Dillinger play off each other superbly, even if I wish with NXT's love of history they'd have mentioned that Young actually helped train Dillinger back when he was starting out, but both mentioned put in intensity, some fine big spots and using the interference of SaNiTy to tell the final chapter in Dilllinger's NXT redemption tale. The show ends on a deserving 'Thank you, Tye' chant as he's carried up the ramp on the shoulders of Strong and Ohno.

Finally...

Don't be mistaken by the higher score below, beyond the most English promo ever seen on NXT between Bate & Gallagher and some solid work from Roode & Itami, up until the main event, this week's episode was eminently skippable. That said, the highlights of this week far overwhelm the fact that there was only one good match. I liked that for the second week in-a-row, in between match segments were used to push forward next week's action as NXT is the future, and the future is next week. Even I don't know what that was meant to mean. Either way, if you're in a hurry, watch the first segment and the main event and you're away.

ATPW Scale Rating: 5/10

Review: Jozef Raczka

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

WWE Monday Night RAW #1247 Review (Aired - 17th April 2017)

A week after the Superstar Shake-up and the sediment was beginning to settle on Monday Night RAW in the penultimate episode before Payback. This week's main event was a rematch of February colossal clash between Braun Strowman and The Big Show, whilst Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, The Miz, Cesaro and Samoa Joe were all featured across the three hours...but was it any good? 

Braun Strowman opened the show, popping the crowd with a list of things that he was proud of, which mainly included trying to kill Roman Reigns last week. The brief segment concluded with General Manager Kurt Angle booking Strowman v Reigns for Payback and The Monster Amongst Men being told to leave, despite a plea for more competition. 

Joe def. Jericho

A rematch from a March bout that ended in a Count Out, this week's opening contest bought two of the RAW brand's biggest names together for a solid opener that put Joe over strong, as he won clean with the Coquina Clutch, even after surviving a pinfall attempt. The two are strong enough that they could essentially walk through this contest and alongside a Colombus crowd that adored Jericho, that was enough to make this bout work. Two sequences that saw Jericho come close to victory stood out in particularly, firstly Y2J dodging a senton to hit a Lionsault for only the third time in history, before later being able to dodge an Enziguiri to earn a massive pop as he locked in the Walls of Jericho. Whilst the first part of the bout was pedestrian, the closing few minutes picked up, produced some sturdy near falls for the popular Jericho, before making Joe look like a world beater as he continues to run through the competition on RAW. The clean cut nature of the loss puts Jericho in an odd place heading into his United States Championship match with Kevin Owens at Payback, but that's more a symptom of the rushed nature of last week's shake up than anything else.

- Following the match, Joe cut a promo addressing Seth Rollins, who was on commentary, before The Kingslayer climbed onto the announce table to tell Joe that "Payback...is a bitch".

- Braun Strowman took out The Golden Truth as they were walking backstage, leading to Finlay, Joey Mercury and Adam Pearce running about in terror. 

- The lewd Mike Rome tried to interview Braun Strowman, who said he wasn't finished. 

- Gallows & Anderson issued an open challenge, because The Golden Truth were supposed to be their opponents, with Enzo & Cass answering the call. 

Gallows & Anderson def. Enzo & Cass 

Considering this was a thrown together match between two teams that have probably already faced off too many times over the last year, I found myself enjoying this standard issue tag bout. It wasn't anything special and didn't feature anything that would particularly stick in my memory if I hadn't been writing notes, but it filled it's screen time well and stuck to the performers strengths. Gallows & Anderson looked great, controlling Enzo and looking crafty in the finish, whilst both teams were over with the crowd, with Cass getting an especially big reaction when he tagged in for the hot tag. The finish was a cool departure from the norm, as Cass taking himself out by delivering a Cactus Big Boot that sent he and Gallows to the floor and with Enzo all alone, Anderson delivered a move that dropped the New Jersey native across the top turnbuckle for the victory. With The Revival out due to a Dash Wilder injury, it seems like the Tag division is getting a little jumbled up as WWE tries to work out it's next move. 

Ambrose appeared on "Miz TV" 

The Miz brought some of the fire and realism, that transformed him into a top star on SmackDown, to RAW as he wonderfully ripped into Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose during an episode of Miz TV. I get a feeling that some of the words coming out of Miz's mouth were a window onto how creative views Ambrose, as words like "wrassler" and "lazy and complacent" very well could have been coming from Vinny Mac himself (especially after some Dean's recent PPV efforts). The hometown audience for both men added some extra energy to proceeding, loudly supporting The Lunatic Fringe as he mocked Miz's maroon suit and reminded us how little he cares about images and other things. The closing moments saw both men attempt their finishers, before Miz escaped up the ramp with his wife, Maryse, in tow. The two have had a fair few matches on TV over the last three years, none of them have set the world a light, but I'm hopefully that with a little more fire behind them we may see the two put on something a little better when they next lock horns.

- Kalisto made his RAW return, by getting put in a dumpster by Braun Strowman, with The Big Show sort of making the save by shouting "Pick on someone your own size" like a big brother confronting a school bully. 

- Neville and Austin Aries came to ringside to watch the following match, for reasons that weren't quite clear. 

Perkins def. Gallagher 

After TJ Perkins and Jack Gallagher had ripped it up on 205 Live last week, I was hopeful that this rematch would receive a more appreciative audience, with the Colombus audience being hot for most of the show. However, whilst Ohio State University was much more interested in what Perkins and Gallagher had to offer, the match wasn't a patch on what the pair had done last week. In part this was because the focus was more on Neville and Austin Aries sitting at ringside, instead of what was going on in the ring. Gallagher's Mary Poppins dive to the outside is always fun and Perkins continually rolling to the outside was a nice classic heel tactic, but with the Cruiserweight Champion and #1 Contender at ringside, it all had the feeling of treading water. Of course, that was the case, as after Perkins threw Gallagher into Aries things broke down, allowing Perkins to nick a Detonation Kick victory. Nothing particularly wrong with anything here, but after seeing the 205 Live match it was a little disappointing. 

- Titus O'Neil propositioned newcomer Apollo Crews, by rhyming things with his name, it was weird and I don't want to see either a match between the two or a team, but at least we got to see Crews chatting with Akira Tozawa beforehand. 

- Cesaro & Sheamus interrupted the makeshift Mike Rome's interview with The Hardy Boyz, although they are still all good pals. 

Bliss def. Banks, James, Jax to become #1 contender to RAW Women's Championship

A well-booked four way here, that opens up an interesting clash between Alexa Bliss and RAW Women's Champion Bayley soon, whilst putting off bigger money matches with Sasha Banks and Nia Jax. Nia was the star of the show here, as despite an alliance with Bliss that was teased last week being completely no sold, Jax walked through her competition, hitting big slams, surviving a guillotine choke from Banks and hitting the move that would win the match. Jax time will come, but I like that she's been held away from having one on one title match just yet. It'll make her a bigger star when the time comes, especially if handled correctly. Outside of the Jax dominance, thinks were a little hit and miss, as whilst Bliss and Banks had a very good sequence of reversals based around the Banks Statement, a sequence with Bliss and James was sloppy. It was perhaps surprising to see the respected veteran James stand out as the weakest link in the match, but against women five to twelve years her junior she just didn't seem with it. 

- The upset Charly Caruso spoke to the Big Show, who was still angry about Strowman's antics. 

- Curt Hawkins cut a promo describing how he made The Big Show into a star last week, before challenging someone to face him.

- Finn Balor defeated Curt Hawkins in just over thirty seconds. 

- The big Mike Rome spoke with Chris Jericho, with Y2J saying there was no shame in losing to Samoa Joe, before chatting about his US title match with Owens. Elias Samson drifted into the background and eventually ended up on the list in a pretty entertaining interview segment. 

- Bray Wyatt made an appearance in his smoky lair, cutting a promo about the upcoming House of Horrors Match with SmackDown's Randy Orton. Filled with weird imagery, including a bloke with antlers (Moose?), it still did very little to clue us in on what the match will actually be. 

- Emma purposefully put a stop to Dana Brooke's friendship with Alicia Fox, recalling Brooke's poor jokes about Fox getting covered in powder on last week's 205 Live. 

J. Hardy def. Cesaro

Jeff Hardy's first RAW singles match since beating Dolph Ziggler in an Extreme Rules match in March 2009, bought us a fun, first-time ever clash with Cesaro. The Swiss Superman controlling the contest from the ad-break, nailing running uppercuts on the outside and dodging Hardy's hope spot Swanton Bomb, was certainly the best thing for the match, as even with the popularity of Cesaro, he was always going to come off second best to a Columbus audience getting to see Hardy live for the first time in four years. In the last few minutes the action began to pick up, with Cesaro blocking a Twist of Fate with an uppercut and then hitting a springboard corkscrew uppercut moments after Jeff blocked a Swing attempt. There was the feeling that in a different context (and maybe a few years ago) the pair could have torn the house down together. The clean as a whistle finish, with a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb, felt a little peculiar, doing very little for Cesaro & Sheamus title challenge. Some interference from Sheamus or perhaps anything that would've suggest friction or even the shock value of having Cesaro defeat Hardy clean himself, could've really built some interest into the upcoming RAW Tag Team title match at Payback and therefore this bout feels like real missed opportunity.

- The physical Mike Rome bumped into Heath Slater & Rhyno backstage, before Braun Strowman walked past and Rhyno dropped his crackers.

Strowman v Show ends in No Contest.

They broke the freakin' ring! For only the third time in WWE history and for the first time since Mark Henry v Big Show at Vengeance in 2011, the ring collapsed after a superplex spot. Whilst the whole spot had been signposted from the beginning of the show, by WWE using their old ring with no screen around the apron and classic ringposts, the spot got a huge reaction from the crowd. As well as the big deal they made of "re-enforcing" the ring during the build to their last match. Chances are, seeing how the previous two breaks happened in Orlando in 2003 and San Antonio in 2011, that this was the first time almost all of the crowd had seen such a spot live and in the flesh. The rest of the match was similar to their February bout, starting slow with weird spots like arm drags, before shunting into a series of near falls. The crowd was hot throughout even through dated spots like the battle to do a powerslam, but were positively molten when Strowman jumped off the middle rope and into a Knockout Punch. The build towards the superplex was handled well, with both superstars ending up on the top rope at various points, only for one to thwart the danger. It's Strowman v Reigns at Payback, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a Strowman v Show again next week with a gimmick of some kind. 

Finally... 

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.17/10 

Another solid edition of Monday Night RAW, which considering the storylines are still trying to find places to settle following the shake up is pretty commendable stuff. The shift to have longer matches and only one lengthy talking segment (that was arguably the shows highlight) is certainly a positive, with almost every match on the card, at least, matching my expectations. The show isn't currently missing out on having it's top champion missing, because there's strong storylines and popular characters pulling their weight and with Bray Wyatt v Randy Orton scheduled for Payback the big show shouldn't suffer either. The show's still not batting for six, as certain booking decision were a little questionable, but RAW's still not out. 

Review - James Marston 

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

WWE SmackDown Live #921 Review (Aired - 11th April 2017)

SUPERSTAR SHAKE UP PART TWO! If you thought the shake up was over after RAW, then boy were you about to be shook like a ruddy basket of bread at a basket of bread shaking contest. It was time to find out who would be swinging for the blue team for, at least, a bit or maybe longer. But was it any good? 

SmackDown Live Got Shook Up With Owens and Zayn 

Similar to the Monday show, Tuesday night began with two big name acquisitions making their presence known, only this time some familiar blue boys turned up to the party as well as Baron Corbin and AJ Styles came out to interrupt Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn respectively. Opening the show with Owens, the current United States Champion, welcoming us to "The New Kevin Owens Show" before cutting a pro-Canada promo got thing off on the right foot. Personally, I was surprised just how much heat Owens promo got for saying he was from Canada, speaking some French and mentioning some kind of sport, but The Prizefighter cuts a watchable prom and if the live crowd is involved it only adds to the enjoyment at home.  Corbin, Zayn and Styles all had short promos of their own, but nothing particularly substantial other than they wanted a shot at the US title. Owens reaction to long-time rival Zayn joining him on his new show was probably the highlight of the whole thing for me. Things concluded with Daniel Bryan awkwardly explaining that the winner of Owens v Chris Jericho on the RAW exclusive PPV, Payback, would actually be on SmackDown full-time, whilst Corbin, Zayn and Styles would fight it out in the night's main event to determine the first guy to get a shot on SmackDown.

Randy Orton picked a DQ victory over Erick Rowan in brawly encounter, after Big Red twonked him with the steel steps. Bray Wyatt also appeared on the screen, despite being shook to RAW the previous evening, reminding Orton about their upcoming House of Horrors match on 30th April. 

The Usos def. American Alpha to retain SmackDown Tag Team Championships

An expectedly sound tag match here, that quickly broke down and finished with an superb flurry of action. Personally, I would've liked to have seen Jordan in the face in peril role for a longer time, as it seemed like as soon as The Usos had started to build a bit of heat with their cocky dickhead characters, they'd lost their man and were under attack. However, everything after the hot tag from Gable (which included a gorgeous moonsault) was great stuff, with the two teams switching momentum back and forth and the action coming quick and crisp. The quality of the work later on, such as the strong near fall as Gable got his knees up on an Uso splash, makes me wish that these two teams got more time to put together a match that could have been something special. It was a good match, but with time and with more crowd investment it could have been much better. The Shining Stars jumped Gable & Jordan post-match, with a slightly new denim based look, so perhaps they'll get more of an opportunity to showcase themselves on Tuesday nights, although considering that hadn't won on RAW since November it wouldn't take much.

Mojo Rawley squashed new blue boy Jinder Mahal, after Rawley's pal American Footballer Rob Gronkowski chucked a bear at "The Man Who Comes in Peace". 

A segment billed as Shane McMahon explaining the State of the Women's Division was really quite odd, as he had SmackDown Women's Champion Naomi, alongside Becky Lynch, Carmella (with James Ellsworth) and Natalya stand in the ring so he could introduce new signees Charlotte Flair and Tamina. The problem was that was it, there was no brawl, no indication that anyone would be feuding with anyone else, it was just Flair coming out on the ramp, looking around and then the show moved to something else.

Tye Dillinger continued to gain momentum, interrupting, a now solo, Aiden English and then pinning him in a matter of minutes.

Nakamura interrupted Ziggler

Another weird talking segment, that didn't quite come off as well as it could, but it does open up an interesting feud between Shinsuke Nakamura and Dolph Ziggler. The Show Off's promo had some nastiness behind it as he moaned about the newcomers riding on his coattails, but some of the content was a little weird. Such as claiming that next week's show won't be as exciting and the show after even less exciting and so on and so on, which seems like an odd way of getting the current viewers to keep tuning in next week. The reaction to Nakamura's interruption was probably the best thing about the whole situation as after ZigZag had claimed not to no who Nakamura was, Nakkers blocked a superkick and Ziggler looked scared. I'm not sure any of this sold a potential feud or upcoming match. These two have the potential to tear the house down, but if the writing in the build up is poor it won't get the attention it deserves.

Styles def. Corbin, Zayn to become #1 Contender to United States Championship

A killer main event here as the trio worked well together, used their in-ring strengths and character traits to drive a three way that had the potential to end up going any way. Corbin looked dominant, often coming out on top of two on one collisions, Styles looked like the workhorse that he is and Zayn played the battling underdog role brilliantly. The contest was at it's best when all three where interacting simultaneously or in quick succession, with a number of creative spots like Styles blocking Corbin's Big Bossman homage with a solid knee to the face from the apron and Zayn escaping from an attempted Doomsday Device variation with The Phenomenal One looking to hit a Phenomenal-er Forearm. The highlight however came in the last couple of minutes heading towards the finish and out of a couple of signature near falls, as the three exchanged running strikes in the corner and then in the centre of the ring. The change of gear was just what the match needed and lead wonderfully into the pendulum swinging finish, that saw Zayn knock Corbin off the apron with a Helluva Kick, only to walk straight into a match-winning Phenomenal Forearm from AJ. The only thing lacking for me was any really convincing near falls, but that's a minor complaint for a TV main event. 

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.3/10

This week's SmackDown was similar to this week's RAW, with the Superstar Shake-Up gimmick being used to keep things interesting, but also featuring a number of missed opportunities and rushed matches. The main event, arguably, kept the shows rating about average and made it a better show than RAW, being the best item on either of WWE's mainstream offerings this week. I'm looking forward to seeing how the likes of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Charlotte Flair fit on the brand long term, although it's hard to get excited about the likes of Jinder Mahal, Lana and The Shining Stars.

Review - James Marston 

Twitter - @ATPWrestling 

Facebook - /acrossthepondwrestling 

Instagram - @ATPWrestling

WWE NXT #242 Review (Aired - 5th April 2017)

On the 6th of April, WWE aired the 242nd episode of NXT, taped at the Amway Centre in Orlando, Florida on 1st April. This week's episode featured matches filmed before the Takeover special that same night and was main evented by the former CZW Heavyweight Champion Oney Lorcan (née Biff Busick) taking on a mysterious opponent (Spooky). With matches featuring Peyton Royce, Aaliyah, Heavy Machinery and the Bollywood Boyz aswell as Behind the Scenes footage and interviews from the recent Takeover, could it defeat the curse of the Post-Takeover NXT and be anything other than filler? Let's find out...

Match 1:

 Peyton Royce (w/Billie Kay)

def.

Aaliyah

(2:48)

Aaliyah has new entrance music, it's an odd piece of glitchy-pop that at least affirms she is a face now. Nigel McGuinness is to the Iconic Duo what Graves was to Eva Marie by which I mean one step away from dropping to the floor, tearing off his immaculate suit and professing his worship to his Khaleesi(s). Early on Aaliyah controls the action with a combination of some nice clean kicks and decent grappling. Billie and Peyton use the numbers game to gain advantage, Peyton works over Aaliyah nicely showing off her improved heelish mannerisms and a rather pretty rope-drench submission adaptation of her entrance pose. Aaliyah gets a babyface comeback that nearly elicits a reaction from the Orlando crowd, Royce cuts her off again with a big kick and a lovely bridging Suplex for the pin. Not revolutionary stuff but had enough flashes of interest to suggest these two could something much better if given even a full three minutes.

• We're promised exclusive footage from Nakamura v Roode II. Oh joy of joys.

• Asuka has a backstage interview which reveals that she won and is real smug about it. Then she walks off. I get trying to limit her promos to play off her threat and not try to push her second language too far but, really.

• We see some exclusive footage from Almas' instagram. He's hanging out with some women in a bar. Lad.

Match 2:

 Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight)

Def.

The Bollywood Boys (Harv & Gurv Sihra)

(3:21)

So I think Bollywood Boys have turned heel, or they've just got leather jackets, I'm not sure.

Harv Sihra starts off trying to control the action against big Tucker Knight, he goes off the top rope into a big bear hug from Knight, tag to to Dozovic, they throw the former GFW Tag Team Champion from one Bearhug to another followed a lovely German Suplex from Otis. The crowd are starting to get into this one, then Harv and Gurv start working over Otis in the corner and they go dead again.The Boyz go for double team suplex only for Dozovic to reverse it into a Double suplex, Tucker gets a 'hot' tag, he murders the boys, gives out a little Tugboat "woo woo" splashes both Boyz in the corner before a tag to Dozovic and a finisher which looks like Dozovic does a World's Strongest Slam while Knight does a pile-on like a big lad. The very definition of Tag Team Face Win formula. While Heavy Machinery are surprisingly over already, I really hope we aren't building to Authors of Pain vs Heavy Machinery any time soon.

• Oney Lorcan is interviewed and we find out he doesn't know who his opponent is but he thinks he's going to beat them. Good on ye, lad.

• Paul Ellering flanked by his big slabs of nihilistic meat pledges to create a tag team dynasty. Expect a run-in from Joan Collins to cost them the title at their next defense.

• The Roode-Nakkers II package is very well made but ut turns out that exclusive footage was mostly just Roode walking to the curtains for his entrance.

• Roode is interviewed, he says he did what he said he would and beat Nakamura twice. He promises this is only the beginning, mentions that we're on a glorious ride but no evidence to suggest it's the ultimate thrill ride.

• Drew McIntyre (nee Galloway) is talking backstage about how he's won a big ol' pile of titles all over the world now he's in NXT because he's never won that title. Next week he has a match. Groundbreaking stuff, I know.

Match 3:

Oney Lorcan

def.

 El Vagabondo

(3:40)

Lorcan's mystery opponent turns out to be El Vagabondo, a masked wrestler who'se definitely not Elias 'The Drifeter Samson' despite dressing the same, moving the same and playing the same shitty guitar. Vagabondo is immediately the most over thing on the show, he even gets a pop for his song which Elias Samson never could though I don't know why I'm comparing two such different talents. Lorcan stops his song by putting his hand on the guitar and gets immediate heat, he says everyone knows Vagabondo is the Drifter, the crowd refuse to stop playing along, Lorcan now has Elias Samson heat. Vagabondo, from the off, starts controlling the match using his size and power advantage over Lorcan. After coming back from an advert break that seems to last longer than Royce V Aaliyah, Lorcan manages to break out and spring together a half decent comeback sequence showcasing some decent fire. The match end comes when Lorcan climbing on Vagabondo's back pulls off his mask to reveal it was Samson! It was Samson all alooong! Running Blockbuster from Lorcan in the confusion for the pin. Once again, solid but forgettable work. Credit to McGuinness for selling the match story like a champ in the commentary booth.

• After the match, Elias Samson is dragged out of the arena by a blonde female security guard. I haven't checked the tapes but I have to assume it's the same security who tried to prevent The Gronk climbing the guard rail at 'Mania. If it is, someone sign her for a developmental contract already.

Finally...

In answer to the question I asked at the beginning... no.The post-Takeover show is always filler, something to tide you over until they can actually tape more episodes. That said, even by those low standards, there was a supreme feeling of 'who cares?' to all the events of tonight, with even the backstage interviews giving no new information. All the performers worked hard considering their time but seemingly the only ones capable of getting a reaction out of the 'Mania weekend crowd were Lorcan & Vagabondo and they got the wrong reactions. This is an episode for Elias Samson completists only.

ATPW Scale Rating: 3.33/10

Review: Jozef Raczka

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